CN111356075A

CN111356075A - Multi-site positioning method and device

Info

Publication number: CN111356075A
Application number: CN201811576167.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 史桢宇; 王艺; 黄甦
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-12-22
Filing date: 2018-12-22
Publication date: 2020-06-30
Also published as: WO2020125434A1

Abstract

The application provides a method and a device for multi-site positioning, relates to the technical field of communication, and aims to solve the problem of insufficient positioning accuracy caused by RTT (round trip time) measurement in a positioning framework taking a positioning management function as a center. The method solves the problems, and improves the positioning precision by cooperatively performing RTT positioning through multiple base stations. The method comprises the following steps: the target equipment receives positioning auxiliary information sent by a positioning center, wherein the positioning auxiliary information comprises cell identifiers of a service base station and at least one neighbor base station and reference signal configuration; the target equipment carries out positioning measurement on the downlink reference signal according to the positioning auxiliary information; the target equipment sends uplink reference to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station according to the positioning auxiliary information; the target device sends a downlink positioning measurement report to the positioning center, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report comprises the receiving and sending time difference of the reference signals corresponding to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station measured by the target device.

Description

Multi-site positioning method and device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of positioning in a wireless communication system, in particular to a multi-site positioning method and a multi-site positioning device.

Background

With the continuous development of communication technology, communication between a terminal and a network node has become a common inter-device communication. It is increasingly important that network nodes locate terminals or that terminals request location services to implement specific applications. Generally, in an open outdoor scene, a Global Positioning System (GPS) is used for positioning, which can meet a satisfactory positioning accuracy requirement of several tens of meters. However, in the indoor or in the complex urban area, the positioning effect of the GPS is not ideal, and in this time, more line of sight needs to be acquired indoors or in the urban area by deploying sites, so as to achieve the positioning effect better than the GPS. With the development of the fifth generation mobile communication (5th generation mobile networks or 5th generation wireless systems, 5G) technology, the scenes that need to be considered are richer, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, internet of things and the like, and the appearance of the new scenes also puts higher requirements on indexes such as positioning accuracy and time delay. Currently, a release 16 of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) requires that the positioning accuracy meet the requirements of meter-level or even sub-meter-level positioning accuracy. The positioning accuracy of the previous version can only reach the accuracy requirement of about 30 meters basically, and a certain distance is left between the positioning accuracy of the previous version and the positioning requirement of 5G. Therefore, in order to further improve the positioning accuracy, one method is to propose a new positioning technology, and the other method is to optimize the existing positioning technology.

How to measure the distance between the base station and the terminal in mobile communication is an important technology for positioning, and the accuracy of ranging in the existing Long Term Evolution (LTE) or 5G is mainly affected by timing synchronization errors between the base stations. The timing synchronization error between the current base stations is specified as [ -130ns (nanosecond, ns), +130ns ], and the distance error is converted into [ -39m (meter, m),39m ], which is far from satisfying the positioning requirement. The timing error specified in the evaluation method of 3GPP is [ -50ns, +50ns ], and converted into a distance error of [ -15m, +15m ], and it is difficult to achieve a positioning accuracy of 10 meters even with an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) or an uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA). There is therefore a need to consider solutions that are insensitive to synchronization errors, or techniques that can overcome the timing error problem. On the other hand, 5G will also adopt a positioning architecture based on a positioning center, and how to obtain high-precision positioning under such a positioning architecture is one of the important contents of the current 5G positioning research.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present application provide a multi-site method and apparatus, which solve the problem of insufficient positioning accuracy caused by a single serving base station performing RTT measurement in an architecture with a positioning management function as a center.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the embodiment of the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

in a first aspect, a multi-site positioning method is provided, including: the target equipment receives positioning auxiliary information sent by a positioning center, wherein the positioning auxiliary information comprises cell identifiers of a service base station and at least one neighbor base station and reference signal configuration; the target equipment carries out positioning measurement on the downlink reference signal according to the positioning auxiliary information; the target equipment sends uplink reference to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station according to the positioning auxiliary information; the target device sends a downlink positioning measurement report to the positioning center, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report comprises the receiving and sending time difference of the reference signals corresponding to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station measured by the target device. In the technical scheme, the plurality of neighbor base stations are configured to send downlink positioning reference signals to the target equipment, and simultaneously the target equipment is configured to send uplink reference signals to the plurality of base stations, and the target equipment sends the receiving and sending time difference of the downlink reference signals and the uplink reference signals of the plurality of base stations or cells to the positioning center, so that the positioning center obtains the RTT of the target equipment relative to the plurality of base stations, and the positioning accuracy of the RTT is improved.

In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the reference signal configuration includes: at least one of the starting time of reference signal transmission, a transmission window, a measurement window and the information of the reference signal; the sending window comprises at least one of sending duration, sending times and sending intervals; the measurement window comprises at least one of duration of measurement, number of measurements, interval of measurement; the information of the reference signal comprises at least one of generation parameters of a reference signal sequence, a sending port, sending power, time-frequency resources and quasi-co-location relation. In the above technical solution, by receiving configuration information of downlink references from a plurality of base stations, a target device can receive downlink reference signals sent by a serving base station and a neighbor base station on configured resources, and send uplink reference signals on configured uplink resources; and the correct measurement of the target equipment and the base station is ensured through the incidence relation between the downlink reference signal and the uplink reference signal in the reference signal configuration.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the downlink positioning measurement report further includes: and receiving the cell identification corresponding to the sending time difference. In the above technical solution, the receiving and sending time difference measured by the target device corresponds to the cell identifier, so that the positioning center or the base station can identify the corresponding cell through the cell identifier, thereby completing the calculation of the correct RTT.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the downlink positioning measurement report is carried in a positioning protocol, or RRC signaling. In the above technical solution, the signaling problem of downlink positioning measurement report message transmission is solved, and in different solutions, downlink positioning measurement reports are carried in different protocols. If the type 1 TA report is found, the target device needs to send the downlink positioning measurement report to the serving base station through RRC signaling. For type 2 TA reporting, the target device sends the measurement report to a location management function (location center) directly through a location protocol, such as NRPP.

In a second aspect, a method for multi-site positioning is provided, including: a positioning center sends a downlink positioning measurement request to target equipment, wherein the downlink positioning measurement request comprises positioning auxiliary information, the positioning auxiliary information comprises cell identifiers of a serving base station and at least one neighbor base station, and reference signal configuration; the positioning center sends an uplink positioning measurement request to the service base station and at least one neighbor base station; the positioning center receives an uplink positioning measurement report sent by a service base station and/or at least one neighbor base station, the uplink positioning measurement report comprises corresponding receiving and sending time difference measured by each base station or time advance of target equipment and each base station, and the base station comprises the service base station and at least one neighbor base station. In the above technical solution, the downlink reference signal and the uplink reference signal are configured by sending the measurement request to the target device and the base station, so that the target device and the base station can obtain correct measurement resources mutually, and the measurement overhead is reduced. The RTT of the target equipment is measured by the base stations, so that the accuracy of multi-RTT measurement in an architecture taking a positioning management function as a center is improved, and the requirement of 5G measurement accuracy is met. By associating the positioning auxiliary information with the cell identifier, the target device is ensured to be capable of correctly calculating the receiving and sending time difference corresponding to each base station or cell, thereby completing correct positioning calculation.

