CN117712712A

CN117712712A - Beam management method and device for lens antenna, electronic equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN117712712A
Application number: CN202311720022.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 于金杨
Original assignee: China Telecom Technology Innovation Center; China Telecom Corp Ltd
Current assignee: China Telecom Technology Innovation Center; China Telecom Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2023-12-14
Filing date: 2023-12-14
Publication date: 2024-03-15

Abstract

The disclosure provides a beam management method and device of a lens antenna, electronic equipment and a storage medium, and relates to the technical field of mobile communication. The method comprises the following steps: determining position information of the target device relative to each beam during movement of the target device; determining at least one antenna array identity for communication with the target device based on the location information; and controlling the lens antenna to emit radio frequency signals through at least one antenna array corresponding to the at least one antenna array identifier based on the at least one antenna array identifier. According to the method and the device, in the moving process of the target equipment, the lens antenna is changed according to the position of the target equipment when the radio frequency signal is transmitted, and on the premise that the transmitting power is unchanged, the radio frequency signal is transmitted only through at least one antenna array in a plurality of antenna arrays each time, so that the energy of each wave beam in transmitting can be ensured. Therefore, on the basis of ensuring normal communication, the coverage radius cannot shrink, the communication distance is not influenced, and the coverage width of the lens antenna is increased.

Description

Beam management method and device for lens antenna, electronic equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the technical field of mobile communication, and in particular relates to a beam management method and device of a lens antenna, electronic equipment and a storage medium.

Background

The lens antenna utilizes the refraction characteristic of multi-layer dielectric materials to collect the low-gain wide wave beam of a single antenna unit into electromagnetic wave signals with high gain and narrow wave beam, is similar to the focusing principle of an optical lens, has the advantages of high gain, wide vertical lobe and the like, and is suitable for high-speed railway, bridge and the like line coverage scenes. In order to improve the coverage width, in the related art, a plurality of antenna arrays can be installed on the same lens sphere surface, so that the number of beams can be increased and the coverage width can be increased without increasing the volume of the antenna.

However, if the coverage width is increased on the premise of ensuring that the transmission power is unchanged, the coverage radius is contracted, and the communication distance is affected.

It should be noted that the information disclosed in the above background section is only for enhancing understanding of the background of the present disclosure and thus may include information that does not constitute prior art known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The disclosure provides a beam management method, a device, an electronic device and a storage medium for a lens antenna, which at least overcome the problem that the coverage radius is contracted and the communication distance is affected by increasing the coverage width on the premise of ensuring the constant transmission power in the related technology to a certain extent.

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description, or may be learned in part by the practice of the disclosure.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a beam management method of a lens antenna, wherein the lens antenna includes: a plurality of antenna elements, each antenna element corresponding to a beam in one direction; the beam management method of the lens antenna comprises the following steps:

determining position information of the target equipment relative to each beam in the process of moving the target equipment; wherein the target device is a device in communication with the lens antenna;

determining at least one antenna array identity for communication with the target device based on the location information;

and controlling the lens antenna to transmit radio frequency signals through at least one antenna array corresponding to the at least one antenna array identifier based on the at least one antenna array identifier.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the plurality of antenna elements are mounted on a spherical surface of the lens antenna, and each antenna element corresponds to an antenna element identifier.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the lens antenna is a lens antenna of a base station, the base station further comprising: open distributed units O-DUs and open wireless units O-RUs.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, determining the location information of the target device relative to each beam includes:

and receiving interaction information of the adjacent base stations and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) sent by the target equipment through the O-DU, and determining the position information of the target equipment relative to each wave beam based on the interaction information and the SRS.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, determining at least one antenna array identity for communication with the target device based on the location information includes:

determining, by the O-DU, at least one beam identity capable of covering the target device based on the location information;

determining, by the O-RU, at least one antenna array identity mapped by the at least one beam identity based on the at least one beam identity;

wherein the O-RU acquires the at least one beam identifier through a forward interface message sent by the O-DU.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a beam identification field is included in the forward interface message, the beam identification field being used to characterize one or more beam identifications communicated to the target device.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, controlling the lens antenna to transmit radio frequency signals through at least one antenna array corresponding to the at least one antenna array identifier based on the at least one antenna array identifier includes:

