WO2019072167A1 - 无线通信系统中的电子设备、通信方法和存储介质 - Google Patents

无线通信系统中的电子设备、通信方法和存储介质 Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2019072167A1
WO2019072167A1 PCT/CN2018/109472 CN2018109472W WO2019072167A1 WO 2019072167 A1 WO2019072167 A1 WO 2019072167A1 CN 2018109472 W CN2018109472 W CN 2018109472W WO 2019072167 A1 WO2019072167 A1 WO 2019072167A1
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Prior art keywords
reference signal
electronic device
combined
antenna arrays
transmit
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PCT/CN2018/109472
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English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
赵培尧
王昭诚
曹建飞
Original Assignee
索尼公司
赵培尧
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Publication date
Application filed by 索尼公司, 赵培尧 filed Critical 索尼公司
Priority to US16/634,584 priority Critical patent/US11043997B2/en
Priority to EP18867074.9A priority patent/EP3696990A4/en
Priority to CN202211112700.0A priority patent/CN115426008A/zh
Priority to CN201880064446.7A priority patent/CN111164904B/zh
Publication of WO2019072167A1 publication Critical patent/WO2019072167A1/zh

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
    • H04B7/02—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas
    • H04B7/04—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas
    • H04B7/0413—MIMO systems
    • H04B7/0456—Selection of precoding matrices or codebooks, e.g. using matrices antenna weighting
    • H04B7/046—Selection of precoding matrices or codebooks, e.g. using matrices antenna weighting taking physical layer constraints into account
    • H04B7/0469—Selection of precoding matrices or codebooks, e.g. using matrices antenna weighting taking physical layer constraints into account taking special antenna structures, e.g. cross polarized antennas into account
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
    • H04B7/02—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas
    • H04B7/04—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas
    • H04B7/06—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station
    • H04B7/0613—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station using simultaneous transmission
    • H04B7/0615—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station using simultaneous transmission of weighted versions of same signal
    • H04B7/0617—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station using simultaneous transmission of weighted versions of same signal for beam forming
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
    • H04B7/02—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas
    • H04B7/04—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas
    • H04B7/0404—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas the mobile station comprising multiple antennas, e.g. to provide uplink diversity
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
    • H04B7/02—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas
    • H04B7/04—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas
    • H04B7/0413—MIMO systems
    • H04B7/0452—Multi-user MIMO systems
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
    • H04B7/02—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas
    • H04B7/04—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas
    • H04B7/0413—MIMO systems
    • H04B7/0456—Selection of precoding matrices or codebooks, e.g. using matrices antenna weighting
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
    • H04B7/02—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas
    • H04B7/04—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas
    • H04B7/06—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station
    • H04B7/0686—Hybrid systems, i.e. switching and simultaneous transmission
    • H04B7/0691—Hybrid systems, i.e. switching and simultaneous transmission using subgroups of transmit antennas
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
    • H04B7/02—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas
    • H04B7/04—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas
    • H04B7/06—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station
    • H04B7/0686—Hybrid systems, i.e. switching and simultaneous transmission
    • H04B7/0695—Hybrid systems, i.e. switching and simultaneous transmission using beam selection
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B7/00—Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field
    • H04B7/02—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas
    • H04B7/04—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas
    • H04B7/08—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the receiving station

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to an electronic device, a communication method, and a storage medium in a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to an electronic device, a communication method, and a storage medium for beamforming and channel direction estimation using a multi-antenna array.
  • a beam is generated by analog beamforming, that is, a baseband signal representing a data stream is transmitted via a radio frequency link to a phase shifter corresponding to each antenna element in the antenna array, and the phase shifter sets parameters according to corresponding phases. The phase of the signal is changed and the signal is transmitted by the corresponding antenna element to form a beam with directivity so that a significant array gain can be obtained.
  • 5G NR New Radio
  • both the base station and the user equipment (UE) can use directional beams to overcome large path attenuation in the frequency band above 6 GHz.
  • changing the beam direction requires reconfiguring the phase setting parameters of the phase shifter, which requires a certain time overhead.
  • the beam direction needs to match the channel direction, that is, at the transmitting end, the transmitting beam aligns with the channel transmission angle (AoD), and at the receiving end, the receiving beam aligns with the channel arrival angle ( AngleofArrival, AoA).
  • the prior art uses beam scanning to determine the beam to be used by the transceiver.
  • the transceiver end pre-stores a beamforming codebook, and the beamforming codebook includes beamforming parameters for respectively generating finite beams of different directions (ie, a phase setting parameter matrix of the phase shifter). The best transmit beam receive beam pair can be selected from the beamformed codebook by beam scanning.
  • the disadvantage of this method is that the direction of the beam formed by the beamforming parameters in the beamforming codebook is limited, so that only the beam with the direction as close as the channel direction can be selected, that is, only the beam can be estimated.
  • the channel direction is within a certain approximate range and the beam cannot be accurately aligned with the channel direction.
  • the accuracy of such channel direction estimation depends on the beamforming codebook size. In order to improve the estimation accuracy, the codebook size must be increased, resulting in an increase in beam scanning overhead.
  • the transmitting end may not be limited to a specific beamforming codebook when transmitting the beam to the receiving end, so that the transmitting beam can more accurately align the channel direction, further improving the received signal to noise ratio.
  • the transmitting beam can more accurately align the channel direction, further improving the received signal to noise ratio.
  • the base station at the transmitting end needs to perform beam switching. Under the condition that there is no channel direction information, the overhead of beam switching is large.
  • the base station can obtain accurate channel direction information, the motion of the UE can be predicted and tracked, so that as the channel direction changes, the base station can adjust the beam direction to track the user, maintain a high received signal to noise ratio, and reduce Beam switching overhead.
  • obtaining accurate channel direction is also important in terms of UE positioning and user scheduling.
  • the present disclosure provides aspects to meet the above needs.
  • an electronic device at a transmitting end including processing circuitry configured to: determine a target channel direction; determine base compensation phase information for a plurality of antenna arrays for the target channel direction, Wherein the base compensation phase information indicates a phase difference compensated by each of the plurality of antenna arrays such that transmission beams from the plurality of antenna arrays can be combined into a single combined beam, the single combined beam
  • the direction is the same as the target channel direction; and controlling the plurality of antenna arrays to perform beam transmission based on the target channel direction and the base compensation phase information.
  • an electronic device at a transmitting end comprising processing circuitry configured to: determine common analog beamforming parameters for a plurality of antenna arrays, each antenna array being capable of Simulating beamforming parameters, forming beams directed to a particular channel direction; determining phase relative adjustments to baseband signals of the plurality of antenna arrays based on phase differences between corresponding antenna elements of the plurality of antenna arrays The plurality of antenna arrays are based on a direction of merged beams into which the transmit beams formed by the analog beamforming parameters are combined.
  • an electronic device at a transmitting end including processing circuitry configured to: code-multiplex multiplex a reference signal of a plurality of ports with an orthogonal code matrix; and control a plurality of antenna arrays Transmitting the coded multiplexed reference signal on the first communication resource and the second communication resource by using the same analog beamforming parameter to obtain a first combined beam and a second combined beam, where the first combined beam and the The second merged beam is symmetrical with respect to a direction of a particular transmit beam corresponding to the analog beamforming parameter.
  • an electronic device at a transmitting end comprising processing circuitry configured to: determine a common analog beamforming parameter configured for a plurality of antenna arrays; and control a plurality of antenna array utilization Determining the target transmit beam to transmit the code-multiplexed reference signal on the first communication resource and the second communication resource to obtain a first merged beam and a second merged beam, where the first merged beam and the second merged The directions of the beams are different; receiving information about the relative beam gains of the first merged beam and the second merged beam received at the receiving end; and determining a channel direction angle based on a mapping relationship between the information and the channel direction angle.
  • an electronic device at a receiving end comprising processing circuitry configured to: control receiving, by a transmitting end, a beamformed reference for transmitting on a first communication resource, a second communication resource by a transmitting end a first reference signal beam and a second reference signal beam obtained by the signal, wherein a direction of the first reference signal beam on the first communication resource and a second reference signal beam on the second communication resource are different; And a relative beam gain of the received first reference signal beam and the second reference signal beam; and feeding back information about the relative beam gain to the transmitting end.
  • a communication method comprising: determining a target channel direction; determining base compensation phase information for a plurality of antenna arrays for the target channel direction, wherein the base compensation phase information indication a phase difference compensated by each of the plurality of antenna arrays such that transmission beams from the plurality of antenna arrays can be combined into a single combined beam, the direction of the single combined beam being the same as the target channel direction; and control The plurality of antenna arrays perform beam transmission based on the target channel direction and the base compensation phase information.
  • a communication method comprising: determining common analog beamforming parameters for a plurality of antenna arrays, each antenna array being capable of forming a directed channel according to the analog beamforming parameters a beam of directions; based on a phase difference between corresponding antenna elements of the plurality of antenna arrays; determining relative phase adjustments to baseband signals of the plurality of antenna arrays to adjust the plurality of antenna arrays based on the analog beams The direction of the combined beam into which the transmit beams formed by the shaped parameters are combined.
  • a communication method comprising: performing code division multiplexing of reference signals of a plurality of ports by using an orthogonal code matrix; controlling a plurality of antenna arrays to utilize the same analog beamforming parameters at the first Transmitting the coded multiplexed reference signal on the communication resource and the second communication resource to obtain a first combined beam and a second combined beam, wherein the first combined beam and the second combined beam are relative to the simulation
  • the direction of the specific transmit beam corresponding to the beamforming parameter is symmetrical.
  • a communication method including: determining a common analog beamforming parameter configured for a plurality of antenna arrays; controlling a plurality of antenna arrays to utilize the determined target transmit beam at a first communication resource, Transmitting the coded multiplexed reference signal on the second communication resource to obtain a first combined beam and a second combined beam, wherein the first combined beam and the second combined beam have different directions; and the receiving is received by the receiving end Information about the relative beam gain of the first merged beam and the second merged beam; and determining a channel direction angle based on a mapping relationship between the information and the channel direction angle.
  • a communication method including: controlling a first reference signal beam and a first received by a transmitting end to transmit a beamformed reference signal on a first communication resource and a second communication resource a second reference signal beam, wherein a direction of the first reference signal beam on the first communication resource and a second reference signal beam on the second communication resource are different; determining the received first reference signal beam and the second Relating the relative beam gain of the signal beam; and feeding back information about the relative beam gain to the transmitting end.
  • a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed, implement the communication method as described above.
  • a beam that meets the needs can be efficiently formed, and the channel direction can be accurately estimated to facilitate beam tracking, user positioning, user scheduling, and the like, and the overhead of system resources is reduced.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of communication using a beamforming technique in a wireless communication system
  • FIG. 2 is a model diagram of transmitting data at a transmitting end
  • 3A-3B are schematic diagrams of an antenna array matrix
  • FIG. 4 is a model diagram of transmitting data at a transmitting end according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure
  • 5A is a block diagram of a transmitting end electronic device in accordance with a first embodiment of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 5B is a flowchart of a communication method according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • Figure 6 is a beam pattern when the additional phase takes different values
  • FIG. 7A is a block diagram of a transmitting end electronic device in accordance with a second embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • FIG. 7B is a flowchart of a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • 8A and 8B are respectively a schematic diagram and a beam pattern of a reference signal for transmitting two ports;
  • 9A and 9B are respectively a schematic diagram and a beam pattern of a reference signal for transmitting four ports;
  • FIG. 10A is a block diagram of a transmitting end electronic device in accordance with a third embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • FIG. 10B is a flowchart of a communication method according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • 11A-11E are diagrams showing a mapping relationship between relative beam gain and channel AOD in different cases
  • FIG. 13 is a simulation diagram of channel direction estimation according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • 15A is a block diagram of a transmitting end electronic device in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • 15B is a flowchart of a communication method according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • 16A is a block diagram of a receiving end electronic device in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • 16B is a flowchart of a communication method according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • 17 is a pattern of a transmit beam in accordance with a variant embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • 20 is a block diagram showing a first application example of a schematic configuration of a base station
  • 21 is a block diagram showing a second application example of a schematic configuration of a base station
  • 22 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration example of a smartphone
  • 23 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration example of a car navigation device.
  • a wireless communication system includes at least a base station and user equipment (UE) that provides communication services for one or more UEs.
  • UE user equipment
  • the term "base station” has the full breadth of its usual meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station that is used as part of a wireless communication system or radio system to facilitate communication.
  • the base station may be, for example, an eNB of a 4G communication standard, a gNB of a 5G communication standard, a remote radio head, a wireless access point, a drone control tower, or a communication device performing similar functions.
  • An application example of the base station will be described in detail in the following sections.
  • the term "user equipment” or "UE” has the full breadth of its usual meaning and includes at least a terminal device that is used as part of a wireless communication system or radio system to facilitate communication.
  • the UE may be, for example, a terminal device such as a mobile phone, a laptop, a tablet, an in-vehicle communication device, or the like, or an element thereof.
  • a terminal device such as a mobile phone, a laptop, a tablet, an in-vehicle communication device, or the like, or an element thereof.
  • the base station and the UE may have multiple antennas supporting MIMO technology.
  • MIMO technology enables base stations and UEs to utilize spatial domain to support spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and transmit diversity. Spatial multiplexing can be used to simultaneously transmit different data streams on the same frequency. These data streams can be sent to a single UE to increase the data rate (which can be classified as SU-MIMO technology) or sent to multiple UEs to increase the total system capacity (which can be classified as MU-MIMO technology). This is done by spatially precoding each data stream (ie, performing scaling and/or phase adjustment of the amplitude) and then transmitting each on the downlink (DL) from the base station to the UE over multiple transmit antennas. Achieved by a spatially precoded stream.
  • the spatially precoded data stream arrives at one or more UEs with different spatial signatures, which enables each UE to receive data streams via its multiple antennas and recover one or more data destined for the UE flow.
  • On the uplink (UL) from the UE to the base station each UE transmits a spatially precoded data stream through its multiple antennas, which enables the base station to receive the data stream through its antenna and identify each spatial space The source of the precoded data stream.
  • Beamforming can be used to concentrate the transmitted energy in one or more directions when channel conditions are less favorable. This can be achieved by spatially precoding the data for transmission over multiple antennas (eg, multiple antenna elements in the antenna array). In order to achieve good coverage at the edge of the cell, beamforming transmission of a single data stream can be used in conjunction with transmit diversity.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing communication by a wireless communication system using beamforming techniques.
  • the rightward arrow indicates the downlink (DL) direction from the base station 1000 to the UE 1004, and the leftward arrow indicates the uplink (UL) direction from the UE 1004 to the base station 1000.
  • the coverage and number of the uplink receive beam and the downlink transmit beam of the base station 1000 may be different according to system requirements and settings, as are the uplink transmit beam and the downlink receive beam of the UE 1004.
  • the present disclosure will mainly describe the following line transmission as an example. However, it should be understood that aspects of the disclosure may also be applied to uplink transmissions. That is to say, the "transmitting end” mentioned below may be either a base station or a UE.
  • the “receiving end” may be either a UE or a base station.
  • the base station 1000 may select one beam (hereinafter referred to as a target transmission beam) from its beam set for transmission by beam scanning, and the UE 1004 may select one beam from its beam set for reception by beam scanning.
  • Base station 1000 and UE 1004 can configure their antennas using analog beamforming parameters associated with the selected beam.
  • the plurality of antennas of base station 1000 and UE 1004 may be arranged in an antenna array.
  • the antennas of the antenna array (hereinafter referred to as antenna elements) are evenly arranged in a matrix of M rows x N columns, wherein the spacing of the antenna elements in the horizontal direction is d H , and the elements of the antenna elements in the vertical direction The spacing is d V .
  • the antenna array may be referred to as a uniform linear array (ULA), and when neither M nor N is 1 (ie, When there are multiple rows and columns of antenna elements, the antenna array can be referred to as a uniform planar array (UPA).
  • the antenna array can also be constructed in any pattern, such as a disk shape, according to actual needs.
  • FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the transmission of user data using an antenna array.
  • the baseband signal representing the user data stream is mapped to one or more radio frequency links (m > 1) by digital precoding.
  • the radio frequency link upconverts the baseband signal to obtain a radio frequency signal and transmits the radio frequency signal to one or more antenna arrays (K ⁇ 1).
  • the RF link and the antenna array can be partially connected or fully connected.
  • the antenna array has determined the analog beamforming parameters used to form the beam according to the target channel direction with the receiving end, for example, the analog beamforming parameters associated with the target channel direction have been calculated according to a particular algorithm, or have passed the beam
  • the scan determines the beam that best matches the direction of the target channel.
  • the phase setting parameters of the phase shifters corresponding to the antenna elements of the antenna array are determined.
  • the electromagnetic radiation emitted by all of the antenna elements of each antenna array forms a desired beam to transmit the signal.
  • the processing of beamforming using analog beamforming parameters may also be referred to as "analog precoding.”
  • each antenna array independently forms a beam
  • the beam formed by the individual antenna array is thick and the beam gain is small to satisfy the communication requirement.
  • the first embodiment of the present disclosure proposes an improved technical solution.
  • Various aspects of the first embodiment of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
  • multiple antenna arrays are used.
  • the plurality of antenna arrays may be arranged in a matrix.
  • 3A and 3B are schematic views showing a matrix of antenna arrays.
  • the antenna array matrix can be described by vectors (M g , N g , M, N, P), where MG and N g represent the number of antenna arrays in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, respectively.
  • the antenna arrays have M rows x N columns of antenna elements arranged uniformly, and P represents the number of polarization directions.
  • the arrangement of the antenna array matrices can be divided into a uniform arrangement and a non-uniform arrangement, as shown in Figure 3B.
  • the spacing between the antenna arrays is not equal to the spacing between the antenna elements, such as d edge, H > d H , d edge , V > d V .
  • the antenna array matrix described above can be configured for a variety of transmission modes.
  • multiple antenna arrays can be configured for single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) diversity mode, where these antenna arrays transmit the same data stream to improve the received signal-to-noise ratio.
  • SU-MIMO single-user MIMO
  • the antenna array matrix may also be configured, for example, for single-user MIMO high-order spatial multiplexing mode (ie, these antenna arrays respectively transmit multiple data streams for a single user) or multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) mode (ie, these antennas)
  • the array separately transmits a plurality of data streams of a plurality of users, wherein the number of data streams that the plurality of antenna arrays are capable of transmitting depends on a channel state (eg, a rank indication (RI) of a channel matrix).
  • RI rank indication
  • the first embodiment of the present disclosure is primarily directed to a single-user MIMO diversity mode.
  • the antenna array matrix includes an independent beam selection type and a coherent beam selection type according to how each antenna array selects a beam.
  • each antenna array of the antenna array matrix independently uses different beams, and the analog beamforming parameters for each antenna array are different from each other.
  • each antenna array can transmit beams in different directions.
  • the beam direction of one antenna array can be aligned with the direct path, while the beam direction of the other antenna array can be aligned with the reflection path.
  • the advantage of this type is that it is better able to resist occlusion.
  • the coherent beam selection type all antenna arrays of the antenna array matrix use the same beam, and the analog beamforming parameters for each antenna array are the same. By aligning all of the antenna arrays with the most energy channel direction (eg, direct path), the received signal to noise ratio at the receiving end is maximized.
  • the baseband signal representing the user data stream first undergoes relative phase adjustment and is mapped onto the radio frequency link.
  • the RF link upconverts the baseband signal that has been adjusted in relative phase and transmits the RF signal to each antenna array.
  • the antenna arrays 1 to K have determined a common analog beamforming parameter (phase setting parameter of the phase shifter) in accordance with the target channel direction, that is, the antenna arrays 1 to K belong to the coherent beam selection type. Based on the determined analog beamforming parameters, antenna array 1 transmits beam 1, antenna array 2 transmits beam 2, and so on.
  • the K beams formed by the antenna array have the same direction and are aligned to the target channel direction to maximize the received signal to noise ratio.
  • the first embodiment of the present disclosure also performs relative phase adjustment by the baseband signals for the antenna arrays 1 to K, so that the beams 1 to K formed by the K antenna arrays can be combined into a single merge, compared to the technique described with reference to FIG. Beam.
  • This relative phase adjustment can be performed as part of digital precoding or digital precoding.
  • the antenna array 1 and the antenna array 2 are linearly arranged such that all of the array elements of the two ULAs are linear.
  • the beam emitted by the antenna array can be expressed as
  • ⁇ represents the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave
  • N represents the size of each antenna array (ie, the number of antenna elements)
  • d represents the pitch of the antenna elements
  • ⁇ represents the direction of the transmitted beam formed by each antenna array (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the direction of the transmission beam). Is the "target channel direction").
  • the parameter for relative phase adjustment for the antenna array 1 and the antenna array 2 is [1, ⁇ ], where ⁇ represents the relative phase of the baseband signal to be transmitted by the antenna array 2 with respect to the baseband signal to be transmitted by the antenna array 1.
  • the beam direction of the combined beam f b can be controlled.
  • ⁇ is set to ⁇ b as follows:
  • d edge represents the spacing between the antenna array 1 and the antenna array 2.
  • the combined beam f b can be expressed as
  • the beam direction of the combined beam f b is also ⁇ , that is, the beam direction of the merged beam f b is not deviated with respect to the direction of the transmit beam f formed by a single antenna array.
  • the merged beam f b also points to the target channel direction.
  • a relative phase ⁇ b is referred to as a base compensation phase.
  • the combined beam f b can be expressed as
  • the beam direction of the combined beam f b is the same as the direction of the transmit beam formed by the single antenna arrays 1, 2.
  • the value of the base compensation phase ⁇ b is related to the structure and arrangement of the antenna array, such as the spacing d of the antenna elements and the spacing d edge of the antenna array.
  • these parameters are fixed after the antenna array is installed on the base station or user equipment. Therefore, the transmitting end only needs to determine the desired beam direction and the electromagnetic wave wavelength, and the basic compensation phase ⁇ b for the antenna array compensation can be calculated.
  • the combined beam formed by the antenna array 1 and the antenna array 2 has a narrower beam width and a larger beam gain due to an increase in the number of antenna elements forming the beam. This is beneficial to improve the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiving end and improve the reliability of the transmission.
  • ⁇ b can be set to:
  • d H represents the antenna element spacing in the horizontal direction
  • d edge H represents the antenna array spacing in the horizontal direction
  • ⁇ h the horizontal beam direction
  • ⁇ v the vertical beam direction
  • ⁇ b can be set to:
  • the relative phase adjustment parameters for the K antenna arrays may be [1, ⁇ ,..., ⁇ K-1 ], where ⁇ k is for the kth antenna array ( The base compensation phase of 1 ⁇ k ⁇ K).
  • the beams transmitted by each antenna array can be combined into a single combined beam, and The direction of the combined beam is the same as the direction of the beam formed by a single antenna array.
  • the beamwidth of the combined beams that can be generated becomes narrower, that is, the directivity of the beams is stronger, and the beam gain is larger, which is advantageous for improving the received signal-to-noise ratio.
  • FIGS. 5A-5B An example of an electronic device at a transmitting end and a communication method thereof according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5A-5B.
  • FIG. 5A shows a configuration block diagram of an electronic device 500 of a transmitting end according to the first embodiment.
  • the electronic device 500 may be a base station such as an eNB, a gNB, or the like, or a component thereof, and in the uplink transmission, the electronic device 500 may be a user such as a mobile phone, an in-vehicle communication device, a drone, or the like. Equipment or its components.
  • the electronic device 500 includes at least a processing circuit 501 that can be configured to perform the communication method as shown in FIG. 5B.
  • Processing circuitry 501 may refer to various implementations of digital circuitry, analog circuitry, or mixed signal (combination of analog signals and digital signals) circuitry that perform functions in a computing system.
  • Processing circuitry may include, for example, circuitry such as an integrated circuit (IC), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a portion or circuit of a separate processor core, an entire processor core, a separate processor, such as a field programmable array (FPGA) Programmable hardware device, and/or system including multiple processors.
  • IC integrated circuit
  • ASIC application specific integrated circuit
  • FPGA field programmable array
  • the processing circuit 501 may include a channel direction determining unit 502, a base compensation phase information determining unit 503, and a transmitting control unit 504.
  • the channel direction determining unit 502 is configured to determine a target channel direction between the transmitting end and the receiving end (step S501 in Fig. 5B).
  • the channel direction determining unit 502 can determine the target channel direction by various methods.
  • the channel direction determining unit 502 can determine the best transmit beam by beam training using a pre-stored beamforming codebook, and set the direction of the best transmit beam to the target channel direction.
  • the process of beam training will be briefly described below with reference to FIG.
  • the base station 1000 transmits n r_DL downlink reference signals to the UE 1004 by using each downlink transmit beam 1002 of the n t_DL downlink transmit beams of the transmit beam set, and the UE 1004 passes the n r_DL downlinks of the receive beam set.
  • the receiving beam receives the n r_DL downlink reference signals respectively.
  • the n t_DL downlink transmit beams of the base station 1000 sequentially transmit n t_DL ⁇ n r_DL downlink reference signals to the UE 1004, and each downlink receive beam 1006 of the UE 1004 receives n t_DL downlink reference signals, that is, the UE 1004
  • the n r_DL downlink receive beams collectively receive n t_DL ⁇ n r_DL downlink reference signals from the base station 1000.
  • the UE 1004 measures the n t_DL ⁇ n r_DL downlink reference signals, for example, the received signal power (eg, RSRP) of the downlink reference signal.
  • the received signal power eg, RSRP
  • the UE 1004 determines the strongest downlink transmit beam of the base station 1000 and the strongest downlink receive beam of the UE 1004.
  • the UE 1004 feeds back information about the quality of the strongest beam and its index in the beam set to the base station 1000.
  • the uplink beam scanning process has a similar process and will not be described here.
  • the above process of determining the strongest transmit and receive beams of a base station and a UE by beam scanning is called a beam training process.
  • the strongest transmit beam and the strongest receive beam thus determined are the closest to the channel direction, so the direction can be considered as the target channel direction.
  • the channel direction determining unit 502 may determine the target channel direction using the channel direction estimating method to be described in the fourth embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • the base compensation phase information determining unit 503 is configured to determine base compensation phase information for the above-described determined target channel direction for the plurality of antenna arrays (step S502 in FIG. 5B). In order to enable the beams transmitted by the plurality of antenna arrays to be combined into a single combined beam aligned in the direction of the target channel, the base compensated phase information determining unit 503 determines the base compensated phase information for relative phase adjustment of the baseband signals of the respective antenna arrays. As an example, the base compensated phase information determining unit 503 may determine the base compensated phase information according to the above formula (1) or (2) based on the target channel direction, the structure and arrangement of the antenna array, and the like. The determined base compensation phase information indicates a phase difference compensated for each antenna array.
  • the transmission control unit 504 is configured to control the plurality of antenna arrays to perform beam transmission based on the determined target channel direction and the base compensation phase information (step S503 in FIG. 5B).
  • the transmit control unit 504 can control relative phase adjustment of signals to be transmitted by the plurality of antenna arrays based on the base compensated phase information, and control the antenna array based on a common analog beam associated with the target channel direction.
  • the shaping parameters eg, the phase setting parameter matrix of the phase shifter
  • the beams transmitted by the antenna array are combined into a single beam, and the combined beams are aligned to the target channel direction.
  • the relative phase adjustment of the baseband signal based on the base compensation phase information can be implemented as digital precoding, but is not limited thereto.
  • the process of relative phase adjustment can be implemented as part of digital precoding or additional processing.
  • the electronic device 500 may also include, for example, a communication unit 505 and a memory 506.
  • Communication unit 505 can be configured to communicate with the receiving end under the control of processing circuitry 501.
  • communication unit 505 can be implemented as a transmitter or transceiver, including communication components such as the antenna arrays and/or radio frequency links described above.
  • the communication unit 505 is depicted with a dashed line because it can also be located outside of the electronic device 500.
  • the memory 506 can store various information generated by the processing circuit 501 (eg, information about beam training, information about a target channel direction and base compensation phase information, etc.), programs and data for operation of the electronic device 500, to be used by the communication unit 505 sent data and so on.
  • Memory 506 is depicted in dashed lines as it may also be located within processing circuitry 501 or external to electronic device 500.
  • Memory 506 can be a volatile memory and/or a non-volatile memory.
  • memory 506 can include, but is not limited to, a random access memory (RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a read only memory (ROM), a flash memory.
  • each of the above units may be implemented as a separate physical entity, or may also be implemented by a single entity (eg, a processor (CPU or DSP, etc.), an integrated circuit, etc.).
  • the baseband signal representing the user data stream is adjusted relative to the antenna array and mapped onto the radio frequency link.
  • the RF link upconverts the baseband signal that has undergone relative phase adjustment and transmits the RF signal to each antenna array.
  • the antenna arrays 1 to K have determined common analog beamforming parameters (e.g., phase setting parameters of the phase shifters) in accordance with the target channel direction, that is, the antenna arrays 1 to K belong to the coherent beam selection type. Based on the determined analog beamforming parameters, antenna array 1 transmits beam 1, antenna array 2 transmits beam 2, and so on.
  • the K beams formed by the antenna array are combined into a single combined beam.
  • the direction of the combined beams is the same as the direction of the beams formed by the respective antenna arrays.
  • the beam direction of the resulting combined beam is changed by appropriately setting the phase difference of the baseband signals to be transmitted by the respective antenna arrays.