In one possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the reference signal configuration includes: at least one of the starting time of reference signal transmission, a transmission window, a measurement window and the information of the reference signal; the sending window comprises at least one of sending duration, sending times and sending intervals; the measurement window comprises at least one of duration of measurement, number of measurements, interval of measurement; the information of the reference signal comprises at least one of generation parameters of a reference signal sequence, a sending port, sending power, time-frequency resources and quasi-co-location relation. In the technical scheme, the target device and the base station receive and/or send the reference signal on the designated resource through the reference signal configuration, so that the measurement overhead of the target device and the base station is reduced, the sending efficiency of the positioning reference signal is improved, and the correct measurement of the target device and the base station is ensured.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the downlink positioning measurement report further includes: and receiving the cell identification corresponding to the sending time difference. In the above technical solution, the receiving and sending time difference measured by the target device corresponds to the cell identifier, so that the positioning center or the base station can identify the corresponding cell through the cell identifier, thereby completing the calculation of the correct RTT.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the uplink positioning measurement report includes: and receiving the cell identification and/or the type corresponding to the sending time difference. In the above technical solution, the receiving and sending time difference in the uplink positioning measurement report is corresponding to the cell identifier, so that the positioning center or the base station can identify the corresponding cell through the cell identifier, thereby completing the calculation of the correct RTT. The type information can lead the contents of the uplink positioning measurement report reported by the base station to be different, and meet the calculation requirements of different positioning management functions.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the downlink positioning measurement report and/or the uplink positioning measurement report received by the positioning center are carried in a positioning protocol. In the above technical solution, the signaling problem of downlink positioning measurement report message transmission is solved, and in different solutions, downlink positioning measurement reports are carried in different protocols. If the type 1 TA report is found, the target device needs to send the downlink positioning measurement report to the serving base station through RRC signaling. For type 2 TA reporting, the target device sends the measurement report to a location management function (location center) directly through a location protocol, such as NRPP.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the uplink positioning measurement request includes: cell ID, uplink reference signal configuration, at least one of measurement and reporting indication; the uplink reference signal configuration comprises at least one of an initial position of uplink reference signal measurement, a measurement window and information of an uplink reference signal; the measurement window comprises at least one of duration of measurement, number of measurements, interval of measurement; the information of the uplink reference signal comprises at least one of generation parameters of a reference signal sequence, a sending port, sending power, time-frequency resources and quasi-co-location relation. In the technical scheme, the base station receives and/or transmits the reference signal on the appointed resource through the uplink positioning measurement request, so that the measurement overhead of the base station is reduced, the efficiency of transmitting the positioning reference signal is improved, and the correct measurement of the target equipment and the base station is ensured.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the positioning center receives a downlink positioning measurement report sent by the target device, where the downlink positioning measurement report includes a time difference between reception and transmission of reference signals corresponding to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station measured by the target device. In the above technical solution, the positioning management function (positioning center) can support the type 2 RTT positioning method by directly receiving the time difference between the reception and transmission of each base station measured by the target device, so that the positioning center can obtain the required positioning calculation parameters from the target device.

In one possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the positioning center sends downlink reference signal configuration to the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station. In the above technical solution, by sending the downlink reference signal configuration to the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station, the serving base station and the neighbor base station can send the downlink reference signal on a predetermined resource, thereby avoiding an interference problem caused by a collision between the downlink positioning reference signal and a reference signal or downlink data to be sent by the base station.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the positioning center receives a downlink reference signal configuration response sent by the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station, where the downlink reference signal configuration response includes a downlink reference signal configuration list. In the above technical solution, the positioning management center can coordinate the sending of the reference signals among the plurality of base stations through the downlink reference signal configuration list, and select a relatively consistent time-frequency resource to send the downlink reference signal to achieve the obtaining of the positioning parameters, so as to reduce the problem of too large positioning delay caused by a large resource difference of the reference signals of each base station.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the positioning center instructs the serving base station to send the receiving and sending time difference measured by the target device to the corresponding neighbor base station. In the above technical solution, the target device can determine which protocol is used to send the positioning measurement result through the indication information, so that different positioning methods can be supported by the same positioning system, and the method is more flexible.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the positioning center receives measurement information of multiple stations sent by the target device, where the measurement information of multiple stations includes at least one of a physical cell identifier, an RSRP, an RSRQ, an SINR, an SSB index, and a CSI-RS index. In the above technical solution, through the measurement information of multiple sites, the positioning management function (positioning center) can select the neighbor base station according to the measurement information of the target device, so that the neighbor base station selected by the positioning management function is valid, thereby avoiding the problem that the neighbor base station selected by the positioning management function may be invalid without the measurement information of the target device, and further causing insufficient positioning accuracy.

In another aspect of the present application, a terminal is provided, where the terminal is configured to implement the functions of the multi-site positioning method provided in any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect, where the functions may be implemented by hardware, and may also be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software comprises one or more units corresponding to the functions.

In a possible implementation manner, the structure of the terminal includes a processor configured to support the user equipment to perform the method for multi-site positioning provided in the first aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect. Optionally, the terminal may further comprise a memory having code and data stored therein, the memory being coupled to the processor, and a communication interface coupled to the processor or the memory.

In another aspect of the present application, a positioning node is provided, where the positioning node is configured to implement the functions of the multi-site positioning method provided in any one of the foregoing second aspect and possible implementation manners of the second aspect, where the functions may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software comprises one or more units corresponding to the functions.

In one possible implementation, the positioning node includes a processor in a structure, and the processor is configured to support the network node to execute the functions of the multi-site positioning method provided in the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect. Optionally, the network node may further comprise a memory in which code required for the processing and/or baseband processor is stored, the memory being coupled to the processor, and a communication interface coupled to the memory or the processor.

In a further aspect of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which has instructions stored therein, and when the instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is enabled to execute the method for multi-site positioning provided by the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect, or the method for measurement reporting provided by the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a further aspect of the present application, a computer program product is provided, which comprises instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method for multi-site positioning as provided in the first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect, or the second aspect or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In yet another aspect of the present application, a communication system is provided, which includes a plurality of devices including a terminal, a positioning node; the terminal is provided in the above aspects, and is configured to support the terminal to execute the method for multi-site positioning provided in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect; and/or the positioning node is a positioning node provided in the above aspects, and is configured to support a network node to perform the multi-site positioning method provided in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In another aspect of the application, an apparatus, which is a processor, an integrated circuit, or a chip, is provided for performing steps performed by a processing unit of a terminal in the embodiments of the present invention, for example, performing measurement on a received reference signal, and sending an uplink reference signal to a serving base station and at least one neighbor base station, and reporting a measurement result. The apparatus is further configured to perform the terminal processes or actions already described in the foregoing other aspects or embodiments, and therefore, the details are not repeated here.