Receiving subsequent interface information sent by the O-RU through a lens antenna, and acquiring the at least one antenna array identifier from the subsequent interface information;

and when the lens antenna receives the radio frequency signals sent by the O-RU, distributing the transmitting power of the radio frequency signals for the plurality of antenna elements based on the at least one antenna element identifier through the lens antenna, so that the radio frequency signals are transmitted from at least one antenna element corresponding to the at least one antenna element identifier.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a beam management apparatus of a lens antenna, wherein the lens antenna includes: a plurality of antenna elements, each antenna element corresponding to a beam in one direction;

the beam management device of the lens antenna comprises:

the position information determining module is used for determining the position information of the target equipment relative to each wave beam in the process of moving the target equipment; wherein the target device is a device in communication with the lens antenna;

an antenna array identifier determining module, configured to determine at least one antenna array identifier that communicates with the target device based on the location information;

And the signal transmission control module is used for controlling the lens antenna to transmit radio frequency signals through at least one antenna array corresponding to the at least one antenna array identifier based on the at least one antenna array identifier.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided an electronic device including: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to perform the beam management method of the lens antenna of any one of the above first aspects via execution of the executable instructions.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the beam management method of the lens antenna of any one of the above first aspects.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the beam management method of the lens antenna of any one of the above first aspects.

According to the beam management method of the lens antenna, a plurality of antenna arrays are arranged in the lens antenna, position information of target equipment relative to each beam is determined in the moving process of the target equipment, at least one antenna array identifier for communicating with the target equipment is determined based on the position information, and the lens antenna is controlled to emit radio-frequency signals through at least one antenna array corresponding to the at least one antenna array identifier based on the at least one antenna array identifier. The lens antenna can be ensured to change according to the position of the target equipment when the target equipment moves, the radio frequency signal can be transmitted only through at least one antenna array in a plurality of antenna arrays each time on the premise of unchanged transmission power, and the energy of each wave beam can be ensured when the target equipment moves. Therefore, on the basis of ensuring normal communication with the target equipment, the coverage radius cannot shrink, the communication distance is not influenced, and the coverage area of the lens antenna is changed along with the movement of the target equipment, so that the coverage width of the lens antenna is increased.

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 disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the drawings in the following description are merely examples of the disclosure and that other drawings may be derived from them without undue effort.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary application system architecture of a beam management method for a lens antenna in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a beam management method of a lens antenna according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a specific implementation of S204 in some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a simplified schematic diagram of a lens antenna mounting antenna array in some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic view of the beam formed in FIG. 4 in some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a specific implementation of S206 in some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic beam forming of a lens antenna in a direction of train travel in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a beam management device of a lens antenna in an embodiment of the disclosure; and

fig. 9 shows a block diagram of an electronic device in an embodiment of the disclosure.

Detailed Description

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments may be embodied in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

Furthermore, the drawings are merely schematic illustrations of the present disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar parts, and thus a repetitive description thereof will be omitted. Some of the block diagrams shown in the figures are functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically separate entities. These functional entities may be implemented in software or in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits or in different networks and/or processor devices and/or microcontroller devices.

For ease of understanding, before describing embodiments of the present disclosure, several terms referred to in the embodiments of the present disclosure are first explained as follows:

O-RAN: an open radio access network (Open Radio Access Network) is a concept based on interoperability and standardization of RAN elements, including unified interconnection standards for white-box hardware and open source software elements for different vendors. The working group 4 (WG 4) of the O-RAN alliance aims to push the forwarding interface open, and achieve interoperability between DUs (Distributed units) -RUs (Radio units) of multiple suppliers. WG4 has formulated interface specifications of a forwarding interface M-Plane, C-Plane, and U-Plane, and a forwarding interface test specification, etc.

The following detailed description of embodiments of the present disclosure refers to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary application system architecture to which a beam management method of a lens antenna in an embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied. As shown in fig. 1, the system architecture may include an O-DU (ora-DU) 01, an O-RU (ora-RU) 02, a lens antenna 03, and a target device 04.

