WO2023037561A1

WO2023037561A1 - Wireless relay device, terminal, wireless communication system, and wireless relay method

Info

Publication number: WO2023037561A1
Application number: PCT/JP2021/033614
Authority: WO
Inventors: 慎也熊谷; 春陽越後; 優元 ▲高▼橋; 翔平吉岡; 大輔栗田; 聡永田
Original assignee: 株式会社Ｎｔｔドコモ
Priority date: 2021-09-13
Filing date: 2021-09-13
Publication date: 2023-03-16
Also published as: JPWO2023037561A1

Abstract

This wireless relay device has: a relay unit that relays radio waves transmitted from a base station or a terminal to the base station or the terminal; a receiving unit that receives control information from at least one among the base station and the terminal; and a control unit that validates or nullifies a relay function of the relay unit on the basis of the control information. The receiving unit receives the control information from at least one among the base station and the terminal via a high-order layer setting or a physical layer control signal.

Description

Radio relay device, terminal, radio communication system and radio relay method

The present invention relates to a radio relay device, a terminal, and a radio relay method in a radio communication system.

In the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), 5G or NR (New Radio) and NR (New Radio) are being used in order to further increase the system capacity, further increase the data transmission speed, and further reduce the delay in the wireless section. A radio communication system called "NR" (the radio communication system is hereinafter referred to as "NR") is under study. In 5G, various radio technologies and network architectures are being studied in order to meet the requirements of realizing a throughput of 10 Gbps or more and keeping the delay in the radio section to 1 ms or less (for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

Next-generation communications are expected to use high-frequency bands. Improvements in communication quality are required from the viewpoint of reducing the number of scatterers, reducing shadowing effects, increasing distance attenuation, etc., due to the characteristics of the high frequency band. It is assumed that beam control and environment etc. to ensure communication quality will be required.

For example, in high frequency bands, there is a problem that dead zones are likely to occur due to the strong straightness of radio waves. Therefore, attempts have been made to improve communication quality in a multipath environment using passive repeaters, active reflectors (RIS: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), and smart repeaters that receive, amplify, and re-radiate signals. (For example, Non-Patent Document 2).

Wireless relay devices such as reflectors or smart repeaters that reflect or transmit radio waves from radio wave sources such as base stations or terminals to radio wave receivers and relay the radio waves avoid unnecessary reflection or radiation to prevent interference. In order to reduce

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to appropriately enable or disable a wireless relay device in a wireless communication system.

According to the disclosed technology, a relay unit that relays radio waves transmitted from a base station or a terminal to the base station or the terminal; a reception unit that receives control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal; and a control unit that enables or disables the relay function of the relay unit based on the control information, and the receiving unit receives the control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal in an upper layer setting or A wireless repeater is provided that receives via physical layer control signals.

According to the disclosed technique, it is possible to appropriately enable or disable a wireless relay device in a wireless communication system.

1 is a diagram for explaining a radio communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a figure showing an example of functional composition of base station 10 in an embodiment of the invention. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of terminal 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a figure showing an example of functional composition of radio relay equipment 30 in an embodiment of the invention. It is a figure which shows the operation example of the radio relay apparatus 30 in embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of communication in a high frequency band; It is a figure which shows the example of the reflection type wireless relay apparatus 30 in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the transparent|permeable radio relay apparatus 30 in embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram for explaining an operation example (1) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram for explaining an operation example (2) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram for explaining an operation example (3) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example (4) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example (5) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of hardware configurations of a base station 10, a terminal 20 and a radio relay device 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a figure showing an example of composition of vehicles 2001 in an embodiment of the invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, the embodiment described below is an example, and the embodiment to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the following embodiment.

Existing technologies are appropriately used for the operation of the wireless communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention. However, the existing technology is, for example, existing LTE, but is not limited to existing LTE. In addition, the term “LTE” used in this specification has a broad meaning including LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced and subsequent systems (eg, NR) unless otherwise specified.

Further, in the embodiments of the present invention described below, SS (Synchronization signal), PSS (Primary SS), SSS (Secondary SS), PBCH (Physical broadcast channel), PRACH (Physical random access channel), PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel), PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel), PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel), PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel). This is for convenience of description, and signals, functions, etc. similar to these may be referred to by other names. Also, the above terms in NR correspond to NR-SS, NR-PSS, NR-SSS, NR-PBCH, NR-PRACH, and so on. However, even a signal used for NR is not necessarily specified as "NR-".

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the duplex system may be a TDD (Time Division Duplex) system, an FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) system, or other (for example, Flexible Duplex etc.) method may be used.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, "configuring" wireless parameters and the like may mean that predetermined values are preset (Pre-configure), and the base station 10 or A wireless parameter notified from the terminal 20 may be set.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. A wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a base station 10 and terminals 20, as shown in FIG. A plurality of base stations 10 and terminals 20 may be provided.

The base station 10 is a communication device that provides one or more cells and performs wireless communication with the terminal 20. Physical resources of radio signals are defined in the time domain and the frequency domain, the time domain may be defined by the number of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbols, and the frequency domain may be defined by the number of subcarriers or the number of resource blocks. good too. Also, a TTI (Transmission Time Interval) in the time domain may be a slot or sub-slot, or a TTI may be a sub-frame.

The base station 10 can perform carrier aggregation in which multiple cells (multiple CCs (component carriers)) are bundled and communicated with the terminal 20 . In carrier aggregation, one primary cell (PCell, Primary Cell) and one or more secondary cells (SCell, Secondary Cell) are used.

The base station 10 transmits a synchronization signal, system information, etc. to the terminal 20. Synchronization signals are, for example, NR-PSS and NR-SSS. System information is transmitted, for example, on NR-PBCH or PDSCH, and is also called broadcast information. As shown in FIG. 1, the base station 10 transmits control signals or data to the terminal 20 on DL (Downlink) and receives control signals or data from the terminal 20 on UL (Uplink). Here, what is transmitted on control channels such as PUCCH and PDCCH is called a control signal, and what is transmitted on a shared channel such as PUSCH and PDSCH is called data. is.

The terminal 20 is a communication device with a wireless communication function, such as a smartphone, mobile phone, tablet, wearable terminal, or M2M (Machine-to-Machine) communication module. As shown in FIG. 1 , the terminal 20 receives control signals or data from the base station 10 on the DL and transmits control signals or data to the base station 10 on the UL, thereby performing various functions provided by the wireless communication system. Use communication services. Note that the terminal 20 may be called UE, and the base station 10 may be called gNB.

The terminal 20 can perform carrier aggregation in which multiple cells (multiple CCs) are bundled and communicated with the base station 10 . One primary cell and one or more secondary cells are used in carrier aggregation. A PUCCH-SCell with PUCCH may also be used.

Also, in the radio communication system according to the embodiment of the present invention, the base station 10 is, for example, a radio base station operated in 5G or 6G, and forms a cell. A cell is a cell with a relatively large size and is called a macro cell.

The base stations 10A to 10D are base stations operated by 5G or 6G. The base stations 10A-10D respectively form cells CA-cell D, which are smaller in size than the macrocell. Cell A-cell D may be called a small cell, a macro cell, or the like. As shown in FIG. 1, cells A-cell D may be formed to be included in a macrocell.

A macrocell may generally be interpreted as a communicable area with a radius of several hundred meters to several tens of kilometers covered by one base station. Also, a small cell may be interpreted as a generic term for cells that have low transmission power and cover a smaller area than a macro cell.

The base station 10 and the base stations 10A to 10D may also be denoted as gNodeB (gNB) or BS (Base Station). Also, the terminal 20 may be denoted as UE, MS, or the like. Furthermore, the specific configuration of the wireless communication system, including the numbers and types of base stations and terminals, is not limited to the example shown in FIG.

Also, the wireless communication system is not necessarily limited to a wireless communication system according to 5G or 6G. For example, the wireless communication system may be a 6G next-generation wireless communication system or a wireless communication system according to LTE.

As an example, the base station 10 and the base stations 10A to 10D perform wireless communication with the terminal 20 according to 5G or 6G. Base station 10 and base station 10A-base station 10D and terminal 20 control radio signals transmitted from a plurality of antenna elements to generate beams with higher directivity (Massive MIMO), a plurality of Carrier aggregation (CA) that bundles component carriers (CC), dual connectivity (DC) that simultaneously communicates between terminal 20 and two NG-RAN nodes, and radio between wireless communication nodes such as gNB It may correspond to IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) in which the backhaul and radio access to the terminal 20 are integrated, or the like.

