CN116458070A

CN116458070A - Mechanism for enhanced positioning scheme for devices

Info

Publication number: CN116458070A
Application number: CN202080106871.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王文剑; 朱凯
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2020-09-01
Filing date: 2020-09-01
Publication date: 2023-07-18
Also published as: WO2022047630A1

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to enhanced positioning schemes for devices. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a solution for an enhanced positioning scheme for a device is presented. The first device receives a signal from the second device and receives a further signal from the third device. The first device determines a distance between the first device and the second device based on the TOA of the signal and determines an additional distance between the first device and the third device based on a propagation loss of the second signal. The location information of the first device is determined based on the distance, the further distance and the location information of the second device and the third device. In this way, the location of the first device may be more accurately determined. The first device need not be equipped with positioning functionality, such as GNSS, etc. Furthermore, this approach has strong robustness and adaptation capability.

Description

Mechanism for enhanced positioning scheme for devices

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of communications, particularly in non-terrestrial networks, and, in particular, relate to methods, apparatuses, devices, and computer-readable storage media for an enhanced positioning scheme for a device.

Background

Resources and infrastructure in remote areas are often limited. Thus, it is often difficult for a surface network to provide adequate coverage. The main benefit of introducing non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) is the ability to provide ubiquitous services to terminal devices by expanding connections in less densely populated areas where the device density is very low, and the overall deployment costs can be far lower than providing permanent infrastructure on the ground. A solution for supporting New Radios (NRs) of NTN has been proposed. However, it also presents some other issues such as accuracy and efficiency.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for an enhanced positioning scheme for a device.

In a first aspect, a method is provided. The method includes receiving, at a first device, a first signal from a second device. The method also includes determining a first distance between the first device and the second device based on the time of arrival of the first signal. The method also includes receiving a second signal from a third device. The method also includes determining a second distance between the first device and the third device based on the power of the second signal. The method also includes determining first location information for the first device based at least in part on the first distance, the second distance, and second location information for the second device and the third device.

In a second aspect, a method is provided. The method includes transmitting, at a second device, a first signal to a first device. The method also includes transmitting, to the first device, information associated with locating the first device. The method also transmits location information of the second device to the first device for determining a location of the first device.

In a third aspect, a first device is provided. The first device includes at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to receive a first signal from the second device. The first device is further caused to determine a first distance between the first device and the second device based on the time of arrival of the first signal. The first device is also caused to receive a second signal from a third device. The first device is further caused to determine a second distance between the first device and the third device based on the power of the second signal. The first device is further caused to determine first location information of the first device based at least in part on the first distance, the second distance, and second location information of the second device and the third device.

In a fourth aspect, a second device is provided. The second device includes at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to transmit the first signal to the first device. The second device is also caused to send information associated with locating the first device to the first device. The second device is further caused to send location information of the second device to the first device for use in determining the location of the first device.

In a fifth aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes means for receiving, at a first device, a first signal from a second device; means for determining, at the first device, a first distance between the first device and the second device based on a time of arrival of the first signal; means for receiving a second signal from a third device; means for determining a second distance between the first device and the third device based on the power of the second signal; and means for determining first location information of the first device based at least in part on the first distance, the second distance, and second location information of the second device and the third device.

In a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes means for transmitting, at a second device, a first signal to a first device; means for transmitting information associated with locating the first device to the first device; and means for transmitting location information of the second device to the first device for determining a location of the first device.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to any one of the first or second aspects above.

It should be understood that the summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of interactions between communication devices according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3A and 3B show schematic diagrams of a positioning device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method implemented at a first device according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a method implemented at a second device according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure; and

fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

The same or similar reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

Detailed Description

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described merely for the purpose of illustrating and helping those skilled in the art understand and practice the present disclosure and are not meant to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in various other ways besides those described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

In this disclosure, references to "one embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It will be understood that, although the terms "first" and "second," etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "has," "including," "includes" and/or "including" when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) Pure hardware circuit implementations (such as implementations using only analog and/or digital circuitry), and

(b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (as applicable):

(i) Combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware, and

(ii) Any portion of the hardware processor(s) having software, including digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s), that work together to cause a device, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions, and

(c) Hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portion of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but software may not exist when operation is not required.