  • the parameter for relative phase adjustment of the antenna array 1 and the antenna array 2 is [1, ⁇ ], that is, the phase difference between the antenna array 2 and the corresponding antenna element of the antenna array 1 is ⁇ .
  • the relative phase adjustment parameter (relative phase difference) ⁇ of the second embodiment may be composed of two parts, for example, a beam compensation phase 1 for combining the beam 1 transmitted by the antenna array 1 and the beam 2 transmitted by the antenna array 2 into a single beam. b and an additional phase ⁇ for adjusting the beam direction of the combined beam, as shown in the following equation:
  • ⁇ b represents the base compensation phase, which can be generated as in the first embodiment.
  • ⁇ represents the additional phase,
  • 1.
  • Fig. 6 is a combined beam pattern showing when the additional phase ⁇ takes a different value.
  • Combined beam (Fig. 2) and The combined beam (8th picture) is symmetric about the reference beam
  • Combined beam (figure 3) and The combined beam (Fig. 7) is symmetric about the reference beam
  • the combined beam (Fig. 6) is symmetric about the reference beam.
  • This symmetrical relationship is especially useful for channel direction estimation which will be described later.
  • the two combined beams are not necessarily strictly symmetrical with respect to the reference beam direction, but may have a certain angular difference, but this roughly symmetrical case is still considered as Symmetrical.
  • Figure 6 shows The variation of the combined beam direction is shown discretely for the stride. It should be understood that the direction and intensity of the combined beams may vary continuously with additional phases. That is, the application of the additional phase ⁇ can result in the merged beam having a direction within a neighborhood of the reference beam direction.
  • the transmitting end may calculate or store in advance a correspondence between the additional phase ⁇ and the direction offset of the merged beam with respect to the reference beam, as needed.
  • the direction of the combined beam formed by the antenna array matrix can be changed correspondingly.
  • the direction of the merged beam can be changed by setting the relative phase adjustment parameter (ie, adjusting the additional phase) to adapt to the change of the channel direction. No beam switching is required.
  • the application of the additional phase can only cause the combined beam direction to vary within a certain range (a neighborhood of the reference beam direction), so if the channel direction changes beyond this particular range, then change The value of the additional phase does not align the combined beam with the channel direction. At this time, it is possible to change the beam closer to the channel direction by performing beam switching, that is, to determine a new analog beamforming parameter. If the beamforming codebook pre-stored by the transmitting end is limited in size, and the re-determined beam is still at an angle to the channel direction, the combined beam can be aligned to the channel direction by adjusting the additional phase ⁇ .
  • the mapping relationship between the additional phase and the combined beam direction change may be predetermined and stored at the transmitting end.
  • the combination of the transmit beams of the antenna arrays can be controlled as needed. Combine beam directions.
  • the transmitting end can obtain two combined beams with different directions by different relative phase adjustments. This facilitates the transmitter to make full use of multiple channel transmission paths to provide transmission reliability.
  • the channel direction between the transmitting end and the receiving end can be determined based on the comparison of the beam gains of the two combined beams having different directions at the receiving end.
  • FIGS. 7A-7B An example of an electronic device at a transmitting end and a communication method thereof according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to FIGS. 7A-7B.
  • Fig. 7A shows a configuration block diagram of an electronic device 700 at the transmitting end according to the second embodiment.
  • the electronic device 700 may be a base station such as an eNB, a gNB, or the like, or a component thereof, and in uplink transmission, the electronic device 700 may be a user such as a mobile phone, an in-vehicle communication device, a drone, or the like. Equipment or its components.
  • the electronic device 700 includes at least a processing circuit 701 that can be configured to perform the communication method as shown in FIG. 7B. Similar to processing circuit 501, processing circuit 701 can be implemented in a variety of ways.
  • the processing circuit 701 can include an analog beamforming parameter determining unit 702 and a relative phase adjusting unit 703.
  • the analog beamforming parameter determining unit 702 is configured to determine a common analog beamforming parameter for the plurality of antenna arrays (step S701 in FIG. 7B) such that each antenna array is capable of utilizing the determined analog beamforming
  • the parameters form a beam that points to a specific channel direction (AOD).
  • AOD channel direction
  • multiple antenna arrays are of the relevant beam selection type so that signals can be transmitted using the same beam.
  • the analog beamforming parameter determining unit 702 may select a transmit beam and/or a receive beam having a maximum gain by beam training as described above, and select a direction from the beamform codebook that best matches the current channel direction.
  • the simulated beamforming parameters of the beam may be selected a transmit beam and/or a receive beam having a maximum gain by beam training as described above, and select a direction from the beamform codebook that best matches the current channel direction.
  • the analog beamforming parameter determination unit 702 can estimate the current channel direction by channel direction estimation (eg, the channel direction estimation direction to be described in the following embodiments) to dynamically determine the execution of the estimate using a particular algorithm. Analog beamforming parameters for the beam in the channel direction. The analog beamforming parameter determining unit 702 can also determine the analog beamforming parameters that best match the particular channel direction by other various means.
  • the relative phase adjustment unit 703 is configured to determine relative phase adjustments of baseband signals to be transmitted by the plurality of antenna arrays based on phase differences between corresponding antenna elements of the plurality of antenna arrays to control the antenna arrays based on the simulation
  • the direction in which the transmit beams formed by the analog beamforming parameters determined by the beamforming parameter determining unit 702 can be merged into the merged beam direction (step S7002 in FIG. 7B).
  • the relative phase adjustment unit 703 performs relative phase adjustment of the baseband signal using the relative phase adjustment parameters. This relative phase adjustment can be performed as part of a digital precoding process or a digital precoding process, or can also be performed as an additional process.
  • the relative phase adjustment adds a controlled phase difference to the baseband signal corresponding to each antenna array, so that the beams transmitted by the multiple antenna arrays can be combined into a single beam, and the single beam is directed in a desired direction to adapt to changes in the channel direction. There is no need to switch beams.
  • the relative phase adjustment parameter ⁇ used by the relative phase adjustment unit 703 can be generated based on the base compensation phase ⁇ b and the additional phase ⁇ .
  • the base compensation phase ⁇ b can be calculated using the formulas (1) to (4) of the first embodiment.
  • the additional phase ⁇ can be used to adjust the change in direction of the combined beam.
  • the additional phase ⁇ may be generated based on a pre-stored mapping table in which the correspondence of the additional phase ⁇ to the direction of the merged beam is described.
  • the transmitting end can measure such a change, for example, by the channel direction estimating method which will be described below. Then, based on the correspondence between the direction offset of the merged beam with respect to the reference beam and the additional phase, the relative phase adjustment unit 703 can use different relative phase adjustment parameters (ie, different additional phases) to perform phase difference of the signal. Adjusted to adapt the direction of the combined beam to the channel direction change.
  • the analog beamforming parameter determining unit 702 may perform the determining step of the simulated beamforming parameter again (FIG. 7B) S7001) so that the transmit beam is re-determined as close to the changed channel direction as possible.
  • Electronic device 700 may also include, for example, communication unit 705 and memory 706.
  • the communication unit 705 can be configured to communicate with the receiving end under the control of the processing circuit 701.
  • communication unit 705 can be implemented as a transmitter or transceiver, including communication components such as the antenna arrays and/or radio frequency links described above.
  • Communication unit 705 is depicted in dashed lines as it may also be located external to electronic device 700.
  • the memory 706 can store various information generated by the processing circuit 701 (for example, an analog beamforming parameter determined by the analog beamforming parameter determining unit 702, a relative phase adjustment parameter used by the relative phase adjusting unit 703, such as a base compensation phase, Additional phase, etc.), programs and data for operation of the electronic device 700, data to be transmitted by the communication unit 705, and the like.
  • Memory 706 is depicted in dashed lines as it may also be located within processing circuitry 701 or external to electronic device 700.
  • Memory 706 can be volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory.
  • memory 706 can include, but is not limited to, a random access memory (RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a read only memory (ROM), a flash memory.
  • a third embodiment of the present disclosure relates to code division multiplexing a signal (e.g., a reference signal) transmitted by each port using an orthogonal code before transmitting a signal through the antenna array, thereby transmitting a signal on the same communication resource.
  • a signal e.g., a reference signal
  • a “communication resource” can be a time domain and/or a frequency domain resource.
  • each LTE frame (10 ms) can be divided into 10 equal-sized subframes, and each subframe (1 ms) can include two consecutive time slots, each of which includes a resource block (Resource Block, RB), the resource block may be represented by a resource grid, and the resource network may be divided into multiple resource elements (Resource Element, RE), for example, each resource block includes 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain, and for For a normal cyclic prefix in each OFDM symbol, each resource block contains 7 consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain, that is, each resource block contains 84 resource elements. In such an LTE frame, the symbol of the user data or reference signal is assigned a corresponding resource element.
  • "communication resources” may also refer to airspace resources or code domain resources.
  • the signal to be subjected to code division multiplexing processing is a reference signal.
  • the code division multiplexing process according to the third embodiment will be described below by taking a reference signal as an example, but it should be noted that the signal subjected to the code division multiplexing process is not limited to the reference signal but may be other signals.
  • the reference signal is a known signal that is provided by the transmitting end to the receiving end for channel estimation or channel sounding and can be used for various measurements to determine the actual channel conditions experienced by the base station to the UE's radio signals.
  • Channel estimation based on reference signals is more accurate than theoretical methods such as geographic location estimation.
  • the reference signal is of great significance for mobility management, resource allocation, MIMO operation, and data demodulation.
  • the reference signal can be typically divided into an uplink reference signal and a downlink reference signal.
  • the reference signal and the user data stream are multiplexed into the uplink frame or the downlink frame in the time domain and/or the frequency domain, and the reference signal occupies a predefined communication resource in the frame.
  • the downlink reference signal is a predefined signal that is transmitted from the base station to the UE and occupies a specific downlink communication resource (for example, a specific resource element in a time-frequency resource block), and is used for downlink channel estimation, downlink channel sounding, cell search, and the like.
  • the downlink reference signals include, for example, but are not limited to, a cell reference signal (CRS), a data demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), and the like.
  • the uplink reference signal is a predefined signal that is transmitted from the UE to the base station and occupies a specific uplink communication resource (eg, a specific resource element in a time-frequency resource block) for uplink channel estimation, uplink channel quality measurement, and the like.
  • the downlink reference signals include, for example, but are not limited to, DMRS, Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), and the like.
  • the CSI-RS is used to perform downlink channel state feedback.
  • the port has a one-to-one correspondence with the reference signal.
  • Reference signals of different ports can be transmitted using the same communication resources.
  • the reference signals on the respective ports adopt positive Send by code division multiplexing.
  • s m [s m,0 ,...,s m,M-1 ], 0 ⁇ m ⁇ M-1 is the orthogonal code of the reference signal for the mth port (it also It can represent the reference signal of the mth port), and the orthogonal codes used by the M ports form the orthogonal code matrix C M as follows:
  • T represents the transpose of the matrix
  • the mth line of the orthogonal code matrix C M represents an orthogonal code for the reference signal transmitted on the mth port, and can be regarded as a set of symbols of the reference signal.
  • Column j represents an orthogonal code for a reference signal transmitted on a jth communication resource (e.g., a time-frequency resource element).
  • the orthogonal code matrix C M satisfies orthogonality, that is, Where I M is an identity matrix of M ⁇ M size, and H represents a conjugate transpose of the matrix.
  • the reference signal after code division multiplexing using this orthogonal code matrix C M can then be transmitted through the antenna array using the same communication resources (eg, time-frequency resource elements).
  • the number K of antenna arrays is equal to or smaller than the number M of ports.
  • the ports may correspond one-to-one with the antenna array, that is, the reference signals of one port may be transmitted by the corresponding one of the antenna arrays.
  • the i-th row i-th row element of the orthogonal code matrix C M represents the reference signal symbol transmitted by one antenna array corresponding to the port i on the j-th communication resource.
  • one port may correspond to more than one antenna array, for example, each port may correspond to K/M (K may be a multiple of M) antenna arrays, respectively.
  • K may be a multiple of M
  • the reference signal of port 0 is jointly transmitted by the antenna arrays 0, 1
  • the reference signals of the port 1 are jointly transmitted by the antenna arrays 2, 3.
  • the jth column i-th row element of the orthogonal code matrix C M represents the reference signal symbol transmitted by the (K/M) antenna arrays associated with the i-th port on the j-th communication resource.
  • the correspondence between the port and the antenna array may not be limited to the case illustrated above, and the reflective device may allocate an antenna array used for transmitting signals of the respective ports according to actual needs.
  • the orthogonal code matrix C M is also designed to combine beams transmitted by the plurality of antenna arrays on each communication resource into a single beam and Adjust the direction angle of the combined beam.
  • a method of determining such an orthogonal code matrix of the third embodiment will be described below.
  • the orthogonal code matrix C M can be generated based on the base compensated phase information and the additional phase information, wherein the base compensated phase information indicates the phase difference compensated for each antenna array such that the transmit beams of the plurality of antenna arrays can be combined It is a single combined beam, and the additional phase information indicates phase information for adjusting the direction of the combined beam.
  • the orthogonal code matrix C M can be obtained by:
  • C M Are M ⁇ M matrices, of which Is a basic compensation phase matrix containing basic compensation phase information, Is an additional phase matrix containing additional phase information. ⁇ indicates that the corresponding elements of the matrix are multiplied.
  • the basic compensation phase matrix Contains information about the base compensation phase for the reference signal compensation for each of the K ports.
  • all antenna arrays use the same transmit beam, that is, all antenna arrays are determined to use the same analog beamforming parameters to form the same target. Transmit beam. Since the arrangement of the K antenna arrays is the same as the fixed structure and the adopted transmit beam, the basic compensation phase matrix It can be expressed as:
  • Basic compensation phase matrix The elements thereof indicate the phase difference compensated for each antenna array. More specifically, the mth (1 ⁇ m ⁇ M-1) elements ⁇ b,m of each column vector represent the antenna array(s) for transmitting the reference signal of the mth port with respect to The base compensates the phase of the antenna array(s) for transmitting the reference signal of the 0th port. Thus, on each communication resource, the beams transmitted by the K antenna arrays are combined into a single beam.
  • the value of the base compensation phase ⁇ b,m can be calculated according to the equations (1) to (4) described in the first embodiment depending on the structure and arrangement of the antenna array and the direction of the transmission beam.
  • the base compensation phase of the antenna array 1 relative to the antenna array 0 is (d is the antenna element spacing, N is the number of antenna elements per antenna array, and ⁇ is the beam direction of the antenna array).
  • the base compensation phase of the antenna array 2 relative to the antenna array 0 is And so on. Therefore, for a ULA matrix with such a structure and arrangement, the base compensated phase matrix It can be expressed as:
  • Additional phase matrix in equation (6) Information is provided for the additional phase applied to each antenna array. More specifically, an additional phase matrix The mth (1 ⁇ m ⁇ M-1) elements of each column vector represent additional phases applied for the reference signal for transmitting the mth port, thereby adjusting the formation of K antenna arrays on each communication resource Combine the direction of the beam.
  • Additional phase matrix It is designed to be orthogonal to ensure orthogonality by the matrix C M .
  • the beam formed by transmitting the reference signal of the 0th port and the beam formed by transmitting the reference signal of the 1st port are combined to obtain a combined beam, and the additional phase is adopted.
  • [1, -j] the beam formed by transmitting the reference signal of the 0th port and the beam formed by transmitting the reference signal of the 1st port are combined to obtain another combined beam.
  • the two combined beams have different direction angles and are relative to the reference beam direction (ie, the direction of the transmit beam of a single antenna array, see dotted line The outgoing beam) is roughly symmetrical.
  • H 2 is a Hadamard matrix
  • the additional phase matrix obtained by this iterative method of Hadamard matrix can maintain its orthogonality, thus ensuring the compensation of the phase matrix by the foundation.
  • additional phase matrix The orthogonality of the generated orthogonal code matrix C M .
  • 8A-8B are transmission examples showing reference signals of two ports.
  • the transmitting end uses the orthogonal code matrix C 2 to generate reference signals for the two ports.
  • the orthogonal code matrix C 2 can be determined as:
  • ⁇ b is the base compensation phase
  • the reference signal of port 0 is code division multiplexed code [1, 1] (given by the first line of C 2 ), and the reference signal of port 1 is code division multiplexed code [j ⁇ b , -j ⁇ b ] (given from line 2 of C 2 ).
  • FIG. 8A shows the case of the resource elements occupied by the reference signals of the two ports in the communication resource block, respectively, where the left side corresponds to port 0 and the right side corresponds to port 1.
  • the symbol of each reference signal occupies two communication resources (resource elements) for transmission, and the reference signals of the two ports occupy the same communication resources.
  • FIG. 8B is a schematic diagram showing a beam generated when an antenna array transmits these reference signals.
  • the antenna array has been determined to use the same analog beamforming parameters in order to be able to form the same target transmit beam.
  • the signal transmitted by the antenna array of port 1 has a phase difference j ⁇ b (given by the first column of C 2 ) relative to the signal transmitted by the antenna array of port 0.
  • the phase difference includes a base compensation phase ⁇ b compensated for each antenna array
  • the beams formed by the antenna arrays of the two ports can be combined into a single beam (combined beam f 0 ).
  • the phase difference also includes an additional phase j applied for each antenna array to adjust the direction of the combined beam such that the combined beam has a certain angular offset with respect to the target transmit beam (see the beam shown by the dashed line).
  • the signal transmitted by the antenna array of port 1 has a phase difference -j ⁇ b (given by the second column of C 2 ) relative to the signal transmitted by the antenna array of port 0.
  • the phase difference includes a base compensation phase ⁇ b for each antenna array compensation
  • the beams formed by the antenna arrays of the two ports can be combined into a single beam (combined beam f 1 ).
  • the phase difference also includes an additional phase -j applied for each antenna array, the combined beam has a certain angular offset with respect to the target transmit beam (see the beam shown by the dashed line).
  • the merged beam f 1 and the merged beam f 0 are substantially symmetric with respect to the target transmit beam.
  • the reference signals are transmitted in different beams on different communication resources.
  • the receiving end can estimate the channel condition of each port by receiving the reference signal. For example, in the above example, assuming that the channel vectors of port 0 and port 1 to the receiving end are h 0 and h 1 , and each antenna array uses the same analog beamforming parameters to form beam f, then on the first resource element,
  • the received signal y 0 at the receiving end can be expressed as:
  • the received signal y 1 at the receiving end can be expressed as:
  • n the noise component of the channel.
  • each port can be obtained.
  • the channel conditions are as follows:
  • the receiving end since the basic compensation phase matrix is related to the structure and the transmit beam of the antenna array, the receiving end may not be known or the complexity is too high (for example, the transmitting end is required to notify the receiving end), and the additional phase matrix is fixed. Therefore, when determining the channel condition, the receiving end can pre-store an additional phase matrix having orthogonality. For example, when the receiving end receives the received signal, the conjugate [-j, j] of the line [j, -j] of the additional phase matrix can be multiplied by the received signal. To get information about the channel condition of port 1, and feed it back to the transmitter. Multiply the transmitter Make corrections.
  • 9A-9B show an example of transmission of reference signals for four ports.
  • the transmitting end uses the orthogonal code matrix C 4 to generate reference signals for the four ports.
  • the orthogonal code matrix C 4 is determined according to equations (8), (9), (10) described above as follows:
  • the reference signal of port 0 is code division multiplexed code [1, 1, 1, 1] (given by the first line of C 4 ), and the reference signal of port 1 is code division multiplexed code. [ ⁇ b,1 , - ⁇ b,1 , ⁇ b,1 , - ⁇ b,1 ] (given by the second line of C 4 ), the reference signal of port 2 is code division multiplexed code [j ⁇ b, 2, j ⁇ b, 2, -j ⁇ b, 2, -j ⁇ b, 2], the reference signal port 3 using code division multiplexing code [j ⁇ b, 3, -j ⁇ b , 3, -j ⁇ b, 3, j ⁇ b, 3 ].
  • FIG. 9A respectively shows the case of the resource elements occupied by the reference signals of the four ports in the communication resource block, wherein the upper left, the upper right, the lower left, and the lower right respectively correspond to port 0, port 1, port 2, and port 3.
  • the length of the code division multiplexing code of the reference signal is 4, the symbols of the reference signal occupy four resource elements for transmission, and the reference signals of the four ports occupy the same resource elements.
  • FIG. 9B is a diagram showing beams generated when an antenna array transmits these reference signals, where beams f 0 to f 3 are combined beams obtained by combining beams transmitted by antenna arrays on four resource elements, respectively.
  • the combined beams in which the plurality of antenna arrays form a transmission on each resource element have mutually different directions, and the two are symmetric about the target transmission beam.
  • the receiving end may multiply the received signals by the conjugate transpose of the code division multiplexing codes of the respective ports to determine the channel condition of each port.
  • the receiving end may only store information about the additional phase matrix in advance, and use the orthogonality of the additional phase matrix to determine the channel condition of each port.
  • FIGS. 10A and 10B An example of an electronic device at a transmitting end and a communication method thereof according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to FIGS. 10A and 10B.
  • FIG. 10A shows a configuration block diagram of an electronic device 1000 at the transmitting end according to the second embodiment.
  • the electronic device 1000 may be a base station such as an eNB, a gNB, or the like, or a component thereof, and in the uplink transmission, the electronic device 1000 may be a user such as a mobile phone, an in-vehicle communication device, a drone, or the like. Equipment or its components.
  • the electronic device 1000 includes at least a processing circuit 1001, which can be configured to perform the communication method as shown in FIG. 10B. Similar to processing circuit 501, processing circuit 1001 can be implemented in a variety of ways.
  • the processing circuit 1001 may include a code division multiplexing unit 1002 and a transmission control unit 1003.
  • the code division multiplexing unit 1002 is configured to code-multiplex the reference signals with an orthogonal code matrix to generate reference signals of a plurality of ports (step S1001 in FIG. 10B).
  • the orthogonal code matrix contains information for adjusting the relative phase of the antenna array.
  • the orthogonal code matrix may be generated based on a base compensated phase matrix and an additional phase matrix, wherein elements of the base compensated phase matrix indicate phase offsets compensated for the antenna array such that each antenna array is transmitted using a common transmit beam on the same communication resource The beams can be combined into a single combined beam.
  • the additional phase matrix is an orthogonal matrix whose elements indicate a fixed phase difference applied to the antenna arrays of the different ports to adjust the direction angle of the combined beams.
  • the transmission control unit 1003 is configured to control the plurality of antenna arrays to transmit the code-multiplexed reference signals using the same analog beamforming parameters (step S1002 in FIG. 10B).
  • the multiple antenna arrays operate under a coherent beam selection type.
  • Each antenna array transmits a first symbol of its corresponding code-multiplexed reference signal on a first communication resource (eg, a time-frequency resource), since these symbols have been assigned a phase compensation phase and additional by code division multiplexing
  • the phase constitutes the relative phase, so the beams transmitted by each antenna array are combined into a single beam (first combined beam).
  • each antenna array transmits a second symbol of the code-multiplexed reference signal on the second communication resource, and due to the relative phase of the symbols, the beams transmitted by the antenna arrays are combined into Single beam (second combined beam).
  • the direction of the first combined beam and the second combined beam relative to the transmit beam corresponding to the analog beamforming parameter is different or even substantially symmetrical.
  • the plurality of antenna arrays may also transmit reference signals on the third communication resource, the fourth communication resource, etc. to form more combined beams having mutually different beam directions. In particular, these combined beams are symmetrical about the direction of the transmit beam.
  • the electronic device 1000 may also include, for example, a communication unit 1005 and a memory 1006.
  • the communication unit 1005 can be configured to communicate with the receiving end under the control of the processing circuit 1001.
  • communication unit 1005 can be implemented as a transmitter or transceiver, including communication components such as the antenna arrays and/or radio frequency links described above.
  • the communication unit 1005 is depicted in dashed lines because it can also be located outside of the electronic device 1000.
  • the memory 1006 can store various information generated by the processing circuit 1001 (eg, an orthogonal code matrix to be used by the code division multiplexing unit 1002, a common analog beamforming parameter to be used by the antenna array, etc.) for the electronic device 1000. Programs and data to be operated, data to be transmitted by the communication unit 1005, and the like.
  • the memory 1006 is depicted in dashed lines as it may also be located within the processing circuit 1001 or external to the electronic device 1000.
  • the memory 1006 can be a volatile memory and/or a non-volatile memory.
  • memory 1006 can include, but is not limited to, a random access memory (RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a read only memory (ROM), a flash memory.
  • the reference signal has been code-multiplexed by using the orthogonal code matrix to transmit 2 or more beams having different directions, with reference to the drawings.
  • the example of Figures 8A-8B continues to be discussed below.
  • the use of orthogonal codes are [1,1] and [j ⁇ b, -j ⁇ b] reference signal ports 0 and 1 are code-division multiplexed. Therefore, on the first communication resource, the antenna array corresponding to port 0 has a phase difference j ⁇ b with respect to the antenna array corresponding to port 1, and on the second communication resource, the antenna array corresponding to port 0 is opposite to The antenna array corresponding to port 1 has a phase difference -j ⁇ b . That is, for the two communication resources, the relative phase adjustment of the antenna arrays of port 0 and port 1 is adjusted using the relative phase adjustment parameters [1, j ⁇ b ] and [1, -j ⁇ b ], respectively.
  • the antenna array uses the same analog beamforming parameters, ie all antenna arrays use the same transmit beam (hereafter referred to as the target transmit beam, denoted by f).
  • the target transmit beam hereafter referred to as the target transmit beam, denoted by f.
  • the combined beam 0 can be expressed as
  • the combined beam 1 can be expressed as
  • ⁇ b is the base compensation phase determined based on the structure and arrangement of the antenna array and the direction of the target transmit beam.
  • the base compensation phase ⁇ b can be expressed as (See formula (2)).
  • the relative beam gain ⁇ and the channel AoD direction ⁇ have a one-to-one mapping relationship in a neighborhood [ ⁇ min , ⁇ max ] of the transmission beam direction ⁇ .
  • the neighborhood corresponds to the zeros of p 0 ( ⁇ ) and p 1 ( ⁇ ), which yields:
  • the solid line indicates the beam when the antenna array is non-uniformly arranged
  • the broken line as a reference indicates the beam when the antenna array is uniformly arranged.
  • the non-uniform arrangement of the antenna array results in the beam direction of the combined beam approaching the target transmit beam.
  • 11B shows the mapping relationship between the relative beam gain ⁇ and the channel AoD direction ⁇ , from which it can be seen that the relative beam gain ⁇ and the channel AoD direction ⁇ are between approximately [-5.8°, 5.8°].
  • One-to-one mapping relationship Compared to the example of FIG. 11A, the range of the neighborhood [ ⁇ min , ⁇ max ] is reduced.
  • the relative beam gain of the two combined beams that are symmetric about the target transmit beam can be calculated, for example, Where p 0 ( ⁇ ) is the gain of the combined beam 0 (which corresponds to the 0th column of the orthogonal code matrix C M ), and p N/2 ( ⁇ ) is the combined beam N/2 (which is orthogonal to the orthogonal code matrix C) The gain of the Nth column of M corresponds to).
  • the two combined beams are approximately symmetrical about the target transmit beam.
  • the diagram on the left side of Fig. 11C four combined beams are formed, where f 0 and f 2 are symmetrical, and f 1 and f 3 are symmetrical.
  • the diagram on the right side of Fig. 11C shows the relationship between the relative beam gain ⁇ of f 0 and f 2 and the channel AoD direction ⁇ .
  • the relative beam gain ⁇ and the channel AoD direction ⁇ are about [-3.6°.
  • the neighborhood of 3.6°] has a one-to-one mapping relationship.
  • the range of the neighborhood [ ⁇ min , ⁇ max ] is reduced.
  • the antenna array is UPA.
  • N W x H antenna elements
  • FIGS. 11D and 11E The arrangement of two antenna arrays in a particular direction (horizontal or vertical) is shown in Figures 11D and 11E. It is to be noted that although FIGS. 11D and 11E only show an example in which two antenna arrays are arranged in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction, the number of antenna arrays is not limited to two.
  • the antenna array 0 and the antenna array 1 are arranged in the horizontal direction.
  • the base compensation phase between the two antenna arrays Wherein d H represents the antenna element spacing in the horizontal direction, and ⁇ h and ⁇ v are the direction angles of the target transmitting beam in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, respectively.
  • the relative beam gain ⁇ can be calculated as:
  • ⁇ h represents the channel AOD in the horizontal direction.
  • the channel AoD is equal to the target transmit beam direction in the vertical direction, so the more the number of antenna elements in the vertical direction, the more the equation (15) can reflect the relative beam gain and the channel in the horizontal direction. The relationship between AoD.
  • the relative beam gain ⁇ satisfies the one-to-one mapping relationship in a neighborhood with the horizontal channel AoD direction ⁇ h .
  • the case under a non-uniform structure can be analyzed using a similar method with reference to the ULA array.
  • the antenna array 0 and the antenna array 1 are arranged in the vertical direction.
  • the base compensation phase between the two antenna arrays is
  • d V represents the antenna element spacing in the vertical direction
  • ⁇ h and ⁇ v are the direction angles of the target transmitting beam in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, respectively.
  • the relative beam gain ⁇ can be calculated as:
  • ⁇ v represents the channel AOD in the vertical direction.
  • the relative beam gain ⁇ satisfies the one-to-one mapping relationship in a neighborhood with the vertical channel AoD direction ⁇ v .
