Method and apparatus for positioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12164050-B2
Application number	US-202017438212-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2020
Priority date	Mar 12, 2019
Publication date	Dec 10, 2024
Grant date	Dec 10, 2024

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide method and apparatus for positioning. The method may comprise receiving a first radio signal of a terminal device located in the area from a line of sight (LOS) path between the antenna array and the terminal device; receiving a second radio signal of the terminal device located in the area from at least one path reflected by the reflector; determining respective angles of arrival of the LOS path and the at least one path reflected by the reflector; and determining a location of the terminal device by using triangulation based on the respective angles of arrival.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method at a network device, the network device comprising an antenna device including an antenna array positioned to receive communications from a reflector configured to reflect a part of energy transmitted by a terminal device to the antenna array, the method comprising:
receiving a first radio signal from the terminal device in a line-of-sight (LOS) path from the terminal device to the antenna array;
receiving a second radio signal from the terminal device in a reflected path from the terminal device reflected by the reflector to the antenna array;
determining a first angle of arrival of the LOS path at the antenna array;
determining a second angle of arrival of the reflected path at the reflector;
determining the LOS path and the reflected path are first and second skew lines that are not parallel and not intersecting;
determining nearest points on the first and second skew lines; and
determining a location of the terminal device based on the nearest points.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
transforming the location of the terminal device to coordinate information of World Geodetic System (WGS).

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second radio signal comprises one or both of a random access radio signal and a radio resource control connection request radio signal.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
refining the respective angles of arrival of the LOS path and the reflected path based on two or more received radio signals.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
performing beamforming based on the location of the terminal device; and
transmitting one or more beams to the terminal device based on the beamforming.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein a first beam of the one or more beams is transmitted to the terminal device through the reflection of the reflector.

7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein a second beam of the one or more beams is transmitted to the terminal device along the LOS path.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the terminal device comprises a drone or a user equipment.

9. An apparatus at a network device, the network device comprising antenna device including an antenna array positioned to receive communications from a reflector configured to reflect a part of energy of transmitted by a terminal device to the antenna array, the apparatus comprising:
a processor;
a memory coupled to the processor, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor, whereby the apparatus is operative to:
receive a first radio signal from the terminal device in a line-of-sight (LOS) path from the terminal device to the antenna array;
receive a second radio signal from the terminal device in a reflected path from the terminal device reflected by the reflector to the antenna array;

determine a first angle of arrival of the LOS path at the antenna array;
determine a second angle of arrival of the reflected path at the reflector;
determine the LOS path and the reflected path are first and second skew lines that are not parallel and not intersecting;
determine nearest points on the first and second skew lines; and
determine a location of the terminal device based on the nearest points.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , the memory containing instructions executable by the processor, whereby the apparatus is further operative to:
transform the location of the terminal device to coordinate information of World Geodetic System (WGS).

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the first and second radio signal comprises one or both of a random access radio signal and a radio resource control connection request radio signal.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9 , the memory containing instructions executable by the processor, whereby the apparatus is further operative to:
refine the respective angles of arrival of the LOS path and the reflected path based on two or more received radio signals.

13. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising determining the location of the terminal device to be at the center of a line segment between the nearest points.

14. The apparatus according to claim 9 , the memory containing instructions executable by the processor, whereby the apparatus is further operative to:
determine the location of the terminal device to be at the center of a line segment between the nearest points.

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M
• Telefonaktiebolagget Lm Ericsson Publ

Inventors

• Geng Yi
• Xia Cuichun
• Zhao Jianxiang
• Chen Hao

Classifications

• H01Q3/20

  wherein the primary active element is fixed and the reflecting device is movable · CPC title

• H01Q19/185

  wherein the surfaces are plane · CPC title

• G01S5/0273

  using multipath or indirect path propagation signals in position determination · CPC title

• G01S5/04

  Position of source determined by a plurality of spaced direction-finders · CPC title

• G01S5/0221

  Receivers · CPC title