CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present Application for Patent claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Greek Patent Application No. 20190100024, entitled “ROUND-TRIP-TIME (RTT)-BASED POSITIONING WITH LISTENING NODES,” filed Jan. 11, 2019, which is assigned to the assignee hereof, and expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to telecommunications, and more particularly to round trip time (RTT)-based positioning with listening nodes.

2. Description of the Related Art

Location determination capabilities for mobile devices have conventionally been provided using satellite positioning systems (SPS), sometimes augmented with cellular network positioning techniques. Mobile devices often support popular and increasingly important SPS wireless technologies that may include, for example, the Global Positioning System (GPS) and/or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Mobile devices supporting SPS may obtain navigation signals as wireless transmissions received from one or more transmitter-equipped satellites that may be used to estimate geographic position and heading. Some mobile devices may additionally or alternatively obtain navigation signals as wireless transmissions received from terrestrial based transmitters to estimate geographic position and heading.

In conventional cellular networks, location information can be provided by various time and/or phase measurement techniques. For example, in code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, one position determination approach used is advanced forward link trilateration (AFLT). Using AFLT, a mobile device may compute its position from phase measurements of pilot signals transmitted from a plurality of base stations. Improvements to AFLT have been realized by utilizing hybrid position location techniques, where the mobile device may employ an SPS receiver that can provide position information independently of the information derived from the signals transmitted by the base stations. Moreover, location accuracy can be improved by combining measurements derived from both SPS and AFLT systems using conventional techniques. However, present techniques are not especially effective indoors.

A fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, referred to as New Radio (NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. Consequently, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to the current standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiencies should be enhanced and latency should be substantially reduced compared to current standards. These enhancements permit 5G networks to provide another source of positioning reference information, particularly in indoor environments.

SUMMARY

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

In an aspect, a method of operating a listening node in a wireless communications network includes determining a first time of arrival (ToA) at the listening node of a first reference radio frequency (RF) signal sent by a transmission-reception point (TRP) to a user equipment (UE), determining a second ToA at the listening node of a second reference RF signal sent by the UE to the TRP, determining a first time difference between the first ToA and the second ToA, and enabling a positioning entity to estimate a location of the UE based on the first time difference.

In an aspect, a method of operating a positioning entity in a wireless communication network includes receiving, from a first listening node, a first time difference between a first ToA at the first listening node of a first reference RF signal sent by a TRP to a UE and a second ToA at the first listening node of a second reference RF signal sent by the UE to the TRP, receiving, from a second listening node, a second time difference between a first ToA at the second listening node of the first reference RF signal and a second ToA at the second listening node of the second reference RF signal, and estimating a location of the UE based on a distance between the first listening node and the UE, a distance between the second listening node and the UE, and a distance between the TRP and the UE.

In an aspect, a listening node includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and a processing system communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the processing system is configured to: determine a first ToA at the listening node of a first reference RF signal sent by a TRP to a UE, determine a second ToA at the listening node of a second reference RF signal sent by the UE to the TRP, determine a first time difference between the first ToA and the second ToA, and enable a positioning entity to estimate a location of the UE based on the first time difference.

In an aspect, a positioning entity includes a memory, at least one network interface, and a processing system communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one network interface, wherein the processing system is configured to: receive, from a first listening node via the communication device, a first time difference between a first ToA at the first listening node of a first reference RF signal sent by a TRP to a UE and a second ToA at the first listening node of a second reference RF signal sent by the UE to the TRP, receive, from a second listening node via the communication device, a second time difference between a first ToA at the second listening node of the first reference RF signal sent by the TRP to the UE and a second ToA at the second listening node of the second reference RF signal sent by the UE to the TRP, and estimate a location of the UE based on a distance between the first listening node and the UE, a distance between the second listening node and the UE, and a distance between the TRP and the UE.

In an aspect, a listening node includes means for determining a first time of arrival (ToA) at the listening node of a first reference RF signal sent by a TRP to a UE, means for determining a second ToA at the listening node of a second reference RF signal sent by the UE to the TRP, means for determining a first time difference between the first ToA and the second ToA, and means for enabling a positioning entity to estimate a location of the UE based on the first time difference.

In an aspect, a positioning entity includes means for receiving, from a first listening node, a first time difference between a first ToA at the first listening node of a first reference RF signal sent by a TRP to a UE and a second ToA at the first listening node of a second reference RF signal sent by the UE to the TRP, means for receiving, from a second listening node, a second time difference between a first ToA at the second listening node of the first reference RF signal and a second ToA at the second listening node of the second reference RF signal, and means for estimating a location of the UE based on a distance between the first listening node and the UE, a distance between the second listening node and the UE, and a distance between the TRP and the UE.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions includes computer-executable instructions comprising at least one instruction instructing a listening node to determine a first ToA at the listening node of a first reference radio frequency (RF) signal sent by a TRP to a UE, at least one instruction instructing the listening node to determine a second ToA at the listening node of a second reference RF signal sent by the UE to the TRP, at least one instruction instructing the listening node to determine a first time difference between the first ToA and the second ToA, and at least one instruction instructing the listening node to enable a positioning entity to estimate a location of the UE based on the first time difference.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions includes computer-executable instructions comprising at least one instruction instructing a positioning entity to receive, from a first listening node, a first time difference between a first ToA at the first listening node of a first reference RF signal sent by a TRP to a UE and a second ToA at the first listening node of a second reference RF signal sent by the UE to the TRP, at least one instruction instructing the positioning entity to receive, from a second listening node, a second time difference between a first ToA at the second listening node of the first reference RF signal and a second ToA at the second listening node of the second reference RF signal, and at least one instruction instructing the positioning entity to estimate a location of the UE based on a distance between the first listening node and the UE, a distance between the second listening node and the UE, and a distance between the TRP and the UE.

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