Also, the radio communication system can support high frequency bands higher than the following frequency ranges (Frequency Range, FR) specified in 3GPP Release 15. For example, FR1 may correspond to 410 MHz-7.125 GHz, and FR2 may correspond to 24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz. Additionally, the wireless communication system may support frequency bands above 52.6 GHz and up to 114.25 GHz. This frequency band may be referred to as the millimeter wave band.

Here, the base station 10 supporting massive MIMO can transmit beams. Massive MIMO generally means MIMO communication using an antenna having 100 or more antenna elements, and enables faster wireless communication than before due to the effect of multiplexing multiple streams. Advanced beamforming is also possible. The beam width can be dynamically changed according to the frequency band to be used, the state of the terminal 20, or the like. Also, it is possible to increase the received signal power by beam forming gain by using a narrow beam. Furthermore, effects such as reduction of interference and effective use of radio resources are expected.

Also, the wireless communication system may include the wireless relay device 30 . In the embodiment of the present invention, as an example, the radio repeater 30 may be a reflector (RIS), a phase control reflector, a passive repeater, an IRS (Intelligent Reflecting Surface), or the like. Specific examples of reflectors (RIS: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface) may be those called metamaterial reflectors, dynamic metasurfaces, metasurface lenses, and the like (for example, Non-Patent Document 2).

In the embodiment of the present invention, the radio relay device 30 relays radio signals transmitted from the base station 10A, for example. In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, "relay" may refer to at least one of "reflection", "transmission", "concentration (concentrating radio waves to approximately one point)", and "diffraction". . The terminal 20 can receive the radio signal relayed by the radio relay device 30 . Furthermore, the radio relay device 30 may relay a radio signal transmitted from the terminal 20 or may relay a radio signal transmitted from the base station 10 .

As an example, the radio relay device 30 can change the phase of the radio signal relayed to the terminal 20 . From this point of view, the radio relay device 30 may be called a variable phase reflector. Note that in the present embodiment, the radio relay device 30 may have a function of changing the phase of the radio signal and relaying it, but the present invention is not limited to this. Also, the wireless relay device 30 may be called a repeater, a relay device, a reflect array, an IRS, a transmit array, or the like.

Also, in the embodiment of the present invention, the wireless relay device 30 such as RIS may be called a batteryless device, a metamaterial functional device, an intelligent reflecting surface, a smart repeater, or the like. As an example, a wireless relay device 30 such as a RIS or smart repeater may be defined as having the functions shown in 1)-5) below.

1) It may have a function of receiving signals transmitted from the base station 10 . The signals are DL signals, SSB (SS/PBCH block), PDCCH, PDSCH, DM-RS (Demodulation Reference Signal), PT-RS (Phase Tracking Reference Signal), CSI-RS (Channel Status Information Reference Signal) , RIS dedicated signals, and the like. It may also be capable of receiving signals carrying information relating to metamaterial function. In addition, it may have a transmission function for transmitting the signal to the terminal 20 .

2) It may have a function of transmitting signals to the base station 10 . The signals may be PRACH, PUCCH, PUSCH, DM-RS, PT-RS, SRS, RIS dedicated signals, etc., which are UL signals. It may have a function of transmitting information related to the metamaterial function. In addition, it may have a reception function for receiving the signal from the terminal 20 .

3) It may have a frame synchronization function with the base station 10 . Note that a frame synchronization function with the terminal 20 may be provided.

4) It may have a function of reflecting signals transmitted from the base station 10 or the terminal 20 . For example, the reflection function includes a function related to phase change, a function related to beam control (for example, TCI (Transmission Configuration Indication)-state, a function related to QCL (Quasi Co Location) control, beam selection application, spatial filter / selective application of precoding weights).
5) It may have a function of changing the power of the signal transmitted from the base station 10 or terminal 20 . For example, the power modification function may be power amplification.

In addition, "receiving and transmitting" and "relaying" in the wireless relay device 30 such as RIS or smart repeater means that although function A below is performed, transmission is performed without performing function B below. You may
Function A: Apply a phase shifter.
Function B: No compensation circuit (eg, amplification, filter) is involved.

As another example,
Function A: Apply phase shifters and compensation circuits.
Function B: No frequency conversion is involved.

It should be noted that the amplitude may be amplified when the phase is changed in the wireless relay device 30 such as the RIS. In addition, "relay" in the wireless relay device 30 such as RIS means transmitting the received signal as it is without performing layer 2 or layer 3 level processing, or transmitting the signal received at the physical layer level as it is. Alternatively, it may mean transmitting the received signal as it is without interpreting the signal (at that time, phase change, amplitude amplification, etc. may be performed).

(Device configuration)
Next, functional configuration examples of the base station 10, the terminal 20, and the radio relay device 30 that execute processing and operations according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. The base station 10, the terminal 20, and the radio relay device 30 include functions for executing embodiments described later. However, each of the base station 10, the terminal 20 and the radio relay device 30 may have only one of the functions of the embodiments.

<Base station 10>
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the base station 10. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2 , the base station 10 has a transmitter 110 , a receiver 120 , a setter 130 and a controller 140 . The functional configuration shown in FIG. 2 is merely an example. As long as the operation according to the embodiment of the present invention can be executed, the functional division and the names of the functional units may be arbitrary. The transmitting unit 110 and the receiving unit 120 may be called a communication unit.

The transmission unit 110 includes a function of generating a signal to be transmitted to the terminal 20 side and wirelessly transmitting the signal. The receiving unit 120 includes a function of receiving various signals transmitted from the terminal 20 and acquiring, for example, higher layer information from the received signals. Also, the transmitting unit 110 has a function of transmitting NR-PSS, NR-SSS, NR-PBCH, DL/UL control signals, DL data, etc. to the terminal 20 . Also, the transmission unit 110 transmits setting information and the like to be described in the embodiments.

The setting unit 130 stores preset setting information and various setting information to be transmitted to the terminal 20 in the storage device, and reads them from the storage device as necessary. The control unit 140 performs, for example, resource allocation, overall control of the base station 10, and the like. It should be noted that the functional unit related to signal transmission in control unit 140 may be included in transmitting unit 110 , and the functional unit related to signal reception in control unit 140 may be included in receiving unit 120 . Also, the transmitting unit 110 and the receiving unit 120 may be called a transmitter and a receiver, respectively.

<Terminal 20>
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the terminal 20. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3 , the terminal 20 has a transmitter 210 , a receiver 220 , a setter 230 and a controller 240 . The functional configuration shown in FIG. 3 is merely an example. As long as the operation according to the embodiment of the present invention can be executed, the functional division and the names of the functional units may be arbitrary. The transmitting unit 210 and the receiving unit 220 may be called a communication unit.

The transmission unit 210 creates a transmission signal from the transmission data and wirelessly transmits the transmission signal. The receiving unit 220 wirelessly receives various signals and acquires a higher layer signal from the received physical layer signal. Also, the transmitting unit 210 transmits HARQ-ACK, and the receiving unit 220 receives setting information and the like described in the embodiments.

The setting unit 230 stores various types of setting information received from the base station 10 by the receiving unit 220 in the storage device, and reads them from the storage device as necessary. The setting unit 230 also stores preset setting information. The control unit 240 controls the terminal 20 as a whole. It should be noted that the functional unit related to signal transmission in control unit 240 may be included in transmitting unit 210 , and the functional unit related to signal reception in control unit 240 may be included in receiving unit 220 . Also, the transmitting section 210 and the receiving section 220 may be called a transmitter and a receiver, respectively.

<Radio relay device 30>
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 4 , the radio relay device 300 has a transmitter 310 , a receiver 320 , a controller 330 , a variable section 340 and an antenna section 350 . As long as the operation according to the embodiment of the present invention can be executed, the functional division and the names of the functional units may be arbitrary. The transmitting unit 310 and the receiving unit 320 may be called a communication unit.

The antenna section 350 includes at least one antenna connected to the variable section 340 . For example, the antenna section 350 may be arranged as an array antenna. In the embodiment of the present invention, the antenna section 350 may be particularly called a relay antenna. Note that the variable section 340 and the antenna section 350 may be called a relay section.

The variable section 340 is connected to the antenna section 350 and can change the phase, load, amplitude, and the like. For example, variable section 340 may be a variable phase shifter, phase shifter, amplifier, or the like. For example, by changing the phase of the radio wave that reaches the relay antenna from the radio wave source, the direction or beam of the radio wave can be changed.

