Abstract: During positioning of a user equipment (UE), for example, during an emergency call, a civic location of the UE may be determined. For example, during a location session in a wireless network, a UE may detect a WiFi access point (AP) and obtain the civic location of the WiFi AP from the AP. The UE may provide the civic location to a location server in the wireless network, which may treat the civic location as the civic location of the UE. The location server may validate the civic location using a geodetic location, e.g., obtained based on measurements from a satellite positioning system and/or base stations in the wireless network. The location server may further verify that the UE is proximate to the WiFi AP using WiFi positioning measurements performed by the UE. The validated civic location can be provided to an external client, e.g. a PSAP.

Abstract: Latency in location of a user equipment (UE) is reduced by requesting and scheduling the location of the UE in advance of the time of when it is needed. A positioning request from an external client or the UE may indicate the time that the location is to be determined or measured. A location management function (LMF) may manage and coordinate location measurements for the UE prior to the location determination time. The LMF may schedule downlink and/or uplink measurements to be performed at the desired time. Either the LMF or a location server associated with a serving base station for the UE may be assigned to receive positioning measurements and obtain the location of the UE. The location server or LMF may send the location to the UE or the external client. User plane transport may be used to further reduce latency.

Abstract: A RAN location server function (e.g. for 5G New Radio), referred to as Location Management Component (LMC), may be included in a gNB and connected to a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU). The gNB-CU may receive a location request for a UE (e.g. from an AMF) and may initiate a location session for the UE, including selecting an LMC for the location session. The gNB-CU may handover the UE to a new serving gNB during the location session. The LMC for the location session may then remain unchanged after the handover or may be changed to a new LMC to suit the new serving gNB. The location session may then continue using the original LMC if not changed or the new LMC if changed.

Abstract: Access, mobility management and regulatory services are supported for satellite access to a 5G core network. A coverage area, e.g., a country or region, is divided into fixed virtual cells and fixed tracking areas. The UE receives configuration information for fixed cells and fixed tracking areas associated with a serving PLMN. The fixed cells and the fixed tracking areas are defined, independently of each other, as fixed geographic areas. A position of the UE is used to determine a fixed serving cell and/or fixed tracking area for the UE. A service operation for the UE is enabled for the serving PLMN based on the fixed serving cell or the fixed tracking area. A fixed cell may be associated with an overlapping fixed tracking area by assigning a color code to the tracking area and appending the color code to an ID for the fixed cell.

Abstract: Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a radio access network (RAN) node may transmit, to an access and mobility function (AMF) of a core network, a request associated with a location-based state of a user equipment (UE) served by the RAN node. For example, the location-based state of the UE may be associated with whether the UE is flying or whether the UE is driving. Accordingly, the RAN node may receive a message in response to the request. The RAN node may receive the message in response to the request from the AMF. Alternatively, the AMF may establish a connection between the RAN node and a location management function (LMF) of the core network such that the RAN node receives the message in response to the request from the LMF. Numerous other aspects are described.

Abstract: Techniques for supporting network independent location services (LCS) are described. In one design, a location center may communicate with a terminal to establish an account for the terminal with the location center for location services. The location center may establish the account for the terminal independent of a home network or a serving network for the terminal. During signup to establish the account, the location center may (i) provide address information for the location center, security information, and/or other information for the location center and (ii) receive public identity information and/or other information for the terminal. The location center may thereafter provide location services to the terminal based on the established account and without interacting with the home or serving network for the terminal. Techniques for supporting delivery of assistance data are also described.

Abstract: Methods and techniques are described for supporting location services for a user equipment (UE) in a Fifth Generation wireless network using a Location Management Function (LMF) based control plane (CP) location solution. The LMF serves as the main anchor point for location support instead of an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF). The LMF may be in either a serving Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for a UE or in a Home PLMN for a roaming UE. The LMF may obtain location information for a UE via an AMF from a Next Generation Radio Access Network or the UE and may interact with a Gateway Mobile Location Center to receive location requests from and return location information to an external client. The LMF solution may be more efficient and require less implementation than an AMF based CP location solution.

