CN114978265A

CN114978265A - Beamforming method and apparatus, terminal and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN114978265A
Application number: CN202110193966.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李界人
Original assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-02-20
Filing date: 2021-02-20
Publication date: 2022-08-30

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments relate to a beamforming method and apparatus, a terminal and a storage medium. The beamforming method comprises the following steps: determining first relative position information between a terminal and a serving base station; acquiring target array element parameters of N antennas in the terminal, wherein the target array element parameters are as follows: determined based on far-field data for the N antennas and the first relative position information; n is a positive integer equal to or greater than 2; and controlling the N antennas to jointly perform beam forming according to the target array element parameters.

Description

Beamforming method and apparatus, terminal and storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a beamforming method and apparatus, a terminal, and a storage medium.

Background

The antenna beam forming technology is often applied to the fields of military radars, satellite antennas and the like which have specific requirements on antenna directional patterns. And combined with algorithms into the leading direction of current research and future important trends. In the related art, a millimeter wave communication chip is integrated with an antenna array based on phase scanning, and is applied to millimeter wave communication, wherein phase change is conventional equal-phase periodic scanning, and a radiation pattern is fixed. And the antenna is packaged in a chip rather than being designed directly in the terminal.

As such, under the trend of terminal being light and thin and having complicated structure, the antenna array needs to be packaged in the terminal, which may cause interference in the layout of other components of the terminal; or it is difficult to achieve a slim and lightweight terminal.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a beamforming method and device, a terminal and a storage medium.

A first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a beamforming method, where the method includes:

determining first relative position information between a terminal and a serving base station;

acquiring target array element parameters of N antennas in the terminal, wherein the target array element parameters are as follows: determined based on far-field data for the N antennas and the first relative position information; n is a positive integer equal to or greater than 2;

and controlling the N antennas to jointly perform beam forming according to the target array element parameters.

Based on the above scheme, the obtaining of the target array element parameters of the N antennas in the terminal includes:

inquiring a preset corresponding relation between the relative position information between the terminal and the base station and array element parameters of N antennas according to the first relative position information to obtain the target array element parameters of the N antennas corresponding to the first relative position information; wherein the preset corresponding relationship is as follows: and the wave beam forming fitting is performed in advance based on the far field data of the N antennas to generate the wave beam forming fitting.

Based on the above scheme, the obtaining target array element parameters of the N antennas in the terminal further includes:

determining a beam direction to be shaped according to the first relative position information and determining a target beam for shaping the beam according to the beam direction;

superposing far-field patterns corresponding to the alternative array element parameters based on the far-field data of the N antennas to obtain superposed beams;

and determining the alternative array element parameter corresponding to the superposed wave beam of which the target wave beam meets the preset similar condition as the target array element parameter.

Based on the above scheme, the superimposing, based on the far-field data of the N antennas, a far-field pattern corresponding to the candidate array element parameter to obtain a superimposed beam includes:

according to the far field data of the N antennas, superposing far field pattern diagrams of the N antennas when the mth alternative array element parameter is used to obtain an mth superposed beam;

determining an mth similarity of the mth superimposed beam and the target beam;

when the mth similarity does not meet the preset condition, determining to continuously determine the (m + 1) th alternative array element parameter of the target array element parameter according to the magnitude between the (m-1) th similarity and the mth similarity; the m-1 similarity is as follows: and the N antennas use the similarity of the superposed wave beams obtained by superposing the far-field directional diagrams of the m-1 th alternative array element parameter and the target wave beams, wherein m is a positive integer equal to or more than 1.

and determining the alternative array element parameters for forming the superposed wave beams by adopting a genetic algorithm, a simulated annealing algorithm or a particle swarm algorithm based on the far-field data of the N antennas.

Based on the above scheme, the target array element parameters include: the amplitude of the antenna; and/or, the phase of the antenna,

based on the above scheme, the N antennas include at least one of:

a pattern quasi-planar antenna;

metal middle frame antenna.

Based on the above scheme, the controlling the N antennas to jointly perform beamforming according to the target array element parameter includes:

and controlling N antennas to jointly perform the beam forming of the cosecant square wave beam according to the target array element parameters.

A second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a beamforming apparatus, including:

a determining module, configured to determine first relative location information between a terminal and a serving base station;

an obtaining module, configured to obtain target array element parameters of N antennas in the terminal, where the target array element parameters are: determined based on far-field data for the N antennas and the first relative position information; n is a positive integer equal to or greater than 2;

and the shaping module is used for controlling the N antennas to jointly carry out beam shaping according to the target array element parameters.

Based on the above scheme, the obtaining module is configured to query, according to the first relative position information, a preset corresponding relationship between the relative position information between the terminal and the base station and array element parameters of the N antennas, so as to obtain the target array element parameters of the N antennas corresponding to the first relative position information; wherein the preset corresponding relationship is as follows: and the wave beam forming fitting is performed in advance based on the far field data of the N antennas to generate the wave beam forming fitting.