The control unit 330 is control means for controlling the variable unit 340 . In the embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 330 functions as a control unit that controls the relay state when relaying radio waves from the base station 10 or the terminal 20 without signal interpretation. Here, the control unit 330 may change the relay state based on control information received from the base station 10 or the terminal 20 via the communication unit. to change the relay state. For example, based on control information such as SSB, the control unit 330 may select (directions of) appropriate reception beams and transmission beams and control the variable unit 340 . Similarly, control section 330 may select an appropriate combination of reception direction and transmission direction based on criteria such as the highest reception quality or reception power from the reception state, and control variable section 340 .

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 330 includes, for example, information on the propagation path between the terminal 20 or the base station 10A and the antenna unit 350 (including information estimated from the reception state and control information. ), the variable section 340 can be controlled. For example, the control unit 330 uses a known method such as an active repeater or RIS to change the phase of the radio wave received from the base station 10A without using the transmission power, so that the radio wave receiving destination (in this case, the terminal 20) can be relayed in a specific direction. Specifically, based on the estimated channel information H _PT and H _RP , the control unit 330 controls the phase of the radio signal for relaying to the terminal 20 or base station 10A. That is, it is possible to relay radio waves in a specific direction by changing the phase of an array antenna or the like based on the same principle as beam forming. The wireless relay device 30 controls (changes) only the phase of the wireless signal (radio wave) by the control unit 330, and relays the wireless signal without power supply without amplifying the power of the wireless signal to be relayed. You may

Also, in the embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 330 may acquire information according to the reception state. Also, the receiving unit 320 may acquire control information from the base station 10A or the terminal 20 . For example, the receiving unit 320 may receive various signals such as SSB (including various signals exemplified in the functions described above) transmitted from the base station 10A or the terminal 20 as control information.

In addition, the control unit 330 controls the propagation path between the radio wave source (eg, the base station 10A or the terminal 20) and the antenna unit 350 based on the reception state (eg, change in received power) when the variable unit 340 is controlled. Information (H _PT and H _RP ) may be estimated.

The propagation path information (propagation channel information) on each propagation path is specifically information such as amplitude or phase. is. As an example, the control unit 330, based on the same principle as I/Q (In-phase/Quadrature) detection, changes the received power when switching the phase of the variable unit 340 of the array-shaped antenna unit 350 to orthogonal. The propagation path information of the antenna unit 350 may be estimated by using the

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation example of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5 , as an example, the radio relay device 30 is interposed between the base station 10A (other base stations 10 or the like) and the terminal 20, and is interposed between the base station 10A and the terminal 20. relays (reflects, transmits, aggregates, diffracts, etc.) radio signals transmitted and received in

As a specific example, the base station 10A and the terminal 20 directly transmit and receive wireless signals without going through the wireless relay device 30 when the wireless quality is good. On the other hand, when the radio quality deteriorates, such as when there is a shield between the base station 10A and the terminal 20, the radio relay device 30 relays radio signals transmitted and received between the base station 10A and the terminal 20. do.

Specifically, the radio relay apparatus 30, based on the change in the received power during control of the variable unit 340 such as a variable phase shifter, transmits the propagation path information between the radio wave source such as the base station 10A or the terminal 20 and the relay antenna. By estimating H _PT and H _RT and controlling a variable section 340 such as a variable phase shifter based on the estimated channel information, the radio signal is relayed to the radio wave receiving destination such as the terminal 20 . Note that the radio relay apparatus 30 is not limited to estimating the channel information H _PT and H _RT , and controls the variable section 340 such as a variable phase shifter based on the control information received from the base station 10A or the terminal 20. Accordingly, the radio signal may be relayed toward the radio wave reception destination such as the base station 10A or the terminal 20. FIG.

Here, a propagation path or a propagation channel is an individual communication path of wireless communication, and here is a communication path between each transmitting/receiving antenna (base station antenna, terminal antenna, etc. in the figure).

As an example, the radio relay apparatus 30 includes an antenna section 350 having a small multi-element antenna compatible with Massive MIMO, and a variable phase shifter or phase shifter that changes the phase of a radio signal, substantially a radio wave, to a specific phase. and using the variable unit 340, the phase of the radio wave relayed to the terminal 20 or the base station 10A is controlled.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of communication in a high frequency band. As shown in FIG. 6, when a high frequency band of several GHz to several tens of GHz or more is used, a dead zone is likely to occur due to the strong rectilinear propagation of radio waves. When the line between the base station 10A and the terminal 20 is visible, wireless communication between the base station 10A and the terminal 20 is not affected even when the high frequency band is used. On the other hand, if the line of sight between the base station 10A and the terminal 20 is blocked by an obstacle such as a building or a tree, the radio quality is greatly degraded. That is, when the terminal 20 moves to a dead zone blocked by a shield, communication may be interrupted.

Considering the existence of applications (remote control, etc.) that make use of high-speed, large-capacity, and low-delay characteristics, dead zones can be eliminated, and connections between base stations and terminals can be secured without interruption of communication within the wireless communication system. It is important to.

Therefore, technology has been developed that can relay radio waves between the base station 10A and the terminal 20, such as radio wave propagation control devices such as RIS or smart repeaters. Thus, by controlling the propagation characteristics of base station signals, communication characteristics can be improved, coverage can be expanded without requiring signal sources, and installation and operation costs can be reduced by increasing the number of base stations.

　There are two types of conventional radio wave propagation control devices: passive and active. The passive type has the advantage of not requiring control information, but cannot follow moving objects, environmental changes, and the like. On the other hand, the active type requires control information and has the disadvantage of increasing overhead. Fluctuations and the like can also be followed.

There are two types of active radio wave propagation control devices and control methods: feedback (FB) norms and propagation path information norms. In the FB standard, the variable radio wave propagation control device searches for the optimum condition by having the terminal 20 or the like feed back the communication state when the load (phase) state is changed at random. On the other hand, according to the propagation path information standard, the load state is determined based on the propagation path information between the base station and the radio wave propagation control device, and optimum radio wave propagation control becomes possible. Either type is applicable in the embodiment of the present invention.

As relay methods, there are types such as reflection, transmission, diffraction, and consolidation. See Non-Patent Document 2, etc.).

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the reflective wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. An example of the system configuration of the reflective radio relay device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship among the transmitting antenna Tx of the base station 10A and the like, the relay antenna Sx of the transmissive radio relay device 30, and the receiving antenna Rx of the terminal 20 and the like. As shown in FIG. 7, in the embodiment of the present invention, MIMO is taken as an example, and there are a plurality of propagation paths between Tx-Sx and a plurality of propagation paths between Sx-Rx. The device 30 relays radio waves by controlling a variable section 340 having a variable phase shifter or the like of the relay antenna Sx.

As shown in FIG. 7, in the case of the reflection type, the arrayed relay antennas are arranged facing the same direction. Thereby, the propagation path of the relay antenna can be estimated based on the reception state observed when the phase conditions of the relay antenna are changed in a plurality of ways.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the transparent wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. An example of the system configuration of the transparent wireless relay device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the relationship among the transmitting antenna Tx of the base station 10A and the like, the relay antenna Sx of the transmissive radio relay device 30, and the receiving antenna Rx of the terminal 20 and the like. As shown in FIG. 8, in the embodiment of the present invention, MIMO is taken as an example, and there are a plurality of propagation paths between Tx and Sx and a plurality of propagation paths between Sx and Rx. As illustrated, the relay device 30 relays radio waves arriving from one side to the other side via a variable section 340 such as a variable phase shifter of the relay antenna Sx. In this way, in the case of the transmissive type, the reference antenna on the left side of the figure and the relay antenna on the right side of the figure are paired and directed in opposite directions so that radio waves arriving from one side can be relayed to the other side. are placed. Regardless of whether it is a transmission type or a reflection type, a power detector or the like may be configured to detect the power reaching the relay antenna, and the reception state may be measured. Further, the propagation path of the relay antenna can be estimated based on the received signals observed when the phase conditions of the relay antenna are varied.

As described above, the use of RIS and smart repeaters is envisioned for the purpose of flexible and inexpensive expansion of the communication area of wireless communication networks. RIS and smart repeaters do not perform baseband processing, as a significant difference to IAB nodes. A RIS is a reflector that can control the angle of reflection with respect to the angle of incidence, and a smart repeater can be a device that receives, amplifies and re-radiates signals.

