WO2023152720A1 - Systems and methods for configuring spatial relation for sounding reference signal for propagation delay compensation - Google Patents

Abstract

A method (1200) by a user equipment, UE (612), includes receiving (1202), from a network node (610), a signal comprising at least one Medium Access Control- Control Element, MAC CE, indicating a spatial relationship between at least one downlink positioning reference signal, PRS, and at least one sounding reference signal, SRS, resource within a SRS resource set. The at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource are for Propagation Delay Compensation, PDC.

Description

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONFIGURING SPATIAL RELATION

FOR SOUNDING REFERENCE SIGNAL FOR PROPAGATION DELAY COMPENSATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to wireless communications and, more particularly, systems and methods for configuring spatial relation for Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) for propagation delay compensation.

BACKGROUND

The use of time synchronization is common practice for cellular networks of different generations and is an integral part of operating 5^th Generation (5G) cellular radio systems. The 5G radio network components themselves are also time synchronized, e.g., for advanced radio transmission, such as synchronized Time Division Duplex (TDD) operation, cooperative multipoint (CoMP) transmission, or carrier aggregation (CA).

The new 5G capability introduced when integrating 5G systems and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) networks is to provide 5G internal clock (reference time) delivery as a service over the 5G system (5GS). Specifically, once the 5G reference time is acquired by a gNodeB (gNB) (e.g., from a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver), the 5G reference time is sent to different nodes in the 5G network with the goal of introducing as little synchronicity error and, thus, uncertainty, as possible when distributing it. The distribution of 5G reference time information to User Equipments (UEs) is designed to exploit the existing synchronized operation inherent to the 5G radio access network. Such a building block approach enables end-to-end time synchronization for industrial applications communication services running over 5G system.

For example, FIGURE 1 illustrates example gNB System Frame Number (SFN) Transmissions with a specific projected reference point indicated as tR. As illustrated, the gNB maintains the acquired 5G reference time on an ongoing basis as well as periodically projecting the value it will have when the specific reference point in the system frame structure (e.g., at the end of SFNz) occurs at the gNB Antenna Reference Point (ARP). Specifically, as shown in FIGURE 1, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) broadcast message such as a System Information Block (SIB) or an RRC unicast message containing the projected reference time value and the corresponding reference point (the value of SFN_Z) is transmitted during SFN_X and received by a UE in advance of tR. For example, it may be broadcasted to all UEs in SIB9 or transmitted by unicast to an individual UE in the RRC message, DLInformationTransfer.

The message used to send the 5G reference time information may also contain an uncertainty value to indicate to the UE the expected error that the indicated 5G reference time value is expected to have at reference point tR. The uncertainty value reflects: (a) the accuracy with which a gNB implementation can ensure that the indicated reference time corresponding to reference point tR (the end of SFN_Z) will reflect the actual time when that reference point occurs at the ARP, and (b) the accuracy with which the reference time can be acquired by the gNB. The uncertainty introduced by (a) is implementation specific but is expected to be negligible.

The reference time information is transmitted in the RRC information element (IE) ReferenceTimelnfo .

Propagation Delay Compensation (PDC) to achieve very accurate reference time delivery

The delivery of the 5G internal clock to a UE from the gNB via the Uu interface can introduce synchronization error. One of the biggest error components is unknown propagation delays. In some large cells, the propagation delay from the gNB to the UE can be 1 ps or larger (i.e., the distance from the gNB to the UE is 300 meters or more). It cannot meet the requirement of 100ns-200 ns synchronization accuracy for some implementation such as, for example, industrial automation.

In 3GPP Rel-15/Rel-16, the legacy uplink (UL) transmission timing adjustment (i.e., Timing Advance (TA)) can be re-used to estimate and compensate the propagation delay. The 3GPP TA command is utilized in cellular communication for UL transmission synchronization, and it is an implementation variant of a Round Trip Time (RTT) measurement. Theoretically, the dynamic part of the TA (i.e., NTA) is equal to (2 x propagation delay) since the same propagation delay value applies to both DL and UL directions. Since the TA command is transmitted to the UE mainly via the MAC control element (CE), the UE can derive the propagation delay. The challenges of the TA method are that, due to various implementation inaccuracies in transmit timing and reception timing at gNB and UE, it introduces up-to 540 ns uncertainty to determine the DL propagation delay on a single Uu interface based on Rel-15/Rel-16 implementation requirements. See, Rl-1901470, Reply LS on TSN requirements evaluation, RANI, 3GPP TSG- RAN WG1 Ad-Hoc Meeting 1901 Taipei, Taiwan, January 21-25, 2019. In 3 GPP Rel-17, the RAN work item “Enhanced Industrial Internet of Things (loT) and Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC) support for NR” introduced a PDC method that leverages the legacy multi-RTT positioning method. This method makes use of, for example, the UE Rx-Tx time difference measurements and DL-Positioning Reference Signal (PRS)-Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of DL signals received from multiple Transmission Reception Points (TRPs) measured by the UE, and the measured gNB Receiver (Rx)-Transmitter (Tx) time difference measurements and UL-SRS-RSRP at multiple TRPs of UL signals transmitted from the UE. The measurements are used to determine the RTT at the positioning server which are used to estimate the location of the UE.

The RTT-based PDC method leverages the legacy multi-RTT positioning method as follows: a) UE transmits a reference signal (e.g., UL SRS) in an UL frame i and records the transmission time as ti. b) gNB receives UL frame i and records the time of arrival of the first detected path as ts. c) gNB transmits a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) (e.g., DL PRS or Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS)) in a DL frame j to the UE, and records transmission time as C. d) UE receives downlink frame j and records the time of arrival of the first detected path as t4. e) The following calculations are performed in the UE and gNB, respectively:

— i) UE RX-TX diff= t4- ti

- ii) gNB Rx-Tx diff= ts- 12. This quantity can be positive or negative depending on the whether gNB transmits the DL frame before or after receiving the UL frame. f) Propagation delay can be calculated based on RTT as illustrated in FIGURE 2. Specifically, Round Trip Time (RTT)= (gNB Rx - Tx time difference) + (UE Rx - Tx time difference). The propagation delay is one half of the RTT.

There are two variants of the method for PDC, depending on which node calculates the RTT and which node delivers the Rx-TX difference. For example, with regard to UE-calculated PDC, the gNB delivers the gNB Rx - Tx time difference to the UE, and the UE calculates the round-trip time RTT to obtain the propagation delay. Conversely, with regard to gNB calculated PDC, the UE delivers the UE Rx - Tx time difference to the gNB, and the gNB calculates the round-trip time RTT to obtain the propagation delay.

Quasi Co-Location (QCL)

In NR, several signals can be transmitted from the same base station antenna from different antenna ports. These signals can have the same large-scale properties, for instance in terms of Doppler shift/spread, average delay spread, or average delay. These antenna ports are then said to be QCL.

The network can then signal to the UE that two antenna ports are QCL. If the UE knows that two antenna ports are QCL with respect to a certain parameter (e.g., Doppler spread), the UE can estimate that parameter based on one of the antenna ports. The UE can use that estimate when receiving the other antenna port. Typically, the first antenna port is represented by a measurement reference signal such as CSI-RS (known as source Reference Signal (RS)) and the second antenna port is a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) (known as target RS).

