Indoor positioning in 5G new radio: how it works, status quo of research, and the road ahead

Jiaqi Li; Seung Hoon Hwang

doi:10.1016/j.icte.2025.10.008

Indoor positioning in 5G new radio: how it works, status quo of research, and the road ahead

Jiaqi Li
, Seung Hoon Hwang

Department of Electronics & Electrical Engineering

Dongguk University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, the architecture and mechanism of 5G New Radio indoor positioning schemes such as downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), uplink (UL) TDOA, multiple-cell round trip time (Multi-RTT), DL angle of departure, UL angle of arrival (AOA), and enhanced cell-ID, are comprehensively described. In addition, their performances are investigated under different channel bandwidths and conditions, and antenna configurations. Numerical results show the time-based schemes provide more benefit by wider bandwidth, while the angle-based schemes give gains by more antenna elements. Note that the Multi-RTT achieves the best accuracy with line-of-sight (LOS) conditions, while the UL-AOA does with non-LOS.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	223-248
Number of pages	26
Journal	ICT Express
Volume	12
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icte.2025.10.008
State	Published - Feb 2026

Keywords

5G positioning
Angle of arrival
Angle of departure
Cell identification
Indoor positioning
Localization
Time difference of arrival

Access to Document

10.1016/j.icte.2025.10.008

Cite this

@article{34e88de9b14e4a079b4066fcd2dd73cb,

title = "Indoor positioning in 5G new radio: how it works, status quo of research, and the road ahead",

abstract = "In this paper, the architecture and mechanism of 5G New Radio indoor positioning schemes such as downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), uplink (UL) TDOA, multiple-cell round trip time (Multi-RTT), DL angle of departure, UL angle of arrival (AOA), and enhanced cell-ID, are comprehensively described. In addition, their performances are investigated under different channel bandwidths and conditions, and antenna configurations. Numerical results show the time-based schemes provide more benefit by wider bandwidth, while the angle-based schemes give gains by more antenna elements. Note that the Multi-RTT achieves the best accuracy with line-of-sight (LOS) conditions, while the UL-AOA does with non-LOS.",

keywords = "5G positioning, Angle of arrival, Angle of departure, Cell identification, Indoor positioning, Localization, Time difference of arrival",

author = "Jiaqi Li and Hwang, \{Seung Hoon\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s).",

year = "2026",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1016/j.icte.2025.10.008",

language = "English",

volume = "12",

pages = "223--248",

journal = "ICT Express",

issn = "2405-9595",

publisher = "Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Indoor positioning in 5G new radio

T2 - how it works, status quo of research, and the road ahead

AU - Li, Jiaqi

AU - Hwang, Seung Hoon

PY - 2026/2

Y1 - 2026/2

N2 - In this paper, the architecture and mechanism of 5G New Radio indoor positioning schemes such as downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), uplink (UL) TDOA, multiple-cell round trip time (Multi-RTT), DL angle of departure, UL angle of arrival (AOA), and enhanced cell-ID, are comprehensively described. In addition, their performances are investigated under different channel bandwidths and conditions, and antenna configurations. Numerical results show the time-based schemes provide more benefit by wider bandwidth, while the angle-based schemes give gains by more antenna elements. Note that the Multi-RTT achieves the best accuracy with line-of-sight (LOS) conditions, while the UL-AOA does with non-LOS.

AB - In this paper, the architecture and mechanism of 5G New Radio indoor positioning schemes such as downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), uplink (UL) TDOA, multiple-cell round trip time (Multi-RTT), DL angle of departure, UL angle of arrival (AOA), and enhanced cell-ID, are comprehensively described. In addition, their performances are investigated under different channel bandwidths and conditions, and antenna configurations. Numerical results show the time-based schemes provide more benefit by wider bandwidth, while the angle-based schemes give gains by more antenna elements. Note that the Multi-RTT achieves the best accuracy with line-of-sight (LOS) conditions, while the UL-AOA does with non-LOS.

KW - 5G positioning

KW - Angle of arrival

KW - Angle of departure

KW - Cell identification

KW - Indoor positioning

KW - Localization

KW - Time difference of arrival

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105025035534

U2 - 10.1016/j.icte.2025.10.008

DO - 10.1016/j.icte.2025.10.008

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105025035534

SN - 2405-9595

VL - 12

SP - 223

EP - 248

JO - ICT Express

JF - ICT Express

IS - 1

ER -

Indoor positioning in 5G new radio: how it works, status quo of research, and the road ahead

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Research from Dongguk University Has Provided New Study Findings on Information Technology (Indoor positioning in 5G new radio: how it works, status quo of research, and the road ahead)

Cite this

Indoor positioning in 5G new radio: how it works, status quo of research, and the road ahead

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Press/Media

Research from Dongguk University Has Provided New Study Findings on Information Technology (Indoor positioning in 5G new radio: how it works, status quo of research, and the road ahead)

Cite this