CN113872649B

CN113872649B - Feedback method of channel state information and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN113872649B
Application number: CN202010622808.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 尚鹏; 金黄平; 毕晓艳
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-30
Filing date: 2020-06-30
Publication date: 2023-03-10
Anticipated expiration: 2040-06-30
Also published as: CN113872649A; WO2022001933A1

Abstract

The application discloses a feedback method of channel state information and a communication device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that network equipment sends first indication information to a terminal, the terminal receives the first information and feeds back CSI to the network equipment according to the first indication information; the first indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between an antenna port and a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS port. The method and the device are applicable to a communication system comprising the hybrid antenna array, and the network equipment can indicate the corresponding relation between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports for the terminal, so that the method and the device can be compatible with the current determination rule of the antenna port sequence, namely various hybrid antenna arrays. Meanwhile, the network equipment can indicate the same or different antenna port sequences aiming at different mixed antenna arrays, and better system performance is ensured.

Description

Feedback method of channel state information and communication device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of antenna technologies, and in particular, to a method for feeding back channel state information and a communication device.

Background

To improve the throughput of the system, multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO) technology is introduced. However, the dimension of the antenna array is increased, and the area of the antenna array is also increased, which is not beneficial to the deployment of the antenna array. To meet the area requirements of antenna arrays, antenna arrays of future designs may include more than one type of antenna element. For example, future designs of antenna arrays may include two-port antenna elements and four-port antenna elements, and further, for example, the antenna arrays may include antenna elements that are not uniformly distributed in the horizontal direction and/or the vertical direction.

Although the MIMO technology can improve the throughput of the system, the throughput of the system also depends on how accurately the base station acquires the downlink Channel State Information (CSI). For example, for a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, a terminal may feed back a Precoding Matrix based on a codebook obtained by linearly combining multiple orthogonal beams, and a base station needs to obtain a downlink optimal Precoding Matrix by feeding back a Precoding Matrix or a Precoding Matrix Index (PMI) through the terminal.

The existing antenna array is a traditional dual-polarized antenna array, that is, an antenna array composed of cross-polarized antennas, and a codebook corresponding to the dual-polarized antenna array is, for example, a first codebook. For the dual-polarized antenna and the first codebook, a protocol specifies a rule for determining a correspondence relationship between an antenna port and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) port. The corresponding relation between the unique antenna port and the CSI-RS port can be determined according to the rule. Future designs of antenna arrays may include more than one type of antenna element and if this rule is followed, various correspondences of antenna ports and CSI-RS ports may be determined. The system performance corresponding to different corresponding relations is also different, and if the terminal arbitrarily selects one corresponding relation between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port to feed back the precoding matrix, better system performance may not be ensured.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a feedback method of channel state information and a communication device, which indicate the corresponding relation between an antenna port and a CSI-RS port for a terminal, can be compatible with various antenna arrays and improve the system performance.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for feeding back channel state information, where the method may be performed by a first communication apparatus, and the first communication apparatus may be a communication device or a communication apparatus capable of supporting the communication device to implement a function required by the method, such as a chip or a system-on-chip. The following description will be given taking the communication device as a terminal as an example. The method comprises the following steps:

the terminal receives first indication information from the network equipment and sends CSI to the network equipment according to the first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for feeding back channel state information, where the method may be performed by a second communication apparatus, and the second communication apparatus may be a communication device or a communication apparatus capable of supporting the communication device to implement a function required by the method, such as a chip or a chip system. The following description will be given taking the communication device as a network device as an example. The method comprises the following steps:

sending first indication information to a terminal, and receiving CSI from the terminal; the first indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between an antenna port and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) port, and the CSI is determined according to the first indication information.

Embodiments of the present application may be applicable to communication systems including hybrid antenna arrays (e.g., antenna units including multiple port numbers). For a certain hybrid antenna array, if the determination rule of the current antenna port order is followed, there may be multiple correspondence relationships between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the network device may indicate the correspondence between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port for the terminal, so that the current determination rule of the antenna port sequence may be compatible. And it can be considered that the corresponding relationship between the antenna port indicated by the network device and the CSI-RS port corresponds to the hybrid antenna array set by the network device, so that even if there are multiple hybrid antenna arrays, since the corresponding relationship between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port corresponds to the hybrid antenna array set by the network device, better system performance can be ensured. It can be seen that, by the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, in the case that there are multiple hybrid antenna arrays, the antenna port order can be made clear to be compatible with various types of antenna arrays. Meanwhile, the network equipment can indicate the same or different antenna port sequences aiming at different mixed antenna arrays, and better system performance is ensured.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect and the second aspect, the antenna ports correspond to radio frequency channels of an antenna array, and the antenna array satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

the antenna array comprises at least one first antenna unit and at least one second antenna unit, wherein the port numbers of the first antenna unit and the second antenna unit are different;

the antenna array comprises at least one row of antenna units arranged along the horizontal direction and at least one column of antenna units arranged along the vertical direction, and the intervals between every two antenna units in the at least one row of antenna units are different or partially the same;

the antenna array comprises at least one row of antenna units arranged along the horizontal direction and at least one column of antenna units arranged along the vertical direction, and the intervals between every two antenna units in the at least one column of antenna units are different or partially the same.

The embodiment of the application is applicable to various hybrid antenna arrays, such as an array composed of antenna units with various port numbers, an array composed of antenna units distributed at unequal intervals in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction, and the like, and the application range is wider.

The embodiments of the present application are directed to indicating a corresponding relationship between an antenna port and a CSI-RS port, and in possible implementation manners, a network device may directly indicate a corresponding relationship between an antenna port and a CSI-RS port, or may indirectly indicate a corresponding relationship between an antenna port and a CSI-RS port, for example, the following manners are included:

for example, the first indication information includes first information and second information, the first information is used for indicating antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports in a first matrix, the second information is used for indicating a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of the first matrix, and the first matrix is used for determining the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports. In the scheme, the first matrix can be regarded as a mapping relation between antenna ports of the antenna array virtual and CSI-RS ports, the vertical dimension and the horizontal dimension of the first matrix can be indicated through the second information, and then the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports in the first matrix are indicated through the first information. Therefore, the terminal can determine which antenna ports in the first matrix are used for feeding back CSI based on the first information and the second information, and the implementation is easy.

In some embodiments, the second information may be carried in a first field for carrying a vertical dimension of the first matrix and a second field for carrying a horizontal dimension of the first matrix. The scheme has a more direct indication mode, the possible dimensionality of the first matrix does not need to be defined in advance, and the requirement on the system is lower.

In some embodiments, the second information is carried in a third field, the third field occupying one or more bits, different values of the third field indicating different dimensions of the first matrix. The scheme may indirectly indicate a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of the first matrix, for example, possible dimensions of the first matrix are defined in advance, and different dimensions correspond to different values. The dimension of the first matrix can be determined through the value carried by the third field, the vertical dimension and the horizontal dimension of the first matrix do not need to be indicated respectively, and the system overhead can be saved as much as possible.

For another example, the first indication information includes first information indicating an antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port in a first matrix, and the first matrix is used to determine the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port. In the scheme, under the condition that the first matrix corresponding to the first information may have multiple dimensions, the dimension of the first matrix corresponding to the first information may be agreed in advance to be one of the multiple dimensions, so that the network device only needs to inform the terminal of the first information, and does not need to inform the terminal of the vertical dimension or the horizontal dimension of the first matrix, thereby saving signaling overhead.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect and the second aspect, the first indication information further includes third information, where the third information is used to indicate an interval, in a horizontal direction, of any two adjacent antenna units included in the antenna array, and an interval, in a vertical direction, of any two adjacent antenna units. Since the third information can be used to indicate the interval between any two adjacent antenna elements in the horizontal direction and the interval between any two adjacent antenna elements in the vertical direction, even if the antenna elements arranged in the base station are not equally spaced, the corresponding relationship between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS can be determined by the scheme. Therefore, the scheme can be compatible with antenna units with various port numbers and antenna units distributed at unequal intervals, and is wider in application range.

In one possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the antenna unit includes a four-port antenna unit, and the method further includes:

the four-port antenna unit is equivalent to two-port antennas, and the first indication information is determined according to the two-port antennas obtained after the equivalent, wherein,

the first antenna oscillator and the second antenna oscillator of the four-port antenna unit are equivalent to one two-port antenna unit, the third antenna oscillator and the fourth antenna oscillator of the four-port antenna unit are equivalent to the other two-port antenna unit, the first antenna oscillator and the third antenna oscillator are two antenna oscillators of the four-port antenna unit in the first polarization direction, and the second antenna oscillator and the fourth antenna oscillator are two antenna oscillators of the four-port antenna unit in the second polarization direction.

In the embodiment of the application, the four-port antenna unit can be equivalent to two-port antenna units, that is, other types of antenna units can be equivalent to a conventional dual-polarized antenna array, so that a codebook matched with the conventional dual-polarized antenna array can be compatible, and the codebook does not need to be redesigned.

In the embodiment of the present application, there are various ways to make a four-port antenna unit equivalent to two-port antenna units, including but not limited to the following equivalent ways:

in an equivalent mode I, the positions of four antenna oscillators of a four-port antenna unit are changed, and two-port antenna units are positioned in the same row;

in an equivalent mode II, the positions of four antenna oscillators of the four-port antenna unit are changed, and two-port antenna units are positioned in the same column;

in an equivalent mode III, the positions of four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are changed, and two-port antenna units are distributed along a diagonal line.

In an equivalent manner, the positions of the four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are kept unchanged, wherein the positions of the two antenna elements of any two-port antenna unit in the two-port antenna units are different. That is, the four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are all different in position after being equivalent.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal-side communication device or a communication apparatus capable of supporting a communication device to implement functions required by the method, such as a chip or a system-on-chip. The communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module, where the transceiver module is configured to receive first indication information from a network device, and send CSI determined by the processing module according to the first indication information to the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between an antenna port and a CSI-RS port.

In one possible implementation, the antenna ports correspond to radio frequency channels of an antenna array, where the antenna array satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information includes first information, and the first information is used to indicate an antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port in a first matrix, where the first matrix is used to determine the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port.

In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information further includes second information, and the second information is used for indicating a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of the first matrix.

In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information further includes third information, where the third information is used to indicate an interval, in the horizontal direction, of any two adjacent antenna elements included in the antenna array, and an interval, in the vertical direction, of any two adjacent antenna elements.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network-side communication device or a communication apparatus capable of supporting a communication device to implement the functions required by the method, such as a chip or a system-on-chip. The communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module, where the transceiver module is configured to send first indication information generated by the processing module to a terminal and receive CSI from the terminal, where the first indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between an antenna port and a CSI-RS port, and the CSI is determined according to the first indication information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information further includes third information, where the third information is used to indicate an interval between any two adjacent antenna units included in the antenna array in a horizontal direction and an interval between any two adjacent antenna units in a vertical direction.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is further configured to equate the four-port antenna unit to two-port antennas, and determine first indication information according to the two-port antennas obtained after the equivalence, where,

In the embodiment of the present application, there are various ways of making a four-port antenna unit equivalent to two-port antenna units, including but not limited to the following equivalent ways:

In an equivalent manner, the positions of the four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are kept unchanged, wherein the positions of the two antenna elements of any one two-port antenna unit in the two-port antenna units are different. That is, the four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are all at different positions after being equivalent.

With regard to the technical effects brought about by the third aspect or the fourth aspect or various possible implementations of the third aspect or various possible implementations of the fourth aspect, reference may be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or the second aspect or various possible implementations of the first aspect or various possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a CSI feedback method, where the method may be performed by a second communications apparatus, and the second communications apparatus may be a communications device or a communications apparatus capable of supporting the communications device to implement functions required by the method, for example, a chip or a chip system. The following description will be given taking the communication device as a network device as an example. The method comprises the following steps:

each four-port antenna included by the antenna array is equivalent to two-port antennas, and an equivalent antenna array is obtained;

carrying out CSI-RS port mapping according to the equivalent antenna array;

and sending first indication information to a terminal, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports included in the antenna array.

In one possible implementation, the antenna array satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

In one possible implementation, equating each four-port antenna included in the antenna array to two-port antennas includes:

the first antenna oscillator and the second antenna oscillator of the four-port antenna unit are equivalent to form a two-port antenna unit, the third antenna oscillator and the fourth antenna oscillator of the four-port antenna unit are equivalent to form another two-port antenna unit, the first antenna oscillator and the third antenna oscillator are two antenna oscillators of the four-port antenna unit in a first polarization direction, and the second antenna oscillator and the fourth antenna oscillator are two antenna oscillators of the four-port antenna unit in a second polarization direction.

in an equivalent mode I, the positions of four antenna oscillators of the four-port antenna unit are changed, and two-port antenna units are positioned in the same row;

In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information includes first information and second information, the first information is used to indicate an antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port in a first matrix, the second information is used to indicate a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of the first matrix, and the first matrix is used to determine the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a network-side communication device or a communication apparatus capable of supporting a communication device to implement the functions required by the method, such as a chip or a system-on-chip. The communication device can comprise a processing module and a transceiver module, wherein the processing module is used for enabling each four-port antenna included in the antenna array to be equivalent to two-port antennas, obtaining an equivalent antenna array, and carrying out CSI-RS port mapping according to the equivalent antenna array; the transceiver module is configured to send first indication information to a terminal, where the first indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between antenna ports included in the antenna array and CSI-RS ports.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is specifically configured to:

the first antenna oscillator and the second antenna oscillator of the four-port antenna unit are equivalent to one two-port antenna unit, the third antenna oscillator and the fourth antenna oscillator of the four-port antenna unit are equivalent to the other two-port antenna unit, the first antenna oscillator and the third antenna oscillator are two antenna oscillators of the four-port antenna unit in a first polarization direction, and the second antenna oscillator and the fourth antenna oscillator are two antenna oscillators of the four-port antenna unit in a second polarization direction.

