WO2021239067A1

WO2021239067A1 - Cooperative communication method and communication apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2021239067A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/096508
Authority: WO
Inventors: 庄宏成; 龚卫林
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-05-29
Filing date: 2021-05-27
Publication date: 2021-12-02
Also published as: CN113747465A

Abstract

The present application discloses a cooperative communication method and a communication apparatus. The cooperative communication method comprises: determining a target cooperative node, sending beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node, and sending a data signal to a destination node, the target cooperative node having an RIS capability, the beamforming parameters comprising a target phase of the RIS of the target cooperative node, and the data signal being reflected to the destination node by the target cooperative node. The RIS can directly reflect an incident radio wave, that is, can directly reflect a data signal from a source node to a destination node, without the need to perform processing such as amplification and decoding on data to be sent, thereby reducing power consumption, and protecting data security. Meanwhile, compared with two phases of a conventional cooperative communication process, as the RIS can directly reflect an incident radio wave and reflect a data signal to the destination node, it can be considered as one phase, improving the system capacity.

Description

Cooperative communication method and communication device

Cross-references to related applications

This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the Chinese Patent Office on May 29, 2020, the application number is 202010482268.9, and the application name is "a collaborative communication method, sending equipment, and receiving equipment". The entire content is incorporated by reference. In this application; this application requires the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the Chinese Patent Office, the application number is 202011047898.X, and the application name is "a cooperative communication method and communication device" on September 29, 2020, and its entire contents Incorporated in this application by reference.

Technical field

This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a cooperative communication method and communication device.

Background technique

In order to improve the quality of wireless transmission links and increase coverage, cooperative communication technology is introduced. That is, a connection is established with the core network through the backhaul link of the cooperative node.

The traditional cooperative communication process can be roughly divided into two stages. One is the process of sending information from the source node to the cooperative node, and the other is the process of sending information from the cooperative node to the destination node, which reduces the system capacity by half.

In order for the destination node to correctly parse the information sent by the source node, the collaborative node can amplify the signal used to carry the data before sending the data from the source node to the destination node, and then send the amplified signal to the destination node. This method can also be understood as a cooperative mode of amplification and forwarding. Or, the cooperative node demodulates and decodes the data from the terminal, re-encodes the decoded data, and sends the re-encoded data to the destination node. This method can be understood as a cooperative mode of decoding and forwarding. The destination node can combine the signals in the two processes to parse the information from the source node. Regardless of the amplification and forwarding cooperation mode or the decoding and forwarding cooperation mode, the cooperation node is required to process the data from the source node, so that the power consumption of the cooperation node is higher. In addition, if the decode-and-forward cooperative mode is adopted, that is, the cooperative node decodes the information from the source node, there is a hidden data security risk.

Summary of the invention

The present application provides a cooperative communication method and communication device, which are used to increase the system capacity and reduce the energy consumption of cooperative nodes in the cooperative communication process.

In the first aspect, a cooperative communication method is provided. The method can be executed by a first communication device. The first communication device may be a communication device or a communication device capable of supporting the communication device to implement the functions required by the method, such as a chip system. The following description will be made by taking the communication device as the source node as an example. The method includes:

Determine the target cooperative node, send beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node, and send a data signal to the target node, where the target cooperative node has a reconfigurable intelligent meta-surface (RIS) capability, and the beam The shaping parameter includes the target phase of the RIS of the target cooperative node, and the data signal is reflected by the target cooperative node to the target node. Because RIS can directly reflect the incident wireless waves, it can directly reflect the data signal from the source node to the destination node, without the need to amplify and decode the data to be sent, so it can reduce power consumption and protect data security . At the same time, compared to the two stages of the traditional cooperative communication process, since RIS can directly reflect the incident wireless waves and reflect the data signal to the destination node, it can be considered as one stage, which can increase the system capacity.

In a possible implementation manner, determining the target cooperative node includes sending a RIS request message, receiving a RIS request response message respectively sent from at least one neighboring node, and determining the target cooperative node from the at least one neighboring node, The RIS request message is used to query whether a neighboring node has RIS capability, and the RIS request response message is used to indicate that the neighboring node that sends the RIS response request message has RIS capability. In this solution, when the source node needs to send data, it can actively query neighboring nodes with RIS capabilities.

In a possible implementation manner, the RIS request response message includes a first field, and a bit value of the first field is used to indicate that the corresponding neighboring node has RIS capability.

In a possible implementation manner, the RIS request response message further includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate one or more of the maximum gain of the RIS, the area size of the RIS, and the number of RIS units. . Since the RIS capabilities of different neighboring nodes may be different, for each neighboring node, the neighboring node can inform the source node of the RIS capability of the neighboring node, so that the source node can refer to the RIS capabilities of multiple neighboring nodes. Determine the target cooperative node among the neighboring nodes.

In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in the same field of the RIS request response message; or, the first indication information and the second indication information are carried In the different fields of the RIS request response message.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining the target collaboration node includes:

Receive first information broadcast from at least one neighboring node, and determine the target cooperative node from the at least one neighboring node, where the first information is used to indicate that the neighboring node that sends the first information has RIS capability. In this solution, the neighboring node can actively broadcast the first information to indicate that the neighboring node has RIS capability.

In a possible implementation manner, determining the target cooperative node from the at least one neighboring node includes:

Determining the strength of the signal received by the destination node will enable the target cooperative node to be determined among one or more neighboring nodes with the strength greater than the first threshold, where the signal received by the destination node is the first signal and the first signal. The signal formed by superimposing two signals, the first signal is the signal received by the destination node from the source node, and the second signal is one or more neighboring nodes among the at least one neighboring node received by the destination node Signals sent by nodes in joint beamforming. In this solution, if the source node does not have beamforming capability, the source node can determine that the intensity of the signal received by the destination node (the signal formed by the superposition of the first signal and the second signal) is greater than one or more neighbors of the first threshold. The target collaboration node is determined among the nodes.

In a possible implementation manner, determining the target cooperative node from the at least one neighboring node includes: determining the strength of the signal received by the destination node so that the strength is greater than one or more of a first threshold. Neighboring nodes are determined to be the target cooperative node, wherein the signal received by the destination node is the signal received by the destination node from the source node and one or more neighboring nodes of the at least one neighboring node in joint beamforming transmission Signal. In this solution, if the source node has beamforming capability, the source node can combine beamforming with multiple neighboring nodes, and the source node can determine that the signal strength of the source node can be combined with multiple neighboring nodes to beamforming is greater than Determine the target cooperative node among one or more neighboring nodes of the first threshold.

In a second aspect, a cooperative communication method is provided. The method can be executed by a second communication device. The second communication device may be a communication device or a communication device capable of supporting the communication device to implement the functions required by the method, such as a chip system. The following description will be made by taking the communication device as a cooperative node as an example. The method includes:

The collaboration node receives a RIS request message from the source node, where the RIS request message is used to query whether the collaboration node has RIS capability, and the collaboration node is configured with RIS;

The collaboration node sends a RIS request response message to the source node, where the RIS request response message is used to indicate that the collaboration node has RIS capability;

The cooperative node reflects the signal from the source node to the destination node through the RIS.

In a possible implementation, before the cooperative node reflects the signal from the source node to the destination node through the RIS, the method further includes:

The cooperative node receives beamforming parameters from the source node, where the beamforming parameters include the target phase of the RIS of the target cooperative node;

The cooperative node adjusts the RIS phase of the cooperative node according to the beamforming parameter.

In a possible implementation manner, the RIS request response message includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the cooperative node has RIS capability.

In a possible implementation manner, the RIS request response message further includes one or more of the maximum gain of the RIS, the area size of the RIS, and the number of RIS units.

In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in the same field of the RIS request response message; or, the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in the RIS Different fields of the request response message.

Regarding the technical effects brought by the second aspect or various possible implementations of the second aspect, reference may be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or various possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which may be a source node or a communication device capable of supporting the source node to implement the functions required by the method, such as a chip or a chip system. The functions described can be implemented with hardware, or can be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processing module, a RIS, and a transceiver module, where the processing module is used to determine a target cooperative node that has the ability to reconfigure the smart surface RIS; the transceiver module is used to communicate to all The target cooperative node sends beamforming parameters, the beamforming parameters include the target phase of the RIS of the target cooperative node; the transceiver module is also used to send a data signal to the target node, and the data signal is used Reflect to the destination node.

In a possible implementation, the transceiver module is specifically configured to: send a RIS request message, and receive a RIS request response message respectively sent from at least one neighboring node, where the RIS request message is used to query whether the neighboring node has a RIS Capability, the RIS request response message is used to indicate that the neighboring node that sends the RIS response request message has RIS capability;

The processing module is specifically configured to determine the target cooperative node from the at least one neighboring node.

In a possible implementation manner, the RIS request response message further includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate one or more of the maximum gain of the RIS, the area size of the RIS, and the number of RIS units. .

In a possible implementation, the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in the same field of the RIS request response message; or, the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in the RIS request response message. Different fields.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is specifically configured to receive first information broadcasted from at least one neighboring node, where the first information is used to indicate that the neighboring node that sends the first information has RIS capability.

In a possible implementation, the processing module is specifically used to:

Determining the strength of the signal received by the destination node, the signal received by the destination node is a signal formed by superimposing a first signal and a second signal, and the first signal is a signal received by the destination node from a communication device, The second signal is a signal received by the destination node and sent by one or more neighboring nodes in joint beamforming of the at least one neighboring node;

The target cooperative node is determined among one or more neighboring nodes whose strength is greater than the first threshold.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication device has no beamforming capability.