A connection may be established between the base station 10 and the RIS or smart repeater, and information related to the control may be set in the RIS or smart repeater in order to control the transmission direction or transmission beam of the RIS or smart repeater.

Here, for example, for the purposes shown in 1)-3) below, control may be performed to appropriately enable or disable the functions of the RIS or smart repeater.
1) to suppress interference by avoiding unwanted reflection or repetition, radiation 2) to reduce the power consumption of RIS or smart repeaters 3) to provide temporary coverage in a specific area (e.g. for events)

The RIS or smart repeater, which is the wireless relay device 30, may control the activation or deactivation of its reflection or radiation function based on higher layer settings and/or physical layer instructions from other network nodes. The higher layer setting may be RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling or MAC (Medium Access Control)-CE (Control Element). The physical layer indication may be DCI (Downlink Control Information) or UCI (Uplink Control Information). Enabling or disabling may mean ON/OFF of a function, or may mean activation/deactivation of a function.

For example, the information element (Information Element, IE) of the RRC signaling may be as follows.
RepeaterConfig ::= SEQUENCE {
repeaterState ENUMERATED {activated, deactivated} OPTIONAL, -- Need M
}

The above IE "RepeaterConfig" may be an IE that performs settings related to reflection/emission functions. The above IE "repeaterState" may be an IE that enables or disables the reflection/emission functionality.

For example, the MAC-CE may consist of one octet as a Repeater State Command, and may be a MAC-CE that instructs enabling or disabling of the reflection/emission function with any one bit of the one octet. For example, the 1 bit may indicate that 1 indicates enablement and 0 indicates disablement. The remaining 7 bits of the octet may be reserved bits.

For example, the DCI or the UCI may be set with 1 bit as the Repeater State field, where 1 indicates enabling of the reflection/emission function and 0 indicates disabling of the reflection/emission function. .

For example, a plurality of settings associated with information indicating activation or deactivation of the reflection/radiation function by RRC signaling and information indicating the duration of the state are set in the radio relay device 30, and the plurality of settings are set by DCI or UCI. The wireless relay device 30 may be instructed which of the settings to use.

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram for explaining an operation example (1) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. For example, the radio relay device 30 may control activation or deactivation based on settings and/or instructions from the base station 10 . The settings and/or instructions may be the above higher layer settings or may be physical layer instructions.

In step S<b>11 , the base station 10 transmits settings and/or instructions regarding the reflection/radiation function to the wireless relay device 30 . In subsequent step S12, the wireless relay device 30 activates or deactivates the reflection/radiation function based on the setting and/or instruction. Hereinafter, "reflection/radiation" may mean reflection or radiation, or both reflection and radiation.

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram for explaining an operation example (2) of wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
For example, the radio relay device 30 may control activation or deactivation based on settings and/or instructions from the terminal 20 . The settings and/or instructions may be the above higher layer settings or may be physical layer instructions.

In step S21, the terminal 20 transmits settings and/or instructions regarding the reflection/radiation function to the wireless relay device 30. In subsequent step S22, the wireless relay device 30 activates or deactivates the reflection/radiation function based on the setting and/or instruction.

FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram for explaining an operation example (3) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. For example, the radio relay device 30 may control activation or deactivation based on settings and/or instructions from the base station 10 and the terminal 20 . The settings and/or instructions may be the above higher layer settings or may be physical layer instructions.

In step S<b>31 , the base station 10 transmits settings and/or instructions regarding the reflection/radiation function to the wireless relay device 30 . In step S<b>32 , the terminal 20 transmits settings and/or instructions regarding the reflection/radiation function to the wireless relay device 30 . The execution order of step S31 and step S32 may be reversed, or only one of them may be executed. In step S33, the wireless relay device 30 enables or disables the reflection/radiation function based on the settings and/or instructions.

Here, the wireless relay device 30 may apply the settings and/or instructions only when the same settings and/or instructions are received from the base station 10 and the terminal 20 . For example, the wireless relay device 30 may activate the reflection/radiation function when receiving activation settings and/or instructions from both the base station 10 and the terminal 20 . For example, the wireless relay device 30 may disable the reflection/radiation function when receiving disable settings and/or instructions from both the base station 10 and the terminal 20 .

Also, the wireless relay device 30 may autonomously determine whether to enable or disable the reflection/radiation function. For example, the wireless relay device 30 may perform a predetermined autonomous operation when it does not receive settings and/or instructions regarding the reflection/emission function from the base station 10 and terminal 20 .

When the wireless relay device 30 controls activation or deactivation of the reflection/radiation function based on higher layer settings and/or instructions from the base station 10 or the terminal 20, the activation or deactivation state is directly It may be set semi-statically, or the period during which it is in the enabled or disabled state may be set semi-statically.

The upper layer setting may be performed by RRC signaling or may be performed by MAC-CE. The information element included in the RRC signaling may be configurable to either semi-static enablement of the reflection/emission function or semi-static disabling of the reflection/emission function. Also, the command included in the MAC-CE may be capable of signaling either semi-static activation of the reflection/emission function or semi-static deactivation of the reflection/emission function.

When the wireless relay device 30 is dynamically instructed to enable or disable the reflection/radiation function by a physical layer control signal (for example, PDCCH or PUCCH) from the base station 10 or the terminal 20, the physical layer control signal The time from reception to application of validation or invalidation may be specified in the specification, may be indicated by the physical layer control signal, may be specified by a minimum time, or may be a wireless relay device. 30 may not assume that a time shorter than the minimum time is indicated.

When the radio relay device 30 is dynamically instructed to enable or disable the reflection/radiation function by a physical layer control signal (for example, PDCCH or PUCCH) from the base station 10 or the terminal 20, the PDCCH including the DL grant When reflected/radiated, the reflect/radiate function may be disabled after reflecting/radiating the PDSCH and PUCCH scheduled in that DL grant.

When the radio relay device 30 is dynamically instructed to enable or disable the reflection/radiation function by a physical layer control signal (for example, PDCCH or PUCCH) from the base station 10 or the terminal 20, the PDCCH including the UL grant is When reflected/radiated, the reflect/radiate function may be disabled after reflecting/radiating the PUSCH scheduled on that UL grant.

When the wireless relay device 30 detects a configured UL (UL) signal triggered by the terminal 20, it may enable or disable the reflection/radiation function. That is, the UL signal from terminal 20 may be used as WUS (Wake up signal).

When the radio relay device 30 detects a signal from the terminal 20 indicating activation or deactivation of the reflection/radiation function when the signal is set to be valid from the base station 10 and/or the terminal 20 Activation or deactivation of the reflection/emission function may be performed. That is, the UL signal and WUS from terminal 20 may be transmitted separately. The terminal 20 may always transmit the signal before performing UL transmission, or may transmit the signal only when the wireless relay device 30 disables the reflection/radiation function.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example (4) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In step S41, the radio relay device 30 determines whether or not the reception quality of a predetermined signal is equal to or higher than a threshold. If the reception quality of the predetermined signal is equal to or higher than the threshold (YES of S41), the process proceeds to step S42, and if the reception quality of the predetermined signal is not equal to or higher than the threshold (NO of S41), the flow ends. At step S42, the wireless relay device 30 may perform activation of the reflection/radiation function.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example (5) of the wireless relay device 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In step S51, the radio relay device 30 determines whether or not the reception quality of a predetermined signal is equal to or less than a threshold. If the reception quality of the predetermined signal is equal to or higher than the threshold (YES in S51), the process proceeds to step S52, and if the reception quality of the predetermined signal is not equal to or higher than the threshold (NO in S51), the flow ends. In step S52, the wireless relay device 30 may disable the reflection/radiation function.

The predetermined signal may be the SSB from the base station 10, the TRS from the base station 10, or the SRS from the terminal 20. A signal for reception quality measurement may be specified or set as the predetermined signal. The reception quality may be RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power), RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) or SINR (Signal to interference plus noise ratio). The threshold may be specified in the specification or may be set by another node. That is, the radio relay apparatus may receive information regarding the threshold from the base station 10 or the terminal 20 . In addition, the threshold may be set with a hysteresis, is enabled when the threshold is exceeded N times consecutively in the defined or set reception quality measurement opportunities, and is disabled when the threshold is lower than the threshold M times consecutively. good too.

The radio relay device 30 may control activation or inactivation of the reflection/radiation function in common for DL and UL, or independently control activation or inactivation of the reflection/radiation function in DL and UL. good too.

