WO2019215378A1

WO2019215378A1 - Signalling for network assistance for uav beam selection

Info

Publication number: WO2019215378A1
Application number: PCT/FI2018/050343
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jeroen Wigard; István KOVACS; Fernando TAVARES; Madalina BUCUR; Tomasz IZYDORCZYK
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2018-05-08
Filing date: 2018-05-08
Publication date: 2019-11-14

Abstract

Inter-alia, a method (100') is disclosed comprising: causing a transmission of user equipment related information to a user equipment via a wireless communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment. It is further disclosed an according apparatus, computer program and system.

Description

Signalling for network assistance for UAV beam selection

FIELD

The following disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication networks, or more particularly relates to systems, apparatuses, and methods for enabling to enhance beam selection and/or beamforming at a user equipment.

BACKGROUND

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, are getting increasingly popular and receive significant attention from the industry regarding their promising potential to reduce risk and cost for many commercial activities. Currently regulations are such that UAVs are only allowed to be flying in visual line of sight (VLOS), but this is expected to be changed in the near future, enabling beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights.

Applications on the UAV may also require connectivity for a secondary or auxiliary cellular radio device on board (not related to UTM traffic control), like for instance for uplink video streaming from the camera from the UAV or for personal devices of a passenger in case of drones carrying humans.

The link is to be provided with high reliability (see for instance 3GPP 36.777, where the reliability requirement is set to be 99,9% with 50 ms one-way transmission latency).

Cellular networks are however designed for providing coverage for terrestrial users and not in the sky. Antennas are for example typically down-tilted. Furthermore, signal propagate typically further in the sky compared to the ground as there is less obstruction from buildings, vegetation, etc. This means the desired signal is improved but also the interfering signal are received more strongly. On top of this, the number of visible interferers increased with increased height. For relatively low loaded networks, this is no problem, but for medium and highly loaded networks this means the required high reliability may not be reached. Additionally, when the drone is running an application requiring an uplink high throughput, like streaming from a video camera, in the uplink (towards) the base station, this causes significantly more interference to the other users in the network than a user device with similar service at ground level.

This means that interference mitigation may be needed at times of high load. One of the most attractive ways of mitigating interference is the use of beamforming from the drone. In the downlink, it means the desired signal is received stronger while the interfering power is lowered. In the uplink it means the interference caused by the drone is limited to the beam width.

SUMMARY OF SOME EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

However, there are some drawbacks. One of the difficulties and complexities for introducing beamforming is that the receiver needs to find the direction of the desired signal and potentially of the interferers. In case of a cellular network it typically is such that the UE has multiple cells to choose from in different directions. To find the best serving cell it needs to scan all directions, determine the signal quality and/or strength of the potential serving cells. As drones typically are moving this needs to be done continuously, in order to determining whether a handover needs to be made. This process may cause delays in measurements and costs energy, which is a critical issue for drones with limited battery power.

It is thus, inter alia, an object of the invention to enable to enhance performing beamforming at a user equipment of a wireless communication system.

According to an exemplary embodiment of a first aspect of the invention, a method performed by a network-side located entity of a wireless communication network is disclosed, the method comprising causing a transmission of user equipment related information to a user equipment via the wireless communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment.

For instance, the network-side located entity may be for instance a centralized unit of a base station (e.g. a gNB). Alternatively, the network-side located entity may be represented by more than one apparatus, for instance a server cloud enabling the centralized unit, comprising at least two servers performing and/or controlling the method at least partially jointly.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, a computer program is disclosed, the computer program when executed by a processor causing an apparatus to perform and/or control the actions of the method according to the exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention.

The computer program may be stored on computer-readable storage medium, in particular a tangible and/or non-transitory medium. The computer readable storage medium could for example be a disk or a memory or the like. The computer program could be stored in the computer readable storage medium in the form of instructions encoding the computer- readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may be intended for taking part in the operation of a device, like an internal or external memory, for instance a Read-Only Memory (ROM) or hard disk of a computer, or be intended for distribution of the program, like an optical disc.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, an apparatus (e.g. the first apparatus) is disclosed, configured to perform and/or control or comprising respective means for performing and/or controlling the method according to the exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention.

The means of the apparatus can be implemented in hardware and/or software. They may comprise for instance at least one processor for executing computer program code for performing the required functions, at least one memory storing the program code, or both. Alternatively, they could comprise for instance circuitry that is designed to implement the required functions, for instance implemented in a chipset or a chip, like an integrated circuit. In general, the means may comprise for instance one or more processing means or processors.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, an apparatus is disclosed, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause an apparatus, for instance the apparatus, at least to perform and/or to control the method according to the exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention.

The above-disclosed apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention may be a module or a component for a device, for example a chip. Alternatively, the disclosed apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention may be a device, for instance a gateway device. The disclosed apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention may comprise only the disclosed components, for instance means, processor, memory, or may further comprise one or more additional components.

According to an exemplary embodiment of a second aspect of the invention, a method performed by a user equipment of a wireless communication network is disclosed, the method comprising: receiving user equipment related information via the wireless communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment.

This method may for instance be performed and/or controlled by an apparatus, for instance a by a mobile device and/or a server.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, a computer program is disclosed, the computer program when executed by a processor causing an apparatus to perform and/or control the actions of the method according to the exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, an apparatus (e.g. the second apparatus) is disclosed, configured to perform and/or control or comprising respective means for performing and/or controlling the method according to the exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, an apparatus is disclosed, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause an apparatus, for instance the apparatus, at least to perform and/or to control the method according to the exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention.

The above-disclosed apparatus according to second aspect of the invention may be a module or a component for a device, for example a chip. Alternatively, the disclosed apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention may be a device, for instance a gateway device. The disclosed apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention may comprise only the disclosed components, for instance means, processor, memory, or may further comprise one or more additional components.

In the following, exemplary features and exemplary embodiments of all aspects of the present invention will be described in further detail. According to an exemplary embodiment of all aspects of the present invention, the user equipment is associated with an aerial vehicle, in particular an unmanned aerial vehicle, e.g. a drone.

According to an exemplary embodiment of all aspects of the present invention, the directional information between a respective cell and the user equipment (of the user equipment related information) is a geo-direction of the cell relative to a location of the user equipment.

According to an exemplary embodiment of all aspects of the present invention, the directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment is indicative of a direction (e.g. an estimated direction) of arrival of a beamformed signal at the user equipment.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, it is comprised updating the user equipment related information, and, in particular, causing a transmission of at least a part of the updated user equipment related information to the user equipment via the wireless communication network.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, said updating comprises excluding at least one cell of the set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network and/or including at least one cell into the set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, said excluding a cell from the set of one or more cells or including a cell into the set of one or more cells are performed based on at least one of: (i) a distance between the respective cell and the user equipment; (ii) a load of the respective cell; (iii) interference associated with the respective cell; and (iv) at least one Quality of Service (Qos) constraint associated with the respective cell. However, for instance, any other well-suited algorithm may be used to determine the directional information and the set of cells to be signalled to the user equipment.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, said updating comprises for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells: (i) receiving a directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment from the user equipment; and (ii) updating directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment based on the received directional information.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, said receiving a directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment from the user equipment is performed after causing the transmission of user equipment related information to the user equipment.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, said causing a transmission of user equipment related information to the user equipment via the wireless communication network is performed in predefined time intervals.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, the predefined time interval are associated with an update frequency, in particular with a variable update frequency.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, it is comprised determining a directional information between a cell and the user equipment based on the location of the cell and the location of the user equipment.

According to an exemplary embodiment of all aspects of the present invention, said user equipment related information further comprises for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells a measurement information intended to be used by the user equipment.

According to an exemplary embodiment of all aspects of the present invention, the measurement information comprises for each cell of the at least one cell of the set of one or more cells at least one of: (i) a timing information regarding measurement and/or non measurement of directional information at the user equipment for the respective cell; and (ii) a geometrical measurement information regarding measurement of directional information at the user equipment for the respective cell.

According to an exemplary embodiment of all aspects of the present invention, the geometrical measurement information is indicative of exclusion of a predefined angular sector in which no directional measurement is to performed. According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, said causing the transmission of user equipment related information to the user equipment via the wireless communication network comprises causing the transmission of user equipment related information via a control layer, in particular a radio resource control layer, of the wireless communication network.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of user equipments are associated with the wireless communication network, wherein, in particular, the first aspect of the invention according to any of the exemplary embodiments is performed for each user equipment of the plurality of user equipments.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, for at least two user equipments of said plurality of user equipments, said causing a transmission of user equipment related information to said at least two user equipments via the wireless communication network is performed by means of a multi-cast transmission.

