CN118018164A

CN118018164A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN118018164A
Application number: CN202211556293.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 魏秀红; 王碧钗; 李雪茹
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-11-09
Filing date: 2022-12-06
Publication date: 2024-05-10
Also published as: WO2024099142A1

Abstract

The application relates to a communication method and a communication device. The first device receives a first UWB frame from the second device, the first UWB frame comprising a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal comprising N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols being determined from a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal comprising N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols being determined from a second pilot code sequence, the chip period of the first pilot signal being different from the chip period of the second pilot signal. The first device processes the physical payload of the first UWB frame based on the results of the processing of the first and second pilot signals. Through different chip periods, the two pilot signals can be respectively suitable for the requirements of different functions, so that the performance of synchronization and channel equalization can be improved.

Description

Communication method and device

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority from the chinese patent application filed at 11 months 09 of 2022, filed at the chinese national intellectual property office under application number 202211397779.6, entitled "a method for configuring a UWB incoherent frame structure", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method and apparatus.

Background

Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology can achieve high-precision positioning or data transmission by sending short pulses on the order of nanoseconds. UWB technology can support both coherent and incoherent reception. When the incoherent receiving mode is adopted, the implementation cost and the power consumption of the incoherent receiver are low, so that the incoherent receiving is a potential choice of low-power consumption communication.

On the premise of low power consumption, UWB technology is also required to meet the data transmission rate requirements of products, for example, the data transmission rate expected by augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) glasses is 10Mbps and above. To increase the data transmission rate, the period of the modulation symbols should be relatively small. For example, when the data transmission rate is 10.4Mbps, the period of the modulation symbol is 48 nanoseconds (ns) at a channel bandwidth of 500MHz and a channel coding rate of 0.5. In this case, however, the indoor multipath delay spread may reach 100ns, exceeding the guard interval between adjacent modulation symbols, introducing intersymbol interference. In order to reduce inter-symbol interference, the incoherent receiver may perform channel equalization based on the channel information to improve the detection performance of the received signal. In addition, the incoherent receiver can acquire channel information to combat the effect of channel fading on the received signal even without intersymbol interference. This processing of the received signal to combat channel fading and intersymbol interference is hereinafter collectively referred to as channel equalization.

A synchronization header (synchronization header, SHR) is included in the UWB frame, a Synchronization (SYNC) field is included in the SHR, a pilot symbol is included in the SYNC field, and the incoherent receiver may synchronize according to the pilot symbol, and may acquire channel information according to the pilot signal to solve an accurate channel equalization coefficient, thereby performing channel equalization according to the channel equalization coefficient. And channel equalization (e.g., acquisition of channel information) using pilot symbols for synchronization may result in poor performance of channel equalization.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are used for improving the performance of channel equalization.

In a first aspect, a first communication method is provided, which may be performed by a first device, or by another device comprising the functionality of the first device, or by a system-on-chip (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functionality of the first device, which is for example provided in the first device. The first device is for example a terminal device or a network device, which may have UWB functionality. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a first UWB frame from a second device, the first UWB frame comprising a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal comprising N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols determined from a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal comprising N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols determined from a second pilot code sequence, the first pilot signal having a different chip period than the second pilot signal, wherein the first pilot signal has a chip period determined from a time interval of adjacent elements of the first pilot code sequence in the first pilot signal, the second pilot signal has a chip period determined from a time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, and both N1 and N2 are positive integers; and processing the physical load of the first UWB frame according to the processing results of the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first UWB frame may include a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, which have different chip periods. For example, the two pilot signals may be used for different functions, respectively, such as a first pilot signal for synchronization and a second pilot signal for acquisition of channel information (e.g., the channel information may be used for channel equalization training, etc.). Through different chip periods, the two pilot signals can be respectively suitable for the requirements of different functions, so that the performance of synchronization and channel equalization can be improved.

In an alternative embodiment, the first pilot symbol included in the first pilot signal is formed by inserting zeros into the first pilot code sequence, the first pilot code sequence includes K1 elements, where L1-1 zeros are inserted between adjacent elements, and a chip period of the first pilot signal is L1, where L1 and K1 are positive integers; the second pilot frequency symbol included in the second pilot frequency signal is formed by zero insertion of the second pilot frequency code sequence, the second pilot frequency code sequence comprises K2 elements, L2-1 zeros are inserted between adjacent elements, the chip period of the second pilot frequency signal is L2, and L2 and K2 are positive integers. The elements comprised by the pilot code sequence may also be referred to as symbols, and thus the chip period of the pilot symbols may also be referred to as symbol periods of the pilot symbols. Alternatively, the chip period of a pilot symbol may also be understood as the chip period of a pilot signal comprising the pilot symbol.

In an alternative embodiment, the method further comprises: and synchronizing according to the first pilot signal, and acquiring channel information according to the second pilot signal to obtain the processing result. The channel information is used for example for channel equalization or channel equalization training, it being understood that the first pilot signal may be used for synchronization and the second pilot signal may be used for channel equalization training, i.e. by means of different chip periods, the two pilot signals may be adapted to the requirements of different functions, respectively, so that the performance of synchronization as well as channel equalization may be improved.

In an alternative embodiment, the first UWB frame further includes a physical payload, and the difference between the chip period of the second pilot signal and the period of the data symbols included in the physical payload is smaller than the difference between the chip period of the first pilot signal and the period of the data symbols included in the physical payload. Channel equalization performance is best when the chip period of the pilot signal used for channel equalization training is the same as the period of the data symbols within the physical payload. Therefore, the implementation of the application can enable the chip period of the second pilot signal to be relatively close to the period of the data symbol in the physical load, thereby improving the performance of channel equalization.

In an alternative embodiment, the second pilot signal has the same chip period as the data symbols comprised by the physical payload. In this case, the channel equalization performance is optimal.

In an alternative embodiment, the first UWB frame further includes an SFD field, the method further comprising: determining one or more of the following according to the spreading code included in the SFD field: the chip period of the second pilot signal, the repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol, or the sequence number of the second pilot code sequence. In this way, the parameters of the second pilot signal are indicated, and no additional indication overhead is required to be added, so that transmission resources can be saved.

In an alternative embodiment, the first pilot signal is located before the SFD field and the second pilot signal is located after the SFD field. Because the SFD field includes a spreading code that may indicate parameters of the second pilot signal, the second pilot signal may be located after the SFD field to enable a receiving device (e.g., a second device) to detect the second pilot signal from the SFD field. And the first pilot signal may be located before the SFD field to improve synchronization efficiency.

In an alternative embodiment, the first UWB frame further comprises a physical header, the method further comprising: determining one or more of the following from the physical header: the chip period of the second pilot signal, the repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol, or the sequence number of the second pilot code sequence. The physical head is used for indicating the parameters of the second pilot signals, the indication mode is more flexible, and more values of the parameters of the second pilot signals can be supported.

In an alternative embodiment, the first pilot signal is located before the physical header and the second pilot signal is located between the physical header and the physical payload. Because the physical header may indicate parameters of the second pilot signal, the second pilot signal may be located after the physical header to enable a receiving device (e.g., a second device) to detect the second pilot signal from the physical header. While the first pilot signal may be located before the physical header, for example, before the SFD field, or may be located after the SFD field and before the physical header to improve synchronization efficiency.

In an alternative embodiment, the physical header indicates a symbol rate of data symbols included in the physical payload, the symbol rate of the data symbols included in the physical payload being the same as a symbol rate of the second pilot signal, wherein the symbol rate of the data symbols is a reciprocal of a period of the data symbols, and the symbol rate of the second pilot signal is a reciprocal of a chip period of the second pilot signal. Alternatively, the parameters of the second pilot signal may be indicated by an existing field within the physical header. For example, the physical header includes a field for indicating the symbol rate of the data symbols within the physical payload, e.g., referred to as a third field, and then embodiments of the present application may utilize the third field to indicate the symbol rate of the second pilot signal. For example, the symbol rate of the second pilot signal is the same as the symbol rate of the data symbols included in the physical payload within the first UWB frame, and then the third field may be considered to indicate both the symbol rate of the data symbols included in the physical payload and the symbol rate of the second pilot signal. The method can reduce the overhead of the physical head, does not need to change the structure of the physical head, and can simplify the realization of the equipment.

In an alternative embodiment, the symbol rate of the physical header is below a first threshold. If the physical header indicates the parameter of the second pilot symbol, the first device does not know the parameter of the second pilot symbol when detecting the physical header, and cannot acquire channel information according to the second pilot symbol, so that channel equalization training cannot be performed. If the symbol rate of the physical header is too large (or the symbol period of the physical header is too small), inter-symbol interference may be introduced, resulting in an inaccurate detection result of the physical header. Thus, alternatively, in the second indication mode, the symbol rate of the physical header may be lower than or equal to the first threshold (or the symbol period of the physical header may be greater than or equal to the third threshold), thereby resisting inter-symbol interference.

In an alternative embodiment, the method further comprises: and receiving a second UWB frame from a third device, wherein a synchronization head of the second UWB frame comprises a third pilot signal, and the total duration of the third pilot signal, which is included by the synchronization head, is equal to the total duration of the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal. The third device may be the same device as the second device, or may be a different device, and the third pilot signal may be, for example, a pilot signal included in the SYNC field in the existing protocol. That is, although the pilot signal is divided into two parts, or two layers (the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal), the total duration of the pilot signals of the two layers may be unchanged relative to the total duration of the pilot signals of the existing protocol, without adding additional pilot overhead.