  • the case of a non-uniform arrangement can be analyzed using a similar method with reference to the ULA array.
  • the above extended examples (1) to (3) respectively describe the non-uniform arrangement of the antenna array, the number of ports is larger than 2, and the antenna array is UPA, it should be understood that these factors may be combined in practical applications. Any two or more of them, that is, the use of the antenna array may be more complicated according to actual needs.
  • the relative beam gain can be similarly calculated according to the formulas (13) to (16) and variations thereof.
  • the fourth embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a scheme of estimating the channel direction. Description will be made below with reference to FIG.
  • Fig. 12 is a signaling flow chart showing channel direction estimation according to the fourth embodiment.
  • the transmitting end may be a base station, such as an eNB, a gNB, etc.
  • the receiving end may be a user equipment.
  • the transmitting end may be a user equipment, and the receiving end may be a base station.
  • the transmitting end can select a target transmitting beam (S1 to S4) by beam scanning.
  • S1 to S4 can be described in conjunction with FIG. 1 at the same time.
  • n t_DL downlink transmit beams of the base station 1000 sequentially transmit n t_DL ⁇ n r_DL downlink reference signals to the UE 1004, and during uplink beam scanning, the n t_UL uplinks of the UE 1004
  • the transmit beam sequentially transmits n t_UL ⁇ n r_UL uplink reference signals to the base station 1000.
  • the receiving end can estimate the gain of the beam.
  • the UE 1004 measures the n t_DL ⁇ n r_DL downlink reference signals, for example, the received signal power (eg, RSRP) of the downlink reference signal.
  • the UE 1004 determines the strongest downlink transmit beam of the base station 1000 and the strongest downlink receive beam of the UE 1004.
  • the base station 1000 measures the n r_UL ⁇ n t_UL uplink reference signals (for example, measures the received signal power (eg, RSRP) of the uplink reference signal), thereby determining the strongest uplink transmit beam and base station of the UE 1004.
  • the strongest uplink receive beam of 1000 is the received signal power (eg, RSRP) of the uplink reference signal.
  • the receiving end feeds back information about the quality of the strongest beam and its index in the beam set to the transmitting end.
  • the transmitting end can determine the strongest transmit beam as the target transmit beam used by its antenna array.
  • the antenna array operates under a coherent beam selection type, that is, the transmitting end selects the same transmission beam for its antenna array.
  • the transmitting end and the receiving end perform the transmission of the next data and/or control signal by using the determined strongest transmitting and receiving beam of the base station and the strongest transmitting and receiving beam of the terminal device.
  • the above process of determining the strongest transmit and receive beams of a base station and a UE by beam scanning is also referred to as a beam training process.
  • the transmitting end can generally select the transmit beam that best matches the current channel direction from its beam set.
  • the above S1 to S4 are flows for determining the target transmission beams at the transmitting end, which are not essential for the channel direction estimation to be described below.
  • the transmitting end can also determine the target transmit beam by any other suitable method, but it is preferred that the direction of the target transmit beam is as close as possible to the channel AOD direction.
  • the transmitting end transmits the reference signal using the determined target transmit beam.
  • the reference signal has been code division multiplexed using an orthogonal code matrix.
  • the orthogonal code matrix may be generated based on the base compensated phase information and the additional phase information, wherein the base compensated phase information indicates a phase difference compensated for each antenna array such that the plurality of antenna arrays are in the same.
  • the beams transmitted on the communication resources e.g., time-frequency resources
  • the additional phase information indicates the phase difference used to adjust the direction of the combined beams.
  • the elements of the orthogonal code matrix substantially indicate the relative phase of the antenna array used to transmit the reference signal on each communication resource, and the process of code division multiplexing the reference signal with the orthogonal code matrix is also a reference to the baseband.
  • the signal is phase-adjusted.
  • the code division multiplexing for the reference signal has been described in detail in the above third embodiment and will not be repeated here.
  • the transmitting end transmits a combined beam having a first beam direction on the first communication resource and a combined beam having a second beam direction on the second communication resource.
  • the two combined beams may be substantially symmetrical with respect to the direction of the target transmit beam.
  • the two combined beams can also be asymmetric with respect to the direction of the target transmit beam.
  • the range of angles between the two combined beams determines the range of channel direction estimates.
  • the transmitting end can also transmit more combined beams.
  • the transmitting end may transmit a combined beam having a third beam beam direction on a third communication resource, a combined beam having a fourth beam direction on a fourth communication resource, and the like.
  • the receiving end receives each combined beam on the corresponding communication resource, and estimates the relative beam gain ⁇ between the two beams. Specifically, the receiving end can separately measure the gains of the received combined beams and take their ratios as relative beam gains. In the case where multiple combined beams are received, two of the beams can be selected to estimate the relative beam gain. In the example described with reference to FIG. 11C, as one example, you may select the received beam f 1 and f 3 to estimate the relative beam gain, in order to achieve greater channel direction estimation range. As another example, the received beams f 1 and f 3 may be selected to estimate the relative beam gain. Since the gain difference between the main lobe and the side lobe of the two beams is large, the calculated relative beam gain value is more meaningful.
  • the channel direction between the transmitting end and the receiving end has an angle with the target transmitting beam direction that is less than a predetermined threshold. That is, the channel direction falls neighborhood [ ⁇ min, ⁇ max] transmit beam on the target direction in the neighborhood [ ⁇ min, ⁇ max] selected and used to calculate the relative beam gain of a beam which related. Not in the estimation accuracy consideration, it is desirable that the gain ratio of the two combined beams exceeds a predetermined threshold.
  • the receiving end can also determine channel state information based on the received reference signal. For example, as described in the third embodiment, the receiving end may implement the reception of each reference signal using the same orthogonal code matrix or additional phase matrix as the transmitting end, and based on the received reference signal (eg, CSI- RS) to calculate channel state information such as channel quality indication (CQI), precoding matrix indication (PMI), and rank indication (RI).
  • the receiving end can also perform more accurate channel state feedback, such as precoding feedback based on linear combined codebook, feedback based on covariance matrix, mixed channel state information feedback, and the like.
  • the receiving end feeds back information about the relative beam gain ⁇ to the transmitting end.
  • the calculated value may be quantized, and the quantized codebook is pre-stored on both sides of the transmitting end and the receiving end.
  • a plurality of quantized codebooks of different precisions may be stored at the transmitting end and the receiving end as needed, and then the transmitting end may configure the receiving end to adopt a certain quantization precision, or the receiving end determines to adopt a certain quantization precision and notify the transmitting end. end.
  • uniform quantization can be used, for example, uniform quantization of log 10 ⁇ .
  • the quantized codebook is selected ⁇ -10, -3, +3, +10 ⁇ dB, and when the quantization precision is 3 bits, the quantized codebook is selected to be ⁇ -10, -6, -3, -1, +1, +3, +6, +10 ⁇ dB.
  • the receiving end can also adopt any suitable quantization method. Then, the receiving end feeds back the quantized result indicating the relative beam gain to the transmitting end in the form of a Relative Beamforming Gain Indicator (RBGI).
  • RBGI Relative Beamforming Gain Indicator
  • the receiving end may also simultaneously transmit the determined channel state information, such as CQI, PMI, RI, and the like. These channel state information may be included in the signaling message along with the relative beam gain indicator. Of course, the receiving end can use different information messages to transmit the relative beam gain indicator and channel state information.
  • the transmitting end may determine information about the relative beam gain and calculate the channel direction (AOD) accordingly.
  • the mapping relationship between the relative beam gain and the channel direction has been pre-calculated and stored in the transmitting end. Since the structure and arrangement of the antenna array used at the transmitting end are generally fixed, the selection of the antenna array can also be performed according to a predetermined rule, so that only all mapping relationship sets related to the beam set of the beamforming codebook can be stored.
  • the mapping relationship between the relative beam gain and the channel direction may be stored in the form of a mapping table at the transmitting end, so that the transmitting end can directly map from the received relative beam gain to the channel AOD.
  • the transmitting end can also configure digital precoding using the received channel state information, such as CQI, PMI, RI, etc., to achieve channel matching.
  • the channel AOD estimation according to the present embodiment can be performed together with channel state feedback, and thus has good compatibility. It should be noted that although the example in which the channel AOD estimation is performed together with the channel state feedback is shown in FIG. 12, it can be understood that the two processes can be performed independently.
  • each antenna array antenna number N 4 or 8.
  • the beam of the antenna array uses a 4x quantized DFT codebook, and the beam used by the antenna array is determined by beam scanning. It is assumed that the sector size covered by the antenna array is 120 degrees, that is, the range of the channel AoD is [-60°, 60°].
  • the channel direction estimation proposed in this embodiment can be applied to many scenarios, and some typical application scenarios will be described below.
  • the following application examples are merely exemplary and not limiting.
  • the base station can perform beam switching such that the beam direction tracks the user, that is, keeps the direction of the transmit beam tracking channel AoD direction.
  • the triggering condition for beam switching can typically be a change in channel direction that exceeds a certain threshold (eg, 3.6°).
  • the base station can periodically determine the current channel AOD. When it is determined that the channel AOD has changed beyond a threshold, the base station switches the transmit beam used by the antenna array, for example, selecting a transmit beam closer to the current channel direction from its set of beams to transmit data or control signals.
  • 14A-14B are diagrams showing the execution of channel direction estimation according to the present embodiment before and after beam switching.
  • the base station can perform channel direction estimation using a pair of merged beams as shown in the beam pattern on the left side of FIG. 14, and the mapping relationship between the relative beam gain and the channel direction used is as shown in FIG. 14B. Thick lines are shown.
  • the base station switches the transmit beam used by its antenna array to ensure that the transmit beam is aligned with the channel AoD, maintaining a high received signal to noise ratio while ensuring that the channel AoD falls. Maintaining high channel AoD estimation accuracy near the transmit beam.
  • the base station After performing beam switching, the base station can perform channel direction estimation using another pair of combined beams as shown in the beam pattern on the right side of FIG. 14A, the pair of combined beams being closer to the switched transmit beam, and the base station can use the picture as shown
  • the mapping relationship shown by the thin lines in 14B estimates the channel direction.
  • the trigger condition of the beam switching may also be based on the predicted channel AoD direction.
  • the base station separately transmits reference signals to perform channel direction estimation according to the present embodiment, thereby estimating channel AoD directions of the two time slots respectively with The base station can obtain the angular velocity of the user's motion
  • the base station can predict the channel AoD estimate for the next time slot as:
  • AoD t+1 AoD t +v a ⁇ t (18)
  • ⁇ t is the time interval
  • the base station can determine whether it is necessary to switch the beam of the antenna array.
  • the channel AOD estimation according to the present embodiment can also be applied to other scenarios.
  • multiple neighboring base stations may be cooperatively estimated to estimate the channel direction of the same user equipment, and then the location of the user equipment is located by, for example, three-point positioning.
  • the base station may use the estimation results of the channel directions of multiple users for user scheduling, thereby avoiding scheduling users close to the channel direction on the same communication resource, thereby reducing inter-user interference.
  • the transmitting end may set the channel AOD determined by the above channel direction estimation method to the channel AOA for beam reception.
  • FIGS. 15A and 15B An example of an electronic device at a transmitting end and a communication method thereof according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to FIGS. 15A and 15B.
  • Fig. 15A shows a configuration block diagram of an electronic device 1500 at the transmitting end according to the fourth embodiment.
  • the electronic device 1500 may be a base station such as an eNB, a gNB, or the like, a drone control tower, or a component thereof, and in the uplink transmission, the electronic device 1500 may be, for example, a mobile phone, an in-vehicle communication device, or an unmanned person.
  • User equipment such as a machine or the like.
  • the electronic device 1500 includes at least a processing circuit 1501 that can be configured to perform the communication method as shown in FIG. 15B. Similar to processing circuit 501, processing circuit 1501 can be implemented in a variety of ways.
  • the processing circuit 1501 may include a target transmit beam determining unit 1502, a transmit control unit 1503, a relative beam gain receiving unit 1504, and a channel AOD determining unit 1003.
  • the target transmit beam determining unit 1502 is configured to determine a target transmit beam to be used by the antenna array of the transmitting end (step S1501 in Fig. 15B).
  • target transmit beam determination 1502 may select the best transmit beam from the set of transmit beams as the target transmit beam by performing beam training.
  • all antenna arrays operate under a coherent beam selection type, i.e., all antenna arrays will use a common target transmit beam. If the best transmit beams selected for each antenna array are inconsistent as a result of beam training, the target transmit beam determination unit 1502 can make an overall consideration for the antenna array to determine a transmit beam that is better for all antenna arrays.
  • the analog beamforming parameters corresponding to the common target transmit beam can be used to configure the phase shifter of the antenna array.
  • the transmission control unit 1503 is configured to control the plurality of antenna arrays to transmit the reference signal using the determined analog beamforming parameters (step S1502 in FIG. 15B).
  • the transmission control unit 1503 can control to transmit at least two reference signals.
  • the symbols of the reference signal are code division multiplexed using an orthogonal code matrix generated based on the base compensation phase and the additional phase, and as a result of code division multiplexing, a set of reference signal symbols to be transmitted on the first communication resource is adjusted to Having different relative phases (which include the base compensation phase and the additional phase) such that when they are transmitted by the corresponding antenna array, the transmit beams formed by all antenna arrays can be combined into a single combined beam, and the direction of the combined beams deviates from the target transmit beam
  • the direction in which a set of reference signal symbols to be transmitted on the second communication resource are applied with different relative phases from the previous group such that when they are transmitted by the corresponding antenna array, the transmit beams formed by all of the antenna arrays can be combined into A combined beam that is
  • the relative beam gain receiving unit 1504 is configured to receive information about the relative beam gain from the receiving end (for example, the electronic device 1600 to be described below) (step S1503 in FIG. 15B).
  • the relative beam gain represents the ratio of the two combined beams received at the receiving end.
  • two combined beams can be selected from them to calculate their relative beam gains.
  • the receiving end can select two beams with the largest range of angles to maximize the channel AOD estimation range.
  • the receiving end may select two beams whose gain ratio exceeds a predetermined threshold to ensure the accuracy of the channel AOD estimation.
  • the calculated relative beam gain can be quantized according to the required quantization accuracy and sent to the electronic device 1500 as a relative beam gain indicator.
  • the relative beam gain indicator can be sent with channel state information.
  • the channel AOD determining unit 1505 is configured to determine the channel AOD using the information about the relative beam gain received by the relative beam gain receiving unit 1504 (step S1504 in FIG. 15B).
  • the channel AOD determining unit 1505 can refer to a mapping table that records the mapping relationship between the relative beam gain and the channel AOD. Such a mapping table may have multiples depending on the transmit beam and is pre-stored at the transmitting end.
  • Electronic device 1500 may also include, for example, communication unit 1506 and memory 1507.
  • the communication unit 1506 can be configured to communicate with the receiving end under the control of the processing circuit 1501.
  • communication unit 1506 can be implemented as a transceiver, including communication components such as antenna arrays and/or radio frequency links described above.
  • Communication unit 1506 is depicted in dashed lines because it can also be located outside of electronic device 1500.
  • the memory 1507 can store various information generated by the processing circuit 1501 (eg, analog beamforming parameters corresponding to respective transmit beams in the transmit beam set, determination results of the target transmit beam determining unit 1502, orthogonal code matrix, by relative The relative beam gain indicator received by the beam gain receiving unit 1504, the channel AOD determined by the channel AOD determining unit 1505, etc., programs and data for operation of the electronic device 1500, data to be transmitted by the communication unit 1506, and the like.
  • Memory 1507 is depicted in dashed lines as it may also be located within processing circuitry 1501 or external to electronic device 1500.
  • Memory 1507 can be a volatile memory and/or a non-volatile memory.
  • memory 1507 can include, but is not limited to, a random access memory (RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a read only memory (ROM), a flash memory.
  • FIGS. 16A and 16B An example of an electronic device at the receiving end and a communication method thereof according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to FIGS. 16A and 16B.
  • Fig. 16A shows a configuration block diagram of an electronic device 1600 at the receiving end according to the fourth embodiment.
  • the electronic device 1600 may be a user equipment such as a mobile phone, an in-vehicle communication device, a drone, or the like, or a component thereof, and in the uplink transmission, the electronic device 1500 may be an eNB, a gNB, or the like. Base station, drone control tower or its components.
  • the electronic device 1600 includes at least a processing circuit 1601 that can be configured to perform the communication method as shown in FIG. 16B. Similar to processing circuit 501, processing circuit 1601 can be implemented in a variety of ways.
  • the processing circuit 1601 may include a beam reception control unit 1602, a beam gain measurement unit 1603, and a relative beam gain transmission unit 1604.
  • the beam reception control unit 1602 is configured to control, on each communication resource, a combined beam formed by transmitting a reference signal by a plurality of antenna arrays of the transmitting end (such as the electronic device 1500 described above) using a common transmit beam (steps in FIG. 16B) S1601).
  • a reference signal by a plurality of antenna arrays of the transmitting end (such as the electronic device 1500 described above) using a common transmit beam (steps in FIG. 16B) S1601).
  • at least two reference signals are generated by code division multiplexing using orthogonal code matrices, and as a result of code division multiplexing, a set of reference signal symbols transmitted on the first communication resource are adjusted to have their respective basis.
  • the beam receiving control unit 1602 may also receive the third, fourth combined beams, and the like on the third communication resource, the fourth communication resource, or even more communication resources. These combined beams have different directions through the relative phase adjustment processing of the orthogonal code matrix.
  • the relative beam gain determining unit 1602 is configured to determine the relative beam gain of the combined beam received by the beam receiving control unit 1602 on each communication resource (step S1602 in FIG. 16B).
  • the relative beam gain is the ratio of the gains of the two combined beams. Since each merged beam is associated with a corresponding communication resource (such as a time-frequency resource element), the gains of the received beams on the particular two communication resources can be measured and their ratio calculated.
  • the beam gain measuring unit 1602 may select two combined beams for calculating the relative beam gain, for example, according to the channel AOD estimation range, the channel AOD estimation accuracy, and the like.
  • the relative beam gain transmitting unit 1603 is configured to transmit information about the relative beam gain to the transmitting end (step S1603 in FIG. 16B).
  • the relative beam gain calculated by the relative beam gain determining unit 1602 may be quantized and/or encoded according to the set quantization precision before being transmitted to generate a relative beam gain indicator (RBGI) indicating information about the relative beam gain.
  • RBGI relative beam gain indicator
  • the relative beam gain indicator may occupy several bits in signaling for transmitting channel state information (depending on the quantization accuracy) to be transmitted to the transmitting end along with the channel state information.
  • the relative beam gain indicator can be sent using new signaling.
  • Electronic device 1600 may also include, for example, communication unit 1606 and memory 1607.
  • Communication unit 1606 can be configured to communicate with the receiving end under the control of processing circuitry 1601.
  • communication unit 1606 can be implemented as a transmitter or transceiver, including communication components such as antenna arrays and/or radio frequency links described above.
  • Communication unit 1606 is depicted in dashed lines as it may also be located outside of electronic device 1600.
  • the memory 1607 can store various information generated by the processing circuit 1601 (for example, gain information of a beam received by the beam receiving control unit 1602, relative beam gain determined by the relative beam gain determining unit 1603, or a relative beam gain indicator, etc., etc. ) programs and data for operation of the electronic device 1600, data to be transmitted by the communication unit 1606, and the like.
  • the memory 1607 is depicted in dashed lines as it may also be located within the processing circuit 1601 or external to the electronic device 1600.
  • Memory 1607 can be a volatile memory and/or a non-volatile memory.
  • memory 1607 can include, but is not limited to, a random access memory (RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a read only memory (ROM), a flash memory.
  • the transmitting end realizes beam combining in different directions by transmitting a reference signal subjected to code division multiplexing processing (relative phase adjustment), and based on the relative beam gain and channel direction angle of the combined beam The mapping relationship between the receivers to more accurately estimate the channel direction angle between the transmitting end and the receiving end.
  • the transmitting end transmits two or more beams of different directions by beamforming. These different directions of beams may be formed by a single antenna array using different analog beamforming parameters, or may be formed by multiple antenna arrays using the same analog beamforming parameters as in the third and fourth embodiments above, or Any other suitable way to form.
  • Figure 17A schematically shows a pattern of two transmit beams. However, it should be noted that the number of beams transmitted by the transmitting end can be more than two. As shown in Fig. 17A, there are overlapping portions of the propagation ranges of the two beams, so that in the overlapping portion, the receiving ends can receive the two beams simultaneously.
  • the transmit beam formed by beamforming has a gain characteristic that depends on the direction of the transmission.
  • the two broken lines in Fig. 17B show the gain curves of the two beams in Fig. 17A as a function of the direction angle. As shown in Figure 17B, the beam gain curves of the two transmit beams are offset from each other by an angle which is the difference between the transmit direction angles of the two beams.
  • Fig. 17B shows the relative beam gain between the two beams as a function of the direction angle.
  • the relative beam gain and the direction angle have a one-to-one mapping between the two beam overlaps, i.e., between the zeros of the two beams.
  • channel direction e.g., angle of arrival AOA
  • channel direction estimation can be implemented based on such a one-to-one mapping relationship.
  • FIG. 18 shows an example of a variant embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • a transmitting end e.g., a base station
  • FIG. 18 shows an example in which beams have different gains.
  • solid circles indicate cell boundaries, and dotted circles indicate boundaries that the strongest beam can reach.
  • Figure 18 depicts the case where the beam gains are different, the beams can be designed to have the same gain.
  • UE1 may receive beam 1' as the strongest beam and receive beam 1 as the secondary strong beam in the region between beam 1 and beam 1'. Although UE1 may also receive other beams (e.g., receive beam 2' through a reflection path, etc.), the gain of the other beams is smaller than beam 1' and beam 1. By reporting the received strongest and second strongest beams by UE1, the base station can determine that UE1 is in the region between beam 1 and beam 1'.
  • other beams e.g., receive beam 2' through a reflection path, etc.
  • UE1 can also detect the beam gains of Beam 1 and Beam 1' and calculate the relative beam gain for both. For example, UE1 can calculate the gain ratio of the strongest beam 1' to the second strongest beam 1. The larger the gain ratio, the closer the UE1 is to the beam 1', and the closer it is to the beam 1.
  • the calculated relative beam gain can be represented by quantization as a relative beam gain indicator with a corresponding value and fed back to the base station. By feeding back information about the relative beam gain to the base station, the base station can determine the exact orientation of UE1 between beam 1 and beam 1' based on the mapping relationship between the direction angle and the relative beam gain (Fig. 17B).
  • UE2 may receive beam 1' as the strongest beam and receive beam 2 as the secondary beam, and feed back information about the strongest beam, the second strong beam, and the relative beam gain of the two to the base station.
  • the base station can thus know that UE2 is between beam 1' and beam 2 and determines the exact orientation of UE2 between beam 2 and beam 1' based on a mapping relationship between the direction angle and the relative beam gain.
  • the receiving end can estimate the channel direction angle by reporting at least the relative beam gain of the received two beams.
  • the receiving end may also report the identification information of the received two beams.
  • the identification information may be, for example, a port of a reference signal, a beam identification, communication resource information occupied by a beam, or the like.
  • the identification information can also be any other information as long as it can be used to correlate to the transmitting beam of the transmitting end.
  • the transmitting end may pre-store the mapping relationship between the relative beam gain and the channel direction angle, for example, in the form of a mapping table.
  • the transmitting end can store the relative beam gain of beam 1' and beam 1 and the mapping relationship between the direction angles between the two beams, so that when the relative beam gain from UE1 is received, Based on this mapping relationship, it is determined at which direction angle between the beam 1' and the beam 1 of the UE1.
  • the transmitting end can also store the relative beam gain of beam 1' and beam 2 and the mapping relationship between the direction angles between the two beams, and so on.
  • the transmitting end may further store information about each transmitting beam, so that the transmitting end can determine the transmitting beam associated with the receiving end and its transmitting direction from the identification information fed back from the receiving end. For example, in the example of FIG. 18, the transmitting end may determine the beam 1' and the beam 1 from the identification information of the strongest beam and the second strong beam reported by the UE1, thereby determining that the UE1 is between the beam 1' and the beam 1, and calling about A map of the relative beam gain and direction angles of the two beams.
  • the transmitting end may only need to transmit two or more reference signal beams to at least the area where the receiving end is located, and obtain and feedback the identification information about the beam and the relative beam gain information through the receiving end, so that the receiving end can be conveniently determined.
  • the channel direction with the transmitting end eg, channel AOA.
  • Figure 19 is a communication flow diagram in accordance with a variant embodiment.
  • the transmitting end transmits a beamformed first reference signal beam on a first communication resource (eg, a time-frequency resource element) and a beamformed second on a second communication resource.
  • Reference signal beam The two reference signal beams have different directions.
  • the transmitting end can transmit reference signals using different analog beamforming parameters to form reference signal beams such that the beams point to different directions of transmission.
  • the transmitting end can transmit the relative phase adjusted reference signals with the same analog beamforming parameters using multiple antenna arrays as in the third and fourth embodiments to form reference signal beams having different directions. .
  • determining a transmission direction of the first and second reference signal beams eg, an analog beamforming parameter for forming the two beams, a relative phase adjustment parameter, etc.
  • determining a transmission direction of the first and second reference signal beams eg, an analog beamforming parameter for forming the two beams, a relative phase adjustment parameter, etc.
  • the transmitting end can also transmit more reference signal beams on more communication resources, for example, to cover a larger range.
  • the receiving end receives the first reference signal beam and the second reference signal beam as the strongest and second strongest receive beams, and calculates their relative beam gains. For example, the receiving end can detect the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the two received beams and calculate the ratio. The calculated relative beam gain can be quantized according to the required quantization accuracy.
  • RSRP reference signal received power
  • the receiving end may also determine identification information of the first reference signal beam and the second reference signal beam.
  • the receiving end then feeds back the determined relative beam gain (and the identification information of the reference signal beam, if any) to the transmitting end.
  • the relative beam gain information and/or identification information can be used to determine the channel direction of the receiving end, such as the signal arrival angle.
  • the operations performed by the transmitting end and the receiving end as briefly described above can be implemented, for example, by an electronic device having processing circuitry. For example, it may be implemented cooperatively by all or a part of the electronic device 1500 including the processing circuit 1501 or the electronic device 1600 including the processing circuit 1601.
  • each of the above units may be implemented as a separate physical entity, or may also be implemented by a single entity (eg, a processor (CPU or DSP, etc.), an integrated circuit, etc.).
  • the electronic devices 500, 700, 1000, 1500, 1600 may be implemented as various base stations or installed in a base station, or may be implemented as various user devices or installed in various user devices. in.
  • the communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be implemented by various base stations or user equipments.
  • the base station referred to in the present disclosure may be implemented as any type of base station, preferably a macro gNB and a small gNB in a 5G communication standard New Radio (NR) access technology such as 3GPP.
  • the small gNB may be a gNB that covers a cell smaller than the macro cell, such as pico gNB, micro gNB, and home (femto) gNB.
  • the base station can be implemented as any other type of base station, such as a NodeB, an eNodeB, and a base transceiver station (BTS).
  • the base station may also include: a body configured to control wireless communication and one or more remote wireless head units (RRHs), wireless relay stations, drone towers, and the like disposed at a different location from the main body.
  • RRHs remote wireless head units
  • the user device can be implemented as a mobile terminal (such as a smart phone, a tablet personal computer (PC), a notebook PC, a portable game terminal, a portable/encrypted dog type mobile router and a digital camera device) or an in-vehicle terminal (such as a car navigation device).
  • the user equipment may also be implemented as a terminal (also referred to as a machine type communication (MTC) terminal), a drone, or the like that performs machine-to-machine (M2M) communication.
  • MTC machine type communication
  • the user equipment may be a wireless communication module (such as an integrated circuit module including a single wafer) installed on each of the above terminals.
  • base station as used in this disclosure has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station that is used as part of a wireless communication system or a radio system to facilitate communication.
  • Examples of base stations may be, for example but not limited to, one or both of a base transceiver station (BTS) and a base station controller (BSC) in a GSM communication system; a radio network controller (RNC) in a 3G communication system One or both of the NodeB and the NodeB; the eNB in the 4G LTE and LTE-Advanced systems; the corresponding network node in the future communication system (eg, a gNB that may appear in a 5G communication system, etc.).
  • BTS base transceiver station
  • BSC base station controller
  • RNC radio network controller
  • 3G communication system One or both of the NodeB and the NodeB
  • the eNB in the 4G LTE and LTE-Advanced systems
  • the corresponding network node in the future communication system
  • a logical entity that has control functions for communication may also be referred to as a base station.
  • a logical entity that acts as a spectrum coordination function can also be referred to as a base station.
  • the base station may be implemented as a transmitting end device such as an electronic device 500, 700, 1000, 1500, or in an uplink transmission, the base station may be implemented as a receiving end device such as 1600.
  • the base station is shown as gNB 800.
  • the gNB 800 includes a plurality of antennas 810 and a base station device 820.
  • the base station device 820 and each antenna 810 may be connected to each other via an RF cable.
  • the antenna 810 may include a plurality of antenna arrays as arranged in accordance with FIGS. 3A-3B, the antenna array including a plurality of antenna elements (such as a plurality of antenna elements included in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna), and for the base station apparatus 820 Send and receive wireless signals.
  • gNB 800 can include multiple antennas 810.