According to an exemplary embodiment of all aspects of the present invention, said transmission of user equipment related information to a user equipment via the wireless communication network is performed by a cell which is not included in the set of one or more cells.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, it is performed, for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells: Measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell, and, in particular, causing a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the measured direction of arrival to a network side located entity of the wireless communication network via the wireless communication network.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, said measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell is performed at least partially based on the received user equipment related information, in particular based on the directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment. According to an exemplary embodiment of all aspects of the present invention, said user equipment related information further comprises for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells a measurement information intended to be used by the user equipment.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, the measurement information comprises for each cell of the at least one cell of the set of one or more cells at least one of: (i) a timing information regarding measurement and/or non measurement of directional information at the user equipment for the respective cell; and (ii) a geometrical measurement information regarding measurement of directional information at the user equipment for the respective cell.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, it is comprised, for each cell for which the measurement information comprises a timing information regarding measurement: Performing said measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell, and, in particular, causing a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the measured direction of arrival to a network side located entity of the wireless communication network via the wireless communication network, according to the timing informing regarding measurement of the respective cell.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, it is comprised, for each cell for which the measurement information comprises a timing information regarding non-measurement: Performing no measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell according to the timing informing regarding non-measurement of the respective cell.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, the geometrical measurement information is indicative of exclusion of a predefined angular sector in which no directional measurement is to be performed, and wherein said angle rage is excluded when performing said measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, it is comprised, for each cell for which the measurement information comprises geometrical measurement information is indicative of exclusion of a predefined angular sector in which no directional measurement is to performed: Performing said measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell, and, in particular, causing a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the measured direction of arrival to a network side located entity of the wireless communication network via the wireless communication network, not in a direction being excluded by the predefined angular sector.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, it is comprised: (i) receiving at least a part of an updated user equipment related information via the wireless communication network, and (ii) updating the user equipment related information based on the received at least a part of an updated user equipment related information.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, it is comprised performing or causing beamforming at the user equipment with respect to a cell of the set of one or more cells associated with the user equipment related information, in particular based on the directional information of the respective cell.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the all aspects of the present invention the direction of beam of a respective cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells is one of: (i) omnidirectional; and (ii) a specific direction being associated with the beam of the respective cell, in particular a specific direction of an eNB or gNB beam.

Thus, the identifier of a respective cell of the set of one or more cells may be assumed to be indicative of the direction of beam of the respective cell. Furthermore, as an example, a respective cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells may be associated with an information on the direction of beam of the respective cell.

For instance, if the direction of beam of a respective cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells is a specific direction being associated with the beam of the respective cell, said respective cell may perform beamforming in the specific direction, wherein, as an example, said respective cell may be an eNB (e.g. based on 4G) or an gNB (e.g. based on 5G) beam. As an example, the direction of beam of each cell of the set of one or more cells is one of: (i) omnidirectional; and (ii) a specific direction being associated with the beam of the respective cell, in particular a specific direction of an eNB or gNB beam.

According to an exemplary embodiment of a third aspect of the invention, a system is disclosed, comprising at least one apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention and at least one apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention. Furthermore, the system may comprise the wireless communication system.

The features and example embodiments of the invention described above may equally pertain to the different aspects according to the present invention.

It is to be understood that the presentation of the invention in this sector is merely by way of examples and non-limiting.

Other features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not drawn to scale and that they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the figures show:

Fig. la is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an apparatus according to a first aspect of the invention;

Fig. lb is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method according to the first aspect the invention;

Fig. 2a is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an apparatus according to a second aspect of the invention; Fig. 2b is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method according to the second aspect of the invention;

Figs. 3 shows an example of at least a part of a wireless communication system

according to all aspects of the invention;

Fig. 4a is a block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of an apparatus

according to a second aspect of the invention;

Fig. 4b is a flow chart illustrating another exemplary embodiment of a method

according to the second aspect of the invention;

Figs. 5 shows another example of at least a part of a wireless communication system according to all aspects of the invention;

Fig. 6a is a block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of an apparatus

according to a first aspect of the invention;

Fig. 6b is a block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of an apparatus

according to a second aspect of the invention;

Figs. 7a shows another example of at least a part of a wireless communication system according to all aspects of the invention;

Fig. 7b is a block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of an apparatus

according to a first aspect of the invention;

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an apparatus according to any aspect the invention;

Fig. 9 is a block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of a server according to any aspect of the invention; and Fig. 10 is a schematic illustration of examples of tangible and non-transitory storage media according to any aspect of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The following description serves to deepen the understanding of the present invention and shall be understood to complement and be read together with the description as provided in the above summary sector of this specification.

Figure la is a schematic block diagram of an example embodiment of any at least one apparatus 100 according to a first aspect of the invention. The at least one apparatus 100 may be a network-side located entity of a wireless communication network 301. As an example, the network-side located entity may be an entity of a Radio Access Network (RAN) of the wireless communication network 301. Apparatus 100 comprises a processor 101 and, linked to processor 101, a memory 102. Memory 102 stores computer program code for causing a transmission of user equipment related information to a user equipment via the wireless communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment.

For instance, apparatus 100 could be a server or any other kind of base station of the wireless communication network 301, wherein the base station may be an eNB (e.g. of a 4G wireless communication network) or a base station of a 5G wireless communication network (e.g. a gNB) or any other well-suited base station of any well-suited wireless communication network (e.g. beyond 5G). The wireless communication network may be a cellular wireless communication network.

If a plurality of apparatus 100 are used, each apparatus 100 may comprise a processor 101, and linked to processor 101, a memory 102, wherein memory 102 at least partially stores computer program code for causing a transmission of user equipment related information to a user equipment via the wireless communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment. For instance, said plurality of apparatuses 100 may represent servers in a cloud interaction together, wherein this cloud may be hosted in the wireless communication network. Apparatus 100 could equally be a component, like a chip, circuitry on a chip or a plug-in board. Optionally, apparatus 100 could comprise various other components, like a data interface configured to enable an exchange of data with separate devices, a user interface like a touchscreen, a further memory, a further processor, etc.

An operation of at least one apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention will now be described with reference to the flow chart of Figure lb. The operation is an example embodiment of a method 100' according to the invention. At least one processor 101 (may be one processor 101 or a plurality of processors 101) and the program code stored in at least one memory 102 (may be one memory 102 or a plurality of memories 102) cause at least one apparatus (may be one apparatus or a plurality of apparatuses) to perform the operation when the program code is retrieved from memory 102 and executed by processor 101. The at least one apparatus that is caused to perform the operation can be apparatus 100 or some other apparatus, for example but not necessarily a device comprising apparatus 100.

The at least one apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention, which may be a network-side located entity of a wireless communication network 300, causes a transmission of user equipment related information to a user equipment via the wireless communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment (action 110).

For instance, the wireless communication network may comprise a plurality of cells, wherein each cell of the plurality of cells is defined by a respective base station of the wireless communication station. Fig. 3 shows an example of such a wireless communication network 300 comprising a plurality of cells, wherein each cell of the plurality of cells may be defined by respective base station 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370 of the wireless communication station (e.g. the base station may bean eNB or gNB or any other well-suited base station). It has to be understood that the wireless communication network 300 may comprise more base stations which are not shown in Fig. 3. Furthermore, Fig. 3 shows a user equipment 301 which is configured to communicate with the wireless communication network 300. As an example, the user equipment 301 may be in communication with one of the cells of the plurality of cells 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370 of the wireless communication network 300. For instance, the user equipment 301 may be any mobile device which is configured to communicate with the wireless communication network.

As an example, said transmission of user equipment related information to the user equipment via the wireless communication network 300 caused in action 110 may be performed via a control layer, in particular a radio resource control layer, of the wireless communication network 300.

The user equipment related information comprises for each cell of the set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network 300: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment. The set of one or more cells are one or more cells of the plurality of cells of the a wireless communication network 300, e.g. the set of one or more cells may be a sub-set of cells of the plurality of cells of the a wireless communication network 300.

Each cell of the set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network 300 may be associated with an identifier of the respective cell, wherein, as an example, this identifier may be a physical cell ID (PCI) or any other cell identifier which identifies (e.g. unambiguously identifies) the respective cell.

Furthermore, the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of the set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network 300 a directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment. As an example, the directional information between the respective cell may be considered as the directional information between the location of the base station (e.g. a eNB or gNB or any other well-suited base station) of the cell and the location of the user equipment. For instance, this directional information may be indicative of the geo-direction of the respective cell relative to the location of the user equipment 301 or be indicative of the geo-direction of the location of the user equipment 301 to the respective cell. The directional information may represent a two-dimensional directional information or it may represent a three-dimensional directional information in a respective coordinate system (i.e., a 2D coordinate system or a 3D coordinate system).

For instance, the directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment may be indicative of a direction of arrival of a beamformed signal at the user equipment 301.

As an example, apparatus 100 and/or any other network side located entity (e.g. an entity of the RAN) may determine the user equipment related information which is then provided by causing the transmission of the user equipment related information to the user equipment in action 110.

As a non-limiting example, Fig. 3 shows non-limiting examples of such a directional information in case of a 2D coordinate system.

These example of directional information's will now be explained with respect to the first cell 310 and the user equipment 301, but it has to be understand that these explanations may also hold for any other directional information between a cell (of the set of one or more cells) and the user equipment 301.

For instance, a directional information between a first cell 310 and the user equipment 301 may be a vector 315 being indicative of the geo-direction of the location of the user equipment 301 to the first cell 310, e.g. the geo-direction of the location of the user equipment 301 to the location of the base station of the first cell 310, or it may be a vector (not shown in Fig. 3) in the opposite direction, i.e. a vector being indicative of the geo direction of the first cell 310 to location of the user equipment 301. In this example, this vector 315 is a 2D vector, but it has to be understood that in a 3D coordinate system the vector 315 may be a 3D vector.

Furthermore, as another example, a directional information between the first cell 310 and the user equipment 301 may be an angle 316 being defined with respect to a reference direction 380, wherein the angle 316 is indicative of the geo-direction of the location of the user equipment 301 to the first cell 310, e.g. the geo-direction of the location of the user equipment 301 to the location of the base station of the first cell 310. It has to be understood that the angle may be a 3D-angel being defined with respect to a 3D reference direction in case of a 3D coordinate system.

