Grouping space vehicle based positioning reference signals and measurements

A user equipment (UE) configured for supporting positioning of the UE in a non-terrestrial network, comprising:

• at least one wireless transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with entities in the non-terrestrial network;
• at least one memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the at least one wireless transceiver and the at least one memory and configured to:
• receive, via the at least one wireless transceiver, configurations for downlink (DL) positioning reference signals (PRS) associated with a plurality of space vehicles SVs in the non-terrestrial network, wherein the configurations comprise a discontinuous measurement gap set for each positioning occasion for processing the DL PRS from the plurality of SVs, wherein the discontinuous measurement gap set for each positioning occasion for processing the DL PRS from the plurality of SV comprises a plurality of separate measurement gaps;
• receive, via the at least one wireless transceiver, the DL PRS from the plurality of SVs using the discontinuous measurement gap set;
• perform positioning measurements using the DL PRS from the plurality of SVs;
• and
• transmit, via the at least one wireless transceiver, location information based on the positioning measurements to a location server.

A network entity configured for supporting positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a non-terrestrial network, comprising:

• an external interface configured to wirelessly communicate with entities in the non-terrestrial network;
• at least one memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the external interface and the at least one memory and configured to:
• receive, via the external interface, a request for measurement gaps for positioning measurements in the non-terrestrial network;
• and
• provide, via the external interface, to the UE configurations for downlink (DL) positioning reference signals (PRS) associated with a plurality of space vehicles (SVs) in the non-terrestrial network, wherein the configurations comprise a discontinuous measurement gap set for each positioning occasion for processing the DL PRS from the plurality of SVs, wherein the discontinuous measurement gap set for each positioning occasion for processing the DL PRS from the plurality of SVs comprises a plurality of separate measurement gaps for each positioning occasion.