Systems and methods for positioning with channel measurements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12192947-B2
Application number	US-202016776871-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2020
Priority date	Feb 19, 2019
Publication date	Jan 7, 2025
Grant date	Jan 7, 2025

Abstract

Position determination of a user equipment (UE) is supported using channel measurements obtained for Wireless Access Points (WAPs), wherein the channel measurements are for Line of Sight (LOS) and Non-LOS (NLOS) signals. Based on WAP almanac information and the channel measurements, channel parameters indicative of positions of signal sources relative to a first position of a UE may be determined. Using the first position of the UE and an association of the signal sources with corresponding channel parameters, a second position of the UE may be determined. The position of the UE may be a probability density function. Additionally, position information for signal sources may be determined, such as a probability density function, as well as signal blockage probability and an antenna geometry and the WAP almanac information may be updated accordingly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to support position determination comprising:
obtaining a plurality of channel measurements for at least one Wireless Access Point (WAP), wherein the plurality of channel measurements include Line of Sight (LOS) signal measurements and Non-LOS (NLOS) signal measurements of the at least one WAP;
determining, based on WAP almanac information and the plurality of channel measurements for the at least one WAP, at least one corresponding set of channel parameters, wherein the channel parameters are indicative of positions of a plurality of signal sources relative to a previous position information of a User Equipment (UE), wherein one or more signal sources in the plurality of signal sources is a virtual signal source associated with the NLOS signal measurements;
associating the plurality of signal sources with corresponding channel parameters in the at least one corresponding set of channel parameters;
determining, based on the previous position information of the UE and the association of the plurality of signal sources with the corresponding channel parameters, a current position information of the UE; and
updating the WAP almanac information based on position information of at least one signal source in the plurality of signal sources, a signal blockage probability of the at least one signal source, and an antenna geometry for the at least one signal source.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the previous position information of the UE comprises a first probability density function of a previous UE position and the current position information of the UE comprises a second probability density function of a current UE position.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the position information of the at least one signal source in the plurality of signal sources.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the position information of the at least one signal source comprises a probability density function of a position of the at least one signal source.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining, for the at least one signal source, the signal blockage probability.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the antenna geometry for the at least one signal source, wherein the at least one signal source comprises a multi-antenna system or supports Multiple In Multiple Out (MIMO) communication.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the previous position information of the UE is determined based on inertial measurements related to a velocity of the UE and to rotational parameters associated with the UE.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the current position information of the UE comprises:
providing the previous position information of the UE and the association of the plurality of signal sources with the corresponding channel parameters to a Bayesian filter, wherein the Bayesian filter determines the current position information of the UE.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the previous position information of the UE is determined based, on at least one of:
a prior position of the UE provided by the Bayesian filter, and
one of more of: a motion model for the UE, or inertial measurements related to a velocity of the UE and to rotational parameters associated with the UE, or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one corresponding set of channel parameters comprise at least one of:
an Angle of Arrival (AOA) of a corresponding channel signal, or
an Angle of Departure (AOD) of the corresponding channel signal, or
a phase vector associated with the corresponding channel signal, or
an NLOS path length for the corresponding channel signal, or
a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by at least one of:
the UE, or a location server, or a network entity coupled to a wireless network associated with the UE; or some combination thereof.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the location server forms part of a 5G Core Network (5GCN) and comprises a Location Management Function (LMF).

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one WAP comprises at least one of: Base Stations associated with a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) APs; or some combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the WAP almanac information comprises at least one of: first position information for the at least one WAP, or second position information for the plurality of signal sources, or antenna geometry information for the at least one WAP, or third position information pertaining to one or more environmental features affecting radio frequency (RF) signal propagation.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the association of the plurality of signal sources with the corresponding channel parameters comprises either:
a deterministic mapping of signal sources to channel parameters, wherein each signal source is associated with a set of corresponding channel parameters; or
a set of possible mappings of the signal sources to the channel parameters, wherein each possible mapping is associated with a probability mass function.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of channel measurements comprise at least one of channel frequency response (CFR), Channel Impulse Response (CIR) measurements, power delay profile (PDP), or a combinate thereof.

17. An entity in a wireless network configured to support position determination comprising:
an external interface configured to communicate with entities in the wireless network;
at least one memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the external interface and the at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to:
obtain a plurality of channel measurements for at least one Wireless Access Point (WAP), wherein the plurality of channel measurements include Line of Sight (LOS) signal measurements and Non-LOS (NLOS) signal measurements of the at least one WAP;
determine, based on WAP almanac information and the plurality of channel measurements for the at least one WAP, at least one corresponding set of channel parameters, wherein the channel parameters are indicative of positions of a plurality of signal sources relative to a previous position information of a User Equipment (UE), wherein one or more signal sources in the plurality of signal sources is a virtual signal source associated with the NLOS signal measurements;
associate the plurality of signal sources with corresponding channel parameters in the at least one corresponding set of channel parameters;
determine, based on the previous position information of the UE and the association of the plurality of signal sources with the corresponding channel parameters, a current position information of the UE; and
update the WAP almanac information based on position information of at least one signal source in the plurality of signal sources, a signal blockage probability of the at least one signal source, and an antenna geometry for the at least one signal source.

18. The entity of claim 17 , wherein the previous position information of the UE comprises a first probability density function of a previous UE position and the current position information of the UE comprises a second probability density function of a current UE position.

19. The entity of claim 17 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine the position information of the at least one signal source in the plurality of signal sources.

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Ferrari Lorenzo
• Yoo Taesang
• Mallik Siddhartha

Classifications

• G01S5/0273

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

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• G01S5/0278

  involving statistical or probabilistic considerations (G01S5/0252, G01S5/0294 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01S19/46

  the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type · CPC title

• H04B7/02

  Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas (RAKE receivers H04B1/7115) · CPC title