In a possible implementation, the processing module is specifically used to:

Determining the strength of a signal received by the destination node, where the signal received by the destination node is a signal received by the destination node from a communication device and one or more neighboring nodes in the at least one neighboring node by joint beamforming transmission;

One or more neighboring nodes whose strength is greater than a first threshold are determined as the target cooperative node.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the third aspect or various possible implementation manners of the third aspect, reference may be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the first aspect or various possible implementation manners of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a cooperative node or a communication device capable of supporting the cooperative node to implement the functions required by the method, such as a chip or a chip system. The functions described can be implemented with hardware, or can be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a RIS and a transceiver module. The transceiver module is used to receive a RIS request message from a source node. The RIS request message is used to query whether the cooperative node has RIS capability. The collaboration node is equipped with RIS; the transceiver module is also used for the collaboration node to send a RIS request response message to the source node, the RIS request response message is used to indicate that the collaboration node has RIS capabilities; RIS is used to send information from the source node The signal from the source node is reflected to the destination node.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a processing module, wherein the transceiver module is configured to receive beamforming parameters from the source node, and the beamforming parameters include the RIS of the target cooperative node. The target phase;

The processing module is configured to adjust the RIS phase of the cooperative node according to the beamforming parameter.

In a possible implementation manner, the RIS request response message includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the cooperating node has RIS capability.

Regarding the technical effects brought by the fourth aspect or various possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, reference may be made to the introduction of the technical effects of the second aspect or various possible implementation manners of the second aspect.

In the fifth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication device. The communication device may be the communication device in the third aspect or the fourth aspect in the above-mentioned embodiments, or the communication device provided in the third or fourth aspect In the chip. The communication device includes a communication interface, a processor, and optionally, a memory. Wherein, the memory is used to store computer programs or instructions or data, and the processor is coupled with the memory and a communication interface. When the processor reads the computer programs or instructions or data, the communication device executes the first aspect or the second aspect. The method executed by the cooperating node or the source node in the method embodiment.

It should be understood that the communication interface may be a transceiver in the communication device, for example, implemented by the antenna, feeder, and codec in the communication device, or if the communication device is a chip set in a cooperative node, the communication interface It can be the input/output interface of the chip, such as input/output pins. The transceiver is used for the communication device to communicate with other devices. Exemplarily, when the communication device is a cooperative node, the other device is a source node; or, when the communication device is a source node, the other device is a cooperative node.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor and may also include a memory, configured to implement the method executed by the communication device in the third aspect or the fourth aspect. In a possible implementation manner, the chip system further includes a memory for storing program instructions and/or data. The chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system. The communication system includes the communication device described in the third aspect and the communication device described in the fourth aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium that stores a computer program, and when the computer program is run, it implements the methods executed by the cooperating nodes in the foregoing aspects; or implements the foregoing The methods executed by the source node in all aspects.

In a ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided. The computer program product includes: computer program code, which when the computer program code is executed, causes the methods executed by the cooperative nodes in the above aspects to be executed, or causes the above The methods executed by the terminal in all aspects are executed.

For the beneficial effects of the above-mentioned fifth aspect to the ninth aspect and the implementation manners thereof, reference may be made to the description of the beneficial effects of the method of the first aspect or the second aspect and the implementation manners thereof.

Description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of this application is applicable;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture applicable to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture to which the embodiments of this application are applicable;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another network architecture to which the embodiments of this application are applicable;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the working principle of RIS provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a collaborative communication method provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a collaboration node provided with RIS provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an architecture for selecting a target collaboration node from a source node according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an architecture for selecting a target collaboration node from a source node according to an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the application.

Detailed ways

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

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, such as the NR system, or to the long term evolution (LTE) system, the LTE-A system, Worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), or wireless local area networks (WLAN), or it can also be applied to next-generation mobile communication systems or other similar communication systems, and there are no specific restrictions .

At present, the terminal can support multiple modes, for example, the terminal can support multiple modes of 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G. It should be understood that with the development of the standard mode, the usable frequency of the communication system is getting higher and higher. For example, the frequency bands that NR can support are sub-6GHz and millimeter wave frequency bands. Although the high frequency band can bring higher transmission rates, the higher the frequency band, the greater the attenuation of signal transmission, resulting in poor transmission performance of the wireless transmission link. In order to improve the quality of wireless transmission links and increase coverage, cooperative communication technology is introduced. That is, a connection is established with the core network through the backhaul link of the wireless backhaul equipment. Among them, the wireless backhaul device may also be called a relay node or a cooperative node. In the following description, the wireless backhaul device is an example of a cooperative node.

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a cooperative communication system. As shown in FIG. 1, for example, multiple source nodes, multiple cooperative nodes, multiple destination nodes, etc. may also be included.

Exemplarily, please refer to FIG. 2, which is an example of a network architecture including multiple cooperative nodes. As shown in FIG. 2, the network architecture includes one source node, two cooperative nodes, and one destination node. The two cooperative nodes are the cooperative node 201 and the cooperative node 202, respectively. The source node is connected to the collaboration node 201 in a wireless manner, the collaboration node 201 is connected to the collaboration node 202 in a wireless manner, and the collaboration node 202 is connected to the destination node in a wireless manner. In the architecture shown in FIG. 2, the collaboration node 201 regards the collaboration node 202 that provides the backhaul service for it as the parent node, and the collaboration node 202 regards the destination node as the parent node. When the cooperating node 201 receives the radio bearer used by the source node to carry the uplink information, it will pass through the cooperating node 201 and the cooperating node 202 in turn, and then transmit to the destination node, and then the destination node will send the uplink information in the radio bearer to the mobile Gateway equipment. The mobile gateway device sends a radio bearer for carrying downlink information to the destination node, and then sends it to the source node via the cooperation node 202 and the cooperation node 201 in turn. It should be understood that the network architecture includes two cooperative nodes, which can be understood as a multi-hop wireless backhaul networking scenario, that is, there is a multi-level wireless link transmission between the source node and the destination node.

The connection mode of the multi-hop wireless link in the network architecture shown in FIG. 2 is one, and the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to networking scenarios including multi-hop wireless links and multi-connection wireless backhaul. The multi-connection wireless backhaul networking scenario refers to the existence of multiple wireless link transmissions between the source node and the destination node. Exemplarily, please refer to FIG. 3, which is an example of a network architecture including multiple cooperative nodes. As shown in FIG. 3, the network architecture includes one source node, three cooperative nodes, and one destination node. The three cooperative nodes are the cooperative node 301, the cooperative node 302, and the cooperative node 303, respectively. The difference from Fig. 2 is that in Fig. 3, two wireless transmission links are formed between the cooperation node 301~the cooperation node 303 and the destination node. One of the wireless transmission links is composed of the cooperation node 301, the cooperation node 302 and the destination node. The other wireless transmission link is composed of the cooperative node 301, the cooperative node 303 and the destination node. The source node can use these two wireless transmissions; the link communicates with the destination node.

Traditional cooperative communication can be roughly divided into two stages. The following describes the process of traditional cooperative communication in combination with a specific network architecture.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is an example of a network architecture to which the embodiments of this application are applicable. The network architecture shown in Figure 4 includes one source node, three cooperative nodes, and one destination node. It should be understood that there is one most suitable node among the three cooperative nodes serving as the cooperative node of the source node, and the remaining two cooperative nodes can be considered as potential cooperative nodes relatively. For example, the cooperation node 402 and the cooperation node 403 among the three cooperation nodes in FIG. 4 are potential cooperation nodes with respect to the cooperation node 401. For ease of description, the cooperation node 401 may also be referred to as a target cooperation node. It should be understood that the source node may broadcast information, and the collaborative nodes located around the source node, such as the collaborative node 401 to the collaborative node 403, may all receive the information, but may not be able to parse the information correctly. When the cooperation node 401-the cooperation node 403 receive the information, the system can determine that the cooperation node 401 of the cooperation node 401-the cooperation node 403 is the target cooperation node. The target cooperative node 401 can send information from the source node to the destination node. It should be understood that traditional cooperative communication includes two stages. One is the process of sending information from the source node to the target cooperative node 401 (shown as a thick line in Figure 4), and the second is the process of sending information from the target cooperative node 401 to the destination node. Process (shown with thin lines in Figure 4).

In order to allow the destination node to correctly parse the information sent by the source node, in some embodiments, the target collaboration node 401 may amplify the signal used to carry the information before sending the information from the source node to the destination node, and then send it to the destination node. The amplified signal. This method can also be understood as a cooperative mode of amplification and forwarding. In other embodiments, the target cooperative node 401 may demodulate and decode the information from the terminal, re-encode the decoded information, and send the re-encoded information to the destination node. This method can be understood as a cooperative mode of decoding and forwarding. The destination node can combine the signals in the two processes to parse the information from the source node.