For instance, the reference direction 380 may be a predefined cardinal direction, e.g. north or south or west or east or any other direction between two neighbouring cardinal directions (e.g. north/west etc.). In the non-limiting example, the reference direction 380 may be north.

Thus, as an example, a directional information between a second cell 320 and the user equipment 301 might be represented by a vector 325 or an angle 326, a directional information between a third cell 330 and the user equipment 301 might be represented by a vector 335 or an angle 336, a directional information between a fourth cell 340 and the user equipment 301 might be represented by a vector 345 or an angle 346, a directional information between a fifth cell 350 and the user equipment 301 might be represented by a vector 355 or an angle 356, a directional information between a sixth cell 360 and the user equipment 301 might be represented by a vector 365 or an angle 366, and a directional information between a seventh cell 370 and the user equipment 301 might be represented by a vector 375 or an angle 376.

The apparatus 100 provides the user equipment related information which comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment, wherein the apparatus 100 is configured to cause a transmission of this user equipment related information to the user equipment 301 via the wireless communication network 300.

For instance, said user equipment related information may be considered to comprise a list of the set of one or more cells, wherein each cell is indicated in the list by means of an identifier of the respective cell, and wherein the list comprises for each cell of the one or more cells a directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment. As an example, the number of cells of the set of one or more cells may be n, and the identifier of the k-th cell (with k e (1 ... n}, k being an integer) of the set of one or more cells may be denoted as i_k and the directional information between the k-th cell and the user equipment 301 may be denoted as d_k such that the user equipment related information may comprise a list ii, di_, ..., in, dn, e.g.: ii di

h, d₂ in dn

It has to be understood that the user equipment related information may not necessarily be keep unchanged at the apparatus 100, but it may be updated.

As an example, the directional information directional information between the k-th cell and the user equipment 301 may be determined based on the location of the user equipment and the location of the k-th cell, wherein this determining may be performed by means of apparatus 100 or by another network-side located entity, e.g. any entity of the radio access network. For instance, the network (e.g. the radio access network) may be have an information on the location of the user equipment, e.g. an estimation of the location of the user equipment 301, and may have information on the location of the respective k-th cell of the one or more cells, and thus can determine the directional information d_k based on this information. Furthermore, as an example, said determining of the directional information d_k may be further based on orientation of the k-th cell.

As an example, the user equipment 301 may be associated with an aerial vehicle, in particular an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Thus, for instance, the user equipment 301 may be part of the aerial vehicle, e.g. part of the unmanned aerial vehicle. This aerial vehicle may be drone.

Accordingly, the apparatus 100 can provide this user equipment related information to the user equipment 301 by means of action 210. As an example, this user equipment related information can be used by the user equipment 301, e.g. in order to perform beamforming at the user equipment with respect to a cell of the set of one or more cells associated with the user equipment related information.

Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of an example embodiment of any at least one apparatus 200 according to a second aspect of the invention. The at least one apparatus 200 may be user equipment of a wireless communication network 301. Apparatus 200 comprises a processor 201 and, linked to processor 201, a memory 202. Memory 202 stores computer program code for receiving user equipment related information via the wireless

communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment.

As an example, this received user equipment related information may represent the user equipment related information which was caused to be transmitted in action 210 by apparatus 100 according to the first aspect of the invention.

For instance, apparatus 200 could be a user equipment of the wireless communication network 301, wherein the wireless communication network may be a cellular wireless communication network. E.g., any explanation given with respect to the wireless

communication network regarding the first aspect of the invention may also hold for the wireless communication network of the second aspect of the invention. As an example, the wireless communication network of the first aspect of the invention may the same as the wireless communication network of the second aspect of the invention.

If a plurality of apparatus 200 are used, each apparatus 200 may comprise a processor 201, and linked to processor 201, a memory 202, wherein memory 202 at least partially stores computer program code for receiving user equipment related information via the wireless communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment. Apparatus 200 could equally be a component, like a chip, circuitry on a chip or a plug-in board. Optionally, apparatus 100 could comprise various other components, like a data interface configured to enable an exchange of data with separate devices, a user interface like a touchscreen, a further memory, a further processor, etc.

As an example, apparatus 200 may be a user equipment 301 which may be associated with an aerial vehicle, in particular an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Thus, for instance, the user equipment 301 may be part of the aerial vehicle, e.g. part of the unmanned aerial vehicle. This aerial vehicle may be drone. An operation of at least one apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention will now be described with reference to the flow chart of Figure 2b. The operation is an example embodiment of a method 200' according to the invention. At least one processor 201 (may be one processor 201 or a plurality of processors 201) and the program code stored in at least one memory 202 (may be one memory 202 or a plurality of memories 202) cause at least one apparatus (may be one apparatus or a plurality of apparatuses) to perform the operation when the program code is retrieved from memory 202 and executed by processor 201. The at least one apparatus that is caused to perform the operation can be apparatus 200 or some other apparatus, for example but not necessarily a device comprising apparatus 200.

The at least one apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention, which may be a user equipment 301 of a wireless communication network 300, receives user equipment related information via the wireless communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network: (i) an identifier of the respective cell; and (ii) directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment.

This user equipment related information may be that user equipment related information being explained with respect to the first aspect of the invention and which may be received from the apparatus 100 according to the first aspect of the invention at apparatus 200 according to the second aspect of the invention. Thus, for instance, all explanations given with respect to user equipment related information with respect to the first aspect of the invention may also hold for the second aspect of the invention and vice versa.

As an example, in action 210 the user equipment 301 may receive the user equipment related information from a serving cell of the plurality of cells 310, 320, ..., 370 of the wireless communication network 300, wherein, with respect to the example presented in Fig. 3 the actual serving cell may be the seventh cell 370. Thus, said transmission caused during action 110 of the first aspect of the invention may comprise causing that transmission via the serving cell to the user equipment 301.

Based on the received user equipment related information the user equipment can be provided by the wireless communication network with the directional information for each cell of the set of one or more cells, wherein, as an example this user equipment related information may comprise the above explained list of the set of one or more cells, wherein each cell is indicated in the list by means of the identifier of the respective cell, and wherein the list comprises for each cell of the one or more cells a directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment.

As an example, the user equipment related information can be used by the user equipment 301, e.g. in order to perform beamforming at the user equipment 301 with respect to a cell of the set of one or more cells associated with the user equipment related information. As an example, the user equipment 301 may comprise at least one antenna 302 (e.g. a plurality of antennas 302, e.g. an antenna array comprising the plurality of antennas 302), wherein the user equipment 301 may be configured to perform beamforming with respect to the at least one antenna 302 in a direction in order to transmit a beamformed signal emitted by said at least one antenna 302 in the direction and/or to receive a signal from said direction. In particular, this direction of the beamformed signal may be in direction of the serving cell of the wireless communication signal. If, for example, there is a handover from a first serving cell, e.g. the above-mentioned seventh cell 370 to a second serving cell, e.g., the fifth cell 350, which may be caused by movement of the user equipment 301, the user equipment 301 may be informed of the directional information between the second serving cell and the user equipment 301 if the user equipment related information comprises the identifier of the second serving cell and the directional information between the second serving cell and the user equipment 301. Even if this direction between the second serving cell and the user equipment 301 is just an estimation and may not be perfect, it can be used by the user equipment 301 in order to perform beamforming with respect to the at least one antenna 302 in order to improve reception of signals from the second serving cell and/or to improve transmission of a signal from the at least one antenna 301 in an approximate direction to the second serving cell.

Thus, the process of handover from a first serving cell to a second serving cell may be made faster, and, for instance, this may allow to save energy of a battery of the user equipment since no extra measurement of the direction at the user equipment may be needed during handover. Accordingly, the network 300 may assist the user equipment with beamforming.

Furthermore, as an example, at least one cell 310, ... 370 of the plurality of cells 310, ... 370 of the wireless communication system 300 may be configured to perform beamforming. For instance, each cell of the at least one cell 310, ... 370 comprises at least antenna 311, 321, 331, 341, 351, 361, 371 and the respective cell 310, ... 370 may be configured to perform beamforming with respect to its at least one antenna 311, 321, 331, 341, 351, 361, 371 in a direction.

For instance, the direction of beam of a respective cell of the at least one cell 310, ... 370 of the plurality of cells 310, ... 370 is one of: (i) omnidirectional; and (ii) a specific direction being associated with the beam of the respective cell, in particular a specific direction of an eNB or gNB beam. Thus, the identifier of a respective cell of the at least one cell 310, ... 370 of the plurality of cells 310, ... 370 may be assumed to be indicative of the direction of beam of the respective cell. As an example, if the direction of beam of a respective cell of the at least one cell 310, ... 370 of the plurality of cells 310, ... 370 is a specific direction being associated with the beam of the respective cell, the at least one antenna 311, 321, 331, 341, 351, 361, 371of the respective cell 310, ... 370 of the plurality of cells 310, ... 370 is configured to perform and/or perform beamforming in the specific direction, i.e., the respective cell 310, ... 370 may be configured to perform beamforming with respect to its at least one antenna 311, 321, 331, 341, 351, 361, 371 in a direction and/or may perform beamforming with respect to its at least one antenna 311, 321, 331, 341, 351, 361, 371 in a direction.