  • multiple antennas 810 can be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by gNB 800.
  • FIG. 20 shows an example in which the gNB 800 includes a plurality of antennas 810.
  • the base station device 820 includes a controller 821, a memory 822, a network interface 823, and a wireless communication interface 825.
  • the controller 821 can be, for example, a CPU or a DSP, and operates various functions of higher layers of the base station device 820.
  • the controller 821 may include the processing circuit 301 or 601 described above, perform the communication methods described in the first to fourth embodiments above, or control the respective components of the electronic devices 500, 700, 1000, 1500, 1600.
  • controller 821 generates data packets based on data in signals processed by wireless communication interface 825 and communicates the generated packets via network interface 823.
  • Controller 821 can bundle data from multiple baseband processors to generate bundled packets and pass the generated bundled packets.
  • the controller 821 can have logic functions that perform control such as radio resource control, radio bearer control, mobility management, admission control, and scheduling. This control can be performed in conjunction with nearby gNB or core network nodes.
  • the memory 822 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores programs executed by the controller 821 and various types of control data such as a terminal list, transmission power data, and scheduling data.
  • Network interface 823 is a communication interface for connecting base station device 820 to core network 824. Controller 821 can communicate with a core network node or another gNB via network interface 823. In this case, the gNB 800 and the core network node or other gNBs can be connected to each other through logical interfaces such as an S1 interface and an X2 interface. Network interface 823 can also be a wired communication interface or a wireless communication interface for wireless backhaul lines. If network interface 823 is a wireless communication interface, network interface 823 can use a higher frequency band for wireless communication than the frequency band used by wireless communication interface 825.
  • the wireless communication interface 825 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, NR) and provides wireless connectivity to terminals located in cells of the gNB 800 via the antenna 810.
  • Wireless communication interface 825 may typically include, for example, a baseband (BB) processor 826 and RF circuitry 827.
  • the BB processor 826 can perform, for example, encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and performs layers (eg, L1, Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)) Various types of signal processing.
  • BB processor 826 may have some or all of the above described logic functions.
  • the BB processor 826 can be a memory that stores a communication control program, or a module that includes a processor and associated circuitry configured to execute the program.
  • the update program can cause the function of the BB processor 826 to change.
  • the module can be a card or blade that is inserted into a slot of the base station device 820. Alternatively, the module can also be a chip mounted on a card or blade.
  • the RF circuit 827 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives a wireless signal via the antenna 810.
  • the wireless communication interface 825 can include a plurality of BB processors 826.
  • multiple BB processors 826 can be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by gNB 800.
  • the wireless communication interface 825 can include a plurality of RF circuits 827.
  • multiple RF circuits 827 can be compatible with multiple antenna elements.
  • FIG. 20 illustrates an example in which the wireless communication interface 825 includes a plurality of BB processors 826 and a plurality of RF circuits 827, the wireless communication interface 825 may also include a single BB processor 826 or a single RF circuit 827.
  • one or more units included in the processing circuits 501, 701, 1001, 1501, 1601 described with reference to FIGS. 5A, 7A, 10A, 15A, 16A
  • the transmission control unit 504, the transmission control unit 1003 of the processing circuit 1001, the transmission control unit 1503 of the processing circuit 1501, and the beam reception control unit 1602) of the processing circuit 1601 may be implemented in the wireless communication interface 825.
  • at least a portion of these components can be implemented in controller 821.
  • gNB 800 includes a portion of wireless communication interface 825 (eg, BB processor 826) or a whole, and/or a module that includes controller 821, and one or more components can be implemented in the module.
  • the module may store a program for allowing the processor to function as one or more components (in other words, a program for allowing the processor to perform operations of one or more components), and may execute the program.
  • a program for allowing a processor to function as one or more components can be installed in gNB 800, and wireless communication interface 825 (eg, BB processor 826) and/or controller 821 can perform the program.
  • a gNB 800, a base station device 820, or a module may be provided, and a program for allowing the processor to function as one or more components may be provided.
  • a readable medium in which the program is recorded may be provided.
  • the base station may be implemented as a transmitting end device such as an electronic device 500, 700, 1000, 1500, or in an uplink transmission, the base station may be implemented as a receiving end device such as 1600.
  • the base station is shown as gNB 830.
  • the gNB 830 includes one or more antennas 840, a base station device 850, and an RRH 860.
  • the RRH 860 and each antenna 840 may be connected to each other via an RF cable.
  • the base station device 850 and the RRH 860 can be connected to each other via a high speed line such as a fiber optic cable.
  • Antenna 840 includes a plurality of antenna arrays as arranged in accordance with Figures 3A-3B, the antenna array including a plurality of antenna elements (such as a plurality of antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and for RRH 860 to transmit and receive wireless signals.
  • gNB 830 can include multiple antennas 840.
  • multiple antennas 840 can be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by gNB 830.
  • FIG. 21 shows an example in which the gNB 830 includes a plurality of antennas 840.
  • the base station device 850 includes a controller 851, a memory 852, a network interface 853, a wireless communication interface 855, and a connection interface 857.
  • the controller 851, the memory 852, and the network interface 853 are the same as the controller 821, the memory 822, and the network interface 823 described with reference to FIG.
  • the wireless communication interface 855 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE, LTE-A, NR) and provides wireless communication to terminals located in sectors corresponding to the RRH 860 via the RRH 860 and the antenna 840.
  • Wireless communication interface 855 can generally include, for example, BB processor 856.
  • the BB processor 856 is identical to the BB processor 826 described with reference to FIG. 20, except that the BB processor 856 is connected to the RF circuit 864 of the RRH 860 via the connection interface 857.
  • the wireless communication interface 855 can include a plurality of BB processors 856.
  • multiple BB processors 856 can be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by gNB 830.
  • FIG. 21 illustrates an example in which the wireless communication interface 855 includes a plurality of BB processors 856, the wireless communication interface 855 can also include a single BB processor 856.
  • connection interface 857 is an interface for connecting the base station device 850 (wireless communication interface 855) to the RRH 860.
  • the connection interface 857 may also be a communication module for communicating the base station device 850 (wireless communication interface 855) to the above-described high speed line of the RRH 860.
  • the RRH 860 includes a connection interface 861 and a wireless communication interface 863.
  • connection interface 861 is an interface for connecting the RRH 860 (wireless communication interface 863) to the base station device 850.
  • the connection interface 861 can also be a communication module for communication in the above high speed line.
  • the wireless communication interface 863 transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 840.
  • the RF circuit 864 can include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 840.
  • the wireless communication interface 863 can include a plurality of RF circuits 864.
  • multiple RF circuits 864 can support multiple antenna elements.
  • FIG. 21 illustrates an example in which the wireless communication interface 863 includes a plurality of RF circuits 864, the wireless communication interface 863 may also include a single RF circuit 864.
  • one or more units included in the processing circuits 501, 701, 1001, 1501, 1601 described with reference to FIGS. 5A, 7A, 10A, 15A, 16A
  • the transmission control unit 504, the transmission control unit 1003 of the processing circuit 1001, the transmission control unit 1503 of the processing circuit 1501, and the beam reception control unit 1602) of the processing circuit 1601 may be implemented in the wireless communication interface 855.
  • at least a portion of these components can be implemented in controller 851.
  • gNB 830 includes a portion of wireless communication interface 855 (eg, BB processor 856) or a whole, and/or a module that includes controller 851, and one or more components can be implemented in the module.
  • the module may store a program for allowing the processor to function as one or more components (in other words, a program for allowing the processor to perform operations of one or more components), and may execute the program.
  • a program for allowing a processor to function as one or more components can be installed in gNB 830, and wireless communication interface 855 (eg, BB processor 856) and/or controller 851 can perform the program.
  • a gNB 830, a base station device 850 or a module can be provided, and a program for allowing the processor to function as one or more components can be provided.
  • FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a smartphone 900 to which the technology of the present application can be applied.
  • the smart phone 900 can be implemented as the electronic device 1600 described with reference to FIG. 16A, in which the smart phone 900 can be implemented as the electronic device 500, 700 described with reference to FIGS. 5A, 7A, 10A, 15A, 1000, 1500, 1600.
  • the smart phone 900 includes a processor 901, a memory 902, a storage device 903, an external connection interface 904, a camera 906, a sensor 907, a microphone 908, an input device 909, a display device 910, a speaker 911, a wireless communication interface 912, one or more An antenna switch 915, one or more antennas 916, a bus 917, a battery 918, and an auxiliary controller 919.
  • the processor 901 can be, for example, a CPU or a system on chip (SoC), and controls the functions of the application layer and the other layers of the smart phone 900.
  • Processor 901 can include or function as processing circuits 501, 701, 1001, 1501, 1601 as described in the embodiments.
  • the memory 902 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 901.
  • the storage device 903 may include a storage medium such as a semiconductor memory and a hard disk.
  • the external connection interface 904 is an interface for connecting an external device such as a memory card and a universal serial bus (USB) device to the smartphone 900.
  • USB universal serial bus
  • the camera 906 includes an image sensor such as a charge coupled device (CCD) and a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), and generates a captured image.
  • Sensor 907 can include a set of sensors, such as measurement sensors, gyro sensors, geomagnetic sensors, and acceleration sensors.
  • the microphone 908 converts the sound input to the smartphone 900 into an audio signal.
  • the input device 909 includes, for example, a touch sensor, a keypad, a keyboard, a button, or a switch configured to detect a touch on the screen of the display device 910, and receives an operation or information input from the user.
  • the display device 910 includes screens such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, and displays an output image of the smartphone 900.
  • the speaker 911 converts the audio signal output from the smartphone 900 into sound.
  • the wireless communication interface 912 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE, LTE-A, NR) and performs wireless communication.
  • Wireless communication interface 912 may generally include, for example, BB processor 913 and RF circuitry 914.
  • the BB processor 913 can perform, for example, encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing for wireless communication.
  • RF circuitry 914 may include, for example, mixers, filters, and amplifiers, and transmit and receive wireless signals via antenna 916.
  • the wireless communication interface 912 can be a chip module on which the BB processor 913 and the RF circuit 914 are integrated. As shown in FIG.
  • the wireless communication interface 912 can include a plurality of BB processors 913 and a plurality of RF circuits 914.
  • FIG. 22 illustrates an example in which the wireless communication interface 912 includes a plurality of BB processors 913 and a plurality of RF circuits 914, the wireless communication interface 912 may also include a single BB processor 913 or a single RF circuit 914.
  • wireless communication interface 912 can support additional types of wireless communication schemes, such as short-range wireless communication schemes, near field communication schemes, and wireless local area network (LAN) schemes.
  • the wireless communication interface 912 can include a BB processor 913 and RF circuitry 914 for each wireless communication scheme.
  • Each of the antenna switches 915 switches the connection destination of the antenna 916 between a plurality of circuits included in the wireless communication interface 912, such as circuits for different wireless communication schemes.
  • Antenna 91 may include a plurality of antenna arrays arranged in accordance with Figures 3A-3B, and each antenna array includes a plurality of antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for wireless communication interface 912 to transmit and receive wireless signal.
  • smart phone 900 can include multiple antennas 916.
  • FIG. 22 shows an example in which the smartphone 900 includes a plurality of antennas 916, the smartphone 900 may also include a single antenna 916.
  • smart phone 900 can include an antenna 916 for each wireless communication scheme.
  • the antenna switch 915 can be omitted from the configuration of the smartphone 900.
  • the bus 917 sets the processor 901, the memory 902, the storage device 903, the external connection interface 904, the camera 906, the sensor 907, the microphone 908, the input device 909, the display device 910, the speaker 911, the wireless communication interface 912, and the auxiliary controller 919 to each other. connection.
  • Battery 918 provides power to various blocks of smart phone 900 shown in FIG. 22 via feeders, which are partially shown as dashed lines in the figure.
  • the secondary controller 919 operates the minimum necessary function of the smartphone 900, for example, in a sleep mode.
  • one or more components included in the processing circuits 501, 701, 1001, 1501 described with reference to the drawings may be implemented in the wireless communication interface 912.
  • the transmission control unit 1003, the transmission control unit 1503 of the processing circuit 1501, and the beam reception control unit 1602) of the processing circuit 1601 may be implemented in the wireless communication interface 912.
  • at least a portion of these components can be implemented in processor 901 or auxiliary controller 919.
  • smart phone 900 includes a portion of wireless communication interface 912 (eg, BB processor 913) or entirely, and/or modules including processor 901 and/or auxiliary controller 919, and one or more components can be Implemented in this module.
  • the module can store a program that allows processing of one or more components (in other words, a program for allowing the processor to perform operations of one or more components), and can execute the program.