Since the traditional cooperative communication process is divided into two stages, namely the transmission stage from the source node to the target cooperative node and the transmission stage from the target cooperative node to the destination node, the system capacity is divided into two stages. For each stage, the system capacity Cut it in half. In addition, the target cooperative node 401 needs to process information from the source node, which increases the power consumption of the target cooperative node 401. If the target cooperative node 401 adopts the decode-and-forward cooperative mode in the second stage, then the target cooperative node decodes the information from the source node, and there is a data security risk.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present application can set up a reconfigurable intelligent meta-surface (RIS) at the cooperation node, which can improve the coverage and capacity of the wireless network and increase the transmission throughput rate. Because RIS can directly reflect the incident wireless waves, it can directly reflect the data signal from the source node to the destination node, without the need to amplify and decode the data to be sent, so it can reduce power consumption and protect data security . At the same time, compared with the two stages of the traditional cooperative communication process, because RIS can directly reflect the incident wireless waves and reflect the data signal to the destination node, it can be considered as one stage, so the system capacity can be improved.

It should be understood that RIS is a digitally reconfigurable artificial electromagnetic surface, an artificial composite structure formed by a large number of sub-wavelength digitally reconfigurable artificial electromagnetic units in a certain macroscopic arrangement (periodic or aperiodic). Since its basic unit and arrangement can be designed arbitrarily, it can break through the limitation of traditional materials that are difficult to accurately manipulate at the atomic or molecular level, and construct ultra-conventional media parameters that cannot be achieved by traditional materials and traditional technologies, such as including positive permittivity. And negative dielectric constant media parameters. Materials with ultra-conventional media parameters can be called metamaterials. Because they are based on changing the spatial arrangement of digital encoding units to control electromagnetic waves, that is, by changing the state distribution of the basic unit, the characteristics of the electromagnetic field at a specific spatial position can be controlled. In some embodiments, metamaterials may also be referred to as digital electromagnetic metamaterials or electromagnetic coding metamaterials.

Exemplarily, please refer to Fig. 5, which is a schematic diagram of the working principle of the RIS module. As shown in Fig. 5, the RIS module includes multiple RIS units, and different RIS units are connected by diodes, such as PIN diodes, varactor diodes, and so on. RIS can reflect received wireless waves. It should be understood that when a wireless wave propagates from one medium to another medium with a different refractive index, in addition to reflection, it also undergoes refraction, so RIS can change the reflection phase difference of the wireless wave. It can also be understood that RIS makes the radio wave obey the generalized Snell's law on the reflection or refraction interface. That is, RIS can make the reflection angle of the wireless wave not equal to the incident angle. Compared with the traditional surface (the reflection angle of wireless waves is reflection angle 1), the reflection angle of wireless waves can be made reflection angle 2. In other words, compared to traditional surfaces, RIS has the ability to shape radio waves according to the generalized Snells law.

Specifically, specifically, controlling the RIS unit to adjust the amplitude and/or phase of the received signal can control the reflection coefficient of each RIS unit. The adjustment of the amplitude and/or phase of the received signal by the RIS unit can also be regarded as adjusting the amplitude and/or phase of the RIS unit. It should be understood that the reflection coefficient of each RIS unit is different, and the reflection angle or refraction angle of the RIS unit to the wireless wave is also different. That is to control multiple RIS units to adjust the amplitude and/or phase of the received signal, and adjust the reflection angle or refraction angle of the RIS to the wireless wave, so as to coordinately realize the fine three-dimensional for directional signal enhancement or nulling. (3D) Passive beamforming.

In some embodiments, the RIS unit can be controlled to adjust the amplitude and/or phase of the received signal by controlling the on-off state (on state or off state) of the PIN diode connected to the RIS unit. For example, by applying different bias voltages to the PIN diode, the PIN diode is turned on or off, and the RIS unit connected to the PIN diode is turned on or off. The multiple RIS units included in the RIS are in different states, and the RIS adjusts the amplitude and/or phase of the received signal differently, so that the reflection coefficients of the RIS are also different. Therefore, by controlling the state of the RIS unit, the adjustment of the amplitude and/or phase of the received signal by the RIS module can be controlled. For example, the reflection phase of the RIS to the wireless wave is different by 180°, and then the reflection coefficient of the RIS, that is, the phase and/or phase of the RIS can be controlled. Amplitude. In this way, the reflection angle of the RIS to the wireless wave is not equal to the incident angle, and directional beam formation can be realized. Thereby, the coverage and system capacity of the wireless network can be improved, so RIS can be widely used in communication systems. For example, in the embodiment of the present application, RIS may be set in the source node and/or the cooperation node, and the RIS may be used to implement cooperative communication. The reflection coefficient of RIS is different, and the reflection angle of the wireless wave is also different, resulting in different beam directions. Therefore, it can be considered that the reflection coefficient of RIS can be used to adjust the beam direction of RIS. From this perspective, the reflection coefficient of RIS can also be referred to as the beamforming parameter of RIS (take this as an example below).

The embodiments of the present application can be applied to any network architecture shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4. Among them, the source node may be a terminal, which may be called a terminal device, that is, a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to users, for example, a handheld device with a wireless connection function, or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal device can communicate with the core network via a radio access network (RAN), and exchange voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal equipment may include user equipment (UE), wireless terminal equipment, mobile terminal equipment, device-to-device communication (device-to-device, D2D) terminal equipment, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) Terminal equipment, machine-to-machine/machine-type communications (M2M/MTC) terminal equipment, Internet of things (IoT) terminal equipment, subscriber unit (subscriber unit), subscriber station (subscriber station), mobile station (mobile station), remote station (remote station), access point (access point, AP), remote terminal (remote terminal), access terminal (access terminal), user terminal (user terminal) , User agent (user agent), or user equipment (user device), etc. For example, it may include mobile phones (or "cellular" phones), computers with mobile terminal equipment, portable, pocket-sized, hand-held, mobile devices with built-in computers, and so on. For example, personal communication service (PCS) phone, cordless phone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), and other equipment. It also includes restricted devices, such as devices with low power consumption, or devices with limited storage capabilities, or devices with limited computing capabilities. Examples include barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID), sensors, global positioning system (GPS), laser scanners and other information sensing equipment.

As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices can also be called wearable smart devices or smart wearable devices, etc. It is a general term for the application of wearable technology to intelligently realize daily wear and develop wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing and Shoes etc. A wearable device is a portable device that is directly worn on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable device is not only a kind of hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction and cloud interaction. In a broad sense, wearable smart devices include full-featured, large-sized, complete or partial functions that can be achieved without relying on smart phones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, and only focus on a certain type of application function, which need to cooperate with other devices such as smart phones. Use, such as all kinds of smart bracelets, smart helmets, smart jewelry, etc. for physical sign monitoring. The various terminals introduced above, if they are located on the vehicle (for example, placed in the vehicle or installed in the vehicle), can be regarded as vehicle-mounted terminal equipment, for example, the vehicle-mounted terminal equipment is also called on-board unit (OBU). . It should be noted that in this embodiment of the application, the terminal device may be set with RSI or not with RIS.

The cooperative node may be a terminal or other possible devices, such as a relay device or a device with a relay node. In this embodiment of the application, the collaboration node is provided with RIS.

The destination node may be a network device, and the network device may be called a base station, or may be called a radio access network (RAN) node (or device). For example, the network equipment may be a next-generation Node B (gNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), an evolved Node B (evolved Node B, eNB), and a radio network controller (radio network controller). network controller, RNC), Node B (NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), home base station (for example, home evolved NodeB, or home Node B) , HNB), baseband unit (BBU), or wireless fidelity (Wifi) access point (AP), etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the source node finally realizes communication with the destination node. The source node may be a terminal or other possible devices, such as a relay device, and the destination node may be a network side device, such as a base station.

The following describes the cooperative communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the following introduction process, the application of this method to any of the network architectures shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 is taken as an example. In addition, the method can be executed by two communication devices, such as a first communication device and a second communication device, where the first communication device may be a source node capable of supporting the source node to implement the functions required by the method. The communication device or the first communication device may be a collaboration node or a communication device capable of supporting the collaboration node to implement the functions required by the method, and of course it may also be other communication devices, such as a chip system. The same is true for the second communication device. The second communication device may be a source node or a communication device capable of supporting the source node to implement the functions required by the method, or the second communication device may be a cooperative node or capable of supporting a cooperative node to implement the method. The communication device with the required functions can of course also be other communication devices, such as a chip system. And there are no restrictions on the implementation of the first communication device and the second communication device. For example, the first communication device may be a source node, the second communication device may be a cooperative node, or the first communication device may be a cooperative node, and the second communication device may be a cooperative node. The communication device is the source node, or the first communication device is the source node, and the second communication device is the communication device capable of supporting the functions required by the cooperative node to implement the method, and so on.

For ease of introduction, in the following, the method is executed by the source node and the cooperation node as an example, that is, the first communication device is the source node and the second communication device is the cooperation node as an example. Because this article is based on the application of the technical solution provided in this embodiment to the network architecture shown in Figures 1 to 4 as an example, the destination node described below may be the purpose of the network architecture shown in Figures 1 to 4 Nodes, the cooperative node described below may be the cooperative node in the network architecture shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, and the source node below may be the source node in the network architecture shown in FIGS. 1 to 4. When the method is applied to other network architectures, the understanding of the destination node, the cooperation node and the source node can refer to the description of applying the method to the network architecture shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, which will not be repeated here.

Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a schematic flowchart of a cooperative communication method provided by an embodiment of this application. The flowchart of the cooperative communication method is described as follows.

S601. The source node broadcasts a RIS request message. The RIS request message is used to query whether multiple neighboring nodes have RIS capabilities.