Whether the DL and UL are controlled in common or independently may be defined in the specifications, or may be set or instructed by another node. When they are controlled in common, for example, they may be commonly controlled by higher layer settings from the base station 10, may be commonly controlled by physical layer control signals from the base station 10, or may be commonly controlled by higher layer settings from the terminal 20. It may be commonly controlled, or may be commonly controlled by a physical layer control signal from the terminal 20 .

In the case of independent control, for example, the DL may be controlled by higher layer settings from the base station 10, and the UL may be controlled by the physical layer control signal from the terminal 20. Also, the DL may be controlled by a physical layer control signal from the base station 10 and the UL may be controlled by a physical layer control signal from the terminal 20 . Also, the DL may be controlled by a physical layer control signal from the base station 10, and the UL may be controlled by a higher layer setting from the terminal 20. FIG. Also, the DL may be controlled by higher layer settings from the base station 10 and the UL may be controlled from the terminal 20 by higher layer settings. For example, the wireless relay device 30 may receive setting information independently on the UL and DL, and enable reflection/radiation functions independently on the UL and DL based on the setting information. Or you may set invalidation.

The wireless relay device 30 may reflect/radiate all signals from the base station 10 and the terminal 20 while the reflection/radiation function is enabled. The period during which the reflection/radiation function is enabled may be the period during which the RRC connection state with the base station 10 is established, or the period during which the RRC connection state with the terminal 20 is established. good. For example, when the wireless relay device 30 receives a WUS addressed to itself in a MO (Monitoring Occasion) of PDCCH, such as CDRX (Connected mode DRX) with the base station 10, the wireless relay device 30 maintains the validity of the WUS addressed to itself. is not received, it may be invalidated until the next MO.

The wireless relay device 30 does not need to reflect/radiate signals from the base station 10 and the terminal 20 while the reflection/radiation function is disabled. The period during which the reflection/radiation function is disabled may be a period in which the RRC state with the base station 10 is RRC idle or RRC inactive, or a period in which the RRC state with the terminal 20 is RRC idle or RRC inactive. It may be the duration of a state. For example, if the main circuit receives a WUS PEI (Paging Early Indication) before a PO (Paging Occasion), it may remain enabled, and if it does not receive a PEI, it may be disabled until the next PEI. For example, the reflection/radiation function of the main circuit may be disabled, and the reflection/radiation function of the main circuit may be enabled when WUS is received by a passive circuit dedicated to WUS reception.

The radio relay device 30 may control enabling or disabling of reflection/radiation in conjunction with the RRC connection state with the base station 10 of the terminal 20 that is connected to itself or that reflects/radiates the signal.

The wireless relay device 30 may change the state of enabling or disabling reflection/radiation according to an instruction from the terminal 20 that is connected to itself or that reflects/radiates a signal. For example, if the terminal 20 detects a UL signal capable of transmission in RRC idle or inactive mode, it may change its reflection/emission enable or disable state, eg enable. That is, the UL signal from terminal 20 may be used as WUS.

The UL signal may be PRACH in the 4-step random access procedure, MsgA in the 2-step random access procedure, CG-PUSCH of SDT (Small data transmission), or the like. Further, when the UL signal is set to be valid from the base station 10 and/or the terminal 20, the radio relay device 30 activates or deactivates the reflection/radiation function when the signal is detected. good too. That is, the UL signal and WUS from terminal 20 may be transmitted separately. The terminal 20 may always transmit the signal before performing UL transmission, or may transmit the signal only when the wireless relay device 30 disables the reflection/radiation function.

Also, UE capabilities related to the relay functions shown in 1)-4) below may be specified.

1) UE capability related to propriety of transmitting control information to the radio relay device 2) UE capability 3 related to propriety of transmitting control information to semi-statically set enable/disable of the relay function of the radio relay device ) UE capability related to whether or not to transmit control information that dynamically instructs the activation and deactivation of the relay function of the radio relay device 4) For reception quality measurement used to activate and deactivate the relay function of the radio relay device UE capabilities regarding signal transmission availability

The terminal 20 may report the UE capability to the base station 10, or may control the radio relay device 30 based on the UE capability.

According to the embodiment described above, the wireless relay device 30 receives a control signal including settings or instructions from the base station 10 or the terminal 20, and enables or disables the reflection/radiation function based on the settings or instructions. can be done.

That is, it is possible to appropriately enable or disable the wireless relay device in the wireless communication system.

(Hardware configuration)
The block diagrams (FIGS. 2, 3 and 4) used to describe the above embodiments show blocks in units of functions. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of at least one of hardware and software. Also, the method of implementing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be implemented using one device that is physically or logically coupled, or directly or indirectly using two or more devices that are physically or logically separated (e.g. , wired, wireless, etc.) and may be implemented using these multiple devices. A functional block may be implemented by combining software in the one device or the plurality of devices.

Functions include judging, determining, determining, calculating, calculating, processing, deriving, investigating, searching, checking, receiving, transmitting, outputting, accessing, resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, assuming, expecting, assuming, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating, mapping, assigning, etc. can't For example, a functional block (component) responsible for transmission is called a transmitting unit or transmitter. In either case, as described above, the implementation method is not particularly limited.

For example, the base station 10, the terminal 20, the wireless relay device 30, and the like according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may function as computers that perform processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of hardware configurations of the base station 10, terminal 20, and radio relay device 30 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The base station 10, the terminal 20, and the wireless relay device 30 described above are physically computers including a processor 1001, a storage device 1002, an auxiliary storage device 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a bus 1007, and the like. It may be configured as a device.

In the following explanation, the term "apparatus" can be read as a circuit, device, unit, or the like. The hardware configuration of the base station 10, the terminal 20, and the radio relay device 30 may be configured to include one or more of each device shown in the figure, or may be configured without some devices. good.

Each function of the base station 10, the terminal 20, and the radio relay device 30 is performed by the processor 1001 by loading predetermined software (program) onto hardware such as the processor 1001 and the storage device 1002, and the communication device 1004. It is realized by controlling communication via the storage device 1002 and controlling at least one of data reading and writing in the storage device 1002 and the auxiliary storage device 1003 .

The processor 1001, for example, operates an operating system and controls the entire computer. The processor 1001 may be configured with a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control device, an arithmetic device, registers, and the like. For example, the control unit 140 , the control unit 240 and the like described above may be implemented by the processor 1001 .

In addition, the processor 1001 reads programs (program codes), software modules, data, etc. from at least one of the auxiliary storage device 1003 and the communication device 1004 to the storage device 1002, and executes various processes according to them. As the program, a program that causes a computer to execute at least part of the operations described in the above embodiments is used. For example, control unit 140 of base station 10 shown in FIG. 2 may be implemented by a control program stored in storage device 1002 and operated by processor 1001 . Also, for example, the control unit 240 of the terminal 20 shown in FIG. Although it has been explained that the above-described various processes are executed by one processor 1001, they may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. FIG. Processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. Note that the program may be transmitted from a network via an electric communication line.

The storage device 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium, for example, ROM (Read Only Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. may be configured. The storage device 1002 may also be called a register, cache, main memory (main storage device), or the like. The storage device 1002 can store executable programs (program code), software modules, etc. for implementing a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The auxiliary storage device 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium, for example, an optical disc such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disc, a magneto-optical disc (for example, a compact disc, a digital versatile disc, a Blu -ray disk), smart card, flash memory (eg, card, stick, key drive), floppy disk, magnetic strip, and/or the like. The storage medium described above may be, for example, a database, server, or other suitable medium including at least one of storage device 1002 and secondary storage device 1003 .

The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmitting/receiving device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also called a network device, a network controller, a network card, a communication module, or the like. The communication device 1004 includes a high-frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. in order to realize at least one of, for example, frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). may consist of For example, a transmitting/receiving antenna, an amplifier section, a transmitting/receiving section, a transmission path interface, etc. may be implemented by the communication device 1004 . The transceiver may be physically or logically separate implementations for the transmitter and receiver.

The input device 1005 is an input device (for example, keyboard, mouse, microphone, switch, button, sensor, etc.) that receives input from the outside. The output device 1006 is an output device (for example, display, speaker, LED lamp, etc.) that outputs to the outside. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be integrated (for example, a touch panel).

Each device such as the processor 1001 and the storage device 1002 is connected by a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus, or may be configured using different buses between devices.

In addition, the base station 10, the terminal 20, and the radio relay device 30 include microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate ), etc., and part or all of each functional block may be realized by the hardware. For example, processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these pieces of hardware.

