WO2025171612A1

WO2025171612A1 - Positioning measurement and reporting

Info

Publication number: WO2025171612A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/077302
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hyun-Su Cha; Gilsoo LEE; Tao Tao; Abdurrahman FOUDA
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2024-02-16
Filing date: 2024-02-16
Publication date: 2025-08-21
Anticipated expiration: 2026-08-16

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to positioning measurement and reporting. In an aspect, a terminal device receives, from a network device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement. The terminal device performs, based on the configuration information, the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS. The terminal device transmits a measurement report for the positioning measurement to the network device. In this way, the positioning accuracy of the terminal device is improved.

Description

POSITIONING MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING

FIELD

Example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of communications, and in particular, to devices, methods, apparatuses and a computer readable storage medium for positioning measurement and reporting.

BACKGROUND

A communication network can be seen as a facility that enables communications between two or more communication devices, or provides communication devices access to a data network. A mobile or wireless communication network is one example of a communication network. A communication device may be provided with a service by an application server.

Such communication networks operate in according with standards such as those provided by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) or ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) . Examples of standards are the so-called 5G (5th Generation) standards provided by 3GPP.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for positioning measurement and reporting, especially for positioning measurement and reporting of reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE) , but it does not necessarily restrict to RedCap UE. The proposed technique of this invention could be applied to typical NR UEs.

In a first aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the terminal device at least to: receive, from a network device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; perform, based on the configuration information, the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS; and transmit, to the network device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement.

In a second aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the network device at least to: transmit, to a terminal device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; and receive, from the terminal device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement which is obtained based on the configuration information.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises receiving, from a network device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; performing, based on the configuration information, the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS; and transmitting, to the network device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises transmitting, to a terminal device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; and receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement which is obtained based on the configuration information.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a network device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; means for performing, based on the configuration information, the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS; and means for transmitting, to the network device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a terminal device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; and means for receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement which is obtained based on the configuration information.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to any one of the third aspect to fourth aspect.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to perform at least the method according to according to any one of the third aspect to fourth aspect.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device comprises receiving circuitry configured to receive, from a network device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; performing circuitry configured to perform, based on the configuration information, the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS; and transmitting circuitry configured to transmit, to the network device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device comprises transmitting circuitry configured to transmit, to a terminal device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; and receiving circuitry configured to receive, from the terminal device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement which is obtained based on the configuration information.

It is to be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A illustrates an example of a network environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 1B illustrates a scenario related to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart of method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a detailed example of interactions between devices in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method performed by an apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method performed by an apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing some example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof. As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuits (such as in analog and/or digital circuits) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software (e.g., firmware) ; and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (for example, firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “cellular network” refers to a network operating in accordance with any suitable radio access technology defined by standards, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , new radio Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device of a cellular network may be performed according to any suitable communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the future fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various cellular networks. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to any device in a cellular network via which a terminal device accesses a data network and receives services exposed by other network devices of the cellular network. In some examples, a network device may comprise or implement a network function of a 5^th generation communication system (5GS) (e.g., a core network) of a cellular network. In some examples, the network devices may be located at the RAN of the 5GS. The network device may be part of a satellite, a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico node, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. A gNB may include a centralized unit CU and one or more distributed DUs. Femto and Pico nodes are small base stations with a small coverage area.

The term “terminal device” refers to a device of a communication system of a cellular network, such as a 5^th generation communication system (5GS) that may be capable of wireless (e.g., radio) communication with a NR-RAN of the 5GS) . By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a wireless communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . Examples of a terminal device include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (for example, remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (for example, a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