The definition of circuitry is applicable to all uses of that term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also encompasses hardware-only circuitry or a processor (or multiple processors) or an implementation of a hardware circuit or portion of a processor and its accompanying software and/or firmware. For example, if applicable to the particular claim elements, the term circuitry also encompasses a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), high Speed Packet Access (HSPA), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), new Radio (NR), non-terrestrial network (NTN), and the like. Furthermore, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.85G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communications, there are, of course, future types of communication techniques and systems that can embody the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to only the above-described systems.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network through which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from the network. A network device may refer to a Base Station (BS) or an Access Point (AP), e.g., a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also known as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Header (RH), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a relay, a low power node (such as a femto, pico, etc.), depending on the terminology and technology applied.

The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user Equipment (UE), subscriber Station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile Station (MS), or Access Terminal (AT). The terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal devices, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices (such as digital cameras), gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop in-vehicle devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer premise devices (CPE), internet of things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head Mounted Displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in the context of industrial and/or automated processing chains), consumer electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

As mentioned above, NTN presents some problems in other respects as well. Conventionally, new Study Item (SI) solution evaluations of NR have been approved to support NTN. In the targets of SI, the UE location has been determined in TR 38.811 and 38.821, i.e. the relevant positioning information in NTN is advantageous for initial synchronization, uplink timing advance, random access and mobility in terms of delay compensation, doppler compensation, positioning country identification and mobility triggering. Other studies have also presented positioning issues to determine the country in which the NTN UE is located. The NTN requirement for UE positioning is discussed from the following scenario:

(1) Delay compensation:

knowing the position is beneficial because the time advance can be predicted to a large extent from the satellite position and motion at a given location on the earth. In NTN, the Timing Advance (TA) of one UE may be divided into a satellite-specific common delay, which is known due to predictable satellite motion and may be broadcast to the UE, and a UE-specific differential delay. The UE-specific differential delay may be estimated based on the random access preamble and/or based on the UE positioning information. UE positioning information may be derived at the UE side using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning and/or other positioning solutions and/or at the network side. Therefore, it is suggested to study the uplink timing advance mechanism based on UE positioning information in this SI for NTN. The uplink timing advance of a UE may change due to the relative motion of the UE and its serving satellite, with the UE's speed being approximately up to 1000km/h and the serving satellite's orbital speed being up to 27000km/h. Thus, uplink timing advance adjustment based on UE positioning information due to relative motion of the UE and satellites can also be studied.

(2) Frequency compensation:

the acquisition time of the doppler shift may be reduced if the network knows the location of the UE. Thus, it is proposed to study UE positioning for doppler precompensation in NTN.

(3) The country identification:

NTN is expected to provide global or at least multinational coverage. This presents new challenges compared to national land networks. It has already discussed this and concludes that it is important to know the location of the UE at the country level.

(4) Mobility trigger

There is a strongly varying delay between the satellites and the UE because they are fast moving and not relatively stationary. Thus, for a given UE, the duration of stay in a given spot beam is very short, which will lead to frequent handoff problems from the serving spot beam or satellite to a new target spot beam or new target satellite. The individual timing advance of the UE must also be updated dynamically quickly and requires an appropriate TA index value.

In RANs 2#105, it is considered beneficial in the NTN case that the UE location and satellite ephemeris information are considered as additional inputs for accuracy of mobility triggers. Particularly in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) scenarios, as described above, the relative motion of the UE and its serving satellites, the UE and/or satellite velocity, the impact of large and varying propagation delays on measurement availability, and the determination of dynamic neighbor cell changes are some of the key issues that NTN needs to address.

Conventionally, GNSS positioning performs UE positioning with a UE equipped with a radio receiver capable of receiving GNSS signals. Conventional GNSS include Global Positioning System (GPS), modern GPS, galileo, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS), space-based augmentation system (SBAS), quasi-zenith satellite system (QZSS), and beidou navigation satellite system. Different GNSS may be used alone or in combination to determine the location of the UE. However, not all UEs are GNSS enabled. The system should also work without GNSS.

