CN113676424B

CN113676424B - Communication device and channel estimation method

Info

Publication number: CN113676424B
Application number: CN202010412983.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 殷波; 殷蕾; 周骞; 缪元本
Original assignee: Shanghai Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-15
Filing date: 2020-05-15
Publication date: 2024-01-30
Anticipated expiration: 2040-05-15
Also published as: CN113676424A

Abstract

In the technical scheme of the application, L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels for transmitting data signals and control signals and M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels for carrying out channel estimation are arranged in the communication device, so that separate receiving of service signals and reference signals for carrying out channel estimation can be realized. And since the number of second IRF digital reception channels is greater than the number of first IRF digital reception channels, the received reference signal is expanded in beam width although it would also pass through the modulo fitting path. Therefore, when channel estimation is carried out, the scanning times of the wave beams are reduced, and the system overhead and the scanning time delay are reduced, so that the accuracy of the channel estimation is improved.

Description

Communication device and channel estimation method

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a communication apparatus and a channel estimation method.

Background

With the increasing demand for wireless communication data rates, the millimeter wave band has become the third generation partnership project (the 3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) standard band of the fifth generation (5th generation,5G) because of its rich spectrum resources. At present, the 5G millimeter wave communication equipment performs beam forming through a large-scale antenna array and a precoding technology, and the method can compensate the path fading problem of millimeter waves in free space so as to meet the demodulation signal-to-noise ratio requirement of wireless communication.

Currently, the dominant architecture of large-scale antenna array millimeter wave systems has analog beamforming (analog beam forming, ABF). To provide sufficient array gain, antenna arrays for millimeter wave systems often reach as high as several hundred, thousands or even tens of thousands of arrays. For ABF architecture, multiple antenna arrays are connected to a mid-path radio frequency (intermediate and radio frequency, IRF) digital receive channel after a mode fitting path to form sub-arrays. However, the beam of the signal received by the IRF digital receiving channel is narrowed after being sub-fitted by a plurality of antenna arrays, so that the channel information of the whole space can be estimated through a plurality of beam scans.

However, performing multiple beam scans can greatly increase overhead on the one hand; on the other hand, beam scanning delay is increased, which may lead to inaccurate or even unfeasible channel estimation.

Disclosure of Invention

The communication device and the channel estimation method are beneficial to reducing system overhead and beam scanning time delay, so that the accuracy of channel estimation is improved.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication device comprising:

the system comprises N antennas, an analog power dividing and combining unit, L paths of first Intermediate Radio Frequency (IRF) digital receiving channels, M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels and a baseband processing unit, wherein the N antennas are connected with the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels and the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels through the analog power dividing and combining unit, the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels and the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels are connected with the baseband processing unit, the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels are used for transmitting data signals and control signals, the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels are used for carrying out channel estimation, N, L, M is a positive integer, M is smaller than or equal to N, and L is smaller than M; the N antennas are used for receiving the first signals; the analog power splitting and combining unit is used for mapping the first signals from the N antennas to the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels; and the baseband processing unit is used for carrying out channel estimation according to the first signals processed by the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels.

In the above technical solution, the communication device is provided with L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels for transmitting data signals and control signals, and M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels for performing channel estimation, so that separate reception of service signals and reference signals for performing channel estimation can be implemented. And since the number of second IRF digital reception channels is greater than the number of first IRF digital reception channels, the received reference signal is expanded in beam width although it would also pass through the modulo fitting path. Therefore, when channel estimation is carried out, the scanning times of the wave beams are reduced, and the system overhead and the scanning time delay are reduced, so that the accuracy of the channel estimation is improved.

With reference to the first aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the performance of a device included in the M second IRF digital receiving channel is lower than the performance of a device included in the L first IRF digital receiving channel.

For example, the M-way second IRF digital receive channel may employ a lower bit AD converter, a lower bit DFE processing module, a lower order analog and digital filter, a less linear radio frequency device, etc., than the L-way first IRF digital receive channel.

