RESOURCES CONFIGURATION

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

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

SUMMARY

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary relating to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Thus, the following summary should not be considered an extensive overview relating to all contemplated aspects, nor should the following summary be considered to identify key or critical elements relating to all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Accordingly, the following summary has the sole purpose to present certain concepts relating to one or more aspects relating to the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form to precede the detailed description presented below.

[0006] In an aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a first user equipment (UE) includes identifying a set of positioning peer UEs, the set comprising at least one positioning peer UE; and performing a UE-initiated sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) configuration process, the process comprising, for each of at least one positioning peer UE in the set of positioning peer UEs, selecting a desired SL-PRS configuration to be used by the respective positioning peer UE, and indicating, to the respective positioning peer UE, the desired SL-PRS configuration.

[0007] In an aspect, a first 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: identify a set of positioning peer UEs, the set comprising at least one positioning peer UE; and perform a UE-initiated sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) configuration process, the process comprising, for each of at least one positioning peer UE in the set of positioning peer UEs, selecting a desired SL-PRS configuration to be used by the respective positioning peer UE, and indicating, to the respective positioning peer UE, the desired SL-PRS configuration.

[0008] In an aspect, a first user equipment (UE) includes means for identifying a set of positioning peer UEs, the set comprising at least one positioning peer UE; and means for performing a UE-initiated sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) configuration process, the process comprising, for each of at least one positioning peer UE in the set of positioning peer UEs, selecting a desired SL-PRS configuration to be used by the respective positioning peer UE, and indicating, to the respective positioning peer UE, the desired SL-PRS configuration.

[0009] In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a first user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: identify a set of positioning peer UEs, the set comprising at least one positioning peer UE; and perform a UE-initiated sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) configuration process, the process comprising, for each of at least one positioning peer UE in the set of positioning peer UEs, selecting a desired SL-PRS configuration to be used by the respective positioning peer UE, and indicating, to the respective positioning peer UE, the desired SL-PRS configuration.

[0010] Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] 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.

[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications system, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0013] FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate example wireless network structures, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0014] 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.

[0015] FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate two methods for single-cell UE positioning that can be implemented if the cell includes multiple UEs that are engaged in sidelink (SL) communications.

[0016] FIG. 5 illustrates a conventional resource pool.

[0017] FIG. 6 illustrates a resource pool for positioning (RPP).

[0018] FIG. 7 illustrates a method for management of RPPs in sidelink.

[0019] FIG. 8 illustrates a method 800 for coordinated reservation of SL RPPs.

[0020] FIG. 9 is a signaling and event graph illustrating positioning peer (pos-peer) selection processes. [0021] FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example process associated with UE-initiated selection of sidelink positioning resources configuration according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 11 A illustrates an example scenario in which a process associated with UE-initiated selection of sidelink positioning resources configuration according to aspects of the present disclosure could be applied.

[0023] FIG. 1 IB illustrates example configurations that a target UE might request of SL UEs via a process associated with UE-initiated selection of sidelink positioning resources configuration according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 12A illustrates another example scenario in which a process associated with UE- initiated selection of sidelink positioning resources configuration according to aspects of the present disclosure could be applied.

[0025] FIG. 12B illustrates example configurations that a target UE might request of SL UEs via a process associated with UE-initiated selection of sidelink positioning resources configuration according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 13 is a signaling and event diagram illustrating a process 1300 associated with UE- initiated selection of sidelink positioning resources configuration according to aspects of the present 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), “vehicle UE” (V-UE), “pedestrian UE” (P-UE), and “base station” are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., vehicle on-board computer, vehicle navigation device, mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, asset locating device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communications network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g., at certain times) be stationary, and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be referred to interchangeably as a “mobile device,” an “access terminal” or “AT,” a “client device,” a “wireless device,” a “subscriber device,” a “subscriber terminal,” a “subscriber station,” a “user terminal” or UT, a “mobile terminal,” a “mobile station,” or variations thereof.

[0032] A V-UE is a type of UE and may be any in-vehicle wireless communication device, such as a navigation system, a warning system, a heads-up display (HUD), an on-board computer, an in-vehicle infotainment system, an automated driving system (ADS), an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), etc. Alternatively, a V-UE may be a portable wireless communication device (e.g., a cell phone, tablet computer, etc.) that is carried by the driver of the vehicle or a passenger in the vehicle. The term “V-UE” may refer to the in-vehicle wireless communication device or the vehicle itself, depending on the context. A P-UE is a type of UE and may be a portable wireless communication device that is carried by a pedestrian (i.e., a user that is not driving or riding in a vehicle). Generally, UEs can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs can be connected with external networks such as the Internet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network and/or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as over wired access networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks (e.g., based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, etc.) and so on.

[0033] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs including supporting data, voice and/or signaling connections for the supported UEs. In some systems a base station may provide purely edge node signaling functions while in other systems it may provide additional control and/or network management functions. A communication link through which UEs can send signals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which the base station can send signals to UEs is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an UL / reverse or DL / forward traffic channel.

[0034] 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.

[0035] In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base station may not support wireless access by UEs (e.g., may not support data, voice, and/or signaling connections for UEs), but may instead transmit reference RF signals to UEs to be measured by the UEs and/or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UEs. Such base stations may be referred to as positioning beacons (e.g., when transmitting RF signals to UEs) and/or as location measurement units (e.g., when receiving and measuring RF signals from UEs).