The O-DU01, the O-RU02 and the lens antenna 03 all belong to a base station, and the base station and the target device 04 communicate with each other. O-RU02 is controlled by O-DU 01. The target device 04 is a mobile terminal device that needs to establish communication with a base station, and may be a communication device on a high-speed rail, a communication device on a vehicle, or the like.

Optionally, the wireless network used for communication uses standard communication techniques and/or protocols. The network is typically the Internet, but may be any network including, but not limited to, a local area network (Local Area Network, LAN), metropolitan area network (Metropolitan Area Network, MAN), wide area network (Wide Area Network, WAN), mobile or wireless network, private network, or any combination of virtual private networks. In some embodiments, data exchanged over the network is represented using techniques and/or formats including HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML), extensible markup Language (Extensible Markup Language, XML), and the like. All or some of the links may also be encrypted using conventional encryption techniques such as secure socket layer (Secure Socket Layer, SSL), transport layer security (Transport Layer Security, TLS), virtual private network (Virtual Private Network, VPN), internet protocol security (Internet Protocol Security, IPsec), and the like. In other embodiments, custom and/or dedicated data communication techniques may also be used in place of or in addition to the data communication techniques described above.

The O-DU01 is configured to determine, during movement of the target device 04, location information of the target device 04 relative to each beam, specifically, receive interaction information of neighboring base stations and a sounding reference signal SRS sent by the target device 04, and determine, based on the interaction information and the SRS, location information of the target device 04 relative to each beam. The interaction information of the adjacent base station generally refers to a base station located in the moving direction of the target equipment 04 to be adjacent to the base station, the adjacent base station has interacted with the target equipment 04 or monitored the related information of the target equipment 04, and interacts with the base station through an XN interface, so that the base station can learn the position condition of the target equipment 04. SRS is information provided in the Uplink (UL) reference signal transmitted by the terminal UE to the base station regarding the combined effects of multipath fading, scattering, doppler and transmitted signal power loss. In the specific implementation, the SRS transmitted by the target device 04 may be an SRS transmitted by a communication device on a high-speed rail, or may be an SRS transmitted by a plurality of mobile terminals mounted on a high-speed rail. The O-DU01 is further configured to determine, based on the location information, at least one beam identity capable of covering the target device 04, and transmit the at least one beam identity to the O-RU02 via a forward interface message, e.g., a control Plane (C-Plane) message, and accordingly, add a beam identity field to the forward interface message, where the beam identity field is used to characterize one or more beam identities communicated to the target device 04.

The O-RU02 is configured to obtain at least one beam identifier capable of covering the target device from the received forwarding interface information, which may be a C-Plane message, and determine at least one antenna array identifier mapped by the at least one beam identifier based on the at least one beam identifier. Specifically, the O-RU02 stores a mapping relationship between a plurality of beam identifiers of each lens antenna and a plurality of antenna array identifiers, where the beam identifiers are unique identifiers for characterizing beams, the antenna array identifiers are unique identifiers for characterizing antenna arrays, and generally, a mapping relationship exists between one beam identifier and one antenna array identifier. The O-RU02 is also configured to send subsequent interface information, e.g. a user Plane (U-Plane) message, to the lens antenna 03 to inform the lens antenna 03 of the at least one antenna array identity. The O-RU02 is also used to send radio frequency signals to the lens antenna 03.

It should be noted that, the lens antenna 03 in the embodiment of the disclosure includes a plurality of antenna elements, and each antenna element corresponds to a beam in one direction. Specifically, the lens antenna can obtain an antenna with a pen-shaped, fan-shaped or other beam shapes by converting spherical waves or cylindrical waves of a point source or a line source into plane waves through electromagnetic waves, and specifically, a plurality of antenna arrays are arranged on the spherical surface of the lens antenna, and each antenna array corresponds to an antenna array identifier. The lens antenna 03 is used for receiving subsequent interface information sent by the O-RU02 and acquiring at least one antenna array identifier from the subsequent interface information; when the lens antenna 03 receives the radio frequency signal sent by the O-RU02, transmit power of the radio frequency signal is allocated to the plurality of antenna elements based on the at least one antenna element identifier, so that the radio frequency signal is transmitted from at least one antenna element corresponding to the at least one antenna element identifier to the target device 04.