In an equivalent manner, the positions of the four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are kept unchanged, wherein the positions of the two antenna elements of any two-port antenna unit in the two-port antenna units are different. That is, the four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are all at different positions after being equivalent.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, where the communication device may be the communication device in the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the sixth aspect in the foregoing embodiments, or a chip system provided in the communication device in the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the sixth aspect. The communication device comprises a communication interface, a processor and optionally a memory. Wherein the memory is used for storing computer programs or instructions or data, the processor is coupled with the memory and the communication interface, and when the processor reads the computer programs or instructions or data, the communication device is caused to execute the method executed by the terminal or the network equipment in the above method embodiments.

It is to be understood that the communication interface may be a transceiver in the communication device, for example implemented by an antenna, a feeder, a codec, etc. in said communication device, or, if the communication device is a chip provided in a network device, the communication interface may be an input/output interface of the chip, for example an input/output circuit, a pin, etc., for inputting/outputting instructions, data or signals. The transceiver is used for the communication device to communicate with other equipment. Exemplarily, when the communication apparatus is a terminal, the other device is a network device; or, when the communication device is a network device, the other device is a terminal.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor and may further include a memory, and is configured to implement the method performed by the communication apparatus of the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the sixth aspect. In one possible implementation, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing program instructions and/or data. The chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

In a ninth aspect, the present embodiment provides a communication system, where the communication system includes the communication apparatus in the third aspect and the communication apparatus in the fourth aspect, or the communication system includes the communication apparatus in the third aspect and the communication apparatus in the sixth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that, when executed, implements the method performed by a terminal in the above aspects; or to implement the method performed by the network device in the above aspects.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising: computer program code which, when run, causes the method performed by the terminal in the above aspects to be performed, or causes the method performed by the network device in the above aspects to be performed.

The advantageous effects of the fifth to eleventh aspects and their implementations described above may be referred to the description of the advantageous effects of the respective aspects or the respective aspects and their implementations.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system suitable for use in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a dual-polarized antenna unit provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a correspondence relationship between elements and radio frequency channels in a dual-polarized antenna unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a hybrid antenna array according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of the terminal feeding back CSI to the base station;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a corresponding relationship between a dual-polarized antenna unit and a CSI-RS port provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating possible correspondence relationships between antenna elements included in a hybrid antenna array and CSI-RS ports according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating possible correspondence relationships between antenna elements and CSI-RS ports included in a hybrid antenna array according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the principle that the QHA/QSA is equivalent to XPO in the same polarization direction according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a hybrid antenna array equivalent to a conventional dual-polarized antenna according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a four-port antenna unit provided in this embodiment of the present application, which is equivalent to a conventional dual-polarized antenna;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a hybrid antenna array equivalent to a dual-polarized antenna array according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic flowchart of a feedback method of channel state information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a hybrid antenna array equivalent to a virtual dual-polarized antenna array according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of a hybrid antenna array equivalent to a virtual dual-polarized antenna array according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram illustrating possible correspondence relationships between antenna elements and CSI-RS ports included in a hybrid antenna array according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a schematic diagram of antenna elements that are not uniformly spaced in the horizontal direction;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, a New Radio (NR) communication system, and the like. Of course, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to a machine to machine (M2M) network, an internet of things (IoT) network, or other networks. It may also be applied to inter-device links, such as device to device (D2D) links. The D2D link may also be referred to as sidelink, where the sidelink may also be referred to as a side link or a sidelink, etc. In the embodiments of the present application, the above terms all refer to links established between devices of the same type, and have the same meaning. The devices of the same type may be links from a terminal to the terminal, links from a base station to a base station, links from relay nodes to relay nodes, and the like, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Please refer to fig. 1, which illustrates an application scenario applied in the embodiment of the present application, or a network architecture applied in the embodiment of the present application. In fig. 1, a network device and 6 terminals are included, and it should be understood that the number of terminals in fig. 1 is only an example, and may be more or less, and the network architecture may further include other network devices, such as a wireless relay device and a wireless backhaul device, which are not shown in fig. 1. The network device is an access device of the terminal through a wireless access network, and may be a base station. The network device corresponds to different devices in different systems, for example, in a fourth generation mobile communication technology (4 th-generation, 4G) system, the network device may correspond to an evolved Node B (eNB or e-NodeB) in LTE, and in a 5G NR system, the network device may correspond to a next generation Node B (gNB); these 6 terminals may be cellular phones, smart phones, laptops, handheld communication devices, handheld computing devices, satellite radios, global positioning systems, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and/or any other suitable device for communicating over a wireless communication system, and may each be connected to a network device.

The embodiment of the application can be suitable for uplink signal transmission, downlink signal transmission and D2D signal transmission. For downlink signal transmission, the sending equipment is network equipment, and the corresponding receiving equipment is a terminal; for uplink signal transmission, the sending equipment is a terminal, and the corresponding receiving equipment is network equipment; for D2D signaling, the transmitting device is a terminal and the receiving device is also a terminal. For example, 3 terminals as illustrated by the dashed area in fig. 1 may be suitable for D2D signal transmission, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the direction of signal transmission.

A terminal, also referred to as a terminal device, may be a wireless terminal device capable of receiving network device schedules and indications, which may be a device providing voice and/or data connectivity to a user, or a handheld device having wireless connection capability, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem. Wireless end devices, which may be mobile end devices such as mobile telephones (or "cellular" telephones, mobile phones), computers, and data cards, for example, mobile devices that may be portable, pocket-sized, hand-held, computer-included, or vehicle-mounted, communicate with one or more core networks or the internet via a radio access network (e.g., a RAN). Examples of such devices include Personal Communication Service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, PDAs, tablet computers (pads), and computers with wireless transceiving functions. A wireless terminal device may also be referred to as a system, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a subscriber station (subscriber station), a mobile station (mobile station), a Mobile Station (MS), a remote station (remote station), an Access Point (AP), a remote terminal device (remote terminal), an access terminal device (access terminal), a user terminal device (user terminal), a user agent (user agent), a Subscriber Station (SS), a user terminal device (CPE), a terminal (terminal), a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Terminal (MT), etc. The wireless terminal device may also be a wearable device and a next generation communication system, e.g. a terminal in a 5G network or a terminal in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network for future evolution, a terminal in an NR communication system, etc.

A network device is an entity in a network side, such as a generation Node B (gdnodeb), for transmitting or receiving signals. The network device may be a device for communicating with the mobile device. The network device may be an AP in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), an evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB) in Long Term Evolution (LTE), a relay station or an access point, or a network device in a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a future 5G network, or a network device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network, or a nodeb/gNB in an NR system, and the like. In the following, the network device is a gNB as an example.

The gNB may include an antenna, a Base Band Unit (BBU), and a Remote Radio Unit (RRU). The BBU may be connected to the RRU through a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) or an enhanced CPRI (enhanced CPRI, eccri), and the RRU may be connected to the antenna through a feeder line. The antenna may be a passive antenna, which is separate from the RRU and may be connected thereto by a cable. Or the antenna may be an Active Antenna Unit (AAU), that is, the antenna unit of the AAU and the RRU are integrated together. The AAU implements part of the physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing and active antenna related functions.

In some deployments, the gNB may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU). The CU implements part of the function of the gNB and the DU implements part of the function of the gNB, for example, the DU may be used to implement transceiving of radio frequency signals, conversion of radio frequency signals to baseband signals, and part of baseband processing. The CU may be used to perform baseband processing, control base stations, etc. In some embodiments, the CU is responsible for handling non-real time protocols and services, implementing Radio Resource Control (RRC), packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer functions. The DU is responsible for processing a physical layer protocol and a real-time service, and implements functions of a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layer. Since the information of the RRC layer eventually becomes or is converted from the information of the PHY layer, the higher layer signaling, such as the RRC layer signaling, may also be considered to be transmitted by the DU or transmitted by the DU and the AAU under this architecture. It is to be 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 (RAN), or may be divided into network devices in a Core Network (CN), which is not limited in this application.

The DU may deploy an antenna array, which may include one or more antenna units, each antenna unit may include one or more elements, each element may correspond to one radio frequency channel (RF chain), or multiple elements may correspond to one radio frequency channel. If the plurality of antenna elements can be formed into an antenna system in the form of an array, the antenna system can be called an antenna array (antenna array), or an antenna array.

For example, please refer to fig. 2, which is a schematic diagram of a dual-polarized antenna array. The dual-polarized antenna array, namely the antenna elements, are uniformly distributed in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. The antenna array shown in fig. 2 is an 8 × 8 antenna array, that is, the antenna array includes 8 rows and 8 columns of antenna elements. Each antenna element is a cross-polarized antenna element (also referred to as a dual-polarized antenna element for short), which is indicated by an "x". Each cross-polarized antenna element corresponds to two polarization directions, as shown in fig. 2, "|" denotes a first polarization direction, and "/denotes a second polarization direction. For example, the first polarization direction may be a horizontal polarization direction, and the second polarization direction may be a vertical polarization direction; alternatively, the first polarization direction may be a vertical polarization direction, and the second polarization direction may be a horizontal polarization direction; alternatively, the first polarization direction may be a +45 ° polarization direction, and the second polarization direction may be a-45 ° polarization direction; alternatively, the first polarization direction may be a-45 ° polarization direction and the second polarization direction may be a +45 ° polarization direction.

Alternatively, each antenna element may comprise a cross-polarized antenna. In this case each antenna element comprises two elements of different polarization directions, such as one element of the first polarization direction and one element of the second polarization direction mentioned above. Each element may be driven by a separate rf channel. One rf channel corresponds to one antenna port, that is, each element may correspond to one antenna port, that is, each antenna unit may correspond to two antenna ports, and the antenna unit may be referred to as a two-port antenna unit.

Optionally, each antenna element comprises a plurality of cross-polarized antennas. In this case, each antenna element may comprise two sets of elements with different polarization directions, such as a set of elements with a first polarization direction and a set of elements with a second polarization direction. Each group of transducers may include a plurality of transducers that may be driven by a separate rf channel. That is, each group of elements may correspond to one antenna port, i.e., each antenna element may also correspond to two antenna ports, and the antenna element is still a two-port antenna element.

In a possible design, a group of elements driven by the same independent rf channel is referred to as a sub-array. That is, each sub-array may correspond to one radio frequency channel, i.e., to one antenna port. It should be understood that each antenna element may be comprised of multiple sub-arrays. For example a two-port antenna element is composed of two sub-arrays. For convenience of distinction and explanation, a group of elements corresponding to one radio frequency channel will be referred to as a sub-array hereinafter.

For ease of understanding, fig. 3 shows an example of a cross-polarized antenna element. Fig. 3 specifically shows the correspondence between the antenna elements in the cross-polarized antenna unit and the radio frequency channels (antenna ports). As shown, a) in fig. 3 shows an antenna unit formed by two elements with different polarization directions. Wherein, the oscillator of the first polarization direction is driven by a radio frequency channel 1, and the oscillator of the second polarization direction is driven by a radio frequency channel 2. B) in fig. 3 shows an antenna element consisting of two groups of elements with different polarization directions. The four vibrators in the first polarization direction are driven by a radio frequency channel 1, and the four vibrators in the second polarization direction are driven by a radio frequency channel 2. It should be noted that b) in fig. 3 only takes as an example that one antenna unit includes four elements in the same polarization direction, that is, one rf channel drives the four elements. The number of the radio frequency channel driving oscillators is not limited in the embodiment of the application. For example, each radio frequency channel may drive one element, two elements, three elements, or other number of elements.

In order to obtain a larger system throughput, when designing the antenna, the polarization degree of freedom of the antenna array needs to be maximized, and the spatial resolution of the antenna array needs to be maximized. For this purpose, in one possible design, the spacing between two adjacent antenna elements is set to be half the wavelength of the operating frequency point. The spatial resolution of the antenna array under the design is excellent, and the sidelobe suppression capability is strong.

Take the dual polarized antenna array shown in fig. 2 as an example. The spacing between two adjacent antenna elements is 0.5 wavelength, and in the 8 × 8 antenna array shown in fig. 2, the antenna element spacing is about 3.5 (0.5 × 7) wavelengths in total. The width of the antenna array shown in fig. 2 can be designed to be about 4 wavelengths in consideration of the area of the antenna array itself. However, when the antenna is deployed in the base station, due to the influence of factors such as wind resistance, there is a certain limitation on the area of the antenna array, especially on the width of the antenna array. For the antenna array shown in fig. 2, the width of the corresponding antenna array is about 667 millimeters (mm) in the frequency band with the center frequency point being 1.8 gigahertz (GHz).

However, with the introduction of MIMO technology, the number of antenna elements increases, the dimensions of the antenna array increase, and the area of the antenna array also increases, which is not favorable for the deployment of the antenna array. In order to facilitate the deployment of the antenna array, generally, the area of the antenna array is limited, for example, for a product supporting a frequency band below 3G (may be referred to as a Sub3G product), typical dimensions of the antenna array are constrained to be 500cm horizontally and 1000cm vertically.

In one possible design, the horizontal and/or vertical spacing between the multiple antenna elements of future antenna arrays may not be uniform or the multiple antenna elements may be irregularly distributed, provided that the area requirement is met. In another possible design, greater system throughput may be achieved by increasing the number of antenna ports. If increased system throughput is achieved by increasing the number of antenna ports, future designs of antenna arrays may include antenna elements of a variety of different antenna port numbers. For ease of description, future designs of antenna arrays will be referred to hereinafter as hybrid antenna arrays. It should be understood that the hybrid antenna array includes different types of antenna elements. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the types of the antenna units may be divided according to the number of antenna ports, and may also be divided according to the intervals between the antenna units.