  • a program for allowing a processor to function as one or more components can be installed in smart phone 900, and wireless communication interface 912 (eg, BB processor 913), processor 901, and/or assistance
  • the controller 919 can execute the program.
  • a smart phone 900 or module can be provided, and a program for allowing the processor to function as one or more components can be provided.
  • a readable medium in which the program is recorded may be provided.
  • the communication unit 505 of the electronic device 500, the communication unit 705 of the electronic device 700, the communication unit 1005 of the electronic device 1000, the communication unit 1506 of the electronic device 1500, and the electronic device Communication unit 1605 of 1600 can be implemented in wireless communication interface 912 (e.g., RF circuit 914).
  • the car navigation device 920 includes a processor 921, a memory 922, a global positioning system (GPS) module 924, a sensor 925, a data interface 926, a content player 927, a storage medium interface 928, an input device 929, a display device 930, a speaker 931, and a wireless device.
  • the processor 921 can be, for example, a CPU or SoC and controls the navigation functions and additional functions of the car navigation device 920.
  • the memory 922 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 921.
  • the GPS module 924 measures the position of the car navigation device 920 (such as latitude, longitude, and altitude) using GPS signals received from GPS satellites.
  • Sensor 925 can include a set of sensors, such as a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an air pressure sensor.
  • the data interface 926 is connected to, for example, the in-vehicle network 941 via a terminal not shown, and acquires data (such as vehicle speed data) generated by the vehicle.
  • the content player 927 reproduces content stored in a storage medium such as a CD and a DVD, which is inserted into the storage medium interface 928.
  • Input device 929 includes, for example, a touch sensor, button or switch configured to detect a touch on the screen of display device 930, and receives an operation or information input from the user.
  • the display device 930 includes a screen such as an LCD or OLED display, and displays an image of the navigation function or reproduced content.
  • the speaker 931 outputs the sound of the navigation function or the reproduced content.
  • the wireless communication interface 933 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE, LTE-A, NR) and performs wireless communication.
  • Wireless communication interface 933 may typically include, for example, BB processor 934 and RF circuitry 935.
  • the BB processor 934 can perform, for example, encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing for wireless communication.
  • the RF circuit 935 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives a wireless signal via the antenna 937.
  • the wireless communication interface 933 can also be a chip module on which the BB processor 934 and the RF circuit 935 are integrated. As shown in FIG.
  • the wireless communication interface 933 may include a plurality of BB processors 934 and a plurality of RF circuits 935.
  • FIG. 23 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 933 includes a plurality of BB processors 934 and a plurality of RF circuits 935, the wireless communication interface 933 may also include a single BB processor 934 or a single RF circuit 935.
  • the wireless communication interface 933 can support another type of wireless communication scheme, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near-field communication scheme, and a wireless LAN scheme.
  • the wireless communication interface 933 may include a BB processor 934 and an RF circuit 935 for each wireless communication scheme.
  • Each of the antenna switches 936 switches the connection destination of the antenna 937 between a plurality of circuits included in the wireless communication interface 933, such as circuits for different wireless communication schemes.
  • Antenna 937 may include multiple antenna arrays arranged in accordance with Figures 3A-3B, each antenna array having multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna), and for wireless communication interface 933 transmitting and receiving wireless signals .
  • car navigation device 920 can include a plurality of antennas 937.
  • FIG. 23 shows an example in which the car navigation device 920 includes a plurality of antennas 937, the car navigation device 920 may also include a single antenna 937.
  • car navigation device 920 can include an antenna 937 for each wireless communication scheme.
  • the antenna switch 936 can be omitted from the configuration of the car navigation device 920.
  • Battery 938 provides power to various blocks of car navigation device 920 shown in Figure 23 via feeders, which are partially shown as dashed lines in the figure. Battery 938 accumulates power supplied from the vehicle.
  • one or more components included in the processing circuits 501, 701, 1001, 1501, 1601 described with reference to the drawings may be implemented in the wireless communication interface 933.
  • the wireless communication interface 933 e.g. BB processor 934
  • car navigation device 920 includes a portion of wireless communication interface 933 (eg, BB processor 934) or a whole, and/or a module that includes processor 921, and one or more components can be implemented in the module.
  • the module can store a program that allows processing of one or more components (in other words, a program for allowing the processor to perform operations of one or more components), and can execute the program.
  • a program for allowing a processor to function as one or more components can be installed in car navigation device 920, and wireless communication interface 933 (eg, BB processor 934) and/or processor 921 can Execute the program.
  • a device that includes one or more components a car navigation device 920 or module can be provided, and a program for allowing the processor to function as one or more components can be provided.
  • a readable medium in which the program is recorded may be provided.
  • the communication units 505, 701, 1005, 1506, 1605 described with reference to the drawings may be implemented in the wireless communication interface 933 (for example, the RF circuit 935).
  • the technology of the present application may also be implemented as an in-vehicle system (or vehicle) 940 including one or more of the car navigation device 920, the in-vehicle network 941, and the vehicle module 942.
  • vehicle module 942 generates vehicle data such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and fault information, and outputs the generated data to the in-vehicle network 941.
  • a readable medium in which the program is recorded may be provided. Accordingly, the present disclosure also relates to a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a program including instructions for performing the operations described with reference to Figures 5B, 7B, 10B, 15B, 16B when loaded and executed by a processing circuit. Communication method.
  • a plurality of functions included in one module in the above embodiment may be implemented by separate devices.
  • the plurality of functions implemented by the plurality of modules in the above embodiments may be implemented by separate devices, respectively.
  • one of the above functions can be implemented by a plurality of modules. Needless to say, such a configuration is included in the technical scope of the present disclosure.
  • the steps described in the flowcharts include not only processes performed in time series in the stated order, but also processes performed in parallel or individually rather than necessarily in time series. Further, even in the step of processing in time series, it is needless to say that the order can be appropriately changed.

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Abstract

本公开涉及无线通信系统中的电子设备、通信方法和存储介质。提供了一种信道AOD估计的方法，包括：通过多个天线阵列利用共同的模拟波束赋形参数发射参考信号以形成方向不同的第一合并波束、第二合并波束，确定这两个合并波束的相对波束增益，并基于相对波束增益与信道AOD之间的映射关系来确定信道AOD。

Description

无线通信系统中的电子设备、通信方法和存储介质 技术领域
本公开涉及无线通信系统中的电子设备、通信方法和存储介质，更具体地，本公开涉及用于使用多天线阵列进行波束赋形和信道方向估计的电子设备、通信方法和存储介质。
背景技术
随着无线通信技术的发展，已经研究并开发出了多种增强抗干扰能力的技术。其中一种技术是波束赋形(beam forming)技术。通常，通过模拟波束赋形的方式产生波束，即，表示数据流的基带信号经由射频链路传输到与天线阵列中的各天线阵元对应的移相器，移相器按照对应的相位设置参数来改变信号的相位，并由对应的天线阵元发射信号以形成具有指向性的波束，从而能够获得明显的阵列增益。在5G NR(New Radio)中，基站和用户设备(UE)均可以采用定向波束来克服6GHz以上频段的大路径衰减。但是，在传统的波束赋形技术中，改变波束方向需要重新配置移相器的相位设置参数，这需要一定的时间开销。
另外，为了提高接收端信噪比，波束方向需要与信道方向匹配，即，在发射端，发射波束对准信道发射角(AngleofDeparture,AoD)，而在接收端，接收波束对准信道到达角(AngleofArrival,AoA)。由于射频链路数有限，现有技术采用波束扫描的方式确定收发端要使用的波束。具体而言，收发端预先存储波束赋形码本，波束赋形码本包括用于分别产生方向不同的有限个波束的波束赋形参数(即，移相器的相位设置参数矩阵)。通过波束扫描能够从波束赋形码本中选择最佳的发射波束接收波束对。但是，这种方法的缺点在于，根据波束赋形码本中的波束赋形参数形成的波束的方向是有限的，因此只能选择出方向与信道方向尽可能接近的波束，即只能估计出信道方向在某个大致的范围内，而无法使波束精确对准信道方向。这种信道方向估计的精度取决于波束赋形码本大小，为了提高估计精度，必须增大码本大小，进而导致波束扫描开销增加。
然而，许多应用中需要获取精确的信道方向。例如，如果发射端能够估计准确的信道方向，那么它在向接收端发射波束时可以不限于特定的波束赋形码本，使得发射波束能够更准确地对准信道方向，进一步提高接收信噪比。又例如，在下行传输的情景下，当作为接收端的UE运动时，信道方向的变化将造成与当前波束的匹配度下降，UE的接收信噪比降低，并且进一步地，当信道方向超出当前发射波束的覆盖范围时，发射端的基站需进行波束切换，在没有信道方向信息的条件下，波束切换的开销较大。因此，如果基站能够获取准确的信道方向信息，则能够对UE的运动进行预测和跟踪，从而随着信道方向的变化，基站可以调整波束方向跟踪用户，维持较高的接收信噪比，并降低波束切换开销。此外，获取精确的信道方向在UE定位和用户调度等方面也具有重要意义。
因此，对于改善波束的形成以及估计信道方向等方面存在进一步的需求。
发明内容
本公开提供了多个方面，以满足上述需求。
在下文中给出了关于本公开的简要概述，以便提供关于本公开的一些方面的基本理解。但是，应当理解，这个概述并不是关于本公开的穷举性概述。它并不是意图用来确定本公开的关键性部分或重要部分，也不是意图用来限定本公开的范围。其目的仅仅是以简化的形式给出关于本公开的某些概念，以此作为稍后给出的更详细描述的前序。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了一种发射端的电子设备，包括处理电路，该处理电路被配置为：确定目标信道方向；确定针对所述目标信道方向的多个天线阵列的基础补偿相位信息，其中，所述基础补偿相位信息指示所述多个天线阵列中的每个天线阵列补偿的相位差以使得由所述多个天线阵列的发射波束能够合并为单个合并波束，所述单个合并波束的方向与目标信道方向相同；以及控制所述多个天线阵列基于所述目标信道方向与所述基础补偿相位信息进行波束发射。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了一种发射端的电子设备，包括处理电路，该处理电路被配置为：确定用于多个天线阵列的共同的模拟波束赋形参数，每个天线阵列能够根据所述模拟波束赋形参数，形成指向特定信道方向的波束；基于所述多个天线 阵列的对应天线阵元之间的相位差；确定对所述多个天线阵列的基带信号的相对相位调整以调节所述多个天线阵列基于所述模拟波束赋形参数形成的发射波束所合并成的合并波束的方向。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了一种发射端的电子设备，包括处理电路，该处理电路被配置为：利用正交码矩阵对多个端口的参考信号进行码分复用；控制多个天线阵列利用相同的模拟波束赋形参数在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经码分复用的参考信号以得到第一合并波束、第二合并波束，其中，所述第一合并波束、所述第二合并波束相对于与所述模拟波束赋形参数对应的特定发射波束的方向对称。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了一种发射端的电子设备，包括处理电路，该处理电路被配置为：确定对多个天线阵列配置的共同的模拟波束赋形参数；控制多个天线阵列利用所确定的目标发射波束在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经码分复用的参考信号以得到第一合并波束、第二合并波束，其中所述第一合并波束、所述第二合并波束的方向不同；接收关于接收端所接收到的第一合并波束和第二合并波束的相对波束增益的信息；以及基于所述信息与信道方向角之间的映射关系，确定信道方向角。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了一种接收端的电子设备，包括处理电路，该处理电路被配置为：控制接收由发射端在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经波束赋形的参考信号而得到的第一参考信号波束和第二参考信号波束，其中所述第一通信资源上的第一参考信号波束、所述第二通信资源上的第二参考信号波束的方向不同；确定所接收到的第一参考信号波束与第二参考信号波束的相对波束增益；以及向所述发射端反馈关于所述相对波束增益的信息。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了提供了一种通信方法，包括：确定目标信道方向；确定针对所述目标信道方向的多个天线阵列的基础补偿相位信息，其中，所述基础补偿相位信息指示所述多个天线阵列中的每个天线阵列补偿的相位差以使得由所述多个天线阵列的发射波束能够合并为单个合并波束，所述单个合并波束的方向与目标信道方向相同；以及控制所述多个天线阵列基于所述目标信道方向与所述基础补偿相位信息进行波束发射。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了一种通信方法，包括：确定用于多个天线阵列 的共同的模拟波束赋形参数，每个天线阵列能够根据所述模拟波束赋形参数，形成指向特定信道方向的波束；基于所述多个天线阵列的对应天线阵元之间的相位差；确定对所述多个天线阵列的基带信号的相对相位调整以调节所述多个天线阵列基于所述模拟波束赋形参数形成的发射波束所合并成的合并波束的方向。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了一种通信方法，包括：利用正交码矩阵对多个端口的参考信号进行码分复用；控制多个天线阵列利用相同的模拟波束赋形参数在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经码分复用的参考信号以得到第一合并波束、第二合并波束，其中，所述第一合并波束、所述第二合并波束相对于与所述模拟波束赋形参数对应的特定发射波束的方向对称。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了一种通信方法，包括：确定对多个天线阵列配置的共同的模拟波束赋形参数；控制多个天线阵列利用所确定的目标发射波束在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经码分复用的参考信号以得到第一合并波束、第二合并波束，其中所述第一合并波束、所述第二合并波束的方向不同；接收关于接收端所接收到的第一合并波束和第二合并波束的相对波束增益的信息；以及基于所述信息与信道方向角之间的映射关系，确定信道方向角。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了一种通信方法，包括：控制接收由发射端在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经波束赋形的参考信号而得到的第一参考信号波束和第二参考信号波束，其中所述第一通信资源上的第一参考信号波束、所述第二通信资源上的第二参考信号波束的方向不同；确定所接收到的第一参考信号波束与第二参考信号波束的相对波束增益；以及向所述发射端反馈关于所述相对波束增益的信息。
根据本公开的一个方面，提供了一种存储有可执行指令的非暂时性计算机可读存储介质，所述可执行指令当被执行时实现如上所述的通信方法。
根据本申请的一个或多个实施例，可以高效地形成符合需要的波束，并且可以精确地估计出信道方向，以便于波束跟踪、用户定位、用户调度等，并减小了系统资源的开销。
附图说明
本公开可以通过参考下文中结合附图所给出的详细描述而得到更好的理解，其中在所有附图中使用了相同或相似的附图标记来表示相同或者相似的要素。所有附图连同下面的详细说明一起包含在本说明书中并形成说明书的一部分，用来进一步举例说明本公开的实施例和解释本公开的原理和优点。其中：
图1例示了无线通信系统中利用波束赋形技术进行通信的示意图；
图2是发射端传输数据的模型图；
图3A-3B是天线阵列矩阵的示意图；
图4是根据本公开的第一实施例的发射端传输数据的模型图；
图5A是根据本公开的第一实施例的发射端电子设备的框图；
图5B是根据本公开的第一实施例的通信方法的流程图；
图6是附加相位取不同值时的波束方向图；
图7A是根据本公开的第二实施例的发射端电子设备的框图；
图7B是根据本公开的第二实施例的通信方法的流程图；
图8A和8B分别是发射两个端口的参考信号的示意图和波束方向图；
图9A和9B分别是发射四个端口的参考信号的示意图和波束方向图；
图10A是根据本公开的第三实施例的发射端电子设备的框图；
图10B是根据本公开的第三实施例的通信方法的流程图；
图11A-11E是示出了不同情况下的相对波束增益与信道AOD之间的映射关系的图；
图12是根据本公开的第四实施例的信道方向估计的信令流程图；
图13是根据本公开的第四实施例的信道方向估计的仿真图；
图14是根据本公开的第四实施例的波束切换前后的波束方向图和映射关系图；
图15A是根据本公开的第四实施例的发射端电子设备的框图；
图15B是根据本公开的第四实施例的通信方法的流程图；
图16A是根据本公开的第四实施例的接收端电子设备的框图；
图16B是根据本公开的第四实施例的通信方法的流程图；
图17是根据本公开的变型实施例的发射波束的方向图；
图18是根据本公开的变型实施例的波束增益曲线图；
图19是根据本公开的变型实施例的通信流程图；
图20是示出了基站的示意性配置的第一应用示例的框图；
图21是示出了基站的示意性配置的第二应用示例的框图；
图22是示出了智能电话的示意性配置示例的框图；
图23是示出了汽车导航设备的示意性配置示例的框图。
通过参照附图阅读以下详细描述，本公开的特征和方面将得到清楚的理解。
具体实施方式
在下文中将参照附图来详细描述本公开的各种示例性实施例。为了清楚和简明起见，在本说明书中并未描述实施例的所有特征。然而应注意，在实现本公开的实施例时可以根据特定需求做出很多特定于实现方式的设置，以便实现开发人员的具体目标，例如，符合与设备及业务相关的那些限制条件，并且这些限制条件可能会随着实现方式的不同而有所改变。此外，还应该了解，虽然开发工作有可能是较复杂和费事的，但对得益于本公开内容的本领域技术人员来说，这种开发公开仅仅是例行的任务。
此外，还应注意，为了避免因不必要的细节而模糊了本公开，在附图中仅仅示出了与至少根据本公开的技术方案密切相关的处理步骤和/或设备结构，而省略了与本公开无关的其他细节。
接下来，将参照附图来详细描述根据本公开的示例性实施例和应用实例。以下示例性实施例的描述仅仅是说明性的，不意在作为对本公开及其应用的任何限制。
【第一实施例】
在详细描述本公开的第一实施例的技术方案之前，先简单介绍一些本公开可能 使用的概念。这些介绍仅仅是出于方便理解本公开的技术方案的目的，而非意在对本公开的应用场景进行限制。
概念介绍
典型地，无线通信系统至少包括基站和用户设备(UE)，基站为一个或多个UE提供通信服务。
在本公开中，术语“基站”具有其通常含义的全部广度，并且至少包括被用于作为无线通信系统或无线电系统的一部分以便于通信的无线通信站。作为例子，基站例如可以是4G通信标准的eNB、5G通信标准的gNB、远程无线电头端、无线接入点、无人机控制塔台或者执行类似功能的通信装置。后面的章节将详细描述基站的应用示例。
在本公开中，术语“用户设备”或“UE”具有其通常含义的全部广度，并且至少包括被用于作为无线通信系统或无线电系统的一部分以便于通信的终端设备。作为例子，UE例如可以是移动电话、膝上型电脑、平板电脑、车载通信设备等之类的终端设备或其元件。后面的章节将详细描述UE的应用示例。
基站和UE可以具有支持MIMO技术的多个天线。MIMO技术的使用使得基站和UE能够利用空域来支持空间复用、波束赋形和发射分集。空间复用可被用于在相同频率上同时传送不同的数据流。这些数据流可被发送给单个UE以提高数据率(可归为SU-MIMO技术)或发送给多个UE以增加系统总容量(可归为MU-MIMO技术)。这是藉由对每个数据流进行空间预编码(即，执行幅度的比例缩放和/或相位调整)并且随后通过多个发射天线在从基站到UE的下行链路(DL)上传送每个经空间预编码的流来达成的。经空间预编码的数据流带有不同空间签名地抵达一个或多个UE处，这使得每个UE能够经由它的多个天线接收数据流并且恢复以该UE为目的地的一个或多个数据流。在从UE到基站的上行链路(UL)上，每个UE通过它的多个天线传送经空间预编码的数据流，这使得基站能够通过它的天线接收数据流，并且标识每个经空间预编码的数据流的源。
空间复用一般在信道状况良好时使用。在信道状况不那么有利时，可使用波束赋形来将发射能量集中在一个或多个方向上。这可以通过对数据进行空间预编码以供通过多个天线(例如，天线阵列中的多个天线阵元)传输来达成。为了在蜂窝小区边 缘处达成良好覆盖，单数据流的波束赋形传输可结合发射分集来使用。
图1是示出了无线通信系统利用波束赋形技术进行通信的示意图。在图1中，向右的箭头表示从基站1000到UE 1004的下行链路(DL)方向，向左的箭头表示从UE 1004到基站1000的上行链路(UL)方向。如图1所示，基站1000可使用的波束集合包括分别对准不同方向的n t_DL个(n t_DL为大于等于1的自然数，图1中例示为n t_DL＝9)下行发射波束，UE 1004可使用的波束集合包括分别对准不同方向的n r_DL个(n r_DL为大于等于1的自然数，图1中例示为n r_DL＝5)下行接收波束。另外，基站1000可使用的波束集合还包括分别对准不同方向的n r_UL个(n r_UL为大于等于1的自然数，图1中例示为n r_UL＝9)上行接收波束，UE 1004可使用的波束集合还包括分别对准不同方向的n t_UL个(n t_UL为大于等于1的自然数，图1中例示为n t_UL＝5)上行发射波束。应当理解，根据系统需求和设定，基站1000的上行接收波束和下行发射波束的覆盖范围以及数量可以不同，UE 1004的上行发射波束和下行接收波束也是如此。为了避免冗余的描述和不必要的混乱，本公开将主要以下行传输为例进行描述。但是应当理解，本公开的各个方面也可以应用于上行传输。也就是说，下面提到的“发射端”既可以是基站也可以是UE，对应地，“接收端”既可以是UE也可以是基站。
在下行传输中，基站1000可以通过波束扫描从其波束集合中选择一个波束(下文中称为目标发发射波束)进行发射，而UE 1004可以通过波束扫描从其波束集合中选择一个波束进行接收。基站1000和UE 1004可以利用与所选择的波束相关联的模拟波束赋形参数来对其天线进行配置。
基站1000和UE 1004的多个天线可以布置成天线阵列。典型地，天线阵列的天线(下面称为天线阵元)被均匀地排列成M行×N列的矩阵，其中在水平方向上天线阵元的间距为d H，在垂直方向上天线阵元的间距为d V。按照结构划分，当M或N为1(即，仅有1行或1列天线阵元)时，天线阵列可被称为均匀线性阵列(ULA)，而当M和N都不为1(即，有多行和多列天线阵元)时，天线阵列可被称为均匀平面阵列(UPA)。天线阵列也可以根据实际需要而被构造成任何样式，例如圆盘状。
图2示出了利用天线阵列传输用户数据的示意图。如图2中所示，表示用户数据流的基带信号通过数字预编码被映射到一个或多个射频链路(m≥1)上。射频链路对基带信号进行上变频以得到射频信号，并将射频信号传输到一个或多个天线阵列(K≥1)。 射频链路与天线阵列可以采用部分连接的方式，也可以采用全连接的方式。天线阵列已按照与接收端之间的目标信道方向确定了用于形成波束的模拟波束赋形参数，例如，已根据特定算法计算与目标信道方向相关联的模拟波束赋形参数，或者已通过波束扫描确定了与目标信道方向最匹配的波束。作为模拟波束赋形参数的例子，天线阵列的天线阵元对应的移相器的相位设置参数被确定。由此，根据所确定的模拟波束赋形参数，各天线阵列的所有天线阵元发射的电磁波辐射形成希望的波束以将信号发射出去。利用模拟波束赋形参数进行波束赋形的处理也可以被称为“模拟预编码”。
基于基础补偿相位的相对相位调整
但是，由于各天线阵列独立地形成波束，有可能出现由于个体天线阵列形成的波束较粗且波束增益较小而无法满足通信需求的情况。
对此，本公开的第一实施例提出了改进的技术方案。下面参照附图来描述本公开的第一实施例的各个方面。
在本公开的第一实施例中，多个天线阵列被使用。典型地，这多个天线阵列可以按矩阵的形式布置。图3A和3B是示出了天线阵列矩阵的示意图。如图3A中所示，天线阵列矩阵可以通过向量(M g，N g，M，N，P)描述，其中M g和N g分别表示水平方向和垂直方向上的天线阵列的个数，每个天线阵列具有均匀排列的M行×N列天线阵元，P表示极化方向个数。
根据天线阵列之间的间距与天线阵元之间的间距的关系，天线阵列矩阵的布置可分为均匀布置和非均匀布置，如图3B中所示。在如图3B左边所示的均匀布置中，天线阵列间距等于天线阵元间距，即d edge，H＝d H，d edge，V＝d V，其中d edge，H和d edge，V分别表示水平方向和垂直方向上的天线阵列间距，d H和d V分别表示水平方向和垂直方向上的天线阵元间距。而在如图3B右边所示的非均匀布置中，天线阵列之间的间距不等于天线阵元之间的间距，例如d edge，H＞d H，d edge，V＞d V。
上面所述的天线阵列矩阵可以被配置用于多种传输模式。例如，多个天线阵列可以被配置用于单用户MIMO(SU-MIMO)分集模式，此时这些天线阵列传输同一数据流，以提高接收信噪比。天线阵列矩阵还可以被配置用于例如单用户MIMO高阶空间复用模式(即，这些天线阵列分别发送单个用户的多个数据流)或者多用户MIMO (MU-MIMO)模式(即，这些天线阵列分别发送多个用户的多个数据流)，其中这多个天线阵列能够发送的数据流的数量取决于信道状态(例如，信道矩阵的秩指示(RI))。但是本公开的第一实施例主要针对单用户MIMO分集模式。
另外，根据各天线阵列如何选择波束，天线阵列矩阵包括独立波束选择类型和相干波束选择类型。对于独立波束选择类型，天线阵列矩阵的各天线阵列独立地采用不同的波束，用于各天线阵列的模拟波束赋形参数互不相同。由此，各天线阵列可以朝着不同方向发射波束。例如，一个天线阵列的波束方向可以对准直射径，而另一个天线阵列的波束方向可以对准反射径。此类型的优势在于能够更好地抵抗遮挡。而对于相干波束选择类型，天线阵列矩阵的所有天线阵列均采用相同的波束，用于各天线阵列的模拟波束赋形参数相同。通过将所有天线阵列对准能量最大的信道方向(例如，直射径)，接收端的接收信噪比被最大化。
图4是示出了根据第一实施例利用多个天线阵列传输用户数据的示意图。如图4中所示，表示用户数据流的基带信号先经历相对相位调整，并被映射到射频链路上。射频链路对已经调整了相对相位的基带信号进行上变频，并将射频信号分别传输到各个天线阵列上。天线阵列1至K已按照目标信道方向确定了共同的模拟波束赋形参数(移相器的相位设置参数)，也就是说，天线阵列1至K属于相干波束选择类型。根据所确定的模拟波束赋形参数，天线阵列1发射波束1，天线阵列2发射波束2，等等。由天线阵列形成的K个波束的方向相同，并均对准目标信道方向以使接收信噪比最大化。