Based on the above scheme, the obtaining module includes:

a first determining unit, configured to determine a beam direction to be shaped according to the first relative position information, and determine a target beam for beam shaping according to the beam direction;

the superposition unit is used for superposing a far-field directional diagram corresponding to the alternative array element parameters to obtain superposed beams based on the far-field data of the N antennas;

a second determining unit, configured to determine the alternative array element parameter corresponding to the superimposed beam with the target beam meeting a preset similar condition as the target array element parameter.

Based on the above scheme, the superimposing unit is specifically configured to superimpose, according to the far-field data of the N antennas, a far-field pattern when the mth alternative array element parameter is used by the N antennas, so as to obtain an mth superimposed beam; determining an mth similarity of the mth superimposed beam and the target beam; when the mth similarity does not meet the preset condition, determining to continuously determine the (m + 1) th alternative array element parameter of the target array element parameter according to the magnitude between the (m-1) th similarity and the mth similarity; the m-1 similarity is as follows: and the N antennas use the similarity of the superposed beams obtained by superposing the far-field pattern when the m-1 th alternative array element parameter is used and the target beams, wherein m is a positive integer equal to or greater than 1.

Based on the above scheme, the superposition unit is specifically configured to determine the alternative array element parameters for forming the superposed beam by using a genetic algorithm, a simulated annealing algorithm, or a particle swarm algorithm based on the far-field data of the N antennas.

The target array element parameters based on the scheme comprise: the amplitude of the antenna; and/or, the phase of the antenna.

Based on the above scheme, the N antennas include at least one of:

a pattern quasi-planar antenna;

metal middle frame antenna.

Based on the above scheme, the shaping module is configured to control the N antennas to jointly perform the beam shaping of the cosecant square beam according to the target array element parameter.

A third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a mobile terminal, including:

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

a processor coupled to the memory;

wherein the processor is configured to perform the beamforming method or the model training method provided in any of the preceding claims.

A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, where computer-executable instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when executed by a processor, implement the beamforming method or the model training method provided in any of the foregoing technical solutions.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the disclosure can have the following beneficial effects:

before beamforming is carried out, first relative position information between a terminal and the terminal is determined, target array element parameters of N antennas participating in beamforming are determined according to the first phase position information, and each antenna in the N antennas is controlled according to the determined target array element parameters, so that beamforming can be realized. By adopting the beamforming, N antenna array arrangement is not required; the antennas can be the same or different types of antennas distributed in the terminal at any relative position, so that the target array element parameters are obtained based on the far-field data of the N antennas to realize beam forming based on the first relative position information, the limitation and rigidity of the antenna array on the terminal layout can be broken, and the terminal is convenient to realize lightness and thinness. And compared with the related art, the antenna array determines the beam forming according to the scanning result through periodic scanning. By adopting the method of the embodiment of the disclosure, the beamforming can be performed only by knowing the relative position relationship between the terminal and the service base station, and the periodic scanning is not needed, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal generated by the periodic scanning.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a beamforming method according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 2A is a schematic diagram illustrating a beam effect of a single omni-directional antenna in communication with a base station according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 2B is a schematic diagram illustrating a beam effect of a plurality of omnidirectional antennas in communication with a base station according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 3A is a schematic diagram illustrating an effect of a shaped beam of a phased array antenna according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 3B is a schematic diagram illustrating an effect of a shaped beam of a plurality of non-arrayed antennas according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a process of determining a target array element parameter according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5A is a schematic diagram illustrating an effect of a target beam according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 5B is a schematic diagram illustrating an effect of a superimposed beam according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an effect of a cosecant squared beam according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a beamforming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, like numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present invention. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the invention, as detailed in the appended claims.

As shown in fig. 1, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a beamforming method, where the method includes:

s110: determining first relative position information between a terminal and a serving base station;

s120: acquiring target array element parameters of N antennas in the terminal, wherein the target array element parameters are as follows: determined based on far-field data for the N antennas and the first relative position information; wherein N is a positive integer equal to or greater than 2;

s130: and controlling the N antennas to jointly perform beam forming according to the target array element parameters.

The method is applied to various terminals having a cellular mobile communication function.

The terminal provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure includes, but is not limited to, at least one of the following electronic devices: the mobile phone, the tablet computer, the wearable device, the intelligent home equipment, the intelligent office equipment, the vehicle-mounted equipment or the internet of things equipment.

S110 may include: a sensor in the terminal detects the motion state of the sensor to obtain the motion state of the sensor, and based on the position information of the service base station determined at the previous moment, the phase position of the terminal relative to the service base station can be simply, conveniently and quickly known, so that the first relative position information can be obtained.

In one embodiment, the sensors include, but are not limited to: various acceleration sensors such as a gyroscope.

In another embodiment, the sensor further comprises: and an attitude sensor detecting an attitude between the terminal with respect to the serving base station. For example, the terminal includes: the display screen is provided with a display surface and a back surface. The terminal has different postures and the relative position between the antenna in the terminal and the service base station is different.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first relative position information between the terminal and the serving base station may be used to determine an angle of arrival of a wireless signal when performing wireless communication between the terminal and the serving base station.