Illustratively, an antenna array includes at least one row of antenna elements arranged in a horizontal direction and at least one column of antenna elements arranged in a vertical direction. If the interval between every two antenna units in at least one row of antenna units is not the same or is partially the same, the antenna array is a hybrid antenna array. If the interval between every two antenna units in at least one row of antenna units is not the same or is partially the same, the antenna array is a hybrid antenna array. In other words, the antenna array may be divided into at least two categories according to whether the antenna elements are uniformly or non-uniformly spaced. For example, if the antenna array includes antenna elements that are evenly spaced, the antenna array is a first type of antenna array; an antenna array is a second type of antenna array if the antenna array includes antenna elements that are not uniformly spaced. Or, the antenna array includes antenna units arranged according to a certain rule, and then the antenna array is a first type antenna array; in a relatively simple way, if an antenna array includes antenna elements that are not arranged according to a certain rule, the antenna array is a second type of antenna array. Illustratively, if an antenna array includes antenna elements that are not uniformly spaced apart from one another but are symmetrically distributed about a line, then the antenna array is a first type of antenna array; in a relatively simple manner, if an antenna array includes non-uniform spacing between antenna elements and the antenna elements are distributed irregularly, the antenna array is a second type of antenna array. It should be understood that the hybrid antenna array may include irregularly distributed antenna elements.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the interval between two antenna units includes a horizontal interval and/or a vertical interval. The horizontal spacing may be a horizontal spacing between two antenna elements in the same polarization direction in two antenna elements. The horizontal interval may also be a horizontal equivalent distance of the radio frequency channel, that is, a horizontal equivalent interval between two groups of antenna elements in the same polarization direction in every two antenna units. Similarly, the vertical spacing may be a vertical spacing between two antenna elements in the same polarization direction in two antenna units. The vertical spacing may also be a vertical equivalent distance of the radio frequency channel, that is, a vertical equivalent spacing between two groups of antenna elements in the same polarization direction in every two antenna units.

The horizontal spacing between the plurality of antenna elements in the antenna array may be the horizontal spacing between two adjacent antenna elements. Alternatively, the horizontal spacing between multiple antenna elements in the antenna array may also be the horizontal equivalent distance of the radio frequency channel, that is, the horizontal spacing between two adjacent groups of antenna elements. Similarly, the vertical spacing between the plurality of antenna elements in the antenna array may be the vertical spacing between two adjacent antenna elements. Or, the vertical interval between multiple antenna elements in the antenna array may also be the vertical equivalent distance of the radio frequency channel, that is, the vertical interval between two adjacent groups of antenna elements.

Illustratively, an antenna array includes at least one first antenna element and at least one second antenna element, and the antenna array is a hybrid antenna array if the number of ports of the first antenna element is different from the number of ports of the second antenna element. For example, the first antenna element is a two-port antenna element, and the second antenna element is a four-port antenna element. For another example, the first antenna unit is a four-port antenna unit, and the second antenna unit is an eight-port antenna unit.

It should be understood that, assuming that a hybrid antenna array includes at least one row of antenna elements arranged in the horizontal direction and at least one column of antenna elements arranged in the vertical direction, the antenna elements in the hybrid antenna array include at least one first antenna element and at least one second antenna element, the hybrid antenna array may satisfy one or more of the following conditions:

under a first condition, the hybrid antenna array includes at least two antenna units with different port numbers;

the second condition is that the intervals between every two antenna units in at least one row of antenna units included in the hybrid antenna array are different or partially the same;

the third condition is that the intervals between every two antenna units in at least one row of antenna units included in the hybrid antenna array are different or partially the same;

and fourthly, the plurality of antenna units included in the hybrid antenna array are irregularly arranged.

For easy understanding, please refer to fig. 4, which is a schematic structural diagram of a hybrid antenna array. For ease of understanding and illustration, each antenna element is represented by a graphic, such as "x" or "9679", with different graphics representing different antenna elements. For example, "x" represents a two-port antenna element, "\9679;" represents a four-port antenna element. For example, the four-port antenna unit may include a Quadrifilar Helix Antenna (QHA), a Quadrifilar Square Antenna (QSA). The QHA comprises 4 antenna elements, each antenna element is a helical antenna, and one antenna element corresponds to one antenna port. The QSA comprises 4 antenna elements, each antenna element is a square antenna, and one antenna element corresponds to one antenna port. The "x" and "\9679" do not limit the number of antenna elements and the number of ports included in each antenna element.

The hybrid antenna array shown in fig. 4 is a 16 row, 12 column antenna array that includes two types of antenna arrays. For example, the hybrid antenna array may include cross polarization antenna (XPO) and QHA, or XPO and QSA, etc. It should be understood that fig. 4 only exemplifies that the hybrid antenna array includes two types of antenna elements, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the types of the antenna elements included in the hybrid antenna array. For example, a hybrid antenna array may include at least three types of antenna elements.

It should be noted that the antenna elements in the hybrid antenna array shown in fig. 4 may be an element driven by one rf channel alone, or may be a sub-array driven by one rf channel. The correspondence between elements and radio frequency channels can be seen from the above description of cross-polarized antenna elements in connection with a) and b) of fig. 3. If each element in the two-port antenna unit is driven by an independent rf channel, the corresponding relationship between each element in the antenna unit and the rf channel may refer to a) in fig. 3, and if multiple elements in the two-port antenna unit are driven by one rf channel, the corresponding relationship between each element in the antenna unit and the rf channel may refer to b) in fig. 3.

Fig. 5 shows an example of a four-port antenna unit. Fig. 5 specifically shows the corresponding relationship between the elements in the four-port antenna unit and the radio frequency channel. If each element in the four-port antenna unit is driven by a separate rf channel, reference can be made to a) in fig. 5. It can be seen that the four port antenna unit may include four elements, each element being driven by a separate rf channel. Each element may provide a port. If a plurality of elements in the four-port antenna unit are driven by one rf channel, the corresponding relationship between each element in the antenna unit and the rf channel can be referred to as b) in fig. 5. It can be seen that the four-port antenna unit may include four sub-arrays, each of which may include four elements, and each of which may be driven by one rf channel. Each subarray may provide a port.

It should be understood that the illustration of fig. 5 is merely an example and should not be construed as limiting the present application in any way. Each radio frequency channel may also correspond to two, three, or other number of elements. This is not a limitation of the present application.

Although the MIMO technology is introduced, the throughput of the system can be improved. But it also depends on how accurately the base station acquires the downlink Channel State Information (CSI). CSI may be considered information reported by a receiving end (e.g., a terminal) to a transmitting end (e.g., a network device) to describe channel properties of a communication link. The CSI may include at least one of a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), a Rank Indicator (RI), a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), and a Layer Indicator (LI), etc. It should be understood that the specific contents of the CSI listed above are merely exemplary, and should not constitute any limitation to the embodiments of the present application. The CSI may include one or more of the above-listed contents, and may also include other information for characterizing the CSI besides the above-listed contents, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

For some systems, such as a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, since an uplink channel and a downlink channel have strict reciprocity, a base station may acquire downlink channel state information by using uplink channel state information. However, for some systems, such as a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, the uplink and downlink adopt different frequency bands, the uplink and downlink channels (i.e., the uplink channel and the downlink channel) do not have complete reciprocity, and the uplink channel state information cannot be used to obtain the downlink channel state information, i.e., the downlink precoding matrix, i.e., the precoding of data transmitted by the terminal, cannot be obtained. In some embodiments, the base station may obtain the downlink optimal precoding matrix in a manner that the terminal feeds back the precoding matrix or the PMI.

As shown in fig. 6, a basic flow chart for CSI measurement for a base station and a terminal is shown. The base station firstly sends a configured signaling for channel measurement to the terminal to inform the terminal to carry out channel measurement, wherein the signaling indicates the time for the terminal to carry out channel measurement, and then the base station sends a pilot frequency (the concept of the pilot frequency comprises a reference signal) to the terminal for channel measurement; the terminal measures according to the pilot frequency sent by the base station and calculates to obtain final CSI; and the base station transmits data according to the CSI fed back by the terminal. For example, the base station determines the number of streams for transmitting data to the terminal according to the RI included in the CSI fed back by the terminal; the base station determines a modulation order of data transmitted to the terminal and a code rate of channel coding according to CQI (channel quality indicator) included in CSI (channel state information) fed back by the terminal; and the base station determines precoding for transmitting data to the terminal according to the PMI included in the CSI fed back by the terminal.

The terminal may feed back a precoding matrix based on a codebook that has significant performance advantages through linear combination of multiple orthogonal beams and the selected antenna port. In some embodiments, a codebook for a conventional dual-polarized antenna array is proposed. Illustratively, the codebook types defined in NR Release15 include Type I codebooks and Type II codebooks. It should be understood that the bases used by the Type I and Type II codebooks are derived from the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) base. The Type I codebook may characterize a channel direction based on one DFT beam, and the Type II codebook may characterize a channel direction based on weighted superposition of a plurality of DFT beams. It should be noted that the conventional dual-polarized antenna array includes antenna elements having a horizontal spacing of about 0.5 wavelength, and antenna elements having a vertical spacing of about 0.8 wavelength, and the antenna elements are uniformly distributed in the vertical and horizontal directions.

The antenna port may be understood as a transmitting antenna recognized by the receiving device or a transmitting antenna which can be distinguished in space, and it is understood that the transmitting antenna may be a part of or all of at least one antenna provided in the transmitting device. The weighted combination of the multiple transmit antennas can be regarded as one virtual antenna (one rf channel), and one antenna port can be preconfigured for each virtual antenna, that is, one rf channel corresponds to one antenna port. Each antenna port may correspond to a reference signal, for example, the reference signal is a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) or the reference signal is a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the indication manner of the correspondence between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port is also applicable to the indication of the correspondence between the antenna port and the SRS port.

It should be understood that indicating the correspondence relationship between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports may include indicating an order of the antenna ports, so as to be equivalent to indicating corresponding CSI-RS ports, or indicating an order of mapping CSI-RS ports by the antenna ports, that is, equivalent to mapping CSI-RS ports according to the indicated order of the antenna ports.

In some embodiments, a correspondence of antenna ports and CSI-RS ports of a base station is specified. The corresponding relationship may also be referred to as a corresponding relationship between an antenna radio frequency channel of the base station and the CSI-RS port. Illustratively, the antenna ports are numbered in column-first row-then-row repolarization order. Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a corresponding relationship between an antenna port and a CSI-RS port of a conventional dual-polarized antenna array. In fig. 7, the antenna ports and CSI-RS ports are numbered in the order of first column (direction shown by (1) in fig. 7), second row (direction shown by (2) in fig. 7), and then polarization (direction shown by (3) in fig. 7), and are numbered first polarization direction and then second polarization direction. Numbered beginning with 1, the port order is as shown in FIG. 7, numbered 1 through number 16.

It should be understood that the row and column herein can be understood as a row or column that looks like a straight line formed by a plurality of antenna elements arranged along a straight line. Hereinafter, for the purpose of description, terms "left", "right", "upper", "lower", and the like are introduced for describing orientation. When describing columns, positional relationships may be defined by "left" and "right", and when describing rows, positional relationships may be defined by "upper" and "lower". In the following description, for ease of distinction, different rows or columns may be described by terms of first column, second column, first row, second row, and so forth. In a case where no particular explanation is made, the serial numbers of columns may be determined in a left-to-right direction, and the serial numbers of rows may be determined in a top-to-bottom serial number. For example, the first column may refer to the leftmost column and the first row may refer to the uppermost row.

It should be understood that these terms are merely introduced for convenience of understanding when described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and should not be construed as limiting the present application in any way. "left", "right", "up" and "down" are relative to the antenna array for orientation determination. It will be appreciated that in actual use, the antenna array may be deployed on an antenna panel, which may be mounted to a support. During the installation process, the antenna panel may tilt, turn or rotate, and the orientation of the antenna array may change, but this does not affect the relative position relationship between the antenna units in the antenna array. Wherein "left" is opposite "right" and corresponds to a column; "Upper" is opposite "lower" and corresponds to a row. For example, by rotating the antenna array by 90 ° around the center, the "left" and "right" may be exchanged as "upper" and "lower", and the "column" may be exchanged as "row"; "Up" and "Down" can be exchanged for "left" and "right", and "row" can be exchanged for "column". For another example, when the antenna array is rotated 180 ° around the center, the "left" and "right" may be reversed, and the "up" and "down" may be reversed.

As shown in fig. 7, for a conventional dual-polarized antenna array, the port order may be specified by numbering the antenna ports in order of column-first followed by row-second polarization. And for a conventional dual-polarized antenna array, there is a Type I codebook or a Type II codebook (hereinafter, referred to as a first codebook for convenience of description) matched therewith. It should be appreciated that the design of the first codebook may guarantee system performance. Therefore, the terminal feeds back the precoding matrix to the base station according to the port sequence and the first codebook, and the system performance can be ensured.

However, the future antenna array may be a hybrid antenna array, such as the hybrid antenna array shown in fig. 4, or an antenna array composed of a plurality of antenna elements with non-uniform horizontal spacing or non-uniform vertical spacing, i.e. the future antenna array may have more than one spacing in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction. The first codebook may not be suitable for the hybrid antenna array, i.e. there is no codebook matching the hybrid antenna array, which requires redesigning the codebook matching the hybrid antenna array. Codebooks corresponding to different hybrid antenna arrays may also be different, and if the terminal randomly selects the codebook to feed back CSI to the base station, better system performance may not be ensured. Alternatively, even if multiple hybrid antenna arrays share the same codebook, there may be multiple port orders with numbering the antenna ports in the order of column-after-row repolarization. The system performance may vary for different port orders. If the terminal selects one of the port orders arbitrarily from among the plurality of port orders, system performance corresponding to the selected port order may be poor. That is, the system performance of the terminal reporting CSI according to the selected port order is poor.

