Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A first user equipment (UE) may belong to a group of UEs that includes at least a second UE and a third UE. The first UE may perform a channel access procedure and, when the channel access procedure is successful, may transmit a first positioning reference signal (PRS) over a sidelink communication link to the second and third UEs. The first UE may transmit the first PRS during a first time interval of a transmission window. Based on receiving the first PRS, the second UE may perform a channel access procedure and may transmit a second PRS to the first UE during a second time interval of the transmission window. The second PRS may be multiplexed (e.g., using frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or code division multiplexing (CDM)) with at least a third PRS transmitted by the third UE.