Information about what assumptions can be made regarding QCL is signalled to the UE from the network. In NR, four types of QCL relations between a transmitted source RS and transmitted target RS were defined:

• Type A: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}

• Type B: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}

• Type C: {average delay, Doppler shift}

• Type D: {Spatial Rx parameter}

QCL type D was introduced to facilitate beam management with analog beamforming and is known as spatial QCL.

For RTT-based PDC, the transmission of DL reference signals TRS and/or PRS, UL SRS, and reference time information are associated with a same TRP. Since the reference time information provides the time information at the Primary Cell (PCell) of the UE (and, thus, TRS and/or PRS), UL SRS are all associated with the PCell. The DL reference signals, TRS and/or PRS (whichever is configured for a PDC purpose), is QCL-ed with the specific Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) which is transmitted from the PCell TRP.

Spatial Relation Definition

While QCL Type D refers to a relationship between two different DL RSs from a UE perspective, NR has also adopted the term “spatial relation” to refer to a relationship between an UL RS (such as, for example Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) DMRS/SRS) and another RS, which can be either a DL RS (CSI-RS or SSB) or an UL RS (SRS). This is also defined from a UE perspective. If the UL RS is spatially related to a DL RS, it means that the UE should transmit the UL RS in the opposite (reciprocal) direction from which it received the second RS, previously. More precisely, the UE should apply the “same” Tx spatial filtering configuration for the transmission of the first RS as the Rx spatial filtering configuration it used to receive the second RS, previously. If the second RS is an UL RS, then the UE should apply the same Tx spatial filtering configuration for the transmission of the first RS as the Tx spatial filtering configuration it used to transmit the second RS, previously.

MAC CE for SRS Spatial Relation Indication

The network may activate and deactivate the configured Semi-persistent SRS resource sets of a Serving Cell by sending the semi-persistent (SP) SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE as described in Clause 6.1.3.17 of 3GPP TS 38.321.

The network may activate and deactivate the configured SP SRS resource sets of a Serving Cell by sending the Enhanced SP/Aperiodic (AP) SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE described in Clause 6.1.3.26 of 3GPP TS 38.321. The network may indicate the spatial relation info of SP/AP SRS resource sets of a Serving Cell by sending the Enhanced SP/AP SRS spatial relation Indication MAC CE described in Clause 6.1.3.26 of 3GPP TS 38.321.

As used herein, the term SP/AP stands for “semi-persistent” / “a-periodic”.

The network may indicate the spatial relation info of SRS resource of a set of Serving Cells configured in simultaneousSpatial-UpdatedListl or simultaneousSpatial-UpdatedList2 by sending the Serving Cell set based SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE described in Clause 6.1.3.29 of 3GPP TS 38.321.

There currently exist certain challenge(s), however. For example, for SRS configuration for PDC, RAN 1 agreed to introduce a new spatial relation spatiaionRelationlnfo-PDC-rl 7 in the RRC signalling so that when the network configures a SRS resource, the network can configure the dl-PRS-PDC resource as the source RS for spatial relation, as shown below in italics:

[ [ spatialRelation!nfo- PDC-rl 7 SEQUENCE { re ferencesignal CHOI CE { s sb- Index S SB- Index, cs i-RS- Index NZ P-CSI -RS-Res ourceld, dl -PRS-PDC NR-DL-PRS-ResourcelD-rl 7 s rs SEQUENCE { res ourceld SRS-Res ourceld, uplinkBWP BWP- Id }

} }

] ]

However, the RRC configuration works only for periodic SRS resources for which UE shall transmit in the UL once the RRC configuration of the spatial relation is received. Since there is no need of MAC CE for periodic SRS, the new spatialRelationlnfo-PDC-rl 7 field is not an issue for periodic SRS.

In NR, other types of SRS have been introduced such as, for example, SP SRS and AP triggered SRS. For both of these types of SRS, the triggering and the indication of the source RS for spatial relation is done by the MAC CE. More specifically, MAC CEs have been defined for activation, deactivation, and spatial relation indication of SRS.

SUMMARY

Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, according to certain embodiments, methods and systems are provided for modifying the MAC CE for providing the spatial relation for SRS, when the pair of DL PRS and UL SRS are used for the purpose of PDC.

According to certain embodiments, a method by a UE includes receiving, from a network node, a signal comprising at least one MAC CE indicating a spatial relationship between at least one DL PRS and at least one SRS resource within a SRS resource set. The at least one DL PRS and the at least one SRS resource are for PDC.

According to certain embodiments, a UE is adapted to receive, from a network node, a signal comprising at least one MAC CE indicating a spatial relationship between at least one DL PRS and at least one SRS resource within a SRS resource set. The at least one DL PRS and the at least one SRS resource are for PDC.

According to certain embodiments, a method by a network node includes transmitting, to a UE a signal comprising at least one MAC CE indicating a spatial relationship between at least one DL PRS and at least one SRS resource within a SRS resource set. The at least one DL PRS and the at least one SRS resource is for PDC.

According to certain embodiments, a network node is adapted to transmit, to a UE a signal comprising at least one MAC CE indicating a spatial relationship between at least one DL PRS and at least one SRS resource within a SRS resource set. The at least one DL PRS and the at least one SRS resource is for PDC.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage (s). For example, certain embodiments may provide a technical advantage of allowing the gNB to use MAC CE to activate, deactivate, and configure the spatial relation for SRS, when the pair of DL PRS and UL SRS are used for the purpose of PDC.

Other advantages may be readily apparent to one having skill in the art. Certain embodiments may have none, some, or all of the recited advantages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the disclosed embodiments and their features and advantages, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates example gNB SFN Transmissions with a specific projected reference point indicated as tR;

FIGURE 2 illustrates propagation delay calculated based on RTT;

FIGURE 3 illustrates improved SP SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 4 illustrates further enhanced SP/AP SRS spatial relation Indication MAC CE, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 5 illustrates a new SP/AP SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE for PDC, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 6 illustrates an alternative new MAC CE for SP/AP SRS spatial relation indication for PDC, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 7 illustrates another alternative new MAC CE for SP/AP spatial relation indication for PDC, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 8 illustrates an example communication system, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 9 illustrates an example UE, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 10 illustrates an example network node, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 11 illustrates a block diagram of a host, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 12 illustrates a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 13 illustrates a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 14 illustrates an example method by a UE, according to certain embodiments; and FIGURE 15 illustrates an example method by a network node, according to certain embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

As used herein, ‘node’ can be a network node or a UE. Examples of network nodes are NodeB, base station (BS), multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, eNodeB (eNB), gNodeB (gNB), Master eNB (MeNB), Secondary eNB (SeNB), integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, network controller, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), relay, donor node controlling relay, base transceiver station (BTS), Central Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Distributed Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Remote Radio Head (RRH), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), core network node (e.g. Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), etc.), Operations & Maintenance (O&M), Operations Support System (OSS), Self Organizing Network (SON), positioning node (e.g. E- SMLC), etc.