[0036] An “RF signal” comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transports information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single “RF signal” or multiple “RF signals” to a receiver. However, the receiver may receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between the transmitter and receiver may be referred to as a “multipath” RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a “wireless signal” or simply a “signal” where it is clear from the context that the term “signal” refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0037] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications system 100, according to aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communications system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labelled “BS”) and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and/or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macro cell base stations 102 may include eNBs and/or ng-eNBs where the wireless communications system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communications system 100 corresponds to a NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0038] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 174 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or 5G core (5GC)) through backhaul links 122, and through the core network 174 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 174 or may be external to core network 174. 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 IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term “cell” may refer to either or both the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. In some cases, the term “cell” may also refer to a geographic coverage area of abase 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' (labelled “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 carriers 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 mmW base station 180 that may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies and/or near mmW frequencies in communication with a UE 182 Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW/near mmW radio frequency band have high path loss and a relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and/or receive) over a mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Further, it will be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed to limit the various aspects disclosed herein.

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

[0051] 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.

[0052] 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.

[0053] In the example of FIG. 1, any of the illustrated UEs (shown in FIG. 1 as a single UE 104 for simplicity) may receive signals 124 from one or more Earth orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In an aspect, the SVs 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that a UE 104 can use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable receivers (e.g., UEs 104) to determine their location on or above the Earth based, at least in part, on positioning signals (e.g., signals 124) received from the transmitters. Such a transmitter typically transmits a signal marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. While typically located in SVs 112, transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and/or other UEs 104. A UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive signals 124 for deriving geo location information from the SVs 112.

[0054] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signals 124 can be augmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and/or regional navigation satellite systems. For example an SBAS may include an augmentation system(s) that provides integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multi functional Satellite Augmentation System (MS AS), 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.

[0055] In an aspect, SVs 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, an SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a terrestrial antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element would in turn provide access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities external to the 5G network, such as Internet web servers and other user devices. In that way, a UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signals 124) from an SV 112 instead of, or in addition to, communication signals from a terrestrial base station 102.

[0056] Leveraging the increased data rates and decreased latency of NR, among other things, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies are being implemented to support intelligent transportation systems (ITS) applications, such as wireless communications between vehicles (vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)), between vehicles and the roadside infrastructure (vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)), and between vehicles and pedestrians (vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P)). The goal is for vehicles to be able to sense the environment around them and communicate that information to other vehicles, infrastructure, and personal mobile devices. Such vehicle communication will enable safety, mobility, and environmental advancements that current technologies are unable to provide. Once fully implemented, the technology is expected to reduce unimpaired vehicle crashes by 80%.

[0057] Still referring to FIG. 1, the wireless communications system 100 may include multiple V-UEs 160 that may communicate with base stations 102 over communication links 120 (e.g., using the Uu interface). V-UEs 160 may also communicate directly with each other over a wireless sidelink 162, with a roadside access point 164 (also referred to as a “roadside unit”) over a wireless sidelink 166, or with UEs 104 over a wireless sidelink 168. A wireless sidelink (or just “sidelink”) is an adaptation of the core cellular (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without the communication needing to go through a base station. Sidelink communication may be unicast or multicast, and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) media-sharing, V2V communication, V2X communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more of a group of V-UEs 160 utilizing sidelink communications may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 102. Other V-UEs 160 in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 102 or be otherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station 102. In some cases, groups of V-UEs 160 communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each V-UE 160 transmits to every other V-UE 160 in the group. In some cases, a base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. In other cases, sidelink communications are carried out between V-UEs 160 without the involvement of a base station 102.

[0058] In an aspect, the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may operate over a wireless communication medium of interest, which may be shared with other wireless communications between other vehicles and/or infrastructure access points, as well as other RATs. A “medium” may be composed of one or more time, frequency, and/or space communication resources (e.g., encompassing one or more channels across one or more carriers) associated with wireless communication between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs.

[0059] In an aspect, the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may be cV2X links. A first generation of cV2X has been standardized in LTE, and the next generation is expected to be defined in NR. cV2X is a cellular technology that also enables device-to-device communications. In the U.S. and Europe, cV2X is expected to operate in the licensed ITS band in sub-6GHz. Other bands may be allocated in other countries. Thus, as a particular example, the medium of interest utilized by sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may correspond to at least a portion of the licensed ITS frequency band of sub-6GHz. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this frequency band or cellular technology.

[0060] In an aspect, the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may be dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) links. DSRC is a one-way or two-way short-range to medium-range wireless communication protocol that uses the wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE) protocol, also known as IEEE 802. lip, for V2V, V2I, and V2P communications. IEEE 802.1 lp is an approved amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard and operates in the licensed ITS band of 5.9 GHz (5.85-5.925 GHz) in the U.S. In Europe, IEEE 802.1 lp operates in the ITS G5A band (5.875 - 5.905 MHz). Other bands may be allocated in other countries. The V2V communications briefly described above occur on the Safety Channel, which in the U.S. is typically a 10 MHz channel that is dedicated to the purpose of safety. The remainder of the DSRC band (the total bandwidth is 75 MHz) is intended for other services of interest to drivers, such as road rules, tolling, parking automation, etc. Thus, as a particular example, the mediums of interest utilized by sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may correspond to at least a portion of the licensed ITS frequency band of 5.9 GHz.