There are some conventional geolocation techniques including time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), angle of arrival (AOA), and Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) methods. For TOA-based schemes, the distance from the UE to the gNB is proportional to the propagation time. The UE and the gNB in TOA-based systems must be precisely synchronized. The TDOA-based system utilizes measured time differences of arrival of downlink signals received from multiple gnbs at the UE, rather than the absolute time of arrival of the TOA. Synchronization between the gnbs is also required for TDOA-based systems. Furthermore, conventional TDOA methods require a sufficient number of gnbs within a time window, however, there may not be multiple visible gnbs within the time window. Thus, TDOA does not work well for NTN networks. AOA measurements can be made without synchronization. The location of the UE may be found by the intersection of several diagonal lines. However, it is also sensitive to line of sight (LOS) path starvation. Furthermore, in NR SI also work on positioning is ongoing, but the scope is different, since very accurate positioning is targeted and the solution under investigation is after network access. Thus, a solution for initial UE-based positioning no later than the initial access procedure would be desirable.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a solution for an enhanced positioning scheme for a device is presented. The first device receives a signal from the second device and receives a further signal from the third device. The first device determines a distance between the first device and the second device based on the TOA of the signal and determines an additional distance between the first device and the third device based on a propagation loss of the second signal. The location information of the first device is determined based on the distance, the further distance and the location information of the second device and the third device. In this way, the location of the first device may be more accurately determined. The first device need not be equipped with positioning functionality, such as GNSS, etc. Furthermore, this approach has strong robustness and adaptation capability.

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication environment 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The communication environment 100 as part of a communication network also includes devices 110-1, 110-2, … …, 110-N, which may be collectively referred to as first device(s) 110". The communication environment 100 includes devices 120-1, … …, 120-M, which may be collectively referred to as second device(s) 120". The communication environment 100 also includes devices 130-1, … …, 130-P, which may be collectively referred to as third device(s) 130". The numbers N, M and P may be any suitable integer. The first device 110 and the second device 120 may communicate with each other, and the first device 110 may also communicate with the third device 130. For illustrative purposes only, the second device 120 is described as a non-terrestrial device (e.g., satellite) and the third device 130 is described as a terrestrial device (e.g., a terrestrial Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point).

Communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices and cells. In the communication environment 100, the first device 110 and the second device 120 may communicate data and control information with each other. In the case where the first device 110 is a terminal device and the second device 120 is a network device, the link from the second device 120 to the first device 110 is referred to as a Downlink (DL), and the link from the first device 110 to the second device 120 is referred to as an Uplink (UL). The second device 120 and the first device 110 are interchangeable.

It should be understood that the number of first devices and cells and their connections shown in fig. 1 are given for illustration purposes and are not meant to be limiting. Communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices and networks suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring now to fig. 2, fig. 2 illustrates a signaling flow 200 for a positioning device. For ease of discussion, signaling flow 200 will be described with reference to fig. 1. The signaling flow 200 may involve the first device 110-1, the second device 120-1, and the third device 130-1.

The second device 120-1 transmits 2005 a first signal to the first device 110-1. For example, the second device 120-1 may transmit a pilot signal to the first device 110-1. Alternatively, the first signal may be a reference signal. In some example embodiments, the second device 120-1 may send 2010 synchronization information to the first device 110-1. For example, the first device 110-1 may detect the synchronization signal to complete the synchronization. In some embodiments, the synchronization information may be sent in a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB). The first device 110-1 may obtain 2015 the identity from the synchronization information. For example, the SSB may carry a flag, such as one bit of information. The one-bit information may indicate that the second device 120-1 is a non-terrestrial network device, such as a satellite. In this case, the first device 110-1 may employ an interference compensation scheme to improve CSI accuracy due to excessive delay of NTN in the frequency domain.

The first device 110-1 determines 2020 a first distance between the first device 110-1 and the second device 120-1 based on a time of arrival of the first signal. For illustration purposes only, the transmit signals from all candidate APs, including the second device 120 and the third device 130, may be affected by channel effects. The channel model can be described as:

S _r ＝γHS _t +N (1)

wherein S is _t Representing the transmitted signal, the received signal is represented as S _r The channel response is denoted as H, the attenuation factor is denoted as γ, and the additive noise is denoted as N.