Furthermore, for instance, if the direction of beam of a respective cell of the at least one cell 310, ... 370 of the plurality of cells 310, ... 370 is a specific direction being associated with the beam of the respective cell, the respective cell may correspond to an eNB or gNB beam.

For instance, a cell serving the user equipment 301 may perform beamforming with respect to its at least one antenna in a direction to the location of the user equipment.

Fig. 4a depicts a flowchart showing an example embodiment of a method 400 according to the second exemplary aspect of the present invention. Thus, this method 400 may be performed by the apparatus 200, e.g. by user equipment 301 depicted in Fig. 3 or in Fig. 7a.

In action 410 a cell of the set of one or more cells is selected. This set of one or more cells may be defined user equipment related information received in action 210, i.e., the cells of the set of one or more cells may correspond to those cell being indicated by the identifiers of the respective cell(s) (e.g. i_k) of the user equipment related information. Then, in action 420, a direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell is measured. For instance, the user equipment 301 may measure a direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell by means of performing beamforming with respect to the at least one antenna 302 of the user equipment. Known direction measurements may be applied in action 420 in order to measure the direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell, e.g. the MUSIC Algorithm disclosed in Andy Vesa, loan Nafornita: "Adaptive Beamforming Applied for Signals Estimated with MUSIC Algorithm", Buletinul Stiintific al Universitatii Politehnica Timisoara, Seria Electronica si Telecomunicatii, Transactions on Electronics and Communications, Tom 57(71), Fascicola 2, 2012, Timisoara, ISBN 1583-3380, ISSN 1583-3380, which is completely incorporated by reference in this patent application. However, it has to be understood that another measurement algorithm may be applied.

The measured direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell (action 410) may represent the directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment or may be used to determine the directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment.

For instance, if the k-th cell of the set of n cells is selected in action 410, based on the direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell measured in action 420 a new (or updated) directional information d_k between the respective k-th cell and the user equipment may be obtained or determined.

Since the cell used for performing measurement in action 420 may be a cell of the set of one or more cells defined by the received user equipment related information, the measurement performed in action 420 can be considered to be at least partially performed based on the received user equipment related information.

In action 430 it may be checked whether there is a further cell in the set of one or more cells for which a direction measurement shall be performed, and if yes, the method may proceed with action 410 by selecting this cell and by measuring the direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell is measured in action 420. Accordingly, method 400 may comprise for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells: measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell (action 420). For instance, said at least one cell may be each cell of the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information, and then the measurement in action 420 can be performed for each cell of the set of one or more cells.

As an example, said performing measurement in action 420 may be performed at least partially based on the directional information of the selected cell which is part of the received user equipment related information. For instance, the measurement in action 420 may only be performed in an angular region around the direction being indicated by the directional information. For instance, if a k-th cell is selected (action 410) and the directional information (received in the user equipment related information) between the k-th cell and the user equipment 301 is denoted d_k and indicates a direction angle of f, wherein f may indicate the angle in degrees (°), then the measurement in action 420 for measuring the direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell (k-th cell) may be performed only in a direction between f-c and f+y, wherein x and y may predefined angle offset values, e.g. x=10°, 20°,

30°, 40° or 50° (or any other well suited angle offset value), and e.g. y=10°, 20°, 30°, 40° or 50° (or any other well suited angle offset value) (with ° = degree). Thus, based on the user equipment related information the measurement in action 420 can be made faster.

Accordingly, the apparatus 200 may be configured to perform action 420 by excluding an angular region in which no measurement (i.e. no beamforming is to performed) shall be performed based at least on the directional information associated with the selected cell.

Thus, the user equipment related information may be considered to represent a kind of instruction for the user equipment for which cells the measurement of a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell shall be performed. For instance, the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information may be considered to provide a list of potential cells to handover.

Furthermore, as an example, method 400 may comprise an optional action 425 (indicated by a dashed lined box) in which a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the measured direction of arrival is caused to a network side located entity of the wireless communication network 300 via the wireless communication network. For instance, this directional information (e.g. d_k) may be transmitted together with the identifier of the respective cell (e.g. i_k).

Thus, the user equipment 301 may transmit the obtained or determined directional information d_k between the selected k-th cell and the user equipment 301 to the network side located entity of the wireless communication network 300. As an example, the network side located entity may be apparatus 100 according to the first aspect of the invention, but it could be any other entity located in a radio access network of the wireless communication network, e.g. the selected cell or any other cell of the wireless communication network.

Furthermore, as an example, method 400 may comprise an optional action 445 (indicated by a dashed lined box) in which, for each measured direction in each step 420 in the loop of method 400, a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the measured direction of arrival from the respective cell is caused to a network side located entity of the wireless communication network 300 via the wireless communication network. Thus, in action 445 the user equipment 301 may transmit, for each cell selected in action 410, the obtained or determined directional information d_k between the selected k-th cell and the user equipment 301 to the network side located entity of the wireless communication network 300, e.g. together with the identifier of the respective cell (e.g. i_k). As an example, the network side located entity may be the apparatus 100 according to the first aspect of the invention, but it could be any other entity located in a radio access network of the wireless

communication network, e.g. the selected cell or any other cell of the wireless communication network.

For instance, if each cell of the set of one or more cells was selected during the loop in method 400, in action 445 the n directional information di, d₂, ... d_n (with n integer and representing number of cells of the one or more cells) may be caused to be transmitted.

Accordingly, as an example, the radio access network is informed on the actual

measurements of the directions performed by the user equipment 301.

Furthermore, as an example, method 400 may be performed in predefined time intervals, wherein the predefined time interval may be associated with an update frequency, in particular with a variable update frequency. And/or, as an example, method 400 may be performed based on a trigger event, wherein this trigger event may be activated when the user equipment has moved more than a predefined distance compared to the position of the user equipment during the last measurement of a direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell in action 410 or compared to the position of the user equipment during method 400 has been performed formerly. Thus, for instance, method 400 may comprise, e.g. after action 430 when it is checked there is not further cell (or during action 420 or any other time when performing method 400), an action for

determining the position of the user equipment 310, wherein this position may be assumed to represent the position of the user equipment 310 when last measurement of a direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell in action 410 or when method 400 has been performed formerly. For determining the position the user equipment 301 may comprise means for determining the position of the user equipment, e.g. based on signals received from at least one Global Satellite navigation system satellite (GNSS) system, for example based on signals received from GPS satellites, from BeiDou satellites, from GLONASS satellites or from Galileo satellites or other satellites. As an example, the user equipment 301 may comprise a GNSS receiver in order to receive signals from the GNSS system such that user equipment 301 of the at least one mobile device can estimate its location based on the GNSS signals. And/or, as an example, the user equipment 301 may comprise a cellular and/or Wifi and/or

Bluetooth receiver in order to receive signals from at least one cellular system, and/or from at least one Wifi system and/or from at least one Bluetooth system. Thus, the user equipment 310 may determine its actual position (e.g. in predefined time interval) and may compare the actual position with the position of the user equipment 301 during the last measurement of a direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell in action 410 (may be denoted as measurement position) or compared to the position of the user equipment during method 400 has been performed formerly (may be denoted as measurement position), and if the distance between the actual position and the (may be denoted as measurement position) exceed a predefined threshold, the trigger is set and method 400 is performed once again. Furthermore, in case that in the meantime the user equipment has received a new or updated user equipment related information, then this new or updated user equipment related information is used as basis for performing method 400, in particular with respect to selecting at least one cell in action (s) 410. Fig. 4b depicts a flowchart showing an example embodiment of a method 400' according to the second exemplary aspect of the present invention. Thus, this method 400' may be performed by the apparatus 200, e.g. by user equipment 301 depicted in Fig. 3 or Fig. 7a.

In action 460 it is measured a direction of arrival of each signal of at least one signal in a predefined angular sector. For instance, the user equipment 301 may measure a direction of arrival of at least one signal by means of performing beamforming with respect to the at least one antenna 302 of the user equipment in the predefined angular sector. This predefined angular sector may be determined based on the user equipment related information received in action 210, and in particular based on the directional information for each cell of the one or more cells of this user equipment related information. For instance, the predefined angular sector may be determined by the user equipment 301 such that each direction indicated by the each directional information for each cell of the one or more cells of this user equipment related information is cover within the predefined angular sector, and, for instance, such that predefined angular sector also includes the direction of the serving cell actually serving the user equipment. And/or, furthermore, the predefined angular sector may be determined by the user equipment 301 such that at least an angular sector is excluded from performing the measurement, wherein this angular sector for exclusion may be determined to be a sector in which direction there is no cell of the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information.

Known direction measurements may be applied in action 460 in order to measure the direction of arrival of each signal of at least one signal in a predefined angular sector, e.g. the MUSIC Algorithm disclosed in Andy Vesa, loan Nafornita: "Adaptive Beamforming Applied for Signals Estimated with MUSIC Algorithm", Buletinul Stiintific al Universitatii Politehnica Timisoara, Seria Electronica si Telecomunicatii, Transactions on Electronics and

Communications, Tom 57(71), Fascicola 2, 2012, Timisoara, ISBN 1583-3380, ISSN 1583- 3380, which is completely incorporated by reference in this patent application. However, it has to be understood that another measurement algorithm may be applied

For instance, the user equipment related information may comprise a set of five cells (i.e., n=5), e.g. cells 310, 320, 330, 340, 350 depicted in Fig. 3, with the following direction informations: ii=PCl di=300 degrees;

i₂=PC2, d₂=5 degrees;

i₃=PC3, d₃=85 degrees;

U=PC4, d₄=130 degrees;

is=PC5, d₅=130 degrees;

As an example, apparatus 100 may have determined this user equipment related information when user equipment 301 was in the position depicted in Fig. 3.