Rel-18 has focused on performance improvement for UEs, such as RedCap UEs, by means of frequency hopping technique. However, there is no solution/signaling to enable a location management function (LMF) to know the clear number of frequency hops used for the positioning measurements. RAN1 also has not specified a solution to enable the LMF to use the positioning measurements such as the RSTD that are made from the same number of DL PRS frequency hops to improve the UE positioning estimation accuracy. In RedCap positioning, when a RedCap UE reports a positioning measurement, the UE can report if the measurement was made from a single frequency hop or multiple frequency hops. It should be noted that the UE cannot report the number of used frequency hops for the measurement based on RAN1 agreement and the specification. RedCap UEs have limited capability compared to typical NR UEs. The maximum bandwidth of uplink and downlink is 20 MHz and 100 MHz for FR1 and FR2, respectively. For the location estimation, the bandwidth size is critical as the positioning measurement accuracy is highly affected by bandwidth size of reference signals. In order to overcome the limitations of the bandwidth, frequency hopping techniques are used. For downlink, the UE receives a part of DL PRS and performs RF retuning to receive another part of DL PRS. In this way, the UE receives multiple parts of a DL PRS and combine them into one wideband. A part of a DL PRS would be called as a frequency hop of the DL PRS. When RedCap UE combines the multiple frequency hops of the DL PRS, the UE may compensate for the phase difference between adjacent frequency hops. In order for this, the UE needs to receive overlapping RBs between frequency hops.

Therefore, in some positioning scenarios, the LMF is unable to ascertain the precise count of frequency hops employed for positional measurements like Received Signal Time Difference (RSTD) . This limitation renders difficult the task of selecting the most pertinent measurements for practical use. Such a task is a challenging work to the LMF. In addition, the RedCap UE may perform timing measurement from the different number of frequency hops of two Transmission and Reception Points (TRPs) . For example, RSTD may be from TOA#1 (reference) -ToA#2. ToA#1 is derived from 4 hops and ToA#2 is derived from 1 hop. In this case, the UE may inform this measurement is associated with multiple frequency hops, but, if multiple-hop-based ToA#1 and single-hop-based ToA#2 are reported, the single hop (anarrow band) measurement dominates RSTD measurement accuracy.

In view of the above, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for positioning measurement and reporting. In the example embodiments of the present disclosure, a terminal device may receive, from a network device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement. The terminal device may perform, based on the configuration information, the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS. The terminal device may transmit a measurement report for the positioning measurement to the network device. In this way, the positioning accuracy of the terminal device is improved.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example of a network environment 100a in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. The environment 100a may be a part of a communication network and comprise a plurality of devices, such as a terminal device 110, a network device 120 and another network device 130. As an example, the terminal device 110 may be implemented as a UE device, or an Access Terminal device, an IoT device etc. The network device 120 may be implemented as a location management function (LMF) , and the network device 130 may be implemented as a base station (BS) , etc. The terminal device 110 may transmit various data to the network device 120 via the network device 130.

To transmit data and/or control information, the terminal device 110 may perform communications with the network device 120 and 130. A link from the terminal device 110 to the network device 120 or 130 is referred to as an uplink (UL) , while a link from the network device 120 or 130 to the terminal device 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL) .

Although the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 are described in the communication environment 100a of FIG. 1A, embodiments of the present disclosure may equally apply to any other suitable communication devices in communication with one another. That is, embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the exemplary scenarios of FIG. 1A. In this regard, it is noted that although the terminal device 110 is schematically depicted as a mobile device and the network device 120 are schematically depicted as server in FIG. 1A, it is understood that these depictions are exemplary in nature without suggesting any limitation. In other embodiments, the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 may be any other communication devices, for example, any other wireless communication devices.

It is to be understood that the particular number of various communication devices and the particular number of various communication links as shown in FIG. 1A is for illustration purpose only without suggesting any limitations. The communication environment 100a may include any suitable number of communication devices and any suitable number of communication links for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. In addition, it should be appreciated that there may be various wireless as well as wireline communications (if needed) among all of the communication devices.

FIG. 1B illustrates a scenario 100b related to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 1B shows an example of the DL PRS frequency hopping within a measurement gap instance. The UE receives a part of DL PRS from each frequency hop and performs RF retuning to receive another frequency hop. The overlapping resource blocks (RBs) are used to estimate and compensate for a phase difference between the hops.