If the attenuation factor gamma is deemed accurate, the distance d between the AP (e.g., second device 120-1) and the first device 110-1 may be calculated according to the Friis transmission equation, which is defined as

Wherein P is _t Representing the power of the transmitted signal, P _r Representing the power of the received signal; d is the distance between the AP (e.g., second device 120-1) and first device 110-1; lambda represents wavelength, and the antenna gains of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna are respectively represented as G _t And G _r 。

In some embodiments, the synchronization information may indicate that the second device 120-1 is a non-terrestrial network device, as described above. In this case, the first device 110-1 may determine the arrival time of the first signal.

The first device 110-1 may determine 2025 a quality of a channel between the first device 110-1 and the second device 120-1. For example, the channel quality may be determined based on the first signal. Alternatively, a Null signal may be used instead of a portion of the pilot signal for channel estimation and compensation.

If the quality of the channel is below the threshold quality, the first device 110-1 may notify the second device 120-1 that the quality of the channel is poor. For example, the first device may send 2030 a preamble to the second device 120-1 in message 1, which may include an indication that the second device 120-1 needs to perform interference compensation in the next several symbols until the channel quality exceeds a threshold quality. Alternatively or additionally, the preamble may also indicate that Channel State Information (CSI) accuracy is increased in the next several symbols until the channel quality exceeds a threshold quality.

In some embodiments, the first device 110-1 may receive information indicating that an estimated distance between the first device and the second device exceeds a first threshold distance. In this case, the first device 110-1 may determine the first distance based on the arrival time.

The first device 110-1 may receive other signals from other devices (e.g., devices 120-2, 120-3, … …, 120-i (not shown)). The set of non-terrestrial information sources may be represented as:

{i，||RSSI _i -RSSI _α |≤κ} (3)

wherein RSSI _i Indicating the adjacent device 120-i, RSSI _α Represents the maximum RSSI non-terrestrial device that is likely to be selected as the serving device for the first device 110-1, and κ represents the threshold RSSI.

The third device 130-1 sends 2035 a second signal to the first device 110-1. For example, the third device 130-1 may transmit a pilot signal to the first device 110-1. Alternatively, the second signal may be a reference signal. In some example embodiments, the third device 130-1 may send synchronization information to the first device 110-1. For example, the first device 110-1 may detect the synchronization signal to complete the synchronization. In some embodiments, the synchronization information may be sent in a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB). If the first device 110-1 does not obtain the non-terrestrial network device identification from the synchronization information, it indicates that the third device 130-1 is a terrestrial network device. In this case, the channel between the first device 110-1 and the third device 130-1 may almost follow the rayleigh distribution, and the channel response varies around 1. Thus, the power averaging and maximum path selection scheme may be used to estimate the attenuation factor γ and make a distance estimate.

The first device 110-1 determines 2040 a second distance between the first device 110-1 and the second device 120-1 based on the power of the second signal. For example, the first device 110-1 may determine a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of the second signal. In some embodiments, the first device 110-1 may measure a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the second signal. Alternatively or additionally, the first device 110-1 may measure a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) of the second signal.

It should be noted that the first device 110-1 may receive the second signal before the first signal. In other words, the above-described processes may be performed in other orders.

In some embodiments, to keep the estimation error less than a threshold (e.g., 30 m), the maximum distance between the first device and the AP (e.g., the second device 120-1 and the third device 130-1) is about 500m in terms of the Cramer Rao Lower Bound (CRLB), while TOA-based schemes may perform long range positioning well. Thus, the RSSI scheme may be more suitable for terrestrial APs.

In some embodiments, a first threshold distance may be introduced to optimize and balance the RSSI and TOA CRLB. The first threshold distance may be expressed as:

where c represents the speed of light, epsilon=4, eta=8, snr=0 db, w represents the signal bandwidth for a typical scenario in outdoor geolocation. When d _i ＜d _ref When RSSI may perform better than TOA methods and vice versa.

As described above, if the information indicates that the estimated distance between the first device and the second device exceeds the first threshold distance (i.e., d _i ＞d _ref ) The first device 110-1 may determine the first distance based on the time of arrival. In some embodiments, a priori information d _i ＞d _ref May be known at the deployment of the second device 120-1 and this information may be signaled at the time of sending the SSB so that the first device 110-1 may use the TOA scheme.

Alternatively or additionally, the first device 110-1 may determine the second threshold distance based on the first threshold distance and a signal-to-noise ratio between the first device 110-1 and the third device 130-1. For example, the first device 110-1 may calculate the modified value d based on the current SNR _ref ' i.e. the second threshold distance. If the second distance exceeds the second threshold distance, the second distance needs to be recalculated.