This example will now be explained with respect to Fig. 5, which is based on Fig. 3. The same reference signs represent the same features in Figs. 3 and 5. In this example, the predefined angular sector for performing the measurement in action 460 may define an angular sector 510 spanning from 230 degrees (511) to 140 degrees (512) and wich may exclude an angular sector 520 spanning from 140 degrees to 230 deegrees. In this example the serving cell is cell 370 being in a direction of approximately 240 degrees with respect to the user equipment (see Fig. 3: reference sign 376), and thus, this direction may also covered by the determined predefined angular sector 510.

Then, a known direction measurement may be applied in action 460 in order to measure the direction of arrival of the signal(s) within the predefined angular sector 510, e.g. the above- mentioned MUSIC algorithm, wherein if a signal is detected which is associated with one cell of the set of one or more cells (e.g. detected based on the identifier i_k transmitted in the received signal of the respective cell), the direction of this signal is determined based on the known direction measurement and

the directional information i_k being indicative of the measured direction of arrival from the respective cell is obtained or determined from the measured direction of this signal from the respective cell.

Thus, for instance, in action 460 it is possible to perform, for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell, if the predefined angular is determined in a way that is covers for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells the direction between the respective cell and the user equipment indicated by the respective directional information of this cell. Method 400' may further comprise an optional action 470 (indicated by a dashed lined box) in which, for each measured direction during action 460, a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the respective measured direction of arrival from the respective cell is caused to a network side located entity of the wireless communication network 300 via the wireless communication network. Thus, in action 470 the user equipment 301 may transmit, for each cell selected in action 410, the obtained or determined directional information d_k between the selected k-th cell and the user equipment 301 to the network side located entity of the wireless communication network 300, e.g. together with the identifier of the respective cell (e.g. i_k). As an example, the network side located entity may be the apparatus 100 according to the first aspect of the invention, but it could be any other entity located in a radio access network of the wireless communication network, e.g. the selected cell or any other cell of the wireless communication network.

Thus, for instance, in action 460 it is possible to perform, for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell, and, in particular, causing a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the measured direction of arrival to a network side located entity of the wireless

communication network via the wireless communication network, if the predefined angular is determined in a way that is covers for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells the direction between the respective cell and the user equipment indicated by the respective directional information of this cell.

For instance, if the direction of the arrival signal of each cell of the set of one or more cells measured during action 460, in action 470 the n directional informations di, d₂, ... d_n (with n being an integer and representing number of cells of the one or more cells) may be caused to be transmitted.

As an example, said transmission caused in action 425 and/or said transmission caused in action 445 and/or said transmission caused in action 470 may be performed via a control layer, in particular a radio resource control layer, of the wireless communication network 300.

Accordingly, as an example, the radio access network is informed on the actual

measurements of the directions performed by the user equipment 301. As another example, method 400 or method 400' may be performed each time the user equipment 301 receives a user equipment related information (e.g. in action 210).

According to an example embodiment of each aspect of the invention, the user equipment related information may comprise for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells a measurement information intended to be used by the user equipment. Thus, the user equipment 301 which receives the user equipment related information (e.g. in action 210) may perform measuring the direction of arrival of a signal from the selected cell during action 420 or by means of method 400' (action 460) based on the measurement information of the user equipment related information.

For instance the measurement information comprises for each cell of the at least one cell of the set of one or more cells a timing information regarding measurement and/or non measurement of directional information at the user equipment for the respective cell of the at least one cell of the set of one or more cells.

Thus, according to this example embodiment the user equipment 301 may perform, for each cell for which the measurement information of the user equipment related information comprises a timing information regarding measurement: measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell (action 420 or action 460), and, in particular, causing a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the measured direction of arrival to a network side located entity of the wireless communication network via the wireless communication network (action 425 or 445 or action 460), according to the timing informing regarding measurement of the respective cell.

As an example, said timing information regarding measurement may represent an update frequency which indicates predefined time intervals for measurement, such that action 420 (or action 460) is performed for the respective cell repeatedly after the time interval has lapsed, i.e. each time the time interval has lapsed, e.g. as mentioned above. As an example, said timing information regarding measurement may indicate an update frequency for each cell selected in action 410. For instance the measurement information comprises for each cell of the set of one or more cells a timing information regarding measurement and/or non-measurement of directional information at the user equipment for the respective cell the set of one or more cells. For instance, this timing information may be same for each cell of the set of one or more cells. In case said timing information regarding measurement may represent an update frequency which indicates predefined time intervals for measurement, method 400' (and action 460) may be performed repeatedly after the time interval has lapsed, i.e. each time the time interval has lapsed, e.g. as mentioned above.

As an example, said timing information regarding non-measurement may represent a time interval in which the respective cell associated with the time information shall not be measured by means of action 420 (or by action 460) by the user equipment 301. For instance, in action 460 the predefined angular sector may be determined based on this timing information that the direction (or a an angular sector around that direction) between the respective cell and the user equipment is excluded from the predefined angular sector.

Thus, it may be possible that a specific cell of the set of one or more cells shall not be measured in the predefined time interval, e.g. due to high load or other reasons, such that the apparatus 100 according to the first aspect of the invention can inform the user equipment by the user equipment related information comprising, for said specific cell a timing information regarding non-measurement being indicative of the predefined time interval. Then, the user equipment will not perform the measurement of direction with respect this specific cell by means of action 420 (or action 460) during the predefined time interval indicated by the timing information regarding non-measurement, e.g. by means of not selecting this specific cell in action 410 (and e.g., not considering this specific cell in action 430) during the predefined time interval or e.g. by means of excluding the direction between the respective cell and the user equipment from the predefined angular sector during measurement performed by action 460. Furthermore, after the lapse of the predefined time interval the user equipment 301 may perform the measurement of direction with respect this specific cell by means of action 420 or by means of action 460 (and may cause transmission according to action 425 or 445 or 470).

Thus, according to this example embodiment the user equipment 301 may perform, for each cell for which the measurement information of the user equipment related information comprises a timing information regarding non-measurement, no measuring of a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell according to the timing informing.

As an example, apparatus 100 and/or any other network side located entity (e.g. an entity of the RAN) may determine the user equipment related information which is then provided by causing the transmission of the user equipment related information to the user equipment in action 110, wherein this user equipment related information may comprise the timing information for each cell of the at least one cell of the set of one or more cells.

For instance the measurement information comprises for each cell of the at least one cell of the set of one or more cells a geometrical measurement information regarding measurement of directional information at the user equipment for the respective cell.

As an example, the geometrical measurement information of a respective cell may be indicative of exclusion of a predefined angular sector in which no directional measurement is to performed. The predefined angular sector may define a specific angular sector in the applied coordinate system.

Furthermore, as an example, the geometrical measurement information being indicative of exclusion of a predefined angular sector may be the same for each cell of the at least one cell of the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information, i.e., in this case the user equipment related information may comprise exactly one value being indicative of the exclusion of a predefined angular sector. Furthermore, the user equipment related information may comprise two or more different values being indicate of different predefined angular sectors which are to be excluded from measurement. Then, for instance, if action 460 is performed each angular sector indicated to be excluded by the geometrical measurement information may be excluded when performing the measurement during action 460, and/or, for instance, if action 420 is performed each angular sector indicated to be excluded by the geometrical measurement information may be excluded when performing the measurement during action 420.

As an example, apparatus 100 and/or any other network side located entity (e.g. an entity of the RAN) may determine the user equipment related information which is then provided by causing the transmission of the user equipment related information to the user equipment in action 110, wherein this user equipment related information may comprise the measurement information for each cell of the at least one cell of the set of one or more cells.

Fig. 6a depicts a flowchart showing an example embodiment of a method 600 according to the first exemplary aspect of the present invention. Thus, this method 600 may be performed by the apparatus 100 and/or any other network side located entity (e.g. an entity of the RAN). In the sequel it is explained by means of apparatus 100, but apparatus 100 may be replaced with any other network side located entity (e.g. an entity of the RAN).

Action 610 comprises updating the user equipment related information.

As an example, said updating the user equipment related information in action 610 comprises for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells: Receiving a directional information (e.g. d_k) between the respective cell (e.g. the k-th cell) and the user equipment from the user equipment; and updating directional information d_k between the respective cell and the user equipment based on the received directional information d_k. For instance, the apparatus 100 (or the other network side located entity) may receive the directional information d_k when user equipment 301 causes the transmission of the directional information d_k (e.g. together with the identifier i_k) in action 425 or 445 or 470 of method 400 or method 400'. Thus, network side can update the user equipment related information for the respective cell based on an actual or the most actual direction measurement of the user equipment 301. For instance, this updating may be performed for each cell of the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information. Furthermore, if such an updating based on receiving directional information from the user equipment is performed, it may be not necessary to cause a transmission of the (updated) user equipment related information from the apparatus 100 to user equipment 301.