Further, the radio relay device 30 may have a variable phase shifter, a phase shifter, an amplifier, an antenna, an array antenna, etc., as hardware constituting the variable section 340 and the antenna section 350, if necessary.

A configuration example of the vehicle 2001 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 15, a vehicle 2001 includes a drive unit 2002, a steering unit 2003, an accelerator pedal 2004, a brake pedal 2005, a shift lever 2006, front wheels 2007, rear wheels 2008, an axle 2009, an electronic control unit 2010, various sensors 2021 to 2029. , an information service unit 2012 and a communication module 2013 . Each aspect/embodiment described in the present disclosure may be applied to a communication device mounted on vehicle 2001, and may be applied to communication module 2013, for example.

The driving unit 2002 is configured by, for example, an engine, a motor, or a hybrid of the engine and the motor. The steering unit 2003 includes at least a steering wheel (also referred to as steering wheel), and is configured to steer at least one of the front wheels and the rear wheels based on the operation of the steering wheel operated by the user.

The electronic control unit 2010 is composed of a microprocessor 2031 , a memory (ROM, RAM) 2032 and a communication port (IO port) 2033 . Signals from various sensors 2021 to 2029 provided in the vehicle 2001 are input to the electronic control unit 2010 . The electronic control unit 2010 may also be called an ECU (Electronic Control Unit).

The signals from the various sensors 2021 to 2029 include the current signal from the current sensor 2021 that senses the current of the motor, the rotation speed signal of the front and rear wheels acquired by the rotation speed sensor 2022, and the front wheel acquired by the air pressure sensor 2023. and rear wheel air pressure signal, vehicle speed signal obtained by vehicle speed sensor 2024, acceleration signal obtained by acceleration sensor 2025, accelerator pedal depression amount signal obtained by accelerator pedal sensor 2029, brake pedal sensor 2026 obtained by There are a brake pedal depression amount signal, a shift lever operation signal acquired by the shift lever sensor 2027, and a detection signal for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. acquired by the object detection sensor 2028, and the like.

The information service unit 2012 includes various devices such as car navigation systems, audio systems, speakers, televisions, and radios for providing various types of information such as driving information, traffic information, and entertainment information, and one or more devices for controlling these devices. ECU. The information service unit 2012 uses information acquired from an external device via the communication module 2013 or the like to provide passengers of the vehicle 2001 with various multimedia information and multimedia services.

Driving support system unit 2030 includes millimeter wave radar, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), camera, positioning locator (e.g., GNSS, etc.), map information (e.g., high-definition (HD) map, automatic driving vehicle (AV) map, etc. ), gyro systems (e.g., IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), INS (Inertial Navigation System), etc.), AI (Artificial Intelligence) chips, AI processors, etc., to prevent accidents and reduce the driver's driving load. and one or more ECUs for controlling these devices. In addition, the driving support system unit 2030 transmits and receives various information via the communication module 2013, and realizes a driving support function or an automatic driving function.

The communication module 2013 can communicate with the microprocessor 2031 and components of the vehicle 2001 via communication ports. For example, the communication module 2013 communicates with the vehicle 2001 through the communication port 2033, the drive unit 2002, the steering unit 2003, the accelerator pedal 2004, the brake pedal 2005, the shift lever 2006, the front wheels 2007, the rear wheels 2008, the axle 2009, the electronic Data is transmitted and received between the microprocessor 2031 and memory (ROM, RAM) 2032 in the control unit 2010 and the sensors 2021-29.

The communication module 2013 is a communication device that can be controlled by the microprocessor 2031 of the electronic control unit 2010 and can communicate with an external device. For example, it transmits and receives various information to and from an external device via wireless communication. Communication module 2013 may be internal or external to electronic control unit 2010 . The external device may be, for example, a base station, a mobile station, or the like.

The communication module 2013 transmits the current signal from the current sensor input to the electronic control unit 2010 to an external device via wireless communication. In addition, the communication module 2013 receives the rotation speed signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by the rotation speed sensor 2022, the air pressure signal of the front and rear wheels obtained by the air pressure sensor 2023, and the vehicle speed sensor. 2024, an acceleration signal obtained by an acceleration sensor 2025, an accelerator pedal depression amount signal obtained by an accelerator pedal sensor 2029, a brake pedal depression amount signal obtained by a brake pedal sensor 2026, and a shift lever. A shift lever operation signal obtained by the sensor 2027 and a detection signal for detecting obstacles, vehicles, pedestrians, etc. obtained by the object detection sensor 2028 are also transmitted to an external device via wireless communication.

The communication module 2013 receives various information (traffic information, signal information, inter-vehicle information, etc.) transmitted from external devices, and displays it on the information service unit 2012 provided in the vehicle 2001 . Communication module 2013 also stores various information received from external devices in memory 2032 available to microprocessor 2031 . Based on the information stored in the memory 2032, the microprocessor 2031 controls the drive unit 2002, the steering unit 2003, the accelerator pedal 2004, the brake pedal 2005, the shift lever 2006, the front wheels 2007, the rear wheels 2008, and the axle 2009 provided in the vehicle 2001. , sensors 2021 to 2029 and the like may be controlled.

(Summary of embodiment)
As described above, according to the embodiments of the present invention, a relay unit for relaying radio waves transmitted from a base station or a terminal to the base station or the terminal, and at least one of the base station and the terminal and a control unit that enables or disables the relay function of the relay unit based on the control information, and the reception unit includes at least the base station and the terminal A radio relay apparatus is provided that receives the control information from one side via an upper layer setting or a physical layer control signal.

With the above configuration, the wireless relay device 30 receives a control signal including settings or instructions from at least one of the base station 10 and the terminal 20, and enables or disables the reflection/radiation function based on the settings or instructions. can do. That is, it is possible to appropriately enable or disable the radio relay device in the radio communication system.

The control unit activates or deactivates the relay function of the relay unit when the receiving unit receives the same activation or deactivation instruction included in the control information from the base station and the terminal. good too. With this configuration, the wireless relay device 30 receives a control signal including common settings or instructions from the base station 10 and the terminal 20, and enables or disables the reflection/radiation function based on the settings or instructions. can be done.

The control unit may disable the relay function of the relay unit when the relay unit relays a physical layer signal including channel scheduling and after the relay unit relays the scheduled channel. With this configuration, the radio relay apparatus 30 can receive a control signal including scheduling from the base station 10, reflect/radiate the channel to be scheduled, and then disable the function.

The control unit independently controls activation or deactivation of the relay function when the relay unit relays radio waves to the base station and when the relay unit relays radio waves to the terminal. may With this configuration, the wireless relay device 30 can independently enable or disable the reflection/radiation function on the DL and UL.

The control unit may enable or disable the relay function of the relay unit based on an RRC (Radio Resource Control) connection state between the terminal and the base station. With this configuration, the radio relay device 30 can efficiently enable or disable the reflection/radiation function based on the RRC state.

Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, a communication unit that transmits and receives radio waves to and from a base station via a wireless relay device, and transmits control information indicating activation or deactivation of a relay function of the wireless relay device to the wireless relay device. a transmitter for transmitting to an apparatus, wherein the transmitter transmits the control information via an upper layer setting or a physical layer control signal.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a radio communication system having a radio relay device, a terminal, and a base station, wherein the radio relay device transmits radio waves transmitted from the base station or the terminal to the base station or the base station. a relay unit that relays to the terminal; a receiving unit that receives control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal; and a control unit that enables or disables the relay function of the relay unit based on the control information. wherein the receiving unit receives the control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal via an upper layer setting or a physical layer control signal, and the terminal receives the a first communication unit that transmits and receives radio waves to and from a base station; and a first transmission unit that transmits first control information indicating activation or deactivation of a relay function of the wireless relay device to the wireless relay device and the first transmission unit transmits the first control information via an upper layer setting or a physical layer control signal, and the base station transmits and receives radio waves to and from the terminal via the radio relay device. a second communication unit; and a second transmission unit configured to transmit second control information indicating activation or deactivation of a relay function of the wireless relay device to the wireless relay device; A part is provided with a wireless communication system that transmits the second control information via an upper layer setting or a physical layer control signal.

Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, a procedure for relaying radio waves transmitted from a base station or a terminal to the base station or the terminal, and receiving control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal a procedure for enabling or disabling a relay function based on the control information; and a procedure for receiving the control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal via higher layer settings or physical layer control signals. and are performed by the wireless relay device.