The first device 110-1 may receive other signals from other devices (e.g., devices 130-2, 130-3, … …, 130-n (not shown)). The set of ground information sources may be represented as:

{n，||RSSI _n -RSSI _β |≤μ} (5)

wherein RSSI _n Indicating the RSSI of the neighboring device 130-n _β Represents the maximum RSSI of the ground device and μ represents the threshold RSSI.

The first device 110-1 determines 2045 location information of the first device 110-1 based on the first distance, the second distance, and additional location information of the second device 120-1 and the third device 130-1. In some embodiments, the first device 110-1 may obtain the location information of the second device 120-1 and the ephemeris of the second device 120-1 from the system information transmitted by the second device 120-1. In some embodiments, the first device 110-1 may determine the first reliability factor for the second device 120-1 based on the received power of the first signal. Alternatively or additionally, the first device 110-1 may determine the second reliability factor of the third device 130-1 based on the received power of the second signal. For example, the reliability factor may be determined as:

η _i ＝P _ri /|P′ _ri -P _ri | (6)

Wherein the parameter "i" represents the ith device, P' _ri Representing the received signal power, P, of the ith device over the actual channel _ri Representing the received signal power over a perfect channel. P'. _ri It can be determined that:

wherein the parameter "i" represents the ith device, P' _ri Representing the received signal power of the ith device through the actual channel, H representing the channel response, P _i Is the power of the transmitted signal, d is the distance between the AP (e.g., second device 120-1) and first device 110-1, λ represents the wavelength, and the antenna gains of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna are respectively denoted as G _t And G _r N represents noise on the channel.

Fig. 3A and 3B illustrate a schematic diagram 300 of a positioning device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3A, there are 7 APs, including four non-terrestrial devices (e.g., second devices 120-1, 120-2, 120-3, and 120-4) and three terrestrial devices (e.g., third devices 130-1, 130-2, and 130-3). It should be noted that the number of access points shown in fig. 3A is only one example. Fig. 3B shows an example of adaptive terrestrial AP selection and UE location. As shown in fig. 3B, there are three APs, e.g., second device 120-1, third device 130-1, and third device 1301-2. It should be noted that the number of access points shown in fig. 3B is only one example. The location information of the first device 110-1 may be determined as:

Wherein (X) _UE ，Y _UE ，Z _UE ) Representing the location, D, of the first device 110-1 _i Represents an estimated distance (e.g., a first distance and a second distance) η from an ith AP _i Is a weighting factor indicating the reliability of the ith AP, (a) _i ，b _i ，c _i ) Indicating the location of the ith AP.

Table 1 below shows performance analysis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The system operates in the S-band (2 GHz) and the attenuation model is Friis with a rayleigh fading channel model, with a transmitted signal strength from the AP of 23dBm. White noise is-90 dBm. The first device 110-1 may move outward from the center point AP1 (shown as the third device 130-1 in fig. 3A and 3B), with a maximum d1 of 400m.

TABLE 1

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, in order to achieve low complexity, the distance between the terminal device and the ground AP is determined in the time domain using an RSSI-based power averaging scheme or a maximum path selection scheme. In the case of non-terrestrial APs, an interference compensation scheme is applied to improve CSI accuracy due to excessive delay in the NTN in the frequency domain. In this way, CSI quality is improved. The location of the terminal device can be determined more accurately. Furthermore, this approach has strong robustness and adaptation capability.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 400 may be implemented at any suitable device. For discussion purposes, the method 400 will be described from the perspective of the first device 110-1 with reference to FIG. 1.

At block 410, the first device 110-1 receives a first signal from the second device 120-1. For example, the first device 110-1 may receive a pilot signal from the second device 120-1. Alternatively, the first signal may be a reference signal. In some example embodiments, the first device 110-1 may receive synchronization information from the second device 120-1. For example, the first device 110-1 may detect the synchronization signal to complete the synchronization. In some embodiments, the synchronization information may be sent in a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB). The first device 110-1 may obtain 2015 the identity from the synchronization information. For example, the SSB may carry a flag, such as one bit of information. The one-bit information may indicate that the second device 120-1 is a non-terrestrial network device, such as a satellite. In this case, the first device 110-1 may employ an interference compensation scheme to improve CSI accuracy due to excessive delay of NTN in the frequency domain.