In yet another aspect of the application, another apparatus is provided, which is a processor, an integrated circuit or a chip, for performing the steps performed by the processing unit of the positioning node in the embodiments of the present invention. And the support positioning node performs the functions of processing the messages of the downlink reference signal configuration and the uplink reference signal configuration sent by the positioning node to the base station, selecting the neighbor base station, performing RTT calculation according to the measurement result sent by the base station and/or the target equipment, and the like. The other apparatus is further configured to perform the processing or actions of the positioning node already described in the foregoing other aspects or embodiments, and is not described here again.

It is understood that the apparatus, the computer storage medium, or the computer program product of the multi-site positioning method provided above are all configured to execute the corresponding method provided above, and therefore, the beneficial effects achieved by the apparatus, the computer storage medium, or the computer program product may refer to the beneficial effects of the corresponding method provided above, and are not described herein again.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a positioning system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a main measurement and reporting flow of RTT of LTE according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of RTT measurement performed by multiple base stations according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for obtaining base station reference configuration information by an LMF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a possible structure of a target device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a possible logical structure of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a possible structure of a positioning node according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a possible logical structure of a positioning node according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments, and all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without inventive work are within the scope of the present invention.

It should be understood that the names of all nodes and messages in the present application are only names set for convenience of description in the present application, and the names in the actual network may be different, and it should not be understood that the present application defines the names of various nodes and messages, on the contrary, any name having the same or similar function as the node or message used in the present application is considered as a method or equivalent replacement in the present application, and is within the protection scope of the present application, and will not be described in detail below.

In the 5G system, a positioning architecture based on a positioning center is still adopted, and in the positioning architecture based on the positioning center, how to further improve the positioning accuracy by using a Round Trip Time (RTT) positioning technology is a positioning method considered in the 5G positioning, and especially, it is an important direction of research to realize 5G high-accuracy positioning by using multiple RTTs (multiple RTTs).

In order to better understand the method and apparatus for time synchronization disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention, a network architecture used in the embodiments of the present invention is described below. Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system to which the present embodiment is applied.

It should be noted that, the communication systems mentioned in the embodiments of the present application include, but are not limited to: a narrowband-internet of things (NB-IoT) system, a Wireless Local Access Network (WLAN) system, an LTE system, a next generation 5G mobile communication system, or a communication system after 5G, such as an NR, device to device (D2D) communication system.

In the communication system shown in fig. 1, a conventional positioning system architecture 100 is presented. A positioning system 100 at least includes a target device 101, a Base Station (BS) 102, an Access Management Function (AMF) 103, and a positioning Management Function (LMF) 104. The location system 100 may also include an enhanced serving mobile management center (E-SMLC) and Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) location platform (SLP) 106. Where SLP 106 is used for user plane positioning and E-SMLC 105 is used for control plane positioning. The base stations 102 include 5G base stations and/or next generation base stations of LTE.

The target device 101 in the positioning system includes but is not limited to: user Equipment (UE), a mobile station, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, a station (station, ST) in a Wireless Local Access Network (WLAN), a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capability, a computing device, other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle mounted device, a wearable device, a mobile station in a future 5G network, and a terminal device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network, etc. The target device may also be referred to as a terminal device or a terminal, and will not be described in detail below.

The base station 102 may include a plurality of base stations 102 including a serving base station and neighbor base stations, which refer to base stations adjacent to the serving base station. Base station 102 includes, but is not limited to: an evolved node B (eNB), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a Base Station Controller (BSC), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved node B (HNB)), a Base Band Unit (BBU), an LTE (evolved LTE, LTE) base station, an NR base station (next generation node B, gbb), and the like.

In the positioning system 100, message transmission between the target device 101 and/or the base station 102 and the LMF is transmitted through an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP).

For convenience of description, terms or concepts related to the embodiments of the present application are explained below.

Wave beam: the communication resource may be a wide beam, a narrow beam, or other types of beams. The technique for forming the beam may be a beamforming technique, or may be other techniques. The beamforming technique may be a digital beamforming technique, an analog beamforming technique, or a hybrid beamforming technique. Different beams may be considered different resources. The terminal and the network node may transmit the same information or different information through different beams.

Multiple beams having the same or similar communication characteristics may be considered as one beam. One beam may include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, sounding signals, and the like, for example, a transmission beam may refer to the distribution of signal strength formed in different spatial directions after signals are transmitted through the antenna, and a reception beam may refer to the distribution of signal strength in different spatial directions of wireless signals received from the antenna.

The one or more antenna ports forming one beam may be regarded as one set of antenna ports. The beam may also be embodied in a spatial filter (spatial filter) in the protocol. The information of the beam may be identified by index information. The index information may correspond to a resource identifier of the configured terminal, for example, the index information may correspond to an Identifier (ID) or a resource of the configured CSI-RS, or may correspond to an ID or a resource of a configured uplink sounding signal (SRS). The index information may also be index information explicitly or implicitly carried by a signal or channel carried by the beam, for example, the index information may be index information indicating the beam by a Synchronization Signal (SS) or PBCH transmitted through the beam.

The identification of the information of the beam may include an absolute index of the beam, a relative index of the beam, a logical index of the beam, an index of an antenna port corresponding to the beam, an index of an antenna port group corresponding to the beam, a time index of a downlink SS block, beam corresponding connection (BPL) information or index, a transmission parameter (Tx parameter) or index corresponding to the beam, a reception parameter (Rx parameter) or index corresponding to the beam, a transmission weight (weight) or index corresponding to the beam, a weight matrix (weight vector), a weight vector (weight matrix), a reception weight corresponding to the beam, a transmission codebook (codebook) or index corresponding to the beam, a reception codebook or index corresponding to the beam, and so on.

Positioning protocol: the positioning protocol is a higher layer protocol, and includes LPP and/or New Radio Positioning Protocol (NRPP). As used herein, unless otherwise specified, a positioning protocol generally refers to any protocol for transmitting positioning parameters or information, which includes one or more messages for enabling the interaction of positioning parameters or information between positioning network elements. The positioning network element includes, but is not limited to, a target device, a base station, a positioning center, and other devices or apparatuses for positioning.

The service base station: the serving base station may also be referred to as a serving cell (serving cell), and refers to a base station or a cell that establishes a connection with a target device. Generally, the serving base station implements information transmission with the terminal, such as transmission of measurement reports, configuration of positioning parameters, and the like.

Neighbor base stations: the neighbor base station may also be referred to as a neighbor cell (neighbor cell), and refers to a base station or a cell to which the target device may receive the reference signal sent by the base station, but does not establish a connection with the target device. The neighbor base stations are relative to the serving base station, and the target device may receive signals of the neighbor base stations, which may be referred to as neighbor base stations of the serving base station. The serving base station and the neighbor base stations may not be directly adjacent base stations. The serving base station may communicate directly or indirectly, including through other devices or base stations, with neighboring base stations through wired or wireless connections.

Quasi co-location relationship (QCL): for indicating one or more same or similar communication characteristics among the plurality of resources, the same or similar communication configuration may be adopted for the plurality of resources having QCL relationship.