In the technical scheme, the performance of the device included in the M second IRF digital receiving channel is lower than that of the device included in the L-path first IRF digital receiving channel, so that the cost and the power consumption are reduced, and the engineering implementation is easy.

And the method is beneficial to realizing more second IRF digital receiving channels (L is less than M and even L is far less than M), further reducing the system overhead and the beam scanning time delay and improving the precision of channel estimation.

With reference to the first aspect and any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners, in another possible implementation manner, the L-path first IRF digital receiving channel is further configured to perform channel estimation; the N antennas are further configured to receive a second signal before receiving the first signal; the analog power splitting and combining unit is further configured to map the second signals from the N antennas to the L first IRF digital receiving channels; and the baseband processing unit is further configured to determine to perform channel estimation through the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels when the signal quality of the second signal processed by the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels meets a preset condition.

For example, when the signal quality of the second signal is higher than a preset threshold, performing channel estimation through the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels; and when the signal quality of the second signal is lower than or equal to a preset threshold value, performing channel estimation through the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels.

That is, before channel estimation is performed through the M second IRF digital reception channels, it may be determined whether the signal quality of the received signal satisfies a preset condition, and only when the signal quality satisfies the preset condition, channel estimation is performed through the M second IRF digital reception channels, and when the signal quality does not satisfy the preset condition, channel estimation is performed through the L first IRF digital reception channels. In this way, the matching between the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels and the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels is helpful to realize high-precision and high-efficiency channel estimation.

With reference to the first aspect and any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners, in another possible implementation manner, a mapping relationship between the N antennas and the M second IRF digital receiving channels is static or dynamic.

With reference to the first aspect and any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners, in another possible implementation manner, the analog power splitting and combining unit includes a power splitter and a combiner.

With reference to the first aspect and any one of the foregoing possible implementation manners, in another possible implementation manner, the analog power splitting and combining unit further includes at least one of a switch, a mixer, and a low noise power amplifier.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a channel estimation method, where the method is applied to a communication device including N antennas, an analog power splitting and combining unit, L paths of first intermediate radio frequency IRF digital receiving channels, M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels, and a baseband processing unit, where the N antennas are connected to the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels and the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels by the analog power splitting and combining unit, the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels and the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels are connected to the baseband processing unit, the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels are used for transmitting data signals and control signals, the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels are used for performing channel estimation, M is a positive integer, M is less than or equal to N, and L is less than M; the communication device receives a first signal; the communication device maps the first signal to the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels; the communication device carries out channel estimation according to the first signal processed by the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the L-path first IRF digital receiving channel is further configured to perform channel estimation, and before the communication device receives the first signal, the method further includes: the communication device receives a second signal; the communication device maps the second signal to the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels; and when the signal quality of the second signal processed by the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels meets a preset condition, the communication device determines to perform channel estimation through the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels.

That is, before channel estimation is performed through the M second IRF digital reception channels, it may be determined whether the signal quality of the received signal satisfies a preset condition, and only when the signal quality satisfies the preset condition, channel estimation is performed through the M second IRF digital reception channels, and when the signal quality does not satisfy the preset condition, channel estimation is performed through the L first IRF digital reception channels. In this way, the matching between the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels and the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels is beneficial to improving the precision of channel estimation.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus comprising means for performing the second aspect or any implementation of the second aspect.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a chip, where the chip is connected to a memory, and is configured to read and execute a software program stored in the memory, so as to implement the method in the second aspect or any implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when run on a network device, cause the network device to perform the method of the second aspect or any implementation of the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product which, when run on a network device, causes the network device to perform the method of the second aspect or any implementation of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a terminal device, including a communication apparatus as in the first aspect or any implementation manner of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a base station comprising a communication device as in the first aspect or any implementation of the first aspect.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication system comprising individual units or components as described in the first aspect or any implementation manner of the first aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an ABF architecture of an antenna array system.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is an example of a communication device of an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flowchart of a channel estimation method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is an implementation of a channel estimation method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is another schematic block diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems.

