Communication node, target device and methods for activation positioning procedure in wireless communication network

1. A method performed in a first communication node for activation of a positioning procedure for a target device in a wireless communication network comprising:

determining whether the target device has moved and an amount of the movement; and

activating a positioning procedure for the target device when the amount of the movement is larger than a threshold,

wherein the first communication node is a network node, and wherein activating a positioning procedure for the target device comprises:

informing a positioning node that a position measurement for the target device is needed,

and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving information from the positioning node to transmit positioning pilots.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining whether the target device has moved comprising:

receiving a signal from the target device; and

determining whether the target device has moved based on characteristics of the received signal.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the characteristics of the received signal comprises at least one of or a combination of a measured signal strength, a measured signal quality, a measured angle of arrival, a reported signal strength, a reported signal quality, a reported angle of arrival, a reported channel state information, a reported event related to handover.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein determining whether the target device has moved based on characteristics of the received signal comprising comparing the characteristics of the received signal with the characteristics of previously received signals from the target device.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining whether the target device has moved is based on a handover between cells or beams for the target device.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first communication node is any one of a relay node, a User Equipment, a wireless modem, a machine type communications (MTC) device, an access point, a network node, or an eNodeB or gNode B.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first communication node is any one of a relay node, a User Equipment, a wireless modem, and a machine type communications (MTC) device, and wherein determining whether the target device has moved is based on any one of:

a detected movement of the first communication node;

a handover between cells or beams for the first communication node; or

a relative position change between the first communication node and the target device.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein activating a positioning procedure for the target device comprises:

reporting positioning information to a positioning node as part of an existing positioning procedure.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein activating a positioning procedure for the target device comprises:

sending a request from the first communication node to the target device to perform a positioning task.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the positioning task comprises measuring the target device position by a positioning unit comprised in the target device.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the positioning task comprises performing measurements on positioning pilots transmitted from one or more network nodes.

12. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising receiving the position measurement from the target device.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein activating a positioning procedure for the target device comprises determining the target device position in the first communication node.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein determining the target device position in the first communication node comprises calculating the target device position based on measurements of positioning pilots or based on a proximity of the first communication node to the target device.

15. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising sending the position measurement to a positioning server node.

16. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising requesting the positioning node to determine the target device position.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a communication link between the first communication node and the target device comprises any one of GSM, 3G WCDMA, 3G/4G LTE, 5G NR, and WLAN communication links or any other short-range device-to-device D2D, BLUETOOTH-based communication link or side-link-based, Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT), Extended Coverage-Global System for Mobile Communications-Internet of Things (EC-GSM-IoT), or LORA and SIGFOX Radio Access Technologies (RATs).

18. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the positioning unit comprises a GPS device or any other positioning device.

19. A first communication node for activation of a positioning procedure for a target device in a wireless communication network, the first communication node is configured to:

determine whether the target device has moved and an amount of the movement; and

activate a positioning procedure for the target device when the amount of the movement is larger than a threshold,

wherein the first communication node is a network node or an eNodeB or gNode B, or an access point, and wherein the first communication node is configured to activate a positioning procedure for the target device by being configured to:

inform a positioning node that a position measurement for the target device is needed,

and wherein the first communication node is further configured to:

receive information from the positioning node to transmit positioning pilots.

20. The first communication node according to claim 19 , wherein the first communication node is configured to determine whether the target device has moved by being configured to:

receive a signal from the target device; and

determine whether the target device has moved based on characteristics of the received signal.

21. The first communication node according to claim 19 , wherein the first communication node is any one of a relay node, a User Equipment, a wireless modem, and a machine type communications (MTC) device, and wherein to determine whether the target device has moved is based on any one of:

a detected movement of the first communication node;

a handover between cells or beams for the first communication node; or

a relative position change between the first communication node and the target device.

22. The first communication node according to claim 19 , wherein the first communication node is configured to activate a positioning procedure for the target device by being configured to:

send a request from the first communication node to the target device to perform a positioning task.

23. The first communication node according to claim 22 , wherein the positioning task comprises measuring the target device position by a positioning unit comprised in the target device.

24. The first communication node according to claim 22 , wherein the positioning task comprises performing measurements on positioning pilots transmitted from one or more network nodes.

25. The first communication node according to claim 19 , wherein the first communication node is configured to activate a positioning procedure for the target device by being configured to determine the target device position in the first communication node.

26. The first communication node according to claim 19 , wherein the first communication node is further configured to send the position measurement to a positioning server node.

27. The first communication node according to claim 19 , wherein the first communication node is further configured to request the positioning node to determine the target device position.