For example, if two antenna ports have a co-located relationship, the large scale characteristics of the channel in which one port transmits one symbol may be inferred from the large scale characteristics of the channel in which the other port transmits one symbol. The large-scale characteristics may include delay spread, average delay, doppler spread, doppler shift, average gain, reception parameters, terminal reception beam number, transmit/receive channel correlation, angle of arrival (AOA) received, spatial correlation of receiver antennas, primary AOA, average AOA, spread of AOA, and the like.

Specifically, the QCL may be specified by a quasi co-location indicator, where the quasi co-location indicator is used to indicate whether at least two groups of antenna ports have a quasi co-location relationship, and the method includes: the quasi-co-location indication is used to indicate whether the SCI-RSs transmitted by at least two groups of antenna ports are from the same transmission point or beam group. The network node may notify the terminal that the port transmitting the RS has the QCL relationship, and assist the terminal in receiving and demodulating the RS. For example, the terminal can confirm that the a port and the B port have QCL relationship, i.e., large-scale parameters of the RS measured on the a port can be used for measurement and demodulation of the RS on the B port.

In the existing LTE positioning protocol, the RTT-based positioning method is included in the enhanced cell identity (E-CID) positioning method. Fig. 2 shows the main RTT measurement and reporting process of LTE. Fig. 2(a) is a process of reporting an RTT measurement result through a base station, and fig. 2(b) is a process of reporting an RTT measurement result through a target device.

In fig. 2(a), after the E-SMLC performs the request capability, the E-SMLC obtains the positioning capability of the target device, and initiates an LTE positioning protocol duplicate (LPPa) measurement initiation request to the base station, so that an RRC measurement process is performed between the base station and the target device, and after the RRC measurement is completed, the base station sends the measurement result to the E-SMLC.

The RTT location measurement process of fig. 2(b) is substantially similar, except that the location information is provided to the E-SMLC by the target device directly through LPP, and is not described in detail.

In the positioning measurement of RTT in LTE, the positioning measurement is performed only by the serving base station, and the measurement is performed by the E-CID-based method, so that the measurement accuracy is very limited, and the direction of the target device in the cell cannot be obtained, and thus it is difficult to obtain high-accuracy positioning.

The method is mainly based on a next generation positioning framework, an E-CID method is adopted, and a service base station and at least one neighbor base station are utilized to realize RTT measurement, so that positioning measurement with higher precision compared with RTT of E-CID of LTE can be obtained.

In order to implement the high-precision positioning, this embodiment adopts a multi-station positioning method, which includes: the target equipment receives positioning auxiliary information sent by a positioning center, wherein the positioning auxiliary information comprises cell identifiers of a service base station and at least one neighbor base station and pilot frequency configuration information; the target equipment carries out positioning measurement on the downlink reference signal according to the positioning auxiliary information; the target equipment sends uplink reference signals to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station according to the positioning auxiliary information; and the target equipment sends a downlink positioning measurement report to the positioning center, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report comprises the receiving and sending time difference (Rx-Tx time difference) of the reference signals corresponding to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station measured by the target equipment.

Wherein the reference signal configuration comprises: at least one of the starting time of reference signal transmission, a transmission window, a measurement window and the information of the reference signal; the sending window comprises at least one of sending duration, sending times and sending intervals; the measurement window comprises at least one of duration of measurement, number of measurements, interval of measurement; the information of the reference signal comprises at least one of generation parameters of a reference signal sequence, a sending port, sending power, time-frequency resources and quasi-co-location relation.

The downlink positioning measurement report further comprises: and receiving a cell identification (cell ID) corresponding to the sending time difference.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating RTT measurements performed by multiple base stations according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 3 includes a serving base station and at least one neighbor base station (3 are taken as an example in the figure). In the example shown in fig. 3, a Location Management Function (LMF) is used as a center, and the Location Management Function (LMF) controls a plurality of base stations to cooperatively measure RTT, where the location management function is also called a location center and is described below using the LMF. The plurality of base stations includes a serving base station and at least one neighbor base station. The method comprises the following steps:

and S301, positioning capability interaction is carried out between the target equipment and the LMF. The location capability interaction may be that the LMF requests the location capability of the target device, and the target device reports the location capability to the LMF after receiving the location capability. The positioning capability information interaction can refer to the existing positioning capability process, and is not described in detail.

S302, the LMF sends downlink reference signal (re) configuration to a plurality of base stations.

The plurality of base stations includes a serving base station and at least one neighbor base station. Wherein the configuration may also be a reconfiguration. The downlink reference signal includes, but is not limited to, a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS), a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), and an SRS. Hereinafter, the same will be described.

The LMF determines which base stations do RTT measurement, after the LMF sends downlink reference signal (re) configuration to the base stations through NRPP copies (NRPP annex, NRPPa), the base stations send downlink reference signal configuration response to the LMF through the NRPPa, the downlink reference signal configuration response comprises a downlink reference signal configuration list, and the reference signal configuration list is used for selecting and configuring downlink positioning reference signals by target equipment. Therefore, the LMF may perform downlink reference signal configuration on multiple base stations in a negotiation process, the LMF may first request, through the downlink reference signal configuration, the multiple base stations to give out possible downlink reference signal information, and each base station may feed back the information of the multiple possible downlink reference signals. And the LMF determines the downlink reference signal sent by each base station according to the downlink reference signal fed back by each base station so as to be used for positioning the target equipment.

The downlink reference signal configuration includes a start position (or time) of downlink reference signal measurement, a transmission window, information of a downlink reference signal, and the like. The LMF may specify a start time of downlink reference signal transmission, a transmission window. And feeding back the information of the downlink reference signals by the plurality of base stations. Wherein, the transmission window may include, but is not limited to, at least one of a transmission duration, a number of transmissions, and a transmission interval. The information of the downlink reference signal may include, but is not limited to, at least one of a generation parameter of a reference signal sequence, a transmission port, transmission power, a time-frequency resource, and a quasi-co-location relationship.

The above message transmission via NRPPa protocol is only an example, and may also be an LPP copy (LPP annex, LPPa), and the specific application is not limited, and the following is the same and is not described again.

S303, the LMF sends uplink reference signal (re) configuration to the plurality of base stations. This step is similar to step S302, except that the LMF configures a plurality of base stations to perform uplink reference signal measurement. The uplink reference signal configuration includes, but is not limited to, at least one of a start position (or time) of uplink reference signal measurement, a measurement window, and information of an uplink reference signal.

The uplink reference signal includes, but is not limited to, a sounding reference signal, DMRS, and the like. The plurality of base stations can configure the starting time and the measurement window of the possible uplink reference signal measurement. The measurement window may include, but is not limited to, at least one of a duration of measurement, a number of measurements, and a measurement interval, and the measurement window may also be referred to as a search window, which refers to a time range in which the base station searches for the uplink reference signal. The information of the uplink reference signal may include, but is not limited to, at least one of a generation parameter of a reference signal sequence, a transmission port, transmission power, a time-frequency resource, and a quasi-co-location relationship. The LMF may specify reception of uplink references of multiple base stations, and may also determine uplink reference signal configuration through negotiation, which is not limited in the specific implementation of the present application.