For example, a WiFi communication system, a global system for mobile communications (global system for mobile communications, GSM) system, a code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA) system, a wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, a general packet radio service (general packet radio service, GPRS), a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), a universal mobile communication system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX) communication system, a 5G system, a New Radio (NR) or future communication system, and the like.

The communication apparatus in the embodiments of the present application may be a terminal device or a network device, or an apparatus (for example, a chip, an integrated circuit, etc.) in the terminal device or the network device.

The terminal device may refer to a user equipment, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user equipment. The terminal device may also be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN), etc., as the embodiments of the application are not limited in this respect. The network device may be a device for communicating with the terminal device, and the network device may be any device having a wireless transceiving function. The network devices include, but are not limited to: an evolved node B (eNB), a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), a Node B (NB), a base station controller (base station controller, BSC), a base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved nodeB, or home node B, HNB), a Base Band Unit (BBU), an Access Point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, WIFI) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (transmission point, TP), or a transmission reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP), etc., may also be 5G, e.g., NR, a gNB in a system, or a transmission point (TRP or TP), one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system, or may also be a network node constituting a gNB or transmission point, e.g., a baseband unit (BBU), or a Distributed Unit (DU), etc. In some deployments, the gNB may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and DUs. The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (active antenna unit, AAU). The CU implements part of the functionality of the gNB and the DU implements part of the functionality of the gNB. For example, the CU is responsible for handling non-real time protocols and services, implementing the functions of the radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC), packet data convergence layer protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer. The DUs are responsible for handling physical layer protocols and real-time services, implementing the functions of the radio link control (radio link control, RLC), medium access control (media access control, MAC) and Physical (PHY) layers. The AAU realizes part of physical layer processing function, radio frequency processing and related functions of the active antenna. Since the information of the RRC layer may eventually become information of the PHY layer or be converted from the information of the PHY layer, under this architecture, higher layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, may also be considered to be transmitted by the DU or by the du+aau. It is understood that the network device may be a device comprising one or more of a CU node, a DU node, an AAU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into network devices in an access network (radio access network, RAN), or may be divided into network devices in a Core Network (CN), which is not limited in this application.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an ABF architecture of an antenna array system. In the process of channel estimation, as shown in fig. 1, in the ABF architecture, after reference signals received by N antennas and used for channel estimation are processed by an analog precoding unit, a mode fitting path is performed in an analog power splitting and combining unit, and after the reference signals pass through the mode fitting path, the reference signals are connected to L paths of IRF digital receiving channels (each group of digital front ends (digital front end, DFE) +analog-to-digital (analog to digital, AD)/digital-to-analog (digital to analog, DA) in fig. 1 corresponds to one path of IRF digital receiving channel), and after the reference signals are processed by the IRF digital receiving channels, the reference signals enter a baseband processing unit, and the baseband processing unit performs channel estimation according to the input signals.

However, the beams of the reference signals are narrowed after being fitted by a plurality of antenna array sub-modules, so that the channel information of the whole space can be estimated through a plurality of beam scanning. However, performing multiple beam scans can greatly increase overhead on the one hand; on the other hand, beam scanning delay is increased, which may lead to inaccurate or even unfeasible channel estimation.

In view of the above problems, the present application provides a communication device and a channel estimation method, which are helpful to reduce system overhead and beam scanning delay, so as to improve the accuracy of channel estimation.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 200 provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the communication device 200 includes N antennas 201, an analog power splitting and combining unit 203, an L-path first IRF digital receiving path 204, an M-path second IRF digital receiving path 205, and a baseband processing unit 206. The N antennas 201 are connected to the L first IRF digital receiving channels 204 and the M second IRF digital receiving channels 205 through the analog power dividing and combining unit 203, and the L first IRF digital receiving channels 204 and the M second IRF digital receiving channels 205 are connected to the baseband processing unit 206.