In this embodiment, the serving base station may be: the base station where the mobile terminal resides or the base station of the serving cell to which the mobile terminal is accessed.

If there is only a single antenna in the terminal, as shown in fig. 2A, the single antenna is an omni-directional antenna and the beam is not directional. Fig. 2B shows 2 omni-directional antennas, and the terminal includes omni-directional antennas, and the beam is non-directional.

FIG. 3A illustrates a phased array; a directional phased array beam is formed by cooperation between the antennas. The base station and the terminal may communicate with each other via phased array beams.

Fig. 3B is a schematic diagram illustrating the effect of beam fitting based on N antennas according to the present application. The 4 antennas in fig. 3B do not need to be distributed in an array, and can directly fit a directional shaped beam, which can be used for communication with a base station.

The N antennas may be all antennas in the terminal, or may be some antennas in the terminal. But N is not greater than the total number of antennas contained within the terminal.

The array element parameters of the N antennas comprise: the amplitude and/or phase of the antenna elements comprised by the antenna. If a terminal is manufactured, the position of the antenna element of the antenna is usually fixed relatively, and the adjustable parameters of the antenna element may include: at least one of amplitude and phase.

The antenna array element comprises an antenna element. The types of the antenna elements of the N antennas may be the same or different in the embodiments of the present disclosure, for example, a slit antenna, a monopole antenna, a dipole antenna, various shaped microstrip antennas, for example, an F-shaped microstrip antenna, a T-shaped microstrip antenna, and the like.

If the N antennas include: the antenna element adjustable parameter, then the element parameter can also include: the length and/or position of the antenna element, etc.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the target array element parameter may be an array element parameter of any one of the antenna array elements, and specifically may at least include: phase and/or amplitude.

The phase difference of the N antennas can enable the N antennas to jointly radiate the obtained wireless signals to form beams with main lobes based on the superposition of wireless waves of wireless communication. The amplitudes of the radio waves are involved in the superposition process of the radio waves, for example, the superposition of the radio waves with the same phase can be mutually enhanced to obtain a radio wave with larger amplitude; when radio waves of opposite phases are superimposed, the amplitudes cancel each other, and a radio signal having an amplitude smaller than both radio waves is obtained. Therefore, the beamforming can be realized according to the regulation and control of the adjustable array element parameters such as the amplitude and/or the phase of the N antennas.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to ensure that the communication beam obtained by beamforming can well implement communication with the serving base station, the target array element parameters of the N antennas are obtained by combining the far-field data of the N antennas according to the first relative position information.

The test data of the antenna includes: near field data obtained by measuring the near field of the antenna and far field data obtained by measuring the far field of the antenna.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the N antennas are antennas that need to communicate with the serving base station, and therefore belong to antennas for far-field communication, and therefore, far-field data obtained based on far-field tests of the N antennas is obtained and combined with the first relative position information, so as to obtain target array element parameters of the N antennas.

And then the wave beam radiation and the receiving of the N antennas are controlled according to the determined target array element parameters, and the wave beam forming can be realized based on the wireless wave superposition. By adopting the beam forming, N antennas are not required to be arranged in an array manner; the antennas can be the same or different types of antennas distributed in the terminal at any relative position, so that the target array element parameters are obtained based on the far-field data of the N antennas to realize beam forming based on the first relative position information, the limitation and rigidity of the antenna array on the terminal layout can be broken, and the terminal is convenient to realize lightness and thinness. And compared with the related art, the antenna array determines the beam forming according to the scanning result through periodic scanning. By adopting the method of the embodiment of the disclosure, the beamforming can be performed only by knowing the relative position relationship between the terminal and the service base station, and the periodic scanning is not needed, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal generated by the periodic scanning.

In the disclosed embodiments, the frequency of the radio waves for beamforming may be located in any frequency band of cellular radio communication. For example, beamforming is performed and wireless waves include, but are not limited to, millimeter waves.

In one embodiment, the S120 may include:

inquiring a preset corresponding relation between the relative position information between the terminal and the base station and the array element parameters of the N antennas according to the first relative position information to obtain the target array element parameters of the N antennas corresponding to the first relative position information; wherein the preset corresponding relationship is as follows: and the wave beam forming fitting is performed in advance based on the far field data of the N antennas to generate the wave beam forming fitting.

In one embodiment, the corresponding relationship is pre-stored in the terminal, and the corresponding relationship may be built in the terminal before the terminal leaves a factory, or may be received from a server after the terminal is put into use; the method can also be as follows: the terminal generates itself based on its own historical beamforming record.

In short, due to the corresponding relationship pre-stored in the terminal, after the first relative position information between the terminal and the serving base station is detected, the preset relationship can be queried by using the first relative position information as a query basis, so that the target array element parameter can be quickly determined.