Similarly, since the uplink reference signal also needs resources, in order to avoid interference, the LMF may also negotiate with multiple base stations through a request process to determine the resource for each base station to receive the uplink reference signal. Specifically, each base station gives time-frequency resources of the uplink reference signal, start time of measurement, a measurement window, and the like. And the LMF configures the sending of the uplink reference signal of the target equipment according to the information.

It should be understood that the downlink reference signal and the uplink reference signal of each base station need to be matched, that is, the target device should be able to transmit the uplink reference signal soon after receiving the downlink reference signal. Specific implementations are not limiting of the present application.

It should be understood that the above steps S302 and S303 may be completed by one step, or may be implemented by dividing into two steps as shown above, and the specific implementation is not limited in this application.

S304, the LMF sends a downlink positioning measurement request to the target equipment.

The downlink positioning measurement request is carried in the NRPP, and the downlink positioning measurement request includes positioning assistance information. The positioning assistance information includes Cell ID, reference signal configuration. The reference signal configuration comprises a downlink reference signal configuration and/or an uplink reference signal configuration. The downlink positioning measurement request also comprises the steps of indicating the target equipment to measure the downlink reference signal and reporting the measurement result. The Cell ID corresponds to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station, and each base station associates the Cell ID, the information of the downlink reference signal and the information of the uplink reference signal. Since each cell or base station transmits a reference signal, it also receives the SRS transmitted by the target device.

It should be understood that the cell identifier (cell ID) includes a cell ID, a Global Cell Identifier (GCI), a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI), a transmission point identifier (TP ID), an identifier of a base station, and the like, which are the same below and are not described in detail.

The reference signal configuration (downlink reference signal configuration and/or uplink reference signal configuration) includes, but is not limited to, at least one of a start time of reference signal transmission, a transmission window or a measurement window (measurement window is also referred to as a search window), and information of a reference signal. The information of the transmission window, the measurement window and the reference signal is as described above and is not described again. It should be understood that for downlink reference signals, the reference signal configuration may indicate a measurement window, and for uplink reference signals, the transmission window may be indicated.

S305, the LMF sends an uplink positioning measurement request to a plurality of base stations.

The uplink positioning measurement request sent by the LMF to the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station through the NRPPa includes positioning assistance information, where the positioning assistance information includes but is not limited to at least one of Cell ID, uplink reference signal configuration, measurement and reporting indication. The uplink reference signal configuration is as described above and is not described again.

The reference signal is configured through steps S304 and S305, so that the target device and a plurality of base stations may measure the reference signal, and the relevant parameters of RTT calculation may be obtained through the measurement of the reference signal. For example, the target device may measure the downlink reference signal and the uplink reference signal, and may measure a receiving and transmitting time difference between the downlink reference signal corresponding to a certain cell or base station and the uplink reference signal transmitted to the corresponding cell or base station. The base station can obtain the time difference between the sending of the downlink reference signal and the receiving of the uplink reference signal sent by the target device through the receiving of the uplink reference signal. Through the measurement information of the target device and the base stations, the LMF can calculate RTTs of the cells or the base stations, so that more accurate positioning calculation is realized.

S306a, the target device performs downlink reference signal measurement.

And after receiving a downlink positioning measurement request sent by the LMF, the target equipment receives a downlink reference signal on a specified time frequency resource according to the downlink reference signal configuration. The measurement of the reference signal is the same as the measurement process of the existing reference signal, and is not repeated.

S306b, the plurality of base stations perform uplink reference signal measurement.

After receiving an uplink positioning measurement request sent by an LMF, a plurality of base stations receive uplink reference signals on a specified time-frequency resource according to uplink reference signal configuration. The measurement of the reference signal is the same as the measurement process of the existing reference signal, and is not repeated.

And S307, the target equipment sends a downlink positioning measurement report to the LMF.

The downlink positioning measurement report contains the Rx-Tx time difference of the target device. The report of the downlink positioning measurement report can be reported in two ways: one is that the target device reports Rx-Tx time difference to LMF through NRPP; the other is that the target device reports to the serving base station through RRC, and then the serving base station reports to the positioning center through NRPPa. The specific implementation is not a limitation of the present application. It should be understood that NRPP or NRPPa is only an example and other positioning protocols, such as LPP, etc., are also possible.

The Rx-Tx time difference included in the downlink positioning measurement report is a time difference between the receiving time of the downlink reference signal and the transmitting time of the uplink reference signal corresponding to the same base station or cell in the downlink reference signal configuration and the uplink reference signal configuration. Therefore, the downlink positioning measurement report includes the cell identifier corresponding to the Rx-Tx time difference. By associating the Rx-Tx time difference with the cell identity, the LMF can unambiguously determine which cell the Rx-Tx time difference is in the multi-site RTT measurement, and thus use the correct parameters for the calculation of the RTT.

S308, the base station sends an uplink positioning measurement report to the LMF.

The uplink positioning measurement report includes corresponding receiving and sending time difference measured by each base station, or timing advance of the target device and each base station, and the base station includes a serving base station and may also include at least one neighbor base station.

The uplink positioning measurement report comprises a cell identification and/or a type corresponding to the receiving and sending time difference.

Each base station sends an uplink positioning measurement report to the LMF through the NRPPa, and the uplink positioning measurement report includes Timing Advance (TA) of the base station. There are two types of base stations TA: the first type (type 1) is Rx-Txtime difference of the base station and Rx-Tx time difference of the target device, and the information needs the target device to report the Rx-Tx time difference and then report the Rx-Tx time difference to the positioning center; the second type (type 2) is the Rx-Tx timing reference of the base station. Therefore, the uplink positioning measurement report sent by the base station may further include a TA type indication, and the type indication may be type 1 or type 2.

If the base station reports type 1, the Rx-Tx timing reference measured by the target device needs to be obtained. In the multi-site RTT measurement, there is usually only one serving base station, and the neighbor base station does not establish a connection with the target device, so the target device cannot directly send the measured Rx-Tx time difference of the neighbor base station to the neighbor base station. At this time, the target device may transmit the Rx-Tx time differences of all cells or base stations to the serving base station, and the serving base station transmits the Rx-Tx time differences to the neighbor base stations. In order to facilitate the serving base station to send the Rx-Tx time difference of the neighbor base station sent by the target device to the corresponding neighbor base station, the Rx-Tx time difference measured by the target device needs to be sent to the serving base station through an RRC protocol, and the serving base station sends the Rx-Tx time difference corresponding to each cell or base station to the neighbor base station through an Xn interface according to the association relationship between the Rx-Tx time difference and the cell.

In order to implement the type 1 function, the LMF needs to instruct the serving base station to transmit the receiving and transmitting time difference measured by the target device to the corresponding neighbor base station. The indication may be indicated by type 1 TA, and if the TA type received from the LMF is type 1, the serving base station needs to send the receiving and sending time difference measured by the target device to the corresponding neighbor base station. This may be defined by means of protocol definitions. The LMF may further instruct the serving base station to transmit the receiving and transmitting time difference measured by the target device to the corresponding neighbor base station through a dedicated indication message. The specific implementation is not a limitation of the present application.

