Joint sensing and positioning in telecommunication system

Positioning Reference Signals (PRS) in 5G New Radio are typically reference signals defined with a regular periodic pattern in frequency bins (e.g. combs). Since the PRS signal has periodic locations for the active subcarriers in frequency, ambiguity in the form of false peaks can appear in the range estimation originated from actual targets reflections. In the invention, the frequency distance between consecutive resource elements (across groups) containing positioning signals is not constant, so an irregular distribution of positioning signals containing resource elements occurs. Compared to the legacy PRS patterns, the irregular pattern (in frequency) seeks to avoid ambiguity in range estimation. The invention provides a reference signal (a joint positioning and sensing signal) comprising a plurality of resources. The resource elements are organised into a plurality of groups. Each resource element is identified by a time domain OFDM symbol and a frequency domain subcarrier, wherein: each group of resource elements comprises n OFDM symbols and n subcarriers; n resource elements in each group contain positioning signals; and within each OFDM symbol, a frequency distance between consecutive resource elements containing positioning signals is not constant, such that an irregular distribution of positioning signal containing resource elements is provided.