And/or, as another example, said updating the user equipment related information in action 610 may comprise excluding at least one cell of the set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network and/or including at least one cell into the set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network. Thus, apparatus 100 may check whether one of the cells of the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information shall be removed from the set of one or more cells (and from the user equipment related information) and/or whether one cell of the plurality of cell of the wireless communication network 300 which is currently not in the set of one or more claims of the user equipment related information shall be included in the set of one or more claims of the user equipment related information.

For instance, said excluding a cell from the set of one or more cells or including a cell into the set of one or more cells are performed based on at least one of:

a distance between the respective cell and the user equipment;

a load of the respective cell;

interference associated with the respective cell; and

at least one Quality of Service (Qos) constraint associated with the respective cell.

For example, apparatus 100 may check whether a load of a cell of the set of one or more cells is above a threshold, and if the load is above the threshold, the respective cell is excluded from the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information. For instance, it may be checked whether the load of the cell in a direction towards the user equipment is above a threshold, and if yes, the respect cell is excluded from the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information.

According, the network may exclude cells with high loads such that the user equipment 301 does not spend energy on measuring those cells.

And/or, for example, apparatus 100 may check whether an interference associated with a cell of the set of one or more cells is above a threshold, and if the interference is above the threshold, the respective cell is excluded from the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information.

And/or, for example, apparatus 100 may check whether a distance between a cell of the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information and the user equipment 301 (e.g., the distance between position of the base station of the cell and the position of the user equipment 301) may exceed a predefined threshold (wherein the predefined threshold may depend on the transmit power of the respective cell), such that the apparatus 100 may exclude a cell from the set of one or more cells if the distance exceeds this predefined threshold. E.g., apparatus 100 may be aware of the actual position of the user equipment 301, and thus the user equipment related information may reflect movement of the user equipment 301 such that a cell which is not far away from the user equipment 301 due to movement of the user equipment 301 may be excluded from the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information.

And/or, for example, apparatus 100 may check whether a distance between a cell which is not in the set of the one or more cells of the user equipment related information and the user equipment 301 (e.g., the distance between position of the base station of this cell and the position of the user equipment 301) is below a predefined threshold (wherein the predefined threshold may depend on the transmit power of the respective cell), and if, the apparatus 100 may be configured to include this cell in the set of one or more cells, and, further, the apparatus 100 may determine a directional information between this cell and the user equipment 301, e.g. as mentioned before.

And/or, for example, apparatus 100 may check whether at least one Quality of Service (Qos) constraint associated with the respective cell corresponds to and/or is higher than a predefined QoS constraint (or QoS class). For instance, an existing user of the respective cell may be associated with a QoS, and apparatus 100 may check whether this QoS of an existing user of the respective cell corresponds to a predefined QoS constraint (or QoS class) and/or is higher than a predefined QoS constraint (or QoS class), and if this checking yields in a positive result, the cell may be excluded from the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information. Thus, this may enable that the QoS of existing users can lead to excluding a cell.

Method 600 may comprise an optionally action 110' in which it is caused a transmission of at least a part of the (updated) user equipment related information to the user equipment 301 via the wireless communication network 300. For instance, said at least a part of the

(updated) user equipment related information may be an information being indicative of the changes (e.g. only of the changes) of the updated user equipment related information or it may be information on the complete updated user related information. As an example, action 110' may be performed when a cell was excluded from the set of one or more cells or included in the set of one or more cells, and/or of a new or updated measurement information of the user equipment related information was determined. As an example, said transmission caused in action 110 of method 100' may be performed by a cell which is not included in the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information and/or said transmission caused in action 110' of method 600 may be performed by a cell which is not included in the set of one or more cells of the (updated) user equipment related information. For instance, the cell which performs transmission may be network-side located entity (e.g. apparatus 100) and may act as actual serving cell with respect to user equipment 301.

As an example, said transmission of at least a part of the (updated) user equipment related information to the user equipment via the wireless communication network caused in action 110' may be performed via a control layer, in particular a radio resource control layer, of the wireless communication network 300.

For instance, as an example, the user equipment related information may currently comprise a set of five cells (i.e., n=5), e.g. cells 310, 320, 330, 340, 350 depicted in Fig. 3, with the following direction informations, as exemplarily explained before: ii=PCl di=300 degrees;

i₂=PC2, d₂=5 degrees;

i₃=PC3, d₃=85 degrees;

U=PC4, d₄=130 degrees;

is=PC5, d₅=130 degrees,

As an example, apparatus 100 may have determined this user equipment related information when user equipment 301 was in the position depicted in Fig. 3. In Fig. 7a, this position of the user equipment 310 from Fig. 3 is indicated by reference sign 701.

Then, for instance, in the meantime the user equipment 301 may have moved from position 701 to position 702, as shown in Fig. 7a. Now, for instance, apparatus 100 may have performed action 610 in order to update the user equipment related information. E.g., the apparatus 100 may have checked that the load of the fourth cell 340, indicated by identifier PC4, and that the load of the fifth cell 350, indicated by identifier PC5, exceeds the predefined threshold (i.e., the predefined load threshold), and thus fourth cell 340 and the fifth cell 350 are excluded from the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information, such that the (updated) user equipment related information may then comprise a set of three cells (i.e., n=3), e.g. cells 310, 320, 330, with the following exemplary direction informations: ii=PCl di=290 degrees;

i₂=PC2, d₂=345 degrees;

i₃=PC3, d₃=86 degrees.

For instance, the directional information di associated with the first cell 310, the directional information d₂ associated with the second cell 320 and the directional information d₃ associated with the second cell 330 may be maintained, but it has to be understood that at least one of these directional information could also be updated (which is done in the above example), e.g. based on a received directional information (e.g. received by apparatus 100) transmitted from the user equipment 301 or updated based on the new location of the user equipment 301 known to the apparatus 100 (e.g. as explained with respect to method 100').

Then, as an example, action 110' may be performed in order to cause a transmission of at least a part of the (updated) user equipment related information.

Fig. 6b depicts a flowchart showing an example embodiment of a method 600' according to the second exemplary aspect of the present invention. Thus, this method 600' may be performed by the apparatus 200, e.g. by user equipment 301 depicted in Fig. 3 or in Fig. 7a.

Method 600' comprises receiving at least a part of an updated user equipment related information via the wireless communication network (action 630), wherein said at least a part of an updated user equipment related information may be received from apparatus 100 in reaction on action 110'.

As an example, said receiving of at least a part of an updated user equipment related information via the wireless communication network in action 630 may be performed via a control layer, in particular a radio resource control layer, of the wireless communication network 300.

For instance, said at least a part of the (updated) user equipment related information may be an information being indicative of the changes (e.g. only of the changes) of the updated user equipment related information or it may be information on the complete updated user related information.

Furthermore, method 600' comprises updating the user equipment related information based on the received at least a part of an updated user equipment related information (action 640). For instance, if said at least a part of the (updated) user equipment related information may be an information being indicative of the changes (e.g. only of the changes) of the updated user equipment related information, then in action 640 the updated user equipment related information is determined based on the former user equipment related information and the received at least a part of the (updated) user equipment related information. Or, as another example, if the received at least a part of an updated user equipment related information represent the complete updated user equipment related information, the updating in action 640 may be performed by replacing the former user equipment related information with the received updated user equipment related information.

Then, for instance, the apparatus 200 (e.g. user equipment 301) may use this updated user equipment related information as user equipment related information for performing any of the methods of the second aspect of the invention, e.g. for performing method 400 or method 400’.

With respect to the above mentioned example, the (updated) user equipment related information may comprise a set of three cells (i.e., n=3), e.g. cells 310, 320, 330, with the following exemplary direction informations: ii=PCl di=290 degrees;

i₂=PC2, d₂=345 degrees;

i₃=PC3, d₃=86 degrees.

By means of actions 110' and 630 said at least a part of the user (updated) user equipment related information is transmitted from apparatus 100 to apparatus 200 (e.g. user equipment 301) via the wireless communication network 300, and after action 630 is performed the apparatus 200 (e.g. user equipment 301) has available the updated user equipment related information which comprises a set of three cells (i.e., n=3), e.g. cells 310, 320, 330 , with the following exemplary direction informations: ii=PCl di=290 degrees;

i₂=PC2, d₂=345 degrees;

i₃=PC3, d₃=86 degrees.

Thus, the apparatus 200 (e.g. user equipment 301) may now be aware that the fourth cell 340 and the fifth cell 350, which were formerly included in the set of one or more cells of the user equipment related information, are now excluded.

Then, for instance, apparatus 200 (e.g. user equipment 301) may perform method 400 or method 400' in order to perform for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells: measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell (action 420 or action 460).

As an example, apparatus 200 (e.g. user equipment 301) may perform action 460. Then, in action 460 it is measured a direction of arrival of each signal of at least one signal in a predefined angular sector, wherein apparatus 200 (e.g. user equipment 301) determines the predefined angular sector based on the (updated) user equipment related information. Now, the predefined angular sector for performing the measurement in action 460 may define an angular sector 710 spanning from 240 degrees (711) to 96 degrees (712) and wich may exclude an angular sector 720 spanning from 96 degrees to 240 degrees. In this example the serving cell is cell 370 being now in a direction of approximately 250 degrees with respect to the user equipment 302, and thus, this direction may also covered by the determined predefined angular sector 710. Furthermore, it is now not necessary to cover the directions of cells 350 and 360 since they have been excluded from the set of one or more cells, and therefore the predefined angular sector 710 is now smaller compared to the predefined angular sector 510 depicted in Fig. 5. Accordingly, measurement during action 620 can now be performed faster than the measurement during action 620 for the former user equipment related information.