In an alternative embodiment, the second pilot code sequence is a binary sequence. In a non-coherent receiver, the received signal is processed by a squarer, so that the input information for channel equalization training does not have negative values. If a ternary sequence is used as the second pilot code sequence, elements with a value of "-1" exist in the ternary sequence, and when the elements are used as input information of channel equalization training, the elements are processed into "1" by a squarer, which results in unstable channel equalization training process and possibly larger error of training results. Therefore, the second pilot code sequence can adopt a binary sequence, so that the accuracy of the training result can be improved.

In an alternative embodiment, the first pilot code sequence is a binary sequence or a ternary sequence. The implementation of the first pilot code sequence is not limited.

In a second aspect, a second communication method is provided, which may be performed by a second device, or by another device comprising the functionality of the second device, or by a system-on-chip (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functionality of the second device, which system-on-chip or functional module is for example provided in the second device. The second device is for example a terminal device or a network device, which may have UWB functionality. The method comprises the following steps: generating (or determining) a first UWB frame, the first UWB frame comprising a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal comprising N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols determined from a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal comprising N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols determined from a second pilot code sequence, the first pilot signal having a different chip period than the second pilot signal, wherein the first pilot signal has a chip period determined from a time interval of adjacent elements of the first pilot code sequence in the first pilot signal, the second pilot signal has a chip period determined from a time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, and both N1 and N2 are positive integers; the first UWB frame is transmitted to a first device.

In an alternative embodiment, the first pilot symbol included in the first pilot signal is formed by inserting zeros into the first pilot code sequence, the first pilot code sequence includes K1 elements, where L1-1 zeros are inserted between adjacent elements, and a chip period of the first pilot signal is L1, where L1 and K1 are positive integers; the second pilot frequency symbol included in the second pilot frequency signal is formed by zero insertion of the second pilot frequency code sequence, the second pilot frequency code sequence comprises K2 elements, L2-1 zeros are inserted between adjacent elements, the chip period of the second pilot frequency signal is L2, and L2 and K2 are positive integers.

In an alternative embodiment, the first UWB frame further includes a physical payload, and the difference between the chip period of the second pilot signal and the period of the data symbols included in the physical payload is smaller than the difference between the chip period of the first pilot signal and the period of the data symbols included in the physical payload.

In an alternative embodiment, the second pilot signal has the same chip period as the data symbols comprised by the physical payload.

In an alternative embodiment, the first UWB frame further includes an SFD field, the SFD field including a spreading code for indicating one or more of: the chip period of the second pilot signal, the repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol, or the sequence number of the second pilot code sequence.

In an alternative embodiment, the first pilot signal is located before the SFD field and the second pilot signal is located after the SFD field.

In an alternative embodiment, the first UWB frame further comprises a physical header for indicating one or more of: the chip period of the second pilot signal, the repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol, or the sequence number of the second pilot code sequence.

In an alternative embodiment, the first pilot signal is located before the physical header and the second pilot signal is located between the physical header and the physical payload.

In an alternative embodiment, the physical header indicates a symbol rate of data symbols included in the physical payload, the symbol rate of the data symbols included in the physical payload being the same as a symbol rate of the second pilot signal, wherein the symbol rate of the data symbols is a reciprocal of a period of the data symbols, and the symbol rate of the second pilot signal is a reciprocal of a chip period of the second pilot signal.

In an alternative embodiment, the symbol rate of the physical header is below a first threshold.

In an alternative embodiment, the method further comprises: and receiving a second UWB frame from a third device, wherein a synchronization head of the second UWB frame comprises a third pilot signal, and the total duration of the third pilot signal, which is included by the synchronization head, is equal to the total duration of the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal.

In an alternative embodiment, the second pilot code sequence is a binary sequence.

In an alternative embodiment, the first pilot code sequence is a binary sequence or a ternary sequence.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the second aspect or various alternative embodiments, reference may be made to the description of the technical effects of the first aspect or corresponding embodiments.

In a third aspect, a third communication method is provided, which method may be performed by a first device, or by another device comprising the functionality of the first device, or by a system-on-chip (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functionality of the first device, which system-on-chip or functional module is for example provided in the first device. The first device is for example a terminal device or a network device, which may have UWB functionality. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a first UWB frame from a second device, the first UWB frame comprising a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal comprising N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols being determined from a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal comprising N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols being determined from a second pilot code sequence, the first UWB frame further comprising a physical payload, the second pilot signal having a chip period identical to a period of data symbols comprised by the physical payload, wherein the chip period of the second pilot signal is determined from a time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, N1 and N2 being positive integers; and processing the physical load of the first UWB frame according to the processing results of the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal.

In an embodiment of the present application, the first UWB frame may include a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, for example, the two pilot signals may be used for different functions, for example, the first pilot signal is used for synchronization, and the second pilot signal is used for obtaining channel information. Different pilot signals can be respectively suitable for the requirements of different functions, so that the performance of synchronization and channel equalization can be improved. Channel equalization performance is best when the chip period of the pilot signal used for channel equalization training is the same as the period of the data symbols within the physical payload. Therefore, the implementation of the application can lead the chip period of the second pilot signal to be the same as the period of the data symbol in the physical load, thereby improving the performance of channel equalization.

In an alternative embodiment, the chip period of the first pilot signal is different from the chip period of the second pilot signal. For example, the chip period of the first pilot signal may be set according to the synchronization requirement. The chip periods of the two pilot signals are decoupled so that the chip periods of the two pilot signals can be set according to the respective functions to which they are applied, thereby enabling to improve the synchronization performance and the channel equalization performance.

In an alternative embodiment, the method further comprises: and synchronizing according to the first pilot signal, and acquiring channel information according to the second pilot signal to obtain the processing result.

In an alternative embodiment, the first UWB frame further includes an SFD field, the method further comprising: determining one or more of the following according to the spreading code included in the SFD field: the chip period of the second pilot signal, the repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol, or the sequence number of the second pilot code sequence.

In an alternative embodiment, the first UWB frame further comprises a physical header, the method further comprising: determining one or more of the following from the physical header: the chip period of the second pilot signal, the repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol, or the sequence number of the second pilot code sequence.

With regard to the technical effects brought about by some embodiments of the third aspect, reference may be made to the description of the technical effects of the first aspect or of the corresponding embodiments.

In a fourth aspect, a fourth communication method is provided, which method may be performed by a second device, or by another device comprising the functionality of the second device, or by a system-on-chip (or chip) or other functional module capable of implementing the functionality of the second device, the system-on-chip or functional module being provided in the second device, for example. The second device is for example a terminal device or a network device, which may have UWB functionality. The method comprises the following steps: generating (or determining) a first UWB frame, the first UWB frame including a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal including N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols being determined according to a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal including N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols being determined according to a second pilot code sequence, the first UWB frame further including a physical payload, a chip period of the second pilot signal being the same as a period of data symbols included in the physical payload, wherein the chip period of the second pilot signal is determined according to a time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, and N1 and N2 are both positive integers; the first UWB frame is transmitted to a first device.

In an alternative embodiment, the chip period of the first pilot signal is different from the chip period of the second pilot signal.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the fourth aspect or various alternative embodiments, reference may be made to the description of the technical effects of the third aspect or corresponding embodiments.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication means may be the first device of any one of the first to fourth aspects above. The communication device has the function of the first device. The communication means is for example a first device, or a larger device comprising the first device, or a functional module in the first device, such as a baseband means or a system on chip, etc. In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation manner, the communication apparatus includes a module for implementing the method in any one of the first aspect or the third aspect. In another alternative implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). The transceiver unit can realize a transmission function and a reception function, and may be referred to as a transmission unit (sometimes referred to as a transmission module) when the transceiver unit realizes the transmission function, and may be referred to as a reception unit (sometimes referred to as a reception module) when the transceiver unit realizes the reception function. The transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be the same functional module, which is called a transceiver unit, and which can implement a transmitting function and a receiving function; or the transmitting unit and the receiving unit may be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit is a generic term for these functional modules.

In an alternative embodiment, the transceiver unit (or the receiving unit) is configured to receive a first UWB frame from a second device, where the first UWB frame includes a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal includes N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols are determined according to a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal includes N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols are determined according to a second pilot code sequence, and a chip period of the first pilot signal is different from a chip period of the second pilot signal, where the chip period of the first pilot signal is determined according to a time interval of adjacent elements of the first pilot code sequence in the first pilot signal, and the chip period of the second pilot signal is determined according to a time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, where N1 and N2 are both positive integers; the processing unit is configured to process the physical load of the first UWB frame according to a result of processing the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal.

In an alternative embodiment, the transceiver unit (or the receiving unit) is configured to receive a first UWB frame from a second device, where the first UWB frame includes a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal includes N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols are determined according to a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal includes N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols are determined according to a second pilot code sequence, the first UWB frame further includes a physical payload, and a chip period of the second pilot signal is the same as a period of a data symbol included in the physical payload, where the chip period of the second pilot signal is determined according to a time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, and N1 and N2 are both positive integers; the processing unit is configured to process the physical load of the first UWB frame according to a result of processing the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal.