[0061] Alternatively, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed frequency band shared among various RATs. Although different licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by a government entity such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems, in particular those employing small cell access points, have recently extended operation into unlicensed frequency bands such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies, most notably IEEE 802.1 lx WLAN technologies generally referred to as “Wi-Fi.” Example systems of this type include different variants of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and so on.

[0062] Communications between the V-UEs 160 are referred to as V2V communications, communications between the V-UEs 160 and the one or more roadside access points 164 are referred to as V2I communications, and communications between the V-UEs 160 and one or more UEs 104 (where the UEs 104 are P-UEs) are referred to as V2P communications. The V2V communications between V-UEs 160 may include, for example, information about the position, speed, acceleration, heading, and other vehicle data of the V-UEs 160. The V2I information received at a V-UE 160 from the one or more roadside access points 164 may include, for example, road rules, parking automation information, etc. The V2P communications between a V-UE 160 and a UE 104 may include information about, for example, the position, speed, acceleration, and heading of the V-UE 160 and the position, speed (e.g., where the UE 104 is carried by a user on a bicycle), and heading of the UE 104.

[0063] Note that although FIG. 1 only illustrates two of the UEs as V-UEs (V-UEs 160), any of the illustrated UEs (e.g., UEs 104, 152, 182, 190) may be V-UEs. In addition, while only the V-UEs 160 and a single UE 104 have been illustrated as being connected over a sidelink, any of the UEs illustrated in FIG. 1, whether V-UEs, P-UEs, etc., may be capable of sidelink communication. Further, although only UE 182 was described as being capable of beam forming, any of the illustrated UEs, including V-UEs 160, may be capable of beam forming. Where V-UEs 160 are capable of beam forming, they may beam form towards each other (i.e., towards other V-UEs 160), towards roadside access points 164, towards other UEs (e.g., UEs 104, 152, 182, 190), etc. Thus, in some cases, V-UEs 160 may utilize beamforming over sidelinks 162, 166, and 168.

[0064] The wireless communications system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that connects indirectly to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. In the example of FIG. 1, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to the WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In an example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported with any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, and so on. As another example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be sidelinks, as described above with reference to sidelinks 162, 166, and 168.

[0065] FIG. 2A illustrates an example wireless network structure 200. For example, a 5GC 210 (also referred to as a Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be viewed functionally as control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212, (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) which operate cooperatively to form the core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213 and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210 and specifically to the user plane functions 212 and control plane functions 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, an ng-eNB 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to the control plane functions 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. Further, ng-eNB 224 may directly communicate with gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either (or both) gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0066] 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).

[0067] FIG. 2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 250. A 5GC 260 (which may correspond to 5GC 210 in FIG. 2A) can be viewed functionally as control plane functions, provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and user plane functions, provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperatively to form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and the short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives the intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves the security material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 also include security context management (SCM). The SCM receives a key from the SEAF that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location services management for regulatory services, transport for location services messages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 (which acts as a location server 230), transport for location services messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, evolved packet system (EPS) bearer identifier allocation for interworking with the EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functionalities for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0068] 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.

[0069] The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering at the UPF 262 to route traffic to the proper destination, control of part of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface over which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is referred to as the Nil interface.

[0070] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be in communication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for UEs 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that can connect to the LMF 270 via the core network, 5GC 260, and/or via the Internet (not illustrated). The SLP 272 may support similar functions to the LMF 270, but whereas the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UEs 204 over a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to convey signaling messages and not voice or data), the SLP 272 may communicate with UEs 204 and external clients (not shown in FIG. 2B) over a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and/or data like the transmission control protocol (TCP) and/or IP). [0071] 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.

[0072] The functionality of a gNB 222 is divided between a gNB central unit (gNB-CU) 226 and one or more gNB distributed units (gNB-DUs) 228. The interface 232 between the gNB- CU 226 and the one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the “FI” interface. A gNB- CU 226 is a logical node that includes the base station functions of transferring user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and the like, except for those functions allocated exclusively to the gNB-DU(s) 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 hosts the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. A gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that hosts the radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC), and physical (PHY) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. Thus, a UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers and with a gNB-DU 228 via the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers.

[0073] FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including the location server 230 and the LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent from the NG-RAN 220 and/or 5GC 210/260 infrastructure depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, such as a private network) to support the file transmission operations as taught herein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different types of apparatuses in different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other apparatuses in a communication system. For example, other apparatuses in a system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. Also, a given apparatus may contain one or more of the components. For example, an apparatus may include multiple transceiver components that enable the apparatus to operate on multiple carriers and/or communicate via different technologies.

[0074] 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.

[0075] 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.

[0076] The UE 302 and the base station 304 also include, at least in some cases, satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and/or measuring satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. Where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378 may be global positioning system (GPS) signals, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi- Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. Where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and/or user data) originating from a 5G network. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may comprise any suitable hardware and/or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and operations as appropriate from the other systems, and, at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine locations of the UE 302 and the base station 304, respectively, using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm.