For RedCap UE DL frequency hopping (FH) , the main idea is to keep the UE RF bandwidth limited in one “hop” but allows the UE to stitch (i.e., concatenating) the DL signal over multiple PRS frequency hops together to provide an effective wide bandwidth for improved timing estimation accuracy. It is assumed that there may be a time gap between DL PRS frequency hops and that there may be a small overlap in the frequency domain between hops such that the hops may be stitched together.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1A. It would be appreciated that although the process flow 200 has been described referring to FIG. 1A, this process flow 200 may be likewise applied to other similar communication scenarios.

In the process flow 200, the network device 120 may transmit (205) configuration information 202 related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement to the terminal device 110. The terminal device 110 may receive (210) configuration information 202 related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement from a network device.

In some embodiments, the configuration information 202 may request the terminal device 110 to perform a plurality of intermediate measurements using a same number of frequency hops, and the positioning measurement may be obtained based on the plurality of intermediate measurements. Alternatively, or additionally, the configuration information 202 may report a positioning measurement which is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the plurality of intermediate measurements is obtained based on a same number of frequency hops. The terminal device 110 may then perform (215) the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS based on the configuration information 202.

The terminal device 110 may then transmit (220) a measurement report 204 for the positioning measurement to the network device 120. In some further embodiments, the positioning measurement included in the measurement report 204 may be obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements which are obtained based on a same number of frequency hops. In some example embodiments, the configuration information 202 may indicate a condition for the positioning measurement reported by the terminal device 110, and the condition is associated with the number of frequency hops of the RS for the positioning measurement.

In some examples, the positioning measurement included in the measurement report 204 may satisfy the condition. In some further embodiments, the positioning measurement may be obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements. The condition may comprise a difference between a first number of frequency hops of a first intermediate measurement and a second number of frequency hops of a second intermediate measurement is less than a threshold number. The threshold number may be predefined or configured by the network device 120. In some embodiments, the configuration information may include the threshold number

In some example embodiments, the configuration information 202 may request the terminal device 110 to provide an indication of whether the number of frequency hops associated with an intermediate measurement is the same as a number of frequency hops of a reference transmission and reception point (TRP) or a reference RS. In some further embodiments, the measurement report 204 may comprise the indication.

In some further examples, the configuration information 202 may further request the terminal device 110 to report the number of frequency hops of the reference TRP or the reference RS, and the measurement report 204 may comprise information indicating the number of frequency hops. In some example embodiments, the intermediate measurement related to the reference TRP or the reference RS may be performed using a maximum number of frequency hops

In some example embodiments, the configuration information 202 may further request the terminal device 110 to report the number of frequency hops for performing the positioning measurement from at least one of the reference TRP or the reference RS. In some embodiments, the measurement report 204 may comprise information indicating the number of frequency hops. In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform an intermediate measurement related to the reference TRP or the reference RS using a maximum number of frequency hops.

In some other embodiments, the terminal device 110 may transmit information indicating that the positioning measurement is associated with a single frequency hop of the RS to the network device 120 based on determining that an intermediate measurement among a plurality of intermediate measurements for determining the positioning measurement is obtained using a single frequency hop of the RS.

The network device 120 may then receive (225) the measurement report 204 for the positioning measurement which is obtained based on the configuration information from the terminal device 110. In some further embodiments, when an intermediate measurement among a plurality of intermediate measurements for determining the positioning measurement is obtained using a single frequency hop of the RS, the network device 120 may receive information indicating that the positioning measurement is associated with a single frequency hop of the RS from the terminal device 110.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may be a user equipment (UE) or a reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE) , the network device 120 may be a location management function (LMF) , and the RS may be a positioning reference signal (PRS) . In some further embodiments, the positioning measurement may comprise a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, an intermediate measurement may comprise a time of arrival (ToA) , receive and transmit time difference, or a reference signal received power measurement.

FIG. 3 illustrates a detailed example of interactions 300 between devices in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that FIG. 3 can be deemed as a further example of the process flow 200. For example, the UE 310 may be example devices of the terminal device 110, and the LMF 320 may be the example devices of the network device 120. It is to be understood that these devices are described only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. This process will be described in detail as follows.