For example, referring to fig. 8, there are 4 port sequences that may exist for an antenna array comprising two-port antenna elements and four-port antenna elements. The dashed lines in fig. 8 illustrate a four-port antenna unit, the 4 port orders being port order 1, port order 2, port order 3 and port order 4, respectively. The antenna ports are numbered in column-after-row repolarization order, as shown in figure 8 for a row example. It should be understood that if the four port antennas are considered to be in rows and columns, either port order 1 or port order 2 may result. Since the four-port antenna is seen as a row, the numbering in the second polarization direction can start from 9 as in port sequence 1 or from 9 as in port sequence 2. If the four port antennas are seen as a row and a column, either port order 3 or port order 4 is available. Similarly, since the four-port antenna is viewed as a row, the numbering in the second polarization direction can start from 9 as in port sequence 3, or can start from 9 as in port sequence 4. The four-port antenna is viewed as a column, so number 2 starts with the two-port antenna adjacent to the four-port antenna. It should be understood that fig. 8 only illustrates the possible port order in 4, and that there are in fact more than these 4 port orders.

With respect to the first codebook, for example, port order 3 of the 4 port orders is better than the remaining 3 port orders in system performance. However, the terminal feeds back CSI to the base station, and port order 2 may be selected, that is, the terminal reports CSI according to port order 2 and the first codebook, and in this case, the system performance is not optimal.

In view of this, the present application proposes a CSI feedback method, which is applicable to a communication system including a hybrid antenna array. For various hybrid antenna arrays, the network side device may indicate a correspondence relationship between the antenna ports corresponding to each hybrid antenna array and the CSI-RS ports, that is, specify an antenna port order. Since the correspondence between the antenna port indicated by the base station and the CSI-RS port corresponds to the hybrid antenna array of the base station, it can be considered that the terminal feeds back CSI to the network side device based on the antenna port order, which can ensure better system performance. Moreover, the network side equipment can indicate the corresponding antenna port sequence for the terminal aiming at various antenna arrays, and can be compatible with various antenna arrays, so that the design of a codebook is facilitated, and the application range is wider.

It should be understood that the embodiments of the present application are directed to providing an antenna port indication method to be compatible with codebooks of various types of antenna arrays. It should be appreciated that the first codebook is matched to a conventional dual-polarized antenna array, and that the first codebook may continue to be used if other types of antenna arrays are equivalent to conventional dual-polarized antenna arrays. Therefore, the first codebook does not need to be redesigned, and the existing codebook is favorably compatible. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, each type of antenna unit may be equivalent to a different number of conventional dual-polarized antenna arrays, so that the first codebook is matched with each type of antenna array. For the first codebook, the base station can indicate the corresponding relation between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port for the terminal according to the type of the antenna unit, and the terminal feeds back CSI to the base station according to the corresponding relation and the first codebook, so that better system performance can be ensured.

It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, "for indicating" may include both for direct indication and for indirect indication. For example, when a certain indication information is described as the indication information I, the indication information may be included to directly indicate I or indirectly indicate I, and does not necessarily represent that I is carried in the indication information.

If the information indicated by the indication information is referred to as information to be indicated, in a specific implementation process, there are many ways of indicating the information to be indicated, for example, but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or an index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein an association relationship exists between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other part of the information to be indicated is known or predetermined. For example, the indication of the specific information may be implemented by means of a predetermined arrangement order of the respective information (e.g., protocol specification), thereby reducing the indication overhead to some extent. Meanwhile, the universal parts of all information can be identified and indicated in a unified mode, so that the indicating overhead caused by independently indicating the same information is reduced.

In addition, the specific indication method may be any of various existing indication methods, such as, but not limited to, the above indication methods, various combinations thereof, and the like. For the details of various indication modes, reference may be made to the prior art, and details are not described herein. As described above, when a plurality of information items of the same type are required to be indicated, different indication manners of different information items may occur. In a specific implementation process, a required indication manner may be selected according to a specific need, and the indication manner selected in the embodiment of the present application is not limited, so that the indication manner related to the embodiment of the present application should be understood to cover various methods that can enable a party to be indicated to acquire information to be indicated.

In addition, the information to be indicated may have other equivalent forms, and the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application should be understood to cover various forms. By way of example, reference to some or all of the features of the embodiments of the present application should be understood to encompass various manifestations of such features.

The information to be indicated may be sent together as a whole, or may be sent separately by dividing into a plurality of pieces of sub information, and the sending periods and/or sending timings of these pieces of sub information may be the same or different. Specific transmission method this application is not limited. The sending period and/or sending timing of the sub information may be predefined, for example, predefined according to a protocol, or may be configured by the transmitting end device by sending configuration information to the receiving end device. The configuration information may include, for example and without limitation, one or a combination of at least two of radio resource control signaling, such as RRC signaling, MAC layer signaling, such as MAC-CE signaling, and physical layer signaling, such as Downlink Control Information (DCI).

The method of the hybrid antenna array equivalent to the conventional dual-polarized antenna array is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. For convenience of understanding, before describing the hybrid antenna array as being equivalent to a conventional dual-polarized antenna array, the principle of the hybrid antenna array as being equivalent to a conventional dual-polarized antenna array will be described first by taking the four-port antenna as being equivalent to a dual-polarized antenna as an example.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the principle that the QHA/QSA is equivalent to XPO in the same polarization direction. It should be understood that the polarization directions of 2 of the 4 antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit QHA/QSA are the same, and the polarization directions of the other 2 antenna elements are the same. As shown in fig. 9, two antenna elements (2 antenna elements located in a rectangular frame in fig. 9) located diagonally from among the 4 antenna elements have the same polarization direction. It will be appreciated that 2 antenna elements in the same polarization direction have a phase difference. The phase difference of the 2 antenna elements of the same polarization in the QHA/QSA antenna unit can be approximated to the phase difference of the conventional two XPO units due to the element spacing d _ eff. That is, 2 antenna elements of the same polarization within a QHA/QSA antenna element may be equivalent to 2 antenna elements of the same polarization of a conventional two XPO antenna element. The physical distance between the equivalent 2 antenna elements with the same polarization in the 2 XPO antenna units is d _ eff, that is, the physical distance between the two XPO antenna units is d _ eff. The amplitude directional diagrams of two antenna elements with the same polarization in equivalent 2 XPO antenna units are the same, and the phase difference is the phase difference caused by the steering vector corresponding to d _ eff. Similarly, one QHA/QSA unit may be equivalent to two dual-polarized antenna units with a physical spacing d _ eff.

In the present embodiment, assuming that an antenna array includes a four-port antenna unit, two antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit may be equivalent to a two-port antenna unit, and it should be understood that the two antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit come from different polarization directions. For example, the four-port antenna unit includes a first antenna element, a second antenna element, a third antenna element, and a fourth antenna element, where the first antenna element and the third antenna element are located in a first polarization direction, and the second antenna element and the fourth antenna element are located in a second polarization direction. The first antenna element and the second antenna element can be equivalent to one two-port antenna unit, and correspondingly, the third antenna element and the fourth antenna element are equivalent to the other two-port antenna unit. In other words, two antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit in one polarization direction are equivalent to two antenna elements of the two-port antenna unit in the polarization direction, and one two-port antenna unit corresponds to one of the antenna elements.

For example, please refer to fig. 10, which is a schematic diagram of the hybrid antenna array equivalent to a conventional dual-polarized antenna. Fig. 10 exemplifies a hybrid antenna array including one row and 3 columns QSA, 4 columns XPO and 3 columns QSA. It should be understood that 3 QHAs and 3 QSAs in the hybrid antenna array are equivalent to 12 XPOs, and thus the hybrid antenna array may be equivalent to a row of 16 XPOs in the horizontal to some extent. In fig. 10, the horizontal interval between adjacent QSAs is d1, the horizontal interval between QSA and adjacent XPO is d2, and the horizontal interval between two adjacent XPOs is d3. In fig. 10, the phase difference between two antenna elements in the same polarization direction in the four antenna elements (two antenna elements are indicated by thick lines, and the other two antenna elements are indicated by thin lines) of the four-port antenna unit (the antenna unit indicated by the dashed box in fig. 10) can be approximated to the phase difference between the two conventional XPO elements due to the element distance d _ eff. As shown in fig. 10, two antenna elements indicated by thin lines are located in the same polarization direction, two antenna elements indicated by thick lines are located in the other polarization direction, and one antenna element indicated by thick lines and one antenna element indicated by thin lines are equivalent to an XPO antenna element indicated by thick lines or thin lines. The physical spacing of the virtual equivalent 2 XPO antenna elements within the QHA/QSA is d _ eff. It should be understood that fig. 10 is distributed in a left-right symmetrical manner with the antenna array, and the right half of fig. 10 can be referred to the left half of fig. 10.

Fig. 10 illustrates only one equivalent method, and in a specific implementation, the method of making the four-port antenna unit equivalent to the second-port antenna unit may include the following equivalent methods. Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of four equivalent methods for equalizing a four-port antenna unit into a two-port antenna unit. Fig. 11 illustrates four equivalent methods, wherein two antenna elements indicated by thick lines in the four-port antenna in fig. 11 are two antenna elements in the same polarization direction, and are equivalent to two antenna elements (indicated by thick lines) of two-port antenna units in different polarization directions. Similarly, the two antenna elements indicated by thin lines in the four-port antenna in fig. 11 are also two antenna elements in the same polarization direction, and are equivalent to two antenna elements (indicated by thin lines) of the two-port antenna units in another different polarization direction.

In an exemplary equivalent method one, after the four-port antenna unit is equivalent to two-port antenna units, the positions of four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are changed. For example, two-port antennas equivalent to four-port antenna units in one polarization direction and two-port antennas equivalent to four-port antenna units in the other polarization direction are distributed in rows. In other words, the four-port antenna unit is equivalent to two-port antennas horizontally disposed. It should be noted that the embodiment of the present application does not limit the placement position of the two-port antenna, that is, fig. 11 illustrates that two-port antennas are placed in the upper row, and in some embodiments, the two-port antennas may also be placed in the lower row.

In the second equivalent method, after the four-port antenna unit is equivalent to two-port antenna units, the positions of four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are changed. For example, two-port antennas equivalent to four-port antenna units in one polarization direction and two-port antennas equivalent to four-port antenna units in the other polarization direction are distributed along a diagonal. In other words, two-port antennas equivalent to the four-port antenna unit are placed diagonally, as shown in fig. 11, and the two-port antennas are placed at the upper left position and the lower right position, respectively. It should be noted that fig. 11 shows a diagonal placement of two-port antennas, and in other embodiments, the two-port antennas may also be placed along another diagonal direction, that is, the two-port antennas are placed at the upper right position and the lower left position (shown in fig. 11).

In the third equivalent method, after the four-port antenna unit is equivalent to two-port antenna units, the positions of four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are changed. For example, two-port antennas equivalent to four-port antenna units in one polarization direction and two-port antennas equivalent to four-port antenna units in the other polarization direction are distributed in columns. In other words, the four-port antenna unit is equivalent to two-port antennas which are vertically placed. It should be noted that, the embodiment of the present application does not limit the placement position of the two-port antenna, that is, fig. 11 illustrates that the two-port antennas are placed in the left column, and in some embodiments, the two-port antennas may also be placed in the right column.

In the fourth equivalent method, after the four-port antenna unit is equivalent to two-port antenna units, the positions of the four antenna elements of the four-port antenna unit are not changed, that is, the four antenna elements included in the four-port antenna unit are respectively distributed at four ends (four corners). The difference lies in that the positions of the two antenna elements of any equivalent two-port antenna are different, that is, the position of each antenna element is different.

The equivalent method can be indicated to the terminal device by the network device, and can also be predefined by the protocol, which is not limited in this application.

Please refer to fig. 12, which is a schematic diagram of a hybrid antenna array equivalent to a dual-polarized antenna array. The hybrid antenna array comprises a row of 6-column antenna units, wherein the 6-column antenna units sequentially comprise 1-column four-port antenna unit, 4-column XPO antenna units and 1-column four-port antenna unit from left to right. Fig. 12 illustrates an XPO antenna after the 4 equivalent methods illustrated in fig. 11 are applied to an equivalent hybrid antenna array.

It should be noted that fig. 10-12 only illustrate the four-port antenna unit equivalent to the two-port antenna unit. The present embodiment does not limit the number of ports that need to be equivalent to a two-port antenna unit, for example, an eight-port antenna unit may also be equivalent to a two-port antenna unit. It should be understood that, similar to the method of equating a four-port antenna unit to a two-port antenna unit, an eight-port antenna unit may be equated to two four-port antenna units, and each four-port antenna may be equated to two-port antenna units. Therefore, by using the method of using four-port antenna elements to be equivalent to two-port antenna elements, antenna elements with any number of ports can be equivalent to conventional dual-polarized antenna arrays with different numbers.

It should be understood that the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to an XPO antenna element, and the horizontal intervals between the equivalent XPO antenna elements may be the same or different. Similarly, the vertical intervals between the equivalent XPO antenna units can be the same or different. And the first codebook is matched with the antenna units with uniform horizontal spacing and vertical spacing, which may not be suitable for the antenna units with non-uniform spacing distribution. Thus, in some embodiments, the codebook may be redesigned for equivalent XPO antenna elements. For convenience of description, the codebook redesigned for the equivalent XPO antenna unit will be referred to as a second codebook hereinafter. It should be appreciated that the second codebook is matched to a hybrid antenna array equivalent to an XPO antenna element. For the second codebook, the base station may also indicate the correspondence between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port for the terminal. The terminal may send CSI to the base station according to the indication and the second codebook. Since the antenna port is selected based on the second codebook, the terminal sends the CSI to the base station according to the indication of the antenna port and the second codebook, and the system performance can be ensured.