Corresponding to the above-described exemplary application system architecture, the provided beam management method is shown in fig. 1, and includes the following steps:

s102, O-DU01 receives interaction information of adjacent base stations and SRS (sounding reference signal) sent by target equipment 04, and position information of the target equipment 04 relative to each wave beam is determined based on the interaction information and the SRS;

s104, the O-DU01 determines at least one beam mark capable of covering the target device 04 based on the position information;

s106, the O-DU01 sends a forward interface message to transmit at least one beam identification to the O-RU02;

s108, the O-RU02 acquires at least one beam identifier capable of covering the target device from the forward interface message, and determines at least one antenna array identifier mapped by the at least one beam identifier based on the at least one beam identifier;

s110, the O-RU02 sends a subsequent interface message to transmit at least one antenna array identifier to the lens antenna 03;

s112, the lens antenna 03 acquires at least one antenna array identifier from the subsequent interface information;

s114, when the lens antenna 03 receives the radio frequency signals sent by the O-RU02, the transmitting power of the radio frequency signals is distributed to a plurality of antenna arrays based on at least one antenna array mark;

s116, the lens antenna 03 controls the radio frequency signal to be transmitted from at least one antenna array corresponding to the at least one antenna array identifier to the target device 04.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the number of O-DUs 01, O-RUs 02, lens antennas 03 and target devices 04 in FIG. 1 is merely illustrative, and that any number of O-DUs 01, O-RUs 02, lens antennas 03 and target devices 04 may be provided as desired. The embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited in this regard.

Under the system architecture described above, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for beam management of a lens antenna, which may be performed by any electronic device with computing processing capabilities.

Fig. 2 shows a flowchart of a beam management method of a lens antenna according to an embodiment of the disclosure, and as shown in fig. 2, the beam management method of a lens antenna according to an embodiment of the disclosure includes the following steps:

s202, determining position information of target equipment relative to each wave beam in the process of moving the target equipment;

the target device is a device that communicates with the lens antenna, and is a device that can move with respect to the lens antenna. In a specific embodiment, the communication module can be a high-speed rail, a vehicle, an electric car or the like.

S204, determining at least one antenna array identifier for communicating with the target equipment based on the position information;

it should be noted that, the lens antenna includes a plurality of antenna elements, and each antenna element corresponds to a beam in one direction. Specifically, a plurality of antenna arrays are installed on the spherical surface of the lens antenna, and each antenna array corresponds to one antenna array identifier.

S206, controlling the lens antenna to emit radio frequency signals through at least one antenna array corresponding to the at least one antenna array identifier based on the at least one antenna array identifier.

It should be noted that, the number of at least one antenna array communicating with the target device is smaller than the number of antenna arrays set in the lens antenna, so as to ensure that each antenna array transmitting the radio frequency signal is allocated to enough transmitting power when the radio frequency signal is transmitted outwards through the at least one antenna array communicating with the target device, and ensure the coverage radius of the lens antenna.

As can be seen from the above steps, in the beam management method of a lens antenna provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, by setting a plurality of antenna elements in the lens antenna, by determining position information of a target device relative to each beam during a moving process of the target device, determining at least one antenna element identifier for communicating with the target device based on the position information, and controlling the lens antenna to transmit a radio frequency signal through at least one antenna element corresponding to the at least one antenna element identifier based on the at least one antenna element identifier. The lens antenna can be ensured to change according to the position of the target equipment when the target equipment moves, the radio frequency signal can be transmitted only through at least one antenna array in a plurality of antenna arrays each time on the premise of unchanged transmission power, and the energy of each wave beam can be ensured when the target equipment moves. Therefore, on the basis of ensuring normal communication with the target equipment, the coverage radius cannot shrink, the communication distance is not influenced, and the coverage area of the lens antenna is changed along with the movement of the target equipment, so that the coverage width of the lens antenna is increased.