It is also noted that according to some embodiments of this disclosure, the following behaviors of UE 310 and LMF 320 may be also applied to a single differential carrier phase measurement such as RSCPD (Reference Signal Carrier Phase Difference) measurement.

Specifically, at 302, a LMF 320 may provide a UE or a RedCap UE 310 with DL PRS configurations and requests positioning measurements from DL PRS frequency hopping. In some embodiment, at 304, the provided PRS resource may occupy at least more than 2 symbols, so that the UE 310 may perform the positioning measurement with frequency hopping. In some further example, the LMF 320 may also provide gNB (s) 330 with the DL PRS configurations, and gNB (s) 330 may transmit the DL PRSs.

At 306, the LMF 320 may request the UE 310 to use the same number of DL PRS frequency hops when the UE 310 is performing a RSTD measurement from different PRS resources. Alternatively, or additionally, the LMF 320 may request the UE 310 to report the RSTD measurements that are made from the same number of DL PRS frequency hops. It is noted that, the above behaviour may be implemented as a default action in the UE 310 without the need for request signalling. In this scenario, only a modification to the RAN1 specification would be required.

At 314, the gNB 330 may transmit DL PRSs to the UE 310. At 316, the UE 310 may perform DL PRS frequency hopping based on the provided message. At 318, the UE 310 may report the RSTD measurements that were made from the same number of frequency hops to the LMF 320 in response.

At 308, the LMF 320 may request the UE 310 to report RSTD measurements only if the difference between the number of frequency hops of a ToA (Time of Arrival) measurement from a PRS resource and the number of frequency hops of another ToA measurement from another PRS resource is less than a specific integer number. The specific number may be predefined or configured by the LMF 320.

The more performance degradation is expected as the difference between the number of frequency hops is increasing. For example, in a first example case, the UE 310 may respectively measure a DL PRS from 2 frequency hops from TRP1 and another DL PRS from 4 frequency hops from TRP2. In a second example case, the UE 310 may measure a DL PRS from 1 frequency hops from TRP1 and another DL PRS from 4 frequency hops from TRP2. The performance of second example case (such as, in terms of accuracy) may be worse than that of the first example case. Therefore, LMF 320 may configure the ‘threshold’ as 2, to avoid measurement and/or reporting of the second example case.

At 314, the gNB 330 may transmit DL PRSs to the UE 310. At 316, the UE 310 may perform DL PRS frequency hopping based on the provided message. At 318, the UE 310 may report the RSTD measurements satisfying the condition (s) to the LMF 320. The condition (s) may be predefined or provided by the LMF 320.

At 312, the LMF 320 may request the UE 310 to provide the number of frequency hops used to measure the ToA from a reference TRP. Otherwise, the UE 310 may use all frequency hops to obtain the ToA measurement from the DL PRS from the reference TRP. The UE 310 may also provide, for each RSTD measurement, if the number of frequency hops of each RSTD measurement is the same or not.

By this method, the LMF 320 may differentiate the reported measurements (based on whether UE acquires a measurement from a certain TRP by using the same number of frequency hops as done for the reference TRPP) and select the reported RSTD measurements, and it will use the selected RSTD measurements to run a location estimation algorithm such as LS (Least Square) estimation method.

In the context of this disclosure, for example, when TRP 2 is a reference TRP, and RSTD#1 may be ToA1 (TRP#1) –ToA2 (TRP#2) , RSTD#2 may be ToA3 (TRP#3) –ToA2 (TRP#2) , and RSTD#N... may be ToA_N (TRP#N+1) –ToA2 (TRP #2) . It is also noted that, the reference of RSTD measurements may be configured by the LMF 320, while the UE 310 may use another reference than the configured reference.