The L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels 204 are used for transmitting data signals and control signals, the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels 205 are used for channel estimation, N, L, M is a positive integer, M is less than or equal to N, and L is less than M.

L is less than M, that is, the number of first IRF digital receive channels used to transmit data signals and control signals is less than the number of second IRF digital receive channels used to perform channel estimation.

In the embodiment of the application, the mapping from the N antennas 201 to the L first IRF digital receiving channels 204 and the M second IRF digital receiving channels 205 is implemented by the analog power splitting and combining unit 203. For the L-path first IRF digital receiving channel 204, the analog power division and combination unit 203 supports power division from the L-path first IRF digital receiving channel 204 to the N antennas 201, for transmitting signals; and also supports the combining of N antennas 201 to L first IRF digital receive channels 204 for receiving signals. For the mapping of the M second IRF digital receiving channels 205, the analog power splitting and combining unit 203 implements the combining of the mapping from the N antennas 201 to the M second IRF digital receiving channels 205, for receiving signals.

Optionally, the mapping of the N antennas 201 to the M paths of the second IRF digital receiving channels 205 may be statically fixed by a combiner, or may be adjusted in real time by switching on or off according to the channel state.

Optionally, the number of antennas corresponding to each path of the second IRF digital receiving channel may be equal or unequal.

When the communication apparatus 200 performs channel estimation:

the N antennas 201 are configured to receive a first signal, where the first signal is a reference signal for performing channel estimation;

the analog power splitting and combining unit 203 is configured to map first signals from the N antennas 201 onto M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels 205, so that the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels 205 process the first signals;

the baseband processing unit 206 is configured to perform channel estimation according to the first signal processed by the M paths of the second IRF digital receiving channels 205.

That is, in the present application, the communication apparatus 200 is provided with L paths of the first IRF digital reception channel for transmitting the data signal and the control signal and M paths of the second IRF digital reception channel for performing channel estimation, so that separate reception of the traffic signal and the reference signal for performing channel estimation can be achieved. And because the number of second IRF digital receive channels is greater than the number of first IRF digital receive channels, the number of antennas to which the second IRF digital receive channels are connected is less than the number of antennas to which the first IRF digital receive channels are connected. Thus, the received reference signal, while also passing through the modulo fitting path, is expanded in beam width. Therefore, when channel estimation is carried out, the scanning times of the wave beams are reduced, and the system overhead and the scanning time delay are reduced, so that the accuracy of the channel estimation is improved.

In one implementation, the communication apparatus 200 may further include an analog precoding unit 202 for analog precoding signals from the N antennas 201. The output signal of the analog pre-coding unit 202 enters an analog power splitting and combining unit 203.

In the embodiment of the present application, the M-path second IRF digital receiving channel 205 is only used for channel estimation, so that the receiving dynamic range, the link noise coefficient, the signal-to-noise ratio and other requirements of the M-path second IRF digital receiving channel are reduced. In this way, the M-way second IRF digital receive channel 205 may simplify design and/or reduce performance as compared to the L-way first IRF digital receive channel 204.

As one example, the M-way second IRF digital receive channel 205 may include devices that have lower performance than the L-way first IRF digital receive channel 204.

As another example, the M-way second IRF digital receive channel 205 may include a lower number of primary devices than the L-way first IRF digital receive channel 204.

In the embodiment of the application, the L-path first IRF digital receiving channel may also be used for channel estimation. In this case, the N antennas 201 are also used to receive the second signal before the first signal is received; the analog power splitting and combining unit 203 is further configured to map the second signals from the N antennas 201 to the L first IRF digital receiving channels 204, so that the L first IRF digital receiving channels 204 process the second signals; the baseband processing unit 206 is further configured to determine that channel estimation is performed through the M second IRF digital receiving channels 205 when the signal quality of the second signal processed through the L first IRF digital receiving channels 204 meets a preset condition.