(Supplement to the embodiment)
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the disclosed invention is not limited to such embodiments, and those skilled in the art can understand various modifications, modifications, alternatives, replacements, and the like. be. Although specific numerical examples have been used to facilitate understanding of the invention, these numerical values are merely examples and any appropriate values may be used unless otherwise specified. The division of items in the above description is not essential to the present invention, and the items described in two or more items may be used in combination as necessary, and the items described in one item may be used in another item. may apply (unless inconsistent) to the matters set forth in Boundaries of functional or processing units in functional block diagrams do not necessarily correspond to boundaries of physical components. The operations of a plurality of functional units may be physically performed by one component, or the operations of one functional unit may be physically performed by a plurality of components. As for the processing procedures described in the embodiments, the processing order may be changed as long as there is no contradiction. Although the base station 10 and the terminal 20 have been described using functional block diagrams for convenience of explanation of processing, such devices may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. The software operated by the processor of the base station 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention and the software operated by the processor of the terminal 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention are stored in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory, respectively. (ROM), EPROM, EEPROM, register, hard disk (HDD), removable disk, CD-ROM, database, server, or any other appropriate storage medium.

Also, notification of information is not limited to the aspects/embodiments described in the present disclosure, and may be performed using other methods. For example, notification of information includes physical layer signaling (e.g., DCI (Downlink Control Information), UCI (Uplink Control Information)), higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling, MAC (Medium Access Control) signaling, It may be implemented by broadcast information (MIB (Master Information Block), SIB (System Information Block)), other signals, or a combination thereof.In addition, RRC signaling may also be called an RRC message, for example, RRC It may be a connection setup (RRC Connection Setup) message, an RRC connection reconfiguration message, or the like.

Each aspect/embodiment described in the present disclosure includes LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G (4th generation mobile communication system), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system) system), 6th generation mobile communication system (6G), xth generation mobile communication system (xG) (xG (x is, for example, an integer, a decimal number)), FRA (Future Radio Access), NR (new Radio), New radio access ( NX), Future generation radio access (FX), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802 .16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, UWB (Ultra-WideBand), Bluetooth (registered trademark), and other suitable systems, and any extensions, modifications, creations, and provisions based on these systems. It may be applied to at least one of the next generation systems. Also, a plurality of systems may be applied in combination (for example, a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A and 5G, etc.).

The order of the processing procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect/embodiment described in this specification may be changed as long as there is no contradiction. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present elements of the various steps using a sample order, and are not limited to the specific order presented.

A specific operation performed by the base station 10 in this specification may be performed by its upper node in some cases. In a network consisting of one or more network nodes with base station 10, various operations performed for communication with terminal 20 may be performed by base station 10 and other network nodes other than base station 10 ( (eg, but not limited to MME or S-GW). Although the case where there is one network node other than the base station 10 is illustrated above, the other network node may be a combination of a plurality of other network nodes (for example, MME and S-GW). .

Information, signals, etc. described in the present disclosure may be output from a higher layer (or a lower layer) to a lower layer (or a higher layer). It may be input and output via multiple network nodes.

Input/output information may be stored in a specific location (for example, memory) or managed using a management table. Input/output information and the like can be overwritten, updated, or appended. The output information and the like may be deleted. The entered information and the like may be transmitted to another device.

The determination in the present disclosure may be performed by a value represented by 1 bit (0 or 1), may be performed by a boolean value (Boolean: true or false), or may be performed by comparing numerical values (e.g. , comparison with a predetermined value).

Software, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language or otherwise, includes instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, and software modules. , applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, and the like.

In addition, software, instructions, information, etc. may be transmitted and received via a transmission medium. For example, the software uses at least one of wired technology (coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), etc.) and wireless technology (infrared, microwave, etc.) to website, Wired and/or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission medium when sent from a server or other remote source.

The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may refer to voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or photons, or any of these. may be represented by a combination of

The terms explained in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, the channel and/or symbols may be signaling. A signal may also be a message. A component carrier (CC) may also be called a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, or the like.

The terms "system" and "network" used in this disclosure are used interchangeably.

In addition, the information, parameters, etc. described in the present disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, may be expressed using relative values from a predetermined value, or may be expressed using other corresponding information. may be represented. For example, radio resources may be indexed.

The names used for the parameters described above are not restrictive names in any respect. Further, the formulas, etc., using these parameters may differ from those expressly disclosed in this disclosure. Since the various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements can be identified by any suitable name, the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are in no way restrictive names. isn't it.

In the present disclosure, "base station (BS)", "radio base station", "base station", "fixed station", "NodeB", "eNodeB (eNB)", "gNodeB ( gNB)", "access point", "transmission point", "reception point", "transmission/reception point", "cell", "sector", " Terms such as "cell group", "carrier", "component carrier" may be used interchangeably. A base station may also be referred to by terms such as macrocell, small cell, femtocell, picocell, and the like.

A base station can accommodate one or more (eg, three) cells. When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the overall coverage area of the base station can be partitioned into multiple smaller areas, each smaller area being associated with a base station subsystem (e.g., an indoor small base station (RRH: The term "cell" or "sector" refers to part or all of the coverage area of at least one of the base stations and base station subsystems serving communication services in this coverage. point to

In the present disclosure, terms such as "Mobile Station (MS)", "user terminal", "User Equipment (UE)", "terminal", etc. may be used interchangeably. .

A mobile station is defined by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless It may also be called a terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable term.

At least one of the base station and mobile station may be called a transmitting device, a receiving device, a communication device, or the like. At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a mobile object, the mobile object itself, or the like. The mobile object may be a vehicle (e.g., car, airplane, etc.), an unmanned mobile object (e.g., drone, self-driving car, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned ). Note that at least one of the base station and the mobile station includes devices that do not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and mobile station may be an IoT (Internet of Things) device such as a sensor.

Also, the base station in the present disclosure may be read as a user terminal. For example, communication between a base station and a user terminal is replaced with communication between a plurality of terminals 20 (for example, D2D (Device-to-Device), V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything), etc.) Regarding the configuration, each aspect/embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied. In this case, the terminal 20 may have the functions of the base station 10 described above. Also, words such as "up" and "down" may be replaced with words corresponding to inter-terminal communication (for example, "side"). For example, uplink channels, downlink channels, etc. may be read as side channels.

Similarly, user terminals in the present disclosure may be read as base stations. In this case, the base station may have the functions that the above-described user terminal has.

The terms "determining" and "determining" used in this disclosure may encompass a wide variety of actions. "Judgement" and "determination" are, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, inquiring (eg, lookup in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertaining as "judged" or "determined", and the like. Also, "judgment" and "determination" are used for receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., transmitting information), input, output, access (accessing) (for example, accessing data in memory) may include deeming that a "judgment" or "decision" has been made. In addition, "judgment" and "decision" are considered to be "judgment" and "decision" by resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. can contain. In other words, "judgment" and "decision" may include considering that some action is "judgment" and "decision". Also, "judgment (decision)" may be read as "assuming", "expecting", "considering", or the like.

The terms "connected", "coupled", or any variation thereof, mean any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, It can include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements being "connected" or "coupled." Couplings or connections between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connection" may be read as "access". As used in this disclosure, two elements are defined using at least one of one or more wires, cables, and printed electrical connections and, as some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples, in the radio frequency domain. , electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the microwave and optical (both visible and invisible) regions, and the like.

The reference signal can also be abbreviated as RS (Reference Signal), and may also be called Pilot depending on the applicable standard.

The term "based on" as used in this disclosure does not mean "based only on" unless otherwise specified. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."

Any reference to elements using the "first," "second," etc. designations used in this disclosure does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, reference to a first and second element does not imply that only two elements can be employed or that the first element must precede the second element in any way.

"Means" in the configuration of each device described above may be replaced with "unit", "circuit", "device", or the like.

Where "include," "including," and variations thereof are used in this disclosure, these terms are inclusive, as is the term "comprising." is intended. Furthermore, the term "or" as used in this disclosure is not intended to be an exclusive OR.

A radio frame may consist of one or more frames in the time domain. Each frame or frames in the time domain may be referred to as a subframe. A subframe may also consist of one or more slots in the time domain. A subframe may be of a fixed length of time (eg, 1 ms) independent of numerology.