It should be noted that, the lens antenna is a lens antenna of the base station, and the base station further includes: open distributed units O-DUs and open wireless units O-RUs.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, S202, when implemented, includes: and receiving interaction information of the adjacent base stations and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) sent by the target equipment through the O-DU, and determining the position information of the target equipment relative to each beam based on the interaction information and the SRS. It should be noted that, the interaction information of the adjacent base station generally refers to a base station adjacent to the base station on the direction side when the target device moves in the direction, and the adjacent base station has interacted with the target device or monitored the relevant information of the target device, and interacts with the base station through the XN interface, so that the base station knows the position condition of the target device. In a specific embodiment, the SRS sent by the target device may be an SRS sent by a communication device of a high-speed rail, or may be an SRS sent by a plurality of mobile terminals mounted on the high-speed rail, for example, a handheld terminal of a passenger. It should be noted that, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, the method provided in the foregoing embodiment for determining the location information of the target device relative to each beam by using the interaction information and the SRS is not limited to the scope of the embodiment of the present disclosure, but the location information of the target device relative to each beam may also be determined by using the location information of the target device, for example, GPS (Global Positioning System ) location information, which is not described herein.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, S204 is implemented as shown in fig. 3, and includes the following steps:

s302, determining at least one beam mark capable of covering the target device based on the position information through the O-DU;

s304, determining at least one antenna array identifier mapped by at least one beam identifier based on at least one beam identifier through the O-RU.

It should be noted that, as shown in fig. 4 and fig. 5, in an embodiment, two antenna arrays are installed on the ball surface of the lens antenna, so that 2 physical beams (not beam scanning) that are always transmitted as shown in fig. 5 can be formed, it can be seen that each beam corresponds to a respective coverage area, at least one beam that can cover the target device can be determined based on the location information of the target device, and the corresponding beam identifier can be determined.

In specific implementation, the O-RU acquires at least one beam identifier through a forward interface message sent by the O-DU. Accordingly, the forward interface message includes a beam identification field that characterizes one or more beam identifications communicated to the target device. And the O-RU also stores a mapping relation between a plurality of beam identifications and a plurality of antenna array identifications of each lens antenna, and can determine at least one antenna array identification mapped by the at least one beam identification based on the mapping relation and the at least one beam identification. It should be noted that, the forward interface information is related transmission information of the forward transmission network interface, and in implementation, the O-DU may use the transmitting C-Plane information to carry the beam identification field.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, S206 implements a process, as shown in fig. 6, including the following steps:

s602, receiving subsequent interface information sent by the O-RU through a lens antenna, and acquiring at least one antenna array identifier from the subsequent interface information;

it should be noted that, the subsequent interface information is related information sent by the O-RU to the subsequent interface, and in implementation, the O-RU may carry at least one antenna array identifier by sending U-Plane information.

S604, when the lens antenna receives the radio frequency signals sent by the O-RU, the lens antenna distributes the transmitting power of the radio frequency signals for the plurality of antenna elements based on the at least one antenna element identifier, so that the radio frequency signals are transmitted from at least one antenna element corresponding to the at least one antenna element identifier.

It should be noted that, in the technical scheme of the present disclosure, the acquisition, storage, use, processing, etc. of the data all conform to the relevant rules of the national laws and regulations, and the voice data acquired in the embodiment of the present disclosure are all authorized.

In order to better explain the beam management method of the lens antenna provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a specific example will be given for further explanation.

The lens antenna has the advantages of wide vertical beam, high gain and the like, and is suitable for being deployed in high-speed rail, bridge and the like line coverage scenes. The lens antenna has a wide vertical beam, but a relatively narrow horizontal beam, so that it is possible to increase the coverage width by horizontally mounting a plurality of antenna elements behind the lens antenna ball in order to cover the railway range in both the left and right directions of the antenna mounting tower. However, on the premise that the transmitting power of the radio frequency signals is unchanged, the power allocated to each beam is reduced by adding the beams, and the coverage radius is inevitably contracted. If the coverage is to be guaranteed not to shrink, more transmit power is provided to the lens antenna, increasing the investment cost.