At 314, the gNB 330 may transmit DL PRSs to the UE 310. At 316, the UE 310 may perform DL PRS frequency hopping based on the provided message. At 322, the UE 310 may report the number of frequency hops used to acquire the ToA measurement from a DL PRS of the reference TRP to the LMF 320. In some other embodiments, the UE 310 may use all frequency hops while performing ToA measurement from a DL PRS of the reference TRP. In some embodiments, the UE 310 may provide an indication of whether the number of frequency hops of each of the reported RSTD measurements is the same (as that of the reference TRP) or not to the LMF 320.

In some further embodiments, when the UE 310 reports the information on whether “single hop” or “multiple hops” used for the positioning measurements to the LMF 320, the UE 310 may report “single hop” if any ToA measurement (e.g., one of two ToA measurements used to derive a RSTD measurement) is obtained from a single hop.

For example, ToA#1 may be made from 4 hops, and ToA#2 may be made from 1 single hop. If a RSTD measurement is given by ToA#1-ToA#2, the number of hops used for this RSTD measurement may be indicated as “single hop” , when the UE sends a report on this information to the LMF 320. At 324, LMF 320 may receive the measurements and select measurements to be used for the location estimation. At 326, the LMF 320 may estimate the location of the UE 310.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method 400 performed by an apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 400 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 110 with reference to FIG. 1A.

At block 402, the terminal device 110 may receive configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement from a network device. At block 404, the terminal device 110 may perform the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS based on the configuration information. At block 406, the terminal device 110 may transmit a measurement report for the positioning measurement to the network device.

In some embodiments, the configuration information may request the terminal device to perform a plurality of intermediate measurements using a same number of frequency hops, wherein the positioning measurement is obtained based on the plurality of intermediate measurements. In some further embodiments, the configuration information may request the terminal device to report a positioning measurement which is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, wherein the plurality of intermediate measurements is obtained based on a same number of frequency hops.

In some embodiments, the positioning measurement included in the measurement report may be obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements which are obtained based on a same number of frequency hops.

In some example embodiments, the configuration information may indicate a condition for the positioning measurement reported by the terminal device, wherein the condition is associated with the number of frequency hops of the RS for the positioning measurement. In some example embodiments, the positioning measurement included in the measurement report may satisfies the condition.

In some further example embodiments, the positioning measurement may be obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the condition may comprise a difference between a first number of frequency hops of a first intermediate measurement and a second number of frequency hops of a second intermediate measurement is less than a threshold number. The threshold number may be predefined or configured by the network device.

In some example embodiments, the positioning measurement may be obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the configuration information may request the terminal device to provide an indication of whether the number of frequency hops associated with an intermediate measurement is the same as a number of frequency hops of a reference transmission and reception point (TRP) or a reference RS. In some further embodiments, the measurement report may comprise the indication.

In some example embodiments, the configuration information may further request the terminal device to report the number of frequency hops for performing the positioning measurement from at least one of the reference TRP or the reference RS. In some further example embodiments, the measurement report may comprise information indicating the number of frequency hops.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device may perform an intermediate measurement related to the reference TRP or the reference RS using a maximum number of frequency hops. In some example embodiments, the terminal device may transmit information indicating that the positioning measurement is associated with a single frequency hop of the RS to the network device based on determining that an intermediate measurement among a plurality of intermediate measurements for determining the positioning measurement is obtained using a single frequency hop of the RS.

In some embodiments, the terminal device may be a user equipment (UE) or a reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE) . In some embodiments, the network device may be a location management function (LMF) . In some embodiments, the RS may be a positioning reference signal (PRS) . In some further embodiments, the positioning measurement may comprise a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, an intermediate measurement comprises a time of arrival (ToA) , receive and transmit time difference, or a reference signal received power measurement.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method 500 performed by an apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the network device 120 with reference to FIG. 1A.

At block 502, the network device 120 may transmit configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement to a terminal device. At block 504, the network device 120 may receive a measurement report for the positioning measurement which is obtained based on the configuration information from the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the configuration information may request the terminal device to perform a plurality of intermediate measurements using a same number of frequency hops, and the positioning measurement is obtained based on the plurality of intermediate measurements. In some embodiments, the configuration information may request report a positioning measurement which is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the plurality of intermediate measurements is obtained based on a same number of frequency hops. In some further embodiments, the positioning measurement included in the measurement report may be obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements which are obtained based on a same number of frequency hops.