For example, when the signal quality of the second signal is higher than the preset threshold, the baseband processing unit 206 performs channel estimation through the M paths of the second IRF digital receiving channels; and when the signal quality of the second signal is lower than or equal to a preset threshold value, performing channel estimation through the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels.

Optionally, the indicator characterizing the signal quality of the signal may comprise at least one of a reference signal received power (reference signal received power, RSRP), a signal to interference plus noise ratio (signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR), a received signal strength indication (received signal strength indicator, RSSI), a reference signal received quality (reference signal received quality, RSRQ).

That is, before channel estimation is performed through the M second IRF digital reception channels, it is necessary to determine whether the signal quality of the received signal satisfies a preset condition, and only when the signal quality satisfies the preset condition, channel estimation is performed through the M second IRF digital reception channels, and when the signal quality does not satisfy the preset condition, channel estimation is performed through the L first IRF digital reception channels.

In an embodiment of the present application, in an implementation manner, the analog power splitting and combining unit 203 may include a combining unit.

Alternatively, the power dividing unit may be implemented by a power divider, and the combining unit may be implemented by a combiner.

In another implementation, the analog power splitting and combining unit 203 may further include a power splitting unit.

Alternatively, the power dividing unit may be implemented by a power divider.

In another implementation, the analog power splitting and combining unit 203 may further include at least one of a switch and a low noise power amplifier.

There are many connection modes between the M second IRF digital receiving channels and the analog power splitting and combining unit 203, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited specifically.

In one implementation, the M second IRF digital receive channels may be led out of the L first IRF digital receive channels.

Example 1

Fig. 3 shows another schematic block diagram of a communication device 200. As shown in fig. 3, the analog power splitting and combining network 203 may include a first combining unit 2031 and a second combining unit 2032, where the second combining unit 2032 is connected to the N antennas 201 through the first combining unit 2031, the second combining unit 2032 is connected to the L first IRF digital receiving channels 204, and the first combining unit 2031 is connected to the M second IRF digital receiving channels 205. The first combining unit 2031 is configured to map N antennas 201 to M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels; the first combining unit 2031 and the second combining unit 2032 are combined together to map the N antennas 201 to the L-way first IRF digital reception channel.

Optionally, when N is greater than M, performing a mode fitting path after the signal enters the first combining unit 2031; when N is equal to M, no mode fitting is actually performed after the signal enters the first combining unit 2031.

Example 2

Fig. 4 shows another schematic block diagram of a communication device 200. As shown in fig. 4, the analog power splitting and combining network 203 may include a first combining unit 2031, a second combining unit 2032, and a switch 2033, where the first combining unit 2031 is connected to the N antennas 201 (for example, connected to the N antennas 201 through the analog precoding unit 202), and is connected to the switch 2033, the switch 2033 is connected to the second combining unit 2032 and the M second IRF digital reception channels 205, and the second combining unit 2032 is connected to the L first IRF digital reception channels 204. The first combining unit 2031 is configured to map N antennas 201 to M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels; the first combining unit 2031 and the second combining unit 2032 are combined together to map the N antennas 201 to the L-way first IRF digital reception channel.

The switch 2033 is used for controlling and conducting the first IRF digital receiving channel 204 of L paths or the second IRF digital receiving channel 205 of M paths. For example, in the case where the L-channel first IRF digital receiving channel 204 may also be used for channel estimation, the switch 2033 defaults to turn on the L-channel first IRF digital receiving channel 204, if the signal quality of the second signal satisfies the preset condition, the baseband processing unit 206 determines to perform channel estimation through the M-channel second IRF digital receiving channel 205, the switch 2033 turns on the M-channel second IRF digital receiving channel 205, and if the signal quality of the second signal does not satisfy the preset condition, the baseband processing unit 206 determines to perform channel estimation through the L-channel first IRF digital receiving channel 2045, and the switch 2033 continues to turn on the L-channel first IRF digital receiving channel 204.