In the embodiment of the present application, there may be multiple neighboring nodes around the source node, and some or all of the multiple neighboring nodes may be equipped with RISs. It should be understood that the device provided with the RIS as a cooperative node can reflect incident wireless waves through the RIS, thereby sending the received data signal to the destination node. Because RIS can directly reflect the incident wireless waves, it can directly reflect the data signal from the source node to the destination node, without the need to amplify and decode the data to be sent, so it can reduce power consumption and protect data security . At the same time, compared to the two stages of the traditional cooperative communication process, because RIS can directly reflect the incident wireless waves and reflect the data signal to the destination node, it can be considered as a stage that can increase the system capacity.

It should be noted that the neighboring node in this article refers to a device within a certain distance from the source node, or can also be considered as a device that can receive a signal sent by the source node. The neighboring node may be a terminal or other possible devices, such as a relay device or a device with a relay node. This article takes the neighboring node as the terminal as an example.

Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a schematic structural diagram of a collaboration node provided with a RIS provided in an embodiment of this application. In Fig. 7, the cooperative node is provided with a RIS701, and the data signal to be transmitted is reflected and/or refracted through the RIS, and the data signal is sent out. Correspondingly, the collaboration node is also provided with a RIS control module 702 connected to the RIS701. The RIS control module 702 can be used to adjust the beamforming parameters of the RIS701 to adjust the amplitude and/or phase of the RIS, so that the RIS can control the received After the signal is reflected, the beamforming of the signal is directed to the network device (for example, the destination node).

The RIS control module 702 may be a circuit or chip independent of the RIS701, or may be a functional module or an algorithm module integrated in the RIS701. The RIS control module 702 can be used to generate a control signal for adjusting the beamforming parameters of the RIS 701, such as a first control signal. Adjusting the RIS701 by the first control signal can make the RIS701 reflect or refract the incident signal and point to the direction of the destination node, so that the destination node has the strongest signal strength.

In some embodiments, the first control signal may be an electrical signal including multiple amplitudes, and different amplitudes correspond to different phases and/or amplitudes. Exemplarily, if the first control signal occupies 1 bit, then the first control signal corresponds to two kinds of amplitude voltage signals (may be referred to as level for short). Among them, the phase offset corresponding to the high level is 90°, and the phase offset corresponding to the low level is 180°. It should be understood that the high level and the low level here are relative terms. For example, a level greater than 1V can be defined as a high level, and a level less than or equal to 1V can be defined as a low level. When the first control signal is a high-level signal, the RIS701 can shift the phase of the received signal by 90°, and can change the reflection angle of the RIS701 to the incident signal. Exemplarily, the first control signal occupies 2 bits, and can respectively correspond to 4 types of amplitude levels. For example, the four types of amplitudes are amplitude 1, amplitude 2, amplitude 3, and amplitude 4. Among them, the phase offset corresponding to amplitude 1 is 45°, and the phase offset corresponding to amplitude 2 is 135 °, the phase offset corresponding to amplitude 3 is 225°, and the phase offset corresponding to amplitude 4 is 270°. When the amplitude of the first control signal is amplitude 1, RIS701 can shift the phase of the received signal by 45°; when the amplitude of the first control signal is amplitude 4, RIS701 can shift the phase of the received signal by 270°, Thereby changing the reflection angle of the RIS701 to the incident signal.

It should be noted that if the RIS701 points to the destination node, the phase and/or amplitude of the RIS701 may not be adjusted, that is, the RIS control module 702 may not generate the first control signal. If it is necessary to adjust the phase and/or amplitude of the RIS701, the RIS control module 702 generates a first control signal, and adjusts the phase and/or amplitude of the RIS701 through the first control signal.

It should be understood that the beamforming of the cooperating node is directed to the destination node, so that the strength of the signal received by the destination node is the strongest. Generally speaking, the source node and the destination node will align the beams during the random access process. For example, the destination node sends multiple beams to the source node, so that the source node can determine the beam with the strongest signal strength through the signal strength of multiple beams. , The direction of the destination node can be known based on the direction of the beam with the strongest signal strength; or, for example, the destination node informs the source node of the location of the destination node, and the source node determines the beamforming direction according to the location of the destination node. The source node can determine the phase and/or amplitude of the beam sent by the source node according to the beamforming direction. In the same way, the cooperative node and the destination node can also determine the beamforming direction during the random access process, that is, the location of the destination node. However, after the source node or the cooperative node accesses the destination node, the relative orientation of the source node and the destination node may change, and the relative orientation of the cooperative node and the destination node may also change. In order to ensure the strongest signal received by the destination node, it can be adjusted. The phase and/or amplitude of the source node transmitting beam (that is, the beamforming parameters of the source node antenna), and adjusting the beamforming parameters of the cooperating node, so that after the RIS reflects the received signal, the beamforming of the signal points to the destination Node to enhance the strength of the signal received by the destination node. Further, the coordinated node may refer to the beamforming parameter of the source node to adjust the beamforming parameter of the coordinated node. For example, the cooperative node is also provided with a receiving module 703, which can be used to receive the beamforming parameters of the source node's antenna sent by the source node. The RIS control module 702 adjusts the amplitude and/or phase of the RIS according to the beamforming parameters received by the receiving module 703.

It should be understood that some neighboring nodes among the multiple neighboring nodes may be equipped with RIS, and some neighboring nodes may not be equipped with RIS. If a neighboring node is not equipped with RIS, then the neighboring node cannot transmit data through RIS, and it can also be considered that the neighboring node does not have RIS capability. The neighboring node receives the data signal from the source node and will pass the amplifying and forwarding mode or decoding as described above. In forwarding mode, the data signal is sent to the destination node. If a neighboring node has RIS capability, the incident wireless wave can be reflected through RIS, thereby sending the received data signal to the destination node. Compared with the traditional cooperative communication process, since the neighboring node with RIS is used as the cooperative node, the system capacity can be avoided to be reduced by half. The source node will preferably set the neighboring node with RIS as the cooperative node.

Therefore, the source node can query whether multiple neighboring nodes have RIS capabilities before sending data. For example, before sending data, the source node can broadcast a RIS request message, which is used to query whether multiple neighboring nodes have RIS capabilities.

In some embodiments, the source node may send the RIS request message through one or more of the set of multiple communication interfaces. For example, the source node may be provided with a Bluetooth module and a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, WI-FI) module, and the communication interface may be a Bluetooth communication interface or a WI-FI interface. If the source node supports the LTE technology, the communication interface may be a communication interface supported by the LTE system, and if the source node supports the NR technology, then the communication interface may be a communication interface supported by the NR system. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the type and number of communication interfaces, as long as the source node and the cooperation node can communicate through the communication interface.

It should be understood that in the case where the quality of the wireless link between the source node and the destination node is poor, the source node may broadcast a RIS request message to determine the cooperative node with RIS capability. The source node may use the first communication interface to broadcast the RIS request message, and may also use the second communication interface to broadcast the RIS request message. The first communication interface here refers to the communication interface used when the source node communicates with the destination node, and the second communication interface refers to a communication interface different from the communication interface used when the source node communicates with the destination node. For example, the source node and the destination node communicate through an LTE communication interface, the first communication interface may be an LTE communication interface, and the second communication interface may be, for example, a Bluetooth communication interface, a Wi-Fi interface, and the like. Preferably, the source node may preferentially use the communication interface with the lowest power consumption to broadcast the RIS request message. Exemplarily, the source node may broadcast the RIS request message through the WI-FI interface. In other words, the RIS request message can be carried on the WI-FI beacon signal.

It should be noted that the source node in the embodiment of the present application may or may not be equipped with RIS. When the source node is equipped with an RIS, then when the source node is a cooperative node of other source nodes, there is no need to forward the received data signal to the destination node through the aforementioned amplifying and forwarding mode and decoding and forwarding mode.

S602. The M neighboring nodes respectively send a RIS request response message to the source node, where the RIS request response message is used to indicate that the neighboring node sending the RIS request response message has RIS capability, and the M is greater than or equal to N.

After multiple neighboring nodes around the source node receive the RIS request message, the neighboring nodes with RIS capabilities among the multiple neighboring nodes can send a RIS request response message to the source node. The RIS request response message is used to inform the source node that the The neighboring node corresponding to the RIS request response message has RIS capability. That is, the RIS request response message is used to indicate that the neighboring node corresponding to the RIS request response message has RIS capability. Among the multiple neighboring nodes, the neighboring node that does not have the RIS capability may not respond to the source node, that is, not sending the RIS request response message to the source node. Or a neighboring node that does not have RIS capability among the plurality of neighboring nodes may also send a RIS request response message indicating that it does not have RIS capability to the source node.

As an example, the RIS request message may include a first field, and the first field may occupy 1 bit. For example, the value of the first field is 1, and the RIS request message is used to indicate that the neighboring node corresponding to the RIS request response message has RIS capability. In contrast, the value of the first field is 0, and the RIS request message is used to indicate that the neighboring node corresponding to the RIS request response message does not have RIS capability. Alternatively, the value of the first field is 0, and the RIS request message is used to indicate that the neighboring node corresponding to the RIS request response message has RIS capability. In contrast, the value of the first field is 1, and the RIS request message is used to indicate that the neighboring node corresponding to the RIS request response message does not have RIS capability.