Another example of a node is user equipment (UE), which is a non-limiting term and refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and/or with another UE in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device to device (D2D) UE, vehicular to vehicular (V2V), machine type UE, MTC UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipment (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), Unified Serial Bus (USB) dongles, etc.

In some embodiments, generic terminology, “radio network node” or simply “network node (NW node)”, is used. It can be any kind of network node which may comprise base station, radio base station, base transceiver station, base station controller, network controller, evolved Node B (eNB), Node B, gNodeB (gNB), relay node, access point, radio access point, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), Central Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Distributed Unit (e.g. in a gNB), Baseband Unit, Centralized Baseband, C-RAN, access point (AP), etc.

The term radio access technology (RAT), may refer to any RAT such as, for example, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRA), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRA), narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT), WiFi, Bluetooth, next generation RAT, NR, 4G, 5G, etc. Any of the equipment denoted by the terms node, network node or radio network node may be capable of supporting a single or multiple RATs.

Whereas existing MAC CE does not allow the indication of the DL PRS as the spatial relation source RS for the SRS (that is configured for the PDC), certain embodiments disclosed herein are for modifying the MAC CE for providing the spatial relation for SRS, when the pair of DL PRS and UL SRS are used for the purpose of PDC. Various particular embodiments may include one or more of:

• MAC CE for configuring spatial relation for each SRS resource individually, with DL PRS included as a candidate resource used for spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i.

• MAC CE for configuring spatial relation for all SRS resources in an SRS resource set.

Configuring Spatial Relation for Each SRS Resource

According to certain embodiments, for SP SRS and AP SRS, an unused bit in the existing “Enhanced SP/AP SRS Spatial Relation Indication” MAC CE can be leveraged to provide indication of PRS. Thus, the unused bit is in the existing MAC CE is selected to indicate the new spatial relation for a SRS resource within a SRS resource set. In the existing MAC CE, the unused bit is the first bit of the field “Resource IDi”, which is always set to 0 if Fi is set to 0. Here, an unused bit refers to a bit which is previously always assigned a same known value (e.g., always set to 0, in this example). According to certain embodiments proposed herein, however, this bit is used to indicate information such as the indication of PRS. In a particular embodiment, the first bit of the field ‘Resource ID’ can be set to a value of 1 rather than the usual value of 0.

According to certain other embodiments, an unused codepoint in the existing MAC CE is selected to indicate the spatial relation for a SRS resource within a SRS resource set for a new type of reference signal. Here, an unused codepoint refers to that the MAC CE cannot be set to a particular value. For example, the value of a bit can only be set to zero, but now it can also be set to one to indicate the new type of reference signal.

According to certain other embodiments, PRS defined for PDC purpose may be used as the spatial relationship for the SRS resource, where both the PRS and the SRS are used for the purpose of PDC.

For example, in a particular embodiment, the method may be applied to the ‘Enhanced SP/AP SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE’ in Clause 6.1.3.26 of 3GPP TS38.321 V16.7.0. For instance, the following fields in the existing MAC CE of Clause 6.1.3.26 in 3GPP TS38.321 V16.7.0 can be updated as follows (where newly added text is shown with underlining and deleted text is shown with strikethrough):

Fi: This field indicates the type of a resource used as a spatial relationship for SRS resource within SP/AP SRS Resource Set indicated with SP/AP SRS Resource Set ID field. Fo refers to the first SRS resource within the resource set, Fi to the second one and so on. The field is set to 1 to indicate NZP CSI-RS resource index is used, and it is set to 0 to indicate either SSB index or SRS resource index or PDC PRS resource index is used. The length of the field is 1 bit. This field is only present if MAC CE is used for activation of SP SRS resource set, i.e. the A/D field is set to 1, or for AP SRS resource set;

Resource IDi: This field contains an identifier of the resource used for spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i. Resource IDo refers to the first SRS resource within the resource set, Resource IDi to the second one and so on. If Fi is set to 0, the first bit of this field is always set to 0 to indicate either SSB index or SRS resource index, and is set to 1 to indicate PDC PRS resource index. If Fi is set to 0. the first bit of this field is set to 0, and the second bit of this field is set to 1, the remainder of this field contains SSB- Index as specified in TS 38.331 [5], If Fi is set to 0. the first bit of this field is set to 0, and the second bit of this field is set to 0, the remainder of this field contains SRS-Resourceld as specified in TS 38.331 [5], If Fi is set to 0, and the first bit of this field is set to 1, the second bit of this field is always set to 0, and the remainder of this field contains nr-DL- PRS-ResourcelD as specified in TS 38,331 [5], The length of the field is 8 bits. This field is only present if MAC CE is used for activation of SP SRS resource set, i.e. the A/D field is set to 1, or for AP SRS resource set;

In the above updated fields, the first bit in the ‘Resource IDi’ field is used to differentiate between providing SSB-Index/SRS-Resourceld as the source RS for spatial relation versus providing nr- DL-PRS-ResourcelD as the source RS for spatial relation. Table 1 summarizes the bit values of Fi and Resource IDi for indicating the resource used for spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i.

Table 1 : Bit values of Fi and Resource IDi, for indicating the resource used for spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i

The above example assumes that the maximum number of PRS resources per resource set is 64, and it takes six bits to indicate, as follows: maxNrof PRS-Resources PerSet-rl7 INTEGER : : = 64 — Maximum number of PRS resources for one set

As a reference, the maximum number of indices for NZP CSI-RS, SSB and SRS resources are shown below: maxNrofNZ P-CS I-RS-Resources INTEGER : : = 192 -- Maximum number of Non-Zero-Power ( NZ P ) CS I-RS resources maxNrof SRS-Resources INTEGER : : = 64 -- Maximum number of SRS resources . maxNrof SSBs -rl 6 INTEGER : : = 64 -- Maximum number of SSB resources in a resource set .

That is, both SSB index and SRS resource ID takes 6 bits to indicate 128 values, while NZP CSI- RS takes 8 bits to indicate 192 values.

If 128 PRS resources per set is supported, then the second bit of the Resource IDi field is not reserved to zero and is used to indicate the resource ID of the PRS within the resource set. If fewer resources are supported, then the number of bits in the Resource IDi field used to indicate the resource ID of the PRS resource is also proportionally reduced.

In another example, this method is applied to the Serving Cell Set based SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE in Clause 6.1.3.29 of 3GPP TS 38.321 V16.7.0. For instance, the following fields in the existing MAC CE of Clause 6.1.3.29 in 3GPP TS38.321 V16.7.0 can be updated as follows (where newly added text is shown with underlining and deleted text is shown with strikethrough):

Fi: This field indicates the type of a resource used as a spatial relationship for SRS resource indicated with SRS Resource IDi field. Fo refers to the first SRS resource which is indicated SRS Resource IDi, Fi to the second one and so on. The field is set to 1 to indicate NZP CSI-RS resource index is used, and it is set to 0 to indicate either SSB index or SRS resource index or PDC PRS resource index is used. The length of the field is 1 bit;

Resource IDi: This field contains an identifier of the resource used for spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i. Resource IDo refers to the first SRS resource which is indicated SRS Resource IDo, Resource IDi to the second one and so on. If Fi is set to 0, the first bit of this field is always set to 0 to indicate either SSB index or SRS resource index, and is set to 1 to indicate PDC PRS resource index. If Fi is set to 0. the first bit of this field is set to 0, and the second bit of this field is set to 1, the remainder of this field contains SSB-Index as specified in TS 38.331 [5], If Fi is set to 0. the first bit of this field is set to 0, and the second bit of this field is set to 0, the remainder of this field contains SRS-Resourceld as specified in TS 38.331 [51. If Fi is set to 0, and the first bit of this field is set to 1, the second bit of this field is always set to 0, and the remainder of this field contains nr-DL-PRS-ResourcelD as specified in TS 38,331 [51, The length of the field is 8 bits.