Based on various designs of the hybrid antenna array and/or various designs of the codebook, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for feeding back channel state information, please refer to fig. 13, which is a flowchart of the method. In the following description, the method is applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 1 as an example. In addition, the method may be performed by two communication devices, e.g. a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device may be a network device or a communication device capable of supporting the network device to implement the functions required by the method, or the first communication device may be a terminal or a communication device capable of supporting the terminal to implement the functions required by the method, or of course, other communication devices such as a chip or a system-on-chip may also be used. The same is true for the second communication apparatus, which may be a network device or a communication apparatus capable of supporting the network device to implement the functions required by the method, or the second communication apparatus may be a terminal or a communication apparatus capable of supporting the terminal to implement the functions required by the method, or of course, other communication apparatuses, such as a chip or a chip system, may also be used. The implementation manners of the first communication device and the second communication device are not limited, for example, the first communication device may be a network device, the second communication device is a terminal, or both the first communication device and the second communication device are terminals, or the first communication device is a network device, and the second communication device is a communication device capable of supporting the terminal to implement the functions required by the method, and so on.

For convenience of introduction, in the following, the method is taken as an example performed by a network device and a terminal, that is, the first communication apparatus is a terminal, the second communication apparatus is a network device, and the network device is a base station. For example, the terminal may be any one of the 6 terminals in fig. 1 hereinafter, and the network device may be the network device in fig. 1 hereinafter. It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application are only implemented as examples through a network device and a terminal, and are not limited to this scenario.

The flow of the feedback method of the channel state information provided in the embodiment of the present application is described as follows.

S1301, the base station sends first indication information to the terminal, the terminal receives the first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port.

S1302, the terminal sends CSI to the base station according to the first indication information, and the base station receives the CSI.

And S1303, the base station sends data to the terminal according to the CSI fed back by the terminal.

The embodiments of the present application may be applied to a communication system including a hybrid antenna array as described above. When the antenna array of the base station is a hybrid antenna array, if the order of first-row and second-row re-polarization is the antenna number, there may be a plurality of corresponding relations between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports. And the corresponding relationship between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports may be different for different hybrid antenna arrays. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, when the base station needs to feed back the CSI from the terminal, the base station needs to inform the terminal of the correspondence between the antenna port to be used and the CSI-RS port, so that the antenna number is compatible with the order of first-column and then-row repolarization. In addition, the corresponding relation between the antenna port indicated by the base station and the CSI-RS port corresponds to the antenna array used by the base station, so that better system performance can be ensured. The method can be suitable for communication systems of various antenna arrays, namely, the antenna arrays are compatible with various types of antenna arrays, and the application range is wider.

Due to the existence of a plurality of hybrid antenna arrays, each hybrid antenna array can be equivalent to a dual-polarized antenna array, so that various types of antenna arrays can be compatible. For the equivalent dual-polarized antenna array, the embodiment of the application can also construct a mapping relation between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port.

For example, please refer to fig. 14, which is a schematic diagram of a hybrid antenna array equivalent to a virtual dual-polarized antenna array. The matrix with dimension M × N illustrated in fig. 14 may be regarded as an equivalent virtual dual-polarized antenna array, that is, the virtual dual-polarized antenna array is a matrix with M rows and N columns (hereinafter, referred to as a first matrix). Each element included in the first matrix (e.g., the intersection of any row and any column in fig. 14) may correspond to an antenna element or antenna element. In the embodiment of the application, whether an element has a corresponding antenna unit or antenna element can be represented by the value of the element. For example, in fig. 14, if a value of an element is 0, the element has a corresponding antenna unit or antenna element (e.g., "X" in fig. 14); in contrast, if the value of the element is 1, the element has no corresponding antenna unit or antenna element. In other words, if a value of an element is 0, an antenna unit or an antenna element (e.g., "X" in fig. 14) corresponding to the element is selected, and if the value of the element is 1, the antenna unit or the antenna element corresponding to the element is not selected. This is merely an example, and it may also be that if a value of a certain element is 1, the antenna unit or the antenna element corresponding to the element is selected, and if the value of the element is 0, the antenna unit or the antenna element corresponding to the element is not selected. It should be understood that if a certain antenna element is selected, that is, a port (antenna port) of the antenna element is used to transmit a signal. Similarly, if a certain antenna element is selected, the port of the antenna element is used to transmit signals. From this point of view, the first matrix illustrated in fig. 14 may also be regarded as a virtual antenna port, which may be used to indicate a mapping relationship between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports. It can be understood that, considering that there are different types of antenna elements or antenna elements in the hybrid antenna array, and the intervals between the antenna elements or antenna elements may also be non-uniform, so that for various hybrid antenna arrays, the indication of the order of the antenna ports or antenna elements of the hybrid antenna array may be implemented by equivalently forming a virtual dual-polarized antenna array (being a first matrix, with rows and columns being uniformly distributed), and by indicating whether there is a corresponding antenna element or antenna element on an element in the first matrix, that is, indicating the order of CSI-RS port mapping performed on the antenna ports of the hybrid antenna array, which is equivalent to indicating the corresponding relationship between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports.

The embodiment of the application can indicate the corresponding relationship between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port for the terminal according to the mapping relationship between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port illustrated in fig. 14, and can be applied to indicate the corresponding relationship between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port in various hybrid antenna arrays. That is, in the embodiment of the present application, the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to a two-port antenna array, and then the two-port antenna array is mapped to the first matrix, so that there exists a first matrix that can be compatible with multiple hybrid antenna arrays. Since the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to a two-port antenna array, for the two-port antenna array, as shown in fig. 7, the corresponding relationship between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports, i.e., the fixed antenna port order, can be determined according to the rules of first-row and second-row re-polarization or first-row and second-row re-polarization. Therefore, the equivalent two-port antenna array is mapped to the first matrix, and the antenna ports in various hybrid antenna arrays can be indicated by indicating the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports in the first matrix, that is, the corresponding relationship between the antenna ports in the hybrid antenna array and the CSI-RS ports is indicated.

For example, fig. 15 is a schematic diagram of a hybrid antenna array equivalent to a virtual dual-polarized antenna array. The hybrid antenna array comprises 2 rows and 3 columns of antenna units, wherein the 3 columns of antenna units sequentially comprise 1 column of four-port antenna units and 2 columns of XPO antenna units from left to right. Fig. 15 illustrates a first antenna array obtained by using the equivalent method illustrated in fig. 11, i.e. an equivalent hybrid antenna array, i.e. including 2 rows and 4 columns XPO antennas. Fig. 15 illustrates an example in which the spacing between any two columns in a 2 row, 4 column XPO antenna array is the same. As can be seen from fig. 15, the row 1, column 1 four-port antenna in the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to the XPO antenna in the row 1, column 1 and row 1, column 2 in the first antenna array, and the row 2, column 1 four-port antenna in the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to the XPO antenna in the row 2, column 1 and row 2, column 2 in the first antenna array. The first antenna array is mapped to a first matrix 1, i.e. a 2 row 4 column matrix. Wherein, the intersection point of any row and any column in the first matrix 1 indicates an antenna unit or antenna element. It should be understood that the antenna elements in the first matrix 1 located in row 1, column 1 and row 1, column 2 correspond to the four-port antenna in row 1 in the hybrid antenna array. If the base station indicates that the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports correspond to antenna elements located at row 1, column 1 and row 1, column 2 in the first matrix 1, the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports may be determined to be antenna ports of four-port antennas of row 1 in the hybrid antenna array.

Fig. 15 also illustrates a second antenna array obtained by using the equivalent method illustrated in fig. 11, which is a triple-equivalent hybrid antenna array, that is, including 4 rows and 2 columns XPO antennas. Fig. 15 illustrates an example in which the spacing between any two rows of a 2-row, 4-column XPO antenna array is the same. As can be seen from fig. 15, the row 1, column 1, four-port antenna in the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to the XPO antenna in the row 1, column 1 and row 2, column 1 in the first antenna array, and the row 2, column 1, four-port antenna in the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to the XPO antenna in the row 3, column 1 and row 4, column 1 in the second antenna array. Moreover, the two-port antenna in the 1 st row and 2 nd column in the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to the two-port antenna in the 1 st row and 2 nd column in the second antenna array, and the two-port antenna in the 2 nd row and 2 nd column in the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to the two-port antenna in the 3 rd row and 2 nd column in the second antenna array; the two-port antenna in row 1, column 3 in the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to the two-port antenna in row 2, column 2 in the second antenna array, and the two-port antenna in row 2, column 3 in the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to the two-port antenna in row 4, column 2 in the second antenna array. The second antenna array is mapped to the first matrix 2, and the intersection of any row and any column in the first matrix 2 indicates one antenna unit or antenna element. It should be understood that the antenna elements in row 1 and column 1 of the first matrix 2 correspond to the four port antennas in row 1 of the hybrid antenna array. If the base station indicates that the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port corresponds to an antenna element located at row 1 and column 1 in the first matrix 2, it may be determined that the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port is an antenna port of a four-port antenna of row 1 in the hybrid antenna array.

It should be noted that the hybrid antenna array shown in fig. 15 may also be mapped to a first matrix with other dimensions, for example, the hybrid antenna array is equivalent to a 2-row 8-column XPO antenna array, and the intervals between any two columns in the 2-row 8-column XPO antenna array are the same. It will be appreciated that the spacing between any two columns of the 2 row 8 column XPO antenna array is different from the spacing between any two columns of the 2 row 4 column XPO antenna array. Mapping the first antenna array to the first matrix 3, i.e. 2 rows and 8 columns of the XOP antenna array, it should be understood that only 4 columns of the 8 columns of XPO antennas correspond to actual antenna elements in the hybrid antenna array, e.g. from left to right, and in the 8 columns of XPO antenna arrays, the antenna elements illustrated in the 1 st and 3 rd columns correspond to four-port antennas in the hybrid antenna array, the antenna elements illustrated in the 5 th column correspond to two-port antennas in the 2 nd column of the hybrid antenna array, and the antenna elements illustrated in the 7 th column correspond to two-port antennas in the 3 rd column of the hybrid antenna array, respectively. By indicating the selected antenna elements (i.e., the 1 st, 3 rd, 5 th and 7 th column antenna elements) in the first matrix 3 (i.e., the 2 row and 8 column XPO antenna array), the actual antenna elements (antenna ports) in the hybrid antenna array are indicated. As can be seen, the embodiment of the present application is applicable to various hybrid antenna arrays by equivalently converting the hybrid antenna array into a two-port antenna array, mapping the two-port antenna array to the first matrix, and indicating the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports in the first matrix.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the base station may notify the corresponding relationship between the antenna port of the terminal and the CSI-RS port through the first indication information. In one possible implementation, the first indication information may be carried on one or more fields of existing signaling, which is advantageous for compatibility with existing signaling. For example, the first indication information is carried in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, medium access control element (MAC CE) signaling, downlink Control Information (DCI) signaling, and the like. The one or more fields may be a field defined by RRC signaling, a field defined by MAC CE signaling, or a field defined by DCI signaling, or may be a newly defined RRC field, MAC CE field, or DCI field. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. Of course, the first indication information may also be carried in newly defined signaling.

It should be understood that since there are a plurality of hybrid antenna arrays, the dimensions of the first matrix equivalent to different hybrid antenna arrays may be different, and the implementation of the corresponding first indication information may also be different. Several possible implementations of the first indication information are described below.

In the first implementation manner, the first indication information includes first information and second information, the first information may be used to indicate an antenna port corresponding to a CSI-RS port in the first matrix, and the second information is used to indicate the first matrix. Since the first matrix corresponds to the hybrid antenna array, it can also be considered that the first indication information can be used to indirectly indicate the antenna ports of the hybrid antenna array corresponding to the CSI-RS ports.

For example, the first indication information is carried in RRC signaling, and the first information may be carried in a first field in the RRC signaling, where the first field occupies K bits, that is, the first information may be a sequence of K bits. Wherein the value of K is related to the dimension of the first matrix. For example, if the dimension of the first matrix is M rows by N columns, then K may be equal to M by N. Each element can be mapped to the first matrix according to the rule of first-column and second-column (or first-column and second-row), so that whether an antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port exists or not is determined according to the value of the corresponding element. Since the same bit sequence may correspond to multiple first matrices, e.g., K = M × N, the dimension of the first matrices may be M rows × N columns, or N rows × M columns. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the base station may indicate the second information in addition to the first information, that is, the dimension of the first matrix is indicated by the second information. The second information may be carried in one field or multiple fields.

As an implementation manner of the second information, the second information is carried in a plurality of fields, for example, the second information may be carried in a second field and a third field, and both the second field and the third field may occupy a plurality of bits. Wherein the second field is used to indicate the horizontal dimension (rows) of the first matrix and the third field is used to indicate the vertical dimension (columns) of the first matrix; alternatively, the second field is used to indicate the vertical dimension (column) of the first matrix and the third field is used to indicate the horizontal dimension (row) of the first matrix. This way can also be understood as a direct indication of the dimension of the first matrix.

For convenience of understanding, an implementation manner of the first indication information is described below by taking K =8, the first information is "00110011", the second field and the third field each occupy 4 bits, the second segment is used for indicating a horizontal dimension of the first matrix, and the third field is used for indicating a vertical dimension of the first matrix as an example.