In an alternative embodiment, the communication apparatus further comprises a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), the processing unit being configured to be coupled to the storage unit and execute a program or instructions in the storage unit, to enable the communication apparatus to perform the functions of the first device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.

In a sixth aspect, another communication device is provided. The communication means may be the second device of any one of the first to fourth aspects above. The communication device has the function of the second device. The communication means is for example a second device, or a larger device comprising the second device, or a functional module in the second device, such as a baseband means or a system on chip, etc. In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation manner, the communication apparatus includes a module for implementing the method in any one of the second aspect or the fourth aspect. In another alternative implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). Reference may be made to the description of the fifth aspect as regards implementation of the transceiver unit.

In an alternative embodiment, the processing unit is configured to generate a first UWB frame, where the first UWB frame includes a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, where the first pilot signal includes N1 first pilot symbols, where the first pilot symbols are determined according to a first pilot code sequence, where the second pilot signal includes N2 second pilot symbols, where the second pilot symbols are determined according to a second pilot code sequence, where a chip period of the first pilot signal is different from a chip period of the second pilot signal, where the chip period of the first pilot signal is determined according to a time interval of adjacent elements of the first pilot code sequence in the first pilot signal, where the chip period of the second pilot signal is determined according to a time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, and where N1 and N2 are both positive integers; the transceiver unit (or the transmitting unit) is configured to transmit the first UWB frame to a first device.

In an alternative embodiment, the processing unit is configured to generate a first UWB frame, where the first UWB frame includes a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, where the first pilot signal includes N1 first pilot symbols, where the first pilot symbols are determined according to a first pilot code sequence, where the second pilot signal includes N2 second pilot symbols, where the second pilot symbols are determined according to a second pilot code sequence, where the first UWB frame further includes a physical payload, where a chip period of the second pilot signal is the same as a period of a data symbol included in the physical payload, where the chip period of the second pilot signal is determined according to a time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, and where N1 and N2 are positive integers; the transceiver unit (or the transmitting unit) is configured to transmit the first UWB frame to a first device.

In an alternative embodiment, the communication apparatus further comprises a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), the processing unit being configured to be coupled to the storage unit and execute a program or instructions in the storage unit, to enable the communication apparatus to perform the functions of the second device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a further communication apparatus, which may be the first device, or a chip or chip system for use in the first device. The communication device comprises a communication interface and a processor, and optionally a memory. Wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface, and wherein the processor, when reading said computer program or instructions, causes the communication device to perform the method performed by the first apparatus in the above aspects.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a further communication apparatus, which may be the second device, or a chip or a system of chips for use in the second device. The communication device comprises a communication interface and a processor, and optionally a memory. Wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface, and wherein the processor, when reading said computer program or instructions, causes the communication apparatus to perform the method performed by the second device in the above aspects.

A ninth aspect provides a communication system comprising a first device for performing the communication method performed by the first device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects and a second device for performing the communication method performed by the second device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.

In an alternative embodiment, the first device may be implemented by the fifth or seventh aspect or the communication apparatus.

In an alternative embodiment, the second device may be implemented by a communication apparatus according to the sixth or eighth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions which, when executed, cause a method performed by a first device or a second device of the above aspects to be carried out.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the method of the above aspects to be carried out.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of time domain resources occupied by a modulation symbol included in a UWB frame;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a UWB frame structure;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a pilot symbol structure;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of detection performance of a non-coherent receiver without channel equalization;

fig. 5 and fig. 6 are schematic diagrams of detection performance of a non-coherent receiver after channel equalization;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a two-layer pilot signal structure according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 10A and fig. 10B are two schematic diagrams illustrating the location of the second pilot signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 12 is a schematic view of yet another apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

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

In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns, unless otherwise indicated, means "a singular noun or a plural noun", i.e. "one or more". "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. For example, A/B, means: a or B. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, represents: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, wherein a, b, c may be single or plural.

The ordinal terms such as "first," "second," and the like in the embodiments of the present application are used for distinguishing a plurality of objects, and are not used for limiting the size, content, sequence, timing, priority, importance, and the like of the plurality of objects. For example, the first set and the second set may be the same set or different sets, and such names do not indicate the difference in content, application scenario, priority, importance, or the like of the two sets. In addition, the numbers of the steps in the embodiments described in the present application are only for distinguishing different steps, and are not used for limiting the sequence of the steps.

In the following, some terms or concepts in the embodiments of the present application are explained for easy understanding by those skilled in the art.

(1) In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device is a device with a wireless transceiver function, and may be a fixed device, a mobile device, a handheld device (such as a mobile phone), a wearable device, a vehicle-mounted device, or a wireless apparatus (such as a communication module, a modem, or a chip system) built in the device. The terminal device is used for connecting people, objects, machines and the like, and can be widely used in various scenes, including but not limited to the following scenes: cellular communication, device-to-device communication (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (vehicle to everything, V2X), machine-to-machine/machine-class communication (M2M/MTC), internet of things (internet of things, ioT), virtual Reality (VR), augmented reality (augmented reality, AR), industrial control (industrial control), unmanned (SELF DRIVING), remote medical (remote medium), smart grid (SMART GRID), smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart traffic, smart city (SMART CITY), unmanned aerial vehicle, robotic, etc. scenarios. The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as a UE, a terminal, an access station, a UE station, a remote station, a wireless communication device, or a user equipment, among others. For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present application, a UE is taken as an example for illustrating a terminal device.

(2) The network device in the embodiment of the application comprises an access network device and/or a core network device. The access network equipment is equipment with a wireless receiving and transmitting function and is used for communicating with the terminal equipment. The access network devices include, but are not limited to, base stations (base transceiver stations (base transceiver station, BTS), node B, eNodeB/eNB, or gNodeB/gNB), transceiver points (transmission reception point, TRP), base stations for subsequent evolution of the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP), access nodes in wireless fidelity (WIRELESS FIDELITY, wi-Fi) systems, wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, and the like. The base station may be: macro base station, micro base station, pico base station, small station, relay station, etc. Multiple base stations may support networks of the same access technology or may support networks of different access technologies. A base station may comprise one or more co-sited or non-co-sited transmission reception points. The access network device may also be a radio controller, a centralized unit (centralized unit, CU), and/or a Distributed Unit (DU) in the context of a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN). The access network device may also be a server or the like. For example, the network device in the vehicle-to-everything (vehicle to everything, V2X) technology may be a Road Side Unit (RSU). The following describes an access network device using a base station as an example. The base station may communicate with the terminal device or may communicate with the terminal device through the relay station. A terminal device may communicate with multiple base stations in different access technologies. The core network device is used for realizing the functions of mobile management, data processing, session management, policy and charging, etc. The names of devices implementing the core network function in the systems of different access technologies may be different, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this. Taking a 5G system as an example, the core network device includes: access and mobility management functions (ACCESS AND mobility management function, AMF), session management functions (session management function, SMF), policy control functions (policy control function, PCF), or user plane functions (user plane function, UPF), etc.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device for implementing the function of the network device may be a network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system, and the device may be installed in the network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is exemplified by the network device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

(3) UWB frame structure.

In UWB wireless communication systems, a transmitting device may transmit information to be transmitted carried on a pulse waveform. The manner in which the pulses carry information bits is different in different modulation schemes. For OOK modulation, for example, whether an information bit in a symbol period is a1 or 0 is characterized by whether a pulse is sent in that symbol period; for pulse position modulation (pulse position modulation, PPM), the information bit in a symbol period is characterized by the position in which the pulse is sent in that symbol period as either a1 or a 0. Where the symbol period refers to the period of the modulation symbol.

The smallest unit of time for transmitting a pulse is a chip, the duration of each chip being denoted T _c, each modulation symbol may contain N _c chips, the symbol period being defined as N _c×T_c, and the pulse may be transmitted in consecutive N _cpb chips in each symbol period to carry information bits. As shown in fig. 1, considering a channel bandwidth of 500MHz, then T _c＝2ns,N_c =24, the symbol period is 48ns, and the symbol rate is 1/48 ns=20.8 Msps. The symbol rate may be a product of a data rate (data transmission rate is also simply referred to as data rate) and a channel coding rate, and if the channel coding rate of 0.5 is further considered, the data rate is 10.4Mbps. There may be 1-4 chips per symbol period for pulsing, i.e. the pulse duration in one symbol period is 2 ns-8 ns, the remaining 40 ns-46 ns in the symbol period being the guard interval between the modulation symbol and the next modulation symbol. Wherein each block in fig. 1 represents a chip.

The physical layer (PHYSICAL LAYER, PHY) of UWB technology is currently standardized. The protocol specifies that the UWB physical layer frame structure mainly includes SHR, physical header (PHY HEADER, PHR), physical layer data, physical payload (PHY payload), and the like. The SHR includes a SYNC field and a frame start delimiter (SFD) field. As shown in fig. 2, the SYNC field is composed of a plurality of repeated pilot symbols S _i, wherein the number of repetitions of the pilot symbol S _i is defined as PSR. The SFD field is made up of pilot symbol S _i multiplied by a length of spreading code (e.g., a ₀,a₁,……,a_n in fig. 3).