For example, the first relative position information indicates: the relative angle between the terminal and the serving base station. If the corresponding relation is also pre-established with the beamforming array element parameters corresponding to different relative angles of the base station and the terminal, the angle value of the current relative angle is used as the query index, and the corresponding relation is queried, so that the target array element parameters can be simply and conveniently obtained.

For example, the terminal is used as the origin of the spherical coordinate system, and the corresponding relationship between the angle value of a relative angle and the target array element parameter is established for each preset angle value, so that the preset angle value with the minimum difference from the corresponding angle can be found according to the relative angle between the current terminal and the serving base station, and the array element parameter corresponding to the preset angle value is set as the target array element parameter of the current N antennas.

The method for determining the target array element parameters based on the preset corresponding relation has the characteristics of simplicity and convenience in determination of the target array element parameters and small calculation amount.

In an embodiment, the terminal may also temporarily and dynamically calculate target array element parameters of the N antennas in combination with the first relative position information, and then perform beamforming based on the dynamically determined target array element parameters.

For example, the far field data for the N antennas includes: far field patterns of the N antennas. As shown in fig. 4, S120 may include:

s121: determining a beam direction to be shaped according to the first relative position information and determining a target beam for shaping the beam according to the beam direction;

s122: superposing far-field patterns corresponding to the alternative array element parameters based on the far-field data of the N antennas to obtain superposed beams;

s123: and determining the alternative array element parameter corresponding to the superposed beam of which the target beam meets the preset similar condition as the target array element parameter.

The first relative position information corresponds to the direction of a beam, i.e., the beam direction, used for communication between the terminal and the serving base station. The beam direction may be a main lobe direction of a wireless signal beamformed by the N antennas.

In one embodiment, after the beam direction is determined, in conjunction with fitting the beam shape of the beam and/or the power requirements of the beam communication (or becoming a gain requirement), a beam curve of the target beam to be fitted may be constructed.

In another embodiment, the shape of the target beam to be fitted and the basic beam parameters are known in advance, and the target beam to be fitted is obtained by translating the beam direction on the coordinate axis into a preset beam with the preset direction as the beam direction. At this time, based on the beam direction, the individual parameter values of the function of the preset beam are briefly modified, so as to obtain the fitted superposed beam.

S120 shown in fig. 4 may be a manner of presetting the corresponding relationship, but the manner of establishing the preset corresponding relationship is not limited to the manner shown in fig. 4.

As shown in fig. 5A, the shape of a target beam to be fitted is determined, and the preset direction is the base power of the preset beam in the beam direction, the maximum power of the main lobe and the shape of the main lobe, and the main lobe in fig. 5A corresponds to a direction of-5 ° to 58 °. And the function corresponding to the target beam shown in fig. 5A is as follows:

Base-level＝015

Ang-stdrt＝-5

Zero-level＝0.8

shape-start＝0.95

the preset beams may be fitted with a piecewise function. The ordinate may be the Gain (Gain) of the antenna. θ is the abscissa, and corresponds to the relative angle between the base station and the terminal. The larger the gain of a normal antenna is, the larger the transmission power of the antenna is,

From the first position information it can be determined that: and converting the direction of the main lobe into an angle corresponding to the terminal, and taking the Base-level as a basic level. Zero-level and shape-start are the intersection points of gain values of different segments when the target beam is subjected to segment fitting.

Fig. 5B is a waveform diagram of a superimposed beam obtained when the target array element parameters are adopted by N antennas. At least one antenna has different element parameters between any two alternative array element parameters, so that the far-field directional diagrams of the N antennas under the corresponding alternative array element parameters are superposed to obtain superposed beams of wireless signals capable of being fitted; comparing the target beam with the superposed beam to obtain the similarity of the target beam and the superposed beam; if the similarity is higher than the similarity threshold, the preset similarity condition is considered to be satisfied.

The similarity between the superimposed beam and the target beam may be determined by one or more of the following aspects;

similarity of the azimuth angles of the main lobes;

similarity of shape of the main lobes;

similarity of peak power of the main lobe. In one embodiment, the superimposing, based on the far-field data of the N antennas, a far-field pattern corresponding to the candidate array element parameter to obtain a superimposed beam includes:

determining an mth similarity of the mth superimposed beam and the target beam;

when the mth similarity does not meet the preset condition, determining to continuously determine the (m + 1) th alternative array element parameter of the target array element parameter according to the magnitude between the (m-1) th similarity and the mth similarity; the m-1 similarity is as follows: and the N antennas use the similarity of the superposed beams obtained by superposing the far-field pattern when the m-1 th alternative array element parameter is used and the target beams, wherein m is a positive integer equal to or greater than 1.

The 1 st alternative array element parameter can be a randomly selected array element parameter; starting from the 2 nd alternative array element parameter, the alternative array element parameter of the current set can be obtained according to the similarity between the superposed wave beam superposed by the far-field pattern of the previous set of alternative array element parameters and the target wave beam, and by adopting the mode, the superposed wave beam with the similarity between the superposed wave beam and the target wave beam meeting the preset similarity condition can be quickly found, so that the target array element parameter is determined, and the calculation amount for determining the target array element parameter is reduced.