Illustratively, the first field carries a value of "00110011", the second field carries a value of "0010", and the third field carries a value of "0100", i.e. M =2 and n =4. The terminal receives the first indication information, and maps the first indication information to the first matrix according to the rules of the first and the second columns, so as to obtain the following first matrix W1:

if 1 indicates an unselected antenna element or antenna element, 0 indicates a selected antenna element or antenna element. The terminal may determine the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports as antenna ports in a hybrid antenna array corresponding to antenna elements or antenna elements indicated by the positions in the first matrix located in row 1, column 1 and row 2, column 1. Taking the hybrid antenna array in fig. 15 as an example, the first antenna array is equivalent by an equivalent method. The antenna elements in row 1 and column 1 in the first matrix 1 correspond to the four-port antennas in row 1 and column 1 in the hybrid antenna array, so it can be determined that the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports include the antenna ports of the four-port antennas in row 1 and column 1 in the hybrid antenna array. Similarly, the antenna element in the first matrix 1 located in the 2 nd row and 1 st column corresponds to the four-port antenna in the 2 nd row and 1 st column in the hybrid antenna array, so it may be determined that the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port further includes the antenna port of the four-port antenna in the 2 nd row and 1 st column in the hybrid antenna array.

Illustratively, the first field carries a value of "0101010101010101", the second field carries a value of "0010", and the third field carries a value of "1000", i.e., M =2, n =8. The terminal receives the first indication information, and maps the first indication information to the first matrix according to the rules of the first and the second columns, so as to obtain the following first matrix W1:

if 1 indicates an unselected antenna element or antenna element, 0 indicates a selected antenna element or antenna element. The terminal may determine the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port as an antenna port in a hybrid antenna array corresponding to an antenna element or antenna element in the first matrix indicated by the position in row 1, column 3, column 5, and column 7. By taking the hybrid antenna array in fig. 15 as an example, the first antenna array is equivalent through an equivalent method. The antenna elements in the first matrix 3 located at

rows

1, 3,5, and 7 correspond to the antennas in

rows

1, 2, and 3 in the hybrid antenna array, so it can be determined that the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports include the antenna ports of the four-port antenna in rows 1, columns 1 and the antenna ports of the two-port antenna in

columns

2 and 3 in the hybrid antenna array. Similarly, the antenna elements in the first matrix 3 located in the 2 nd row, 1 st, 3 nd, 5 nd, and 7 th column correspond to the antennas in the 2 nd row, 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd column in the hybrid antenna array, so it can be determined that the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports further include the antenna ports of the antennas in the 2 nd row, 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd column in the hybrid antenna array.

It should be understood that the embodiment of the present application takes the example of the hybrid antenna array shown in fig. 15 being equivalent to the first matrix with two different dimensions. If there are multiple hybrid antenna arrays, the embodiment of the present application may map the two-port antenna array to the first matrix by equating the hybrid antenna array to a two-port antenna array, so that there is a first matrix that is compatible with the multiple hybrid antenna arrays. According to the embodiment of the application, the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports in the first matrix are indicated through the first indication information, and the corresponding relation between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports in various hybrid antenna arrays can be indicated, namely, the sequence of the antenna ports in the hybrid antenna arrays is indicated.

Or, the terminal receives the first indication information, and maps the first indication information to the first matrix according to the first-column and second-row rules, so as to obtain the following first matrix W1:

the terminal can determine the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports as the antenna ports corresponding to the antenna elements or antenna elements located in the 1 st column and the 3 rd column in the first matrix according to W1.

Illustratively, the first field carries a value of "00110011", the second field carries a value of "0100", and the third field carries a value of "0010", i.e., M =4 and n =2. The terminal receives the first indication information, and maps the first indication information to the first matrix according to the rules of the first row and the second row, so that the following first matrix can be obtained:

the terminal can determine the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port as the antenna port corresponding to the antenna element or antenna element located in the 1 st row and the 3 rd row in the first matrix according to W1.

Or, the terminal receives the first indication information, and maps the first indication information to the first matrix according to the first-column and second-row rules, so as to obtain the following first matrix:

the terminal can determine the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port as the antenna port corresponding to the antenna element or antenna element located in the 1 st row and the 2 nd row in the first matrix according to W1.

It should be noted that, for example, the first-column-last or first-column-last mapping rule for mapping the antenna ports to the first matrix may be predefined, or may be agreed by the base station and the terminal, or may be notified to the terminal by the base station, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

As another implementation manner of the second information, the second information may be carried in a field, for example, a fourth field, and the fourth field may occupy multiple bits. The value of the fourth field is used to indicate the dimension of the first matrix. Different values of the fourth field represent first matrices of different dimensions. For example, the fourth field occupies 4 bits, and the value of the fourth field is "0000", which represents a 2 × 4 first matrix; the value of the fourth field is "0001", which represents the first matrix of 4 x 2; the value of the fourth field is "0010", which represents a 3 x 3 first matrix, and so on. This way may also be understood as an indirect indication of the dimension of the first matrix. By adopting the mode, the bit number occupied by the second information is less, and the resource overhead can be saved as much as possible.

Taking the example that the fourth field occupies 4 bits, the value of the fourth field is 0000, and the first matrix of 2 × 4 is represented; the value of the fourth field is 0001, which shows the first matrix of 4 x 2 as an example. The above example is followed, i.e. the first field carries a value of "00110011" and the fourth field carries a value of "0000", i.e. M =2,n =4. Mapping to the first matrix according to the rules of the first and the second columns can obtain the following first matrix W1:

i.e. the first field carries a value of "00110011" and the fourth field carries a value of "0001", i.e. M =4, n =2. Mapping to the first matrix according to the rules of the first and the second columns can obtain the following first matrix W1:

in a second implementation manner, the first indication information includes first information, where the first information is used to indicate an antenna port corresponding to a CSI-RS port in the first matrix. Since the first matrix corresponds to the hybrid antenna array, it can also be considered that the first indication information can be used to indirectly indicate antenna ports of the hybrid antenna array corresponding to CSI-RS ports.

Although the same bit sequence may correspond to a first matrix of different dimensions, in some embodiments, the dimensions of the first matrix to which the bit sequence corresponds may be specified. Therefore, the base station does not need to indicate the first matrix for the terminal, and the terminal can also determine the first matrix, so that the signaling overhead can be saved.

Illustratively, following the above example, the first information is a K-bit sequence, K = M × N, and the protocol may specify that M is less than or equal to N. For example, the first field carries a value "00110011", and since M is less than or equal to N, the terminal receives the first indication information, and may determine that the dimension of the first matrix is 2 × 4, not 4 × 2. The terminal maps the antenna ports to the first matrix according to the first information and the rules of the preceding and following columns, and the following matrix W1 can be obtained:

and the terminal can further determine the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports as antenna ports corresponding to antenna units or antenna elements located in the 1 st row, the 1 st column and the 2 nd column and located in the 2 nd row, the 1 st column and the 2 nd column in the first matrix.

The third implementation manner is different from the first implementation manner and the second implementation manner in that after the hybrid antenna array is equivalent, an equivalent antenna array is obtained, and the indication of the corresponding relationship between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port in the hybrid antenna array can be realized by indicating the corresponding relationship between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port in the equivalent antenna array. That is to say, the equivalent antenna array does not need to be mapped to the first matrix, that is, the corresponding relationship between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports in the hybrid antenna array does not need to be indicated by the first matrix. In this case, the first indication information may include first information, and the first information may be used to indicate a correspondence between antenna ports of the equivalent antenna array and CSI-RS ports, that is, may indicate a correspondence between antenna ports in the hybrid antenna array and CSI-RS ports. It can also be said that the first information is used to indicate the order of the antenna ports. Compared with the first implementation and the second implementation, the third implementation is a relatively direct indication, that is, the first information is used to indicate a corresponding relationship between an antenna port and a CSI-RS port in the hybrid antenna array.

For example, the first information may be carried in a field of RRC signaling, for example, a first field, which occupies a plurality of bits. For example, there are 32 antenna ports, and the first information may indicate the order of the 32 antenna ports in the order of first-column-last or first-column-last. If the number of CSI-RS ports corresponding to antenna ports is also 32, the first information may indicate 32 values, each value corresponding to an antenna port, the first 16 values corresponding to an antenna port order in the first polarization direction, and the last 16 values corresponding to an antenna port order in the second polarization direction. Illustratively, one value may occupy 4 bits, and the first field may occupy 32 × 4=128 bits. The first field carrying bit sequence may be [3,5, 12, 16, 13,7,9,8,0,1,4,2, 11, 14,6, 10, 18, 20, 16, 17, 21, 23, 31, 28, 27, 26, 24, 22, 29, 19, 25, 30], wherein [3,5, 12, 16, 13,7,9,8,0,1,4,2, 11, 14,6, 10] corresponds to an antenna port order in a first polarization direction and [18, 20, 16, 17, 21, 23, 31, 28, 27, 26, 24, 22, 29, 19, 25, 30] corresponds to an antenna port order in a second polarization direction. The antenna port order shown in fig. 16 can be obtained by numbering the antenna ports in the order of the preceding and succeeding repolarizations. It should be noted that, if the antenna port sequence in the first polarization direction is consistent with the antenna port sequence in the second polarization direction. Following the example above, the first information may then indicate 16 values. I.e. the first field takes 16 x 4=64 bits.

If the number of CSI-RS ports corresponding to an antenna port is also 8, that is, a plurality of antenna ports (a set of antenna ports) corresponds to one CSI-RS port. In this case, the first information may indicate 8 values, each corresponding to a group of antenna ports. The first 4 values correspond to the antenna port order in the first polarization direction and the last 4 values correspond to the antenna port order in the second polarization direction. Illustratively, one value may occupy 4 bits, and the first field may occupy 8 × 4=32 bits. The first field carries a bit sequence of [2,5,3,0,1,4,6,7], where [2,5,3,0] corresponds to the antenna port order in the first polarization direction and [1,4,6,7] corresponds to the antenna port order in the second polarization direction. It should be understood that which antenna ports correspond to CSI-RS ports as a set of antenna ports may be determined by the terminal by the beam transmitted by the base station to the terminal. The terminal can determine the corresponding relationship between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port in the hybrid antenna array through the first indication information.

In embodiments of the present application, the hybrid antenna array may include antenna elements that are non-uniformly horizontally spaced and/or non-uniformly vertically spaced. The terminal receives the first indication information, and if the antenna ports are mapped to the first matrix according to the uniform horizontal intervals and the uniform vertical intervals between the antenna units, a variety of mapping results may occur, so that the correspondence between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports determined by the terminal may be wrong.

For ease of understanding, please refer to fig. 17, which is a schematic diagram of a hybrid antenna array equivalent to a virtual dual-polarized antenna array (first matrix). Fig. 17 illustrates an example in which the antenna elements included in the hybrid antenna array are not uniformly spaced in the horizontal direction. It should be understood that the dimension of the first matrix is 2 rows by 4 columns. As shown in fig. 17, the numbers of rows and columns are all from 0, the interval between the antenna element of the 1 st column and the antenna element of the 2 nd column is d1, the interval between the antenna element of the 2 nd column and the antenna element of the 3 rd column is d2, the interval between the antenna element of the 3 rd column and the antenna element of the 4th column is d3, and d1 is not equal to d2 and d3, and d2 is not equal to d3.

Since d1, d2 and d3 are not equal, the terminal receives the first indication information and maps the antenna ports to the first matrix, and multiple mapping situations may occur. For example, the first field carries a value of "11001100", assuming d1 is 0.5 wavelength (λ) and d2 is 1 λ. With the existing design, the horizontal spacing between two adjacent antenna units is usually 0.5 λ, and when the terminal receives the first indication information and maps the antenna ports to the first matrix, there may be multiple mapping results. For example, the terminal maps the antenna ports to the first matrix in a first-after column, with element "0" representing the selected antenna element. When the antenna ports are mapped to the first matrix with equal spacing between antenna elements, i.e., the spacing between antenna elements is 0.5 λ, it is possible to map the antenna ports that should be located at row 1, column 3 (fig. 17 is illustrated by the dashed antenna element "X") to row 1 and column 2 and column 3 midway (fig. 17 is illustrated by the dashed line between column 2 and column 3). Since the mapped antenna port is located in the middle between the 2 nd column and the 3 rd column, and since the 2 nd column and the 3 rd column are adjacent to each other, the antenna port may be considered to be located in the 2 nd column (illustrated by a solid line antenna element "X" in fig. 17), or may be considered to be located in the 3 rd column (illustrated by a dotted line antenna element "X" in fig. 17). That is, the same antenna port may be mapped to different positions, which results in non-unique correspondence between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port, and ultimately results in poor system performance.

For this reason, in this embodiment of the application, the first indication information may further include third information, where the third information is used to indicate an interval between any two adjacent antenna elements included in the antenna array in the horizontal direction, and indicate an interval between any two adjacent antenna elements included in the antenna array in the vertical direction. Therefore, the antenna array formed by the antenna units distributed at uneven intervals can be compatible, the application range is wider, and the system performance can be ensured.

In some embodiments, the third information may directly indicate a distance between two adjacent rows in the first matrix, and a distance between two adjacent columns in the first matrix. It should be understood that the spacing between any two adjacent columns of antenna elements in the first matrix in the horizontal direction is an integer multiple of the distance between two adjacent columns in the first matrix, and the spacing between any two adjacent rows of antenna elements in the first matrix in the vertical direction is an integer multiple of the distance between two adjacent rows in the first matrix. Since each element included in the first information can be mapped to the first matrix according to the first-to-last (or first-to-last) rule, the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port is determined according to the value of the corresponding element. The horizontal and vertical distances of two adjacent antenna elements in the antenna array can be determined in combination with the third information. In this regard, the third information may indirectly indicate the interval of any two adjacent antenna elements included in the antenna array in the horizontal direction and the interval of any two adjacent antenna elements included in the antenna array in the vertical direction. For convenience of description, a distance between two adjacent rows in the first matrix may be referred to as a vertical unit distance, and a distance between two adjacent columns in the first matrix may be referred to as a horizontal unit distance.