In all the embodiments above, if the Fi bit and the first/second bits of the Resource IDi indicates a nr-DL-PRS-ResourcelD, then the UE shall ignore the field Resource Serving Cell IDi. It is specified that it refers always to one particular cell. In one example, the UE always considers that the DL PRS is from the Primary Cell (PCell) of the master cell group (MCG), since it is only in this cell that the network would configure DL PRS. In another relevant example, these field Resource Serving Cell IDi always refer to the primary cell of the master cell group.

Thus, one or more of the following is proposed:

• Adopt the text proposal to TS 38.211 to provide the comb size configuration for PRS.

• Do not include £//-/'/ .S'-SubcarricrSpacing and dl-PRS-CyclicPrefix for PDC PRS. PDC PRS share the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix as the downlink of the serving cell.

• Include time stamp in the measurement report of UE Rx-Tx time difference (if gNB side PDC) and gNB Rx-Tx time difference (if UE side PDC).

• For PDC purpose, the UE is expected to receive PRS only in RRC CONNECTED mode. • For PDC purpose, the UE is not expected to measure DL PRS outside the active BWP.

• Confirm the Working Assumption for adding new “spatialRelationlnfo-PDC-rl 7" field to SRS-Re source.

• Modify the existing MAC CE(s) to support nr-DL-PRS-ResourcelD as a resource ID for spatial relationship derivation for SRS.

• Send an LS to RAN2 to recommend the modification of two existing MAC CEs: (a). Enhanced SP/AP SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE; (b). Serving Cell Set based SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE.

Note that using this/these method(s), there is flexibility to have a subset of SRS resources having PDC PRS(s) as spatial relation source RS(s) while other subsets of SRS resources may have other resource types (e.g., NZP CSI-RS, SSB, or SRS) as spatial relation source RS(s).

Configuring Spatial Relation for All SRS Resources in a SRS Resource Set

According to certain embodiments, a reserved bit R (previously always set to 0) in any one of the MAC CEs in Clauses 6.1.3.17, 6.1.3.26 and 6.1.3.29 of 3GPP TS38.321 V16.7.0 is turned into an information-carrying bit P.

For example, in a particular embodiment, a previously reserved bit R is set to 0 if PDC PRS resource(s) is not to be used spatial relationship source RS for any SRS resource in the indicated SRS resource set. When the previously reserved bit R is set to 1, then PDC PRS resource(s) is used as spatial resource source RS for all SRS resources in a SRS resource set.

Modification to ‘SPSRSActivation/DeactivationMAC CE’ of Clause 6.1.3.17 ofTS 38.321

For SP SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE of clause 6.1.3.17 of 3GPP TS 38.321, an example modification according to a particular embodiment is shown in FIGURE 3. Thus, FIGURE 3 illustrates an example 100 of an improved SP SRS Activation/Deactivation MAC CE, according to certain embodiments. Specifically, a previously reserved bit R is turned into a nonreserved bit P. When P is set to 0, all fields in the MAC CE are interpreted the same as when the bit was reserved as specified in Clause 6.1.3.17 of 3GPP TS 38.321. When P is set to 1, then the last 6 bit of every Resource IDi field contains a PDC PRS resource ID nr-DL-PRS-ResourcelD, which is the resource used as spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i. When P is set to 1, the first bit of every Resource IDi field is always set to 0 (i.e., not used).

Since PDC PRS is located in the PCell of the UE, Resource Serving Cell IDi all point to the PCell, or the UE ignore these field and assume that it is always the PCell of the MCG. In the example of FIGURE 3, the 2^nd reserved bit ‘R’ is turned into bit ‘P’. In general, any other reserved bit ‘R’ in the MAC CE can be used instead, following the same design principle.

The above example assumes that the maximum number of PRS resources per resource set is 64, and it takes six bits to indicate. In general, if there is a maximum of N PRS resource per resource set, then w=ccil(log2(A')) bits are needed to indicate PRS resource ID. Assume n<=m, where m is the field size, then only n out of m bits are needed for indication of PRS resource index, with the rest of the field left unused or used to carry other information. The n bits can be selected in various ways, for example, the first n (out of m) bits, or the last n (out of m) bits. If using the last n bits to provide PRS resource indication, then the last n bits of the ‘Resource IDf field is used to indicate PRS resource ID value, while the first (m-n) bits of the field are left unused (e.g., set to value 0) or used for other indications.

In the example of FIGURE 3, the field size of ‘Resource IDi’ field is m=1.

‘Enhanced SP/AP SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE’

The Enhanced SP/AP SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE is identified by a MAC subheader with eLCID as specified in Clause 6.1.3.26 of 3GPP TS 38.321 and Table 6.2.1-lb of the same section. It has a variable size with following fields:

- A/D: This field indicates whether to activate or deactivate indicated SP SRS resource set. The field is set to 1 to indicate activation, otherwise it indicates deactivation. If the indicated SRS resource set ID is for the AP SRS resource set, MAC entity shall ignore this field;

SRS Resource Set's Cell ID: This field indicates the identity of the Serving Cell, which contains the indicated SP/AP SRS Resource Set. If the C field is set to 0, this field also indicates the identity of the Serving Cell which contains all resources indicated by the Resource IDi fields. The length of the field is 5 bits;

SRS Resource Set's BWP ID: This field indicates a UL BWP as the codepoint of the DCI handwidth part indicator field as specified in TS 38.212 [9], which contains the indicated SP/AP SRS Resource Set. If the C field is set to 0, this field also indicates the identity of the BWP which contains all resources indicated by the Resource IDi fields. The length of the field is 2 bits;

C: This field indicates whether the octets containing Resource Serving Cell ID field(s) and Resource BWP ID field(s) are present. If this field is set to 1, Resource Serving Cell ID field(s) and Resource BWP ID field(s) are present, otherwise they are not present so MAC entity shall ignore Resource Serving Cell ID field(s) and Resource BWP ID field(s);

SUL: This field indicates whether the MAC CE applies to the NUL carrier or SUL carrier configuration. This field is set to 1 to indicate that it applies to the SUL carrier configuration, and it is set to 0 to indicate that it applies to the NUL carrier configuration;

SRS Resource Set ID: This field indicates the SP/AP SRS Resource Set ID identified by SRS-ResourceSetld as specified in TS 38.331 [5], The length of the field is 4 bits;