[0077] 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.

[0078] 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.

[0079] 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.

[0080] 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.

[0081] 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 sidelink positioning configuration module 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The sidelink positioning configuration module 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, that, when executed, cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the sidelink positioning configuration module 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the sidelink positioning configuration module 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, that, when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates possible locations of the sidelink positioning configuration module 342, which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the memory 340, the one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. FIG. 3B illustrates possible locations of the sidelink positioning configuration module 388, which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers 350, the memory 386, the one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. FIG. 3C illustrates possible locations of the sidelink positioning configuration module 398, which may be, for example, part of the one or more network transceivers 390, the memory 396, the one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component.

[0082] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the one or more processors 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting movement and/or orientation information that is independent of motion data derived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and/or the satellite receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric pressure altimeter), and/or any other type of movement detection sensor. Moreover, the sensor(s) 344 may include a plurality of different types of devices and combine their outputs in order to provide motion information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and orientation sensors to provide the ability to compute positions in two-dimensional (2D) and/or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems.

[0083] 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.

[0084] Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, in the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The one or more processors 384 may provide RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information blocks (SIBs)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0085] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement Layer-1 (LI) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer-1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0086] 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.

[0087] 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.

[0088] 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.

[0089] 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.

[0090] 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.

[0091] 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.

[0092] For convenience, the UE 302, the base station 304, and/or the network entity 306 are shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C as including various components that may be configured according to the various examples described herein. It will be appreciated, however, that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. In particular, various components in FIGS. 3A to 3C are optional in alternative configurations and the various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, costs, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in case of FIG. 3A, a particular implementation of UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth capability without cellular capability), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320 (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit the satellite receiver 330, or may omit the sensor(s) 344, and so on. In another example, in case of FIG. 3B, a particular implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi “hotspot” access point without cellular capability), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 360 (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit the satellite receiver 370, and so on. For brevity, illustration of the various alternative configurations is not provided herein, but would be readily understandable to one skilled in the art.

[0093] 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.

[0094] 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 sidebnk positioning configuration module 342, 388, and 398, etc. [0095] 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).

[0096] NR supports several positioning techniques, including multi-cell round-trip time (RTT), downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD), uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA) with azimuth and zenith, UE-based DL time difference of arrival (DL-TDoA), and UE-based DL-AOD. NR supports positioning signals such as DL positioning reference signal (PRS), sidelink (SL) PRS, and UL sounding reference signal (SRS). A UE may receive assistance data (AD) from a location server or LMF.

[0097] FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate two methods for single-cell UE positioning that can be implemented if the cell includes multiple UEs that are engaged in SL communications. In FIGS. 4 A and 4B, a UE that transmits a SL-PRS may be referred to as a “TxUE” and a UE that receives a SL-PRS may be referred to as an “RxUE”. In FIG. 4A, a relay UE 400 (with a known location) participates in the positioning estimation of a remote UE 402 without having to perform any UL PRS transmission to a base station 404 (e.g., a gNB). As shown in FIG. 4 A, the remote UE 402 receives a DL-PRS from the BS 404, and transmits an SL-PRS to the relay UE 400. This SL-PRS transmission can be low power because the SL-PRS transmission from the remote UE 402 does not need to reach the BS 404, but only needs to reach the nearby relay UE 400. In FIG. 4B, multiple relay UEs, including relay UE 400 acting as a first relay UE and relay UE 406 acting as a second relay UE, transmit SL-PRS signals (SL-PRS 1 and SL-PRS2, respectively) to the remote UE 402. In contrast to the method shown in FIG. 4A, where the remote UE 402 was the TxUE and the relay UE 400 was the RxUE, in FIG. 4B, those roles are reversed, with the relay UE 400 and the relay UE 406 being TxUEs and the remote UE 402 being the RxUE. In this scenario also, the SL-PRS signals transmitted by the TxUEs can be low power, and no UL communication is required.

[0098] FIG. 5 illustrates a conventional resource pool 500. The minimum resource allocation for a resource pool in the frequency domain is a subchannel. Each subchannel comprises a number (e.g., 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100) of physical resource blocks (PRBs). The resource allocation for a resource pool in the time domain is in whole slots. Each slot contains a number (e.g., 14) of orthogonal frequency domain multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. The first symbol of the slot is repeated on the preceding symbol for automatic gain control (AGC) settling. The example slot shown in FIG. 5 contains a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) portion and a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) portion, with a gap symbol following the PSCCH. PSCCH and PSSCH are transmitted in the same slot. Sidelink communications occupy one slot and one or more subchannels. Some slots are not available for sidelink, and some slots contain feedback resources. Sidelink communication can be preconfigured (e.g., preloaded on a UE) or configured (e.g., by a base station via RRC). A sidelink communication can be (pre)configured to occupy fewer than 14 symbols in a slot.