It may be understood that the analog power dividing and combining unit 203 shown in fig. 4 may not include the first combining unit 2031, and the function of the first combining unit 2031 is implemented by the switch 2033.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication apparatus 200 may further include a mixing unit.

Alternatively, the mixing unit may be implemented by a mixer.

The setting position of the mixing unit in the embodiment of the present application is not particularly limited. For example, as shown in fig. 5, the mixing unit 2034 may be provided in an analog power splitting and combining unit. For another example, the mixing unit may be provided in an analog precoding unit. For another example, the mixing units may be provided independently. For another example, the mixing unit may be provided in the analog power dividing and combining unit and the analog precoding unit, respectively.

Fig. 6 is an example of a communication device of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 6, the analog pre-coding module 202 includes an adjustable gain attenuator, an adjustable gain amplifier, an amplifier, and the like; the analog power dividing and combining unit 203 includes a first combining unit 2031, a second combining unit 2032, and a mixing unit 2034; the first combining unit 2031 and the second combining unit 2032 have a combining function; the mixing unit 2034 includes a plurality of mixers disposed between the first combining unit 2031 and the second combining unit 2032; the M second IRF digital receive channels are led from the mixing unit 2034.

It should be noted that the above embodiments may be implemented separately or may be implemented in reasonable combination.

Method embodiments of the present application are described below.

Fig. 7 is a schematic flowchart of a channel estimation method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method shown in fig. 7 may be performed by the communication device described above, where the communication device includes N antennas, an analog power splitting and combining unit, L first intermediate radio frequency IRF digital receiving channels, M second IRF digital receiving channels, and a baseband processing unit, where the N antennas are connected to the L first IRF digital receiving channels and the M second IRF digital receiving channels through the analog power splitting and combining unit, the L first IRF digital receiving channels and the M second IRF digital receiving channels are connected to the baseband processing unit, the L first IRF digital receiving channels are used for transmitting data signals and control signals, the M second IRF digital receiving channels are used for performing channel estimation, N, L, M is a positive integer, and M is less than or equal to N, and L is less than M. For a specific description of the communication device, reference may be made to the above description, and no further description is given here.

The method shown in fig. 7 includes at least part of the following.

At 710, a communication device receives a first signal.

Optionally, the first signal is a reference signal for channel estimation.

At 720, the communication device maps the first signal onto the M second IRF digital receive channels such that the M second IRF digital receive channels process the first signal.

In 730, the communication device performs channel estimation based on the first signal processed by the M second IRF digital receive channels.

In some embodiments, the L-way first IRF digital receive channel may also perform channel estimation, in which case, before the communication device receives the first signal, the communication device may further determine whether the received signal supports channel estimation using the M-way second IRF digital receive channel, i.e., steps 740-760 may also be performed.

At 740, the communication device receives the second signal.

At 750, the communication device maps the second signal to the L-way first IRF digital receive channel such that the L-way first IRF digital receive channel processes the second signal.

In 760, when the signal quality of the second signal processed by the L paths of the first IRF digital reception channels satisfies a preset condition, the communication device determines to perform channel estimation through the M paths of the second IRF digital reception channels.

Alternatively, the indicator characterizing the signal quality of the signal may comprise at least one of RSRP, SINR, RSSI or RSRQ.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device 200 is provided with L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels for transmitting data signals and control signals, and M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels for performing channel estimation, so that separate reception of service signals and reference signals for performing channel estimation can be implemented. And because the number of second IRF digital receive channels is greater than the number of first IRF digital receive channels, the number of antennas to which the second IRF digital receive channels are connected is less than the number of antennas to which the first IRF digital receive channels are connected. Thus, the received reference signal, while also passing through the modulo fitting path, is expanded in beam width. Therefore, when channel estimation is carried out, the scanning times of the wave beams are reduced, and the system overhead and the scanning time delay are reduced, so that the accuracy of the channel estimation is improved.