与参照图2描述的技术相比，本公开的第一实施例还通过针对天线阵列1至K的基带信号进行相对相位调整，使得由K个天线阵列形成的波束1至K能够合并为单个合并波束。这种相对相位调整可以执行为数字预编码或数字预编码的一部分。
下面将参照附图描述本公开的第一实施例的原理。为了便于描述，假设存在天线阵列1和2(即，K＝2)并且这两个天线阵列均为ULA。应当理解，本公开的实施例不限于天线阵列的数量为2，也不限于天线阵列为ULA。后面将阐述多于2个天线阵列和天线阵列为UPA的情况。
天线阵列1和天线阵列2被线性地布置，使得这两个ULA的所有阵元呈直线状。对于每个天线阵列，由天线阵列发射的波束可以表示为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000001
这里，λ表示电磁波的波长，N表示每个天线阵列的大小(即，天线阵元数)，d表示天线阵元的间距，φ表示每个天线阵列形成的发射波束的方向(下文中有时称为“目标信道方向”)。
由于不同天线阵列的大尺度衰落系数几乎是相同的，不需要对要由天线阵列发送的基带信号的幅度进行调整。因此，在第一实施例中，仅对基带信号的相位进行调整。假设针对天线阵列1和天线阵列2进行相对相位调整的参数为[1,α]，这里α表示天线阵列2要发送的基带信号相对于天线阵列1要发送的基带信号的相对相位。
因此，由天线阵列1和2发射的波束合并所得的合并波束f b可以表示为f b＝[f，αf]∈C 1×2N，
通过调整相对相位α，能够控制合并波束f b的波束方向。
这里，将α设置为如下的α b：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000002
其中d edge表示天线阵列1和天线阵列2的间距。
通过利用α进行相对相位调整，合并波束f b可以表示为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000003
合并波束f b的波束方向也为φ，即，合并波束f b的波束方向相对于单个天线阵列形成的发射波束f的方向无偏离。此时，合并波束f b也指向目标信道方向。这里，将这样的相对相位α b称为基础补偿相位。
特别地，对于均匀布置的天线阵列1和天线阵列2，即d edge＝d，则有
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000004
这种情况下，通过利用α b进行相对相位调整，合并波束f b可以表示为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000005
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000006
合并波束f b的波束方向与单个天线阵列1、2形成的发射波束的方向相同。
从公式(1)、(2)可以看出，基础补偿相位α b的值与天线阵列的结构和布置有 关，例如天线阵元的间距d、天线阵列的间距d edge。一般来说，天线阵列在基站或用户设备上安装好之后，这些参数是固定不变的。因此，发射端仅需要确定希望的波束方向以及电磁波波长，就能够计算针对天线阵列补偿的基础补偿相位α b。
通过这种相对相位调整，两个天线阵列的对应天线阵元之间存在固定的相位差α＝α b，使得天线阵列1和天线阵列2以协作的方式发射信号，相当于一块组合的天线阵列。
与单个天线阵列产生的波束相比，由于形成波束的天线阵元数量增多，天线阵列1和天线阵列2形成的合并波束的波束宽度更窄、波束增益更大。这有利于提高接收端的信噪比，改善传输的可靠性。
上面讨论了天线阵列为ULA的情况，但是天线阵列也可以是UPA。假设天线阵列1和天线阵列2按水平方向布置，则可以将α b设置为：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000007
其中，d H表示水平方向上的天线阵元间距，d edge,H表示水平方向上的天线阵列间距，φ h表示水平波束方向，φ v表示垂直波束方向。
特别地，如果在水平方向上，天线阵列1和天线阵列2的间距与天线阵元的间距相等，即，d edge,H＝d H，则可以将α b设置为：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000008
虽然上面描述了利用两个天线阵列产生合并波束的示例，但是也可以按照需要而使用更多的天线阵列。
例如，当使用K>2个天线阵列时，用于这K个天线阵列的相对相位调整参数可以为[1,α,…,α K-1]，其中α k是对第k个天线阵列(1<k<K)的基础补偿相位。通过使用该参数对要由对应的天线阵列发送的基带信号进行相对相位调整(例如，与数字预编码同时进行或者作为数字预编码进行)，各天线阵列发射的波束能够合并成单个合并波束，并且该合并波束的方向与单个天线阵列形成的波束的方向相同。
随着所使用的天线阵列的数量增大，能够产生的合并波束的波束宽度变得更窄，即，波束的指向性更强，并且波束增益更大，这有利于提高接收信噪比。
根据第一实施例的电子设备及其通信方法
下面参照图5A-5B来描述根据本公开的第一实施例的发射端的电子设备及其通信方法的示例。
图5A示出了根据第一实施例的发射端的电子设备500的配置框图。在下行传输中，电子设备500可以是诸如eNB、gNB等之类的基站或其部件，而在上行传输中，电子设备500可以是诸如移动电话、车载通信设备、无人机等之类的用户设备或其部件。
如图5A中所示，电子设备500至少包括处理电路501，处理电路501可以被配置为执行如图5B中所示的通信方法。处理电路501可以指在计算系统中执行功能的数字电路系统、模拟电路系统或混合信号(模拟信号和数字信号的组合)电路系统的各种实现。处理电路可以包括例如诸如集成电路(IC)、专用集成电路(ASIC)之类的电路、单独处理器核心的部分或电路、整个处理器核心、单独的处理器、诸如现场可编程们阵列(FPGA)的可编程硬件设备、和/或包括多个处理器的系统。
处理电路501可以包括信道方向确定单元502、基础补偿相位信息确定单元503和发射控制单元504。
信道方向确定单元502被配置为确定发射端与接收端之间的目标信道方向(图5B中的步骤S501)。信道方向确定单元502可以通过各种方法来确定目标信道方向。
作为一个示例，信道方向确定单元502可以利用预先存储的波束赋形码本，通过波束训练来确定最佳发射波束，并将最佳发射波束的方向设置为目标信道方向。下面参照图1来简单描述波束训练的过程。在下行波束扫描过程中，基站1000利用发射波束集合的n t_DL个下行发射波束中的每个下行发射波束1002向UE 1004发送n r_DL个下行参考信号，UE 1004通过接收波束集合的n r_DL个下行接收波束分别接收该n r_DL个下行参考信号。以这种方式，基站1000的n t_DL个下行发射波束依次向UE 1004发送n t_DL×n r_DL个下行参考信号，UE 1004的每个下行接收波束1006接收n t_DL个下行参考信号，即UE 1004的n r_DL个下行接收波束共接收来自基站1000的n t_DL×n r_DL个下行参考信号。UE 1004对该n t_DL×n r_DL个下行参考信号进行测量，例如测量下行参考信号的接收信号功率(例如RSRP)。由此，UE 1004确定基站1000的最强下行发射波束和UE 1004的最强下行接收波束。UE 1004将关于最强波束的质量及其在波束集合中的索引的信息反馈给基站 1000。上行波束扫描过程具有类似的过程，这里不再赘述。上述通过波束扫描来确定基站和UE的最强收发波束的过程被称为波束训练过程。
通常，这样确定的最强发射波束和最强接收波束是与信道方向最为接近的波束，因此其方向可以被认为是目标信道方向。
作为另一个示例，信道方向确定单元502可以利用本公开的第四实施例中将描述的信道方向估计方法来确定目标信道方向。
基础补偿相位信息确定单元503被配置为为多个天线阵列确定针对上述确定的目标信道方向的基础补偿相位信息(图5B中的步骤S502)。为了使得多个天线阵列发射的波束能够合并成对准目标信道方向的单个合并波束，基础补偿相位信息确定单元503确定用于对各天线阵列的基带信号进行相对相位调整的基础补偿相位信息。作为示例，基础补偿相位信息确定单元503可以基于目标信道方向、天线阵列的结构和布置等按照上面的公式(1)或(2)来确定基础补偿相位信息。所确定的基础补偿相位信息指示对每个天线阵列补偿的相位差。
发射控制单元504被配置为控制多个天线阵列基于所确定的目标信道方向和基础补偿相位信息进行波束发射(图5B中的步骤S503)。作为示例性的实现方式，发射控制单元504可以控制基于基础补偿相位信息对要由这多个天线阵列发射的信号进行相对相位调整，以及控制天线阵列基于与目标信道方向相关联的共同的模拟波束赋形参数(例如，移相器的相位设置参数矩阵)发射经历相对相位调整的信号。天线阵列发射的波束合并为单个波束，并且合并波束对准目标信道方向。基于基础补偿相位信息对基带信号进行相对相位调整可以实现为数字预编码，但是不限于此。例如，相对相位调整的处理可以实现为数字预编码的一部分或者额外的处理。
电子设备500还可以包括例如通信单元505和存储器506。
通信单元505可以被配置为在处理电路501的控制下与接收端进行通信。在一个示例中，通信单元505可以被实现为发射机或收发机，包括上面所述的天线阵列和/或射频链路等通信部件。通信单元505用虚线绘出，因为它还可以位于电子设备500外。
存储器506可以存储由处理电路501产生的各种信息(例如，关于波束训练的信息、关于目标信道方向的信息和基础补偿相位信息等)、用于电子设备500操作的程序 和数据、将由通信单元505发送的数据等。存储器506用虚线绘出，因为它还可以位于处理电路501内或者位于电子设备500外。存储器506可以是易失性存储器和/或非易失性存储器。例如，存储器506可以包括但不限于随机存储存储器(RAM)、动态随机存储存储器(DRAM)、静态随机存取存储器(SRAM)、只读存储器(ROM)、闪存存储器。
应当理解，上述各个单元仅是根据其所实现的具体功能划分的逻辑模块，而不是用于限制具体的实现方式。在实际实现时，上述各单元可被实现为独立的物理实体，或者也可以由单个实体(例如，处理器(CPU或DSP等)、集成电路等)来实现。
【第二实施例】
下面将参照附图描述本公开的第二实施例。第二实施例与第一实施例相同的概念和要素将不再详细描述，下面将着重描述第二实施例与第一实施例的不同部分。
同样参照图4来描述本公开的第二实施例的原理。如图4中所示，表示用户数据流的基带信号针对天线阵列被调整相对相位，并被映射到射频链路上。射频链路对已经历相对相位调整的基带信号进行上变频，并将射频信号分别传输到各个天线阵列上。天线阵列1至K已按照目标信道方向确定了共同的模拟波束赋形参数(例如，移相器的相位设置参数)，也就是说，天线阵列1至K属于相干波束选择类型。根据所确定的模拟波束赋形参数，天线阵列1发射波束1，天线阵列2发射波束2，等等。由天线阵列形成的K个波束合并成单个合并波束。
在第一实施例中，合并波束的方向与各天线阵列形成的波束的方向相同。然而，在本公开的第二实施例中，通过适当地设置要由各天线阵列发射的基带信号的相位差，改变所得到的合并波束的波束方向。
为了便于描述，同样假设存在两个ULA天线阵列1和2(即，K＝2)。应当理解，本公开的实施例不限于天线阵列的数量为2和天线阵列为ULA。
针对天线阵列1和天线阵列2进行相对相位调整的参数为[1,α]，即，天线阵列2与天线阵列1的对应天线阵元之间的相位差为α。
第二实施例的相对相位调整参数(相对相位差)α可以由两部分组成，例如，用于使天线阵列1发射的波束1和天线阵列2发射的波束2合并成单个波束的基础补偿相位α b和用于调节合并波束的波束方向的附加相位β，如下式所示：
α＝α bβ  (5)
其中，α b表示基础补偿相位，其可以如第一实施例中那样地产生。β表示附加相位，|β|＝1。
附加相位β
显然，当附加相位β＝1时，α＝α b，合并波束的方向与各个天线阵列发射的波束方向相同。
图6是示出了附加相位β取不同值时的合并波束方向图。图6中的8幅图分别对应于
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000009
作为对比参考，第(1)幅图中所示的参考波束(即t＝0，β＝e j0时的合并波束)以虚线的形式也被绘在第(2)至(8)幅图中。注意，虽然图6中示出的方向角不是波束在实际空间中的方向角，而仅仅是相对于参考波束(主瓣)的方向角。
如图6中所示，从第(2)幅图至第(4)幅图，随着t从1增大至3(β从
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000010
变为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000011
)，合并波束的主瓣逐渐向逆时针的方向偏移，也就是说，强度最大的主瓣相对于参考波束产生越来越大的偏离角度。同时，主瓣的强度减小，而旁瓣的强度增大。
特别地，当t＝4(β＝e jπ)时，如第(5)幅图所示，合并波束的主瓣在逆时针方向上相对于参考波束的偏离角度达到最大，同时，旁瓣的强度变得几乎等于主瓣的强度。
然后，从第(8)幅图至第(6)幅图，随着t从7减小至5(β从
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000012
变为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000013
也即从
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000014
变为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000015
)，合并波束的主瓣逐渐向顺时针的方向偏移，也就是说，主瓣相对于参考波束在相反方向上产生越来越大的偏离角度。同时，主瓣的强度减小，而旁瓣的强度增大。当t减小至4时，合并波束的主瓣相对于参考波束的偏离角度达到最大，同时旁瓣的强度变得几乎等于主瓣的强度。
本公开的发明人还发现，β＝e jδ与β＝e j(2π-δ)＝e j(-δ)的合并波束的方向关于参考波束对称。例如，如图6中所示，
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000016
的合并波束(第2幅图)与
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000017
的合并波束(第8幅图)关于参考波束对称，
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000018
的合并波束(第3幅图)与
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000019
的合并波束(第7幅图)关于参考波束对称，
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000020
的合并波束(第4幅图)与
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000021
的合并波束(第6幅图)关于参考波束对称。这种对称关系对于后面将描述的信道方向估计尤其有用。注意，取决于参考波束方向φ的值，这两个合并波束相对于参考波束方 向不一定是严格对称的，而可能有一定角度的差异，但是本文中仍将这种大致对称的情况视为是对称的。
图6以
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000022
为步幅而离散地示出了合并波束方向的变化情况。应当理解，合并波束的方向和强度可以随着附加相位而连续地变化。也就是说，附加相位β的应用能够导致合并波束具有在参考波束方向的一个邻域内的方向。根据需要，发射端可以计算或事先存储附加相位β与合并波束相对于参考波束的方向偏移之间的对应关系。
如图6所示出的，在已经确定基础补偿相位的情况下，通过适当地设置附加相位，能够相应地改变由天线阵列矩阵形成的合并波束的方向。
作为一个示例，当发射端与接收端之间的信道方向发生小的变化时，可以通过设置相对相位调整参数(也即调整附加相位)来改变合并波束的方向，以适应信道方向的变化，而无需进行波束切换。
从图5可以看到，附加相位的应用仅能引起合并波束方向在某个特定范围(参考波束方向的某个邻域)内变化，因此，如果信道方向的变化超过此特定的范围，则改变附加相位的值无法使得合并波束对准信道方向。此时，可以通过进行波束切换，改用与信道方向更接近的波束，即确定新的模拟波束赋形参数。如果发射端预先存储的波束赋形码本大小有限，导致重新确定的波束与信道方向仍有夹角，则可以通过调整附加相位β来使合并波束对准信道方向。
为了方便地设置附加相位，作为一个示例，可以预先确定附加相位与合并波束方向变化的映射关系，并将其存储在发射端。
通过基于基础补偿相位和附加相位这两者来设置天线阵列之间的相位差，并确定对各天线阵列的基带信号的相对相位调整，可以根据需要来控制这些天线阵列的发射波束所合并成的合并波束方向。在使用不同的附加相位的情况下，发射端可以通过不同的相对相位调整来获得具有不同方向的两个合并波束。这有利于发射端充分利用多个信道传输路径，以提供传输的可靠性。另外，如后面的实施例将详细描述的，基于接收端对具有不同方向的两个合并波束的波束增益的比较，可以确定发射端与接收端之间的信道方向。
第二实施例的电子设备及其通信方法
下面参照图7A-7B来描述根据本公开的第二实施例的发射端的电子设备及其通信方法的示例。
图7A示出了根据第二实施例的发射端的电子设备700的配置框图。在下行传输中，电子设备700可以是诸如eNB、gNB等之类的基站或其部件，而在上行传输中，电子设备700可以是诸如移动电话、车载通信设备、无人机等之类的用户设备或其部件。
如图7A中所示，电子设备700至少包括处理电路701，处理电路701可以被配置为执行如图7B中所示的通信方法。与处理电路501类似，处理电路701可以以各种方式实现。
处理电路701可以包括模拟波束赋形参数确定单元702和相对相位调整单元703。
模拟波束赋形参数确定单元702被配置为确定用于多个天线阵列的共同的模拟波束赋形参数(如图7B中的步骤S701)，使得每个天线阵列能够利用所确定的模拟波束赋形参数形成指向特定信道方向(AOD)的波束。在本公开的第二实施例中，多个天线阵列属于相关波束选择类型，从而能够利用相同的波束发射信号。作为一个示例，模拟波束赋形参数确定单元702可以通过上面所述的波束训练来选择具有最大增益的发射波束和/或接收波束，从波束赋形码本中选择方向与当前信道方向最匹配的波束的模拟波束赋形参数。作为另一个示例，模拟波束赋形参数确定单元702可以通过信道方向估计(例如，后面的实施例将描述的信道方向估计方向)来估计当前信道方向，以利用特定算法来动态地确定执行所估计的信道方向的波束的模拟波束赋形参数。模拟波束赋形参数确定单元702还可以通过其它各种方式来确定与特定信道方向最匹配的模拟波束赋形参数。
相对相位调整单元703被配置为基于多个天线阵列的对应天线阵元之间的相位差，确定对要由这多个天线阵列发送的基带信号的相对相位调整，以控制这些天线阵列基于由模拟波束赋形参数确定单元702确定的模拟波束赋形参数形成的发射波束能够合并成的合并波束的方向(如图7B中的步骤S7002)。相对相位调整单元703利用相对相位调整参数来执行基带信号的相对相位调整。这种相对相位调整可以执行为数字预编码处理或者数字预编码处理的一部分，或者还可以执行为额外的处理。相对相位调整为与各天线阵列对应的基带信号添加了受控制的相位差，导致多个天线阵列发射的波束能够合并成单个波束，并且该单个波束指向希望的方向，以适应信道方向的变化，而无需切换波束。
相对相位调整单元703所使用的相对相位调整参数α可以基于基础补偿相位α b 和附加相位β而生成。基础补偿相位α b可以利用第一实施例的公式(1)至(4)来计算。附加相位β可以用于调节合并波束的方向变化。作为示例，附加相位β可以基于预先存储的映射表来产生，映射表中描述了附加相位β与合并波束的方向的对应关系。
在信道方向发生改变的情况下，发射端例如可以通过下面将介绍的信道方向估计方法测量到这种改变。然后，基于合并波束相对于参考波束的方向偏移与附加相位之间的对应关系，相对相位调整单元703能够使用不同的相对相位调整参数(即，不同的附加相位)来对信号的相位差进行调整，以让合并波束的方向适应信道方向变化。
如果测量到信道方向改变的角度超过了相对相位调整单元703的相对相位调整使合并波束偏离的最大角度，模拟波束赋形参数确定单元702可以再次执行模拟波束赋形参数的确定步骤(图7B中的S7001)，以使得发射波束被重新确定为尽量接近改变的信道方向。
电子设备700还可以包括例如通信单元705和存储器706。
通信单元705可以被配置为在处理电路701的控制下与接收端进行通信。在一个示例中，通信单元705可以被实现为发射机或收发机，包括上面所述的天线阵列和/或射频链路等通信部件。通信单元705用虚线绘出，因为它还可以位于电子设备700外。
存储器706可以存储由处理电路701产生的各种信息(例如，由模拟波束赋形参数确定单元702确定的模拟波束赋形参数，相对相位调整单元703使用的相对相位调整参数，如基础补偿相位、附加相位等)、用于电子设备700操作的程序和数据、将由通信单元705发送的数据等。存储器706用虚线绘出，因为它还可以位于处理电路701内或者位于电子设备700外。存储器706可以是易失性存储器和/或非易失性存储器。例如，存储器706可以包括但不限于随机存储存储器(RAM)、动态随机存储存储器(DRAM)、静态随机存取存储器(SRAM)、只读存储器(ROM)、闪存存储器。
【第三实施例】
下面将参照附图详细描述本公开的第三实施例。
本公开的第三实施例涉及在通过天线阵列发射信号之前利用正交码对各端口发送的信号(例如，参考信号)进行码分复用，从而在相同的通信资源上发射信号。
这里所言的“通信资源”在不同的通信系统中具有不同的含义。例如，“通信 资源”可以是时域和/或频域资源。以LTE为例，每个LTE帧(10ms)可被划分为10个相等大小的子帧，每个子帧(1ms)可包括2个连贯的时隙，每个时隙包括资源块(Resource Block，RB)，资源块可以用资源网格来表示，资源网络可被划分为多个资源元素(Resource Element，RE)，例如，每个资源块包含频域中的12个连贯的副载波，并且对于每个OFDM码元中的正常循环前缀而言，每个资源块包含时域中的7个连贯的OFDM码元，也就是说，每个资源块包含84个资源元素。在这样的LTE帧中，用户数据或参考信号的符号被分配对应的资源元素。但是，除了时频资源之外，“通信资源”还可以指空域资源或码域资源等。
在一个示例中，要进行码分复用处理的信号是参考信号。为了便于说明，下面将以参考信号为例来描述根据第三实施例的码分复用处理，但是应注意，经受码分复用处理的信号不限于参考信号，而可以是其它信号。
参考信号是一种由发射端提供给接收端用于信道估计或信道探测的已知信号，可被用来各种测量、确定基站到UE的无线电信号经历的实际的信道情况。比起地理位置估计等理论方式，基于参考信号的信道估计更加准确。参考信号对于移动性管理、资源分配、MIMO操作、数据解调均具有重要的意义。
按照传输方向，参考信号可以典型地分为上行参考信号和下行参考信号。在时域和/或频域中参考信号与用户数据流复用于上行链路帧或下行链路帧中，参考信号在帧中占用预定义的通信资源。下行参考信号是从基站发送至UE的、占用特定下行通信资源(例如时频资源块中的特定资源元素)的预定义的信号，用于下行信道估计、下行信道探测、小区搜索等。下行参考信号例如包括但不限于小区参考信号(CRS)、数据解调参考信号(DMRS)、信道状态信息参考信号(CSI-RS)等。上行参考信号是从UE发送至基站的、占用特定上行通信资源(例如时频资源块中的特定资源元素)的预定义的信号，用于上行信道估计、上行信道质量测量等。下行参考信号例如包括但不限于DMRS、探测参考信号(SRS)等。在一个示例中，CSI-RS被用于进行下行信道状态反馈。
一般而言，取决于所使用的参考信号序列，可以具有多个端口。也就是说，端口与参考信号一一对应。不同端口的参考信号可以利用相同的通信资源发送。当通过相同的通信资源(例如时频资源)发射多个端口的参考信号(例如，CSI-RS)时，为 了在接收端将不同端口的参考信号区分开来，各个端口上的参考信号采用正交码分复用的方式发送。
正交码矩阵C M
假设有M个端口，令s m＝[s m，0，…，s m，M-1]，0≤m≤M-1为用于第m个端口的参考信号的正交码(其也可以代表第m个端口的参考信号)，则这M个端口所采用的正交码构成正交码矩阵C M如下：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000023
其中，T表示矩阵的转置。
其中，正交码矩阵C M的第m行表示用于第m个端口上发送的参考信号的正交码，可以看作是参考信号的一组符号。第j列表示用于在第j个通信资源(例如，时频资源元素)上发送的参考信号的正交码。正交码矩阵C M满足正交性，即，
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000024
其中I M为M×M大小的单位矩阵，H表示矩阵的共轭转置。
利用此正交码矩阵C M码分复用之后的参考信号然后可以通过天线阵列利用相同的通信资源(例如，时频资源元素)发射出去。一般地，天线阵列的数量K等于或小于端口的数量M。在M＝K的情况中，端口可以与天线阵列一一对应，即，一个端口的参考信号可以由对应的一个天线阵列发射。此时，正交码矩阵C M的第j列第i行元素表示在第j个通信资源上由与端口i对应的一个天线阵列发送的参考信号符号。在M<K的情况中，一个端口可以与不止一个天线阵列对应，例如，每个端口可以分别对应K/M(K可以是M的倍数)个天线阵列。例如，对于M＝2，K＝4的情况，端口0的参考信号由天线阵列0、1联合发送，端口1的参考信号由天线阵列2、3联合发送。此时，正交码矩阵C M的第j列第i行元素表示在第j个通信资源上由与第i个端口相关联的(K/M个)天线阵列发送的参考信号符号。当然，端口与天线阵列的对应关系可以不限于上面所例示的情况，反射端设备可以根据实际需要来分配被用于发送各个端口的信号的天线阵列。
在本公开的第三实施例中，除了对参考信号进行码分复用以外，正交码矩阵C M还被设计为使在各通信资源上由多个天线阵列发射的波束合并为单个波束并调节合并波束的方向角。下面描述第三实施例的这种正交码矩阵的确定方法。
根据第三实施例，可以基于基础补偿相位信息和附加相位信息来生成正交码矩阵C M，其中基础补偿相位信息指示针对各天线阵列补偿的相位差以使得多个天线阵列的发射波束能够合并为单个合并波束，而附加相位信息指示用于调节合并波束方向的相位信息。
对于M个端口，正交码矩阵C M可以通过下式获得：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000025
其中，C M、
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000026
都是M×M的矩阵，其中
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000027
是包含基础补偿相位信息的基础补偿相位矩阵，
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000028
是包含附加相位信息的附加相位矩阵。⊙表示矩阵的对应元素相乘。
基础补偿相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000029
在公式(6)中，基础补偿相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000030
包含了关于针对K个端口中每个端口的参考信号补偿的基础补偿相位的信息。在第三实施例中，与第一、第二实施例相似，所有天线阵列使用的发射波束都相同，也即是说，所有天线阵列被确定使用相同的模拟波束赋形参数以形成相同的目标发射波束。由于这K个天线阵列的布置与结构固定、所采用的发射波束相同，因此基础补偿相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000031
可以表示为：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000032
在基础补偿相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000033
中，其元素指示了针对各天线阵列补偿的相位差。更具体而言，每个列向量的第m(1≤m≤M-1)个元素α b，m代表用于发送第m个端口的参考信号的(一个或多个)天线阵列相对于用于发送第0个端口的参考信号的(一个或多个)天线阵列的基础补偿相位。由此，在每个通信资源上，K个天线阵列所发射的波束合并为单个波束。取决于天线阵列的结构和布置、发射波束的方向，基础补偿相位α b，m的值可以按照第一实施例中描述的公式(1)至(4)来计算。
例如，对于均匀布置的ULA，天线阵列1相对于天线阵列0的基础补偿相位为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000034
(d为天线阵元间距，N为每个天线阵列的天线阵元数量，φ为天线阵列的波束方向)。天线阵列2相对于天线阵列0的基础补偿相位为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000035
以此类推。因此，对于具有这种结构和布置的ULA矩阵，基础补偿相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000036
可以表示为：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000037
虽然上面参照公式(8)描述了计算对于具有均匀结构的ULA矩阵的基础补偿相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000038
但是这不意在作出任何限制。实际上，通过将第一实施例中描述的公式(2)至(4)代入公式(7)，可以类似地计算出对于非均匀布置的ULA矩阵或UPA矩阵的基础补偿相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000039
附加相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000040
公式(6)中的附加相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000041
包含了针对各天线阵列施加的附加相位的信息。更具体而言，附加相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000042
的每个列向量的第m(1≤m≤M-1)个元素代表用于针对发送第m个端口的参考信号施加的附加相位，从而调节K个天线阵列在每个通信资源上形成的合并波束的方向。
附加相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000043
被设计为是正交的，以保证由矩阵C M的正交性。
作为示例，当端口数M＝2时，附加相位矩阵阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000044
可以表示为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000045
其中，通过附加相位[1,j]，用于发送第0个端口的参考信号而形成的波束与用于发送第1个端口的参考信号而形成的波束合并得到一个合并波束，而通过附加相位[1,-j]，用于发送第0个端口的参考信号而形成的波束与用于发送第1个端口的参考信号而形成的波束合并得到另一个合并波束。从图6的第(3)、(7)幅图可以看出，这两个合并波束具有不同的方向角，并且相对于参考波束方向(即，单个天线阵列的发射波束方向，见以虚线示出的波束)大致对称。
对于端口数M＝2 n(n为大于1的正整数)，可以通过迭代的方法来构造
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000046
作为一个示例，可以根据下式通过
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000047
构造得到
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000048
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000049
其中，H 2为哈达马(Hadamard)矩阵，
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000050
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000051
表示克罗内克积。
可以按照公式(10)一直迭代，直到
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000052
可以如公式(9)那样定义。通过这种方式，能够计算得到端口数为4、8、16等的附加相位矩阵。
利用这种哈达马矩阵迭代的方式获得的附加相位矩阵能够保持其正交性，从而 能够保证由基础补偿相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000053
和附加相位矩阵
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000054
生成的正交码矩阵C M的正交性。
参考信号的发射与接收
下面参照图8A-8B和图9A-9B来描述根据第三实施例的参考信号的发射和接收。
图8A-8B是示出了两个端口的参考信号的发射示例。发射端利用正交码矩阵C 2来生成两个端口的参考信号。在一个示例中，根据上面描述的公式(8)、(9)，正交码矩阵C 2可以确定为：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000055
其中，α b为基础补偿相位。
依据此正交码矩阵，端口0的参考信号采用码分复用码[1,1](由C 2的第1行给出)，端口1的参考信号采用码分复用码[jα b,-jα b](由C 2的第2行给出)。图8A分别示出了这两个端口的参考信号在通信资源块中占用的资源元素的情况，其中左边对应于端口0，右边对应于端口1。每个参考信号的符号占用两个通信资源(资源元素)进行传输，并且两个端口的参考信号占用的通信资源相同。
图8B是示出了天线阵列发射这些参考信号时产生的波束的示意图。天线阵列已确定使用相同的模拟波束赋形参数，以便能够形成相同的目标发射波束。在第一个资源元素上，端口1的天线阵列发射的信号相对于端口0的天线阵列发射的信号具有相位差jα b(由C 2的第1列给出)。一方面，由于该相位差包含针对各天线阵列补偿的基础补偿相位α b，从而两个端口的天线阵列形成的波束能够合并成单个波束(合并波束f 0)。另一方面，由于该相位差还包含针对各天线阵列施加的附加相位j，以调节合并波束的方向，使得合并波束相对于目标发射波束(见虚线示出的波束)具有一定的角度偏移。
在第二资源元素上，端口1的天线阵列发射的信号相对于端口0的天线阵列发射的信号具有相位差-jα b(由C 2的第2列给出)。一方面，由于该相位差包含针对各天线阵列补偿的基础补偿相位α b，从而两个端口的天线阵列形成的波束能够合并成单个波束(合并波束f 1)。另一方面，由于该相位差还包含针对各天线阵列施加的附加相位-j，使得合并波束相对于目标发射波束(见虚线示出的波束)具有一定的角度偏 移。合并波束f 1和合并波束f 0相对于目标发射波束大致对称。由此，参考信号在不同通信资源上被以不同的波束发射出去。
接收端可以通过接收参考信号来估计各端口的信道状况。例如，在上面的示例中，假设端口0和端口1到接收端的信道向量为h 0和h 1，各天线阵列采用相同的模拟波束赋形参数形成波束f，则在第一个资源元素上，接收端处的接收信号y 0可以表示为：
y 0＝h 0f T+jα bh 1f T+n
在第二个资源元素上，接收端处的接收信号y 1可以表示为：
y 1＝h 0f T-jα bh 1f T+n
这里，n表示信道的噪声分量。
然后，利用端口0和端口1的码分复用码的正交性，通过将接收信号y 0和y 1分别乘以各端口的码分复用码的共轭转置，可以获得各端口的信道状况如下：
端口0：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000056
端口1：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000057
这里，
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000058
是基础补偿相位α b的共轭。
需要注意的是，由于基础补偿相位矩阵与天线阵列的结构和发射波束有关，接收端可能无法获知或者获知的复杂度太高(例如，需要发射端通知接收端)，而附加相位矩阵是固定的，因此当确定信道状况时，接收端可以预先存储具有正交性的附加相位矩阵。例如，当接收端接收到接收信号时，可以采用附加相位矩阵的行[j，-j]的共轭[-j，j]乘以接收信号
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000059
来得到关于端口1的信道状况的信息，并将其反馈给发射端。发射端再乘以
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000060
进行校正。
图9A-9B示出了四个端口的参考信号的发射示例。发射端利用正交码矩阵C 4来生成四个端口的参考信号。在一个示例中，根据上面描述的公式(8)、(9)、(10)来确定正交码矩阵C 4如下：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000061
依据此正交码矩阵，端口0的参考信号采用码分复用码[1,1,1,1](由C 4的第1行给出)，端口1的参考信号采用码分复用码[α b,1,-α b,1,α b,1,-α b,1](由C 4的第2行给出)，端口2的参考信号采用码分复用码[jα b,2,jα b,2,-jα b,2,-jα b,2]，端口3的参考信号采用码分复用码[jα b,3,-jα b,3,-jα b,3,jα b,3]。图9A分别示出了这四个端口的参考信号在通信资源块中占用的资源元素的情况，其中左上、右上、左下、右下分别对应于端口0、端口1、端口2、端口3。参考信号的码分复用码的长度为4，参考信号的符号占用四个资源元素进行传输，并且四个端口的参考信号占用的资源元素相同。