Abstract: Methods and techniques are described for supporting location services for a user equipment (UE) that is using Narrowband Internet of Things radio access or Cellular Internet of Things features to access a wireless network. The techniques include enabling support for a last known location of a UE, using previously obtained location measurements, when a UE is not reachable from a wireless network for positioning. The techniques also include limiting positioning protocol interaction between a UE and a location server via a reduced maximum message size, reduced message volume and longer response and retransmission timers. The techniques further include enabling a UE to obtain location measurements when not connected to a wireless network, enabling periodic and triggered location of a UE in which a UE evaluates location triggers while not connected to a wireless network, enabling use of deferred location and enabling improved location security.

Abstract: A wireless network including user equipment (UE) and base stations is configured to perform position determination with low latency and synchronized to a common time within a wireless network. The UE and base stations are configured to perform positioning measurements at a specific time point or within a window around the time point in a measurement period. The time point may be relative to a timing event within the wireless network, such as the beginning or end of a positioning reference signal window or a specific message in a layer 1 or layer 2 transmission. A location server may be provided with the positioning measurements or a position estimate from the UE and provide the position estimate to an external client within the measurement period.

Abstract: A method of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) includes determining whether the UE transitioned between an international area and a national area. The method also includes triggering a public land mobile network (PLMN) selection of a network for receiving service, in response to the UE having transitioned between the international area and the national area. A method of wireless communication by a UE includes performing a PLMN search for a higher priority PLMN. The method also includes determining a list of candidate PLMNs based on the search. The method further includes selecting a PLMN from among the list of candidate PLMNs in response to an identity of a serving PLMN not being a shared mobile country code (MCC). The candidate PLMNs have either an MCC the same as an identity of the serving PLMN or a shared MCC. The selected PLMN has a higher priority than the serving PLMN.

Abstract: Methods and techniques are described for initiating a periodic and triggered location in a target UE. After an LCS Client requests initiation of periodic and triggered location reporting from the UE, two intermediate responses are returned by a network. A first response indicates that the periodic and triggered location request has been received and accepted by the network. A second response indicates that periodic and triggered location has been activated in the UE. Additionally, a periodic and triggered location request may include a maximum event sampling interval and a maximum reporting interval and one or more location triggers. The maximum event sampling interval can limit UE power consumption and the maximum reporting interval can detect when periodic and triggered location is no longer active in a UE. The location triggers may include periodic reporting, reporting using area events or reporting based on UE motion.

Abstract: The positioning capabilities of a User Equipment (UE) are stored in a core network to reduce positioning latency when the UE indicates that its positioning capabilities are stable and/or are long term valid. The UE may provide its positioning capabilities to a location server during a location session along with an indication of whether the positioning capabilities are stable. The location server may enable storage of the positioning capabilities for the UE in the core network, e.g., in the location server or another entity in the core network such as Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), if there is an indication that the positioning capabilities are stable. The AMF may include a UE identifier in location requests with which the location server may retrieve the UE positioning capabilities if stored at the location server or may include the UE positioning capabilities if stored at the AMF.

Abstract: A wireless network including user equipment (UE) and base stations is configured to perform position determination with low latency and high availability within the Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) framework. For example, the UE may be integrated as a sensor in a motion control system or similar applications. The UE and base stations are synchronized with the TSN clock, and are configured to perform positioning measurements at a specific time point within the TSN framework. The time point, for example, may be a global sampling point, at which all sensor nodes in the TSN framework perform position measurements. A location server may be provided with the positioning measurements or a position estimate from the UE and provide the position estimate to an external client, such as a motion controller in a motion control system.

Abstract: Methods and systems for wireless communication are provided. In one example, a mobile device is configured to: obtain beam support information of a plurality of cells; perform measurements of one or more signals at the mobile device based on the beam support information of the plurality of cells to support a location determination operation for the mobile device; and transmit results of the measurements of the one or more signals to at least one of a location server or to a base station to support the location determination operation. The beam support information may include: a number of beams supported at each cell of the plurality of cells, information to identify each beam of the number of beams supported at the each cell, beam width information of the each beam, and/or Positioning reference Signals (PRS) codebook information which encapsulates the beams which are enabled along various elevation and azimuth angles.