- Li: This field indicates the type of a resource used as a spatial relationship for SRS resource within SP/AP SRS Resource Set indicated with SP/AP SRS Resource Set ID field. To refers to the first SRS resource within the resource set, Li to the second one and so on. The field is set to 1 to indicate NZP CSI-RS resource index is used, and it is set to 0 to indicate either SSB index or SRS resource index is used. The length of the field is 1 bit. This field is only present if MAC CE is used for activation of SP SRS resource set, i.e. the A/D field is set to 1, or for AP SRS resource set;

- Resource Serving Cell IDi: This field indicates the identity of the Serving Cell on which the resource used for spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i is located. The length of the field is 5 bits;

- Resource BWP IDi: This field indicates a UL BWP as the codepoint of the DCI bandwidth part indicator field as specified in TS 38.212 [9], on which the resource used for spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i is located. The length of the field is 2 bits;

- Resource IDi: This field contains an identifier of the resource used for spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i. Resource IDo refers to the first SRS resource within the resource set, Resource IDi to the second one and so on. If Fi is set to 0, the first bit of this field is always set to 0. If Li is set to 0, and the second bit of this field is set to 1 , the remainder of this field contains SSB-Index as specified in TS 38.331 [5], If Li is set to 0, and the second bit of this field is set to 0, the remainder of this field contains SRS-Resourceld as specified in TS 38.331 [5], The length of the field is 8 bits. This field is only present if MAC CE is used for activation of SP SRS resource set, i.e. the A/D field is set to 1, or for AP SRS resource set;

- R: Reserved bit, set to 0. For example, FIGURE 4 illustrates another example 200 of an enhanced SP/AP SRS spatial relation indication MAC CE, according to certain embodiments. Specifically, in FIGURE 4, the field size of ‘Resource IDi’ field is m=8.

For ‘Enhanced SP/AP SRS spatial relation Indication MAC CE’, an example embodiment includes turning a previously reserved bit R into a non-reserved bit P. When bit P is set to 0, all fields in the MAC CE are interpreted the same as when the bit was reserved. When bit P is set to 1, then the last 6 bit of every Resource IDi field contains a PDC PRS resource ID nr-DL-PRS- ResourcelD, which is the resource used as spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i. When bit P is set to 1, the first two bits of every Resource IDi field are always set to 0 (i.e., not used). Since PDC PRS is located in the PCell of the MCG, Resource Serving Cell IDi all point to the PCell. Alternatively, the UE ignore these field values and assume that it is always the PCell of the MCG.

In the example of FIGURE 4, the 2^nd reserved bit ‘R’ is turned into bit ‘P’. In general, any other reserved bit ‘R’ in the MAC CE can be used instead, following the same design principle.

This method can be applied similarly to the ‘ Serving Cell Set based SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE’ of Clause 6.1.3.29 of 3GPP TS 38.321. The details are not repeated for brevity.

New MAC CE for Configuring Spatial Relation for PDC SRS

According to certain embodiments, a new MAC CE dedicated to configuring spatial relation for PDC SRS is introduced. With this approach, the new MAC CE is only indicated when PDC SRS is to be indicated as spatial relation source RS for SRS. For indicating other types of spatial source RSs (i.e., NZP CSI-RS, SSB, or SRS), one of the existing MAC CEs of Clauses 6.1.3.17, 6.1.3.26, or 6.1.29 will be used.

FIGURE 5 illustrates an 300 example of a new SP/AP SRS Spatial Relation Indication MAC CE for PDC, according to certain embodiments. In this new MAC CE, the BWP ID Resource BWP ID I) and the Resource ID {nr-DL-PRS-ResourcelDt) of the PDC PRS which is indicated as the spatial relation source RS for the /^h SRS resource with resource ID SRS Resource ID/ in the SRS resource set.

The field descriptions for the ‘A/D’, ‘SRS Resource Set’s Cell ID’, ‘SRS Resource Set’s BWP ID’, ‘SUL’ and ‘SRS Resource Set ID’ are similar to the field descriptions with the same names as in MAC CE of Clause 6.1.3.26 of 3GPP TS 38.321. The key difference of the newly proposed MAC CE of FIGURE 5 when compared to the MAC CE of Clause 6.1.3.26 of 3GPP TS 38.321 is that the Octets containing the fields Fi and ‘Resource Serving Cell ID are not included in the new MAC CE of FIGURE 5. Since PDC PRS is located in the PCell of the Master Cell Group (MCG), the ‘Resource Serving Cell IDi’ does not need to be indicated. Given that the new MAC CE in FIGURE 5 only indicates PDC PRS(s) as spatial relation source RS for SRS resources (i.e., the new MAC CE is not used to indicate other types of source RSs such as NZP CSI-RS, SSB, or SRS), the Ft field is also omitted from the new MAC CE. As a result, the new MAC CE of FIGURE 5 requires much less overhead than the MAC CE of Clause 6.1.3.26 of 3GPP TS 38.321.

FIGURE 6 illustrates another example 400 MAC CE design for SP/AP SRS spatial relation indication for PDC, according to certain embodiments. It should be noted that, since PDC SRS and PDC PRS both belong to the PCell, there is no need to indicate ‘Resource Serving Cell IDi’ for the PDC PRS and no need to indicate the ‘SRS Resource Set’s Cell ID’ for the PDC SRS. Hence, the MAC CE design of FIGURE 6 only includes (for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set) the BWP ID (Resource BWP IDi) and the Resource ID (nr-DL-PRS-ResourceIDi) of the PDC PRS which is indicated as the spatial relation source RS for the i^th SRS resource with resource ID SRS Resource ID; in the SRS resource set. In addition, the BWP ID of the SRS Resource Set is provided in the MAC CE of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 7 illustrates yet another example 500 of an alternative MAC CE design for SP/AP spatial relation indication for PDC, according to certain embodiments. Specifically, this MAC CE design also assumes that PDC SRS and PDC PRS both belong to the PCell of MCG, and thus there is no need to indicate ‘Resource Serving Cell IDi’ for the PDC PRS and no need to indicate the ‘SRS Resource Set’s Cell ID’ for the PDC SRS. In addition, the SRS resource IDs are also not provided explicitly in this MAC CE design. That means, the Resource ID (nr-DL-PRS- ResourcelDi) of the PDC PRS is indicated as the spatial relation source RS for the z^th SRS resource in the SRS Resource set implicitly.

FIGURE 8 shows an example of a communication system 600 in accordance with some embodiments. In the example, the communication system 600 includes a telecommunication network 602 that includes an access network 604, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 606, which includes one or more core network nodes 608. The access network 604 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 610a and 610b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 610), or any other similar 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network nodes 610 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 612a, 612b, 612c, and 612d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 612) to the core network 606 over one or more wireless connections. Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 600 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 600 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

The UEs 612 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 610 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 610 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 612 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 602 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 602.

In the depicted example, the core network 606 connects the network nodes 610 to one or more hosts, such as host 616. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 606 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 608) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 608. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

The host 616 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 604 and/or the telecommunication network 602, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 616 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

As a whole, the communication system 600 of FIGURE 8 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

In some examples, the telecommunication network 602 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 602 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 602. For example, the telecommunications network 602 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)ZMassive loT services to yet further UEs.