Fig. 8 is an implementation of a channel estimation method according to an embodiment of the present application. The primary IRF digital receive channel in fig. 8 may correspond to the L-way first IRF digital receive channel above and the auxiliary IRF digital receive channel may correspond to the M-way second IRF digital receive channel above.

In 810, the local device receives the signal sent by the opposite terminal and other interference signals of the air interface through the main IRF digital receiving channel, and detects the strength of the interference signals and the signal-to-noise ratio of the useful signals.

In 820, the home terminal device determines whether the received reference signal over the auxiliary IRF digital receive channel meets performance requirements. When the performance requirements are met by receiving the reference signal over the auxiliary IRF channel, step 830 is performed; when the reception of the reference signal over the auxiliary IRF channel does not meet the performance requirements, step 840 is performed.

In 830, the local device receives the channel estimation reference signal through the auxiliary IRF digital receiving channel, and receives the channel estimation reference signal through less beam scanning, and collects channel information of the full space in a time-sharing manner.

In 840, the local device receives the channel estimation reference signal through the main IRF digital receiving channel, and receives the channel estimation reference signal through more beam scans, and collects channel information of the whole space in a time-sharing manner.

In 850, a channel estimate is performed based on the reference signal received by the auxiliary IRF digital receive channel or the primary IRF digital receive channel, a codebook is calculated, and the codebook is configured to an analog precoding module.

It should be understood that in the above embodiments, the communication device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments. These steps or operations are merely examples, and embodiments of the present application may also perform other operations or variations of the various operations. Furthermore, the various steps may be performed in a different order presented by the various embodiments, and it is possible that not all of the operations in the embodiments of the present application may be performed. The sequence number of each step does not mean the sequence of execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 9, the communication apparatus 900 may include a processing unit 910 and a transceiving unit 920.

Alternatively, the communication apparatus 900 may correspond to the communication apparatus 200 in the above method embodiment.

It is to be understood that the communication device 900 may include means for performing the method performed by the communication device of the methods shown in fig. 7-8. And, each unit in the communication device 900 and the other operations and/or functions described above are respectively for implementing the respective flows of the methods shown in fig. 7 to 8.

When the communication device 900 is used to perform the steps performed by the communication device in fig. 7, the processing unit 910 may be used to perform the steps 720, 730, 750, and 760, and the transceiver unit 920 may be used to perform the steps 710 and 720. When the communication apparatus 900 is used to perform the steps performed by the local device in fig. 8, the processing unit 910 may be used to perform the steps 820 and 850, and the transceiver unit 920 may be used to perform the steps 810, 830 and 840.

It should be appreciated that the transceiver unit 920 in the communication device 900 may be implemented by a transceiver, an input/output interface, a circuit, etc., and the processing unit 910 may be implemented by at least one processor, a processor integrated on a chip or a system-on-chip, a microprocessor, an integrated circuit, etc.

It should be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiments, and is not described herein for brevity.

Fig. 10 is another schematic block diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 10, the communication device 1000 includes a processor 1010 and an interface circuit 1020. The processor 1010 and the interface circuit 1020 are coupled to each other. It is understood that interface circuit 1020 may be a transceiver or an input-output interface. Optionally, the communication device 1000 may further comprise a memory 1030 for storing instructions to be executed by the processor 1010 or for storing input data required by the processor 1010 to execute instructions or for storing data generated after the processor 1010 executes instructions.

When the communication device 1000 is used to implement the methods shown in fig. 7 to 8, the processor 1010 is configured to perform the functions of the processing unit 910, and the interface circuit 1020 is configured to perform the functions of the transceiver unit 920.

It is to be appreciated that the processor in embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), but may also be other general purpose processors, digital signal processors (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), application specific integrated circuits (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, it may be any conventional processor.