As shown in fig. 3, each pilot symbol S _i is formed by inserting zeros into a pilot code sequence C _i of a certain length. The length of the pilot code sequence C _i is defined as K, and by inserting L-1 zeros between two adjacent elements of the pilot code sequence C _i, a pilot symbol S _i, that is, a pilot symbol S _i, is k×l in length, which occupies k×l chips in total, can be generated. Where L is the time interval between adjacent elements in the pilot code sequence included in the pilot symbol. The existing protocol defines pilot code sequences with lengths of 31, 91, 127, etc., and also defines values of L, for example, for a pilot code sequence with length of 31 (i.e., the original pilot code sequence C _i without zero insertion), L can take 16; for a 127 long pilot code sequence, L may be 4.

The receiving device (e.g., a non-coherent receiver) may achieve synchronization by detecting the SYNC field of the received UWB frame. For example, the receiving device may perform correlation operation with the received signal using the local pilot symbol S _i, and ensure the reliability of detection by using good autocorrelation characteristics of the sequences and good cross-correlation characteristics between different sequences. In addition, the receiving device may determine the start position of the PHR field by detecting the SFD field of the received UWB frame, i.e., if the receiving device correctly detects the SFD field, it may consider that the SFD field is followed by the PHR field, and may start decoding the PHR field and the PHY payload.

The technical features related to the embodiments of the present application are described below.

UWB technology can achieve high-precision positioning or data transmission by sending short pulses on the order of nanoseconds. UWB technology can support both coherent and incoherent reception. In the coherent receiving mode, the coherent receiver is required to generate a carrier signal with the same frequency and phase as the transmitter to perform down-conversion and phase detection on the received signal, so that phase synchronization is generally required to be performed through a high-frequency phase-locked loop (PLL), and the implementation complexity and the power consumption are both high. In the incoherent receiving mode, the incoherent receiver can demodulate signals through the modes of envelope detection, energy detection and the like, and functional modules such as a high-frequency PLL (phase-to-digital converter) and a high-frequency analog-to-digital converter (ADC) are not needed, so that compared with the coherent receiver, the incoherent receiver has lower implementation cost and lower power consumption and is a potential receiver architecture for supporting low-power consumption communication.

On the premise of low power consumption, UWB technology is also required to meet the data transmission rate requirement of products, for example, AR glasses expect data transmission rates of 10Mbps and above. To increase the data transmission rate, the period of the modulation symbols should be relatively small. For example, when the data transmission rate is 10.4Mbps, the period of the modulation symbol is 48 nanoseconds (ns) at a channel bandwidth of 500MHz and a channel coding rate of 0.5. In this case, however, the indoor multipath delay spread may reach 100ns, exceeding the guard interval between adjacent modulation symbols, introducing intersymbol interference. Furthermore, fading of the channel itself also presents certain difficulties in the detection of the received signal. Referring to fig. 4, a schematic diagram of detection performance of a receiving device (e.g., a non-coherent receiver) without performing channel equalization is shown. In fig. 4, the horizontal axis represents the bit signal-to-noise ratio, the vertical axis represents the packet error rate (package error rate, PER), where E _b represents the signal energy at each bit, and N ₀ represents the power spectral density of noise. The left line of fig. 4 represents the packet error rate under a Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, and the right line represents the packet error rate under a line of sight (LoS) channel model (CM 1). In fig. 4, the period of the modulation symbol is 48ns, for example, and the receiving device adopts on-off-switching (OOK) modulation. A horizontal line with a packet error rate of 0.1 in fig. 4 can be observed, and the detection performance is improved as the line on the left side of the horizontal line corresponds to the horizontal line. The actual LoS CM1 channel has the characteristics of multipath fading compared to the ideal AWGN channel. The detection performance of the received signal is greatly degraded due to the influence of channel fading, inter-symbol interference, and the like. Therefore, the receiving device needs to perform channel equalization to resist the negative effects caused by channel fading and inter-symbol interference, so as to improve the detection performance of the received signal.

Specifically, in a non-coherent receiver, the received signal passes through a squarer and an integrator in succession, so as to determine the energy corresponding to each received modulation symbol. When the incoherent receiver performs channel equalization, a plurality of equalization tap coefficients (also referred to as channel equalization coefficients) are generally defined, which can be understood as a plurality of weights, and the incoherent receiver can correct the symbol energy of the received signal according to the plurality of equalization tap coefficients, so as to compensate the energy fading of the received signal and suppress the energy interference of a plurality of modulation symbols adjacent to each other. For this reason, after receiving the UWB frame, the incoherent receiver may acquire information of the fading multipath channel based on the pilot symbol in the SYNC field of the UWB frame, so as to train the equalization tap coefficient according to the acquired information, and the training process may be referred to as channel equalization training; after training, the incoherent receiver may correct the symbol energy of the UWB frame according to a number of equalization tap coefficients obtained by training, which may be referred to as channel equalization. For example, in a manner that the incoherent receiver performs channel equalization, m1+m2 equalization tap coefficients are obtained through training, for each received modulation symbol, energy of M1-1 modulation symbols located before the modulation symbol, energy of M2 modulation symbols located after the modulation symbol, and energy of the modulation symbol may be summed up for each received modulation symbol, M1+m2 energies are multiplied by corresponding m1+m2 equalization tap coefficients one by one, and the result of the summation may be used as energy after correction of the modulation symbol. The incoherent receiver may make a decision on the modulation symbol based on the modified energy to determine the information bits carried by the modulation symbol. For example, when the energy after correction of one modulation symbol is greater than 0.5, the information bit carried by the modulation symbol may be determined to be "1", or when the energy after correction of one modulation symbol is less than 0.5, the information bit carried by the modulation symbol may be determined to be "0".

Please refer to fig. 5 and fig. 6, which are schematic diagrams of detection performance of the receiving device after channel equalization. In fig. 5 and 6, the horizontal axis represents the signal-to-noise ratio, the vertical axis represents the packet error rate, and the horizontal axis represents the signal-to-noise ratio. The leftmost line in fig. 5 and 6 represents the packet error rate under AWGN channel, and the right line represents the packet error rate under LoS CM 1. Wherein the AWGN channel may be considered an ideal channel, which is incorporated herein by reference. In fig. 5, the rightmost line indicates that the chip period of the pilot code sequence (i.e., the value of L as shown in fig. 3) is 16 chips, and the middle line indicates that the chip period of the pilot code sequence is 24 chips. The PHY payload in fig. 5 has a symbol period of 24 chips and uses a 31-long pilot code sequence. In fig. 6, the rightmost line indicates that the chip period of the pilot code sequence is 16 chips, the second line from left to right indicates that the chip period of the pilot code sequence is 48 chips, and the third line from left to right indicates that the chip period of the pilot code sequence is 24 chips. The PHY payload in fig. 6 has a symbol period of 48 chips and uses a 31-long pilot code sequence. It can be seen that the middle line shown in fig. 5, and the second line from left to right shown in fig. 6, all represent the case where L is equal to the symbol period of PHY payload. As can be seen from the analysis method of fig. 4, the detection performance of the received signal is optimal when the symbol periods of L and PHY payload are equal. This is because the receiving device performs training according to the pilot symbols in the SYNC field of the UWB frame, and the obtained balanced tap coefficient is used for information bit decision of the PHY payload of the UWB frame, similarly, the pilot symbols in the SYNC field are training sets, the data symbols in the PHY payload are test sets, and only when the periods of the two are identical, the similarity between the experienced channel fading and the inter-symbol interference condition is the highest, and the balanced tap coefficient obtained by training is more suitable for information bit decision of the PHY payload.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the SYNC field in a UWB frame includes pilot symbols that are used for both synchronization and channel equalization training. And the requirements of synchronization and channel equalization training on the chip period of the pilot symbols are inconsistent, so that the existing structure cannot balance the relationship. For example, if the chip period of the pilot symbol is inconsistent with the symbol period of the PHY payload, the performance of channel equalization is poor, and the decision accuracy is reduced; if the chip period of the pilot symbol is made to be consistent with the symbol period of the PHY payload, the symbol period of the payload is usually variable, so that the receiving device needs to perform multiple blind tests to determine the chip period of the pilot symbol, which increases the complexity of the receiving device, and in addition, if the symbol period of the PHY payload is large, the synchronization delay is also increased.

In view of this, in an embodiment of the present application, the first UWB frame may include a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, which have different chip periods. For example, the two pilot signals may each be used for different functions, e.g., a first pilot signal for synchronization and a second pilot signal for acquisition of channel information (e.g., the channel information may characterize a channel characteristic (e.g., a characteristic characterizing a channel between a first device and a second device), the channel information may be used for channel equalization or for channel equalization training). Through different chip periods, the two pilot signals can be respectively suitable for the requirements of different functions, so that the performance of synchronization and channel equalization can be improved.

Fig. 7 is an application scenario of the embodiment of the present application. Fig. 7 includes a first device and a second device, e.g., both devices are UWB devices. Where a device is said to be a UWB device if it has UWB functionality (e.g., a UWB chip is disposed within the device). Of course, the device may have other functions besides UWB functions, for example, a mobile phone may have UWB functions, but the mobile phone may also have a call function, etc., which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application. The second device may be capable of transmitting UWB signals, such as UWB frames, to the first device, which may be used, for example, for ranging, or may also be used for other communication functions, as the embodiments of the present application are not limited in this respect. For example, the first device is a network device, and the second device is a terminal device; or the first equipment is terminal equipment and the second equipment is network equipment; or the first device and the second device are both network devices; or the first device and the second device are both terminal devices.