In some examples, the UEs 612 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 604 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 604. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi -radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

In the example, the hub 614 communicates with the access network 604 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 612c and/or 612d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 610b). In some examples, the hub 614 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 614 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 606 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 614 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 610, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 614. As another example, the hub 614 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 614 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 614 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 614 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 614 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

The hub 614 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 610b. The hub 614 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 614 and UEs (e.g., UE 612c and/or 612d), and between the hub 614 and the core network 606. In other examples, the hub 614 is connected to the core network 606 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 614 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 604 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 610 while still connected via the hub 614 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 614 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 610b. In other embodiments, the hub 614 may be a nondedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 610b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

FIGURE 9 shows a UE 700 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

A UE may support device -to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

The UE 700 includes processing circuitry 702 that is operatively coupled via a bus 704 to an input/output interface 706, a power source 708, a memory 710, a communication interface 712, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIGURE 9. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

The processing circuitry 702 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 710. The processing circuitry 702 may be implemented as one or more hardware -implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 702 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

In the example, the input/output interface 706 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 700. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

In some embodiments, the power source 708 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 708 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 708 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 700 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 708. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 708 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 700 to which power is supplied.

The memory 710 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 710 includes one or more application programs 714, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 716. The memory 710 may store, for use by the UE 700, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

The memory 710 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 710 may allow the UE 700 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 710, which may be or comprise a device -readable storage medium.

The processing circuitry 702 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 712. The communication interface 712 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 722. The communication interface 712 may include one ormore transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 718 and/or a receiver 720 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 718 and receiver 720 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 722) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 712 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/intemet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 712, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or itemtracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 700 shown in FIGURE 9.

As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

FIGURE 10 shows a network node 800 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NRNodeBs (gNBs)).

Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

The network node 800 includes a processing circuitry 802, a memory 804, a communication interface 806, and a power source 808. The network node 800 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 800 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 800 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 804 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 810 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 800 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 800, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 800.

The processing circuitry 802 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 800 components, such as the memory 804, to provide network node 800 functionality.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 812 and baseband processing circuitry 814. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 812 and the baseband processing circuitry 814 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 812 and baseband processing circuitry 814 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

The memory 804 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 802. The memory 804 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 802 and utilized by the network node 800. The memory 804 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 802 and/or any data received via the communication interface 806. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 802 and memory 804 is integrated. The communication interface 806 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 806 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 816 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 806 also includes radio frontend circuitry 818 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 810. Radio front-end circuitry 818 comprises fdters 820 and amplifiers 822. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may be connected to an antenna 810 and processing circuitry 802. The radio frontend circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 810 and processing circuitry 802. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 818 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 820 and/or amplifiers 822. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 810. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 810 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 818. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 802. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 800 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 818, instead, the processing circuitry 802 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 810. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 812 is part of the communication interface 806. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 806 includes one or more ports or terminals 816, the radio front-end circuitry 818, and the RF transceiver circuitry 812, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 806 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 814, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

The antenna 810 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 810 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 818 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 810 is separate from the network node 800 and connectable to the network node 800 through an interface or port.

The antenna 810, communication interface 806, and/or the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 810, the communication interface 806, and/or the processing circuitry 802 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

The power source 808 provides power to the various components of network node 800 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 808 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 800 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 800 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 808. As a further example, the power source 808 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

Embodiments of the network node 800 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIGURE 10 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 800 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 800 and to allow output of information from the network node 800. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 800.

FIGURE 11 is a block diagram of a host 900, which may be an embodiment of the host 616 of FIGURE 8, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 900 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 900 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

The host 900 includes processing circuitry 902 that is operatively coupled via a bus 904 to an input/output interface 906, a network interface 908, a power source 910, and a memory 912. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 7 and 8, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 900. The memory 912 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 914 and data 916, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 900 or data generated by the host 900 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 900 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 914 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs 914 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 900 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs 914 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

FIGURE 12 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1000 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.

In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1000 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.

Applications 1002 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 1000 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Hardware 1004 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1006 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1008a and 1008b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1008), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1006 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1008.

The VMs 1008 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1006. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1002 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1008, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, a VM 1008 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1008, and that part of hardware 1004 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1008 on top of the hardware 1004 and corresponds to the application 1002.

Hardware 1004 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1004 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1004 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1010, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1002. In some embodiments, hardware 1004 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1012 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units. FIGURE 13 shows a communication diagram of a host 1102 communicating via a network node 1104 with a UE 1106 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.

Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 612a of FIGURE 8 and/or UE 700 of FIGURE 9), network node (such as network node 610a of FIGURE 8 and/or network node 800 of FIGURE 10), and host (such as host 616 of FIGURE 8 and/or host 900 of FIGURE 11) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIGURE 13.

Like host 900, embodiments of host 1102 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1102 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 1102 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 1106 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1150 extending between the UE 1106 and host 1102. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 1150.

The network node 1104 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 1102 and UE 1106. The connection 1160 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 606 of FIGURE 8) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

The UE 1106 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1106 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 1106 with the support of the host 1102. In the host 1102, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 1150 terminating at the UE 1106 and host 1102. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1150 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 1150.

The OTT connection 1150 may extend via a connection 1160 between the host 1102 and the network node 1104 and via a wireless connection 1170 between the network node 1104 and the UE 1106 to provide the connection between the host 1102 and the UE 1106. The connection 1160 and wireless connection 1170, over which the OTT connection 1150 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 1102 and the UE 1106 via the network node 1104, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 1150, in step 1108, the host 1102 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1106. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1106 that shares data with the host 1102 without explicit human interaction. In step 1110, the host 1102 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 1106. The host 1102 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 1106. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1106 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 1106. The transmission may pass via the network node 1104, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 1112, the network node 1104 transmits to the UE 1106 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 1102 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1114, the UE 1106 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 1106 associated with the host application executed by the host 1102.

In some examples, the UE 1106 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 1102. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 1102. Accordingly, in step 1116, the UE 1106 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 1106. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 1106 initiates, in step 1118, transmission of the user data towards the host 1102 via the network node 1104. In step 1120, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1104 receives user data from the UE 1106 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1102. In step 1122, the host 1102 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1106.

One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1106 using the OTT connection 1150, in which the wireless connection 1170 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve one or more of, for example, data rate, latency, and/or power consumption and, thereby, provide benefits such as, for example, reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on fde size, improved content resolution, better responsiveness, and/or extended battery lifetime.

In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 1102. As another example, the host 1102 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 1102 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 1102 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 1102 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 1102 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data.

In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1150 between the host 1102 and UE 1106, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1102 and/or UE 1106. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1150 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 1150 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 1104. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 1102. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 1150 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

FIGURE 14 illustrates a method 1200 by a UE 612, according to certain embodiments. The method includes, at step 1202, receiving, from a network node 610, a signal comprising at least one MAC CE, indicating a spatial relationship between at least one DL PRS and at least one SRS resource within a SRS resource set. The at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource are for PDC.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates, for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, a spatial relation between a particular SRS resource and a particular downlink PRS of a plurality of downlink PRSs.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates the spatial relation between the at least one downlink PRS and all of the SRS resources within the SRS resource set.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE comprises a bit having a bit value, and the method further comprises: determining, based on the bit value, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE comprises a codepoint, and the method further comprises: determining, based on the codepoint, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

In a particular embodiment, the UE 612 uses the at least one downlink PRS for PDC as the spatial relationship for transmitting at least one SRS in the at least one SRS resource.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates a PDC PRS resource index.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates a bandwidth part identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates a resource identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates a cell identifier for the at least one downlink PRS.