In one embodiment, the determining the m +1 th alternative array element parameter of the target array element parameter according to the magnitude between the m-1 th similarity and the m-1 th similarity includes:

if the m-1 similarity is greater than the m-1 similarity, the m-1 candidate array element parameter is closer to the target array element parameter than the m-1 candidate array element parameter, if the m-1 candidate array element parameter is adjusted to be obtained by adjusting the array element parameter value in the m direction, the m-1 candidate array element parameter or the m-1 candidate array element parameter is adjusted in the opposite direction of the m direction to obtain the m +1 candidate array element parameter;

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

if the m-1 similarity is smaller than the m-1 similarity, the m-1 candidate array element parameter is closer to the target array element parameter than the m-1 candidate array element parameter, if the m-1 candidate array element parameter is adjusted to be obtained by adjusting the array element parameter value in the m direction, the m-1 candidate array element parameter or the m-1 candidate array element parameter is continuously adjusted in the m direction to obtain the m +1 candidate array element parameter.

For example, the m-1 th alternative array element parameter is adjusted to be the m-1 th alternative array element parameter, the amplitude of a certain antenna is increased on the m-1 th alternative array element parameter, and if the superposed beam obtained after adjustment is found to be more similar to the target beam, the amplitude of the antenna can be continuously increased until the amplitude of the antenna is reached; and if the superposed beam obtained after the adjustment is more similar to the target beam, the amplitude of the antenna can be reduced, and the similarity between the superposed beam corresponding to the adjusted candidate array element parameter and the target beam is continuously compared.

The above is an implementation manner for accelerating the determination of the target array element parameter, and the specific implementation is not limited to the above example.

In one embodiment, the S121 may include:

And (3) adopting a genetic algorithm, a simulated annealing algorithm or a particle swarm algorithm as an iterative approximation algorithm, taking the target wave beam as a comparison target, taking the similarity between the target wave beam and the superposed wave beam obtained by the far-field pattern corresponding to different alternative array element parameters as a basis for modifying the alternative array element parameters, and rapidly solving the target array element parameters in an iterative approximation mode.

By adopting the genetic algorithm, the simulated annealing algorithm or the particle swarm algorithm, the target array element parameters which are similar to the target beam can be found out quickly.

In one embodiment, the target array element parameters include: the amplitude of the antenna; the phase of the antenna.

The target array element parameters comprise: the amplitude of the antenna and the phase of the antenna are merely examples, and the specific implementation is not limited thereto.

In one embodiment, the set of target array element parameters may include: n amplitudes and N phases for the N antennas.

In one embodiment, the N antennas include at least one of:

a pattern quasi-planar antenna;

metal middle frame antenna.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the pattern-like planar antenna may include, but is not limited to: the planar antenna disposed on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) may also include a planar antenna disposed on a rear case of the terminal.

The terminal includes the metal center, and in this disclosed embodiment, N antennas can also include: and the antenna is positioned on the metal middle frame.

In still other embodiments, the antenna of the terminal may also be disposed on the metal bezel, or on both the metal bezel and the metal back shell.

The method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure is adopted to carry out beamforming, and the relative position and the antenna type of the antennas participating in beamforming are not limited.

In some embodiments, the S130 may include:

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the beamforming is performed according to the principal cosecant squared beam, and then the fitting of the formed beam includes: a main lobe with high peak power and side lobes respectively located at both sides of the main lobe. The power of the side lobes is typically much lower than the power of the main lobe.

The cosecant square wave beam is suitable for ground transmission, so that the terminal can transmit the transmitting power in the direction of the service base station in a centralized manner, the communication quality between the terminal and the service base station is improved, and the communication interference to other terminals is reduced. In another embodiment, the beam shape of the beamforming may also be square wave or trapezoidal wave, etc.

Fig. 6 is a schematic waveform diagram of the cosecant squared beam.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the N antennas adopt a co-polarization mode to fit a directional beam required by the terminal to communicate with the base station through adjustment of their own phase and/or amplitude.

At present, the millimeter wave chip module is too large to adapt to terminal spaces with limited space such as mobile phones, watches and the like. The common phased array antenna needs the same antenna period arrangement, the design is rigid, the space requirement is met, and the phased array antenna can not be applied to the mobile phone basically. After the algorithm is used, only the antenna far-field data of different positions and even different forms are needed to be derived, the amplitude and the phase corresponding to the array element of each antenna are calculated based on the algorithm, and beam forming can be realized.