[0099] FIG. 6 illustrates a resource pool for positioning (RPP) 600. An RPP is used exclusively for positioning signals, such as DL-PRS, SL-PRS, and UL-SRS, and may occupy the entire slot. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the RPP 600 occupies symbols 10-13 of the slot while the remainder 602 of the slot, symbols 2-9, are used for sidelink communications including data, CSI-RS, and control data. RPPs provide several technical advantages over conventional resource pools for transmission and reception. For example, because an RPP is separate and independent from a data transmission, the RPP can be a wideband transmission, e.g., occupying a larger number of subchannels than a data transmission. In the time domain, an RPP can occupy all or just part of a slot, and a UE may be assigned all or just part of the RPP. This enables a wideband and periodic opportunity for SL-PRS transmission and reception across multiple UEs independent of the PSSCH or CSIRS allocation. Example transmission properties of SL-PRS are shown in Table 1, below:

Table 1

[0100] FIG. 7 illustrates a method 700 for management of RPPs in sidelink. FIG. 7 illustrates what may be referred to as a “bottom-up” approach. In FIG. 7, a gNB 702 is serving two relay UEs, relay UE 704A and relay UE 704B. Relay UE 704A is serving remote UE 706A and remote UE 706B, while relay UE 704B is serving remote UE 706C and remote UE 706D. The number of relay UEs and the number of remote UEs that each relay UE serves can vary; these numbers are illustrative and not limiting. In some aspects, for sidelink communication, including positioning, a UE is either a relay UE or a remote UE but not both. Each of the UEs is configured with a predefined set of RPPs. The predefined plurality of RPPs may be preloaded on the UE or configured by a serving base station, e g., via RRC.

[0101] In the bottom-up approach, a remote UE requests sidelink positioning resources generally or an RPP in particular from the relay UE. If the relay UE has RPP configurations available to assign to the requesting remote UE, it will. Otherwise, the relay UE may make a request to the gNB for a set of RPP configurations, which the gNB then provides. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the remote UE 706A sends a request for sidelink positioning resources to the relay UE 704A (step 708). The relay UE 704A sends a request for RPP resources to the gNB 702 (step 710), which responds with a set of RPP configurations (step 712) and optionally, a set of SL-PRS configurations within the RPP configurations. The relay UE 704A then allocates one or more of the set of RPP configurations to the remote UE 706A (step 714) and optionally, specific SL-PRS configurations therein.

[0102] In the example shown in FIG. 7, the remote UE 706B also sends a request for positioning resources to the relay UE 704A (step 716). In this example, the relay UE 704A already has a set of RPP configurations so it does not have to again query the gNB 704. Instead, the relay UE 704A allocates one or more RPP configurations (and optionally, specific SL-PRS configurations therein), to the remote UE 706B (step 718). Alternatively, the relay UE 704 A could make another request to the gNB 702 and receive additional RPP configurations from the gNB 702. In order to avoid, reduce, or mitigate interference between the remote UE 706A and the remote UE 706B, the RPP configuration(s) provided to the two remote UEs by the relay UE should be different from each other, but it is not mandatory that this be so.

[0103] In the example shown in FIG. 7, another relay UE, i.e., relay UE 704B, receives a request for positioning resources from remote UE 706C (step 720) and receives another request for positioning resources from remote UE 706D (step 722). The relay UE 704B then makes a combined request for resources to the gNB 702 (step 724). The gNB 702 then provides a set of RPP configurations to the relay UE 704B (step 726), and the relay UE 704B provides at least one RPP configuration to each of the remote UE 706C (step 728) and the remote UE 706D (step 730). In order to avoid, reduce, or mitigate interference between the remote UE 706C and the remote UE 706D, the RPP configuration(s) provided to the two remote UEs by the relay UE should be different from each other, but it is not mandatory that this be so. Likewise, in order to avoid, reduce, or mitigate interference between the remote UEs, the sets of RPP configurations provided to the two relay UEs should be different from each other, but it is not mandatory that this be so.

[0104] FIG. 8 illustrates a method 800 for coordinated reservation of SL RPPs according to aspects of the disclosure. In FIG. 8, a first relay UE 704A is serving remote UE 706A and remote UE 706B, and a second relay UE 704B is serving remote UE 706C and remote UE 706D. The number of relay UEs and the number of remote UEs that each relay UE serves can vary; these numbers are illustrative and not limiting. Each of the UEs is configured with a predefined set of RPPs. The predefined plurality of RPPs may be preloaded on the UE or configured by a serving base station, e.g., via RCC.

[0105] In method 800, a UE determines that a RPP from the predefined plurality of RPPs should be reserved. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the relay UE 704A receives, from the remote UE 706A, a request 802 for a RPP from the predefined plurality of RPPs. The remote UE 706A may issue a general request for any available RPP, in which case the relay UE 704A may select one of the RPPs from the predefined set of RPPs. Alternatively, the remote UE 706 A may request a specific RPP, in which case the relay UE 704A may select that specific RPP, or the relay UE 704A may select a different RPP, e.g., such as when the requested RPP is unavailable due to being reserved by another remote UE or for some other reason.

[0106] In response, relay UE 704A transmits a reservation message 804 for reserving a specified RPP. The reservation message 804 may be transmitted via a broadcast, groupcast, or multicast message. The reservation message 804 may be transmitted via a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), or a combination thereof. In one aspect, the reservation message 804 is transmitted to the remote UE 706B and to the relay UE 704B, and the relay UE 704B relays the message to the remote UE 706C and remote UE 706D, e.g., as message 806. Alternatively, the reservation message is transmitted to the relay UE 704B, the remote UE 706B, the remote UE 706C, and the remote UE 706D simultaneously. Alternatively, the relay UE 704A may send a set of unicast messages to neighboring UEs.