It should be understood that if reporting of type 1 with multiple base stations is supported, step S307 is not necessary, since the LMF can already locate the target device according to the measurement parameters provided by multiple base stations.

In a possible implementation, at least one neighbor base station sends the receiving and sending time difference obtained by the up and down positioning measurement to the service base station, and the service base station sends the uplink positioning measurement report to the LMF in a unified way. Correspondingly, if the neighbor base station needs to send the uplink positioning measurement result through the serving base station, the LMF needs to configure the neighbor base station to send the uplink positioning measurement result to the serving base station. Specifically, an indication may be added to the uplink reference signal (re) configuration message in step S303, and the information of the serving base station is notified to the neighbor base station, where the information of the serving base station includes, but is not limited to, at least one of a cell identifier and a physical address (e.g., an IP (internet protocol) address) of the serving base station.

Similarly, the LMF adds an indication to an uplink reference signal (re) configuration message sent to the serving base station, and instructs the serving base station to report uplink positioning measurement results of multiple sites in a unified manner. Specifically, the uplink reference signal (re) configuration message sent to the serving base station further includes at least one of a cell identifier and a physical address of the neighbor base station.

Therefore, the LMF receives the serving base station and/or at least one neighbor base station to send an uplink positioning measurement report, where the uplink positioning measurement report includes a corresponding receiving and sending time difference measured by each base station, or a time advance of the target device and each base station, and the base stations include the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station. The specific implementation is not restricted in this application and depends on the protocol definition or implementation.

And sending the RTT to the LMF through the base station, so that the LMF can obtain the RTTs measured by a plurality of base stations, and the LMF can calculate more accurate positioning of the target equipment. Compared with the traditional method of measuring the RTT by only using one service base station, the method obviously improves the positioning precision based on the enhanced cell identification (E-CID), and meets the positioning requirement of higher precision of the future 5G.

S309, the LMF calculates RTT.

After the LMF obtains the Rx-Tx time difference of the target equipment to each cell or base station and the Rx-Tx time difference of the target equipment measured by the base station, or obtains the timing advance information of type 1 provided by a plurality of base stations, the position of the target equipment can be accurately calculated.

Specifically, since the positions of the plurality of base stations are known, the distances from the target device to the respective base stations or cells can be calculated through the measured Rx-Tx time difference, and the plurality of base stations can determine the spatially unique position of the target device through a curve. The specific calculation may refer to the existing calculation method, and is not described in detail.

It should be appreciated that the greater the number of base stations participating in the RTT measurement, the greater the accuracy of the calculation for the target device. For example, there may be multiple possibilities for the target device to be measured by the two base station measurements, because the point where the sphere or arc centered on the two base stations intersects may be the location of the target device. But through measurements from multiple base stations, a unique spatial location of the target device can be obtained, including the height from the ground.

Through the embodiment, the target equipment is measured by one service base station and at least one auxiliary base station, the accurate position information of the target equipment can be obtained, and compared with the traditional RTT measurement based on the service base station, the positioning accuracy of the target equipment is obviously improved by adopting a multi-site RTT positioning measurement method, and the requirement of 5G high-precision positioning is met. The above-mentioned embodiment provides an RTT positioning method for implementing multi-site cooperation based on a conventional LMF-centric positioning architecture, and the RTT positioning method for multi-site is implemented through interaction of various messages and configuration of positioning parameters.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for obtaining base station reference configuration information by an LMF according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In fig. 4, it is mainly considered that in a 5G network, due to the use of beams, the target device may not all receive beams of neighbor base stations, for example, the target device may not be able to receive signals transmitted by other base stations in a certain direction due to the orientation of the target device. Therefore, before the LMF determines that the neighbor base station performs RTT positioning measurement in cooperation with the serving base station, it is necessary to obtain base station information that can be measured by the target device, so as to determine the neighbor base station participating in positioning according to the measurement information of the target device. The embodiment shown in fig. 4 comprises the following steps:

s401 and the synchronization step S301 are not described again.

S402, the LMF sends a measurement information reporting request to the target equipment and/or the service base station.

Due to the connection between the target device and the serving base station, it is possible that the serving base station has mobility measurement information of the target device, from which the LMF can determine the neighbor base stations participating in the positioning.

If the serving base station does not have the mobility information of the target device, or the time for the existence of the mobility information of the target device exceeds a certain threshold, the information of the neighbor base station which can be measured by the current base station cannot be accurately reflected, and the serving base station can further configure the target device to perform mobility measurement and report a mobility measurement result.

The LMF can also directly send a measurement information reporting request to the target equipment. After receiving the measurement information reporting request, the target device may directly send the mobility measurement result to the LMF if the mobility measurement result is already available. If the target device has no mobility measurement result or the mobility measurement result exists for a time longer than a certain threshold, the mobility measurement needs to be performed again to obtain the latest mobility measurement result. The specific mobility measurement is the same as the existing mobility measurement mechanism, and is not described in detail.

The LMF can also send a measurement information reporting request to the serving base station and the target device at the same time.

The measurement information reporting request sent by the LMF to the serving base station is carried in a positioning protocol copy, for example, NRPPa or LPPa. The measurement information report request sent by the LMF to the target device is carried in a positioning protocol, such as NRPP or LPP.

The measurement information reporting request may also specify a threshold that the reported reference signal needs to satisfy. The threshold of the reference signal and the mobility measurement are not described again.

And S403, the serving base station and/or the target device sends a measurement information reporting response to the LFM.

The measurement information reporting response includes a mobility measurement result of the target device. Wherein the mobility measurement result comprises at least one of a cell identification (cell ID), an RSRP, an RSRQ, an SINR, an SSB index and a CSI-RS index associated with each measured reference signal. It should be understood that the measurement information reporting response may also be considered to include at least one of a cell identifier (cell ID), an RSRP, an RSRQ, an SINR, an SSB index, and a CSI-RS index associated with each measured reference signal.

In one possible implementation, the target device sends the mobility measurement result to the serving base station via RRC signaling and indicates that the measurement result needs to be sent to the LMF. The serving base station sends the mobility measurements to the LMF via a copy of the positioning protocol, e.g., NRPPa.

In one possible implementation, the target device sends the mobility measurements to the LMF via a positioning protocol, such as the NRPP or LPP protocol.

After receiving the mobility measurement result of the target device, the LMF determines the neighbor base station which can participate in positioning according to the mobility measurement result.

It should be understood that the above steps S402 and S403 can be applied not only to the multi-site RTT measurement, but also to other positioning measurement methods, and can be implemented as a separate embodiment, without depending on the positioning measurement method of the multi-site RTT.

Steps S404 to S411 are the same as steps S302 to S309, and are not described again.