FIGURE 15 illustrates a method 1300 by a network node 610, according to certain embodiments. The method includes, at step 1302, transmitting, to a UE 612, a signal comprising at least one MAC CE indicating a spatial relationship between at least one DL PRS and at least one SRS resource within a SRS resource set. The at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource are for DC.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates, for each SRS resource in the SRS set, a spatial relation between a particular SRS resource and a particular downlink PRS of a plurality of downlink PRSs.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates the spatial relation between the at least one downlink PRS and all of the SRS resources within the SRS resource set. In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE comprises a bit having a bit value, and the network node 610 configures the wireless device 612 to determine, based on the bit value, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE comprises a codepoint, and the network node 610 configures the wireless device 612 to determine, based on the codepoint, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

In a particular embodiment, the network node 610 configures the UE 612 to use the downlink PRS for PDC as the spatial relationship for transmitting at least one SRS in the at least one SRS resource.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates a PDC PRS resource index.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates a bandwidth part identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates a resource identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

In a particular embodiment, the MAC CE indicates a cell identifier for the at least one downlink PRS.

Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.

EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Group A Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment Al. A method by a user equipment comprising: any of the user equipment steps, features, or functions described above, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above.

Example Embodiment A2. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising one or more additional user equipment steps, features or functions described above.

Example Embodiment A3. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to the network node.

Group B Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment B 1. A method performed by a network node comprising: any of the network node steps, features, or functions described above, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above.

Example Embodiment B2. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising one or more additional network node steps, features or functions described above.

Example Embodiment B3. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment. Group C Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment C 1. A method by a user equipment (UE) comprising: receiving, from a network node, a signal comprising at least one Medium Access Control- Control Element (MAC CE) indicating a spatial relationship between at least one downlink positioning reference signal (PRS) for at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) within a SRS resource set.

Example Emboidment C2. The method of Example Emboidment C2, wherein the downlink PRS is a downlink PRS for a PDC purpose (i.e., a PDC-PRS).

Example Embodiment C3. The method of any one of Example Embodiments C 1 to C2, wherein the MAC CE indicates the spatial relation between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS.

Example Embodiment C4. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C2, wherein the MAC CE indicates, for each SRS resource in the SRS set, a spatial relation between a SRS resource and a particular PRS of a plurality of downlink PRSs.

Example Embodiment C5. The method of any one of Example Embodiments C 1 to C4, wherein the MAC CE comprises a bit having a bit value, and the method further comprises: determining, based on the bit value, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS.

Example Embodiment C6. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C4, wherein the MAC CE comprises a codepoint, and the method further comprises: determining, based on the codepoint, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS.

Example embodiment C7. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C6, further comprising using PRS defined for PDC purpose as the spatial relationship for the at least one SRS resource.

Example Embodiment C8. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C7, wherein the MAC CE indicates a PDC PRS resource index.

Example Embodiment C9. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C2, wherein the MAC CE indicates the spatial relation between the at least one downlink positioning reference signal and all SRS resources in the SRS set.

Example Embodiment CIO. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to C9, wherein the MAC CE indicates a bandwidth part identifier of the PRS as the spatial relation for at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set. Example Embodiment Cl 1. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to CIO, wherein the MAC CE indicates a resource identifier of the PRS s as the spatial relation for at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

Example Embodiment Cl 2. The method of any one of Example Embodiments Cl to Cl 1, wherein the MAC CE indicates a cell identifier for the PRS.

Example Embodiment Cl 3. The method of Example Embodiments Cl to Cl 2, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.

Example Embodiment C14.A user equipment comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to C 13.

Example Embodiment Cl 5. A wireless device comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to C 13.

Example Embodiment Cl 6. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to C 13.

Example Embodiment Cl 7. A computer program product comprising computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to C13.

Example Embodiment Cl 8. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments Cl to C13.

Group D Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment D 1. A method by a network node comprising: transmitting, to a wireless device, a signal comprising at least one Medium Access Control- Control Element (MAC CE) indicating a spatial relationship between at least one downlink positioning reference signal (PRS) for at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) within a SRS resource set.

Example Emboidment D2. The method of Example Emboidment D2, wherein the downlink PRS is a downlink PRS for a PDC purpose (i.e., a PDC-PRS).

Example Embodiment D3. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D 1 to D2, wherein the MAC CE indicates the spatial relation between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS.

Example Embodiment D4. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to D2, wherein the MAC CE indicates, for each SRS resource in the SRS set, a spatial relation between a SRS resource and a particular PRS of a plurality of downlink PRSs. Example Embodiment D5. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D 1 to D4, wherein the MAC CE comprises a bit having a bit value, and wherein the wireless device is configured to determine, based on the bit value, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS.

Example Embodiment D6. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to D4, wherein the MAC CE comprises a codepoint, and wherein the wireless device is configured to determine, based on the codepoint, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS.

Example embodiment D7. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to D6, further comprising using PRS defined for PDC purpose as the spatial relationship for the at least one SRS resource.

Example Embodiment D8. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to D7, wherein the MAC CE indicates a PDC PRS resource index.

Example Embodiment D9. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to D2, wherein the MAC CE indicates the spatial relation between the at least one downlink positioning reference signal and all SRS resources in the SRS set.

Example Embodiment DIO. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to

D9, wherein the MAC CE indicates a bandwidth part identifier of the PRS as the spatial relation for at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

Example Embodiment Dl l. The method of any one of Example Embodiments D 1 to

DIO, wherein the MAC CE indicates a resource identifier of the PRS s as the spatial relation for at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

Example Embodiment D 12. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to

Dl l, wherein the MAC CE indicates a cell identifier for the PRS.

Example Embodiment D 13. The method of any one of Example Embodiments DI to

Dl l, wherein the network node comprises a gNodeB (gNB).

Example Embodiment D 14. The method of any of the previous Example

Embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment.

Example Embodiment D 15. A network node comprising processing circuitry configured to perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments DI to D14.

Example Embodiment DI 6. A computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments DI to D 14.

Example Embodiment DI 7. A computer program product comprising computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which when executed on a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments DI to D14.

Example Embodiment DI 8. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a computer perform any of the methods of Example Embodiments DI to D 14.

Group E Example Embodiments

Example Embodiment El . A user equipment comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

Example Embodiment E2. A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

Example Embodiment E3. A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

Example Embodiment E4. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments to receive the user data from the host.

Example Embodiment E5. The host of the previous Example Embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data to the UE from the host.

Example Embodiment E6. The host of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment E7. A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.

Example Emboidment E8. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.

Example Embodiment E9. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

Example Emboidment El 0. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.

Example Emboidment El l. The host of the previous Example Embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the UE to the host.

Example Embodiment El 2. The host of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment El 3. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, receiving user data transmitted to the host via the network node by the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A and C Example Embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.

Example Embodiment El 4. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.