A numerology may be a communication parameter that applies to the transmission and/or reception of a signal or channel. Numerology, for example, subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame structure, transceiver It may indicate at least one of certain filtering operations performed in the frequency domain, certain windowing operations performed by the transceiver in the time domain, and/or the like.

A slot may consist of one or more symbols (OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbol, SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) symbol, etc.) in the time domain. A slot may be a unit of time based on numerology.

A slot may contain multiple mini-slots. Each minislot may consist of one or more symbols in the time domain. A minislot may also be referred to as a subslot. A minislot may consist of fewer symbols than a slot. PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in time units larger than minislots may be referred to as PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using minislots may be referred to as PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.

Radio frames, subframes, slots, minislots and symbols all represent time units when transmitting signals. Radio frames, subframes, slots, minislots and symbols may be referred to by other corresponding designations.

For example, one subframe may be called a Transmission Time Interval (TTI), multiple consecutive subframes may be called a TTI, and one slot or minislot may be called a TTI. may That is, at least one of the subframe and TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in existing LTE, a period shorter than 1 ms (eg, 1-13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms may be Note that the unit representing the TTI may be called a slot, mini-slot, or the like instead of a subframe.

Here, TTI refers to, for example, the minimum scheduling time unit in wireless communication. For example, in the LTE system, the base station performs scheduling to allocate radio resources (frequency bandwidth, transmission power, etc. that can be used by each terminal 20) to each terminal 20 on a TTI basis. Note that the definition of TTI is not limited to this.

A TTI may be a transmission time unit such as a channel-encoded data packet (transport block), code block, or codeword, or may be a processing unit such as scheduling and link adaptation. Note that when a TTI is given, the time interval (for example, the number of symbols) in which transport blocks, code blocks, codewords, etc. are actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

When one slot or one minislot is called a TTI, one or more TTIs (that is, one or more slots or one or more minislots) may be the minimum scheduling time unit. Also, the number of slots (the number of mini-slots) constituting the minimum time unit of the scheduling may be controlled.

A TTI having a time length of 1 ms may be called a normal TTI (TTI in LTE Rel. 8-12), normal TTI, long TTI, normal subframe, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, or the like. A TTI that is shorter than a normal TTI may be called a shortened TTI, a short TTI, a partial or fractional TTI, a shortened subframe, a short subframe, a minislot, a subslot, a slot, and the like.

Note that the long TTI (e.g., normal TTI, subframe, etc.) may be replaced with a TTI having a time length exceeding 1 ms, and the short TTI (e.g., shortened TTI, etc.) is less than the TTI length of the long TTI and 1 ms A TTI having the above TTI length may be read instead.

A resource block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and the frequency domain, and may include one or more consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. The number of subcarriers included in the RB may be the same regardless of the numerology, and may be 12, for example. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be determined based on numerology.

Also, the time domain of an RB may include one or more symbols and may be 1 slot, 1 minislot, 1 subframe, or 1 TTI long. One TTI, one subframe, etc. may each consist of one or more resource blocks.

One or more RBs are physical resource blocks (PRBs), sub-carrier groups (SCGs), resource element groups (REGs), PRB pairs, RB pairs, etc. may be called.

Also, a resource block may be composed of one or more resource elements (RE: Resource Element). For example, 1 RE may be a radio resource region of 1 subcarrier and 1 symbol.

A bandwidth part (BWP) (which may also be called a bandwidth part) may represent a subset of contiguous common resource blocks (RBs) for a certain numerology on a certain carrier. Here, the common RB may be identified by an RB index based on the common reference point of the carrier. PRBs may be defined in a BWP and numbered within that BWP.

The BWP may include a BWP for UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for DL (DL BWP). One or more BWPs may be configured for terminal 20 within one carrier.

At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the terminal 20 may not expect to transmit or receive a given signal/channel outside the active BWP. Note that "cell", "carrier", etc. in the present disclosure may be read as "BWP".

The structures such as radio frames, subframes, slots, minislots and symbols described above are only examples. For example, the number of subframes contained in a radio frame, the number of slots per subframe or radio frame, the number of minislots contained within a slot, the number of symbols and RBs contained in a slot or minislot, the number of Configurations such as the number of subcarriers, the number of symbols in a TTI, the symbol length, the cyclic prefix (CP) length, etc. can be varied.

In this disclosure, if articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, the disclosure may include that the nouns following these articles are plural.

In the present disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean that "A and B are different from C". Terms such as "separate," "coupled," etc. may also be interpreted in the same manner as "different."

Each aspect/embodiment described in the present disclosure may be used alone, may be used in combination, or may be used by switching along with execution. In addition, the notification of predetermined information (for example, notification of “being X”) is not limited to being performed explicitly, but may be performed implicitly (for example, not notifying the predetermined information). good too.

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it is clear to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described in the present disclosure. The present disclosure can be practiced with modifications and variations without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims. Accordingly, the description of the present disclosure is for illustrative purposes and is not meant to be limiting in any way.

10 base station 110 transmitting unit 120 receiving unit 130 setting unit 140 control unit 20 terminal 210 transmitting unit 220 receiving unit 230 setting unit 240 control unit 30 radio relay device 310 transmitting unit 320 receiving unit 330 control unit 340 variable unit 350 antenna unit 1001 processor 1002 Storage device 1003 Auxiliary storage device 1004 Communication device 1005 Input device 1006 Output device 2001 Vehicle 2002 Driving unit 2003 Steering unit 2004 Accelerator pedal 2005 Brake pedal 2006 Shift lever 2007 Front wheel 2008 Rear wheel 2009 Axle 2010 Electronic control unit 2012 Information service unit 2013 Communication Module 2021 Current sensor 2022 Revolution sensor 2023 Air pressure sensor 2024 Vehicle speed sensor 2025 Acceleration sensor 2026 Brake pedal sensor 2027 Shift lever sensor 2028 Object detection sensor 2029 Accelerator pedal sensor 2030 Driving support system unit 2031 Microprocessor 2032 Memory (ROM, RAM)
2033 communication port (IO port)

Claims

a relay unit that relays radio waves transmitted from a base station or a terminal to the base station or the terminal;
a receiving unit that receives control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal;
a control unit that enables or disables the relay function of the relay unit based on the control information;
The radio relay apparatus, wherein the receiving unit receives the control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal via an upper layer setting or a physical layer control signal.
The control unit activates or deactivates the relay function of the relay unit when the receiving unit receives the same activation or deactivation instruction included in the control information from the base station and the terminal. The radio relay device according to claim 1.
2. The control unit disables the relay function of the relay unit when the relay unit relays a physical layer signal including channel scheduling and after the relay unit relays the scheduled channel. A radio repeater as described.
The control unit independently controls activation or deactivation of the relay function when the relay unit relays radio waves to the base station and when the relay unit relays radio waves to the terminal. The radio relay device according to claim 1.
The wireless relay device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit enables or disables the relay function of the relay unit based on an RRC (Radio Resource Control) connection state between the terminal and the base station.
a communication unit that transmits and receives radio waves to and from a base station via a wireless relay device;
a transmitting unit configured to transmit control information indicating activation or deactivation of a relay function of the wireless relay device to the wireless relay device;
A terminal in which the transmission unit transmits the control information via an upper layer setting or a physical layer control signal.
A wireless communication system having a wireless relay device, a terminal and a base station,
The wireless relay device
a relay unit that relays radio waves transmitted from a base station or a terminal to the base station or the terminal;
a receiving unit that receives control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal;
a control unit that enables or disables the relay function of the relay unit based on the control information;
The receiving unit receives the control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal via an upper layer setting or a physical layer control signal,
The terminal is
a first communication unit that transmits and receives radio waves to and from the base station via the wireless relay device;
a first transmission unit configured to transmit first control information indicating activation or deactivation of a relay function of the wireless relay device to the wireless relay device;
The first transmission unit transmits the first control information via a higher layer setting or a physical layer control signal,
The base station
a second communication unit that transmits and receives radio waves to and from the terminal via the wireless relay device;
a second transmission unit configured to transmit second control information indicating activation or deactivation of a relay function of the wireless relay device to the wireless relay device;
The radio communication system, wherein the second transmission unit transmits the second control information via an upper layer setting or a physical layer control signal.
a procedure for relaying radio waves transmitted from a base station or a terminal to the base station or the terminal;
a procedure for receiving control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal;
a procedure for enabling or disabling a relay function based on the control information;
A radio relay method in which a radio relay apparatus executes a procedure of receiving the control information from at least one of the base station and the terminal via an upper layer setting or a physical layer control signal.