At block 420, the first device 110-1 determines a first distance between the first device 110-1 and the second device 120-1 based on the arrival time of the first signal. In some embodiments, the synchronization information may indicate that the second device 120-1 is a non-terrestrial network device, as described above. In this case, the first device 110-1 may determine the arrival time of the first signal.

In some embodiments, the first device 110-1 may determine a quality of a channel between the first device 110-1 and the second device 120-1. For example, the channel quality may be determined based on the first signal. Alternatively, a Null signal may be used instead of a portion of the pilot signal for channel estimation and compensation.

If the quality of the channel is below the threshold quality, the first device 110-1 may notify the second device 120-1 that the quality of the channel is poor. For example, the first device may send a preamble to the second device 120-1 in message 1, which may include an indication that the second device 120-1 needs to perform interference compensation in the next several symbols until the channel quality exceeds a threshold quality. Alternatively or additionally, the preamble may also indicate that Channel State Information (CSI) accuracy is increased in the next several symbols until the channel quality exceeds a threshold quality.

At block 430, the first device 110-1 receives the second signal from the third device 130-1. For example, the first device 110-1 may receive a pilot signal from the third device 130-1. Alternatively, the second signal may be a reference signal. In some example embodiments, the first device 110-1 may transmit the synchronization information from the third device 130-1. For example, the first device 110-1 may detect the synchronization signal to complete the synchronization. In some embodiments, the synchronization information may be sent in a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB). If the first device 110-1 does not obtain the non-terrestrial network device identification from the synchronization information, it indicates that the third device 130-1 is a terrestrial network device. In this case, the channel between the first device 110-1 and the third device 130-1 may almost follow the rayleigh distribution, and the channel response varies around 1. Thus, the power averaging and maximum path selection scheme may be used to estimate the attenuation factor γ and make a distance estimate.

At block 440, the first device 110-1 determines a second distance between the first device 110-1 and the second device 120-1 based on the power of the second signal. For example, the first device 110-1 may determine a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of the second signal. In some embodiments, the first device 110-1 may measure a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the second signal. Alternatively or additionally, the first device 110-1 may measure a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) of the second signal.

In some embodiments, a first threshold distance may be introduced to optimize and balance the RSSI and TOA CRLB. As described above, if the information indicates that the estimated distance between the first device and the second device exceeds the first threshold distance (i.e., d _i ＞d _ref ) The first device 110-1 may determine the first distance based on the time of arrival. In some embodiments, a priori information d _i ＞d _ref May be known at the deployment of the second device 120-1 and this information may be signaled at the time of sending the SSB so that the first device 110-1 may use the TOA scheme.

It should be noted that blocks 410-440 may occur in any suitable order. For example, the first device 110-1 may receive the second signal before the first signal. Alternatively or additionally, the first device 110-1 may receive the first signal and the second signal simultaneously. The first distance may be determined before the second signal is received or after the second signal is received. The embodiments are not limited thereto.

At block 450, the first device 110-1 determines 2045 location information for the first device 110-1 based on the first distance, the second distance, and additional location information for the second device 120-1 and the third device 130-1. In some embodiments, the first device 110-1 may determine the first reliability factor for the second device 120-1 based on the received power of the first signal. Alternatively or additionally, the first device 110-1 may determine the second reliability factor of the third device 130-1 based on the received power of the second signal.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 500 may be implemented at any suitable device. For discussion purposes, the method 500 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 from the perspective of the second device 120-1. It should be noted that the method 500 may also be implemented at the third device 130-1.

At block 510, the second device 120-1 transmits a first signal to the first device 110-1. For example, the second device 120-1 may transmit a pilot signal to the first device 110-1. Alternatively, the first signal may be a reference signal.

At block 520, the second device 120-1 transmits information associated with locating the first device. In some embodiments, if the second device 120-1 is a non-terrestrial network device, the information may include an indication that the second device is a non-terrestrial network device. For example, the indication may be in SSB. Alternatively, the information may include an indication that an estimated distance between the first device and the second device exceeds a first threshold distance.