[0107] The relay UE 704A then sends a configuration message 808 to remote UE 706A. The configuration message 808 identifies the RPP to be used by remote UE 706A and may also specify a subset of SL-PRS resources within the RPP to be used by remote UE 706 A.

[0108] It is noted, however, than in the examples illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, a remote UE requests an RPP configuration for itself, and that request or reservation may be relayed by a relay UE on behalf of the remote UE. In FIGS. 7 and 8, the remote UE does not attempt to change a positioning configuration for a UE other than itself.

[0109] FIG. 9 is a signaling and event graph 900 illustrating positioning peer (pos-peer) selection processes, by which a target UE 902 can discover (become aware of) neighboring UEs that may be able to be a positioning peer UE 904 for the target UE 902. In FIG. 9, the pos-peer UE 904 may announce its presence through transmitting a sidelink pos-peer discovery message with a positioning flag (Mode A). Likewise, the target UE that wants to discover pos-peer UEs may transmit a sidelink solicitation message with fields related to positioning (Mode B). In both cases, the discovery or solicitation messages, as well as their responses, can be split into two parts (e.g., part A and part B) to enable a more power efficient approach and a handshake between the target UE 902 and the potential pos-peer UE 904.

[0110] Upon completion of the process shown in FIG. 9, the target UE 902 will be aware of all the pos-peer UEs 904 as well as the common resource pool configurations used by each of the pos-peer UEs 904. It is noted that a serving gNB can support multiple resource pools, and that a UE served by one gNB will likely have different resource pools from a UE served by a different gNB.

[0111] FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example process 1000 associated with UE-initiated selection of sidelink positioning resources configuration according to aspects of the present disclosure. In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIG. 10 may be performed by a first UE (e.g., UE 104, target UE 902, etc.). In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIG. 10 may be performed by another device or a group of devices separate from or including the first UE. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more process blocks of FIG. 10 may be performed by one or more components of UE 302, such as processor(s) 332, memory 340, WWAN transceiver(s) 310, short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320, satellite receiver 330, sidelink positioning configuration module(s) 342, sensor(s) 344, or user interface 346, any or all of which may comprise means for performing operations of this process.

[0112] As shown in FIG. 10, process 1000 may include identifying a set of positioning peer UEs, the set comprising at least one positioning peer UE (block 1010). Means for performing the operation of block 1010 may include the processor(s) 332 and WWAN transceiver(s) 310 of UE 302. For example, the UE 302 may identify a set of positioning peer UEs by sending and receiving pos-peer discovery or solicitation messages via receiver(s) 312 and transmitter(s) 314 under the control of processor(s) 332 and maintaining information about the pos-peer UEs in memory 340. In some aspects, identifying the set of positioning peer UEs comprises performing a sidelink (SL) positioning peer discovery process.

[0113] As further shown in FIG. 10, process 1000 may include performing a UE-initiated sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) configuration process, the process comprising, for each of at least one positioning peer UE in the set of positioning peer UEs, selecting a desired SL-PRS configuration to be used by the positioning peer UE, and indicating, to the positioning peer UE, the desired SL-PRS configuration (block 1020). Means for performing the operation of block 1010 may include the processor(s) 332 and WWAN transceiver(s) 310 of UE 302. For example, the processor(s) 332 of UE 302 may select a desired SL-PRS configuration to be used by the positioning peer UE, and that desired SL-PRS configuration may be indicated to the positioning peer UE via messages sent by transmitter(s) 314.

[0114] In some aspects, selecting the desired SL-PRS configuration to be used by the positioning peer UE comprises selecting the desired SL-PRS configuration based on a capability of the first UE, or a capability of the positioning peer UE, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, a capability of the first UE or the positioning peer UE comprises a power budget or constraint, a transmission capability, a processing capability, or combinations thereof. In some aspects, the desired SL-PRS configuration comprises a periodicity, a number of transactions, a repetition factor, a time gap between repetitions, a comb size, a bandwidth, a resource element offset, a number of symbols per slot, or a scrambling identifier, or combinations thereof.

[0115] For example, a UE with limited bandwidth may request SL-PRS configurations that group SL-PRS resources of pos-peer UEs that use one bandwidth part (BWP) together into one occasion, and group SL-PRS resources of pos-peer UEs that use a different BWP together into another occasion. In another example, a UE with limited power may request that all pos-peer UEs providing that UE with positioning assistance use SL-PRS configurations having a long period, a small repetition factor, a small number of symbols per slot, or other characteristics that reduce the power consumption of SL positioning activities.

[0116] In some aspects, selecting the desired SL-PRS configuration to be used by the positioning peer UE comprises selecting the desired SL-PRS configuration from a set of resource pool configurations. In some aspects, the set of resource pool configurations is common to all of the positioning peer UEs in the set of positioning peer UEs. In some aspects, the set of resource pool configurations for one positioning peer UE in the set of positioning peer UEs is different from the set of resource pool configurations for another positioning peer in the set of positioning peer UEs.