In some example embodiments, the configuration information may indicate a condition for the positioning measurement reported by the terminal device, and the condition is associated with the number of frequency hops of the RS for the positioning measurement. In some examples, the positioning measurement included in the measurement report may satisfy the condition.

In some example embodiments, the positioning measurement may be obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the condition may comprise a difference between a first number of frequency hops of a first intermediate measurement and a second number of frequency hops of a second intermediate measurement is less than a threshold number.

In some example embodiments, the configuration information may include the threshold number. In some example embodiments, the positioning measurement may be obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the configuration information may request the terminal device to provide an indication of whether the number of frequency hops associated with an intermediate measurement is the same as a number of frequency hops of a reference transmission and reception point (TRP) or a reference RS.

In some further example embodiments, the measurement report may comprise the indication. In some further example embodiments, the configuration information may further request the terminal device to report the number of frequency hops of the reference TRP or the reference RS, and the measurement report may comprise information indicating the number of frequency hops.

In some further examples, an intermediate measurement related to the reference TRP or the reference RS may be performed using a maximum number of frequency hops.

In some embodiments, the network device may receive information indicating that the positioning measurement is associated with a single frequency hop of the RS from the terminal device in the event that an intermediate measurement among a plurality of intermediate measurements for determining the positioning measurement is obtained using a single frequency hop of the RS.

In some embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing any of the method 400 may be part of a terminal device 110 and may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 400. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for means for receiving, from a network device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; means for performing, based on the configuration information, the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS; and means for transmitting, to the network device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement.

In some embodiments, the configuration information requests the terminal device to perform a plurality of intermediate measurements using a same number of frequency hops, and the positioning measurement is obtained based on the plurality of intermediate measurements; or report a positioning measurement which is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the plurality of intermediate measurements is obtained based on a same number of frequency hops.

In some further embodiments, the positioning measurement included in the measurement report is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements which are obtained based on a same number of frequency hops.

In some further embodiments, the configuration information indicates a condition for the positioning measurement reported by the terminal device, and the condition is associated with the number of frequency hops of the RS for the positioning measurement. In some further embodiments, the positioning measurement included in the measurement report satisfies the condition.

In some example embodiments, the positioning measurement is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the condition comprise a difference between a first number of frequency hops of a first intermediate measurement and a second number of frequency hops of a second intermediate measurement is less than a threshold number. The threshold number is predefined or configured by the network device.

In some example embodiments, the positioning measurement is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the configuration information requests the terminal device to provide an indication of whether the number of frequency hops associated with an intermediate measurement is the same as a number of frequency hops of a reference transmission and reception point (TRP) or a reference RS. In some further example embodiments, the measurement report comprises the indication.

In some example embodiments, the configuration information further requests the terminal device to report the number of frequency hops for performing the positioning measurement from at least one of the reference TRP or the reference RS. In some example embodiments, the measurement report comprises information indicating the number of frequency hops.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing an intermediate measurement related to the reference TRP or the reference RS using a maximum number of frequency hops. In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for based on determining that an intermediate measurement among a plurality of intermediate measurements for determining the positioning measurement is obtained using a single frequency hop of the RS, transmitting, to the network device, information indicating that the positioning measurement is associated with a single frequency hop of the RS.

In some embodiments, the terminal device is a user equipment (UE) or a reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE) . In some embodiments, the network device is a location management function (LMF) . In some embodiments, the RS is a positioning reference signal (PRS) . In some embodiments, the positioning measurement comprises a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, an intermediate measurement comprises a time of arrival (ToA) , receive and transmit time difference, or a reference signal received power measurement.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some embodiments of the method 400. In some embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

In some embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing any of the method 500 may be part of a network device 120 and may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a terminal device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; and means for receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement which is obtained based on the configuration information.

