journal article·2025-07-15Open access

Evaluation of 5G Positioning Based on Uplink SRS and Downlink PRS Under LOS and NLOS Environments

Syed Shahid Shah, Chao Sun, Dongkai Yang, Muhammad Wisal, Yingzhe He, Bai Lu, Ying Xu

Applied Sciences· Volume 15· Issue 14

Abstract

The evolution of 5G technology has led to significant advancements in high-accuracy positioning. However, the actual performance of 5G signals for user equipment (UE) positioning has not been thoroughly examined, especially under varying propagation conditions. This research presents a comprehensive evaluation of 5G positioning using both uplink sounding reference signals (UL-SRS) and downlink positioning reference signals (DL-PRS) under line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions. In the uplink scenario, the UE transmits SRS signals to the gNBs, enabling precise localization. In the downlink scenario, the gNBs transmit PRS signals to the UE for accurate position estimation. Expanding beyond LOS environments, this study explores the challenges posed by NLOS conditions and analyzes their impact on positioning accuracy. Through a comparative analysis of UL-SRS and DL-PRS signals, this study enhances the current understanding of 5G positioning performance, offering empirical insights and quantitative benchmarks that serve as a guide for the development of more precise localization methods. The simulation results show that DL-PRS achieves high accuracy in LOS conditions, while UL-SRS performs well for UE positioning under NLOS conditions in urban environments.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies · Advanced MIMO Systems Optimization · Advanced Wireless Communication Technologies

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China

School of Electronics and Information Systems, Hangzhou International Innovation Institute, Beihang University, Hangzhou 311115, China

Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China

Funding

Youth Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) · Open Project Program of Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Integrated and Intelligent Navigation · Open Project Program of State Key Laboratory of CNS/ATM

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