The antenna in the terminal is generally considered to be a non-directional omni-directional antenna, the passive performance index of the terminal antenna focuses on the omni-directional radiation efficiency, and the active performance index focuses on the omni-directional TRP and TIS performance. After the MIMO array antenna carries out beamforming, the directional diagram of the MIMO array antenna can be changed into directional radiation, and at the moment, the main lobe direction (the maximum radiation direction) of the antenna directional diagram faces to the nearest base station, so that the communication performance can be obviously improved. The method and the device for forming the directional beam with the specific pointing direction have the advantages that the omni-directional antenna for transmitting the omni-directional beam by the terminal is superposed by the beams of a plurality of antennas by utilizing a beam forming algorithm.

When the design of each MIMO antenna in the terminal is finished, measuring and calculating a directional diagram of the working communication frequency of each antenna in advance, and deriving far-field data;

the antenna array element and the antenna can be arranged at any position of the terminal and can be a graphical (pattern) plane antenna or a metal middle frame antenna;

the target of the beam forming of the antenna is a directional beam with certain directivity, such as a cosecant square beam and the like;

the principle of beam forming of the antenna directional diagram is the directional diagram superposition theorem, and the specific implementation algorithm of the beam forming is a genetic algorithm, a simulated annealing algorithm, a particle swarm algorithm and the like. Calculating the optimal amplitude and phase distribution of each antenna of an upward diagram of each angle of the terminal, and presetting the optimal amplitude and phase distribution in the terminal;

the optimal directional diagram refers to that: judging the angle and the attitude of the mobile phone when the mobile phone is used by using a sensor, wherein the highest gain of a directional diagram pointing to a base station is the optimal directional diagram of the attitude of the mobile phone; the optimal pattern here may correspond to one of the aforementioned target beams.

Positioning the arrival direction (DoA) of the adjacent base station relative to the mobile phone, calling a preset directional diagram scheme, wherein the main lobe direction (maximum radiation direction) of the directional diagram points to the base station, and the signal connection strength with a target base station can be effectively improved;

aiming at a terminal with a complex scene and an indoor base station or an indoor WIFI signal source, the MIMO antenna can be preset to perform certain stepping phase scanning, and an optimal phase point is found to enable the beam forming to realize the strongest communication signal. By applying the technology in the terminal, the directional diagram of the mobile phone antenna is changed from non-directional to directional, and the signal when being connected with the base station can be effectively improved.

Compared with the traditional phased array, the antenna designed in the mobile phone is more feasible in design, no requirement is required on an antenna array element, both a p-attern type antenna and a metal frame antenna can be adopted, and the antenna can be designed at any position in the mobile phone.

The antenna beamforming backward direction can be customized according to an algorithm, for example, the cosecant square beam antenna is more favorable for propagation and acceptance.

In the example, a cosecant squared beam beamforming scheme is implemented for a set of MIMO antennas implemented using Matlab programmed genetic algorithm, which may be preset into the handset such that the superimposed beam of multiple antennas may be as shown in fig. 5B. While figure 5A shows the target beam; the target beam can be represented by the following functional relationship:

Bdse-level＝015

Ang-start＝-5°

Zero-level＝0.8

shape-start＝0.95

as shown in fig. 7, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a beamforming apparatus, where the apparatus includes:

a determining module 110, configured to determine first relative location information between a terminal and a serving base station;

an obtaining module 120, configured to obtain target array element parameters of the N antennas in the terminal, where the target array element parameters are: determined based on far-field data for the N antennas and the first relative position information; n is a positive integer equal to or greater than 2;

and a shaping module 130, configured to control the N antennas to perform beamforming jointly according to the target array element parameter.

In one embodiment, the determining module 110, the obtaining module 120, and the shaping module 130 may be program modules; the program modules are capable of performing the functions described herein after being executed by a processor.

In another embodiment, the determining module 110, the obtaining module 120 and the shaping module 130 may be a soft-hard combining module; the soft and hard combining module includes but is not limited to: various programmable arrays. The programmable array includes, but is not limited to: complex programmable arrays and/or field programmable arrays.

In yet another embodiment, the determining module 110, the obtaining module 120, and the shaping module 130 may be pure hardware modules; the pure hardware modules include, but are not limited to: an application specific integrated circuit.

In some embodiments, the obtaining module 120 is configured to query, according to the first relative position information, a preset corresponding relationship between the relative position information between the terminal and the base station and array element parameters of N antennas, to obtain the target array element parameters of the N antennas corresponding to the first relative position information; wherein the preset corresponding relationship is as follows: and the wave beam forming fitting is performed in advance based on the far field data of the N antennas to generate the wave beam forming fitting.

In some embodiments, the obtaining module 120 includes:

In some embodiments, the superimposing unit is specifically configured to superimpose, according to the far-field data of the N antennas, a far-field pattern of the N antennas when the mth alternative array element parameter is used, so as to obtain an mth superimposed beam; determining an mth similarity of the mth superimposed beam and the target beam; when the mth similarity does not meet the preset condition, determining to continuously determine the (m + 1) th alternative array element parameter of the target array element parameter according to the magnitude between the (m-1) th similarity and the mth similarity; the m-1 similarity is as follows: and the N antennas use the similarity of the superposed beams obtained by superposing the far-field pattern when the m-1 th alternative array element parameter is used and the target beams, wherein m is a positive integer equal to or greater than 1.