In some embodiments, the configuration information requests the terminal device to perform a plurality of intermediate measurements using a same number of frequency hops, wherein the positioning measurement is obtained based on the plurality of intermediate measurements; and/or report a positioning measurement which is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, wherein the plurality of intermediate measurements is obtained based on a same number of frequency hops.

In some example embodiments, the positioning measurement included in the measurement report is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements which are obtained based on a same number of frequency hops. In some further example embodiments, the configuration information indicates a condition for the positioning measurement reported by the terminal device, wherein the condition is associated with the number of frequency hops of the RS for the positioning measurement.

In some example embodiments, the positioning measurement included in the measurement report satisfies the condition. In some example embodiments, the positioning measurement is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the condition comprises a difference between a first number of frequency hops of a first intermediate measurement and a second number of frequency hops of a second intermediate measurement is less than a threshold number.

In some further embodiments, the configuration information includes the threshold number. In some further embodiments, the positioning measurement is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the configuration information requests the terminal device to provide an indication of whether the number of frequency hops associated with an intermediate measurement is the same as a number of frequency hops of a reference transmission and reception point (TRP) or a reference RS.

In some example embodiments, the measurement report comprises the indication. In some example embodiments, the configuration information further requests the terminal device to report the number of frequency hops of the reference TRP or the reference RS; and the measurement report comprises information indicating the number of frequency hops.

In some example embodiments, an intermediate measurement related to the reference TRP or the reference RS is performed using a maximum number of frequency hops. In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the terminal device, information indicating that the positioning measurement is associated with a single frequency hop of the RS in the event that an intermediate measurement among a plurality of intermediate measurements for determining the positioning measurement is obtained using a single frequency hop of the RS.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some embodiments of the method 500. In some embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

FIG. 6 illustrates simplified block diagram of a device 600 that is suitable for implementing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 600 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1A. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processor 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processor 610.

The communication module 640 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 640 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements.

The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 624, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. The program 630 may be stored in the ROM 624. The processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 630 into the RAM 622.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 630 so that the device 600 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 630 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 600 (such as in the memory 620) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 600. The device 600 may load the program 630 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 622 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any types of tangible non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a computer readable medium 700 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The computer readable medium 700 has the program 630 stored thereon. It is noted that although the computer readable medium 700 is depicted in form of CD or DVD in FIG. 7, the computer readable medium 700 may be in any other form suitable for carry or hold the program 630.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the method 200 as described above with reference to FIG. 2. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

A terminal device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the terminal device at least to:

receive, from a network device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement;

perform, based on the configuration information, the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS; and

transmit, to the network device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information requests the terminal device to:

perform a plurality of intermediate measurements using a same number of frequency hops, wherein the positioning measurement is obtained based on the plurality of intermediate measurements; or

report a positioning measurement which is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, wherein the plurality of intermediate measurements is obtained based on a same number of frequency hops.
The terminal device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the positioning measurement included in the measurement report is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements which are obtained based on a same number of frequency hops.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information indicates a condition for the positioning measurement reported by the terminal device, wherein the condition is associated with the number of frequency hops of the RS for the positioning measurement.
The terminal device of claim 4, wherein the positioning measurement included in the measurement report satisfies the condition.
The terminal device of claim 4 or 5, wherein the positioning measurement is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the condition comprises:

a difference between a first number of frequency hops of a first intermediate measurement and a second number of frequency hops of a second intermediate measurement is less than a threshold number; and

wherein the threshold number is predefined or configured by the network device.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the positioning measurement is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and wherein:

the configuration information requests the terminal device to provide an indication of whether the number of frequency hops associated with an intermediate measurement is the same as a number of frequency hops of a reference transmission and reception point (TRP) or a reference RS.
The terminal device of claim 7, wherein the measurement report comprises the indication.
The terminal device of claim 8, wherein:

the configuration information further requests the terminal device to report the number of frequency hops for performing the positioning measurement from at least one of the reference TRP or the reference RS.
The terminal device of claim 9, wherein the measurement report comprises information indicating the number of frequency hops.
The terminal device of claim 7, wherein the terminal device is further caused to:

perform an intermediate measurement related to the reference TRP or the reference RS using a maximum number of frequency hops.
The terminal device of any of claims 1-11, wherein the terminal device is further caused to:

based on determining that an intermediate measurement among a plurality of intermediate measurements for determining the positioning measurement is obtained using a single frequency hop of the RS, transmit, to the network device, information indicating that the positioning measurement is associated with a single frequency hop of the RS.
The terminal device of any of claims 1-12, wherein at least one of the following:

the terminal device is a user equipment (UE) ;

the terminal device is a reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE) ;

the network device is a location management function (LMF) ;

the RS is a positioning reference signal (PRS) ; or

the positioning measurement comprises a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, an intermediate measurement comprises a time of arrival (ToA) , receive and transmit time difference, or a reference signal received power measurement.
A network device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the network device at least to:

transmit, to a terminal device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; and

receive, from the terminal device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement which is obtained based on the configuration information.
The network device of claim 14, wherein the configuration information requests the terminal device to:

perform a plurality of intermediate measurements using a same number of frequency hops, wherein the positioning measurement is obtained based on the plurality of intermediate measurements; and/or

report a positioning measurement which is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, wherein the plurality of intermediate measurements is obtained based on a same number of frequency hops.
The network device of claim 14 or 15, wherein the positioning measurement included in the measurement report is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements which are obtained based on a same number of frequency hops.
The network device of claim 14, wherein the configuration information indicates a condition for the positioning measurement reported by the terminal device, wherein the condition is associated with the number of frequency hops of the RS for the positioning measurement.
The network device of claim 17, wherein the positioning measurement included in the measurement report satisfies the condition.
The network device of claim 17 or 18, wherein the positioning measurement is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and the condition comprises:

a difference between a first number of frequency hops of a first intermediate measurement and a second number of frequency hops of a second intermediate measurement is less than a threshold number.
The network device of claim 19, wherein the configuration information includes the threshold number.
The network device of claim 14, wherein the positioning measurement is obtained based on a plurality of intermediate measurements, and wherein:

the configuration information requests the terminal device to provide an indication of whether the number of frequency hops associated with an intermediate measurement is the same as a number of frequency hops of a reference transmission and reception point (TRP) or a reference RS.
The network device of claim 21, wherein the measurement report comprises the indication.
The network device of claim 21, wherein:

the configuration information further requests the terminal device to report the number of frequency hops of the reference TRP or the reference RS; and

the measurement report comprises information indicating the number of frequency hops.
The network device of claim 21, wherein an intermediate measurement related to the reference TRP or the reference RS is performed using a maximum number of frequency hops.
The network device of any of claims 14-24, wherein the network device is further caused to:

in the event that an intermediate measurement among a plurality of intermediate measurements for determining the positioning measurement is obtained using a single frequency hop of the RS, receive, from the terminal device, information indicating that the positioning measurement is associated with a single frequency hop of the RS.
The network device of any of claims 14-24, wherein at least one of the following:

the terminal device is a user equipment (UE) ;

the terminal device is a reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE) ;

the network device is a location management function (LMF) ;

the RS is a positioning reference signal (PRS) ; or

the positioning measurement comprises a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, an intermediate measurement comprises a time of arrival (ToA) , receive and transmit time difference, or a reference signal received power measurement.
A method comprising:

receiving, from a network device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement;

performing, based on the configuration information, the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS; and

transmitting, to the network device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement.
A method comprising:

transmitting, to a terminal device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; and

receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement which is obtained based on the configuration information.
An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, from a network device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement;

means for performing, based on the configuration information, the positioning measurement using one or more frequency hops of the RS; and

means for transmitting, to the network device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement.
An apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting, to a terminal device, configuration information related to the number of frequency hops of a reference signal (RS) for a positioning measurement; and

means for receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report for the positioning measurement which is obtained based on the configuration information.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 27-28.