Example Embodiment El 5. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

Example Embodiment El 6. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

Example Embodiment E17.The host of the previous Example Embodiment, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive the transmission of user data from the host.

Example Embodiment El 8. A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

Example Embodiment El 9. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.

Example Emboidment E20.The method of any of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment E21. A communication system configured to provide an over-the- top service, the communication system comprising: a host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

Example Embodiment E22. The communication system of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising: the network node; and/or the user equipment.

Example Embodiment E23. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to initiate receipt of user data; and a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.

Example Embodiment E24. The host of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

Example Embodiment E25. The host of the any of the previous 2 Example Embodiments, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data.

Example Embodiment E26. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating receipt of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission which the network node has received from the UE, wherein the network node performs any of the steps of any of the Group B and D Example Embodiments to receive the user data from the UE for the host.

Example Embodiment E27. The method of the previous Example Embodiment, further comprising at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

Claims

1. A method by a user equipment, UE, comprising: receiving, from a network node, a signal comprising at least one Medium Access Control- Control Element, MAC CE, indicating a spatial relationship between at least one downlink positioning reference signal, PRS, and at least one sounding reference signal, SRS, resource within a SRS resource set, wherein the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource are for Propagation Delay Compensation, PDC.

2. The method of Claim 1, wherein the MAC CE indicates, for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, a spatial relation between a particular SRS resource and a particular downlink PRS of a plurality of downlink PRSs.

3. The method of Claim 1, wherein the MAC CE indicates the spatial relation between the at least one downlink PRS and all of the SRS resources within the SRS resource set.

4. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the MAC CE comprises a bit having a bit value, and the method further comprises: determining, based on the bit value, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

5. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the MAC CE comprises a codepoint, and the method further comprises: determining, based on the codepoint, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

6. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 5, further comprising using the at least one downlink PRS for PDC as the spatial relationship for transmitting at least one SRS in the at least one SRS resource.

7. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein the MAC CE indicates a PDC PRS resource index.

8. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the MAC CE indicates a bandwidth part identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

9. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 8, wherein the MAC CE indicates a resource identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

10. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 9, wherein the MAC CE indicates a cell identifier for the at least one downlink PRS.

11. A method by a network node comprising: transmitting, to a user equipment, UE, a signal comprising at least one Medium Access Control Control Element, MAC CE, indicating a spatial relationship between at least one downlink positioning reference signal, PRS, and at least one sounding reference signal, SRS, resource within a SRS resource set, wherein the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource is for Propagation Delay Compensation, PDC.

12. The method of Claim 11, wherein the MAC CE indicates, for each SRS resource in the SRS set, a spatial relation between a particular SRS resource and a particular downlink PRS of a plurality of downlink PRSs.

13. The method of Claim 11, wherein the MAC CE indicates the spatial relation between the at least one downlink PRS and all of the SRS resources within the SRS resource set.

14. The method of any one of Claims 11 to 13, wherein the MAC CE comprises a bit having a bit value, and wherein the method comprises configuring the wireless device to determine, based on the bit value, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

15. The method of any one of Claims 11 to 13, wherein the MAC CE comprises a codepoint, and wherein the method comprises configuring the wireless device to determine, based on the codepoint, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

16. The method of any one of Claims 11 to 15, comprising configuring the UE to use the downlink PRS for PDC as the spatial relationship for transmitting at least one SRS in the at least one SRS resource.

17. The method of any one of Claims 11 to 16, wherein the MAC CE indicates a PDC PRS resource index.

18. The method of any one of Claims 11 to 17, wherein the MAC CE indicates a bandwidth part identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

19. The method of any one of Claims 11 to 18, wherein the MAC CE indicates a resource identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

20. The method of any one of Claims 11 to 19, wherein the MAC CE indicates a cell identifier for the at least one downlink PRS.

21. A user equipment, UE, adapted to: receive, from a network node, a signal comprising at least one Medium Access Control- Control Element, MAC CE, indicating a spatial relationship between at least one downlink positioning reference signal, PRS, and at least one sounding reference signal, SRS, resource within a SRS resource set, wherein the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource is for Propagation Delay Compensation, PDC.

22. The UE of Claim 21, wherein the MAC CE indicates, for each SRS resource in the SRS resource set, a spatial relation between a particular SRS resource and a particular downlink PRS of a plurality of downlink PRSs.

23. The UE of Claim 21, wherein the MAC CE indicates the spatial relation between the at least one downlink PRS and all of the SRS resources within the SRS resource set.

24. The UE of any one of Claims 21 to 23, wherein the MAC CE comprises a bit having a bit value, and wherein the UE is adapted to determine, based on the bit value, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

25. The UE of any one of Claims 21 to 24, wherein the MAC CE comprises a codepoint, and the wherein the UE is adapted to determine, based on the codepoint, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

26. The UE of any one of Claims 21 to 25, wherein the UE is adapted to use the at least one downlink PRS for PDC as the spatial relationship for transmitting at least one SRS in the at least one SRS resource.

27. The UE of any one of Claims 21 to 26, wherein the MAC CE indicates a PDC PRS resource index.

28. The UE of any one of Claims 21 to 27, wherein the MAC CE indicates a bandwidth part identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

29. The UE of any one of Claims 21 to 28, wherein the MAC CE indicates a resource identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

30. The method of any one of Claims 21 to 29, wherein the MAC CE indicates a cell identifier for the at least one downlink PRS.

31. A network node adapted to : transmit, to a user equipment, UE, a signal comprising at least one Medium Access Control- Control Element, MAC CE, indicating a spatial relationship between at least one downlink positioning reference signal, PRS, and at least one sounding reference signal, SRS, resource within a SRS resource set, wherein the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource is for Propagation Delay Compensation, PDC.

32. The network node of Claim 31, wherein the MAC CE indicates, for each SRS resource in the SRS set, a spatial relation between a particular SRS resource and a particular downlink PRS of a plurality of downlink PRSs.

33. The network node of Claim 31 , wherein the MAC CE indicates the spatial relation between the at least one downlink PRS and all of the SRS resources within the SRS resource set.

34. The network node of any one of Claims 31 to 33, wherein the MAC CE comprises a bit having a bit value, and wherein the network node is adapted to configure the wireless device to determine, based on the bit value, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

35. The network node of any one of Claims 31 to 34, wherein the MAC CE comprises a codepoint, and wherein the network node is adapted to configure the wireless device to determine, based on the codepoint, the spatial relationship between the at least one downlink PRS and the at least one SRS resource.

36. The network node of any one of Claims 31 to 35, wherein the network node is adapted to configure the UE to use the downlink PRS for PDC as the spatial relationship for transmitting at least one SRS in the at least one SRS resource.

37. The network node of any one of Claims 31 to 36, wherein the MAC CE indicates a PDC PRS resource index.

38. The network node of any one of Claims 31 to 37, wherein the MAC CE indicates a bandwidth part identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

39. The network node of any one of Claims 31 to 38, wherein the MAC CE indicates a resource identifier of the at least one downlink PRS as the spatial relation for the at least one SRS resource in the SRS resource set.

40. The network node of any one of Claims 31 to 39, wherein the MAC CE indicates a cell identifier for the at least one downlink PRS.