Through the embodiment, the LMF selects the neighbor base station by acquiring the mobility measurement result of the target device, so that the availability of the selected neighbor base station in the positioning measurement can be improved, the measurement of the selected neighbor base station is effective, and the influence of wrong selection on the positioning measurement precision is avoided.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application is introduced mainly from the perspective of interaction between network elements. It will be appreciated that the respective network elements, such as the target device and the positioning management function (or positioning center), for example, comprise respective hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions in order to implement the above-described functions. Those of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the present application is capable of being implemented as hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software for performing the exemplary network elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. 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 application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the target device and the positioning node may be divided into functional modules according to the above method examples, for example, the functional modules may be divided, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. It should also be understood that the functional modules of the target device in this application do not include all the functional modules of the target device, but include only the functional modules related to this application, and the positioning node is the same, and is not described again.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the target device involved in the above embodiments provided in the present application. The target device includes: receiving section 501, processing section 502, and transmitting section 503. A receiving unit 501, configured to support a target device to perform S301 and S304 in fig. 3, and S401, S402, and S406 in fig. 4; a processing unit 502, configured to support a target device to perform downlink reference signal measurement in S306a in fig. 3, or downlink reference signal measurement in S408a in fig. 4, or processing of receiving and sending a message in fig. 3 and 4; a sending unit 503, configured to support the target device to perform S307 in fig. 3 and S409 in fig. 4.

In terms of hardware implementation, the receiving unit 501 may be a receiver, the transmitting unit 503 may be a transmitter, and the receiver and the transmitter are integrated in a communication unit to form a communication interface.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a possible logical structure of a target device involved in the foregoing embodiments provided in an embodiment of the present application. The target device includes: a processor 602. In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 602 is configured to control and manage the action of the target device, for example, the processor 602 is configured to support the target device to perform S306a in fig. 3, S408a in fig. 4, and the processing of the received message and the sent message in fig. 3 and 4 in the foregoing embodiments. Optionally, the target device may further include: a memory 601 and a communication interface 603; the processor 602, the communication interface 603, and the memory 601 may be connected to each other or to each other through a bus 604. Wherein the communication interface 603 is adapted to support communication with the target device, and the memory 601 is adapted to store program codes and data of the target device. The processor 602 calls the code stored in the memory 601 for control management. The memory 601 may or may not be coupled to the processor. The communication interface 603 is used for controlling and managing the receiving and sending actions performed by the target device in fig. 3 and 4, and the received or sent message is processed by the processor 602

The processor 602 may be, among other things, a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. The bus 604 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 6, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

The processor 602, the memory 601 and the communication interface 603 may also be integrated in an application specific integrated circuit, such as a processing chip, or a processing circuit. The communication interface 603 may be a communication interface including wireless transmission and reception, or may be an interface of a digital signal input after processing a received wireless signal by another processing circuit.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a possible structure of a positioning node according to the above embodiment provided in the present application. In the present application, a positioning node is a positioning server or a positioning management function. The positioning node comprises: a transmitting unit 701 and a receiving unit 703. The sending unit 701 is configured to support the positioning node to execute S301, S302, S303, S304, and S305 in fig. 3, and S401, S402, S404, S405, S406, and S407 in fig. 4; the receiving unit 703 is configured to support the positioning node to perform S301, S302, S303, S307, S308 in fig. 3, S305 in fig. 4, S401, S403, S404, S405, S409, S410 in fig. 4.

The positioning node may further include a processing unit 702 configured to support the positioning node to perform selection of a neighbor base station by the positioning node in the foregoing method embodiment, S309 in the embodiment of fig. 3, S411 in the embodiment of fig. 4, and the like.

In terms of hardware implementation, the sending unit 701 may be a sender, the receiving unit 703 may be a receiver, and the receiver and the sender are integrated in a communication unit to form a communication interface.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a possible logical structure of a positioning node according to the foregoing embodiments provided in the present application. The positioning node comprises: a processor 802. In the embodiment of the present application, the processor 802 is configured to control and manage the operation of the positioning node, for example, the processor 802 is configured to support the positioning node to perform the processing of various messages in the receiving unit 703, the sending unit 701, and the processing unit 702 in the foregoing embodiments, the selection of a neighbor node, the calculation of RTT from a measurement result received from a target device or a base station, and the like. Optionally, the positioning node may further include: a memory 801 and a communication interface 803; the processor 802, communication interface 803, and memory 801 may be interconnected or interconnected by a bus 804. Wherein the communication interface 803 is used for supporting the positioning node to communicate, and the memory 801 is used for storing program codes and data of the positioning node. The processor 802 calls the code stored in the memory 801 to perform control management. The memory 801 may or may not be coupled to the processor.

The processor 802 may be, among other things, a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. The bus 804 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 8, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

The processor 802, the memory 801 and the communication interface 803 may also be integrated in an application specific integrated circuit, such as a processing chip, or may be a processing circuit. The communication interface 803 may be a communication interface including wireless transmission and reception, or may be an interface of a digital signal input after processing a received wireless signal by another processing circuit.

In another embodiment of the present application, a readable storage medium is further provided, where the readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when one device (which may be a single chip, a chip, or the like) or a processor executes the steps of locating a target device or a node in the multi-site locating method in fig. 3 or fig. 4, the computer-executable instructions in the storage medium are read. The aforementioned readable storage medium may include: u disk, removable hard disk, read only memory, random access memory, magnetic or optical disk, etc. for storing program codes.

In another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium; the computer executable instructions may be read by at least one processor of the device from a computer readable storage medium, and the execution of the computer executable instructions by the at least one processor causes the device to implement the steps of locating a node, a target device, in the multi-site location method provided in fig. 3 and 4.

In another embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a communication system including at least one target device, one positioning node, one serving base station and at least one neighbor base station. Wherein, the target device may be the target device provided in fig. 5 or fig. 6, and is configured to perform the steps of the target device in the multi-site positioning method provided in fig. 3 or fig. 4; and/or the positioning node may be the positioning node provided in fig. 7 or fig. 8 and is configured to perform the steps performed by the positioning node in the multi-site positioning method provided in fig. 3 or fig. 4. It should be understood that the communication system may include multiple target devices and a positioning node, where a target device may measure reference signals sent by multiple positioning nodes and send uplink reference signals to a positioning node, and a target device measures a time difference between receiving and sending downlink reference signals and uplink reference signals of the same cell or base station, and reports the measurement result to a serving base station through RRC, or sends the measurement result to a positioning center through a positioning protocol (positioning management function).

In the embodiment of the application, the target device receives the reference signals sent by the multiple base stations, measures the reference signals, and simultaneously sends the uplink reference signals, so that the multiple base stations can measure the uplink reference signals sent by the target device, the terminal measures the receiving and sending time difference between the downlink reference signals and the uplink reference signals of the same cell or base station, and reports the measurement result, so that the positioning center obtains the RTT between each base station and the target device, thereby accurately positioning the position of the target device. By the method, the positioning method of the RTT is more accurate in a positioning framework based on a positioning management function as a center, and the requirement of 5G on positioning accuracy is met.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above description is only an embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure should be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A multi-site positioning method, comprising:

the target equipment receives positioning auxiliary information sent by a positioning center, wherein the positioning auxiliary information comprises cell identifiers of a service base station and at least one neighbor base station and reference signal configuration;

the target equipment carries out positioning measurement on the downlink reference signal according to the positioning auxiliary information;

the target equipment sends uplink reference signals to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station according to the positioning auxiliary information;

and the target equipment sends a downlink positioning measurement report to the positioning center, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report comprises the receiving and sending time difference of the reference signals corresponding to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station measured by the target equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference signal configuration comprises: at least one of the starting time of the reference signal transmission, a transmission window, a measurement window and the information of the reference signal;

the sending window comprises at least one of sending duration, sending times and sending intervals;

the measurement window comprises at least one of duration of measurement, number of measurements, and interval of measurement;

the information of the reference signal comprises at least one of generation parameters of a reference signal sequence, a sending port, sending power, time-frequency resources and quasi co-location relation.

