Determining device locations based on random access channel signaling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10798745-B2
Application number	US-201816146544-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2018
Priority date	Sep 28, 2018
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) device may determine its location with a high degree of precision, beyond the capability of other current methodologies. Specifically, a UE device may obtain High Precision (HIP) coordinates of its location based on Random Access Channel (RACH) messages that the UE device exchanges with multiple wireless stations. Using RACH messages to obtain HIP coordinates imposes little communication overhead or computational burden on the UE device and the network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device comprising:
an interface to wirelessly communicate with wireless stations in a network;
a memory device to store a set of instructions; and
a processor configured to execute the instructions, wherein executing the instructions causes the processor to:
perform a partial Random Access Chanel (RACH) procedure for each wireless station of the wireless stations, wherein the partial RACH procedure for each wireless station of the wireless stations includes:
starting a RACH procedure by detecting a broadcast signal from the wireless station;
transmitting a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble to the wireless station in response to the broadcast signal;
receiving a Random Access Response (RAR) message from the wireless station in response to the PRACH preamble;
extracting a value of a parameter from the RAR message; and
terminating the RACH procedure before sending additional messages, from the device, to or via the wireless station; and

apply multilateration based on results of performing the RACH procedure for each of the wireless stations, wherein the results include, for each of the wireless stations, the extracted value of the parameter in the RAR message.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the extracted value includes:
a value of a Timing Advance parameter in the RAR message.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor applies multilateration to:
determine a distance from the device to one of the wireless stations.

4. The device of claim 3 , wherein when the processor determines the distance from the device to the one of the wireless stations, the processor is configured to:
determine a quantity equivalent to a timing adjustment times the speed of light divided by two.

5. The device of claim 4 , wherein the timing adjustment is equal to sixteen times the extracted value times T S , where T S is equal to one divided by a sub-carrier spacing and a size of Discrete Fourier Transform performed by the interface to receive or send a message to the one of the wireless stations.

6. The device of claim 5 , wherein a value of T S is approximately equal to 0.0325 μs for a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and to 1 nanosecond for a 5th Generation network at a particular spectrum.

7. The device of claim 3 , wherein when the processor applies multilateration, the processor is further configured to:
obtain a solution of at least three linear equations in three unknown variables; or
obtain a least-squares solution of more than three linear equations in three unknown variables.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless stations include at least three wireless stations.

9. A method comprising:
performing a partial Random Access Chanel (RACH) procedure for each wireless station of wireless stations, wherein the partial RACH procedure for each wireless station of the wireless stations includes:
starting a RACH procedure by detecting a broadcast signal from the wireless station;
transmitting a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble to the wireless station in response to the broadcast signal;
receiving a Random Access Response (RAR) message from the wireless station in response to the PRACH preamble;
extracting a value of a parameter from the RAR message; and
terminating the RACH procedure before sending additional messages, from the device, to or via the wireless station; and

applying multilateration based on results of performing the RACH procedure for each of the wireless stations, wherein the results include, for each of the wireless stations, the extracted value of the parameter in the RAR message.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the extracted value includes:
a value of a Timing Advance parameter in the RAR message.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein applying multilateration includes:
determining a distance from a device to one of the wireless stations.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining the distance from the device to the one of the wireless stations includes:
determining a quantity equivalent to a timing adjustment times the speed of light divided by two.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the timing adjustment is equal to sixteen times the extracted value times T S , wherein T S is equal to one divided by a sub-carrier spacing and a size of Discrete Fourier Transform performed by the interface to receive or send a message to the one of the wireless stations.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein a value of T S is approximately equal to 0.0325 μs for a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and to 1 nanosecond for a 5th Generation network at a particular spectrum.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein applying multilateration includes:
obtaining a solution of three linear equations in three unknown variables; or
obtaining a least-squares solution of more than three linear equations in three unknown variables.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
perform a partial Random Access Chanel (RACH) procedure for each of wireless stations, wherein the partial RACH procedure for each of the wireless stations includes:
starting a RACH procedure by detecting a broadcast signal from the wireless station;
transmitting a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preamble to the wireless station in response to the broadcast signal;
receiving a Random Access Response (RAR) message from the wireless station in response to the PRACH preamble;
extracting a value of a parameter from the RAR message; and
terminating the RACH procedure before sending additional messages, from the device, to or via the wireless station; and

apply multilateration based on results of performing the RACH procedure for each of the wireless stations, wherein the results include, for each of the wireless stations, the extracted value of the parameter in the RAR message.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the extracted value includes:
a value of a Timing Advance parameter in the RAR message.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein when the processor applies multilateration, the processor is configured to:
determine a distance from a device to one of the wireless stations.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein when the processor determines the distance from the device to the one of the wireless stations, the processor is configured to:
determine a quantity equivalent to a timing adjustment times the speed of light divided by two.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the timing adjustment is equal to sixteen times the extracted value times T S , where T S is equal to one divided by a sub-carrier spacing and a size of Discrete Fourier Transform performed by the interface to receive or send a message to the one of the wireless stations.

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Weisbrod Fred
• Christopherson Corey J
• Polehn Donna L

Classifications

• H04W74/0833 Primary

  Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access · CPC title

• H04W56/003

  Arrangements to increase tolerance to errors in transmission or reception timing · CPC title

• H04W56/001 Primary

  Synchronization between nodes · CPC title

• H04W76/27

  Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states · CPC title