The following describes the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application with reference to the accompanying drawings. In various embodiments of the present application, all optional steps are indicated by dashed lines in the corresponding figures. In the following description, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application is applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 7. For example, the first device according to the embodiments of the present application is a first device in the network architecture shown in fig. 7, and the second device according to the embodiments of the present application is a second device in the network architecture shown in fig. 7.

An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, please refer to fig. 8, which is a flowchart of the method.

801. The second device generates a first UWB frame.

The first UWB frame may include a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal. The first pilot signal may comprise N1 first pilot symbols, it being understood that the first pilot signal comprises N1 identical first pilot symbols, i.e. the number of repetitions of the first pilot symbols within the first pilot signal is N1, N1 being a positive integer. The second pilot signal may comprise N2 second pilot symbols, it being understood that the second pilot signal comprises N2 identical second pilot symbols, i.e. the number of repetitions of the second pilot symbols within the second pilot signal is N2, N2 being a positive integer. N1 and N2 may be equal or unequal.

The first pilot symbols may be determined from a first pilot code sequence, it being understood that the first pilot symbols may be generated from the first pilot code sequence. For example, a first pilot symbol may be generated by inserting a null element in the first pilot code sequence. For example, the first pilot code sequence includes K1 elements, and the first pilot code sequence may be denoted as C _i(0),C_i(1),……,C_i (K1-1), where C _i represents an element included in the first pilot code sequence, and may also be referred to as a symbol included in the first pilot code sequence. The first pilot symbol can be obtained by inserting (L1-1) 0 s between two adjacent elements included in the first pilot code sequence. Wherein K1 is a positive integer, and L1 is a positive integer. Alternatively, the first pilot code sequence may be a binary sequence, which may be a (0, 1) sequence having good autocorrelation properties, such as an m-sequence or gold sequence, etc.; alternatively, the first pilot code sequence may be a ternary sequence, which may also have good autocorrelation properties, for example, the ternary sequence may be a Ipatov sequence 31, 91, or 127 long, as specified in the existing protocol.

L1 represents a time interval between adjacent elements in a first pilot code sequence included in a first pilot symbol, wherein a chip period of the first pilot symbol may be determined according to L1. For example, the chip period of the first pilot symbol is equal to L1, or L1 may be considered as the chip period of the first pilot signal. Or "chip period" may also be referred to as "symbol period", i.e., L1 is the symbol period of the first pilot symbol, and may also be considered the symbol period of the first pilot signal.

Similarly, the second pilot symbol may be determined from the second pilot code sequence, and it is understood that the second pilot symbol may be generated from the second pilot code sequence. For example, a null element may be inserted in the second pilot code sequence to generate a second pilot symbol. For example, the second pilot code sequence includes K2 elements, which may be denoted as T _i(0),T_i(1),……,T_i (K2-1), where T _i represents an element included in the second pilot code sequence, which may also be referred to as a symbol included in the second pilot code sequence. The second pilot symbol can be obtained by inserting (L2-1) 0 s between two adjacent elements included in the second pilot code sequence. Wherein K2 is a positive integer, and L2 is a positive integer. K1 and K2 may be equal or unequal. L1 and L2 may be equal or unequal.

L2 represents a time interval between adjacent elements in a second pilot code sequence included in the second pilot symbol, wherein a chip period of the second pilot symbol may be determined according to L2. For example, the chip period of the second pilot symbol is equal to L2, or L2 may also be considered the chip period of the second pilot signal. Or "chip period" may also be referred to as "symbol period", i.e., L2 is the symbol period of the second pilot symbol, and may also be considered the symbol period of the second pilot signal.

In a non-coherent receiver, a received signal is processed by a squarer and an integrator in sequence, so as to obtain the received energy corresponding to each modulation symbol. Due to the influence of factors such as channel fading, intersymbol interference and the like, a receiver cannot accurately judge the modulation symbol according to the original received energy obtained after integration. Therefore, for each modulation symbol, the received energy of the modulation symbol is first corrected by the channel equalizer, the input information of the channel equalizer includes the received energy of the modulation symbol and a plurality of modulation symbols before and after the modulation symbol, and the output information of the channel equalizer includes the received energy after the correction of the modulation symbol. Where the parameters of the channel equalizer are a number of equalized tap coefficients, the channel equalization performed by the incoherent receiver is typically performed by some operation, such as a multiplication and summation (see above), of the equalized tap coefficients with the input received energy. To obtain the preferred equalization tap coefficients, the incoherent receiver may perform channel equalization training using a pilot signal (e.g., the second pilot signal) in order to minimize the error between the output of the channel equalizer and the actual pilot element (i.e., training tag). The input information of the trained channel equalizer has no negative value due to the squarer (wherein, the channel equalization training is to train the equalization tap coefficient, and the equalization tap coefficient is the parameter of the channel equalizer, so the channel equalization training can also be considered to train the channel equalizer). If the second pilot code sequence is a ternary sequence, the ternary sequence may include an element with a value of "-1", and the receiving device cannot identify the ternary sequence, which may make the channel equalization training process unstable, resulting in a larger error of the training result. Thus, alternatively, the second pilot code sequence may employ a binary sequence, which may be a (0, 1) sequence with good autocorrelation properties, such as an m-sequence, or the first pilot code sequence may employ other binary sequences as well. Or the second pilot code sequence may also adopt a ternary sequence, which is not particularly limited.

It can be appreciated that the embodiments of the present application provide a two-layer pilot signal structure, where the first pilot signal may be considered as a first layer pilot signal and the second pilot signal may be considered as a second layer pilot signal. For example, referring to fig. 9, the first pilot symbol S _i is a pilot symbol included in the first layer pilot signal, and the second pilot symbol E _i is a pilot symbol included in the second layer pilot signal. Fig. 9 shows only the structure of the pilot signal, and does not show the position of the pilot signal in the UWB frame. The two layers of pilot signals may be used for different functions, e.g., a first pilot signal may be used for synchronization and a second pilot signal may be used to obtain channel information that may be used for channel equalization training (or it is understood that the second pilot signal may be used for channel equalization training), thereby enabling different pilot signals to perform different functions with reduced impact on each other.

1. Alternative embodiment a.

The chip period of the first pilot signal may be different from the chip period of the second pilot signal, i.e., L1 and L2 are not equal. For example, the first pilot signal is used for synchronization, the second pilot signal is used for obtaining channel information, the channel information can be used for channel equalization training, and the two pilot signals can be respectively suitable for the requirements of different functions through different chip periods, so that the performance of synchronization and channel equalization can be improved. For example, the chip period of the first pilot signal may be smaller to accommodate the synchronization requirement, reducing the synchronization delay.

In an alternative embodiment a, further alternatively, the difference between the chip period of the second pilot signal and the period of the data symbol in the PHY payload included in the first UWB frame may be smaller than the difference between the chip period of the first pilot signal and the period of the data symbol in the PHY payload; and/or a difference between a chip period of the second pilot signal and a period of a data symbol within a PHY payload included in the first UWB frame may be less than a second threshold. That is, the chip period of the second pilot signal may be relatively close to the period of the data symbols within the PHY payload. As can be seen from the foregoing description, the channel equalization performance is best when the chip period of the pilot signal used for channel equalization training is the same as the period of the data symbols in the PHY payload. Therefore, the implementation of the application can enable the chip period of the second pilot signal to be relatively close to the period of the data symbol in the PHY payload, thereby improving the performance of channel equalization. For example, in an alternative embodiment, the chip period of the second pilot signal is equal to the period of the data symbols in the PHY payload included in the first UWB frame, and by making the two periods equal, channel equalization performance may be maximized.

2. Alternative embodiment B.

The second pilot signal has a chip period equal to the period of the data symbols within the PHY payload comprised by the first UWB frame. From the foregoing analysis, it can be seen that by making these two periods equal, channel equalization performance can be maximized.

In alternative embodiment B, further alternatively, the chip period of the first pilot signal and the chip period of the second pilot signal may be different, that is, L1 and L2 are not equal. For example, the first pilot signal is used for synchronization, the second pilot signal is used for obtaining channel information, the channel information can be used for channel equalization training, and the two pilot signals can be respectively suitable for the requirements of different functions through different chip periods, so that the performance of synchronization and channel equalization can be improved. For example, the chip period of the first pilot signal may be smaller to accommodate the synchronization requirement, reducing the synchronization delay.

The above alternative embodiments a and B are two parallel embodiments, one of which may be employed.

Alternatively, the sum of the duration of the first pilot signal and the duration of the second pilot signal may be equal to the total duration of a third pilot signal, e.g. a pilot signal included in the SYNC field in the existing protocol. For example, the third device may transmit a second UWB frame to the first device, and the SYNC field within the SHR of the second UWB frame may include a third pilot signal. The third device may be the same device as the second device, or may be a different device. It can be seen that, although the pilot signal is divided into two parts, or two layers (the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal) in the embodiment of the present application, the total duration of the pilot signals of the two layers is unchanged compared with the prior art, and the pilot overhead is not increased. For example, please refer to table 1, which is some examples of the chip period and the repetition number of the two-layer pilot signal in the embodiment of the present application.