3. The method according to any of claims 1 or 2, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report further comprises: and receiving the cell identification corresponding to the sending time difference.

4. The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report is carried in a positioning protocol, or RRC, signaling.

5. A method of multi-site positioning, comprising:

a positioning center sends a downlink positioning measurement request to target equipment, wherein the downlink positioning measurement request comprises positioning auxiliary information, and the positioning auxiliary information comprises cell identifiers of a serving base station and at least one neighbor base station and reference signal configuration;

the positioning center sends an uplink positioning measurement request to a service base station and at least one neighbor base station;

the positioning center receives an uplink positioning measurement report sent by the serving base station and/or the at least one neighbor base station, the uplink positioning measurement report includes corresponding receiving and sending time difference measured by each base station, or time advance of the target device and each base station, and the base stations include the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the reference signal configuration comprises: at least one of the starting time of reference signal transmission, a transmission window, a measurement window and the information of the reference signal;

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report further comprises: and receiving the cell identification corresponding to the sending time difference.

8. The method according to any of claims 5-7, wherein the uplink positioning measurement report comprises: and receiving the cell identification and/or type corresponding to the sending time difference.

9. Method according to any of claims 5-8, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report and/or the uplink positioning measurement report received by the positioning center are carried in a positioning protocol.

10. The method according to any of claims 5-9, wherein the uplink positioning measurement request comprises: CellID, uplink reference signal configuration, at least one of measurement and reporting instructions;

the uplink reference signal configuration comprises at least one of an initial position of uplink reference signal measurement, a measurement window and information of an uplink reference signal;

the information of the uplink reference signal comprises at least one of generation parameters of a reference signal sequence, a sending port, sending power, time-frequency resources and quasi co-location relation.

11. The method according to any one of claims 5-10, comprising:

the positioning center receives a downlink positioning measurement report sent by target equipment, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report comprises the receiving and sending time difference of the reference signals corresponding to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station measured by the target equipment.

12. The method according to any one of claims 5-11, comprising: and the positioning center sends downlink reference signal configuration to the service base station and at least one neighbor base station.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising: and the positioning center receives downlink reference signal configuration response sent by the service base station and at least one neighbor base station, wherein the downlink reference signal configuration response comprises a downlink reference signal configuration list.

14. The method according to claims 5-13, comprising: and the positioning center instructs the service base station to send the receiving and sending time difference measured by the target equipment to the corresponding neighbor base station.

15. The method according to any one of claims 5-14, comprising: the positioning center receives measurement information of multiple sites sent by the target device, wherein the measurement information of the multiple sites comprises at least one of physical cell identification, RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, SSB index and CSI-RS index.

16. A target device, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive positioning assistance information sent by a positioning center, where the positioning assistance information includes cell identifiers of a serving base station and at least one neighbor base station, and reference signal configuration;

the processing unit is used for carrying out positioning measurement on the downlink reference signal according to the positioning auxiliary information;

a sending unit, configured to send an uplink reference to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station according to the positioning assistance information;

the sending unit is further configured to send a downlink positioning measurement report to the positioning center, where the downlink positioning measurement report includes a receiving and sending time difference of reference signals corresponding to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station measured by the target device.

17. The target device of claim 16, wherein the reference signal configuration comprises: at least one of the starting time of the reference signal transmission, a transmission window, a measurement window and the information of the reference signal;

18. The target device of claim 16 or 17, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report further comprises: and receiving the cell identification corresponding to the sending time difference.

19. The target device according to any of claims 16-18, wherein the downlink positioning measurement report is carried in a positioning protocol, or RRC signaling.

20. A positioning node, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send a downlink positioning measurement request to a target device, where the downlink positioning measurement request includes positioning assistance information, and the positioning assistance information includes cell identifiers of a serving base station and at least one neighbor base station, and reference signal configuration;

the sending unit is further configured to send an uplink positioning measurement request to the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station;

a receiving unit, configured to receive an uplink positioning measurement report sent by the serving base station and/or the at least one neighbor base station, where the uplink positioning measurement report includes a corresponding receiving and sending time difference measured by each base station, or a time advance of the target device and each base station, and the base stations include the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station.

21. The positioning node of claim 20, wherein the reference signal configuration comprises: at least one of the starting time of reference signal transmission, a transmission window, a measurement window and the information of the reference signal;

22. The positioning node according to claim 20 or 21, wherein said downlink positioning measurement report further comprises: and receiving the cell identification corresponding to the sending time difference.

23. The positioning node according to any of claims 20-22, wherein said uplink positioning measurement report comprises: and receiving the cell identification and/or type corresponding to the sending time difference.

24. Positioning node according to any of claims 20-23, characterized in that the downlink positioning measurement report and/or uplink positioning measurement report received by the positioning center are carried in a positioning protocol.

25. The positioning node according to any of claims 20-24, wherein the uplink positioning measurement request comprises: cell ID, uplink reference signal configuration, at least one of measurement and reporting indication;

26. A positioning node according to any of claims 20-25, comprising:

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a downlink positioning measurement report sent by a target device, where the downlink positioning measurement report includes a time difference between reception and transmission of reference signals corresponding to the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station measured by the target device.

27. A positioning node according to any of claims 20-26, comprising:

the sending unit is further configured to send downlink reference signal configuration to the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station.

28. A positioning node according to any of claims 20-27, comprising:

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a downlink reference signal configuration response sent to the serving base station and the at least one neighbor base station, where the downlink reference signal configuration response includes a downlink reference signal configuration list.

29. A positioning node according to any of claims 20-28, comprising:

the sending unit is further configured to instruct the serving base station to send the receiving and sending time difference measured by the target device to the corresponding neighbor base station.

30. A positioning node according to any of claims 20-29, comprising:

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a measurement information reporting response sent by the target device or the base station, where the measurement information reporting response includes at least one of a physical cell identifier, an RSRP, an RSRQ, an SINR, an SSB index, and a CSI-RS index, and the base station includes the serving base station and at least one neighbor base station.

31. A terminal, comprising:

hardware associated with program instructions for performing the method steps of any one of claims 1-4.

32. A network device, comprising:

hardware associated with program instructions for performing the method steps of any one of claims 6 to 15.

33. A readable storage medium, characterized in that the readable storage medium has stored thereon a program which, when executed, implements the positioning method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.