图9B是示出了天线阵列发射这些参考信号时产生的波束的示意图，其中波束f 0～f 3分别是天线阵列在四个资源元素上发射的波束所合并得到的合并波束。如图9B中所示，多个天线阵列在每个资源元素上形成发射的合并波束具有相互不同的方向，并且两两关于目标发射波束对称。
接收端在接收到这些参考信号的波束之后，可以将接收信号分别乘以各端口的码分复用码的共轭转置，以确定各端口的信道状况。特别地，接收端可以仅预先存储关于附加相位矩阵的信息，并利用附加相位矩阵的正交性来确定各端口的信道状况。这些过程与两个端口的情况相似，在此不作详细描述。
第三实施例的通信设备和通信方法
下面参照图10A和10B来描述根据本公开的第三实施例的发射端的电子设备及其通信方法的示例。
图10A示出了根据第二实施例的发射端的电子设备1000的配置框图。在下行传输中，电子设备1000可以是诸如eNB、gNB等之类的基站或其部件，而在上行传输中，电子设备1000可以是诸如移动电话、车载通信设备、无人机等之类的用户设备或其部件。
如图10A中所示，电子设备1000至少包括处理电路1001，处理电路1001可以被 配置为执行如图10B中所示的通信方法。与处理电路501类似，处理电路1001可以以各种方式实现。
处理电路1001可以包括码分复用单元1002和发射控制单元1003。
码分复用单元1002被配置为利用正交码矩阵来对参考信号进行码分复用，以生成多个端口的参考信号(图10B中的步骤S1001)。正交码矩阵包含了用于调整天线阵列的相对相位的信息。正交码矩阵可以基于基础补偿相位矩阵和附加相位矩阵而生成，其中，基础补偿相位矩阵的元素指示针对天线阵列补偿的相位差，使得各天线阵列在同一通信资源上利用共同的发射波束发射的波束能够合并为单个合并波束。附加相位矩阵是正交矩阵，其元素指示向不同端口的天线阵列施加的固定相位差，以调节合并波束的方向角。
发射控制单元1003被配置为控制多个天线阵列利用相同的模拟波束赋形参数来发射经码分复用的参考信号(图10B中的步骤S1002)。这多个天线阵列工作在相干波束选择类型下。各天线阵列在第一通信资源(如，时频资源)上发射与其对应的经码分复用的参考信号的第一符号，由于这些符号通过码分复用已被赋予由基础补偿相位和附加相位构成的相对相位，因此各天线阵列发射的波束合并为单个波束(第一合并波束)。类似地，在第二通信资源上，各天线阵列在第二通信资源上发射经码分复用的参考信号的第二符号，并且由于这些符号的相对相位，各天线阵列所发射的波束合并为单个波束(第二合并波束)。第一合并波束和第二合并波束相对于所述模拟波束赋形参数对应的发射波束的方向不同甚至大致对称。这多个天线阵列还可以在第三通信资源、第四通信资源等上发射参考信号以形成更多个合并波束，这些合并波束具有相互不同的波束方向。特别地，这些合并波束关于发射波束的方向两个对称。
电子设备1000还可以包括例如通信单元1005和存储器1006。
通信单元1005可以被配置为在处理电路1001的控制下与接收端进行通信。在一个示例中，通信单元1005可以被实现为发射机或收发机，包括上面所述的天线阵列和/或射频链路等通信部件。通信单元1005用虚线绘出，因为它还可以位于电子设备1000外。
存储器1006可以存储由处理电路1001产生的各种信息(例如，将由码分复用单元1002使用的正交码矩阵，将由天线阵列使用的共同的模拟波束赋形参数等)、用于电 子设备1000操作的程序和数据、将由通信单元1005发送的数据等。存储器1006用虚线绘出，因为它还可以位于处理电路1001内或者位于电子设备1000外。存储器1006可以是易失性存储器和/或非易失性存储器。例如，存储器1006可以包括但不限于随机存储存储器(RAM)、动态随机存储存储器(DRAM)、静态随机存取存储器(SRAM)、只读存储器(ROM)、闪存存储器。
【第四实施例】
在第三实施例中，已经参照附图描述了通过利用正交码矩阵对参考信号进行码分复用以发射2个甚至更多个具有不同方向的波束。下面继续对图8A-8B的示例进行讨论。
如图8A-8B中所示，分别利用正交码[1,1]和[jα b,-jα b]对端口0和端口1的参考信号进行码分复用。因此，在第1个通信资源上，与端口0对应的天线阵列相对于与端口1对应的天线阵列具有相位差jα b，在第2个通信资源上，与端口0对应的天线阵列相对于与端口1对应的天线阵列具有相位差-jα b。也就是说，对于两个通信资源，分别利用相对相位调整参数[1,jα b]和[1,-jα b]来调整端口0和端口1的天线阵列的相对相位。
天线阵列采用相同的模拟波束赋形参数，即，所有天线阵列采用相同的发射波束(下面称为目标发射波束，以f表示)。此时，在第1个通信资源上，合并波束0可以表示为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000062
而在第2个通信资源上，合并波束1可以表示为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000063
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000064
其中α b是基于天线阵列的结构和布置以及目标发射波束的方向而确定的基础补偿相位。
对于天线阵列的结构和布置，首先考虑2个ULA均匀地布置，即ULA之间的间距等于天线阵元之间的间距。对于这种情况，基础补偿相位α b可以表示为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000065
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000066
(见公式(2))。
假设h 0和h 1分别为端口0和端口1的信道向量。由于天线阵列的尺寸相对于传输距离来说可以说是微乎其微的，所以可以认为这两个端口指向相同的信道方向(即，AOD＝θ)则整个天线阵列组的信道向量可以表示为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000067
也就是说两个天线阵列的对应天线阵元之间存在固定的相位差
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000068
即
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000069
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000070
因此，合并波束0和合并波束1在信道方向θ上的增益为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000071
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000072
这里，定义相对波束增益为两个合并波束的增益之比
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000073
可以得到
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000074
注意到，当信道AOD方向θ在目标发射波束方向φ附近时，相对波束增益ρ和信道AoD方向θ存在一一映射关系。
图11是示出了φ＝0°和φ＝30°时的相对波束增益ρ和信道AoD方向θ之间的关系的曲线图。如图11中所示，相对波束增益ρ和信道AoD方向θ在发射波束方向φ的一个邻域[θ min,θ max]内具有一一映射关系。该邻域对应于p 0(θ)和p 1(θ)的零点，可以得到：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000075
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000076
例如，当φ＝0°时，[θ min，θ max]＝[-7.2°，7.2°]，而当φ＝30°时，[θ min，θ max]＝[22.0°，38.6°]。
上面针对2个ULA均匀地布置的情况进行了描述。但是，上面的讨论可以随着端口的数量、天线阵列的布置和类型而得到类似的扩展。
扩展(1)：两个ULA非均匀地布置。对于这种非均匀布置，天线阵列之间的间距d与天线阵元之间的间距d edge不相等，例如d edge＞d。每个天线阵列的天线阵元数为N。在此扩展示例中，基础补偿相位
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000077
(见公式(1))。
此时，合并波束0和合并波束1在信道方向θ上的增益为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000078
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000079
因此，可以按照
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000080
计算得到相对波束增益ρ为：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000081
图11B是示出了φ＝0°时的波束示意图以及相对波束增益ρ和信道AoD方向θ之间的关系的曲线图，这里假设d edge＝2d，其余条件与图11A相同。在图11B左边的图中，实线表示天线阵列非均匀地布置时的波束，而作为参考的虚线表示天线阵列均匀地布置时的波束。从此图可以看出，天线阵列的非均匀布置导致合并波束的波束方向往目标发射波束方向靠近。图11B右边的图示出了相对波束增益ρ和信道AoD方向θ之间的映射关系，从中可以看出，相对波束增益ρ和信道AoD方向θ在大约[-5.8°，5.8°]之间具有一一映射关系。与图11A的示例相比，邻域[θ min,θ max]的范围减小。
扩展(2)：端口的数量大于2。假设M＝2 n个端口，并且每个端口对应于各自的天线阵列，当按照第三实施例的通信方法发射各端口的参考信号时，能够形成M个方向不同的合并波束。对于这M个合并波束，可以与上面类似地计算任意两个合并波束的相对波束增益。特别地，可以计算关于目标发射波束对称的两个合并波束的相对波束增益，例如，计算
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000082
其中p 0(θ)是合并波束0(其与正交码矩阵C M的第0列对应)的增益，p N/2(θ)的是合并波束N/2(其与正交码矩阵C M的第N/2列对应)的增益。这两个合并波束是关于目标发射波束大致对称的。
图11C示出了M＝4时的波束示意图以及相对波束增益ρ和信道AoD方向θ之间的关系的曲线图，在此示例中，天线阵列为ULA且均匀地布置，目标发射波束方向φ＝0°，其余条件与图11A相同。如图11C左边的图中所示，共形成4个合并波束，其中f 0和f 2对称，f 1和f 3对称。图11C右边的图示出了f 0和f 2的相对波束增益ρ与信道AoD方向θ之间的关系，从此图中可以看出，相对波束增益ρ与信道AoD方向θ在大约[-3.6°，3.6°]的邻域内具有一一映射关系。与图11A的示例相比，邻域[θ min,θ max]的范围减小。
扩展(3)：天线阵列为UPA。在上面描述的示例中，天线阵列都假设是仅具有单行或单列天线阵元的ULA，但是实际上，天线阵列也可以是具有N＝W×H个天线阵元的UPA，其中W为水平方向上的天线阵元数，H为垂直方向上的天线阵元数。下面参照图11D和11E来讨论天线阵列为UPA的情况。
在图11D和11E中示出了2个天线阵列在特定方向(水平方向或垂直方向)上的布置。需要注意的是，虽然图11D和图11E仅仅示出了2个天线阵列按水平方向或垂直方向排列的示例，但是天线阵列的数量不限于2。
参见图11D，如左边的图所示，天线阵列0和天线阵列1在水平方向上排列，此时，2个天线阵列间的基础补偿相位
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000083
其中，d H表示水平方向上的天线阵元间距，φ h和φ v分别为目标发射波束在水平方向和垂直方向上的方向角。按照
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000084
可以计算得到相对波束增益ρ为：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000085
其中，θ h表示水平方向上的信道AOD。这里利用了一个基本假设，即，在垂直方向上，信道AoD等于目标发射波束方向，因此垂直方向上的天线阵元数越多，公式(15)越能体现相对波束增益与水平方向上的信道AoD之间的关系。
图11D右边的图示出了相对于相对波束增益与水平方向上的信道AOD之间的映射关系，这里设定W＝4，d H＝0.5λ，φ h＝0°，φ v＝45°。从此图中可以看出，相对波束增益ρ与水平信道AoD方向θ h在一个邻域内满足一一映射关系。此外，非均匀结构下的情况可以参考ULA阵列利用类似的方法分析。
参见图11E，如左边的图所示，天线阵列0和天线阵列1在垂直方向上排列，此时，2个天线阵列间的基础补偿相位
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000086
其中，d V表示垂直方向上的天线阵元间距，φ h和φ v分别为目标发射波束在水平方向和垂直方向上的方向角。按照
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000087
可以计算得到相对波束增益ρ为：
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000088
其中，θ v表示垂直方向上的信道AOD。
图11D右边的图示出了相对于相对波束增益与垂直方向上的信道AOD之间的映射 关系，这里设定H＝4，d V＝0.8λ，φ v＝45°。从此图中可以看出，相对波束增益ρ与垂直信道AoD方向θ v在一个邻域内满足一一映射关系。此外，非均匀布置下的情况可以参考ULA阵列利用类似的方法分析。
虽然上面的扩展示例(1)至(3)分别描述了天线阵列非均匀布置、端口数量大于2、天线阵列为UPA的情况下，但是应理解，在实际应用中可能会组合地包含这些因素中的任意两个或更多个，也就是说，根据实际需要，对于天线阵列的使用可能更加复杂。但是，基于本公开的上述分析方法，可以按照公式(13)至(16)及其变型来类似地计算相对波束增益。
信道方向估计
从上面的讨论可以得到这样一个结论：对于通过发射经码分复用的参考信号而形成的具有不同方向的成对合并波束，它们之间的增益比与信道方向在发射波束的某个范围内可以具有一一映射关系。基于这样的认识，只要信道方向在此范围内，就有可能通过确定这对合并波束的相对波束增益来确定信道方向。此外，发射端的天线阵列在安装好之后，其结构和布置一般是不变的，并且发射端的波束赋形码本中包含有限个发射波束的模拟波束赋形参数，因此，有可能预先存储与这有限个发射波束有关的映射关系，以供信道方向估计。
由此，本公开的第四实施例提出了一种估计信道方向的方案。下面参照图12来进行描述。
图12是示出了根据第四实施例的信道方向估计的信令流程图。在下行传输的情况下，发射端可以是基站，诸如eNB、gNB等，接收端可以是用户设备。在上行传输的情况下，发射端可以是用户设备，接收端可以是基站。
如图12中所示，发射端可以通过波束扫描来选择目标发射波束(S1～S4)。为了便于理解，可以同时结合图1来描述S1至S4。
在S1中，发射端开始执行波束扫描过程。参照图1，在下行波束扫描过程中，基站1000的n t_DL个下行发射波束依次向UE 1004发送n t_DL×n r_DL个下行参考信号，而在上行波束扫描过程中，UE 1004的n t_UL个上行发射波束依次向基站1000发送n t_UL×n r_UL个上行参考信号。
在S2中，接收端可以对波束的增益进行估计。对于下行波束扫描过程，UE1004对该n t_DL×n r_DL个下行参考信号进行测量，例如测量下行参考信号的接收信号功率(例如RSRP)。由此，UE 1004确定基站1000的最强下行发射波束和UE 1004的最强下行接收波束。而对于上行波束扫描过程，基站1000对该n r_UL×n t_UL个上行参考信号进行测量(例如测量上行参考信号的接收信号功率(例如RSRP))，从而确定UE 1004的最强上行发射波束和基站1000的最强上行接收波束。
在S3中，接收端将关于最强波束的质量及其在波束集合中的索引的信息反馈给发射端。当发射端接收到这些信息之后，在S4中，发射端可以将最强的发射波束确定为其天线阵列采用的目标发射波束。在本公开的第四实施例中，为了进行信道方向估计，需要天线阵列工作在相干波束选择类型下，即，发射端为其天线阵列选择相同的发射波束。
在完成了上述波束扫描过程之后，发射端和接收端利用所确定的基站的最强收发波束和终端设备的最强收发波束来进行接下来的数据和/或控制信号的传输。上述通过波束扫描来确定基站和UE的最强收发波束的过程也被称为波束训练过程。通过这种波束训练过程，发射端一般可以从其波束集合中选择出与当前信道方向最匹配的发射波束。
应注意，上述S1至S4是用于确定发射端的目标发射波束的流程，它们对于下面将要介绍的信道方向估计不是必不可少的。事实上，发射端还可以通过任何其他合适的方法来确定目标发射波束，不过优选的是该目标发射波束的方向尽可能接近信道AOD方向。
然后，在S5中，发射端利用所确定的目标发射波束来发送参考信号。这里，参考信号已利用正交码矩阵进行码分复用。如上面的第三实施例中那样，正交码矩阵可以基于基础补偿相位信息和附加相位信息而生成，其中基础补偿相位信息指示针对各天线阵列补偿的相位差，从而使得多个天线阵列在同一通信资源(例如，时频资源)上发射的波束能够合并成单个合并波束，而附加相位信息指示用于调节合并波束的方向的相位差。从此角度讲，正交码矩阵的元素实质上指示用于发送参考信号的天线阵列在各通信资源上的相对相位，而用正交码矩阵对参考信号进行码分复用的处理也是对基带参考信号进行相对相位调整。对于参考信号的码分复用，在上面的第三实施例中已经详细描述，这里不再重复。
作为结果，发射端在第一通信资源上发射具有第一波束方向的合并波束，在第二通信资源上发射具有第二波束方向的合并波束。优选地，这两个合并波束可以相对于目标发射波束的方向大致对称。但是，这两个合并波束也可以相对于目标发射波束的方向不对称。这两个合并波束之间的角度范围决定了信道方向估计的范围。
另外，发射端还可以发射更多个合并波束。例如，发射端可以在第三通信资源上发射具有第三波束波束方向的合并波束，在第四通信资源上发射具有第四波束方向的合并波束，等等。
在S6中，接收端在对应的通信资源上接收各合并波束，并估计两个波束之间的相对波束增益ρ。具体而言，接收端可以分别测量所接收到的合并波束的增益，并取它们的比值作为相对波束增益。在接收到多个合并波束的情况下，可以选择其中的两个波束来估计相对波束增益。在参照图11C描述的示例中，作为一个示例，可以选择所接收到的波束f 1和f 3来估计相对波束增益，以实现较大的信道方向估计范围。作为另一个示例，可以选择所接收到的波束f 1和f 3来估计相对波束增益，由于这两个波束的主瓣和旁瓣的增益差异大，因此计算的相对波束增益值更有意义，从而信道方向估计的准确性更高。不过，为了能够准确地估计出信道AOD，发射端和接收端之间的信道方向与目标发射波束向具有小于预定阈值的夹角。也就是说，信道方向落在关于目标发射波束方向的邻域[θ min,θ max]内，该邻域[θ min,θ max]与所选择的用于计算相对波束增益的哪一对波束有关。并未处于估计精度考虑，期望两个合并波束的增益比值超过预定阈值。
作为可以同时进行的处理，在S6中(如括号中所示)，接收端还可以基于所接收到的参考信号来确定信道状态信息。例如，如第三实施例中所述的，接收端可以利用与在发射端相同的正交码矩阵或附加相位矩阵来实现各参考信号的接收，并基于接收到的参考信号(例如，CSI-RS)来计算信道质量指示(CQI)、预编码矩阵指示(PMI)、秩指示(RI)等信道状态信息。另外，接收端还可以执行准确性更高的信道状态反馈，诸如基于线性组合码本的预编码反馈、基于协方差矩阵的反馈、混合信道状态信息反馈等。
然后，在S7中，接收端向发射端反馈关于相对波束增益ρ的信息。在反馈相对波束增益时，为了减少传输成本，可以对计算的值进行量化，量化码本预先存储在发 射端和接收端两侧。作为示例，可以根据需要在发射端和接收端存储多个不同精度的量化码本，然后发射端可以配置接收端采用某种量化精度，或者接收端确定采用某种量化精度并将其通知给发射端。由于信道方向与相对波束增益在目标发射波束方向附近的映射关系近似线性，因此可以使用均匀量化，例如，对log 10ρ进行均匀量化，当量化精度为2bits时，量化码本选取{-10，-3，+3，+10}dB，而当量化精度为3bits时，量化码本选取{-10，-6，-3，-1，+1，+3，+6，+10}dB。但是，接收端也可以采用任何合适的量化方式。然后，接收端将表示相对波束增益的量化结果以相对波束增益指示符(Relative Beamforming Gain Indicator,RBGI)的形式反馈给发射端。
可附加地，在S7中(如括号中所示)，接收端还可以同时发送所确定的信道状态信息，如CQI、PMI、RI等。这些信道状态信息可以与相对波束增益指示符一起包括在信令消息中。当然，接收端可以利用不同的信息消息来发送相对波束增益指示符与信道状态信息。
在S8中，发射端在接收到表示相对波束增益的相对波束增益指示符之后，可以确定关于相对波束增益的信息并依此计算信道方向(AOD)。发射端中已经预先计算并存储相对波束增益与信道方向之间的映射关系。由于发射端所使用的天线阵列的结构和布置一般是固定的，天线阵列的选用也可以按照预定规则来实行，所以可以仅存储与波束赋形码本的波束集合相关的所有映射关系集合。相对波束增益与信道方向的映射关系可以以映射表的形式存储在发射端，从而发射端可以从所接收的相对波束增益直接映射到信道AOD。
此外，在S8中(如括号中所示)，发射端还可以利用所接收到的信道状态信息，如CQI、PMI、RI等，来配置数字预编码，以实现信道匹配。
上面已经描述了发射端实现信道AOD估计的信令流程。从图12可以看出，根据本实施例的信道AOD估计可以与信道状态反馈一起进行，因此具有良好的兼容性。需要注意的是，虽然图12中示出了信道AOD估计与信道状态反馈一起执行的示例，但是可以理解的是，这两个过程可以独立地执行。
仿真
这里对本实施例提出的信道AoD估计方法进行仿真验证。考虑两个均匀地布置 的ULA天线阵列，每个天线阵列天线阵元数N＝4或8。天线阵列的波束采用4倍量化DFT码本，并通过波束扫描确定天线阵列采用的波束。假设天线阵列覆盖的扇区大小为120度，即信道AoD的范围为[-60°，60°]。
图14示出了根据本实施例的信道AoD估计误差随信噪比的变化。可以看到，随着信噪比增加，本公开所提出的信道AoD估计方法精确的增加。并且注意到，N＝8时的估计精度大于N＝4，因此天线阵元数越多，信道AoD的估计精度越大。但同时，由于天线阵元数增多时波束变窄，信道AoD估计的范围也会相应减小。该仿真结果说明本公开能够实现精确的信道AoD估计。
信道方向估计的应用示例
本实施例中提出的信道方向估计能够应用于许多场景，下面将对一些典型的应用场景进行描述。以下应用示例仅仅是示例性而非限制性的。
下面参照图14A-14B来描述波束跟踪的应用示例。
当用户设备移动时，基站可以进行波束切换使得波束方向跟踪用户，即，保持发射波束的方向跟踪信道AoD方向。波束切换的触发条件典型地可以为信道方向的变化超过某一阈值(例如，3.6°)。基站可以周期性地确定当前的信道AOD。当确定信道AOD已经变化超过阈值时，基站切换天线阵列所使用的发射波束，例如，从其波束集合中选择与当前信道方向更接近的发射波束来发射数据或控制信号。
图14A-14B示出了在波束切换前后执行根据本实施例的信道方向估计的示意图。例如，开始的时候基站可以使用如图14左边的波束方向图中所示的一对合并波束来执行信道方向估计，并且所使用的相对波束增益与信道方向之间的映射关系如图14B中的粗线所示。当用户设备的移动导致信道AOD超过例如3.6°时，基站切换了其天线阵列所采用的发射波束，以保证发射波束对准信道AoD，维持较高的接收信噪比，同时保证信道AoD落在发射波束附近，维持较高的信道AoD估计精度。在执行波束切换之后，基站可以使用如图14A右边的波束方向图中所示的另一对合并波束来执行信道方向估计，这一对合并波束更接近切换的发射波束，并且基站可以使用如图14B中的细线所示的映射关系来估计信道方向。
另外，波束切换的触发条件也可以基于预测的信道AoD方向。具体来说，在两个连续的时隙t 1和t 2，基站分别发送参考信号以执行根据本实施例的信道方向估 计，从而估计这两个时隙的信道AoD方向分别为
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000089
和
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000090
基站可以获得用户运动的角速度
Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-000091
基于估计的用户角速度v a，基站可以预测下一时隙的信道AoD估计为：
AoD t+1＝AoD t+v aΔ t  (18)
其中，Δ t为时间间隔。
基于所预测的下一时隙的信道AOD，基站可以确定是否需要切换天线阵列的波束。
除了波束跟踪之外，根据本实施例的信道AOD估计还可以用于其他的场景。
作为一个示例，可以让多个相邻基站相互协作估计同一用户设备的信道方向，然后通过例如三点定位法，对该用户设备的位置进行定位。
作为另一个示例，基站可以将对多个用户的信道方向的估计结果用于用户调度，从而避免把信道方向接近的用户调度在同一通信资源上，从而减小用户间干扰。
在一个示例中，如果发射端执行时分双工，则它可以将通过上述信道方向估计方法确定的信道AOD设置为信道AOA，以用于波束接收。
发射端的电子设备和通信方法
下面参照图15A和15B来描述根据本公开的第四实施例的发射端的电子设备及其通信方法的示例。
图15A示出了根据第四实施例的发射端的电子设备1500的配置框图。在下行传输中，电子设备1500可以是诸如eNB、gNB等之类的基站、无人机控制塔台或其部件，而在上行传输中，电子设备1500可以是诸如移动电话、车载通信设备、无人机等之类的用户设备或其部件。
如图15A中所示，电子设备1500至少包括处理电路1501，处理电路1501可以被配置为执行如图15B中所示的通信方法。与处理电路501类似，处理电路1501可以以各种方式实现。
处理电路1501可以包括目标发射波束确定单元1502、发射控制单元1503、相对波束增益接收单元1504和信道AOD确定单元1003。
目标发射波束确定单元1502被配置为确定发射端的天线阵列将使用的目标发射 波束(图15B中的步骤S1501)。作为示例，目标发射波束确定1502可以通过执行波束训练来从发射波束集合中选择最佳的发射波束作为目标发射波束。在本实施例中，所有天线阵列工作在相干波束选择类型下，即，所有天线阵列将使用共同的目标发射波束。如果作为波束训练的结果，为各天线阵列选择的最佳发射波束不一致，则目标发射波束确定单元1502可以针对天线阵列做出整体考虑，从而确定对于所有天线阵列来说都较佳的发射波束。一旦确定下来，与共同的目标发射波束相对应的模拟波束赋形参数就可以被用来配置天线阵列的移相器。
发射控制单元1503被配置为控制多个天线阵列利用所确定的模拟波束赋形参数发射参考信号(图15B中的步骤S1502)。这里，发射控制单元1503可以控制发射至少两个参考信号。参考信号的符号被利用基于基础补偿相位和附加相位生成的正交码矩阵进行码分复用，作为码分复用的结果，要在第一通信资源上发送的一组参考信号符号被调整为具有不同的相对相位(其包含基础补偿相位和附加相位)，使得当它们被对应的天线阵列发射时，所有天线阵列形成的发射波束能够合并为单个合并波束，并且合并波束的方向偏离目标发射波束的方向，而要在第二通信资源上发送的一组参考信号符号被施加与前一组不同的相对相位，使得当它们被对应的天线阵列发射时，所有天线阵列形成的发射波束能够合并为与前一个合并波束方向不同甚至对称的合并波束。另外，发射控制单元1503还可以在其他的通信资源上控制发射方向相互不同的更多个合并波束。
相对波束增益接收单元1504被配置为接收来自接收端(例如，下面将描述的电子设备1600)的关于相对波束增益的信息(图15B中的步骤S1503)。相对波束增益表示接收端接收到的两个合并波束之比。当接收端接收到多个合并波束时，可以根据需要从中选择两个合并波束来计算它们的相对波束增益。在一个示例中，接收端可以选择夹角范围最大的两个波束，以最大化信道AOD估计范围。在另一个示例中，接收端可以选择增益比值超过预定阈值的两个波束，以保证信道AOD估计的精度。计算得到的相对波束增益可以按照需要的量化精度被量化，并作为相对波束增益指示符被发送给电子设备1500。在一个示例中，相对波束增益指示符可以与信道状态信息一起发送。
信道AOD确定单元1505被配置为利用由相对波束增益接收单元1504接收的关于相对波束增益的信息来确定信道AOD(图15B中的步骤S1504)。信道AOD确定单元1505可以参考映射表，此映射表记录了相对波束增益与信道AOD之间的映射关系。这种映射表可以随着发射波束的不同而具有多个，并被预先存储在发射端。
电子设备1500还可以包括例如通信单元1506和存储器1507。
通信单元1506可以被配置为在处理电路1501的控制下与接收端进行通信。在一个示例中，通信单元1506可以被实现为收发机，包括上面所述的天线阵列和/或射频链路等通信部件。通信单元1506用虚线绘出，因为它还可以位于电子设备1500外。
存储器1507可以存储由处理电路1501产生的各种信息(例如，与发射波束集合中的各发射波束对应的模拟波束赋形参数、目标发射波束确定单元1502的确定结果、正交码矩阵、由相对波束增益接收单元1504接收的相对波束增益指示符、由信道AOD确定单元1505确定的信道AOD等)、用于电子设备1500操作的程序和数据、将由通信单元1506发送的数据等。存储器1507用虚线绘出，因为它还可以位于处理电路1501内或者位于电子设备1500外。存储器1507可以是易失性存储器和/或非易失性存储器。例如，存储器1507可以包括但不限于随机存储存储器(RAM)、动态随机存储存储器(DRAM)、静态随机存取存储器(SRAM)、只读存储器(ROM)、闪存存储器。
接收端的电子设备和通信方法
下面参照图16A和16B来描述根据本公开的第四实施例的接收端的电子设备及其通信方法的示例。
图16A示出了根据第四实施例的接收端的电子设备1600的配置框图。在下行传输中，电子设备1600可以是诸如诸如移动电话、车载通信设备、无人机等之类的用户设备或其部件，而在上行传输中，电子设备1500可以是eNB、gNB等之类的基站、无人机控制塔台或其部件。
如图16A中所示，电子设备1600至少包括处理电路1601，处理电路1601可以被配置为执行如图16B中所示的通信方法。与处理电路501类似，处理电路1601可以以各种方式实现。
处理电路1601可以包括波束接收控制单元1602、波束增益测量单元1603、相对波束增益发送单元1604。
波束接收控制单元1602被配置为在每个通信资源上控制接收由发射端(如上述电子设备1500)的多个天线阵列利用共同的发射波束发射参考信号而形成的合并波束(图16B中的步骤S1601)。这里，至少两个参考信号通过利用正交码矩阵的码分复用而 生成，作为码分复用的结果，在第一通信资源上传输的一组参考信号符号被调整为具有由各自的基础补偿相位和附加相位构成的相对相位，使得当它们被对应的天线阵列发射时，所有发射天线阵列形成的发射波束合并为第一合并波束，并且合并波束的方向偏离目标发射波束的方向，而在第二通信资源上传输的一组参考信号符号被施加与前一组不同的相对相位，使得当它们被对应的天线阵列发射时，所有发射天线阵列形成的发射波束合并为与第一合并波束方向不同甚至对称的第二合并波束。波束接收控制单元1602还可以在第三通信资源、第四通信资源甚至更多的通信资源上接收第三、第四合并波束等。这些合并波束已通过正交码矩阵的相对相位调整处理而具有不同的方向。
相对波束增益确定单元1602被配置为确定由波束接收控制单元1602在各通信资源上接收到的合并波束的相对波束增益(图16B中的步骤S1602)。相对波束增益是两个合并波束的增益之比。由于各合并波束与对应的通信资源(如时频资源元素)相关联，所以可以测量特定的两个通信资源上接收到的波束的增益，并计算它们的比值。当波束接收控制单元1602接收到不止两个合并波束时，波束增益测量单元1602可以例如根据信道AOD估计范围、信道AOD估计精度等来选择用于计算相对波束增益的两个合并波束。
相对波束增益发送单元1603被配置为向发射端发送关于相对波束增益的信息(图16B中的步骤S1603)。在被发送之前，由相对波束增益确定单元1602计算的相对波束增益可以按照设定的量化精度被量化和/或编码，以生成表示关于相对波束增益的信息的相对波束增益指示符(RBGI)。在一个示例中，相对波束增益指示符可以在用于发送信道状态信息的信令中占用若干个比特(这取决于量化精度)，从而与信道状态信息一起发送到发射端。在另一个示例中，相对波束增益指示符可以使用新的信令发送。
电子设备1600还可以包括例如通信单元1606和存储器1607。
通信单元1606可以被配置为在处理电路1601的控制下与接收端进行通信。在一个示例中，通信单元1606可以被实现为发射机或收发机，包括上面所述的天线阵列和/或射频链路等通信部件。通信单元1606用虚线绘出，因为它还可以位于电子设备1600外。
存储器1607可以存储由处理电路1601产生的各种信息(例如，由波束接收控制单元1602接收到的波束的增益信息、由相对波束增益确定单元1603确定的相对波束增 益、或相对波束增益指示符等)、用于电子设备1600操作的程序和数据、将由通信单元1606发送的数据等。存储器1607用虚线绘出，因为它还可以位于处理电路1601内或者位于电子设备1600外。存储器1607可以是易失性存储器和/或非易失性存储器。例如，存储器1607可以包括但不限于随机存储存储器(RAM)、动态随机存储存储器(DRAM)、静态随机存取存储器(SRAM)、只读存储器(ROM)、闪存存储器。
【变型实施例】
在上面的第四实施例中，描述了发射端通过发射经码分复用处理(相对相位调整)的参考信号来实现不同方向的波束合并，并基于合并波束的相对波束增益与信道方向角之间的映射关系来较为精确地估计出发射端与接收端之间的信道方向角。
本公开的创造性思想不限于如第四实施例那样的具体实现方式，还可以以各种变型来体现。
下面将参照附图来阐述根据本公开的变型实施例。
在本公开的变型实施例中，发射端通过波束赋形发射两个或更多个方向不同的波束。这些方向不同的波束可以由单个天线阵列采用不同的模拟波束赋形参数形成，也可以如上面的第三、第四实施例那样由多个天线阵列采用相同的模拟波束赋形参数形成，或者以任何其他合适的方式形成。图17A示意性地示出了两个发射波束的方向图。但是应注意，发射端发射的波束数量可以多于两个。如图17A中所示，这两个波束的传播范围存在相重叠的部分，从而在此重叠部分中，接收端可以同时接收到这两个波束。
经波束赋形形成的发射波束具有依赖于发射方向的增益特性。图17B中的两条虚线示出了图17A中的两个波束随方向角变化的增益曲线。如图17B中所示，两个发射波束的波束增益曲线互相偏移一定的角度，其为两个波束的发射方向角之差。
图17B中的实线示出了这两个波束之间的相对波束增益随方向角变化的曲线。从图17B可以看出(见方框)，在两个波束重叠的范围内，即，两个波束的零点之间，相对波束增益与方向角具有一一映射关系。类似于第四实施例，可以基于这种一一映射关系来实现信道方向(如，到达角AOA)估计。
例如，图18示出了本公开的变型实施例的一个示例。发射端(如基站)可以 朝向全部区域或局部区域发射多个参考信号的波束。这些波束的增益或覆盖范围可以根据需要来设计。图18示出了波束具有不同增益的示例。在图18中，实线圆圈表示小区边界，虚线圆圈表示最强波束可以到达的边界。虽然图18绘出了波束增益不同的情况，但是波束可以设计为具有相同的增益。
如图18中所示，UE1在波束1和波束1’之间的区域中，可能接收到波束1’作为最强波束以及接收到波束1作为次强波束。虽然UE1还可能接收到其他波束(例如通过反射径接收到波束2’等)，但是其他波束的增益都小于波束1’和波束1。通过UE1报告所接收到的最强波束和次强波束，基站可以判断UE1是在波束1和波束1’之间的区域中。
UE1还可以检测波束1和波束1’的波束增益，并计算这两者的相对波束增益。例如，UE1可以计算最强波束1’与次强波束1的增益比值。此增益比值越大，说明UE1越靠近波束1’，反之则越靠近波束1。所计算的相对波束增益可以通过量化而被表示为具有相应值的相对波束增益指示符，并被反馈给基站。通过将关于相对波束增益的信息反馈给基站，基站可以基于方向角与相对波束增益之间的映射关系(如图17B)，来确定UE1在波束1和波束1’之间的准确方位。
类似地，UE2可能接收到波束1’作为最强波束以及接收到波束2作为次强波束，并将最强波束、次强波束的信息以及关于这两者的相对波束增益的信息反馈给基站，从而基站能够知道UE2在波束1’和波束2之间，并且基于基于方向角与相对波束增益之间的映射关系来确定UE2在波束2和波束1’之间的准确方位。
因此，通过接收端至少上报所接收到的两个波束的相对波束增益，接收端可以估计出信道方向角。
在一个示例中，为了估计出信道方向角，接收端还可以上报所接收到的两个波束的识别信息。识别信息例如可以是参考信号的端口、波束标识、波束占用的通信资源信息等。识别信息还可以是任何其他信息，只要能够用于关联到发射端的发射波束即可。
发射端可以预先存储相对波束增益与信道方向角之间的映射关系，例如，以映射表的方式。例如，在图18的示例中，发射端可以存储波束1’与波束1的相对波束 增益和这两个波束之间的方向角之间的映射关系，从而当接收到来自UE1的相对波束增益时，基于此映射关系确定UE1在波束1’与波束1之间的哪个方向角处。类似地，发射端还可以存储波束1’与波束2的相对波束增益和这两个波束之间的方向角之间的映射关系，等等。
发射端可以还存储关于各发射波束的信息，使得发射端可以从接收端反馈的识别信息确定与接收端关联的发射波束及其发射方向。例如，在图18的示例中，发射端可以从UE1上报的最强波束、次强波束的识别信息确定波束1’和波束1，从而确定UE1在波束1’和波束1之间，并调用关于这两个波束的相对波束增益与方向角的映射表。
通过上述方式，发射端可以仅需要向至少接收端所在的区域发射两个或更多个参考信号波束，通过接收端获取并反馈关于波束的识别信息、相对波束增益信息，可以方便地确定接收端与发射端的信道方向(如，信道AOA)。
图19是根据变型实施例的通信流程图。如图19中所示，发射端在第一通信资源(例如，时频资源元素)上发射经波束赋形的第一参考信号波束，以及在第二通信资源上发射经波束赋形的第二参考信号波束。两个参考信号波束具有不同的方向。在一个示例中，发射端可以使用不同的模拟波束赋形参数发射参考信号来形成参考信号波束，使得波束指向不同的发射方向。在另一个示例中，发射端可以如第三、第四实施例中那样使用多个天线阵列按相同的模拟波束赋形参数发射经相对相位调整的参考信号，以形成具有不同方向的参考信号波束。
