A system, computer software and method for collecting, in addition to position data, additional positioning data in a user terminal served by a communication network. The method includes initiating, by generating a message within the user terminal, collection of the positioning data, where the positioning data includes information based on which a physical location of the user terminal is determined; measuring, by the user terminal, at least one parameter related to the physical location of the user terminal in response to the message; producing, within the user terminal, measurement reports that include the at least one parameter; selecting, within the user terminal, one or more measurement reports that were generated in response to the message generated by the user terminal; reporting the selected one or more measurement reports to an interface within the user terminal; and transmitting, from the interface, the reported one or more measurement reports to an external server or to the communication network.

This disclosure provides methods, devices, and systems for beam group reporting for positioning in new radio (NR) wireless communications systems. In some wireless communications systems, multiple PRS resources, e.g., a beam group, received by a user equipment (UE) from the same network entity may be used to produce a combined Time of Arrival (TOA) measurement for the reference or target to derive an Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) estimate. The UE provides to a network entity an indication of the PRS resources in the beam group, which may be specifically or generally identified. Additionally, parameters associated with the beam group are provided, such as a relative quality of the TOA measurement for each PRS resource in the subset, a spread of the TOA measurements in the subset, a relative signal strength of each PRS resource in the subset, or a spread of the signal strength in the subset.

A method of estimating the position of a wireless transmitter comprising: collecting a plurality of wireless measurements between a transmitter and a receiver; drawing a buffer circle around each measurement, having a radius defined by the timing advance delay measurements; plotting a plurality of buffer circles and identifying intersection points for adjacent measurements only; estimating the position based on the intersection of delay measurements from said plurality of wireless measurements.

A method of estimating the position of a wireless transmitter comprising: collecting a plurality of wireless measurements between a transmitter and a receiver; drawing a buffer circle around each measurement, having a radius defined by the timing advance delay measurements; plotting a plurality of buffer circles and identifying intersection points for adjacent measurements only; estimating the position based on the intersection of delay measurements from said plurality of wireless measurements.

A method, at a transmission/reception point (TRP), of producing a positioning reference signal muting pattern includes: obtaining, at the TRP, one or more positioning reference signal criteria, the one or more positioning reference signal criteria regarding at least one of positioning reference signal transmission or positioning reference signal reception; and producing, at the TRP, the positioning reference signal muting pattern such that the positioning reference signal muting pattern meets the one or more positioning reference signal criteria

An external client requests the location of a UE using control plane signaling. The UE sends downlink location measurements, such as Reference Signal Time Differences, for a plurality of base stations (BSs) to a serving BS at a layer 1 or layer 2 protocol level and at first periodic intervals. The UE and the plurality of BSs send additional location measurements, such as receive time-transmission time differences, to the serving BS at second periodic intervals, which are longer than the first periodic intervals. The serving BS uses the additional location measurements and downlink location measurements to determine timing information, such as Real Time Differences, for the plurality of BSs. The serving BS determines the location of the UE using the downlink location measurements and the timing information at the first periodic intervals and sends the location to the external client using user plane signaling to reduce delay.

Disclosed are techniques for wireless positioning. In an aspect, a mobile device receives a timing synchronization offset parameter for a first cell of a set of cells, wherein the timing synchronization offset parameter represents a difference between a system frame number (SFN) initialization time of the first cell and an SFN initialization time of a reference cell, and processes the timing synchronization offset parameter for the first cell based on the SFN initialization time of the reference cell having changed.

Disclosed are techniques for wireless positioning. In an aspect, a reduced-capability user equipment (UE) receives, from each of one or more premium UEs, one or more parameters indicating a quality of a location estimate of the premium UE, selects at least one premium UE based on the quality of the location estimate of the at least one premium UE, and derives a location estimate of the reduced-capability UE based on the location estimate of the at least one premium UE. In another aspect, a reduced-capability UE transmits, to at least one premium UE, a request to perform one or more positioning measurements of one or more downlink reference signals, receives, from the at least one premium UE, a measurement report comprising the one or more positioning measurements, and determines a location estimate of the reduced-capability UE based on the one or more positioning measurements in the measurement report.

An external client requests the location of a UE using control plane signaling. The UE sends downlink location measurements, such as Reference Signal Time Differences, for a plurality of base stations (BSs) to a serving BS at a layer 1 or layer 2 protocol level and at first periodic intervals. The UE and the plurality of BSs send additional location measurements, such as receive time-transmission time differences, to the serving BS at second periodic intervals, which are longer than the first periodic intervals. The serving BS uses the additional location measurements and downlink location measurements to determine timing information, such as Real Time Differences, for the plurality of BSs. The serving BS determines the location of the UE using the downlink location measurements and the timing information at the first periodic intervals and sends the location to the external client using user plane signaling to reduce delay.

This disclosure provides methods, devices, and systems for beam group reporting for positioning in new radio (NR) wireless communications systems. In some wireless communications systems, multiple PRS resources, e.g., a beam group, received by a user equipment (UE) from the same network entity may be used to produce a combined Time of Arrival (TOA) measurement for the reference or target to derive an Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) estimate. The UE provides to a network entity an indication of the PRS resources in the beam group, which may be specifically or generally identified. Additionally, parameters associated with the beam group are provided, such as a relative quality of the TOA measurement for each PRS resource in the subset, a spread of the TOA measurements in the subset, a relative signal strength of each PRS resource in the subset, or a spread of the signal strength in the subset.