In some embodiments, the information may be sent in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. Alternatively, the information may be broadcast. In other embodiments, the downlink control information may include the above information.

For illustration purposes only, where the second device is a satellite, the information may include one or more of the following: (1) satellite identification information; (2) Defining UE behavior when the UE does not receive satellite identification in SSB, wherein the signal is considered to be from a terrestrial AP signal; (3) The UE triggers an interference compensation scheme due to NTN long propagation delay to improve CSI quality. For example, if the quality of the channel between the first device 110-1 and the second device 120-1 is below a threshold quality, the second device 120-1 may receive the preamble from the first device 110-1 in message 1. The preamble may include an indication of interference compensation on the channel. The second device 120-1 may perform interference compensation based on the preamble.

At block 530, the second device 120-1 may send the location information of the second device 120-1 to the first device 110-1. For example, the location information may be transmitted in the system information.

In some embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., first device 110-1) for performing method 400 may include respective means for performing corresponding steps in the method. These components may be implemented in any suitable manner. For example, it may be implemented by circuitry or software modules.

In some embodiments, the apparatus includes means for receiving, at a first device, a first signal from a second device; means for determining, at the first device, a first distance between the first device and the second device based on a time of arrival of the first signal; means for receiving a second signal from a third device; means for determining a second distance between the first device and the third device based on the power of the second signal; and means for determining first location information of the first device based at least in part on the first distance, the second distance, and second location information of the second device and the third device.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for determining a quality of a channel between the first device and the second device; and in accordance with a determination that the quality of the channel is below a threshold quality, transmitting a preamble to the second device for accessing the channel between the first device and the second device, the preamble comprising an indication of interference compensation on the channel.

In some embodiments, the means for determining the first distance comprises: means for receiving synchronization information from a second device; means for determining a time of arrival of the first signal in accordance with a determination that the synchronization information includes an indication that the second device is a non-terrestrial network device; and means for determining the first distance based on the time of arrival.

In some embodiments, the means for determining the second distance comprises: means for receiving synchronization information from a third device; means for determining a power of the second signal in accordance with a determination that the synchronization information does not have an indication that the third device is a non-terrestrial network device; and means for determining a second distance based on the power.

In some embodiments, the means for determining the first distance comprises: means for receiving information from the second device indicating that an estimated distance between the first device and the second device exceeds a first threshold distance; means for determining a time of arrival of the first signal; and means for determining a first distance based on the arrival time.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for determining a second threshold distance based on the first threshold distance and a signal-to-noise ratio between the first device and the third device; means for comparing the second distance to a second threshold distance; and means for recalculating the second distance based on determining that the second distance exceeds the second threshold distance.

In some embodiments, the means for determining the first location information of the first device comprises: means for determining a first reliability factor for the second device based on the received power of the first signal; means for determining a second reliability factor for the third device based on the power of the second signal; and means for determining the first location information based on the first distance, the second distance, the first reliability factor, the second reliability factor, and second location information of the second device and the third device.

In some embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., second device 120-1) for performing method 500 may include respective means for performing corresponding steps in the method. These components may be implemented in any suitable manner. For example, it may be implemented by circuitry or software modules.

In some embodiments, the apparatus includes means for transmitting, at a second device, a first signal to a first device; means for transmitting information associated with locating the first device to the first device; and means for transmitting location information of the second device to the first device to determine a location of the first device.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the first device, a preamble for accessing the channel between the first device and the second device, the preamble comprising an indication of interference compensation on the channel, in accordance with a determination that the quality of the channel between the first device and the second device is below a threshold quality.

In some embodiments, the information includes: an indication that the second device is a non-terrestrial network device or an indication that an estimated distance between the first device and the second device exceeds a first threshold distance.

Fig. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 600 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as the first device 110-1, the second device 120-1, or the third device 130-1 as shown in fig. 1. As shown, device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to processors 610, and one or more communication modules (e.g., transmitter and/or receiver (TX/RX)) 640 coupled to processors 610.

The communication module 640 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 640 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary to communicate with other network elements.

The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock that is synchronized to the master processor.

Memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 624, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disks, compact Disks (CD), digital Video Disks (DVD), and other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memory that does not persist during power outages.