In this article, the multiple neighboring nodes including M neighboring nodes with RIS capability are taken as an example. It should be understood that among the M neighboring nodes with RIS capability, the received signal strength of some neighboring nodes is relatively strong, and the received signal strength of some neighboring nodes is relatively weak. In order to ensure better wireless link communication quality, in the embodiment of the present application, the neighboring node with the largest joint signal strength received from the source node and the cooperating node can be selected from the M neighboring nodes as the target cooperating node. Relatively speaking, the M neighboring nodes among the multiple neighboring nodes existing around the source node can be considered as candidate cooperative nodes, and the target cooperative node makes the destination node receive the maximum strength of the joint signal from the source node and the candidate cooperative node. Alternative collaboration node for. It should be understood that the joint signal here refers to the signal obtained after the signal sent by the source node and the signal sent by the cooperating node are superimposed.

In order for the source node to determine the target cooperative node from the M neighboring nodes according to the RIS request response message, in the implementation of this application, the RIS request response message sent by each neighboring node of the M neighboring nodes to the source node can carry RIS information. The RIS information can be used to indicate the ability of neighboring nodes to forward signals through the RIS. Generally speaking, a neighboring node with a stronger RIS signal forwarding capability can enhance the strength of the signal received by the destination node. Therefore, the source node can determine the candidate cooperative node with strong signal forwarding ability as the target cooperative node.

Exemplarily, the RIS information may include position information of neighboring nodes relative to the destination node and RIS capability information, where the RIS capability information may include at least one of the maximum gain of the RIS, the area of the RIS, and the number of RIS units included in the RIS .

S603: The source node determines a target cooperation node from M candidate cooperation nodes.

Generally speaking, the greater the maximum gain of the RIS set by the node, the stronger the ability of the node to forward signals. If the RIS maximum gains of multiple nodes are the same, the node with the larger RIS area has a stronger ability to reflect or radiate signals, that is, the stronger the ability to forward signals. If the RIS maximum gain of multiple nodes is the same, and the RIS area of the multiple nodes is the same, the node with the more RIS units has a stronger ability to forward signals. It should be noted that the number of RIS units includes the number of rows and columns of the RIS unit.

The source node can determine the cooperative node with the strongest signal forwarding ability from the M candidate cooperative nodes according to the RIS information corresponding to the M candidate cooperative nodes, as the target cooperative node. However, a certain cooperative node has the strongest signal forwarding ability, which may not make the destination node receive the strongest signal from the source node and the cooperative node. That is, there are multiple factors that affect the received signal strength of the destination node. Among them, one of the factors is the channel state between the source node and the cooperating node and the channel state between the cooperating node and the destination node. The beamforming direction of the source node is aligned with the cooperating node to ensure that the channel state between the source node and the cooperating node is as good as possible, and the beamforming direction of the cooperating node is aligned with the destination node to ensure the channel between the cooperating node and the destination node as much as possible In good condition. For ease of description, in this embodiment of the application, the factors that affect the received signal strength of the destination node are collectively referred to as signal strength parameters. In the embodiment of this application, the signal strength parameter may include the location information of the cooperative node, the location information of the destination node, the channel gain from the source node to the cooperative node, the channel gain from the source node to the destination node, and the channel gain from the cooperative node to the destination node. Wait. The source node can determine N target cooperative nodes from M neighboring nodes according to the signal strength parameter. Among them, the N target cooperation nodes may be one or more target cooperation nodes.

In addition, the factors that affect the received signal strength of the destination node also include the beamforming capability of the source node. Some source nodes have no beamforming capability, and some source nodes have beamforming capability. Among multiple source nodes with beamforming capabilities, different source nodes have different beamforming capabilities. Based on this, the embodiment of the present application can determine the target coordinated node from M candidate coordinated nodes according to whether the source node has beamforming capability. The following respectively takes a source node without beamforming capability and a source node with beamforming capability as examples to introduce the method for the source node to determine the target cooperative node from M candidate cooperative nodes.

Solution 1: For the source node without beamforming capability, the source node without beamforming capability can determine the target cooperative node according to the RIS information and the location information of the candidate cooperative node and the location information of the destination node. In order to facilitate the distinction between the location information of the candidate collaborative node and the location information of the destination node, hereinafter, the location information of the candidate collaborative node is called the first location information, and the location information of the destination node is called the second location information. The first location information and the second location information can determine the direction from the candidate collaborative node to the destination node, so that the beamforming parameters that should be adjusted when the candidate collaborative node sends data can be determined.

In a possible implementation, a source node without beamforming capability can select a candidate cooperative node with the largest RIS beamforming gain as the target cooperative node. The source node can determine the strength of the joint signal according to the signal strength parameter (can be referred to as joint signal strength for short), where the joint signal refers to the signal received by the destination node from the source node and the signal received by the destination node from the M candidate cooperative nodes. The superimposed signal. The source node can select the candidate cooperative node corresponding to the maximum joint signal strength as the target cooperative node.

Exemplarily, the source node may determine the target cooperative node based on the signal strength received by the destination node. Specifically, a signal may be sent from the source node is assumed S, the M cooperating nodes alternative i-th node as the alternate cooperating cooperative target node, the destination node may be a received signal Y _{_i,} Y _i satisfies the equation ( 1):

In formula (1), θ _i is the beamforming parameter _{of the i-th candidate cooperative node, and G i} is the channel gain from the RIS of the i-th candidate cooperative node to the destination node,

Is the channel gain from the source node to the i-th neighboring node,

Is the channel gain from the source node to the destination node, and Z is the noise of the signal received by the destination node, which can be determined according to the noise figure of the destination node. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the method for determining the channel gain from the source node to the destination node. For example, the channel gain may be estimated according to the channel state information reported by the source node.

The intensity of the signal received by the destination node is γ _i , and γ _i satisfies formula (2):

Then the candidate cooperative node with the largest gain, that is, the target cooperative node is j ^* , and j ^* satisfies the formula (3):

(j ^* ,θ ^* )=arg max(γ _i ) (3)

In formula (3), θ ^* is the optimal beamforming parameter corresponding to the target cooperative node j ^*. It should be understood that the optimal beamforming parameter is the beamforming parameter corresponding to the strongest signal received by the destination node.

Among them, the beamforming parameters include the amplitude and/or phase of the RIS. The source node can traverse M candidate collaborative nodes, that is, in the above formula (1)-formula (3), the value of i is traversed from 1 to M, that is, for each candidate collaborative node of the M candidate collaborative nodes Node, substituting each beamforming parameter of the candidate cooperative node into formula (3), multiple gains corresponding to the candidate cooperative node can be obtained. By comparing the obtained multiple gains, the maximum gain can be determined from the multiple gains, where the beamforming parameter corresponding to the maximum gain is the optimal beamforming parameter of the candidate cooperative node.

Further, when it is determined that the M candidate cooperative nodes respectively adopt the corresponding optimal beamforming parameters, the M gains corresponding to the destination node are compared, and the maximum gain can be determined from the M gains by comparing the M gains. The candidate cooperative node corresponding to the maximum gain is the target cooperative node. In this way, the source node without beamforming capability can determine the target cooperative node from multiple neighboring nodes. If there are multiple candidate cooperative nodes so that the destination node has the strongest signal strength, the source node can select a target cooperative node from the multiple target cooperative nodes.

It should be noted that the source node may also traverse part of the candidate collaboration nodes among the M candidate collaboration nodes, that is, determine the target collaboration node from the part of the candidate collaboration nodes. In a possible implementation manner, the source node can determine the beamforming direction from the source node to the destination node according to the relative positions of the destination node and the source node, and an angle range can be determined according to the beamforming direction. It should be understood that the cooperative node located within the angle range makes the received signal strength of the destination node stronger than the cooperative node outside the angle range. Therefore, the source node can traverse some of the M candidate collaborative nodes that are within the angle range, that is, i can be a part of the value in [1,...M], so as to save the energy consumption of the terminal as much as possible .

It should be understood that before forwarding the data from the source node to the destination node, the target cooperative node can adjust the beamforming parameters of the RIS of the target cooperative node, that is, adjust the beamforming parameters of the RIS to correspond to the maximum gain calculated by formula (3) The beamforming parameters are used to ensure that the communication quality of the wireless link from the target cooperative node to the target node is better. From this perspective, the source node's determination of the target cooperative node can be regarded as the neighboring node that determines the adjusted beamforming parameters to enable the destination node to receive the maximum signal strength from the terminal and the cooperative node. This solution can also be considered to be used to optimize the beamforming parameters of cooperative nodes. A certain cooperative node uses the optimized beamforming parameters to generate beams, which can make the received signal strength of the destination node the strongest. For adjusting the reflection coefficient of the RIS of the target cooperative node, reference may be made to the related description of the embodiment in FIG. 5, which will not be repeated here.

The process in which a source node without beamforming capability determines a target cooperative node from multiple neighboring nodes is described above. In some embodiments, the source node may need to select multiple target cooperative nodes. This can further enhance the strength of the signal received by the destination node, thereby further improving the transmission throughput.