TABLE 1

For example, the length of the pilot code sequence is 31, the duration of the pilot signal (for example, the third pilot signal) included in the SYNC field in the existing protocol may be 7936 chips, and the total duration of the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal provided in the embodiment of the present application is also equal to 7936 chips, which does not add extra pilot overhead. The first pilot signal and the second pilot signal in the embodiment of the present application may be implemented by one or more parameters shown in table 1, or may not use table 1, but may select other parameters.

Or the sum of the duration of the first pilot signal and the duration of the second pilot signal may be greater than the total duration of the pilot signals (e.g., the third pilot signal) included in the SYNC field in the existing protocol; or may be less than the total duration of the pilot signal (e.g., the third pilot signal) included in the SYNC field in the existing protocol, thereby saving pilot overhead, which is not limited in particular.

Alternatively, the parameters of the first pilot signal may be pre-negotiated with the second device, pre-configured by the first device and communicated to the second device, pre-configured by the second device and communicated to the first device, pre-configured in the first device and/or the second device, pre-defined by a protocol, etc. The parameter of the first pilot signal may include one or more of a chip period of the first pilot signal, a number of repetitions of the first pilot symbol included in the first pilot signal (i.e., N1), or a sequence number of the first pilot code sequence. There are a variety of alternative pilot code sequences, each of which may correspond to one sequence number, e.g., a 31-long pilot code sequence corresponds to one sequence number and a 127-long pilot code sequence corresponds to another sequence number. The receiving device (e.g., the first device) can determine the first pilot code sequence based on the sequence number of the first pilot code sequence and, in combination with the chip period of the first pilot signal, can determine the structure of the first pilot symbol. In addition, the first device may determine a length of the first pilot signal according to N1. Thereby, the first device is able to detect the first pilot signal from the parameters of the first pilot signal.

The parameters of the second pilot signal may be indicated by the first UWB frame. The parameters of the second pilot signal may include one or more of a chip period of the second pilot signal, a number of repetitions of the second pilot symbol (i.e., N2) included in the second pilot signal, or a sequence number of the second pilot code sequence. The first UWB frame indicates the parameters of the second pilot signal in a number of ways, as described by way of example below.

1. The first indication means indicates the parameters of the second pilot signal through the SFD field of the first UWB frame.

The SFD field in the first UWB frame may be formed by multiplying pilot symbols by a spreading code of a certain length, and the pilot symbols included in the SFD field may be, for example, first pilot symbols, that is, parameters of the pilot symbols forming the SFD field may be identical to parameters of the first pilot symbols. For example, the parameters of the pilot symbols constituting the SFD field may satisfy one or more of the following: the chip period of the pilot symbols constituting the SFD field is equal to the chip period of the first pilot symbol (or the chip period of the first pilot signal), the number of repetitions of the pilot symbols constituting the SFD field within the SFD field may be equal to N1, or the pilot code sequence for generating the pilot symbols constituting the SFD field may be the first pilot code sequence.

There are a variety of selectable spreading codes, and embodiments of the present application may set a correspondence between the spreading codes and parameters of the second pilot signal. The correspondence may be set by the first device and communicated to the second device, or set by the second device and communicated to the first device, or determined by the first device negotiating with the second device, or preconfigured in the first device and/or the second device, or predefined by a protocol, etc. For example, the correspondence indicates that the spreading codes [0, +1,0, -1, +1,0, -1] correspond to 24 chips in a chip period, the repetition number is 8, and the sequence number of the pilot code sequence is 0, and the spreading codes [ +1,0, -1,0, +1] correspond to 48 chips in a chip period, the repetition number is 4, and the sequence number of the pilot code sequence is 1.

Alternatively, in the first indication mode, the first pilot signal may be located before the SFD field, and since the SFD field indicates the parameter of the second pilot signal, the second pilot signal may be located after the SFD field, so that the receiving device (e.g., the first device) may first receive the SFD field and then detect the second pilot signal according to the indication of the SFD field. Alternatively, both the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal may be located in the SYNC field. For example, the structure of the first UWB frame may be referenced to fig. 10A. In fig. 10A, S _i denotes a first pilot symbol, E _i denotes a second pilot symbol, a ₀,a₁,……,a_n denotes a spreading code used in the SFD field, C _i(0),C_i(1),……,C_i (K1-1) denotes a first pilot code sequence, and T _i(0),T_i(1),……,T_i (K2-1) denotes a second pilot code sequence. Each C _i occupies one chip, each T _i occupies one chip, and each "0" also occupies one chip. Thus, fig. 10A shows that the chip period of the first pilot symbol (or the chip period of the first pilot signal) is L1 chips, and the chip period of the second pilot symbol (or the chip period of the second pilot signal) is L2 chips.

For a device receiving a first UWB frame (e.g., a first device), the parameters of the second pilot signal can be determined based on the spreading code employed in the SFD field within the first UWB frame. For example, using the example above, the SFD field within the first UWB frame uses a spreading code a, the first device may determine that the second pilot signal has a chip period of 24 chips, a repetition number of 8, and a sequence number of the second pilot code sequence of a. In this way, the parameters of the second pilot signal are indicated, and no additional indication overhead is required to be added, so that transmission resources can be saved.

The first device may synchronize based on the first pilot signal and then determine a starting time domain position of the second pilot signal based on the SFD field. The first device may also determine parameters of the second pilot signal based on the SFD field to obtain channel information based on the second pilot signal and perform channel equalization training based on the channel information. In addition, the first device may also determine a duration of the second pilot signal based on the SFD field. If the first UWB frame adopts the structure of fig. 10A, the duration of the second pilot signal, i.e., the time interval between the SFD field and the PHR field. Therefore, the first device can determine the initial time domain position of the PHR field according to the time domain position of the SFD field and the duration of the second pilot signal, so as to be able to decode the PHR field and the PHY payload, and further, the first device can perform energy correction on the data symbol included in the PHY payload according to the result of channel equalization training, so as to determine the information bit carried by the data symbol.

2. In the second indication mode, parameters of the second pilot signal are indicated through a PHR field of the first UWB frame.

For example, one or more fields may be added in the PHR field for indicating parameters of the second pilot signal. For example, a new first field in the PHR field indicates a chip period of the second pilot signal, and a new second field indicates the number of repetitions N2 of the second pilot symbol included in the second pilot signal. The mode indicates the parameter of the second pilot signal through the newly added field, and the indication mode is clear.

For another example, the parameters of the second pilot signal may be indicated using an existing field within the PHR field. For example, if the PHR field includes a field for indicating the symbol rate of the data symbol included in the PHY payload, e.g., referred to as a third field, the third field may be used by embodiments of the present application to indicate the symbol rate of the second pilot signal. For example, the symbol rate of the second pilot signal is the same as the symbol rate of the data symbols included in the PHY payload within the first UWB frame, and then the third field may be considered to indicate both the symbol rate of the data symbols included in the PHY payload and the symbol rate of the second pilot signal. The symbol rate of the data symbol included in the PHY payload is the inverse of the period of the data symbol included in the PHY payload, and the symbol rate of the second pilot signal is the inverse of the chip period of the second pilot signal, so the third field may also be considered to indicate both the period of the data symbol included in the PHY payload and the chip period of the second pilot signal. Other existing fields within the PHR field may also be employed for other parameters of the second pilot signal. The method can reduce the overhead of the PHR field, does not need to change the structure of the PHR field, and can simplify the realization of equipment.

For another example, the parameters of the second pilot signal may be indicated in conjunction with the newly added field and an existing field within the PHR field. For example, the symbol rate of the second pilot signal is the same as the symbol rate of the data symbols included in the PHY payload in the first UWB frame, and the third field in the PHR field may be used to indicate the symbol rate of the second pilot signal, where the indication may refer to the previous section. In addition, a field may be added in the PHR field, for example, the new second field indicates the number of repetitions of the second pilot symbol N2 included in the second pilot signal, and so on. The method is flexible, so that the overhead of PHR fields can be saved to a certain extent, and the indication can be made more clear.

The PHR field is used for indicating the parameter of the second pilot signal, the indication mode is more flexible, and more values of the parameter of the second pilot signal can be supported.

Optionally, in the second indication manner, the first pilot signal may be located before the PHR field, and since the PHR field indicates a parameter of the second pilot signal, the second pilot signal may be located after the PHR field, so that the receiving device (e.g. the first device) may first receive the PHR field and then detect the second pilot signal according to the indication of the PHR field. Alternatively, the second pilot signal may be located between the PHR field and the PHY payload. For example, the second pilot symbol is located in a separate field located between the PHR field and the PHY payload; or the second pilot symbol is positioned in the PHR field, and the position of the second pilot symbol is positioned between the original content of the PHR field and the PHY payload; or the second pilot symbol is located in the PHY payload, and the location of the second pilot symbol is located between the PHR field and the original content of the PHY payload.

For example, the structure of the first UWB frame may refer to fig. 10B, where fig. 10B exemplifies that the second pilot symbols are located in a separate field (i.e., not located within the PHR field and the PHY payload). In fig. 10B, S _i denotes a first pilot symbol, E _i denotes a second pilot symbol, a ₀,a₁,……,a_n denotes a spreading code used in the SFD field, C _i(0),C_i(1),……,C_i (K1-1) denotes a first pilot code sequence, and T _i(0),T_i(1),……,T_i (K2-1) denotes a second pilot code sequence. Each C _i occupies one chip, each T _i occupies one chip, and each "0" also occupies one chip. Thus, fig. 10B shows that the chip period of the first pilot symbol (or the chip period of the first pilot signal) is L1 chips, and the chip period of the second pilot symbol (or the chip period of the second pilot signal) is L2 chips.