It will be appreciated that the same antenna array may be equivalent to a first matrix of different dimensions, for example a 2 x 4 dimensional antenna array may be equivalent to a 2 x 4 dimensional first matrix and possibly a 4 x 8 dimensional first matrix. If the direct indication antenna array includes the interval of any two adjacent antenna elements in the horizontal direction and the interval of any two adjacent antenna elements in the vertical direction, the larger the dimension of the first matrix is, the larger the signaling overhead is. In the embodiment of the present application, the third information indicates the horizontal unit distance and the vertical unit distance of the first matrix, so as to indirectly indicate the interval of any two adjacent antenna units included in the antenna array in the horizontal direction and the interval of any two adjacent antenna units in the vertical direction. Since the third information only needs to indicate the horizontal unit distance and the vertical unit distance, and does not need to directly indicate the horizontal interval and the vertical interval between any two antenna units in the antenna array, the signaling overhead can be saved.

For example, the third information may be carried in a field of RRC signaling, such as a fifth field. The fifth field may occupy L bits, so the third information may be an L-bit sequence. Wherein L is an integer greater than or equal to 1. It should be understood that the value of the fifth field may be used to indicate horizontal unit distance and/or vertical unit distance.

In some embodiments, the minimum quantization distance of the horizontal unit distance and the minimum quantization distance of the vertical unit distance may be defined in advance. For convenience of description, hereinafter, the minimum quantization distance of the horizontal unit distance is referred to as a horizontal minimum quantization distance, and the minimum quantization distance of the vertical unit distance is referred to as a vertical minimum quantization distance. Of course, if the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance are the same, the horizontal minimum quantization distance or the vertical minimum quantization distance may be defined in advance, for example, 0.1 λ,0.0.1 λ, or the like. It is to be understood that the horizontal unit distance is an integer multiple of the horizontal minimum quantization distance, and the vertical unit distance is an integer multiple of the vertical minimum quantization distance, and the specific multiples may be indicated by the third information. For example, the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance are both 0.1 λ. If the value of the L bit sequences is 2, the distance between two adjacent columns in the first matrix can be determined, i.e. the horizontal unit distance is 2 times the horizontal minimum quantization distance, i.e. 2 x 0.1 λ. Similarly, the distance between two adjacent rows in the first matrix, i.e. the vertical unit distance, is 2 times the vertical minimum quantization distance, i.e. 2 x 0.1 λ.

The interval of any two adjacent antenna elements included in the antenna array in the horizontal direction and the interval of any two adjacent antenna elements included in the antenna array in the vertical direction can be indirectly indicated through the third information. Illustratively, M =4, n =2, the first field carries a value of "01010011". The terminal maps the antenna ports to the first matrix according to the first information and the rules of the preceding and following columns, and the following matrix W1 can be obtained:

according to the first information, the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports can be determined to be antenna ports corresponding to the antenna units or antenna elements located in the 1 st column and the 3 rd column in the 1 st row and the 1 st column and the 2 nd column in the 2 nd row in the first matrix.

Assuming that the value of the third information, i.e., the L bit sequences, is 2, the terminal may determine that the horizontal distance between the antenna element in the 1 st column and the antenna element in the 3 rd column in the antenna array is 2 x (2 x 0.1 λ), where 2 x 0.1 λ is the distance between two adjacent columns in the first matrix. The terminal may further determine that a distance between a 1 st column of antenna elements and a 2 nd column of antenna elements in the antenna array is 1 x (2 x 0.1 λ), and a vertical distance between a 1 st row of antenna elements and a 2 nd row of antenna elements in the first matrix is 1 x (2 x 0.1 λ).

It should be understood that if the vertical minimum quantization distance and the horizontal minimum quantization distance are not the same, for example, the vertical minimum quantization distance is 0.1 λ and the horizontal minimum quantization distance is 0.2 λ. In this case, the third indication may be carried in two fields, for example, a sixth field and a seventh field, wherein the sixth field may be used to indicate the interval between any two adjacent columns in the first matrix in the horizontal direction, and the seventh field is used to indicate the interval between any two adjacent rows in the first matrix in the vertical direction.

Following the above example, i.e. M =4, n =2, the first field carries a value of "01010011". The terminal maps the antenna ports to the first matrix according to the first information and the rules of the preceding and following columns, and the following matrix W1 can be obtained:

assuming that the value of the sixth field is 2 and the value of the seventh field is 3, the terminal may determine that the horizontal distance between the antenna element in column 1 and the antenna element in column 3 in the antenna array is 2 × 2 (2 × 0.2 λ), the distance between the antenna port in column 1 and the antenna port in column 2 in the antenna array is 1 × 2 (2 × 0.2 λ), and the vertical distance between the antenna element in row 1 and the antenna element in row 2 in the antenna array is 1 × 3.1 λ.

It should be noted that, if the horizontal unit distance is the horizontal minimum quantization distance, the vertical unit distance is the vertical minimum quantization distance. In this case, the base station may not transmit the third information to the terminal, i.e., the first indication information may not include the third information. For the terminal, if the terminal does not receive the third information, it may consider that the horizontal unit distance is the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical unit distance is the vertical minimum quantization distance.

It should be understood that the larger the dimension of the first matrix, the greater the overhead of the third information. In order to minimize the signaling overhead. In other embodiments, a plurality of horizontal minimum quantization distances, and a plurality of vertical minimum quantization distances may be predefined. In this case, the third information may further use which one of a plurality of horizontal minimum quantization distances is the horizontal minimum quantization distance, and which one of a plurality of vertical minimum quantization distances is the vertical minimum quantization distance to be used.

For example, horizontal minimum quantization distances including 0.01 λ, 0.1 λ, and 1 λ may be defined in advance. The vertical minimum quantization distance is the same as the horizontal minimum quantization distance, and also includes 0.01 λ, 0.1 λ, and 1 λ. The third information may be carried in two fields, for example, an eighth field and a ninth field, wherein the eighth field may carry a value for indicating the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance, and the ninth field may carry a value for indicating the horizontal unit distance and the vertical unit distance. For example, the eighth field carries a value of 0, indicating that the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance are 0.01 λ; the eighth field carries a value of 1, indicating that the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance are 0.1 λ; the eighth field carries a value of 2, representing the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance 1 λ. It should be understood that the values of the eighth field as above are merely examples. The number of bits occupied by the eighth field is not limited in the embodiments of the present application, and for convenience of description, P bits occupied by the eighth field are taken as an example, where P is greater than or equal to 1. The ninth field occupies L bit sequences, and if the L bit sequences have a value of 2, the distance between two adjacent columns in the first matrix can be determined, i.e. the horizontal unit distance is 2 times the horizontal minimum quantization distance. Similarly, the distance between two adjacent rows in the first matrix, i.e., the vertical unit distance, is 2 times the vertical minimum quantization distance.

It should be understood that the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance are the same as an example as described above. In some embodiments, the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance may not be the same. In this case, the third information may be carried in two fields, such as the aforementioned eighth field and ninth field. And the values of a part of bits of the eighth field can be used for indicating the horizontal minimum quantization distance, and the values of another part of bits of the eighth field can be used for indicating the vertical minimum quantization distance.

Alternatively, the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance are the same, but the horizontal unit distance and the vertical unit distance may be different. In this case, the third information may be carried in the eighth field and the ninth field. Wherein, the value of the eighth field can be used to indicate the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance. A part of bits of the ninth field may be used to indicate a horizontal unit distance, and another part of bits of the ninth field may be used to indicate a vertical unit distance.

Alternatively, the horizontal minimum quantization distance and the vertical minimum quantization distance are different, and the horizontal unit distance and the vertical unit distance are different. In this case, the third information may be carried in the eighth field and the ninth field. And the values of a part of bits of the eighth field can be used for indicating the horizontal minimum quantization distance, and the values of another part of bits of the eighth field can be used for indicating the vertical minimum quantization distance. A part of bits of the ninth field may be used to indicate a horizontal unit distance, and another part of bits of the ninth field may be used to indicate a vertical unit distance.

According to the embodiment of the application, a plurality of horizontal minimum quantization distances and a plurality of vertical minimum quantization distances can be defined, and in this way, the dimension of the first matrix can be flexibly set so as to reduce the signaling overhead. And the spacing between antenna elements in the antenna array is indicated more accurately, e.g. the spacing may be accurate to 2 or more bits after the decimal point.

The base station can indicate the corresponding relation between the antenna port and the CS-RS port for the terminal through the first indication information, and for various mixed antenna arrays, the base station can indicate the corresponding relation between the antenna port and the CS-RS port for the terminal. The terminal receives the first indication information, and can map the antenna ports to the first matrix according to the first indication information, so as to determine the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports. And the terminal measures the pilot signals received from the determined antenna ports, calculates the final CSI and sends the CSI to the base station. The terminal can determine the corresponding relation between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port according to the first indication information, and the first indication information is determined by the base station aiming at the used antenna array, such as a dual-polarized antenna array or a mixed antenna array, so that better system performance can be ensured. Or, a second codebook different from the first codebook may be designed for the hybrid antenna array, and the first indication information may also be determined by the base station for the first codebook or the second codebook, so as to ensure better system performance as much as possible.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, as various implementation schemes of the first indication information, the corresponding relation between the antenna port and the CSI-RS port can be indicated for the terminal. Since the first indication information may be a dual-polarized antenna array equivalent to an antenna array used by mapping the antenna ports to the base station, the antenna array may be compatible with various types of antenna arrays, and the application range is wider. And the first indication information corresponds to the antenna array used by the base station, or the first indication information corresponds to the codebook corresponding to the antenna array, so that better system performance can be ensured.

In the embodiments provided by the present application, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is introduced from the perspective of interaction between the terminal and the network device. In order to implement the functions in the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the terminal and the network device may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, and the functions are implemented in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure and a software module. Whether any of the above functions is implemented as a hardware structure, a software module, or a combination of a hardware structure and a software module depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the technical solution.

A communication apparatus for implementing the method according to the embodiment of the present application is described below with reference to the drawings. Therefore, the above contents can be used in the subsequent embodiments, and the repeated contents are not repeated.

Fig. 18 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1800 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 1800 may correspondingly implement the functions or steps implemented by the terminal or the network device in the above-described method embodiments. The communication device may include a processing module 1810 and a transceiver module 1820. Optionally, a storage unit may also be included, which may be used to store instructions (code or programs) and/or data. The processing module 1810 and the transceiver module 1820 may be coupled with the storage unit, for example, the processing unit 1810 may read instructions (code or program) and/or data in the storage unit to implement the corresponding method. The above units may be provided independently, or may be partially or wholly integrated.

In some possible embodiments, the communication device 1800 can implement the behavior and functions of the terminal in the above method embodiments. For example, the communication device 1800 may be a terminal, or may be a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) applied to a terminal. The transceiver module 1820 may be configured to perform all receiving or transmitting operations performed by the terminal in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 13, e.g., S1301 in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 13, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. The processing module 1810 may be configured to perform all operations performed by the terminal in the embodiment shown in fig. 13, except for transceiving operations, such as S1302 in the embodiment shown in fig. 13, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1820 is configured to receive first indication information from the network device and send CSI determined by the processing module 1810 according to the first indication information to the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a correspondence relationship between the antenna ports and the CSI-RS ports.

As an optional implementation manner, the antenna ports correspond to radio frequency channels of an antenna array, where the antenna array satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

As an optional implementation manner, the first indication information includes first information, where the first information is used to indicate an antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port in a first matrix, and the first matrix is used to determine the antenna port corresponding to the CSI-RS port.

As an optional implementation manner, the first indication information further includes second information, and the second information is used for indicating a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of the first matrix.

As an optional implementation manner, the first indication information further includes third information, where the third information is used to indicate an interval between any two adjacent antenna units included in the antenna array in the horizontal direction and an interval between any two adjacent antenna units in the vertical direction.

It should be understood that the processing module 1810 may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component in the embodiments of the present application, and the transceiver module 1820 may be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component or a communication interface.

In some possible implementations, the communication device 1800 can correspondingly implement the behavior and functions of the network device in the above method embodiments. For example, the communication device 1800 may be a network device, or may be a component (e.g., a chip or a circuit) applied in a network device. The transceiving module 1820 may be configured to perform all receiving or transmitting operations performed by a network device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 13, e.g., S1301 in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 13, and/or other processes to support the techniques described herein. The processing module 1810 is configured to perform all operations performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in fig. 13, except for transceiving operations, such as S1303 in the embodiment shown in fig. 13, and/or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module 1820 is configured to transmit, to a terminal, first indication information determined by the processing module 1810, and receive CSI from the terminal, where the first indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between antenna ports and CSI-RS ports, and the CSI is determined according to the first indication information.

As an optional implementation manner, the antenna ports correspond to radio frequency channels of an antenna array, and the antenna array includes at least one row of antenna units arranged along a horizontal direction and at least one column of antenna units arranged along a vertical direction, where the antenna array satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

As an alternative implementation manner, the processing module 1810 is further configured to equate the four-port antenna unit to two-port antennas, and determine first indication information according to the two-port antennas obtained after the equivalence, where,

For example, the processing module 1810 may be implemented in various ways to equate a four-port antenna unit to two-port antenna units, including but not limited to the following equivalent ways:

Fig. 19 shows a communication apparatus 1900 according to the embodiment of the present application, where the communication apparatus 1900 may be a terminal, and is capable of implementing a function of the terminal in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, or the communication apparatus 1900 may be a network device, and is capable of implementing a function of the network device in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application; the communication apparatus 1900 may also be an apparatus capable of supporting a terminal to implement the corresponding functions in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, or an apparatus capable of supporting a network device to implement the corresponding functions in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1900 may be a chip or a system of chips. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

In a hardware implementation, the transceiver module 1820 may be a transceiver integrated in the communication device 1900 to form the communication interface 1910.

The communication apparatus 1900 includes at least one processor 1920, which is used for implementing or supporting the communication apparatus 1900 to implement the functions of the network device or the terminal in the method provided by the embodiment of the present application. For details, reference is made to the detailed description in the method example, which is not repeated herein.