Please refer to Figure 8 for a schematic diagram of the architecture of selecting multiple cooperative nodes for the source node. In some embodiments, the source node may determine which candidate cooperation nodes can be used as target cooperation nodes from the M candidate cooperation nodes according to the channel gain between the candidate cooperation nodes and the destination node. Fig. 8 takes as an example that there are 4 candidate cooperation nodes, and the source node selects 2 candidate cooperation nodes among the 4 candidate cooperation nodes as the target cooperation node. If the signal strength from the candidate collaborative node to the destination node is greater than the first preset threshold, then the candidate collaborative node may be selected as the target collaborative node (may also be referred to as the candidate target collaborative node). In other embodiments, the source node may determine which candidate cooperation nodes can be used as target cooperation nodes from the M candidate cooperation nodes according to the channel gain between the source node and the candidate cooperation nodes. For example, if the signal strength from the source node to the candidate collaborative node is greater than the second preset threshold, the candidate collaborative node may be selected as the target collaborative node (also referred to as the candidate target collaborative node). The source node may further determine N target cooperation nodes from a plurality of candidate target cooperation.

Specifically, a source node without beamforming capability can determine multiple target cooperative nodes based on the signal strength received by the destination node. The source node can determine the strength of the joint signal according to the signal strength parameter (can be referred to as joint signal strength for short), where the joint signal refers to the signal received by the destination node from the source node, and the superposition of the signals received by the destination node from the N target cooperative nodes. After the signal. It should be understood that the signals sent by the N target cooperative nodes are signals sent by the N target cooperative nodes in joint beamforming. The source node can select the candidate cooperative node corresponding to when the joint signal strength is greater than a certain threshold as the target cooperative node. For example, the source node can select the candidate cooperative node with the largest joint signal strength as the target cooperative node. For another example, the source node may randomly select one or more candidate collaborative nodes from multiple candidate collaborative nodes corresponding to when the joint signal strength is greater than a certain threshold as the target collaborative node. For another example, the cooperative node with the highest signal strength can be selected as the target cooperative node.

Take the example that the source node can select the candidate cooperative node with the largest joint signal strength as the target cooperative node. Suppose the signal sent by the source node is S, alternatively the M N number of cooperating nodes as the destination node cooperating alternatively cooperating nodes, the signal received by the destination node may be a Y _{_i,} Y _i satisfies formula (4):

In formula (4), θ _i is the beamforming parameter _{of the i-th candidate cooperative node, and G i} is the channel gain from the RIS of the i-th candidate cooperative node to the destination node,

Is the channel gain from the source node to the i-th candidate cooperative node,

The intensity of the signal received by the destination node is γ _i , and γ _i satisfies formula (5):

Then the beamforming parameters of the N candidate cooperative nodes with the largest gain satisfy formula (6):

(N ^* ,θ ^* )=arg max(γ _i ) (6)

In formula (6), N* is the sequence number of the best N target cooperative nodes, and θ ^* is the optimal beamforming parameter of the N target cooperative nodes. It should be understood that the optimal beamforming parameter is the beamforming parameter corresponding to the strongest signal received by the destination node.

According to formula (5), the gain of the received signal strength of the destination node jointly obtained by the source node and at least one other candidate collaborative node can be calculated, so that any combination of multiple candidate collaborative nodes among the M candidate collaborative nodes can be obtained. The gain. By comparing the obtained multiple gains, the maximum gain can be determined from the multiple gains, so as to determine the candidate cooperative node combination corresponding to the maximum gain, that is, N candidate cooperative nodes. It should be understood that the candidate collaborative nodes included in the candidate collaborative node combination corresponding to the maximum gain are variable.

It should be understood that each of the N candidate cooperative nodes corresponds to multiple beamforming parameters, and different beamforming parameters may cause different signal strengths received by the destination node. To this end, each beamforming parameter of the N candidate cooperative nodes can be traversed, that is, the gain of the intensity of the received signal of the destination node corresponding to each beamforming parameter can be determined, and multiple gains can be obtained, and the maximum gain can be determined from the multiple maximum gains. , The beamforming parameter corresponding to the maximum gain can determine the optimal beamforming parameter, thereby determining N target cooperative nodes. That is, the optimal beamforming parameters of N target cooperative nodes make γ _i in formula (5) the largest.

Similar to the aforementioned method for the source node to select the candidate collaborative node corresponding to the maximum joint signal strength as the target collaborative node, in this embodiment of the application, the source node may also traverse some candidate collaborative nodes among the M candidate collaborative nodes, such as the source The node traverses the part of the candidate collaborative nodes within the angle range corresponding to the beamforming point of the source node to the destination node among the M candidate collaborative nodes, that is, i can be part of the value in [1,...M], In this way, the energy consumption of the terminal can be saved as much as possible.

Solution 2: For the source node with beamforming capability, the source node with beamforming capability can be based on the RIS information and the location information of the candidate cooperating node and the location information of the destination node, as well as the beamforming capability of the source node Determine the target collaboration node. The difference from scheme one is that this scheme can be considered as combining the beamforming capabilities of the source node to optimize the beamforming parameters of the candidate cooperative node. If the candidate cooperative node after optimizing the beamforming parameters can make the destination node receive If the signal strength is the strongest, or the signal strength is greater than the preset strength threshold, then the candidate collaborative node is the target collaborative node. In other words, the joint signal refers to the signal sent by the source node and the cooperating node through joint beamforming.

Similar to scheme 1, in scheme two, the source node can determine a target cooperative node or multiple target cooperative nodes according to the strength of the signal received by the target node.

Exemplarily, if the source node selects a target collaborative node, the signal sent by the source node can be S, and the i-th candidate collaborative node among the M candidate collaborative nodes is used as the target collaborative node, then the signal received by the destination node can be Is Y _i , Y _i satisfies formula (7):

In formula (7), θ _i is the beamforming parameter _{of the i-th candidate cooperative node, and G i} is the channel gain from the i-th candidate cooperative node RIS to the destination node,

Is the channel gain from the source node to the destination node, ω is the beamforming gain of the source node, and Z is the noise of the signal received by the destination node, which can be determined according to the noise figure of the destination node. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the method for determining the channel gain from the source node to the destination node. For example, the channel gain may be estimated according to the channel state information reported by the source node.

The intensity of the signal received by the destination node is γ _i , and γ _i satisfies formula (8):

Then the neighboring node with the largest gain is j, which satisfies formula (9):

(j ^* ,ω ^* ,θ ^* )=arg max(γ _i ) (9)

In formula (9), ω ^* is the beamforming parameter of the source node, and θ ^* is the beamforming parameter of the cooperative node j ^* .

It should be understood that the beamforming parameters include the phase and/or amplitude of the RIS. The source node can traverse M candidate cooperation nodes, that is, the source node respectively substitutes the beamforming parameters of each candidate cooperation node in the M candidate cooperation nodes into formula (9), and the M candidate cooperation nodes can be obtained Multiple gain values corresponding to each candidate cooperative node. For any candidate cooperative node, multiple maximum values of multiple obtained gain values can be compared, and the maximum gain can be determined from the multiple gain values. The beamforming parameter corresponding to the maximum gain is the optimal beamforming parameter. Furthermore, it is possible to compare the corresponding gains when the M candidate cooperative nodes respectively adopt the optimal beamforming parameters, that is, compare M gains, and select the candidate cooperative node corresponding to the maximum gain from these M gains, which is the target cooperative node . In this way, a source node with beamforming capability can determine a target coordinated node from multiple candidate coordinated nodes. In the same way, the process of determining the target cooperative node can also be considered as optimizing the beamforming parameters of the candidate cooperative node and the source node. The optimized beamforming parameters can make the destination node receive the strongest signal strength. If there are multiple target cooperative nodes so that the destination node has the strongest signal strength, the source node can select a target cooperative node from the multiple target cooperative nodes.

In some embodiments, a source node with beamforming capability may also need to select multiple target cooperative nodes. This can further enhance the strength of the signal received by the destination node, thereby further improving the transmission throughput. Same as the source node without beamforming capability, the source node with beamforming capability can also determine which neighbor nodes can be the target cooperative node from the M candidate cooperative nodes according to the channel gain between the neighbor nodes and the destination node. For example, if the signal strength from the neighboring node to the destination node is greater than the first preset threshold, the neighboring node can be used as a candidate target cooperative node). In other embodiments, the source node may determine which candidate collaborative nodes can be used as target collaborative nodes from the M candidate collaborative nodes according to the channel gain between the source node and the candidate collaborative nodes. For example, if the signal strength from the source node to the neighboring node is greater than the second preset threshold, the candidate collaborative node may be used as the candidate target collaborative node). The source node may further determine N target cooperation nodes from a plurality of candidate target cooperation.

Specifically, a source node capable of beamforming can determine multiple target cooperative nodes based on the signal strength received by the destination node. Exemplary may be assumed that the signal transmitted to the source node S, the M cooperating nodes alternate the N neighboring nodes as a cooperating node, the destination node received signal may satisfy formula (10) is Y _{_i,} Y _i:

In formula (4), θ _i is the beamforming parameter _{of the i-th candidate cooperative node, and G i} is the channel gain from the i-th candidate cooperative node RIS to the destination node,

The intensity of the signal received by the destination node is γ _i , and γ _i satisfies formula (11):

Then the beamforming parameters of the N neighboring nodes with the largest gain satisfy formula (12):

(N ^* ,ω ^* ,θ ^* )=arg max(γ _i ) (12)

In formula (12), N* is the sequence number of the best N target cooperative nodes, ω ^* is the beamforming parameter of the source node, and θ ^* is the beamforming parameter of the N target cooperative nodes. It should be understood that formula (10) traverses the received signal strength of the destination node jointly obtained by any one candidate cooperation node among the M candidate cooperation nodes and the other one or more candidate cooperation nodes. The respective gains corresponding to any combination of multiple candidate collaborative nodes among the M candidate collaborative nodes can be obtained. By comparing the multiple gains obtained, the maximum gain can be determined from the multiple gains. The beamforming parameter corresponding to the maximum gain is the beamforming parameter of the N target cooperative nodes, so that N target cooperative nodes are determined.