[0117] In some aspects, indicating the desired SL-PRS configuration to the positioning peer UE comprises identifying one SL-PRS configuration from a set of SL-PRS configurations known to the positioning peer UE. In some aspects, indicating the desired SL-PRS configuration to the positioning peer UE comprises indicating, to the positioning peer UE, one or more desired characteristics or attributes for a SL-PRS configuration, and letting the positioning peer UE select an SL-PRS configuration that meets all of, or at least a threshold number of those desired characteristics.

[0118] In some aspects, process 1000 includes detecting a reconfiguration trigger condition, and in response to detecting the reconfiguration trigger condition, reperforming the UE- initiated SL-PRS configuration process. In some aspects, detecting the reconfiguration trigger condition comprises detecting a change in the membership of the set of positioning peer UEs, the change comprising the addition of a positioning peer UE to, or the deletion of a positioning peer UE from, the set of positioning peer UEs.

[0119] Process 1000 may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations described below and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein. Although FIG. 10 shows example blocks of process 1000, in some implementations, process 1000 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in FIG. 10. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 1000 may be performed in parallel.

[0120] FIG. 11A illustrates an example scenario 1100 in which a gNB 1102 has established Uu connections to a number of sidelink UEs, namely SL UE1 1104, SL UE2 1106, SL UE3 1108, and SL UE4 1110, which are known to target UE 1112, e.g., after a SL pos-peer discovery process such as those shown in FIG. 9, and which the target UE 1112 has selected for positioning assistance. Since all of the SL UEs and the target UE belong to a single serving gNB 1102, all of the SL UEs will have common resource pool configurations, which means that the target UE 1112 and the SL UEs will be aware of parameters associated with SL-PRS resources, such as, but not limited to, bandwidth options, time slot and symbol locations, number of symbols, repetition factor, periodicity of the positioning occasions, comb size, scrambling ID, etc. In some aspects, the target UE 1112 sends each SL UE a request that the SL UE use a particular SL-PRS configuration identified by the target UE 1112. The request may indicate a specific SL- PRS configuration. The SL-PRS configuration may be selected by the target UE based on the capabilities of the target UE, the pos-peer UE, or both.

[0121] FIG. 1 IB illustrates example configurations that the target UE 1112 might request of SL UE1 1104, SL UE2 1106, SL UE3 1108, and SL UE4 1110. In Example 1, target UE 1112 may ask each SL UE to use a “combi, symboll” configuration, with each SL UE having a different symbol offset within the slot (e.g., with SL UE1 starting at slot 2, SL UE2 starting at slot 3, SL UE3 starting at slot 4, and SL UE4 starting at slot 5). In Example 2, target UE 1112 may ask each SL UE to use a “comb4, symbol4” configuration, with each SL UE having a different frequency offset within the slot. In Example 3, the target UE 1112 may have limited processing capability and therefore may ask SL UE1 and SL UE2 to use SL-PRS configurations that use the first SL-PRS occasion but not the second SL-PRS occasion, and may ask SL UE3 and SL UE4 to use SL-PRS configurations that use the second SL-PRS occasion but not the first SL-PRS occasion.

[0122] FIG. 12A illustrates an example scenario 1200 in which a first gNB 1202 has established Uu connections to each of SL UE1 1204 and SL UE2 1206, and a second gNB 1208 has established Uu connections to each of SL UE3 1210 and SL UE 4 1212. A target UE 1214 has selected these SL UEs for positioning assistance. However, the resource pools for positioning will be different for different serving gNBs. In this scenario, rather than specifying a particular SL-PRS configuration, the target UE 1214 may instead specify desired parameters for the SL-PRS configurations. For example, the timing may be different for the two sync clusters; the target UE 1214 may be aware of this time difference and may therefore request, suggest, or recommend a symbol offset, a slot offset, or both.

[0123] FIG. 12B illustrates example configurations that the target UE 1214 might request of SL UE1 1204, SL UE2 1206, SL UE3 1210, and SL UE4 1212. In Example 4, the resource pool of the first gNB 1202 is in the same bandwidth part (BWP) as the resource pool of the second gNB 1204, and so the target UE 1214 can process the resources from both pools during the same occasion. In Example 5, the resource pool of the first gNB 1202 is in a different BWP as the resource pool of the second gNB 1204, and so the target UE 1214 can process the resources from only one pool at a time during any given occasion.

[0124] FIG. 13 is a signaling and event diagram illustrating a process 1300 associated with UE- initiated selection of sidelink positioning resources configuration according to aspects of the present disclosure. In the example shown in FIG. 13, the process involves communications between a target UE 1302 and a number of SL UEs, e.g., UE1 1304, UE2 1306, UE3 1308, and UE 1310. These communications may be directly between the target UE and the SL UEs, or optionally through an intervening node 1312, such as a relay UE, a network node, or both.

[0125] In the example shown in FIG. 13, the target UE 1302 starts a discovery process (block 1314), such as shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 13, the target UE 1302 issues discovery requests 1316, e.g., Pos-Peer Solicitation Messages, to each of the SL UEs and receives discovery response messages 1318, e.g., Pos-Peer Solicitation Responses, from each of UE1 1304, UE2 1306, and UE3 1308. After the response messages 1318 are processed (block 1320), the target UE 1302 is aware of resource pool configuration(s) and availability of each resource for each of the three SL UE which participated in the discovery process.