In the second indication mode, the PHR field indicates the parameters of the second pilot symbol, so that the first device does not know the parameters of the second pilot symbol when detecting the PHR field, and cannot acquire channel information according to the second pilot symbol, so that channel equalization training cannot be performed. If the symbol rate of the PHR field is too large (or the symbol period of the PHR field is too small), inter-symbol interference may be introduced, resulting in inaccurate detection results of the PHR field. Thus, alternatively, in the second indication manner, the symbol rate of the PHR field may be lower than or equal to the first threshold (or the symbol period of the PHR field may be greater than or equal to the third threshold), thereby resisting inter-symbol interference. Alternatively, the third threshold is, for example, a maximum multipath delay spread, for example 100 nanoseconds (ns).

The first device may synchronize from the first pilot signal, determine a starting time domain position of the PHR field by detecting the SFD field, and decode the PHR field. According to the PHR field, parameters of the second pilot signal can be determined, and information such as the initial time domain position of the second pilot signal can also be determined, so that channel information can be obtained according to the second pilot signal, and channel equalization training can be performed according to the channel information. Thereafter, the first device may also decode PHY payload, etc.

In addition to the above two indication manners, other manners may be used to indicate the parameter of the second pilot signal, which is not limited. According to the embodiment of the application, the parameters of the second pilot signal are indicated through the first UWB frame, so that the parameters of the second pilot signal do not need to be preset, and the implementation flexibility of the second pilot signal is improved. Moreover, the embodiment of the application can support the chip period of the second pilot signal to change along with the period of the data symbol included by the PHY payload, so that the detection performance of the received signal can be improved, and the receiving device (such as the first device) does not need to blindly detect the second pilot signal because the parameter of the second pilot signal can be indicated by the first UWB frame, so that the implementation complexity of the receiving device can be reduced.

S802, the second device sends a first UWB frame. Accordingly, the first device receives the first UWB frame.

Optionally, the method further includes S803, the first device processes the PHY payload of the first UWB frame according to a result of processing the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal.

For example, the first device may first receive the first pilot signal, synchronize according to the first pilot signal, and then receive the PHY payload of the first UWB frame according to the synchronization result. The first device may be considered to receive PHY payload of the first UWB frame based on the processing result of the first pilot signal.

The first device may receive the second pilot signal first and then the PHY payload of the first UWB frame. For example, after receiving the second pilot signal, the first device acquires channel information according to the second pilot signal, performs channel equalization training according to the channel information, and receives PHY payload of the first UWB frame according to a result of the channel equalization training. Or the first device may also receive the second pilot signal and the PHY payload of the first UWB frame simultaneously. For example, after receiving the second pilot signal, the first device acquires channel information according to the second pilot signal, performs channel equalization training according to the channel information, and performs channel equalization on PHY payload of the received first UWB frame according to a result of the channel equalization training, which may be considered that the first device processes PHY payload of the first UWB frame according to a result of processing the second pilot signal.

In order to illustrate the influence of pilot signals of different parameters on synchronization and channel equalization training, so as to further verify the beneficial effects of the two-layer pilot signals in the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application provides the simulation results shown in table 2, and the values in table 2 represent packet error rates. Wherein, the period N _c = 24 chips of the data symbol included in the PHY payload in the UWB frame.

TABLE 2

The layer 1 to layer 4 in table 2 are all SYNC structures in the existing protocol, that is, the SYNC field of the UWB frame includes pilot symbols, but the two-layer pilot symbol structure of the embodiment of the present application is not adopted. One layer structure 1 in table 2 corresponds to a 31-long pilot code sequence, and the chip period of pilot symbols generated from the pilot code sequence is 16 chips, the number of repetitions of the pilot symbols is 16, and the pilot symbols are used for both synchronization and channel equalization training. The chip period of the pilot symbol corresponding to the layer 1 is different from the period of the data symbol included in the PHY payload, resulting in poor channel equalization training effect, and it can be seen that in table 2, the packet error rate corresponding to the layer 1 is larger.

One layer structure 2 corresponds to a 31-long pilot code sequence, the chip period of pilot symbols generated from the pilot code sequence being 24 chips, the number of repetitions of the pilot symbols being 16, the pilot symbols being used for both synchronization and channel equalization training. Compared to the layer1, the chip period of the pilot symbol corresponding to the layer2 is the same as the period of the data symbol included in the PHY payload, so that the channel equalization training effect is better, and it can be seen that the packet error rate corresponding to the layer2 is smaller in table 2, i.e. the performance is better than that of the layer 1.

One layer structure 3 corresponds to a 31-long pilot code sequence, the chip period of pilot symbols generated according to the pilot code sequence is 24 chips, the repetition number of the pilot symbols is 20, wherein the first 4 pilot symbols are used for synchronization, and the last 16 pilot symbols are used for channel equalization training. The number of pilot symbols for synchronization corresponding to one layer structure 3 is smaller than the number of pilot symbols for synchronization corresponding to one layer structure 2 compared to one layer structure 3. By comparing these two structures, it is known that in the incoherent receiver, pilot symbols for synchronization are reduced, and the influence on synchronization performance is small.

One layer structure 4 corresponds to a 31-long pilot code sequence, the chip period of pilot symbols generated according to the pilot code sequence is 24 chips, the repetition number of the pilot symbols is 20, wherein the first 4 pilot symbols are used for synchronization, and the last 8 pilot symbols are used for channel equalization training. The number of pilot symbols for channel equalization training corresponding to one layer structure 4 is smaller than the number of pilot symbols for channel equalization training corresponding to one layer structure 3, as compared to one layer structure 3. By comparing the two structures, pilot symbols for carrying out channel equalization training are reduced in the incoherent receiver, so that the influence on the channel equalization performance is small, and the channel equalization result is not obviously attenuated.

The two-layer structure in table 2 is a two-layer pilot signal structure provided in the embodiment of the present application, where a chip period of the first pilot signal is l1=16 chips, a repetition number N1 of the first pilot symbol is 4, a chip period of the second pilot signal is l2=24 chips, and a repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol is 8. By comparing the one-layer structure 4 with the two-layer structure, it is known that the chip period of the pilot signal for synchronization is reduced, and the influence on the synchronization performance is small, without causing significant performance degradation.

In summary, the structure of the two-layer pilot signal provided by the embodiment of the application improves the detection performance of the incoherent receiver on the premise of not increasing the pilot overhead.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 1100 may be the first device or circuitry of the first device in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 for implementing the method corresponding to the first device in the above-described method embodiment. Or the communication apparatus 1100 may be a second device or circuitry of the second device in the embodiment shown in fig. 8, for implementing a method corresponding to the second device in the above-described method embodiment. Specific functions can be seen from the description of the method embodiments described above. One type of circuitry is, for example, a chip system.

The communication device 1100 includes at least one processor 1101. The processor 1101 may be used for internal processing of the device, implementing certain control processing functions. Optionally, the processor 1101 includes instructions. Optionally, the processor 1101 may store data. Alternatively, the different processors may be separate devices, may be located in different physical locations, and may be located on different integrated circuits. Alternatively, the different processors may be integrated in one or more processors, e.g., integrated on one or more integrated circuits.

Optionally, the communications device 1100 includes one or more memories 1103 to store instructions. Optionally, the memory 1103 may also store data therein. The processor and the memory may be provided separately or may be integrated.

Optionally, the communication device 1100 includes a communication line 1102, and at least one communication interface 1104. In fig. 11, the memory 1103, the communication line 1102, and the communication interface 1104 are optional, and are indicated by broken lines.

Optionally, the communication device 1100 may also include a transceiver and/or an antenna. Wherein the transceiver may be used to transmit information to or receive information from other devices. The transceiver may be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, an input-output interface, etc. for implementing the transceiver function of the communication device 1100 through an antenna. Optionally, the transceiver comprises a transmitter (transmitter) and a receiver (receiver). Illustratively, a transmitter may be used to generate a radio frequency (radio frequency) signal from the baseband signal, and a receiver may be used to convert the radio frequency signal to the baseband signal.

The processor 1101 may include a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), microprocessor, application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application.

Communication line 1102 may include a pathway to transfer information between the aforementioned components.

Communication interface 1104 uses any transceiver-like device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as ethernet, radio access network (radio access network, RAN), wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), wired access network, etc.

The memory 1103 may be, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (ELECTRICALLY ERASABLE PROGRAMMABLE READ-only memory, EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory) or other optical disc storage, a compact disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory 1103 may be independent and connected to the processor 1101 through a communication line 1102. Or the memory 1103 may be integrated with the processor 1101.

The memory 1103 is used for storing computer-executable instructions for executing the present application, and is controlled by the processor 1101. The processor 1101 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1103, thereby implementing the communication method provided by the above-described embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may be referred to as application program codes, which are not particularly limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In a particular implementation, the processor 1101 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 of FIG. 11, as an embodiment.

