Methods and Apparatus for Estimating Time of Arrival Information Associated with a Wireless Signal

An apparatus for estimating time of arrival information associated with a wireless signal, the apparatus comprising:

• a radio frequency receiver structured to receive the wireless signal;
• and
• a controller, operatively coupled to the radio frequency receiver, the controller being structured to:
• classify a channel type based on multiple occurrences of a reference signal;
• select a time of arrival generator based on the channel type;
• and
• estimate the time of arrival information using the selected time of arrival generator.

A method of estimating time of arrival information associated with a wireless signal, the method comprising:

• classifying a channel as one of (a) a delay-spread channel, and (b) a non-delay-spread channel based on multiple occurrences of a positioning reference symbol from a plurality of antennas by determining a ratio of a first peak to a mean of a plurality of peaks, wherein the first peak is larger than each of the plurality of peaks, and the ratio is a minimum ratio selected from a plurality of ratios;
• if the ratio is not beyond a desired threshold, estimating the time of arrival information by summing each peak that occurs at a common time offset in the plurality of peaks from multiple occasions to form a multi-occasion correlation, and estimating the time of arrival information based on the multi-occasion correlation;
• and
• if the ratio is beyond the desired threshold, estimating the time of arrival information by estimating a plurality of individual time of arrival estimates, each corresponding to the plurality of peaks from one occasion, and estimating the time of arrival information based on the mean of the plurality of individual time of arrival estimates.