In some embodiments, the superposition unit is specifically configured to determine the candidate array element parameters for forming the superimposed beam by using a genetic algorithm, a simulated annealing algorithm, or a particle swarm algorithm based on the far-field data of the N antennas.

In some embodiments, the target array element parameters include:

the amplitude of the antenna; and/or, the phase of the antenna.

In some embodiments, the N antennas comprise at least one of:

a pattern quasi-planar antenna;

metal middle frame antenna.

In some embodiments, the shaping module 130 is configured to control the N antennas to jointly perform beamforming of cosecant squared beams according to the target array element parameter.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile terminal 800 according to an example embodiment. For example, the mobile terminal 800 may be a mobile phone, a mobile computer, or the like.

Referring to fig. 8, a mobile terminal 800 may include one or more of the following components: processing component 802, memory 804, power component 806, multimedia component 808, audio component 810, input/output (I/O) interface 812, sensor component 814, and communication component 816.

The processing component 802 generally controls overall operation of the mobile terminal 800, such as operations associated with display, telephone calls, data communications, camera operations, and recording operations. The processing components 802 may include one or more processors 820 to execute instructions to perform all or a portion of the steps of the methods described above. Further, the processing component 802 can include one or more modules that facilitate interaction between the processing component 802 and other components. For example, the processing component 802 can include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between the multimedia component 808 and the processing component 802.

The memory 804 is configured to store various types of data to support operation at the device 800. Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operating on mobile terminal 800, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, videos, and so forth. The memory 804 may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or non-volatile memory devices such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks.

Power components 806 provide power to the various components of mobile terminal 800. The power components 806 may include a power management system, one or more power sources, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power for the mobile terminal 800.

The multimedia component 808 includes a screen that provides an output interface between the mobile terminal 800 and a user. In some embodiments, the screen may include a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a Touch Panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touch panel to receive an input signal from a user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touch, slide, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensor may not only sense the boundary of a touch or slide action, but also detect the duration and pressure associated with the touch or slide operation. In some embodiments, the multimedia component 808 includes a front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera. The front camera and/or the rear camera may receive external multimedia data when the device 800 is in an operating state, such as a shooting state or a video state. Each front camera and rear camera may be a fixed optical lens system or have a focal length and optical zoom capability.

The audio component 810 is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, the audio component 810 includes a Microphone (MIC) configured to receive external audio signals when the mobile terminal 800 is in an operating state, such as a call state, a recording state, and a voice recognition state. The received audio signals may further be stored in the memory 804 or transmitted via the communication component 816. In some embodiments, audio component 810 also includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

The I/O interface 812 provides an interface between the processing component 802 and peripheral interface modules, which may be keyboards, click wheels, buttons, etc. These buttons may include, but are not limited to: a home button, a volume button, a start button, and a lock button.

The sensor component 814 includes one or more sensors for providing various aspects of state assessment for the mobile terminal 800. For example, sensor assembly 814 may detect the open/closed state of device 800, the relative positioning of components, such as a display and keypad of mobile terminal 800, sensor assembly 814 may detect a change in the position of mobile terminal 800 or a component of mobile terminal 800, the presence or absence of user contact with mobile terminal 800, orientation or acceleration/deceleration of mobile terminal 800, and a change in the temperature of mobile terminal 800. Sensor assembly 814 may include a proximity sensor configured to detect the presence of a nearby object without any physical contact. The sensor assembly 814 may also include a light sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor, for use in imaging applications. In some embodiments, the sensor assembly 814 may also include an acceleration sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a magnetic sensor, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

The communication component 816 is configured to facilitate communications between the mobile terminal 800 and other devices in a wired or wireless manner. The mobile terminal 800 may access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as Wi-Fi, 2G, or 3G, or a combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component 816 receives a broadcast signal or broadcast related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In an exemplary embodiment, communications component 816 further includes a Near Field Communications (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, infrared data association (IrDA) technology, Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In an exemplary embodiment, the mobile terminal 800 may be implemented by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors or other electronic components for performing the above-described methods.

In an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, such as the memory 804 comprising instructions, executable by the processor 820 of the mobile terminal 800 to perform the above-described method is also provided. For example, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be a ROM, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like.

The disclosed embodiments provide a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein when executed by a processor of a UE, instructions in the storage medium enable the UE to perform the beamforming method provided in any of the foregoing embodiments, and to perform at least one of the methods illustrated in any of fig. 1, fig. 2, and fig. 3 to fig. 5.

For example, the processor, when executing the instructions of the non-transitory computer readable storage medium, can implement at least the following method: determining first relative position information between a terminal and a serving base station; acquiring target array element parameters of N antennas in the terminal, wherein the target array element parameters are as follows: determined based on far-field data for the N antennas and the first relative position information; n is a positive integer equal to or greater than 2; and controlling the N antennas to jointly perform beam forming according to the target array element parameters.