S604: The source node sends beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node, and sends data to the target node and the target cooperative node.

After the source node determines the target coordinated node, it sends the beamforming parameters to the target coordinated node. It should be understood that the beamforming parameters include at least one of the amplitude and phase of each unit of the RIS. The target cooperative node generates beams according to the received beamforming parameters.

It should be understood that when the source node sends the beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node, it can send data to the destination node at the same time, and the sent data is sent through the beam formed according to the beamforming parameter ω ^* . If the source node uses a communication interface to send beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node and at the same time sends data to the destination node, the source node needs to first send the beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node, and then send the data to the destination node. The throughput is Lower. In particular, if the beamforming parameters of the target cooperative node change during the cooperation process, the source node sends the beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node through the communication interface used for sending the beamforming parameters, and sends data to the destination node. The rate is lower. To this end, in some embodiments, the source node may use different communication interfaces to transmit beamforming parameters and data. That is, the communication interface used by the source node to send beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node is different from the communication interface used by the source node to send data to the destination node. For example, the source node uses the first communication interface to send beamforming parameters to the target cooperation node, and the source node uses the second communication interface to send data to the destination node. The second communication interface may be a communication interface between the source node and the destination node, for example, an interface supporting LTE communication; the first communication interface may be, for example, a Bluetooth interface, a Wi-Fi interface, and the like.

The source node sends the beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node and can send data together. It should be understood that the target cooperative node can receive the beamforming parameters and data, and the destination node receives the data, as shown in FIG. 6. The target cooperative node can receive the data signal from the source node, and the target cooperative node can reflect the received data signal through its RIS, and reflect the data signal to the destination node. For the destination node, it is equivalent to receiving two signals, one of which is from the source node (as indicated by the thick line in Figure 9), and the other is from the target cooperative node (as indicated by the thin line in Figure 9). The destination node combines the two received signals and decodes to obtain the original data of the source node.

In the embodiment of the application, the RIS is set at the cooperation node, which can improve the coverage and capacity of the wireless network, and increase the transmission throughput rate. Because RIS can directly reflect the incident wireless waves, it can directly reflect the data signal from the source node to the destination node. That is, RIS does not need to amplify and decode the data to be sent, and can directly transmit the data to be sent, so It can reduce power consumption and protect data security. In addition, compared with the two stages of the traditional cooperative communication process, because RIS can directly reflect the incident wireless waves and send the data signal to the destination node, it can be considered as one stage. It can be seen that, compared with the traditional cooperative communication process, the embodiment of the present application uses the neighboring node with the RIS as the cooperative node, which can avoid the system capacity from being reduced by half.

In the above-mentioned embodiments provided by the present application, the methods provided by the embodiments of the present application are introduced from the perspective of the terminal, the cooperation node, the destination node, and the interaction between the terminal, the cooperation node, and the destination node. In order to realize the functions in the methods provided in the above embodiments of the present application, the terminal, the cooperation node, and the destination node may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, and the above may be implemented in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module. Each function.

The communication device used to implement the foregoing method in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Therefore, the above content can all be used in the subsequent embodiments, and the repeated content will not be repeated.

FIG. 10 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 1000. The communication device 1000 can correspondingly implement the functions or steps implemented by the source node or the cooperative node in the foregoing method embodiments. The communication device 1000 may include a processing module 1010 and a transceiver module 1020. Optionally, a storage unit may also be included, and the storage unit may be used to store instructions (codes or programs) and/or data. The processing module 1010 and the transceiver module 1020 may be coupled with the storage unit. For example, the processing module 1010 may read instructions (code or program) and/or data in the storage unit to implement corresponding methods. The above-mentioned modules (units) can be set independently, or partly or fully integrated.

In some possible implementation manners, the communication device 1000 can correspondingly implement the behaviors and functions of the source node in the foregoing method embodiments. For example, the communication device 1000 may be a source node, or a component (for example, a chip or a circuit) applied in the source node. The transceiver module 1020 can be used to perform all receiving or sending operations performed by the source node in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, such as S601, S602, and S604 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and/or used to support this text Other processes of the described technique. Wherein, the processing module 1010 is used to perform all operations performed by the source node in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 except for receiving and sending operations, such as S603 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and/or for supporting Other processes of the technique described in this article.

In some embodiments, the processing module 1010 is used to determine a target cooperative node, which has a reconfigurable smart surface RIS capability;

The transceiver module 1020 is configured to send beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node, where the beamforming parameters include the target phase of the RIS of the target cooperative node;

The transceiver module 1020 is further configured to send a data signal to a destination node, and the data signal is reflected by the target cooperative node to the destination node.

As an optional implementation, the transceiver module 1020 is specifically configured to: send a RIS request message, and receive a RIS request response message respectively sent from at least one neighboring node, wherein the RIS request message is used to query whether the neighboring node has RIS capability, where the RIS request response message is used to indicate that the neighboring node that sends the RIS response request message has the RIS capability;

The processing module 1010 is specifically configured to determine the target cooperative node from the at least one neighboring node.

As an optional implementation manner, the RIS request response message includes a first field, and the bit value of the first field is used to indicate that the corresponding neighboring node has the RIS capability.

As an optional implementation manner, the RIS request response message further includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate one or more of the maximum gain of the RIS, the area size of the RIS, and the number of RIS units. .

As an optional implementation manner, the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in the same field of the RIS request response message; or, the first indication information and the second indication information are carried In the different fields of the RIS request response message.

As an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module 1020 is specifically configured to receive first information broadcast from at least one neighboring node, where the first information is used to indicate that the neighboring node that sends the first information has RIS capability.

As an optional implementation manner, the processing module 1010 is specifically configured to:

As an optional implementation manner, the communication device has no beamforming capability.

It should be understood that the processing module 1010 in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a processor or processor-related circuit components, and the transceiver module 1020 may be implemented by a transceiver or transceiver-related circuit components or a communication interface.

In other possible implementation manners, the communication device 1000 can correspondingly implement the behaviors and functions of the cooperative nodes in the foregoing method embodiments. For example, the communication device 1000 may be a cooperative node, or a component (for example, a chip or a circuit) applied to the cooperative node. The transceiver module 1020 can be used to perform all the receiving or sending operations performed by the cooperating node in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, such as S601, S602, S604 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and/or to support this text Other processes of the described technique. Among them, the processing module 1010 is used to perform all operations performed by the cooperation node in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 except for the receiving and sending operations, and/or other processes used to support the technology described herein.

In some embodiments, the communication device 1000 includes a RIS and a transceiver module 1020. The transceiver module 1020 is used to receive a RIS request message from a source node. The RIS request message is used to query whether the cooperating node has RIS capability. The said cooperative node is equipped with RIS;

The transceiver module 1020 is further configured to send a RIS request response message to the source node by the collaboration node, where the RIS request response message is used to indicate that the collaboration node has RIS capability;

RIS is used to reflect the signal from the source node to the destination node.

As an optional implementation manner, the communication device 1000 further includes a processing module 1010, wherein the transceiver module 1020 is configured to receive beamforming parameters from the source node, and the beamforming parameters include the target cooperative node's The target phase of RIS;

The processing module 1010 is configured to adjust the RIS phase of the cooperative node according to the beamforming parameters.

As an optional implementation manner, the RIS request response message includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the cooperating node has RIS capability.

As an optional implementation manner, the RIS request response message further includes one or more of the maximum gain of the RIS, the area size of the RIS, and the number of RIS units.

As an optional implementation manner, the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in the same field of the RIS request response message; or, the first indication information and the second indication information are carried In the RIS

Different fields of the request response message.

Figure 11 shows a communication device 1100 provided by an embodiment of this application, where the communication device 1100 may be a source node, which can implement the function of the source node in the method provided in this embodiment of the application, or the communication device 1100 may be a cooperative node , Can realize the function of the cooperative node in the method provided in the embodiment of this application; the communication device 1100 may also be a device that can support the source node to realize the corresponding function in the method provided in the embodiment of this application, or can support the cooperative node to realize the implementation of this application The corresponding function device in the method provided in the example. Wherein, the communication device 1100 may be a chip or a chip system. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

In terms of hardware implementation, the foregoing transceiver module 1020 may be a transceiver, and the transceiver is integrated in the communication device 1100 to form a communication interface 1110.

The communication device 1100 includes at least one processor 1120, which is configured to implement or support the communication device 1100 to implement the functions of the source node or the cooperation node in the method provided in the embodiments of the present application. For details, please refer to the detailed description in the method example, which will not be repeated here.

The communication device 1100 may further include at least one memory 1130 for storing program instructions and/or data. The memory 1130 and the processor 1120 are coupled. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, and may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units or modules. The processor 1120 may operate in cooperation with the memory 1130. The processor 1120 may execute program instructions and/or data stored in the memory 1130, so that the communication device 1100 implements a corresponding method. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor.