[0126] The target UE 1302 then starts a configuration setup phase (block 1322), during which the target UE 1302 issues a configuration recommendation 1324 to each of the SL UEs and receives configuration response messages 1326, e.g., an ACK or NACK. In the example illustrated in FIG. 13, upon successful completion of the configuration setup phase, the SL UEs UE1 1304, UE2 1306, and UE3 1308 have selected the SL positioning resources configuration that was suggested by the target UE 1302.

[0127] In the example illustrated in FIG. 13, at some time later an SL UE may be added or deleted, e.g., UE4 1310 is added (block 1328), e.g., via another discovery process, which may trigger the start of a (re)configuration setup phase (block 1330). The target UE 1302 may issue (re)configuration recommendations 1332 to some or all of the SL UEs, including the newly added UE4 1310, and receive (re)configuration responses 1334 from those SL UEs. In the example illustrated in FIG. 13, upon successful completion of the (re)configuration setup phase, the SL UEs UE1 1304, UE2 1306, UE3 1308, and UE4 1310 have selected the SL positioning resources configuration that was suggested by the target UE 1302.

[0128] As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of the methods illustrated in FIGS. 10 through 13 is that by providing a target UE with a mechanism to influence the pos-peer UEs from which the target UE receives positioning assistance to change their SL-PRS configurations, the target UE can optimize its own power and processing requirements.

[0129] In the detailed description above it can be seen that different features are grouped together in examples. This manner of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than are explicitly mentioned in each clause. Rather, the various aspects of the disclosure may include fewer than all features of an individual example clause disclosed. Therefore, the following clauses should hereby be deemed to be incorporated in the description, wherein each clause by itself can stand as a separate example. Although each dependent clause can refer in the clauses to a specific combination with one of the other clauses, the aspect(s) of that dependent clause are not limited to the specific combination. It will be appreciated that other example clauses can also include a combination of the dependent clause aspect(s) with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause or a combination of any feature with other dependent and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein expressly include these combinations, unless it is explicitly expressed or can be readily inferred that a specific combination is not intended (e.g., contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor). Furthermore, it is also intended that aspects of a clause can be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

[0130] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0131] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a first user equipment (UE), the method comprising: identifying a set of positioning peer UEs, the set comprising at least one positioning peer UE; and performing a UE-initiated sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) configuration process, the process comprising, for each of at least one positioning peer UE in the set of positioning peer UEs, selecting a desired SL- PRS configuration to be used by the respective positioning peer UE, and indicating, to the respective positioning peer UE, the desired SL-PRS configuration.

[0132] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein identifying the set of positioning peer UEs comprises performing a sidelink (SL) positioning peer discovery process.

[0133] Clause 3. The method of any of clauses 1 to 2, wherein selecting the desired SL-PRS configuration to be used by the respective positioning peer UE comprises selecting the desired SL-PRS configuration based on a capability of the first UE, or a capability of the respective positioning peer UE, or combinations thereof.

[0134] Clause 4. The method of clause 3, wherein the capability of the first UE or the respective positioning peer UE comprises a power budget or constraint, a transmission capability, a processing capability, or combinations thereof.

[0135] Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the desired SL-PRS configuration comprises a desired periodicity, number of transactions, repetition factor, time gap between repetitions, comb size, bandwidth, resource element offset, number of symbols per slot, or scrambling identifier, or combinations thereof.

[0136] Clause 6. The method of any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein selecting the desired SL-PRS configuration to be used by the respective positioning peer UE comprises selecting the desired SL-PRS configuration from a set of resource pool configurations. [0137] Clause 7. The method of clause 6, wherein the set of resource pool configurations is common to all of the positioning peer UEs in the set of positioning peer UEs.

[0138] Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 6 to 7, wherein the set of resource pool configurations for one positioning peer UE in the set of positioning peer UEs is different from the set of resource pool configurations for another positioning peer in the set of positioning peer UEs.

[0139] Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 1 to 8, wherein indicating the desired SL-PRS configuration to the respective positioning peer UE comprises identifying one SL-PRS configuration from a set of SL-PRS configurations known to the respective positioning peer UE.

[0140] Clause 10. The method of any of clauses 1 to 9, wherein indicating the desired SL-PRS configuration to the respective positioning peer UE comprises indicating, to the respective positioning peer UE, one or more desired characteristics or attributes for a SL-PRS configuration.

[0141] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 1 to 10, further comprising: detecting a reconfiguration trigger condition; and in response to detecting the reconfiguration trigger condition, reperforming the UE-initiated SL-PRS configuration process.

[0142] Clause 12. The method of clause 11, wherein detecting the reconfiguration trigger condition comprises detecting a change in the membership of the set of positioning peer UEs, the change comprising the addition of a positioning peer UE to, or the deletion of a positioning peer UE from, the set of positioning peer UEs.

[0143] Clause 13. An apparatus comprising a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the memory, the at least one transceiver, and the at least one processor configured to perform a method according to any of clauses 1 to 12.

[0144] Clause 14. An apparatus comprising means for performing a method according to any of clauses 1 to 12.

[0145] Clause 15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable comprising at least one instruction for causing a computer or processor to perform a method according to any of clauses 1 to 12.

[0146] 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.

[0147] 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.

[0148] 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.

[0149] 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.

[0150] In one or more example aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0151] 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.