Thus, for instance, the time needed to find the cells can be reduced (or even minimized) when the RAN provides the directional information (s) by means of the user equipment related information. This can make processes faster, may avoid measurement timing problems and may potentially save battery power of the user equipment 301. Fig. 7b depicts a flowchart showing an example embodiment of a method 700 according to the first exemplary aspect of the present invention. Thus, this method 700 may be performed by the apparatus 100 and/or any other network side located entity (e.g. an entity of the RAN). In the sequel it is explained by means of apparatus 100, but apparatus 100 may be replaced with any other network side located entity (e.g. an entity of the RAN).

For instance, at least two user equipments 301 may be associated with the wireless communication system 300. Method 700 comprises causing a transmission of user equipment related information to said at least two user equipments via the wireless communication network by means of a multi-cast transmission (action 780).

Thus, the at least two user equipments 301 may be provided with the user equipment related information by means of a multi-cast transmission. For instance, action 780 may be performed to implement action 110, i.e., the user equipment related information caused to be transmitted in action 110 may be transmitted by means of multi-cast transmission of action 780, and/or, action 780 may be performed to implement action 110', i.e., the at least a part of the (updated) user equipment related information caused to be transmitted in action 110' may be transmitted by means of multi-cast transmission of action 780.

As an example, said transmission of user equipment related information to said at least two user equipments via the wireless communication network by means of a multi-cast transmission (action 780) may be performed via a control layer, in particular a radio resource control layer, of the wireless communication network 300.

For instance, said at least two user equipments are estimated to be in similar geographical area and thus can use the same directional information.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an apparatus in form of a mobile device 800 according to the second exemplary aspect of the invention. For instance, the mobile device 800 may be any of the previously mentioned mobile devices and/or movable devices, e.g. apparatus 200 or user equipment 301. For instance, mobile device 800 may be associated with an aerial vehicle, in particular an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Thus, for instance, the mobile device 800 may be part of the aerial vehicle, e.g. part of the unmanned aerial vehicle. This aerial vehicle may be drone. Furthermore, and/or, as an example, mobile device 800 may be configured to perform any of the methods 200', 400, 400', 600' and, in this case, mobile device 800 may represent an implementation of apparatus 200 of Fig. 2a.

Mobile device 800 comprises a processor 801. Processor 801 may represent a single processor or two or more processors, which are for instance at least partially coupled, for instance via a bus. Processor 801 executes a program code stored in program memory 802 (for instance program code causing mobile device 800 to perform one or more of the embodiments of a method according to the invention or parts thereof (e.g. the method or parts of the method described below with reference to Figs. 2a, 4a, 4b and 6b), when executed on processor 801), and interfaces with a main memory 803. Program memory 802 may also contain an operating system for processor 801. Some or all of memories 802 and 803 may also be included into processor 801.

One of or both of a main memory and a program memory of a processor (e.g. program memory 802 and main memory 803 and/or program memory 802 and main memory 803 as described below with reference to Fig. 9) could be fixedly connected to the processor (e.g. processor 801 and/or processor 901) or at least partially removable from the processor, for instance in the form of a memory card or stick.

A program memory (e.g. program memory 802 and/or program memory 902 as described below with reference to Fig. 9) may for instance be a non-volatile memory. It may for instance be a FLASH memory (or a part thereof), any of a ROM, PROM, EPROM, MRAM or a FeRAM (or a part thereof) or a hard disc (or a part thereof), to name but a few examples. For example, a program memory may for instance comprise a first memory section that is fixedly installed, and a second memory section that is removable from, for instance in the form of a removable SD memory card.

A main memory (e.g. main memory 803 and/or main memory 903 as described below with reference to Fig. 9) may for instance be a volatile memory. It may for instance be a DRAM memory, to give non-limiting example. It may for instance be used as a working memory for processor 801 when executing an operating system and/or programs. Processor 801 further controls a communication interface 805 which is for example configured to communicate according to a cellular communication system like a

2G/3G/4G/5G (or beyond 5G) cellular communication system. Mobile device 800 may use communication interface 805 to communicate with a wireless communication network, e.g. a cellular wireless communication network, e.g. network 300 depicted in Figs. 3, 5 and 7. The communication interface 805 may comprise or may be coupled to at least one antenna (not depicted in Fig. 8) for transmitting and/or receiving wireless signal from and/or to the wireless communication network. E.g., said at least one antenna may be said at least one antenna 302 of the user equipment 301. The processor 801 may be configured to perform beamforming with respect to the at least one antenna in a specific direction in order to transmit a beamformed signal emitted by said at least one antenna in the direction and/or to receive a signal from said direction.

For instance, processor 801 may further controls an optional radio interface 804 configured to receive and/or output data and/or information. For instance, radio interface 804 may be configured to receive radio signals from a radio node. The radio interface 804 is configured to scan for radio signals that are broadcast by radio nodes, e.g. based on WiFi (WLAN) or a Bluetooth or any other radio communications system . Furthermore, the radio interface 804 may be configured for evaluating (e.g. taking measurements on the received radio signals like measuring a received signal strength) and/or extracting data or information from the received radio signals. It is to be understood that any computer program code based processing required for receiving and/or evaluating radio signals may be stored in an own memory of radio interface 804 and executed by an own processor of radio interface 804 or it may be stored for example in memory 803 and executed for example by processor 801.

For example, the radio interface 804 may at least comprise a BLE and/or Bluetooth radio interface including at least a BLE receiver (RX). The BLE receiver may be a part of a BLE transceiver. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to BLE or Bluetooth. For example, radio interface 204 may additionally or alternatively comprise a WLAN radio interface including at least a WLAN receiver (RX). The WLAN receiver may also be a part of a WLAN transceiver.

Furthermore, processor 801 may control an optional GNSS positioning sensor 806 (e.g. a GPS sensor or any other GNSS positioning techniques previously mentioned). GNSS positioning sensor may be configured to receive satellite signals of a GNSS system (e.g. GPS satellite signals) and to determine a position of the mobile device (e.g. a current position of the mobile device) at least partially based on satellite signals of the GNSS system that are receivable at this position.

The components 802 to 806 of mobile device 800 may for instance be connected with processor 801 by means of one or more serial and/or parallel busses.

It is to be understood that mobile device 800 may comprise various other components. For example, mobile device 800 may optionally comprise a user interface (e.g. a touch-sensitive display, a keyboard, a touchpad, a display, etc.) or one or more inertial sensors (e.g. an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, a barometer, etc.).

Fig. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an apparatus 900 according to the first exemplary aspect of the invention, which may be a network side located entity of a wireless communication network, e.g. a cellular wireless communication network, e.g. e.g. network 300 depicted in Figs. 3, 5 and 7. For instance apparatus 900 could be a server or any other kind of base station of the wireless communication network, wherein the base station may be an eNB (e.g. of a 4G wireless communication network) or a base station of a 5G wireless communication network (e.g. a gNB) or any other well-suited base station of any well-suited wireless communication network (e.g. beyond 5G), e.g. a base station of one of base stations 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370 depicted in Figs. 3, 5 and 7. The network side located entity could be an entity of the RAN of the wireless communication network.

For instance, said apparatus 900 may be configured to perform each method of the first exemplary aspect of the invention, e.g. method 100' or method 600.

Apparatus 900 comprises a processor 901. Processor 901 may represent a single processor or two or more processors, which are for instance at least partially coupled, for instance via a bus. Processor 901 executes a program code stored in program memory 902 (for instance program code causing server 900 to perform one or more of the embodiments of a method according to the invention or parts thereof (e.g. the method or parts of the method described below with reference to Figs lb or 6a, when executed on processor 901), and interfaces with a main memory 903. Program memory 902 may also comprise an operating system for processor 901. Some or all of memories 902 and 903 may also be included into processor 901.

Moreover, for instance, processor 901 may control a communication interface 904 which is for example configured to communicate according to a cellular communication system like a 2G/3G/4G/5G (or beyond 5G) cellular communication system. Server 900 may use communication interface 904 to communicate with apparatus 100, user equipment 301 or apparatus 800 800, wherein, for example, communication interface 904 may be configured to communicate with a cell 310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360, 370 (e.g. a base station) of the wireless communication system 300.

The components 302 to 304 of server 900 may for instance be connected with processor 901 by means of one or more serial and/or parallel busses.

It is to be understood that server 900 may comprise various other components. For example, indoor radio positioning server 900 may optionally comprise a user interface (e.g. a touch- sensitive display, a keyboard, a touchpad, a display, etc.).

Fig. 10 is a schematic illustration of examples of tangible and non-transitory computer- readable storage media according to the present invention that may for instance be used to implement program memory 102 of Fig. la, or memory 202 of Fig. 2a, or memory 802 of Fig.

8 or memory 902 of Fig. 9. To this end, Fig. 10 displays a flash memory 1000, which may for instance be soldered or bonded to a printed circuit board, a solid-state drive 1001 comprising a plurality of memory chips (e.g. Flash memory chips), a magnetic hard drive 1002, a Secure Digital (SD) card 1003, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory stick 1004, an optical storage medium 1005 (such as for instance a CD-ROM or DVD) and a magnetic storage medium 1006.

Any presented connection in the described embodiments is to be understood in a way that the involved components are operationally coupled. Thus, the connections can be direct or indirect with any number or combination of intervening elements, and there may be merely a functional relationship between the components.