The communication device 1100 may further include a communication interface 1110 for communicating with other devices through a transmission medium, so that the device used in the communication device 1100 can communicate with other devices. Exemplarily, when the communication device is a terminal, the other device is a cooperative node; or, when the communication device is a cooperative node, the other device is a terminal. The processor 1120 may use the communication interface 1110 to send and receive data. The communication interface 1110 may specifically be a transceiver.

The specific connection medium between the aforementioned communication interface 1110, the processor 1120, and the memory 1130 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. In the embodiment of the present application, in FIG. 11, the memory 1130, the processor 1120, and the communication interface 1110 are connected by a bus 1140. The bus is represented by a thick line in FIG. 11, and the connection modes between other components are merely illustrative , Is not limited. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and so on. For ease of presentation, only one thick line is used to represent in FIG. 11, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

In the embodiment of the present application, the processor 1120 may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. Or execute the methods, steps, and logical block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be directly embodied as being executed and completed by a hardware processor, or executed and completed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

In the embodiment of the present application, the memory 1130 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), etc., or a volatile memory (volatile memory), For example, random-access memory (RAM). The memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to this. The memory in the embodiments of the present application may also be a circuit or any other device capable of realizing a storage function for storing program instructions and/or data.

It should be noted that the communication device in the foregoing embodiment may be a terminal or a circuit, and may also be a chip applied to a terminal or other combination devices or components with the foregoing terminal functions. When the communication device is a terminal, the transceiver module may be a transceiver, which may include an antenna and a radio frequency circuit, and the processing module may be a processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU). When the communication device is a component with the aforementioned terminal function, the transceiver module may be a radio frequency unit, and the processing module may be a processor. When the communication device is a chip or a chip system, the transceiver module may be an input/output interface of the chip or a chip system, and the processing module may be a processor of the chip or the chip system.

Figure 12 shows a simplified schematic diagram of the structure of the source node. It is easy to understand and easy to illustrate. In Fig. 12, the source node uses a mobile phone as an example. As shown in Figure 12, the source node includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input and output device. The processor is mainly used to process the communication protocol and communication data, and to control the vehicle-mounted unit, execute the software program, and process the data of the software program. The memory is mainly used to store software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for the conversion of baseband signal and radio frequency signal and the processing of radio frequency signal. The antenna is mainly used to send and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are mainly used to receive data input by users and output data to users. It should be noted that some types of equipment may not have input and output devices.

When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent, and outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. The radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and sends the radio frequency signal to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data. For ease of description, only one memory and processor are shown in FIG. 12. In an actual device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or storage device. The memory may be set independently of the processor, or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In the embodiments of the present application, the antenna and radio frequency circuit with the transceiving function can be regarded as the transceiving unit of the device, and the processor with the processing function can be regarded as the processing unit of the device. As shown in FIG. 12, the device includes a transceiver unit 1210 and a processing unit 1220. The transceiving unit 1210 may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver, a transceiving device, and so on. The processing unit 1220 may also be called a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, and so on. Optionally, the device for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver unit 1210 can be regarded as the receiving unit, and the device for implementing the sending function in the transceiver unit 1210 as the sending unit, that is, the transceiver unit 1210 includes a receiving unit and a sending unit. The transceiving unit 1210 may also be called a transceiver, a transceiver, or a transceiving circuit or the like. The receiving unit may sometimes be referred to as a receiver, a receiver, or a receiving circuit. The sending unit may sometimes be called a transmitter, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit.

It should be understood that the transceiving unit 1210 is used to perform the sending and receiving operations of the source node in the foregoing method embodiment, and the processing unit 1220 is used to perform other operations on the source node in the foregoing method embodiment except for the transceiving operation, for example, a In this implementation manner, the transceiver unit 1210 may be used to execute S601, S602, and S604 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, and/or other processes used to support the technology described herein.

When the communication device is a chip-type device or circuit, the transceiver unit 1210 may be an input/output circuit and/or a communication interface; the processing unit 1220 is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system. Specifically, the communication system includes a source node and one or more cooperative nodes. Exemplarily, the communication system includes a source node and a cooperation node for implementing the related functions of FIG. 6 described above.

The source nodes are respectively used to implement the functions of the source nodes related to FIG. 6 described above. The cooperation node is used to implement the functions of the aforementioned cooperation node in FIG. 6. For details, please refer to the relevant description in the foregoing method embodiment, which is not repeated here.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, including instructions, when it runs on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method executed by the source node in FIG. 6; or when it runs on a computer, causes the computer to execute The method executed by the source node in Figure 6.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, including instructions, when it runs on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method executed by the collaboration node in FIG. 6; or when it runs on a computer, causes the computer to execute FIG. 6 The method executed by the cooperative node in the middle.

The embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor and may also include a memory, which is used to implement the functions of the source node or the cooperation node in the foregoing method; or is used to implement the functions of the source node and the cooperation node in the foregoing method. Function. The chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices.

It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean: A alone exists, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A, B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "The following at least one item (a)" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of a single item (a) or a plurality of items (a). For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b and c, where a, b, c It can be single or multiple.

And, unless otherwise stated, the ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of this application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, timing, priority, or order of multiple objects. Importance. For example, the first indication information and the second indication information are only for distinguishing different indication information, but do not indicate the difference in priority or importance of the two kinds of indication information.

It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not correspond to the embodiments of the present application. The implementation process constitutes any limitation.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may be aware that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps described in the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. accomplish. Whether these functions are executed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraint conditions of the technical solution. Professionals and technicians can use different methods for each specific application to implement the described functions, but such implementation should not be considered as going beyond the scope of this application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and conciseness of description, the specific working process of the above-described system, device, and unit can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device, and method can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative, for example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other divisions in actual implementation, for example, multiple units or components can be combined or It can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not implemented. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be indirect couplings or communication connections between devices or units through some interfaces, and may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments.

In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

If the function is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application essentially or the part that contributes to the existing technology or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to make a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage media include: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), random access memory (random access memory, RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code .

The above are only specific implementations of this application, but the protection scope of this application is not limited to this. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application. Should be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A method of cooperative communication, characterized in that it includes:

Determining a target collaboration node, the target collaboration node having a reconfigurable intelligent surface RIS capability;

Sending beamforming parameters to the target cooperative node, where the beamforming parameters include the target phase of the RIS of the target cooperative node;

Sending a data signal to the destination node, and the data signal is reflected by the target cooperative node to the destination node.
The method of claim 1, wherein determining the target collaboration node comprises:

Sending a RIS request message, the RIS request message being used to query whether neighboring nodes have RIS capabilities;

Receiving a RIS request response message respectively sent from at least one neighboring node, where the RIS request response message is used to indicate that the neighboring node that sent the RIS response request message has RIS capability;

The target cooperative node is determined from the at least one neighboring node.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the RIS request response message includes a first field, and a bit value of the first field is used to indicate that the corresponding neighboring node has RIS capability.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the RIS request response message further includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate one of the maximum gain of the RIS, the area size of the RIS, and the number of RIS units. Kind or more.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in the same field of the RIS request response message; or, the first indication information and the first indication information The second indication information is carried in different fields of the RIS request response message.
The method according to claim 1, wherein said determining the target cooperative node comprises:

Receiving first information broadcast from at least one neighboring node, where the first information is used to indicate that the neighboring node that sends the first information has RIS capability;

The target cooperative node is determined from the at least one neighboring node.
The method according to any one of claims 2-6, wherein determining the target cooperative node from the at least one neighboring node comprises:

Determining the strength of the signal received by the destination node, the signal received by the destination node is a signal formed by superimposing a first signal and a second signal, and the first signal is the signal received by the destination node from the source node, The second signal is a signal received by the destination node and sent by one or more neighboring nodes in joint beamforming of the at least one neighboring node;

The target cooperative node is determined among one or more neighboring nodes whose strength is greater than the first threshold.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the source node has no beamforming capability.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein determining the target cooperative node from the at least one neighboring node comprises:

Determining the strength of a signal received by the destination node, where the signal received by the destination node is a signal received by the destination node from a source node and one or more neighboring nodes jointly beamforming and sending;

One or more neighboring nodes whose strength is greater than a first threshold are determined as the target cooperative node.
A method of cooperative communication, characterized in that it comprises:

The collaboration node receives a RIS request message from the source node, where the RIS request message is used to query whether the collaboration node has RIS capability, and the collaboration node is configured with RIS;

The collaboration node sends a RIS request response message to the source node, where the RIS request response message is used to indicate that the collaboration node has RIS capability;

The cooperative node reflects the signal from the source node to the destination node through the RIS.
The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, before the cooperative node reflects the signal from the source node to the destination node through the RIS, the method further comprises:

The cooperative node receives beamforming parameters from the source node, where the beamforming parameters include the target phase of the RIS of the target cooperative node;

The cooperative node adjusts the RIS phase of the cooperative node according to the beamforming parameter.
The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the RIS request response message includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the cooperating node has RIS capability.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the RIS request response message further includes one or more of the maximum gain of the RIS, the area size of the RIS, and the number of RIS units.
The method according to claim 13, wherein the first indication information and the second indication information are carried in the same field of the RIS request response message; or, the first indication information and the first indication information The second indication information is carried in different fields of the RIS request response message.
A communication device, characterized in that the communication device includes a processor and a memory, the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to execute the computer program stored on the memory, so that the device executes such as The method of any one of claims 1-9 or 10-14.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer executes as claimed in claims 1-9 or 10-14 Any one of the methods.