Angle of arrival (AOA) positioning method and system for positional finding and tracking objects using reduced attenuation RF technology

1. A method for determining a location of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless system, the method comprising:

buffering a plurality of in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) samples generated from signals provided by receive channels associated with two or more antennas;

receiving reference signal parameters that describe a reference signal within the signals;

identifying the reference signal within the signals from each receive channel among the receive channels;

based on the identified reference signal from each receive channel, determining an angle of arrival between a baseline of the two or more antennas and incident energy from the UE to the two or more antennas; and

utilizing the angle of arrival to calculate the location of the UE.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of identifying the reference signal includes determining a start time of the reference signal using the reference signal parameters and the plurality of buffered I/Q samples.

3. The method of claim 1 , the step of identifying the reference signal includes peak detecting a matched filter output associated with each receive channel to identify a particular I/Q sample among the plurality of I/Q samples that is closest to a start time of the reference signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining the angle of arrival includes determining a sub-sample estimation of a direct line of sight (DLOS) flight time from the UE to each antenna among the two or more antennas.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the DLOS flight time from the UE to each antenna is used to determine a time difference of arrival of the reference signal between the two or more antennas.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the DLOS flight time from the UE to each antenna is used to determine a phase shift between individual subcarriers of the reference signal.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two or more antennas are located in one sector of a cell tower.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a distance between the two or more antennas is small relative to a distance to the UE from the two or more antennas.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a reference signal includes a sounding reference signal (SRS) or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS).

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the angle of arrival is associated with a line of bearing (LOB) between a serving sector of a cell tower and the UE.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

utilizing the angle of arrival to determine a second LOB between a non-serving sector of the cell tower and the UE.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

utilizing the angle of arrival to determine a third LOB between a non-serving sector of a second cell tower and the UE.

13. A method for determining an elevation of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless system, the method comprising:

buffering a plurality of in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) samples generated from signals provided by receive channels associated with two or more antenna elements of a sector antenna pair, wherein one antenna element among the two or more antenna elements is displaced in a vertical direction with respect to another antenna element among the two or more antenna elements;

receiving reference signal parameters that describe a reference signal within the signals;

identifying the reference signal within the signals from each receive channel among the receive channels;

based on the identified reference signal from each receive channel, determining a vertical angle of arrival between a baseline of the sector antenna pair and incident energy from the UE to the two or more antenna elements; and

utilizing the vertical angle of arrival to calculate the elevation of the UE.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein two or more antenna elements are located in a single antenna enclosure of the sector antenna pair.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein two or more antenna elements are located in different antenna enclosures of the sector antenna pair.

16. A method for determining a position of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless system, the method comprising:

buffering a plurality of in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) samples generated from signals provided by receive channels associated with two or more antennas including multiple antenna elements, wherein one antenna element among the multiple antenna elements is displaced in a vertical direction with respect to another antenna element among the multiple antenna elements;

receiving reference signal parameters that describe a reference signal within the signals;

identifying the reference signal within the signals from each receive channel among the receive channels;

based on the identified reference signal from each receive channel, determining a horizontal angle of arrival between a baseline of the antennas and incident energy from the UE to the two or more antennas and a vertical angle of arrival between the baseline of the antennas and incident energy from the UE to the two or more antennas; and

utilizing the horizontal angle of arrival and the vertical angle of arrival to calculate the position of the UE.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the horizontal angle of arrival and the vertical angle of arrival are each associated with a line of bearing (LOB) between a serving sector of a cell tower and the UE.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

utilizing the horizontal angle of arrival to determine a second LOB between a non-serving sector of the cell tower and the UE.

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

utilizing the vertical angle of arrival to determine a second vertical angle of arrival between a non-serving sector of a second cell tower and the UE.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

clustering two or more coherent receiver channels among the receiver channels;

forming a group unit from the clusters; and

synchronizing the group unit using external timing inputs.