In order to solve the above-described problems, this embodiment applies the beam management method of the lens antenna provided in the above-described embodiment, 7 antenna elements are horizontally mounted on the spherical surface of the lens antenna, and as shown in fig. 7, the antenna elements 1 to 7, after passing through the lens sphere, form beams 1 to 7, respectively.

The O-DU estimates the position of the train relative to each beam (beam) through the interaction information of the neighboring base stations and the SRS upstream of the plurality of user terminals in the train. According to the position of the train, the O-DU informs the O-RU of the beam ID used later through the C-Plane message, and accordingly, the C-Plane message requires a new field. The O-RU maps beam IDs into antenna array IDs, when the O-RU processes U-Plane messages carrying the antenna array IDs through a series of radio frequency modules and sends the antenna array IDs to a lens antenna, the O-RU sends the antenna array IDs to a power control module arranged in the lens antenna, and the power control module can control the transmitting power of signals sent by the O-RU to each antenna array in real time, so that radio frequency signals sent by the O-RU are only transmitted from the antenna array appointed by the O-RU through a lens ball.

The specific workflow comprises:

an antenna type is newly added in an o-ran-module-cap.yang file to distinguish a traditional antenna and a lens antenna. In the O-RU start-up phase, when the O-DU acquires the O-RU parameters, the O-RU reads the antenna type in the local configuration file O-ran-module-cap. Yang and informs the O-DU of the parameters.

The adjacent base station informs the base station that the train enters the coverage area of the base station through an XN interface, and the O-DU informs the O-RU that the beam ID to be used is 1, 2 and 3 through a C-Plane message. A beam Mask (32 bits) field is added to the C-Plane message format to identify which lens antennas the message requires beam transmissions, each bit identifying a beam ID, such as bit0 for beam 0, bit1 for beam 1, etc., or each beam ID is written in the beam Mask field to mark which beams are to be transmitted by assignment, e.g., 0 for no transmission and 1 for transmission.

And establishing a Mapping Table for representing the Mapping relation between the beam ID and the antenna array ID installed on the lens antenna in the O-RU. The O-RU receives the C-Plane message sent by the O-DU, reads the beam Mask field in the C-Plane message, and inquires the Mapping Table to obtain the corresponding antenna array IDs, namely the antenna arrays 1, 2 and 3. And when the corresponding U-Plane message is sent to the lens antenna, the U-Plane message is utilized to inform a power control module of the lens antenna of the corresponding antenna array IDs (1, 2 and 3), and the power control module transmits radio frequency signals from the antenna arrays 1, 2 and 3 by controlling the signal power sent by the O-RU to each antenna array.

Along with the movement of the train, the O-DU estimates the position of the train in real time through SRS (sounding reference signals) of a plurality of terminals on the train and transmits C-Plane information to the O-DU in real time, so that a power control module of the lens antenna adjusts an antenna array for transmitting signals in real time, as shown in fig. 7, along with the movement of the train from left to right, the power control module adjusts the antenna array for transmitting signals in real time so that transmitting beams are changed from 1, 2 and 3 to 2, 3 and 4, and changed from 2, 3 and 4 to 3, 4 and 5, and changed from 3, 4 and 5 to 4, 5 and 6 and then changed from 4, 5 and 6 to 5, 6 and 7.

Along with the movement of the train, radio frequency signals sent by the O-RU are emitted from different antenna arrays, so that the wave beams of the antennas are always aligned to the train, the coverage width is ensured, and the coverage radius is ensured not to be reduced.

From this, it can be seen that, by adding an antenna type in the O-RAN-module-cap.yang file and adding a field in the C-Plane message format to enhance the O-RAN-based forwarding interface protocol, and adding a power control module to the lens antenna to control the transmitting antenna array of the radio frequency signal, the beam of a single lens antenna always aligns to the train, thereby ensuring the coverage width and the coverage radius without decreasing, without adding a plurality of radio frequency signal transmitting units, and simultaneously saving the investment cost.

Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a beam management apparatus of a lens antenna, as described in the following embodiments. Since the principle of solving the problem of the embodiment of the device is similar to that of the embodiment of the method, the implementation of the embodiment of the device can be referred to the implementation of the embodiment of the method, and the repetition is omitted.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a beam management apparatus of a lens antenna according to an embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in fig. 8, the apparatus includes:

a location information determining module 801, configured to determine location information of the target device relative to each beam during a process of moving the target device; wherein the target device is a device in communication with the lens antenna;

an antenna array identity determination module 802 configured to determine at least one antenna array identity for communicating with a target device based on location information;

the signal transmission control module 803 is configured to control the lens antenna to transmit a radio frequency signal through at least one antenna array corresponding to the at least one antenna array identifier based on the at least one antenna array identifier.

Wherein, the lens antenna includes: and a plurality of antenna arrays, each antenna array corresponding to a beam in one direction.

Here, the above-mentioned location information determining module 801, antenna array identifier determining module 802, and signal transmission control module 803 correspond to S202 to S206 in the method embodiment, and the above-mentioned modules are the same as examples and application scenarios implemented by the corresponding steps, but are not limited to those disclosed in the above-mentioned method embodiment. It should be noted that the modules described above may be implemented as part of an apparatus in a computer system, such as a set of computer-executable instructions.

It should be noted that, a plurality of antenna arrays are installed on the spherical surface of the lens antenna, and each antenna array corresponds to an antenna array identifier. The lens antenna is the lens antenna of basic station, and the basic station still includes: open distributed units O-DUs and open wireless units O-RUs.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the location information determining module 801 is specifically configured to:

and receiving interaction information of the adjacent base stations and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) sent by the target equipment through the O-DU, and determining the position information of the target equipment relative to each beam based on the interaction information and the SRS.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the antenna array identifier determining module 802 is specifically configured to:

determining at least one beam identity capable of covering the target device based on the location information by means of the O-DU;

the O-RU acquires at least one beam identifier through a forward interface message sent by the O-DU.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the signal emission control module 803 is specifically configured to:

receiving subsequent interface information sent by the O-RU through a lens antenna, and acquiring at least one antenna array identifier from the subsequent interface information;

when the lens antenna receives radio frequency signals sent by the O-RU, the lens antenna distributes the transmitting power of the radio frequency signals for the plurality of antenna arrays based on the at least one antenna array mark, so that the radio frequency signals are transmitted from at least one antenna array corresponding to the at least one antenna array mark.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented as a system, method, or program product. Accordingly, various aspects of the disclosure may be embodied in the following forms, namely: an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining hardware and software aspects may be referred to herein as a "circuit," module "or" system.

An electronic device 900 according to such an embodiment of the present disclosure is described below with reference to fig. 9. The electronic device 900 shown in fig. 9 is merely an example and should not be construed to limit the functionality and scope of use of embodiments of the present disclosure in any way.

As shown in fig. 9, the electronic device 900 is embodied in the form of a general purpose computing device. Components of electronic device 900 may include, but are not limited to: the at least one processing unit 910, the at least one storage unit 920, and a bus 930 connecting the different system components (including the storage unit 920 and the processing unit 910).

Wherein the storage unit stores program code that is executable by the processing unit 910 such that the processing unit 910 performs steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure described in the above-described "exemplary methods" section of the present specification. For example, the processing unit 910 may perform the following steps of the method embodiment described above:

determining position information of the target device relative to each beam during movement of the target device; wherein the target device is a device in communication with the lens antenna;

Controlling the lens antenna to emit radio frequency signals through at least one antenna array corresponding to the at least one antenna array identifier based on the at least one antenna array identifier;

The storage unit 920 may include readable media in the form of volatile storage units, such as Random Access Memory (RAM) 9201 and/or cache memory 9202, and may further include Read Only Memory (ROM) 9203.

The storage unit 920 may also include a program/utility 9204 having a set (at least one) of program modules 9205, such program modules 9205 include, but are not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each or some combination of which may include an implementation of a network environment.