In a particular implementation, as one embodiment, the communications device 1100 may include multiple processors, such as the processor 1101 and the processor 1105 in fig. 11. Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or may be a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

When the apparatus shown in fig. 11 is a chip, for example, a chip of a first device, or a chip of a second device, the chip includes a processor 1101 (may further include a processor 1105), a communication line 1102, and a communication interface 1104, and may further include a memory 1103. For example, the communication interface 1104 may be an input interface, a pin or circuit, or the like. The memory 1103 may be a register, a cache, or the like. The processor 1101 and the processor 1105 may be a general purpose CPU, microprocessor, ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the programs of the methods of any of the embodiments described above.

The embodiment of the application can divide the functional modules of the device according to the method example, for example, each functional module can be divided corresponding to each function, and two or more functions can be integrated in one processing module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the modules is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual implementation. For example, in the case of dividing each functional module into respective functional modules by using corresponding respective functions, fig. 12 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus, and the apparatus 1200 may be the first device or the second device, or a chip in the first device or a chip in the second device, which are involved in each of the above-described method embodiments. The apparatus 1200 comprises a transmitting unit 1201, a processing unit 1202 and a receiving unit 1203.

It should be understood that the apparatus 1200 may be used to implement the steps performed by the first device or the second device in the method according to the embodiments of the present application, and the relevant features may refer to the foregoing embodiments, which are not described herein.

Alternatively, the functions/implementation procedures of the transmitting unit 1201, the receiving unit 1203, and the processing unit 1202 in fig. 12 may be implemented by the processor 1101 in fig. 11 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1103. Or the functions/implementation procedures of the processing unit 1202 in fig. 12 may be implemented by the processor 1101 in fig. 11 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1103, and the functions/implementation procedures of the transmitting unit 1201 and the receiving unit 1203 in fig. 12 may be implemented by the communication interface 1104 in fig. 11.

Alternatively, when the apparatus 1200 is a chip or a circuit, the functions/implementation procedures of the transmitting unit 1201 and the receiving unit 1203 may also be implemented by pins or circuits, or the like.

The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program or instructions which, when executed, implement a method performed by a first device or a second device in the foregoing method embodiments. Thus, the functions described in the above embodiments may be implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied in essence or contributing part or part of the technical solution in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, comprising several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. The storage medium includes: a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, etc.

The present application also provides a computer program product comprising: computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method performed by the first device or the second device in any of the method embodiments described above.

The embodiment of the application also provides a processing device, which comprises a processor and an interface; the processor is configured to perform a method performed by the first device or the second device according to any of the method embodiments described above.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, produces a flow or function in accordance with embodiments of the present application, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that contains an integration of one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid State Drive (SSD)), etc.

The various illustrative logical blocks and circuits described in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the general purpose processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software unit executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software elements may be stored in RAM, flash memory, ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In an example, a storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC, which may reside in a terminal device. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in different components in a terminal device.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Although the embodiments of the present application have been described in connection with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations thereof can be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the application. Accordingly, the present embodiments and figures are merely exemplary illustrations of embodiments of the application defined by the appended claims and are considered to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents of the embodiments that fall within the scope of the embodiments of the application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the embodiments of the present application without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the application. Thus, the embodiments of the present application are intended to include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the embodiments of the application as claimed and the equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A method of communication, applied to a first device, the method comprising:

Receiving a first ultra wideband UWB frame from a second device, the first UWB frame comprising a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal comprising N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols determined from a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal comprising N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols determined from a second pilot code sequence, the first pilot signal having a different chip period than the second pilot signal, wherein the first pilot signal has a chip period determined from a time interval of adjacent elements of the first pilot code sequence in the first pilot signal, the second pilot signal has a chip period determined from a time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, both N1 and N2 being positive integers;

and processing the physical load of the first UWB frame according to the processing results of the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second pilot signal has a chip period that is the same as a period of a data symbol included in the physical payload.

3. A method of communication, applied to a first device, the method comprising:

Receiving a first UWB frame from a second device, the first UWB frame comprising a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal comprising N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols being determined from a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal comprising N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols being determined from a second pilot code sequence, the first UWB frame further comprising a physical payload, the second pilot signal having a chip period identical to a period of data symbols comprised by the physical payload, wherein the chip period of the second pilot signal is determined from a time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, N1 and N2 being positive integers;

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first pilot signal has a different chip period than the second pilot signal.

5. The method according to any one of claim 1 to 4, wherein,

The first pilot frequency symbol included in the first pilot frequency signal is formed by zero insertion of the first pilot frequency code sequence, the first pilot frequency code sequence comprises K1 elements, L1-1 zeros are inserted between adjacent elements, the chip period of the first pilot frequency signal is L1, and L1 and K1 are positive integers;

the second pilot frequency symbol included in the second pilot frequency signal is formed by zero insertion of the second pilot frequency code sequence, the second pilot frequency code sequence comprises K2 elements, L2-1 zeros are inserted between adjacent elements, the chip period of the second pilot frequency signal is L2, and L2 and K2 are positive integers.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising:

and synchronizing according to the first pilot signals, and acquiring channel information according to the second pilot signals to obtain the processing result, wherein the channel information is used for channel equalization training.

7. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the first UWB frame further comprises a start of frame delimiter SFD field, the method further comprising:

Determining one or more of the following according to the spreading code included in the SFD field: the chip period of the second pilot signal, the repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol, or the sequence number of the second pilot code sequence.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first pilot signal is located before the SFD field and the second pilot signal is located after the SFD field.

9. The method of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the first UWB frame further comprises a physical header, the method further comprising:

determining one or more of the following from the physical header: the chip period of the second pilot signal, the repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol, or the sequence number of the second pilot code sequence.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first pilot signal is located before the physical header and the second pilot signal is located between the physical header and the physical payload.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the physical header indicates a symbol rate of data symbols included in the physical payload, the symbol rate of data symbols included in the physical payload being the same as a symbol rate of the second pilot signal, wherein the symbol rate of data symbols is a reciprocal of a period of the data symbols, and wherein the symbol rate of the second pilot signal is a reciprocal of a chip period of the second pilot signal.

12. The method according to any of claims 1-11, wherein the second pilot code sequence is a binary sequence.

13. The method according to any of claims 1-12, wherein the first pilot code sequence is a binary sequence or a ternary sequence.

14. A method of communication, for application to a second device, the method comprising:

Generating a first UWB frame, the first UWB frame comprising a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal comprising N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols being determined from a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal comprising N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols being determined from a second pilot code sequence, the first pilot signal having a different chip period than the second pilot signal, wherein the first pilot signal has a chip period determined from a time interval of the first pilot code sequence adjacent elements in the first pilot signal, the second pilot signal has a chip period determined from a time interval of the second pilot code sequence adjacent elements in the second pilot signal, N1 and N2 are both positive integers;

the first UWB frame is transmitted to a first device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the second pilot signal has a chip period that is the same as a period of a data symbol included in the physical payload.

16. A method of communication, for application to a second device, the method comprising:

Generating a first UWB frame, wherein the first UWB frame comprises a first pilot signal and a second pilot signal, the first pilot signal comprises N1 first pilot symbols, the first pilot symbols are determined according to a first pilot code sequence, the second pilot signal comprises N2 second pilot symbols, the second pilot symbols are determined according to a second pilot code sequence, the first UWB frame further comprises a physical load, the chip period of the second pilot signal is the same as the period of a data symbol included in the physical load, wherein the chip period of the second pilot signal is determined according to the time interval of adjacent elements of the second pilot code sequence in the second pilot signal, and N1 and N2 are both positive integers;

the first UWB frame is transmitted to a first device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first pilot signal has a different chip period than the second pilot signal.

18. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 17, wherein,

19. The method of any of claims 14-18, wherein the first UWB frame further comprises an SFD field comprising a spreading code for indicating one or more of: the chip period of the second pilot signal, the repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol, or the sequence number of the second pilot code sequence.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first pilot signal is located before the SFD field and the second pilot signal is located after the SFD field.

21. The method of any of claims 14-18, wherein the first UWB frame further comprises a physical header for indicating one or more of: the chip period of the second pilot signal, the repetition number N2 of the second pilot symbol, or the sequence number of the second pilot code sequence.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first pilot signal is located before the physical header and the second pilot signal is located between the physical header and the physical payload.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the physical header indicates a symbol rate of data symbols included in the physical payload, the symbol rate of data symbols included in the physical payload being the same as a symbol rate of the second pilot signal, wherein the symbol rate of data symbols is a reciprocal of a period of the data symbols, and wherein the symbol rate of the second pilot signal is a reciprocal of a chip period of the second pilot signal.

24. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 23, further comprising:

And receiving a second UWB frame from a third device, wherein a synchronization head of the second UWB frame comprises a third pilot signal, and the total duration of the third pilot signal, which is included by the synchronization head, is equal to the total duration of the first pilot signal and the second pilot signal.

25. The method of any of claims 14-24, wherein the second pilot code sequence is a binary sequence.

26. The method of any of claims 14-25, wherein the first pilot code sequence is a binary sequence or a ternary sequence.

27. A communication device comprising a processor and a memory, the memory and the processor being coupled, the processor being configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1-13 or to perform the method of any one of claims 14-26.

28. A computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 13 or causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 14 to 26.

29. A chip system, the chip system comprising:

a processor and an interface from which the processor invokes and executes instructions that when executed implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 13 or the method of any one of claims 14 to 26.

30. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 or causes the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 14 to 26.