Abstract: The angle of departure (AOD) of directed beams, e.g., beamformed beams, transmitted by one or more base stations, such as a gNB, and the angle of arrival (AOA) of the directed beams received by a UE may be used to improve positioning accuracy by identifying Line Of Sight (LOS) beams and multi-path beams. The differential AOA (DAOA) of a directed beam pair may compared to the differential AOD (DAOD) of the directed beam pair. Matching DAOA and DAOD may be used as an indication that the directed beams in the beam pair are LOS with the UE, whereas a mis-match indicates one or both of the directed beams are multi-path. The location of the UE may be estimated using the measurement information, e.g., AOA, RTT, RSTD, etc., obtained from LOS directed beams.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for reducing the delay in accumulating positioning measurements and improving positioning latency. An example method for reducing positioning measurement latency in a wireless network includes receiving assistance data including configuration information for a plurality of positioning reference signals, determining measurement gap requirements, requesting measurement gaps based on the measurement gap requirements, receiving measurement gap configuration information, determining a mobility state, and measuring or transmitting one or more positioning reference signals based at least in part on the measurement gap configuration information and the mobility state.

Abstract: Methods and techniques are described for supporting location services for a user equipment (UE) in a Fifth Generation wireless network in which a base station, such as a gNB or ng-eNB, broadcasts a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) in a plurality of different directions and at a plurality of different times. A PRS muting configuration is used in which PRS is muted using a time based and angle based pattern to prevent interference between beams transmitted by other base stations and/or to prevent interference between beams transmitted simultaneously by a single base station. The time based and angle based muting pattern, for example, may provide an indication for each direction in the plurality of different directions and for each time in the plurality of different times and as to whether the PRS is transmitted or muted by the base station.

Abstract: Methods and techniques are described for supporting satellite wireless by a user equipment (UE) using satellite acquisition information. A UE may obtain (e.g., from an AMF or gNB) acquisition information for satellite cells supporting access to a PLMN. The UE may enter an inactive state with no radio access, may later leave the inactive state, find a preferred satellite cell based on the acquisition information and access the satellite cell (e.g., camp on the cell or connect to the PLMN using the cell). The acquisition information may indicate satellite cells available at one or more predefined times for a known location of the UE or may enable a satellite cell to be found for any UE location at any time. The acquisition information may also provide timing, frequency and other information to enable a UE to access a satellite cell with reduced latency and reduced power consumption.

Abstract: Disclosed are techniques for determining round-trip time (RTT) of a user equipment (UE). In an aspect, each gNodeB in a plurality of gNodeBs measure signaling data related to an uplink RTT reference signal received from the UE and the downlink RTT reference signal transmitted by each gNodeB. The signaling data comprises one of a processing delay between a time of arrival (TOA) of the uplink RTT reference signal and a time of transmission (TOT) of the downlink RTT reference signal or a total RTT between the TOT of the downlink RTT reference signal and the TOA of the uplink RTT reference signal. The signaling data is sent to a single entity, other than the UE, e.g., another gNodeB or a location server, where signaling data relevant to the UE is aggregated. The aggregated signaling data may be sent to the UE to determine the RTT for the UE or used by the location server to determine the RTT for the UE.

Abstract: Satellite access to a PLMN with a Fifth Generation (5G) core network (5GCN) is supported by a serving satellite NodeB (gNB). The gNB determines or verifies the country in which a user equipment (UE) is located to ensure that the UE is located in the same country as the PLMN. The gNB may determine the country of the UE based on UE measurements from broadcast satellite signals and a positioning ID (PID) broadcast for each radio cell. The PID frequently changes to prevent spoofing. The gNB may use multiple UE measurements from a moving radio cell over a period of time to generate a more accurate location for the UE. The gNB may indicate to a 5GCN whether the country of the UE has been verified. The 5GCN will determine the location and country of the UE if the gNB indicates that the country is not fully verified.