The computer program 630 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. Program 630 may be stored in ROM 624. Processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 630 into RAM 622.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by program 630 such that device 600 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure discussed with reference to fig. 2-5. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

In some embodiments, program 630 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in device 600 (such as in memory 620) or other storage device that device 600 may access. Device 600 may load program 630 from a computer readable medium into RAM 622 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Fig. 7 shows an example of a computer readable medium 700, which may be in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has stored thereon the program 630.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions, such as instructions included in program modules, that are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the methods 200-400 described above with reference to fig. 2-5. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions of program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Program code for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the functions/operations specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable an apparatus, device or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of a computer-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are described in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, while several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A first device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to:

receiving a first signal from a second device;

determining a first distance between the first device and the second device based on a time of arrival of the first signal;

receiving a second signal from a third device;

determining a second distance between the first device and the third device based on the power of the second signal; and

a location of the first device is determined based at least in part on the first distance, the second distance, and the locations of the second device and the third device.

2. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

In accordance with a determination that a quality of a channel between the first device and the second device is below a threshold quality, a preamble for accessing the channel between the first device and the second device is transmitted to the second device, the preamble including an indication for triggering interference compensation on the channel.

3. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

receiving synchronization information from the second device; and

determining the time of arrival of the first signal from the received synchronization information determines that the second device is a non-terrestrial network device.

4. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

receiving synchronization information from the third device; and

determining that the third device is a ground network device based on the synchronization information received, determining the power of the second signal.

5. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

receiving information from the second device, the information indicating that an estimated distance between the first device and the second device exceeds a first threshold distance; and

The arrival time of the first signal is determined.

6. The first device of claim 5, wherein the first device is further caused to:

determining a second threshold distance based on the first threshold distance and a signal-to-noise ratio between the first device and the third device; and

in accordance with a determination that the second distance exceeds the second threshold distance, the second distance is recalculated.

7. A first device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first device is caused to determine the location of the first device by:

determining a first reliability factor for the second device based on the received power of the first signal;

determining a second reliability factor for the third device based on the power of the second signal; and

the first location information is determined based on the first distance, the second distance, the first reliability factor, the second reliability factor, and the locations of the second device and the third device.

8. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a non-terrestrial network device, and the third device comprises a terrestrial network device.

9. A second device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to:

transmitting a first signal to a first device;

transmitting information associated with locating the first device to the first device; and

and sending the position information of the second device to the first device for determining the position of the first device.

10. A second device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the second device is further caused to:

in accordance with a determination that a quality of a channel between the first device and the second device is below a threshold quality, a preamble is received from the first device for accessing the channel between the first device and the second device, the preamble including an indication to trigger interference compensation on the channel.

11. The second device of claim 9, wherein the information comprises:

an indication that the second device is a non-terrestrial network device, or

An indication that an estimated distance between the first device and the second device exceeds a first threshold distance.

12. The second device of claim 9, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a non-terrestrial network device or a terrestrial network device.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a first device, a first signal from a second device;

receiving a second signal from a third device;

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

Receiving synchronization information from the second device; and

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving synchronization information from the third device; and

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

the arrival time of the first signal is determined.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

19. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the location of the first device comprises:

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a non-terrestrial network device, and the third device comprises a terrestrial network device.

21. A method, comprising:

transmitting, at the second device, a first signal to the first device;

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that a quality of a channel between the first device and the second device is below a threshold quality, a preamble is received from the first device for accessing the channel between the first device and the second device, the preamble including an indication for interference compensation on the channel.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the information comprises:

an indication that the second device is a non-terrestrial network device, or

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a non-terrestrial network device or a terrestrial network device.

25. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by at least one processing unit of a machine, cause the machine to perform the method of any of claims 13 to 20 or the method of any of claims 21 to 24.

26. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving, at a first device, a first signal from a second device;

means for determining, at a first device, a first distance between the first device and the second device based on a time of arrival of the first signal;

means for receiving a second signal from a third device;

means for determining a second distance between the first device and the third device based on the power of the second signal; and

Means for determining a location of the first device based at least in part on the first distance, the second distance, and the locations of the second device and the third device.

27. An apparatus, comprising:

means for transmitting, at the second device, a first signal to the first device;

means for transmitting information associated with locating the first device to the first device; and

and means for transmitting location information of the second device to the first device for determining a location of the first device.