Further, as used in this text, the term 'circuitry' refers to any of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry)

(b) combinations of circuits and software (and/or firmware), such as: (i) to a combination of processor(s) or (ii) to sections of processor(s) / software (including digital signal

processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone, to perform various functions) and

(c) to circuits, such as a microprocessor(s) or a section of a microprocessor(s), that re-quire software or firmware for operation, even if the software or firmware is not physically present.

This definition of 'circuitry' applies to all uses of this term in this text, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this text, the term 'circuitry' also covers an implementation of merely a processor (or multiple processors) or section of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term 'circuitry' also covers, for example, a baseband integrated circuit or applications processor integrated circuit for a mobile phone.

Any of the processors mentioned in this text, in particular but not limited to processors 101, 801 and 901 of Figs. 1, 8 and 9, could be a processor of any suitable type. Any processor may comprise but is not limited to one or more microprocessors, one or more processor(s) with accompanying digital signal processor(s), one or more processor(s) without accompanying digital signal processor(s), one or more special-purpose computer chips, one or more field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAS), one or more controllers, one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICS), or one or more computer(s). The relevant structure/hardware has been programmed in such a way to carry out the described function.

In the present specification, any presented connection in the described embodiments is to be understood in a way that the involved components are operationally coupled. Thus, the connections can be direct or indirect with any number or combination of intervening elements, and there may be merely a functional relationship between the components.

Moreover, any of the methods, processes and actions described or illustrated herein may be implemented using executable instructions in a general-purpose or special-purpose processor and stored on a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., disk, memory, or the like) to be executed by such a processor. References to a 'computer-readable storage medium' should be understood to encompass specialized circuits such as FPGAs, ASICs, signal processing devices, and other devices.

The expression "A and/or B" is considered to comprise any one of the following three scenarios: (i) A, (ii) B, (iii) A and B. Furthermore, the article "a" is not to be understood as "one", i.e. use of the expression "an element" does not preclude that also further elements are present. The term "comprising" is to be understood in an open sense, i.e. in a way that an object that "comprises an element A" may also comprise further elements in addition to element A.

It will be understood that all presented embodiments are only exemplary, and that any feature presented for a particular example embodiment may be used with any aspect of the invention on its own or in combination with any feature presented for the same or another particular example embodiment and/or in combination with any other feature not mentioned. In particular, the example embodiments presented in this specification shall also be understood to be disclosed in all possible combinations with each other, as far as it is technically reasonable and the example embodiments are not alternatives with respect to each other. It will further be understood that any feature presented for an example embodiment in a particular category (method/apparatus/computer program/system) may also be used in a corresponding manner in an example embodiment of any other category. It should also be understood that presence of a feature in the presented example embodiments shall not necessarily mean that this feature forms an essential feature of the invention and cannot be omitted or substituted.

The statement of a feature comprises at least one of the subsequently enumerated features is not mandatory in the way that the feature comprises all subsequently enumerated features, or at least one feature of the plurality of the subsequently enumerated features. Also, a selection of the enumerated features in any combination or a selection of only one of the enumerated features is possible. The specific combination of all subsequently enumerated features may as well be considered. Also, a plurality of only one of the enumerated features may be possible.

The sequence of all method steps presented above is not mandatory, also alternative sequences may be possible. Nevertheless, the specific sequence of method steps exemplarily shown in the figures shall be considered as one possible sequence of method steps for the respective embodiment described by the respective figure.

The invention has been described above by means of example embodiments. It should be noted that there are alternative ways and variations which are obvious to a skilled person in the art and can be implemented without deviating from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

C l a i m s

1. A first method, performed by a network-side located entity of a wireless

communication network, the method comprising:

causing a transmission of user equipment related information to a user equipment via the wireless communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network:

an identifier of the respective cell; and

directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user equipment is associated with an aerial vehicle, in particular an unmanned aerial vehicle.

3. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the directional

information between the respective cell and the user equipment is a geo-direction of the cell relative to a location of the user equipment.

4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the directional

information between the respective cell and the user equipment is indicative of a direction of arrival of a beamformed signal at the user equipment.

5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, comprising updating the user equipment related information, and, in particular, causing a transmission of at least a part of the updated user equipment related information to the user equipment via the wireless communication network.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said updating comprises excluding at least one cell of the set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network and/or including at least one cell into the set of one or more cells of the wireless

communication network. 2

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said excluding a cell from the set of one or more cells or including a cell into the set of one or more cells are performed based on at least one of:

a distance between the respective cell and the user equipment;

a load of the respective cell;

interference associated with the respective cell; and

at least one Quality of Service constraint associated with the respective cell.

8. The method according to any of claim 5 to 7, wherein said updating comprises for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells:

receiving a directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment from the user equipment; and

updating directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment based on the received directional information.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein said receiving a directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment from the user equipment is performed after causing the transmission of user equipment related information to the user equipment.

10. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said causing a

transmission of user equipment related information to the user equipment via the wireless communication network is performed in predefined time intervals.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the predefined time interval are

associated with an update frequency, in particular with a variable update frequency.

12. The method according to any of the preceding claims, comprising determining a

directional information between a cell and the user equipment based on the location of the cell and the location of the user equipment.

13. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said user equipment related information further comprises for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells a measurement information intended to be used by the user equipment. - 3 -

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the measurement information comprises for each cell of the at least one cell of the set of one or more cells at least one of:

a timing information regarding measurement and/or non-measurement of directional information at the user equipment for the respective cell; and

a geometrical measurement information regarding measurement of directional information at the user equipment for the respective cell.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the geometrical measurement

information is indicative of exclusion of a predefined angular sector in which no directional measurement is to performed.

16. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said causing the

transmission of user equipment related information to the user equipment via the wireless communication network comprises causing the transmission of user equipment related information via a control layer, in particular a radio resource control layer, of the wireless communication network.

17. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a plurality of user equipments are associated with the wireless communication network, wherein, in particular, the method according to any of the preceding claims is performed for each user equipment of the plurality of user equipments.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein, for at least two user equipments of said plurality of user equipments, said causing a transmission of user equipment related information to said at least two user equipments via the wireless communication network is performed by means of a multi-cast transmission.

19. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said transmission of user equipment related information to a user equipment via the wireless

communication network is performed by a cell which is not included in the set of one or more cells. - 4 -

20. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the direction of beam of a respective cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells is one of:

omnidirectional; and

a specific direction being associated with the beam of the respective cell, in particular a specific direction of an eNB or gNB beam.

21. A second method, performed by a user equipment of a wireless communication

network, the method comprising:

receiving user equipment related information via the wireless communication network, wherein the user equipment related information comprises for each cell of a set of one or more cells of the wireless communication network:

an identifier of the respective cell; and

directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment.

22. The method according to claim 21, performing, for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells:

measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell, and, in particular, causing a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the measured direction of arrival to a network side located entity of the wireless communication network via the wireless communication network.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein said measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell is performed at least partially based on the received user equipment related information, in particular based on the directional information between the respective cell and the user equipment.

24. The method according to claim 21, wherein said user equipment related information further comprises for each cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells a measurement information intended to be used by the user equipment.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the measurement information comprises for each cell of the at least one cell of the set of one or more cells at least one of:

a timing information regarding measurement and/or non-measurement of directional information at the user equipment for the respective cell; and 5

26. The method according to claim 25, comprising, for each cell for which the

measurement information comprises a timing information regarding measurement: performing said measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell, and, in particular, causing a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the measured direction of arrival to a network side located entity of the wireless communication network via the wireless communication network, according to the timing informing regarding measurement of the respective cell.

27. The method according to any of claims 25 to 26, comprising, for each cell for which the measurement information comprises a timing information regarding non measurement:

performing no measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell according to the timing informing regarding non-measurement of the respective cell.

28. The method according to any of claims 25 to 27, wherein the geometrical

measurement information is indicative of exclusion of a predefined angular sector in which no directional measurement is to performed, and wherein said angle rage is excluded when performing said measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell.

29. The method according to claim 28, comprising, for each cell for which the

measurement information comprises geometrical measurement information is indicative of exclusion of a predefined angular sector in which no directional measurement is to performed:

performing said measuring a direction of arrival of a signal from the respective cell, and, in particular, causing a transmission of a directional information being indicative of the measured direction of arrival to a network side located entity of the wireless communication network via the wireless communication network, not in a direction being excluded by the predefined angular sector.

30. The method according to any of claims 21 to 29, comprising: 6

receiving at least a part of an updated user equipment related information via the wireless communication network, and

updating the user equipment related information based on the received at least a part of an updated user equipment related information.

31. The method according to any of claims 21 to 30, comprising performing or causing beamforming at the user equipment with respect to a cell of the set of one or more cells associated with the user equipment related information, in particular based on the directional information of the respective cell.

32. The method according to any of claims 21 to 31, wherein the user equipment is

associated with an aerial vehicle, in particular an unmanned aerial vehicle.

33. The method according to any of claims 21 to 32, wherein the direction of beam of a respective cell of at least one cell of the set of one or more cells is one of:

omnidirectional; and

34. A first apparatus configured to perform and/or control or comprising respective means for performing and/or controlling the method of any of the claims 1 to 20.

35. A second apparatus configured to perform and/or control or comprising respective means for performing and/or controlling the method of any of the claims 21 to 33.

36. A system, comprising:

at least one first apparatus according to claim 34; and

at least one second apparatus according to claim 35.