优选地，确定第一、第二参考信号波束的发射方向(例如，用于形成这两个波束的模拟波束赋形参数、相对相位调整参数等)，使得接收端在这两个参考信号波束之间，从而能够接收到这两个参考信号波束。
另外，发射端还可以在更多个通信资源上发射更多个参考信号波束，例如以便覆盖更大的范围。
接收端接收第一参考信号波束、第二参考信号波束，作为最强和次强的接收波束，并计算它们的相对波束增益。例如，接收端可以检测所接收到的两个波束的参考信号接收功率(RSRP)，并计算比值。经计算的相对波束增益可以按照需要的量化精 度进行量化。
接收端还可以确定第一参考信号波束、第二参考信号波束的识别信息。
然后，接收端将确定的相对波束增益(以及参考信号波束的识别信息，如果有的话)反馈给发射端。相对波束增益信息和/或识别信息可以被用来确定接收端的信道方向，如信号到达角。
上面简要描述的由发射端和接收端执行的操作例如可以由具有处理电路的电子设备实现。例如，可以由包含处理电路1501的电子设备1500或包含处理电路1601的电子设备1600的所有或部分单元协作地实现。
上面已经详细描述了本公开的实施例的各个方面，但是应注意，上面为了描述了所示出的天线阵列的结构、布置、类型、数量等，端口，参考信号，通信设备，通信方法等等，都不是为了将本公开的方面限制到这些具体的示例。
应当理解，上述各实施例中描述的电子设备500、700、1000、1500、1600的各个单元仅是根据其所实现的具体功能划分的逻辑模块，而不是用于限制具体的实现方式。在实际实现时，上述各单元可被实现为独立的物理实体，或者也可以由单个实体(例如，处理器(CPU或DSP等)、集成电路等)来实现。
【本公开的应用示例】
本公开中描述的技术能够应用于各种产品。
例如，根据本公开的实施例的电子设备500、700、1000、1500、1600可以被实现为各种基站或者安装在基站中，或者可以被实现为各种用户设备或被安装在各种用户设备中。根据本公开的实施例的通信方法可以由各种基站或用户设备实现。
基站本公开中所说的基站可以被实现为任何类型的基站，优选地，诸如3GPP的5G通信标准新无线电(New Radio，NR)接入技术中的宏gNB和小gNB。小gNB可以为覆盖比宏小区小的小区的gNB，诸如微微gNB、微gNB和家庭(毫微微)gNB。代替地，基站可以被实现为任何其他类型的基站，诸如NodeB、eNodeB和基站收发台(BTS)。基站还可以包括：被配置为控制无线通信的主体以及设置在与主体不同的地方的一个或多个远程无线头端(RRH)、无线中继站、无人机塔台等。
用户设备可以被实现为移动终端(诸如智能电话、平板个人计算机(PC)、笔记本式PC、便携式游戏终端、便携式/加密狗型移动路由器和数字摄像装置)或者车载终端(诸如汽车导航设备)。用户设备还可以被实现为执行机器对机器(M2M)通信的终端(也称为机器类型通信(MTC)终端)、无人机等。此外，用户设备可以为安装在上述终端中的每个终端上的无线通信模块(诸如包括单个晶片的集成电路模块)。
1.关于基站的应用示例
应当理解，本公开中使用的术语“基站”具有其通常含义的全部广度，并且至少包括被用于作为无线通信系统或无线电系统的一部分以便于通信的无线通信站。基站的例子可以例如是但不限于以下：GSM通信系统中的基站收发信机(BTS)和基站控制器(BSC)中的一者或两者；3G通信系统中的无线电网络控制器(RNC)和NodeB中的一者或两者；4G LTE和LTE-Advanced系统中的eNB；未来通信系统中对应的网络节点(例如可能在5G通信系统中出现的gNB，等等)。在D2D、M2M以及V2V通信场景下，也可以将对通信具有控制功能的逻辑实体称为基站。在认知无线电通信场景下，还可以将起频谱协调作用的逻辑实体称为基站。
(第一应用示例)
图20是示出可以应用本公开中描述的技术的基站的示意性配置的第一应用示例的框图。在下行传输中，基站可以实现为诸如电子设备500、700、1000、1500之类的发射端设备，或者在上行传输中，基站可以实现为1600之类的接收端设备。在图20中，基站被示出为gNB 800。其中，gNB 800包括多个天线810以及基站设备820。基站设备820和每个天线810可以经由RF线缆彼此连接。
天线810可以包括如按照图3A-3B布置的多个天线阵列，天线阵列包括多个天线元件(诸如包括在多输入多输出(MIMO)天线中的多个天线元件)，并且用于基站设备820发送和接收无线信号。如图20所示，gNB 800可以包括多个天线810。例如，多个天线810可以与gNB 800使用的多个频带兼容。图20示出其中gNB 800包括多个天线810的示例。
基站设备820包括控制器821、存储器822、网络接口823以及无线通信接口 825。
控制器821可以为例如CPU或DSP，并且操作基站设备820的较高层的各种功能。例如，控制器821可以包括上面所述的处理电路301或601，执行上面第一至第四实施例描述的通信方法，或者控制电子设备500、700、1000、1500、1600的各个部件。例如，控制器821根据由无线通信接口825处理的信号中的数据来生成数据分组，并经由网络接口823来传递所生成的分组。控制器821可以对来自多个基带处理器的数据进行捆绑以生成捆绑分组，并传递所生成的捆绑分组。控制器821可以具有执行如下控制的逻辑功能：该控制诸如为无线资源控制、无线承载控制、移动性管理、接纳控制和调度。该控制可以结合附近的gNB或核心网节点来执行。存储器822包括RAM和ROM，并且存储由控制器821执行的程序和各种类型的控制数据(诸如终端列表、传输功率数据以及调度数据)。
网络接口823为用于将基站设备820连接至核心网824的通信接口。控制器821可以经由网络接口823而与核心网节点或另外的gNB进行通信。在此情况下，gNB800与核心网节点或其他gNB可以通过逻辑接口(诸如S1接口和X2接口)而彼此连接。网络接口823还可以为有线通信接口或用于无线回程线路的无线通信接口。如果网络接口823为无线通信接口，则与由无线通信接口825使用的频带相比，网络接口823可以使用较高频带用于无线通信。
无线通信接口825支持任何蜂窝通信方案(诸如长期演进(LTE)、LTE-A、NR)，并且经由天线810来提供到位于gNB 800的小区中的终端的无线连接。无线通信接口825通常可以包括例如基带(BB)处理器826和RF电路827。BB处理器826可以执行例如编码/解码、调制/解调以及复用/解复用，并且执行层(例如L1、介质访问控制(MAC)、无线链路控制(RLC)和分组数据汇聚协议(PDCP))的各种类型的信号处理。代替控制器821，BB处理器826可以具有上述逻辑功能的一部分或全部。BB处理器826可以为存储通信控制程序的存储器，或者为包括被配置为执行程序的处理器和相关电路的模块。更新程序可以使BB处理器826的功能改变。该模块可以为插入到基站设备820的槽中的卡或刀片。可替代地，该模块也可以为安装在卡或刀片上的芯片。同时，RF电路827可以包括例如混频器、滤波器和放大器，并且经由天线810来传送和接收无线信号。
如图20所示，无线通信接口825可以包括多个BB处理器826。例如，多个BB处理器826可以与gNB 800使用的多个频带兼容。如图20所示，无线通信接口825可以包括多个RF电路827。例如，多个RF电路827可以与多个天线元件兼容。虽然图20示出其中无线通信接口825包括多个BB处理器826和多个RF电路827的示例，但是无线通信接口825也可以包括单个BB处理器826或单个RF电路827。
在图20中示出的gNB 800中，参照图5A、7A、10A、15A、16A描述的处理电路501、701、1001、1501、1601中包括的一个或多个单元(例如，处理电路501的发射控制单元504、处理电路1001的发射控制单元1003、处理电路1501的发射控制单元1503、处理电路1601的波束接收控制单元1602)可被实现在无线通信接口825中。可替代地，这些组件中的至少一部分可被实现在控制器821中。例如，gNB 800包含无线通信接口825的一部分(例如，BB处理器826)或者整体，和/或包括控制器821的模块，并且一个或多个组件可被实现在模块中。在这种情况下，模块可以存储用于允许处理器起一个或多个组件的作用的程序(换言之，用于允许处理器执行一个或多个组件的操作的程序)，并且可以执行该程序。作为另一个示例，用于允许处理器起一个或多个组件的作用的程序可被安装在gNB 800中，并且无线通信接口825(例如，BB处理器826)和/或控制器821可以执行该程序。如上所述，作为包括一个或多个组件的装置，gNB 800、基站装置820或模块可被提供，并且用于允许处理器起一个或多个组件的作用的程序可被提供。另外，将程序记录在其中的可读介质可被提供。
(第二应用示例)
图21是示出可以应用本公开内容的技术的基站的示意性配置的第二示例的框图。在下行传输中，基站可以实现为诸如电子设备500、700、1000、1500之类的发射端设备，或者在上行传输中，基站可以实现为1600之类的接收端设备。在图21中，基站被示出为gNB 830。gNB 830包括一个或多个天线840、基站设备850和RRH 860。RRH 860和每个天线840可以经由RF线缆而彼此连接。基站设备850和RRH 860可以经由诸如光纤线缆的高速线路而彼此连接。
天线840包括如按照图3A-3B布置的多个天线阵列，天线阵列包括多个天线元件(诸如包括在MIMO天线中的多个天线元件)并且用于RRH 860发送和接收无线信 号。如图21所示，gNB 830可以包括多个天线840。例如，多个天线840可以与gNB830使用的多个频带兼容。图21示出其中gNB 830包括多个天线840的示例。
基站设备850包括控制器851、存储器852、网络接口853、无线通信接口855以及连接接口857。控制器851、存储器852和网络接口853与参照图20描述的控制器821、存储器822和网络接口823相同。
无线通信接口855支持任何蜂窝通信方案(诸如LTE、LTE-A、NR)，并且经由RRH 860和天线840来提供到位于与RRH 860对应的扇区中的终端的无线通信。无线通信接口855通常可以包括例如BB处理器856。除了BB处理器856经由连接接口857连接到RRH 860的RF电路864之外，BB处理器856与参照图20描述的BB处理器826相同。如图21所示，无线通信接口855可以包括多个BB处理器856。例如，多个BB处理器856可以与gNB 830使用的多个频带兼容。虽然图21示出其中无线通信接口855包括多个BB处理器856的示例，但是无线通信接口855也可以包括单个BB处理器856。
连接接口857为用于将基站设备850(无线通信接口855)连接至RRH 860的接口。连接接口857还可以为用于将基站设备850(无线通信接口855)连接至RRH860的上述高速线路中的通信的通信模块。
RRH 860包括连接接口861和无线通信接口863。
连接接口861为用于将RRH 860(无线通信接口863)连接至基站设备850的接口。连接接口861还可以为用于上述高速线路中的通信的通信模块。
无线通信接口863经由天线840来传送和接收无线信号。RF电路864可以包括例如混频器、滤波器和放大器，并且经由天线840来传送和接收无线信号。如图21所示，无线通信接口863可以包括多个RF电路864。例如，多个RF电路864可以支持多个天线元件。虽然图21示出其中无线通信接口863包括多个RF电路864的示例，但是无线通信接口863也可以包括单个RF电路864。
在图21中示出的gNB 830中，参照图5A、7A、10A、15A、16A描述的处理电路501、701、1001、1501、1601中包括的一个或多个单元(例如，处理电路501的发射控制单元504、处理电路1001的发射控制单元1003、处理电路1501的发射控制 单元1503、处理电路1601的波束接收控制单元1602)可被实现在无线通信接口855中。可替代地，这些组件中的至少一部分可被实现在控制器851中。例如，gNB 830包含无线通信接口855的一部分(例如，BB处理器856)或者整体，和/或包括控制器851的模块，并且一个或多个组件可被实现在模块中。在这种情况下，模块可以存储用于允许处理器起一个或多个组件的作用的程序(换言之，用于允许处理器执行一个或多个组件的操作的程序)，并且可以执行该程序。作为另一个示例，用于允许处理器起一个或多个组件的作用的程序可被安装在gNB 830中，并且无线通信接口855(例如，BB处理器856)和/或控制器851可以执行该程序。如上所述，作为包括一个或多个组件的装置，gNB 830、基站装置850或模块可被提供，并且用于允许处理器起一个或多个组件的作用的程序可被提供。
2.关于用户设备的应用示例
(第一应用示例)
图22是示出可以应用本申请内容的技术的智能电话900的示意性配置的示例的框图。在下行传输中，智能电话900可以被实现为参照图16A描述的电子设备1600，在上行传输中，智能电话900可以被实现为参照图5A、7A、10A、15A描述的电子设备500、700、1000、1500、1600。智能电话900包括处理器901、存储器902、存储装置903、外部连接接口904、摄像装置906、传感器907、麦克风908、输入设备909、显示设备910、扬声器911、无线通信接口912、一个或多个天线开关915、一个或多个天线916、总线917、电池918以及辅助控制器919。
处理器901可以为例如CPU或片上系统(SoC)，并且控制智能电话900的应用层和另外层的功能。处理器901可以包括或充当实施例中描述的处理电路501、701、1001、1501、1601。存储器902包括RAM和ROM，并且存储数据和由处理器901执行的程序。存储装置903可以包括存储介质，诸如半导体存储器和硬盘。外部连接接口904为用于将外部装置(诸如存储卡和通用串行总线(USB)装置)连接至智能电话900的接口。
摄像装置906包括图像传感器(诸如电荷耦合器件(CCD)和互补金属氧化物半导体(CMOS))，并且生成捕获图像。传感器907可以包括一组传感器，诸如测量传感器、陀螺仪传感器、地磁传感器和加速度传感器。麦克风908将输入到智能电话900的声音转换为音频信号。输入设备909包括例如被配置为检测显示设备910的屏 幕上的触摸的触摸传感器、小键盘、键盘、按钮或开关，并且接收从用户输入的操作或信息。显示设备910包括屏幕(诸如液晶显示器(LCD)和有机发光二极管(OLED)显示器)，并且显示智能电话900的输出图像。扬声器911将从智能电话900输出的音频信号转换为声音。
无线通信接口912支持任何蜂窝通信方案(诸如LTE、LTE-A、NR)，并且执行无线通信。无线通信接口912通常可以包括例如BB处理器913和RF电路914。BB处理器913可以执行例如编码/解码、调制/解调以及复用/解复用，并且执行用于无线通信的各种类型的信号处理。同时，RF电路914可以包括例如混频器、滤波器和放大器，并且经由天线916来传送和接收无线信号。无线通信接口912可以为其上集成有BB处理器913和RF电路914的一个芯片模块。如图22所示，无线通信接口912可以包括多个BB处理器913和多个RF电路914。虽然图22示出其中无线通信接口912包括多个BB处理器913和多个RF电路914的示例，但是无线通信接口912也可以包括单个BB处理器913或单个RF电路914。
此外，除了蜂窝通信方案之外，无线通信接口912可以支持另外类型的无线通信方案，诸如短距离无线通信方案、近场通信方案和无线局域网(LAN)方案。在此情况下，无线通信接口912可以包括针对每种无线通信方案的BB处理器913和RF电路914。
天线开关915中的每一个在包括在无线通信接口912中的多个电路(例如用于不同的无线通信方案的电路)之间切换天线916的连接目的地。
天线91可以包括按照图3A-3B布置的多个天线阵列，并且每个天线阵列包括多个天线元件(诸如包括在MIMO天线中的多个天线元件)，并且用于无线通信接口912传送和接收无线信号。如图22所示，智能电话900可以包括多个天线916。虽然图22示出其中智能电话900包括多个天线916的示例，但是智能电话900也可以包括单个天线916。
此外，智能电话900可以包括针对每种无线通信方案的天线916。在此情况下，天线开关915可以从智能电话900的配置中省略。
总线917将处理器901、存储器902、存储装置903、外部连接接口904、摄像装置906、传感器907、麦克风908、输入设备909、显示设备910、扬声器911、无线通信接口912以及辅助控制器919彼此连接。电池918经由馈线向图22所示的智能电话900的各个块提供电力，馈线在图中被部分地示为虚线。辅助控制器919例如 在睡眠模式下操作智能电话900的最小必需功能。
在图22中示出的智能电话900中，参照附图描述的处理电路501、701、1001、1501中包括的一个或多个组件(例如，处理电路501的发射控制单元504、处理电路1001的发射控制单元1003、处理电路1501的发射控制单元1503、处理电路1601的波束接收控制单元1602)可被实现在无线通信接口912中。可替代地，这些组件中的至少一部分可被实现在处理器901或者辅助控制器919中。作为一个示例，智能电话900包含无线通信接口912的一部分(例如，BB处理器913)或者整体，和/或包括处理器901和/或辅助控制器919的模块，并且一个或多个组件可被实现在该模块中。在这种情况下，该模块可以存储允许处理起一个或多个组件的作用的程序(换言之，用于允许处理器执行一个或多个组件的操作的程序)，并且可以执行该程序。作为另一个示例，用于允许处理器起一个或多个组件的作用的程序可被安装在智能电话900中，并且无线通信接口912(例如，BB处理器913)、处理器901和/或辅助控制器919可以执行该程序。如上所述，作为包括一个或多个组件的装置，智能电话900或者模块可被提供，并且用于允许处理器起一个或多个组件的作用的程序可被提供。另外，将程序记录在其中的可读介质可被提供。
另外，在图22中示出的智能电话900中，例如，电子设备500的通信单元505、电子设备700的通信单元705、电子设备1000的通信单元1005、电子设备1500的通信单元1506、电子设备1600的通信单元1605可被实现在无线通信接口912(例如，RF电路914)中。
(第二应用示例)
图23是示出可以应用本申请内容的技术的汽车导航设备920的示意性配置的示例的框图。其中，智能电话900可以被实现为参照附图描述的电子设备500、700、1000、1500、1600。汽车导航设备920包括处理器921、存储器922、全球定位系统(GPS)模块924、传感器925、数据接口926、内容播放器927、存储介质接口928、输入设备929、显示设备930、扬声器931、无线通信接口933、一个或多个天线开关936、一个或多个天线937以及电池938。
处理器921可以为例如CPU或SoC，并且控制汽车导航设备920的导航功能和另外的功能。存储器922包括RAM和ROM，并且存储数据和由处理器921执行的程序。
GPS模块924使用从GPS卫星接收的GPS信号来测量汽车导航设备920的位置(诸如纬度、经度和高度)。传感器925可以包括一组传感器，诸如陀螺仪传感器、 地磁传感器和空气压力传感器。数据接口926经由未示出的终端而连接到例如车载网络941，并且获取由车辆生成的数据(诸如车速数据)。
内容播放器927再现存储在存储介质(诸如CD和DVD)中的内容，该存储介质被插入到存储介质接口928中。输入设备929包括例如被配置为检测显示设备930的屏幕上的触摸的触摸传感器、按钮或开关，并且接收从用户输入的操作或信息。显示设备930包括诸如LCD或OLED显示器的屏幕，并且显示导航功能的图像或再现的内容。扬声器931输出导航功能的声音或再现的内容。
无线通信接口933支持任何蜂窝通信方案(诸如LTE、LTE-A、NR)，并且执行无线通信。无线通信接口933通常可以包括例如BB处理器934和RF电路935。BB处理器934可以执行例如编码/解码、调制/解调以及复用/解复用，并且执行用于无线通信的各种类型的信号处理。同时，RF电路935可以包括例如混频器、滤波器和放大器，并且经由天线937来传送和接收无线信号。无线通信接口933还可以为其上集成有BB处理器934和RF电路935的一个芯片模块。如图23所示，无线通信接口933可以包括多个BB处理器934和多个RF电路935。虽然图23示出其中无线通信接口933包括多个BB处理器934和多个RF电路935的示例，但是无线通信接口933也可以包括单个BB处理器934或单个RF电路935。
此外，除了蜂窝通信方案之外，无线通信接口933可以支持另外类型的无线通信方案，诸如短距离无线通信方案、近场通信方案和无线LAN方案。在此情况下，针对每种无线通信方案，无线通信接口933可以包括BB处理器934和RF电路935。
天线开关936中的每一个在包括在无线通信接口933中的多个电路(诸如用于不同的无线通信方案的电路)之间切换天线937的连接目的地。
天线937可以包括按照图3A-3B布置的多个天线阵列，每个天线阵列多个天线元件(诸如包括在MIMO天线中的多个天线元件)，并且用于无线通信接口933传送和接收无线信号。如图23所示，汽车导航设备920可以包括多个天线937。虽然图23示出其中汽车导航设备920包括多个天线937的示例，但是汽车导航设备920也可以包括单个天线937。
此外，汽车导航设备920可以包括针对每种无线通信方案的天线937。在此情况下，天线开关936可以从汽车导航设备920的配置中省略。
电池938经由馈线向图23所示的汽车导航设备920的各个块提供电力，馈线在图中被部分地示为虚线。电池938累积从车辆提供的电力。
在图23中示出的汽车导航装置920中，参照附图描述的处理电路501、701、1001、1501、1601中包括的一个或多个组件((例如，处理电路501的发射控制单元504、处理电路1001的发射控制单元1003、处理电路1501的发射控制单元1503、处理电路1601的波束接收控制单元1602))可被实现在无线通信接口933中。可替代地，这些组件中的至少一部分可被实现在处理器921中。作为一个示例，汽车导航装置920包含无线通信接口933的一部分(例如，BB处理器934)或者整体，和/或包括处理器921的模块，并且一个或多个组件可被实现在该模块中。在这种情况下，该模块可以存储允许处理起一个或多个组件的作用的程序(换言之，用于允许处理器执行一个或多个组件的操作的程序)，并且可以执行该程序。作为另一个示例，用于允许处理器起一个或多个组件的作用的程序可被安装在汽车导航装置920中，并且无线通信接口933(例如，BB处理器934)和/或处理器921可以执行该程序。如上所述，作为包括一个或多个组件的装置，汽车导航装置920或者模块可被提供，并且用于允许处理器起一个或多个组件的作用的程序可被提供。另外，将程序记录在其中的可读介质可被提供。
另外，在图23中示出的汽车导航装置920中，例如，参照附图描述的通信单元505、701、1005、1506、1605可被实现在无线通信接口933(例如，RF电路935)中。
本申请内容的技术也可以被实现为包括汽车导航设备920、车载网络941以及车辆模块942中的一个或多个块的车载系统(或车辆)940。车辆模块942生成车辆数据(诸如车速、发动机速度和故障信息)，并且将所生成的数据输出至车载网络941。
另外，可以提供将程序记录在其中的可读介质。因此，本公开还涉及一种计算机可读存储介质，上面存储有包括指令的程序，所述指令在由处理电路载入并执行时用于实施参照图5B、7B、10B、15B、16B描述的通信方法。
以上参照附图描述了本公开的示例性实施例，但是本公开当然不限于以上示例。本领域技术人员可在所附权利要求的范围内得到各种变更和修改，并且应理解这些变更和修改自然将落入本公开的技术范围内。
例如，在以上实施例中包括在一个模块中的多个功能可以由分开的装置来实现。替选地，在以上实施例中由多个模块实现的多个功能可分别由分开的装置来实现。另外，以上功能之一可由多个模块来实现。无需说，这样的配置包括在本公开的技术范围内。
在该说明书中，流程图中所描述的步骤不仅包括以所述顺序按时间序列执行的处理，而且包括并行地或单独地而不是必须按时间序列执行的处理。此外，甚至在按时间序列处理的步骤中，无需说，也可以适当地改变该顺序。
虽然已经详细说明了本公开及其优点，但是应当理解在不脱离由所附的权利要求所限定的本公开的精神和范围的情况下可以进行各种改变、替代和变换。而且，本公开实施例的术语“包括”、“包含”或者其任何其他变体意在涵盖非排他性的包含，从而使得包括一系列要素的过程、方法、物品或者设备不仅包括那些要素，而且还包括没有明确列出的其他要素，或者是还包括为这种过程、方法、物品或者设备所固有的要素。在没有更多限制的情况下，由语句“包括一个……”限定的要素，并不排除在包括所述要素的过程、方法、物品或者设备中还存在另外的相同要素。

Claims (44)

  1. 一种发射端的电子设备，包括：
    处理电路，被配置为：
    确定目标信道方向，
    确定针对所述目标信道方向的多个天线阵列的基础补偿相位信息，其中，所述基础补偿相位信息指示针对所述多个天线阵列中的每个天线阵列补偿的相位差以使得由所述多个天线阵列的发射波束能够合并为单个合并波束，所述单个合并波束的方向与目标信道方向相同，以及
    控制所述多个天线阵列基于所述目标信道方向与所述基础补偿相位信息进行波束发射。
  2. 如权利要求1所述的电子设备，其中，通过发射端与接收端之间的波束训练来确定所述目标信道方向。
  3. 如权利要求1所述的电子设备，其中，所述多个天线阵列均使用与所述目标信道方向对应的模拟波束赋形参数发射波束。
  4. 一种发射端的电子设备，包括：
    处理电路，被配置为：
    确定用于多个天线阵列的共同的模拟波束赋形参数，每个天线阵列能够根据所述模拟波束赋形参数，形成指向特定信道方向的波束，
    基于所述多个天线阵列的对应天线阵元之间的相位差，确定对所述多个天线阵列的基带信号的相对相位调整以调节所述多个天线阵列基于所述模拟波束赋形参数形成的发射波束所合并成的合并波束的方向。
  5. 如权利要求4所述的电子设备，所述处理电路还被配置为通过改变对基带信号的相对相位调整来改变合并波束的方向，以适应发射端与接收端之间的信道方向的变化。
  6. 如权利要求4所述的电子设备，所述处理电路还被配置为利用第一相对相位 调整以及第二相对相位调整分别得到相对于所述特定信道方向对称的第一合并波束与第二合并波束，以及基于接收端对第一合并波束与第二合并波束的波束增益的比较，来确定所述发射端与所述接收端之间的信道方向。
  7. 如权利要求6所述的电子设备，其中，所述发射端与所述接收端之间的信道方向与所述特定信道方向的夹角小于预定阈值。
  8. 如权利要求5或7所述的电子设备，其中，所述特定信道方向是通过所述发射端与所述接收端之间的波束训练确定的。
  9. 如权利要求7所述的电子设备，其中，所述处理电路还被配置为基于所述发射端与所述接收端之间的信道方向确定用于服务该接收端的数据传输的模拟波束赋形参数，以使得该模拟波束赋形参数对应的波束方向与所述信道方向相接近。
  10. 一种发射端的电子设备，包括：
    处理电路，被配置为：
    利用正交码矩阵对多个端口的参考信号进行码分复用；
    控制多个天线阵列利用相同的模拟波束赋形参数在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经码分复用的参考信号以得到第一合并波束、第二合并波束，
    其中，所述第一合并波束、所述第二合并波束相对于与所述模拟波束赋形参数对应的特定发射波束的方向对称。
  11. 如权利要求10所述的电子设备，其中，所述正交码矩阵基于基础补偿相位信息和附加相位信息而生成，所述基础补偿相位信息指示针对天线阵列补偿的相位差以使得由所述多个天线阵列的发射波束能够合并为单个合并波束，所述附加相位信息用于调节所述单个合并波束相对于与所述模拟波束赋形参数对应的发射波束的方向角。
  12. 如权利要求10或11所述的电子设备，其中，所述正交码矩阵
    Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-100001
    Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-100002
    为M×M的矩阵，M为端口的数量，
    其中，基础补偿相位矩阵
    Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-100003
    的元素指示针对与每个端口对应的天线阵列补偿的 相位差，附加相位矩阵
    Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-100004
    是用于调节所述第一合并波束、所述第二合并波束相对于所述发射波束的方向角的矩阵，⊙是矩阵的对应元素相乘的操作。
  13. 如权利要求12所述的电子设备，其中，所述基础补偿相位矩阵
    Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-100005
    可以表示为
    Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-100006
    其中α b,m,1≤m≤M-1指示针对与第m个端口对应的天线阵列补偿的相对于与第0个端口对应的天线阵列的相位差，其值取决于天线阵列的结构与布置、所述发射波束的方向。
  14. 如权利要求12所述的电子设备，其中，所述端口的数量M为2的幂，即M＝2 n，并且
    其中，所述附加相位矩阵通过下式产生：
    Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-100007
    H 2为二阶Hadamard矩阵，
    Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-100008
    表示克罗内克积，当端口的数量为2时的附加相位矩阵
    Figure PCTCN2018109472-appb-100009
  15. 如权利要求10所述的电子设备，其中，所述处理器还被配置为控制所述多个天线阵列利用所述相同的模拟波束赋形参数在第三通信资源和第四通信资源上发射所述经码分复用的参考信号以得到第三合并波束、第四合并波束，
    其中第三合并波束、第四合并波束相对于所述特定发射波束的方向对称并且相对于所述特定发射波束的方向角与所述第一合并波束、第二合并波束相对于所述特定发射波束的方向角不同。
  16. 如权利要求10所述的电子设备，其中，第一合并波束和第二合并波束的增益比值超过预定阈值。
  17. 一种发射端的电子设备，包括
    处理电路，被配置为：
    确定对多个天线阵列配置的共同的模拟波束赋形参数；
    控制多个天线阵列利用所确定的目标发射波束在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经码分复用的参考信号以得到第一合并波束、第二合并波束，其中所述第一合并波束、所述第二合并波束的方向不同；
    接收关于接收端所接收到的第一合并波束和第二合并波束的相对波束增益的信息；以及
    基于所述信息与信道方向角之间的映射关系，确定信道方向角。
  18. 如权利要求17所述的电子设备，其中，所述处理电路还被配置为利用正交码矩阵来对参考信号进行码分复用以生成所述经码分复用的参考信号，
    其中，所述正交码矩阵基于基础补偿相位信息和附加相位信息而生成，所述基础补偿相位信息指示针对所述多个天线阵列中的每个天线阵列补偿的相位差以使得由所述多个天线阵列的发射波束能够合并为单个合并波束，所述附加相位信息用于调节所述合并波束相对于与所述模拟波束赋形参数对应的目标发射波束的方向角。
  19. 如权利要求17所述的电子设备，其中，所述信息包括相对波束增益指示符，该相对波束增益指示符是通过计算在接收端接收到的第一合并波束和第二合并波束的增益比值并对该增益比值进行量化而得到的。
  20. 如权利要求19所述的电子设备，其中，在接收端接收到的第一合并波束和第二合并波束的增益比值超过预定阈值。
  21. 如权利要求17所述的电子设备，其中，所述映射关系被预先存储在发射端。
  22. 如权利要求17所述的电子设备，其中所述第一合并波束、所述第二合并波束相对于所述目标发射波束的方向对称。
  23. 如权利要求17所述的电子设备，其中，所述处理电路还被配置为：
    控制所述多个天线阵列利用所述目标发射波束在第三通信资源、第四通信资源上发射所述经码分复用的参考信号以得到第三合并波束、第四合并波束，其中所述第一 合并波束、第二合并波束、第三合并波束、第四合并波束的方向相互不同；
    接收关于在接收端接收到的所述第一合并波束、第二合并波束、第三合并波束、第四合并波束中的两个的相对波束增益的信息；
    基于所述信息与信道方向角之间的映射关系，确定信道方向角。
  24. 如权利要求17所述的电子设备，其中，所述发射端是基站，所述接收端是用户设备。
  25. 如权利要求17所述的电子设备，其中，所述处理电路还被配置为：
    基于所确定的信道发射方向角，执行波束切换以使得基站发射的波束方向接近所述信道发射方向角。
  26. 如权利要求25所述的电子设备，其中，所述处理电路还被配置为响应于所确定的信道发射方向角超过预定范围而执行所述波束切换。
  27. 如权利要求17所述的电子设备，其中，所述处理电路还被配置为：
    基于所确定的信道发射方向角来执行对所述用户设备的定位。
  28. 如权利要求17所述的电子设备，其中，所述处理电路还被配置为：
    基于针对多个用户设备确定的信道发射方向角来执行用户调度。
  29. 如权利要求17所述的电子设备，其中，所述电子设备执行时分双工，并且其中所述处理电路还被配置为将所述信道发射方向角设置为信道接收方向角。
  30. 一种接收端的电子设备，包括
    处理电路，被配置为：
    控制接收由发射端在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经波束赋形的参考信号而得到的第一参考信号波束和第二参考信号波束，其中所述第一通信资源上的第一参考信号波束、所述第二通信资源上的第二参考信号波束的方向不同；
    确定所接收到的第一参考信号波束与第二参考信号波束的相对波束增益；以及
    向所述发射端反馈关于所述相对波束增益的信息。
  31. 如权利要求30所述的电子设备，其中，所述第一参考信号波束和所述第二参考信号波束是由所述发射端的多个天线阵列利用共同的模拟波束赋形参数发射经相对相位调整的参考信号而得到的合并波束。
  32. 如权利要求30所述的电子设备，其中，所述第一参考信号波束和所述第二参考信号波束是由所述发射端利用不同的模拟波束赋形参数形成的波束。
  33. 如权利要求31所述的电子设备，其中，所述第一参考信号波束、所述第二参考信号波束相对于与所述模拟波束赋形参数对应的发射波束对称。
  34. 如权利要求30所述的电子设备，其中，所述关于相对波束增益的信息包括相对波束增益指示符，该相对波束增益指示符是通过计算所接收到的第一参考信号波束和第二参考信号波束的增益比值并对该增益比值进行量化而得到的。
  35. 如权利要求30所述的电子设备，其中，所述处理电路还被配置为：
    控制接收由所述发射端在第三通信资源、第四通信资源上发射所述经波束赋形的参考信号而得到的第三参考信号波束和第四参考信号波束，其中所述第一参考信号波束、第二参考信号波束、第三参考信号波束、所述第四参考信号波束的方向相互不同；
    确定所述第一参考信号波束、第二参考信号波束、第三参考信号波束、第四参考信号波束中的两个的相对波束增益；
    向发射端发送关于所述相对波束增益的信息。
  36. 如权利要求30所述的电子设备，其中，所述电子设备被配置为在包含所述第一通信资源、第二通信资源的多个通信资源上接收经波束赋形的参考信号，其中，该电子设备对于该第一参考信号波束与第二参考信号波束接收强度最强。
  37. 如权利要求30所述的电子设备，其中，所述处理电路还被配置为向所述发射端反馈关于该第一参考信号波束与第二参考信号波束的识别信息。
  38. 如权利要求30～37任一项所述的电子设备，其中，所述第一参考信号波束与第二参考信号波束的相对波束增益与该电子设备的信道方向角有对应的映射关系。
  39. 一种通信方法，包括：
    确定目标信道方向，
    确定针对所述目标信道方向的多个天线阵列的基础补偿相位信息，其中，所述基础补偿相位信息指示所述多个天线阵列中的每个天线阵列补偿的相位差以使得由所述多个天线阵列的发射波束能够合并为单个合并波束，所述单个合并波束的方向与目标信道方向相同，以及
    控制所述多个天线阵列基于所述目标信道方向与所述基础补偿相位信息进行波束发射。
  40. 一种通信方法，包括：
    确定用于多个天线阵列的共同的模拟波束赋形参数，每个天线阵列能够根据所述模拟波束赋形参数，形成指向特定信道方向的波束，
    基于所述多个天线阵列的对应天线阵元之间的相位差，确定对所述多个天线阵列的基带信号的相对相位调整以调节所述多个天线阵列基于所述模拟波束赋形参数形成的发射波束所合并成的合并波束的方向。
  41. 一种通信方法，包括：
    利用正交码矩阵对多个端口的参考信号进行码分复用；
    控制多个天线阵列利用相同的模拟波束赋形参数在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经码分复用的参考信号以得到第一合并波束、第二合并波束，
    其中，所述第一合并波束、所述第二合并波束相对于与所述模拟波束赋形参数对应的特定发射波束的方向对称。
  42. 一种通信方法，包括：
    确定对多个天线阵列配置的共同的模拟波束赋形参数；
    控制多个天线阵列利用所确定的目标发射波束在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经码分复用的参考信号以得到第一合并波束、第二合并波束，其中所述第一合并 波束、所述第二合并波束的方向不同；
    接收关于接收端所接收到的第一合并波束和第二合并波束的相对波束增益的信息；
    基于所述信息与信道方向角之间的映射关系，确定信道方向角。
  43. 一种通信方法，包括
    接收由发射端在第一通信资源、第二通信资源上发射经波束赋形的参考信号而得到的第一参考信号波束和第二参考信号波束，其中所述第一通信资源上的第一参考信号波束、所述第二通信资源上的第二参考信号波束的方向不同；
    确定所接收到的第一参考信号波束与第二参考信号波束的相对波束增益；以及
    向所述发射端反馈关于所述相对波束增益的信息
  44. 一种存储有可执行指令的非暂时性计算机可读存储介质，所述可执行指令当被执行时实现如权利要求39-43中的任一项所述的通信方法。
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