The bus 930 may be one or more of several types of bus structures including a memory unit bus or memory unit controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

The electronic device 900 may also communicate with one or more external devices 940 (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, bluetooth device, etc.), one or more devices that enable a user to interact with the electronic device 900, and/or any devices (e.g., routers, modems, etc.) that enable the electronic device 900 to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communication may occur through an input/output (I/O) interface 950. Also, electronic device 900 may communicate with one or more networks such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), and/or a public network, such as the Internet, through network adapter 960. As shown, the network adapter 960 communicates with other modules of the electronic device 900 over the bus 930. It should be appreciated that although not shown, other hardware and/or software modules may be used in connection with electronic device 900, including, but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, data backup storage systems, and the like.

From the above description of embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the example embodiments described herein may be implemented in software, or may be implemented in software in combination with the necessary hardware. Thus, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product, which may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (may be a CD-ROM, a U-disk, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to cause a computing device (may be a personal computer, a server, a terminal device, or a network device, etc.) to perform the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

In particular, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the process described above with reference to the flowcharts may be implemented as a computer program product comprising: and a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the beam management method of the lens antenna described above.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium, which may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium, is also provided. In some possible implementations, various aspects of the disclosure may also be implemented in the form of a program product comprising program code for causing a terminal device to carry out the steps according to the various exemplary embodiments of the disclosure as described in the "exemplary methods" section of this specification, when the program product is run on the terminal device.

More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium in the present disclosure may include, but are not limited to: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

In this disclosure, a computer readable storage medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, with readable program code embodied therein. Such a propagated data signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium that is not a readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Alternatively, the program code embodied on a computer readable storage medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

In particular implementations, the program code for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computing device, partly on the user's device, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computing device, partly on a remote computing device, or entirely on the remote computing device or server. In the case of remote computing devices, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device through any kind of network, including a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., connected via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

It should be noted that although in the above detailed description several modules or units of a device for action execution are mentioned, such a division is not mandatory. Indeed, the features and functionality of two or more modules or units described above may be embodied in one module or unit in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above may be further divided into a plurality of modules or units to be embodied.

Furthermore, although the steps of the methods in the present disclosure are depicted in a particular order in the drawings, this does not require or imply that the steps must be performed in that particular order or that all illustrated steps be performed in order to achieve desirable results. Additionally or alternatively, certain steps may be omitted, multiple steps combined into one step to perform, and/or one step decomposed into multiple steps to perform, etc.

From the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the example embodiments described herein may be implemented in software, or may be implemented in software in combination with the necessary hardware. Thus, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in the form of a software product, which may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (may be a CD-ROM, a U-disk, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to cause a computing device (may be a personal computer, a server, a mobile terminal, or a network device, etc.) to perform the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

Claims

1. A method of beam management for a lens antenna, the lens antenna comprising: a plurality of antenna elements, each antenna element corresponding to a beam in one direction;

the beam management method of the lens antenna comprises the following steps:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of antenna elements are mounted on a spherical surface of the lens antenna, each of the antenna elements corresponding to an antenna element identification.

3. The method of beam management for a lens antenna according to claim 1, wherein the lens antenna is a lens antenna of a base station, the base station further comprising: open distributed units O-DUs and open wireless units O-RUs.

4. A method of beam management for a lens antenna according to claim 3, wherein determining the location information of the target device relative to each beam comprises:

5. A method of beam management for a lens antenna according to claim 3, wherein determining at least one antenna array identity for communication with the target device based on the location information comprises:

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the forward interface message includes a beam identification field that characterizes one or more beam identifications communicated to the target device.

7. A method of beam management for a lens antenna according to claim 3, wherein controlling the lens antenna to transmit radio frequency signals through at least one antenna element corresponding to the at least one antenna element identification based on the at least one antenna element identification comprises:

8. A beam management device for a lens antenna, the lens antenna comprising: a plurality of antenna elements, each antenna element corresponding to a beam in one direction;

the beam management device of the lens antenna comprises:

9. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to perform the beam management method of the lens antenna of any of claims 1-7 via execution of the executable instructions.

10. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, wherein the computer program when executed by a processor implements the beam management method of the lens antenna of any of claims 1 to 7.