The communications apparatus 1900 can also include at least one memory 1930 for storing program instructions and/or data. Memory 1930 is coupled to processor 1920. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form, which is used for information interaction between the devices, units or modules. Processor 1920 may operate in conjunction with memory 1930. The processor 1920 may execute program instructions and/or data stored in the memory 1930 to cause the communication device 1900 to implement a corresponding method. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor.

Communications apparatus 1900 may also include a communications interface 1910 for communicating with other devices over transmission media so that apparatus used in communications apparatus 1900 may communicate with other devices. Illustratively, when the communication device is a terminal, the other device is a network device; or, when the communication device is a network device, the other device is a terminal. Processor 1920 can transceive data using communication interface 1910. Communication interface 1910 may specifically be a transceiver.

The specific connection medium among the communication interface 1910, the processor 1920, and the memory 1930 is not limited in this embodiment. In the embodiment of the present application, the memory 1930, the processor 1920, and the communication interface 1910 are connected through the bus 1940 in fig. 19, the bus is represented by a thick line in fig. 19, and the connection manner among other components is only schematically illustrated and is not limited. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 19, but that does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus.

In the present embodiment, the processor 1920 may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof, and may implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the present embodiment. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor.

In this embodiment, the memory 1930 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), and may also be a volatile memory (RAM), for example. The memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to such. The memory in the embodiments of the present application may also be circuitry or any other device capable of performing a storage function for storing program instructions and/or data.

The communication device in the above embodiments may be a terminal or a circuit, or may be a chip applied to the terminal, or other combined devices, components, and the like having the above terminal functions. When the communication device is a terminal, the transceiver module may be a transceiver, and may include an antenna, a radio frequency circuit, and the like, and the processing module may be a processor, for example: a Central Processing Unit (CPU). When the communication device is a component having the above terminal function, the transceiver module may be a radio frequency unit, and the processing module may be a processor. When the communication device is a chip or a system of chips, the transceiver module may be an input/output interface of the chip or the system of chips, and the processing module may be a processor of the chip or the system of chips.

Fig. 20 shows a simplified schematic of a communication device. For ease of understanding and illustration, in fig. 20, the communication device is a base station as an example. The base station can be applied to the system shown in fig. 1, and can be the network device in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments.

The communication device 2000 may include a transceiver 2001, a memory 2002, and a processor 2003. The transceiver 2001 may be used for communication by a communication device, such as for transmitting or receiving the above-mentioned indication information. The memory 2002 is coupled to the processor 2003 and may be used to store programs and data necessary for the communication device 2000 to perform various functions. The processor 2003 is configured to enable the communication device 2000 to perform the corresponding functions of the above-described methods, which functions may be implemented by calling a program stored in the memory 2002.

In particular, the transceiver 2001 may be a wireless transceiver, and may be configured to support the communication apparatus 2000 to receive and transmit signaling and/or data over a wireless air interface. The transceiver 2001 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit or a communication unit, and the transceiver 2001 may include one or more radio frequency units, such as Remote Radio Units (RRUs) or Active Antenna Units (AAUs), which may be used for transmission of radio frequency signals and conversion of radio frequency signals to baseband signals, and one or more antennas, which may be used for radiation and reception of radio frequency signals. Alternatively, the transceiver 2001 may only include the above radio frequency units, and then the communication device 2000 may include the transceiver 2001, the memory 2002, the processor 2003, and an antenna.

The memory 2002 and the processor 2003 may be integrated or may be independent of each other. As shown in fig. 20, the memory 2002 and the processor 2003 may be integrated into a control unit 2010 of the communication apparatus 2000. Illustratively, the control unit 2010 may include a baseband unit (BBU) of an LTE base station, which may also be referred to as a Digital Unit (DU), or the control unit 2010 may include a Distributed Unit (DU) and/or a Centralized Unit (CU) in a base station under 5G and future radio access technologies. The control unit 2010 may be formed by one or more antenna panels, where a plurality of antenna panels may jointly support a radio access network of a single access system (e.g., an LTE network), and a plurality of antenna panels may also respectively support radio access networks of different access systems (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The memory 2002 and processor 2003 may serve one or more antenna panels. That is, the memory 2002 and the processor 2003 may be provided separately on each antenna panel. Multiple antenna panels may share the same memory 2002 and processor 2003. In addition, necessary circuitry may be provided on each antenna panel, e.g., to enable coupling of the memory 2002 and the processor 2003. The above transceivers 2001, processors 2003, and memories 2003 may be connected by a bus (bus) structure and/or other connection medium.

Based on the structure shown in fig. 20, when the communication device 2000 needs to transmit data, the processor 2003 may perform baseband processing on the data to be transmitted and output a baseband signal to the rf unit, and the rf unit performs rf processing on the baseband signal and then transmits the rf signal in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the communication device 2000, the radio frequency unit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 2003, and the processor 2003 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

Based on the structure as shown in fig. 20, the transceiver 2001 may be used to perform the above steps performed by the transceiver module 1820. And/or processor 2003 may be used to call instructions in memory 2002 to perform the steps performed by processing module 1810 above.

Fig. 21 shows a simplified terminal structure. For easy understanding and illustration, in fig. 21, the terminal is exemplified by a mobile phone. As shown in fig. 21, the terminal includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the vehicle-mounted unit, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is used primarily for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are mainly used for receiving data input by users and outputting data to the users. It should be noted that some kinds of apparatuses may not have input/output devices.

When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs baseband signals to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signals and sends the radio frequency signals to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the device, the radio frequency circuit receives radio frequency signals through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signals into baseband signals and outputs the baseband signals to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signals into the data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor are shown in FIG. 21. In an actual device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory may be provided independently of the processor, or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the rf circuit with transceiving function may be regarded as a transceiving unit of the apparatus, and the processor with processing function may be regarded as a processing unit of the apparatus. As shown in fig. 21, the apparatus includes a transceiving unit 2110 and a processing unit 2120. The transceiver unit 2110 may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. The processing unit 2120 may also be referred to as a processor, processing board, processing module, processing device, or the like. Optionally, a device for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver 2110 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiver 2110 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiver 2110 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The transceiver 2110 may also be referred to as a transceiver, or transceiver circuit, etc. A receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, or receiving circuit, etc. A transmitting unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

It should be understood that the transceiver 2110 is configured to perform the transmitting and receiving operations of the terminal side in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 2120 is configured to perform other operations besides the transceiving operations on the terminal in the above method embodiments.

For example, in one implementation, the transceiving unit 2110 may be configured to perform S1301 in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 13, and/or other processes to support the techniques described herein.

When the communication device is a chip-like device or circuit, the device may include a transceiving unit and a processing unit. The transceiving unit can be an input-output circuit and/or a communication interface; the processing unit is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit.

In this embodiment, reference may be made to the apparatus shown in fig. 22. As an example, the apparatus may perform functions similar to the processing module 1810 of FIG. 18. In fig. 22, the apparatus includes a processor 2210, a transmitting data processor 2220, and a receiving data processor 2130. The processing module 1810 in the above embodiment may be the processor 2210 in fig. 22, and performs corresponding functions. The processing module 1810 of the above embodiments may be the transmit data processor 2220 and/or the receive data processor 2230 of fig. 22. Although fig. 22 shows a channel encoder and a channel decoder, it is understood that these blocks are not limitative and only illustrative to the present embodiment.

Fig. 23 shows another form of the present embodiment. The communication device 2300 includes modules such as a modulation subsystem, a central processing subsystem, and peripheral subsystems. The communication device in this embodiment may serve as a modulation subsystem therein. In particular, the modulation subsystem may include a processor 2303, an interface 2304. The processor 2303 performs the functions of the processing module 1810, and the interface 2304 performs the functions of the transceiver module 1820. As another variation, the modulation subsystem includes a memory 2306, a processor 2303, and a program stored on the memory 2306 and executable on the processor, the processor 2303 implementing the method of the terminal in the above method embodiments when executing the program. It is noted that the memory 2306 can be non-volatile or volatile and can be located within the modulation subsystem or within the communication device 2300, as long as the memory 2306 can be coupled to the processor 2303.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, and specifically, the communication system includes a network device and a terminal, or may further include more network devices and a plurality of terminals. Illustratively, the communication system includes network devices and terminals for implementing the related functions of fig. 13 described above.

The network devices are respectively used for realizing the functions of the related network part of fig. 13. The terminal is used for realizing the functions of the terminal related to the figure 13. Please refer to the related description in the above method embodiments, which is not repeated herein.

Also provided in an embodiment of the present application is a computer-readable storage medium, which includes instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method performed by the network device in fig. 13; or when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method performed by the terminal in figure 13.

Also provided in an embodiment of the present application is a computer program product including instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method performed by the network device in fig. 13; or when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method performed by the terminal in figure 13.

The embodiment of the application provides a chip system, which comprises a processor and a memory, and is used for realizing the functions of network equipment or a terminal in the method; or for implementing the functions of the network device and the terminal in the foregoing methods. The chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b and c, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple.

And, unless stated to the contrary, the embodiments of the present application refer to the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc., for distinguishing a plurality of objects, and do not limit the sequence, timing, priority, or importance of the plurality of objects. For example, the first relaxation measurement policy and the second relaxation measurement policy are only for distinguishing different measurements, and do not indicate a difference in priority, importance, or the like between the two policies.

It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps (step) 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 implementation. 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 is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed 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 can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into 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 or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the 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 of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall 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 method for feeding back Channel State Information (CSI), comprising:

receiving first indication information from network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a corresponding relation between an antenna port and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) port, and the network equipment is provided with antenna units with various port numbers;

and transmitting CSI to the network equipment according to the first indication information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the antenna ports correspond to radio frequency channels of an antenna array, wherein the antenna array satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

the antenna array comprises at least one first antenna unit and at least one second antenna unit, and the port numbers of the first antenna unit and the second antenna unit are different;

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first indication information comprises first information indicating antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports in a first matrix, wherein the first matrix is used for determining the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first indication information further comprises second information indicating a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of the first matrix.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the first indication information further includes third information, and the third information is used for indicating the interval of any two adjacent antenna units included in the antenna array in the horizontal direction and the interval of any two adjacent antenna units in the vertical direction.

6. A method for feeding back channel state information, comprising:

sending first indication information to a terminal, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between an antenna port and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) port, and the network equipment is provided with antenna units with various port numbers;

receiving Channel State Information (CSI) from the terminal, wherein the CSI is determined according to the first indication information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the antenna ports correspond to radio frequency channels of an antenna array, wherein the antenna array satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

8. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein the first indication information comprises first information indicating antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports in a first matrix, and wherein the first matrix is used for determining the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first indication information further comprises second information indicating a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of the first matrix.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the first indication information further includes third information, and the third information is used for indicating the interval of any two adjacent antenna elements included in the antenna array in the horizontal direction and the interval of any two adjacent antenna elements in the vertical direction.

11. A communication device, comprising a processing module and a transceiver module, wherein,

the receiving and sending module is used for receiving first indication information from network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the corresponding relation between an antenna port and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) port, and the network equipment is provided with antenna units with various port numbers;

the transceiver module is further configured to send, to the network device, channel state information CSI determined by the processing module according to the first indication information.

12. The communications apparatus of claim 11, the antenna ports correspond to radio frequency channels of an antenna array, wherein the antenna array satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

13. The communications apparatus of claim 11 or 12, wherein the first indication information includes first information indicating antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports in a first matrix, wherein the first matrix is used to determine the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports.

14. The communications apparatus of claim 13, the first indication information further comprises second information indicating a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of the first matrix.

15. The communication apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the first indication information further includes third information indicating an interval of any two adjacent antenna elements included in the antenna array in a horizontal direction and an interval of any two adjacent antenna elements in a vertical direction.

16. A communication apparatus according to any of claims 11-15, wherein the processing module is a processor and the transceiver module is a transceiver.

17. A communication apparatus according to any of claims 11-16, wherein the communication apparatus is a terminal device, a chip or a system of chips.

18. A communication device, comprising a processing module and a transceiver module, wherein,

the transceiver module is configured to send first indication information generated by the processing module to a terminal, where the first indication information is used to indicate a correspondence between an antenna port and a CSI-RS port, and the communication device is provided with antenna units with multiple port numbers;

the transceiver module is further configured to receive channel state information CSI from the terminal, where the CSI is determined according to the first indication information.

19. The communications apparatus of claim 18, the antenna ports correspond to radio frequency channels of an antenna array, wherein the antenna array satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

20. The communications apparatus of claim 18 or 19, wherein the first indication information includes first information indicating antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports in a first matrix, wherein the first matrix is used to determine the antenna ports corresponding to the CSI-RS ports.

21. The communications apparatus of claim 20, the first indication information further comprises second information indicating a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension of the first matrix.

22. The communication apparatus according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the first indication information further includes third information indicating a spacing between any two adjacent antenna elements included in the antenna array in a horizontal direction and a spacing between any two adjacent antenna elements in a vertical direction.

23. The communication device according to any of claims 18-22, wherein the processing module is a processor and the transceiver module is a transceiver.

24. A communication apparatus according to any of claims 18-23, wherein the communication apparatus is a network device, a chip or a system of chips.

25. A communication apparatus, characterized in that the communication apparatus comprises a processor and a memory for storing a computer program, the processor being adapted to execute the computer program stored on the memory such that the apparatus performs the method according to any of the claims 1-5 or 6-10.

26. A communication apparatus, characterized in that the communication apparatus comprises a processor and a communication interface for inputting and/or outputting information, the processor being adapted to execute a computer program such that the apparatus performs the method according to any of claims 1-5 or 6-10.

27. A communication system, characterized in that the communication system comprises a communication device according to one of claims 11 to 17 and a communication device according to one of claims 18 to 24.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it stores a computer program which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 or 6 to 10.