LEO-based Positioning: Foundations, Signal Design, and Receiver Enhancements for 6G NTN

Kavli Affiliate: Feng Wang

| First 5 Authors: Harish K. Dureppagari, Chiranjib Saha, Harikumar Krishnamurthy, Xiao Feng Wang, Alberto Rico-Alvariño

| Summary:

The integration of non-terrestrial networks (NTN) into 5G new radio (NR) has
opened up the possibility of developing a new positioning infrastructure using
NR signals from Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. LEO-based cellular
positioning offers several advantages, such as a superior link budget, higher
operating bandwidth, and large forthcoming constellations. Due to these
factors, LEO-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) is a potential
enhancement for NTN in 6G cellular networks. However, extending the existing
terrestrial cellular positioning methods to LEO-based NTN positioning requires
considering key fundamental enhancements. These include creating broad
positioning beams orthogonal to conventional communication beams, time-domain
processing at the user equipment (UE) to resolve large delay and Doppler
uncertainties, and efficiently accommodating positioning reference signals
(PRS) from multiple satellites within the communication resource grid. In this
paper, we present the first set of design insights by incorporating these
enhancements and thoroughly evaluating LEO-based positioning, considering the
constraints and capabilities of the NR-NTN physical layer. To evaluate the
performance of LEO-based NTN positioning, we develop a comprehensive
NR-compliant simulation framework, including LEO orbit simulation, transmission
(Tx) and receiver (Rx) architectures, and a positioning engine incorporating
the necessary enhancements. Our findings suggest that LEO-based NTN positioning
could serve as a complementary infrastructure to existing Global Navigation
Satellite Systems (GNSS) and, with appropriate enhancements, may also offer a
viable alternative.

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