A set of Models for Device Positioning in Sixth Generation Networks. Part 1. Methods Survey and Problem Statement

Abstract

Relevance. Today, terahertz radio systems are considered as a technological basis for integrating methods and means of radio communication and radar in promising sixth-generation networks. If in 4G LTE networks the capabilities of positioning user equipment using the infrastructure of base stations were considered as auxiliary options, then in 5G NR networks, location determination technologies (LDTs) have become full-fledged services, the requirements for which are specified along with communication services. A new trend in positioning in 5G NR networks, compared to 4G LTE networks, has become a single-position assessment of the coordinates and orientation of the user equipment based on signals from a single base station with the ability to distinguish between direct and reflected signals. 6G networks are still in their infancy, but it can already be stated that they mark the next stage in the evolution of digital ecosystems, which is characterized by the convergence of communication technologies, localization and sensing of radio air and the surrounding space by radio engineering means.Purpose. This work opens a research cycle devoted to the review of models, methods and algorithms for positioning devices in 6G networks. The goal of the cycle is to find and justify new radio engineering means for achieving decimeter accuracy in 6G device coordinate estimates. The first part of the cycle provides an overview of the methods and formalization of the model for collecting primary measurements.Method is an analytical review of the state of the problem based on current scientific publications, conceptual modeling, categorical approach, expert combination, comparative analysis, formalization, mathematical and simulation modeling.Results. As a result of the review of device positioning methods during the transition to 6G networks, key performance indicators and LDT scenarios are updated. As a result of the comparative analysis of 5G and 6G networks, new factors, advantages and disadvantages of positioning technologies during the transition from millimeter wave networks to terahertz networks are systematized. A formalized mathematical model for collecting primary measurements is used in the simulation model for assessing the accuracy of device positioning in the second part of the cycle.Novelty. This cycle is the first such study in the Russian scientific segment on network positioning of the sixth generation of the terahertz range, in which the author's version provides an overview of methods and a systematization of a set of new factors of the OMP in communication networks.The theoretical significance of the review-analysis lies in the establishment of both technological obstacles and new opportunities for increasing positioning accuracy during the transition to 6G networks.The practical significance of the formalized mathematical model lies in its subsequent software implementation for numerical justification of the limits of positioning accuracy in 6G networks.