It can be understood that the obtaining of the target array element parameters of the N antennas in the terminal includes:

It can be understood that, the obtaining target array element parameters of N antennas in the terminal further includes: determining a beam direction to be shaped according to the first relative position information and determining a target beam for shaping the beam according to the beam direction; superposing far-field patterns corresponding to the alternative array element parameters based on the far-field data of the N antennas to obtain superposed beams; and determining the alternative array element parameter corresponding to the superposed beam of which the target beam meets the preset similar condition as the target array element parameter.

As can be understood, the superimposing, based on the far-field data of the N antennas, a far-field pattern corresponding to the candidate array element parameter to obtain a superimposed beam includes: according to the far field data of the N antennas, superposing far field pattern diagrams of the N antennas when the mth alternative array element parameter is used to obtain an mth superposed beam; determining an mth similarity of the mth superimposed beam and the target beam; when the mth similarity does not meet the preset condition, determining to continuously determine the (m + 1) th alternative array element parameter of the target array element parameter according to the magnitude between the (m-1) th similarity and the mth similarity; the m-1 similarity is as follows: and the N antennas use the similarity of the superposed beams obtained by superposing the far-field pattern when the m-1 th alternative array element parameter is used and the target beams, wherein m is a positive integer equal to or greater than 1.

As can be understood, the superimposing, based on the far-field data of the N antennas, a far-field pattern corresponding to the candidate array element parameter to obtain a superimposed beam includes: and determining the alternative array element parameters for forming the superposed wave beams by adopting a genetic algorithm, a simulated annealing algorithm or a particle swarm algorithm based on the far-field data of the N antennas.

As can be understood, the target array element parameters include: the amplitude of the antenna; and/or, the phase of the antenna.

It is to be understood that the N antennas include at least one of: a pattern quasi-planar antenna; metal middle frame antenna.

It can be understood that the controlling the N antennas to jointly perform beamforming according to the target array element parameter includes: and controlling N antennas to jointly perform the beam forming of the cosecant square wave beam according to the target array element parameters.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention following, in general, the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements described above and shown in the drawings and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the invention is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method of beamforming, the method comprising:

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said obtaining target array element parameters of N antennas in the terminal comprises:

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said obtaining target array element parameters of N antennas in the terminal further comprises:

and determining the alternative array element parameter corresponding to the superposed beam of which the target beam meets the preset similar condition as the target array element parameter.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the superimposing far-field patterns corresponding to the candidate array element parameters based on the far-field data of the N antennas to obtain superimposed beams comprises:

determining an mth similarity of the mth superimposed beam and the target beam;

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the superimposing far-field patterns corresponding to the candidate array element parameters based on the far-field data of the N antennas to obtain superimposed beams comprises:

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the target array element parameters comprise:

the amplitude of the antenna; and/or, the phase of the antenna.

7. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the N antennas comprise at least one of:

a pattern quasi-planar antenna;

metal middle frame antenna.

8. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein said controlling the N antennas to jointly perform beamforming according to the target element parameter comprises:

9. An apparatus for beamforming, the apparatus comprising:

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the obtaining module is configured to query a preset corresponding relationship between relative position information between a terminal and a base station and array element parameters of N antennas according to the first relative position information, so as to obtain the target array element parameters of the N antennas corresponding to the first relative position information; wherein the preset corresponding relationship is as follows: and the wave beam forming fitting is performed in advance based on the far field data of the N antennas to generate the wave beam forming fitting.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the obtaining module comprises:

12. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the superimposing unit is specifically configured to superimpose, according to the far-field data of the N antennas, far-field patterns of the N antennas when the mth candidate array element parameter is used, so as to obtain an mth superimposed beam; determining an mth similarity of the mth superimposed beam and the target beam; when the mth similarity does not meet the preset condition, determining to continuously determine the (m + 1) th alternative array element parameter of the target array element parameter according to the magnitude between the (m-1) th similarity and the mth similarity; the m-1 similarity is as follows: and the N antennas use the similarity of the superposed beams obtained by superposing the far-field pattern when the m-1 th alternative array element parameter is used and the target beams, wherein m is a positive integer equal to or greater than 1.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the superposition unit is specifically configured to determine the candidate array element parameters for forming the superimposed beam by using a genetic algorithm, a simulated annealing algorithm, or a particle swarm algorithm based on the far-field data of the N antennas.

14. The apparatus according to any of claims 9 to 13, wherein the target array element parameters comprise:

the amplitude of the antenna; and/or, the phase of the antenna.

15. The apparatus of any of claims 9 to 13, wherein the N antennas comprise at least one of:

a pattern quasi-planar antenna;

metal middle frame antenna.

16. The apparatus according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the shaping module is configured to control N antennas to jointly perform cosecant squared beam beamforming according to the target array element parameter.

17. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions;

a processor coupled to the memory;

wherein the processor is configured to perform the method as provided in any one of claims 1 to 8.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement the method provided by any of claims 1 to 8.