The method steps in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions may be comprised of corresponding software modules that may be stored in random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), flash Memory, read-Only Memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may be located in a first node, a donor node, or a first superordinate node. Of course, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a first node, a donor node, or a first superordinate node.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer program or instructions may be stored in or transmitted across a computer-readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server that integrates one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium, e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, tape; but also optical media such as DVD; but also semiconductor media such as Solid State Disks (SSDs).

In the various embodiments of the application, if there is no specific description or logical conflict, terms and/or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and may reference each other, and features of the various embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. In the text description of the present application, the character "/", generally indicates that the associated object is an or relationship; in the formulas of the present application, the character "/" indicates that the front and rear associated objects are a "division" relationship.

It will be appreciated that the various numerical numbers referred to in the embodiments of the present application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The sequence number of each process does not mean the sequence of the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined according to the function and the internal logic.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art or in a part of the technical solution, in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising: the system comprises N antennas, an analog power dividing and combining unit, L paths of first Intermediate Radio Frequency (IRF) digital receiving channels, M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels and a baseband processing unit, wherein the N antennas are connected with the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels and the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels through the analog power dividing and combining unit, the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels and the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels are connected with the baseband processing unit, the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels are used for transmitting data signals and control signals, the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels are used for carrying out channel estimation, wherein N, L, M is a positive integer, M is smaller than or equal to N, and L is smaller than M;

the N antennas are used for receiving the first signals;

the analog power splitting and combining unit is used for mapping the first signals from the N antennas to the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels;

and the baseband processing unit is used for carrying out channel estimation according to the first signals processed by the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the M second IRF digital receive channels comprise devices having a performance that is lower than the performance of the devices comprising the L first IRF digital receive channels.

3. The device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein,

the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels are also used for channel estimation;

the N antennas are further configured to receive a second signal before receiving the first signal;

the analog power splitting and combining unit is further configured to map the second signals from the N antennas to the L first IRF digital receiving channels;

the baseband processing unit is further configured to determine to perform channel estimation through the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels when the signal quality of the second signal processed by the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels meets a preset condition.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the mapping relationship between the N antennas and the M second IRF digital reception channels is static or dynamic.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the analog power splitting and combining unit comprises a power splitter and a combiner.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the analog power splitting and combining unit further comprises at least one of a switch, a mixer, or a low noise power amplifier.

7. The channel estimation method is characterized by being applied to a communication device comprising N antennas, an analog power dividing and combining unit, L paths of first Intermediate Radio Frequency (IRF) digital receiving channels, M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels and a baseband processing unit, wherein the N antennas are connected with the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels and the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels through the analog power dividing and combining unit, the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels and the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels are connected with the baseband processing unit, the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels are used for transmitting data signals and control signals, the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels are used for carrying out channel estimation, M is a positive integer, M is smaller than or equal to N, and L is smaller than M;

The communication device receives a first signal;

the communication device maps the first signal to the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels;

the communication device carries out channel estimation according to the first signal processed by the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the L-way first IRF digital receive channel is further configured to perform channel estimation, the method further comprising, prior to the communication device receiving the first signal:

the communication device receives a second signal;

the communication device maps the second signal to the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels;

and when the signal quality of the second signal processed by the L paths of first IRF digital receiving channels meets a preset condition, the communication device determines to perform channel estimation through the M paths of second IRF digital receiving channels.

9. A communication device comprising at least one processor for executing a computer program stored in a memory to cause the device to implement the method of claim 7 or 8.

10. A communication device, comprising:

A communication interface for inputting and/or outputting information;

a processor for executing a computer program to cause the apparatus to implement the method of claim 7 or 8.

11. A communication device, comprising:

a memory for storing a computer program;

a processor for invoking and running the computer program from the memory to cause the apparatus to implement the method of claim 7 or 8.

12. A computer readable storage medium comprising a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of claim 7 or 8.