CN116848801A - Method and device for antenna selection in distributed MIMO systems - Google Patents

Abstract

A User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system includes a transceiver and a processor. The transceiver receives information about the antenna system of the base station. The information includes the number of collocated antenna groups and the number of antenna modules for each type of antenna module in each collocated antenna group. The juxtaposed antenna group has at least two types of antenna modules: a first module having a first antenna type and a second module having a second antenna type. The transceiver also receives configuration information for channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources. The transceiver also receives CSI-RS based on the configuration information and obtains measurement results. The processor determines a subset of antenna modules based on a comparison between the measurement and criteria. The processor generates CSI for a subset of the antenna modules. The transceiver transmits a CSI report including CSI.

Description

Method and apparatus for antenna selection for distributed MIMO systems

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to electronic devices and methods for multi-antenna systems, and more particularly, to electronic devices and methods for antenna selection for distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems.

Background

In view of the generation development of wireless communication, technologies mainly used for services for humans, such as voice calls, multimedia services, and data services, have been developed. After commercialization of a 5G (5 th generation) communication system, the number of connected devices is expected to increase exponentially. These will increasingly be connected to a communication network. Examples of networking things may include vehicles, robots, drones, home appliances, displays, smart sensors connected to various infrastructure, construction machinery, and factory equipment. Mobile devices are expected to evolve in a variety of form factors, such as augmented reality glasses, virtual reality headphones, and hologram devices. In order to provide various services by connecting billions of devices and things in a 6G (6 th generation) area, efforts have been made to develop an improved 6G communication system. For these reasons, 6G communication systems are referred to as super 5G systems.

It is expected that a 6G communication system that will be commercialized around 2030 will have a peak data rate of the order of too (1,000 giga) bps and a radio delay of less than 100 musec, and thus will be 50 times faster than a 5G communication system and have a radio delay of 1/10 thereof.

To achieve such high data rates and ultra-low latency, it has been considered to implement 6G communication systems in the terahertz frequency band (e.g., the 95GHz to 3THz frequency band). It is expected that a technique of securing a signal transmission distance (i.e., coverage) will become more critical since path loss and atmospheric absorption in the terahertz band are more serious than those in the millimeter wave band introduced in 5G. As a main technique for securing coverage, it is necessary to open transmission frequency (RF) elements, antennas, new waveforms with better coverage than an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme, beamforming and massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, and multi-antenna transmission techniques such as massive antennas. In addition, new technologies such as metamaterial-based lenses and antennas, orbital Angular Momentum (OAM), and reconfigurable smart surfaces (RIS) have been discussed for improving coverage of terahertz band signals.

Furthermore, in order to improve spectral efficiency and overall network performance, the following techniques for 6G communication systems have been developed: full duplex technology for implementing uplink transmission and downlink transmission to simultaneously use the same frequency resources at the same time; network technology for utilizing satellites, high Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS), etc. in an integrated manner; an improved network structure for supporting mobile base stations and the like and realizing network operation optimization and automation and the like; dynamic spectrum sharing techniques via collision avoidance based on predictions of spectrum usage; artificial Intelligence (AI) is used in wireless communications to improve overall network operation by leveraging AI from the design phase of development 6G and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions; next generation distributed computing technology for overcoming the limits of UE computing power and computing resources on the network, such as Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), cloud, etc., through achievable ultra-high performance communications. In addition, attempts continue to strengthen connectivity between devices, optimize networks, promote the software of network entities, and improve the openness of wireless communications by designing new protocols to be used in 6G communication networks, developing mechanisms for implementing hardware-based secure environments and secure use of data, and developing techniques for maintaining privacy.

It is expected that research and development of super-connected 6G communication systems, including person-to-machine (P2M) and machine-to-machine (M2M), will enable the following super-connection experience. In particular, services such as true immersive augmented reality (XR), high fidelity mobile holograms, and digital replicas are contemplated to be provided through 6G communication systems. In addition, services such as teleoperation, industrial automation and emergency response with enhanced safety and reliability will be provided through the 6G communication system, so that technologies can be applied in various fields such as industry, medical care, automobiles and home appliances.

The basic idea of the New Radio (NR) in the 3 rd generation partnership project (3 GPP) is to support beam-specific operation of wireless communication between a gNode B (gNB) and a User Equipment (UE). There are several components in the 5G (e.g., fifth generation) NR specification that can operate efficiently in a beam-specific manner. For cellular systems operating in the frequency range below 1GHz (e.g., less than 1 GHz), supporting a large number (e.g., 32) of CSI-RS antenna ports at a location or Remote Radio Head (RRH) is challenging because of the need for a larger antenna form factor at these frequencies compared to systems operating at higher frequencies, such as 2GHz or 4 GHz. At such low frequencies, the maximum number of CSI-RS antenna ports that can be co-located at a single site (or RRH) may be limited to, for example, 8. This limits the spectral efficiency of such systems. In particular, MU-MIMO spatial multiplexing gains due to a large number (such as 32) of CSI-RS antenna ports cannot be achieved. One way to operate a below 1GHz system with a large number of CSI-RS antenna ports is based on distributing the antenna ports at multiple locations (or panels/RRHs). Multiple sites or panels/RRHs can still be connected to a single (common) base unit, so signals transmitted/received via multiple distributed RRHs can still be processed at a centralized location. This is called distributed MIMO.

The inventors contemplate that the evolution path for distributed MIMO beyond 5G or 6G is modular MIMO, where a base antenna module (or multiple base antenna modules) is defined, and allow any combination of base antenna modules to build a massive MIMO network to overcome practical constraints, such as the necessity for a large-sized antenna panel to accommodate large array antennas in the low frequency band. However, new problems may arise in such scenarios: as the number of antenna panels becomes larger and many panels/RRHs can be deployed in multiple locations/sites, a large amount of CSI feedback is required to obtain channels for all panels/RRHs/modules in order to maximize modular MIMO gain.

Disclosure of Invention

[ problem ]

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatus for multi-antenna systems, and more particularly, to electronic devices and methods for antenna selection for distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems.

[ solution to the problem ]

In one embodiment, a User Equipment (UE) is provided. The UE includes a transceiver and a processor operatively coupled to the transceiver. The transceiver is configured to: receiving information about an antenna system of a base station, the information comprising a number of collocated antenna groups and a number of antenna modules of each type of antenna module in each collocated antenna group, wherein each collocated antenna group of the collocated antenna groups has at least two types of antenna modules: a first module having a first antenna type and a second module having a second antenna type. The transceiver is further configured to: configuration information for at least one channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resource is received. The transceiver is further configured to: at least one CSI-RS is received according to the configuration information and measurement results are obtained. The processor is configured to: a subset of antenna modules is determined based on a comparison between the measurement and criteria. The processor is further configured to: CSI is generated for a subset of the antenna modules. The transceiver is further configured to: a CSI report including CSI is transmitted.

In another embodiment, a Base Station (BS) is provided. The BS includes a transceiver configured to: transmitting information about an antenna system of a base station, the information including a number of collocated antenna groups, a number of antenna modules of each type of antenna module in each collocated antenna group, wherein each collocated antenna group of the collocated antenna groups has at least two types of antenna modules: a first module having a first antenna type and a second module having a second antenna type. The transceiver is further configured to: configuration information for at least one channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resource is transmitted. The transceiver is further configured to: and transmitting at least one CSI-RS according to the configuration information. The transceiver is configured to: a CSI report is received that includes CSI generated for a subset of antenna modules, the subset of antenna modules determined based on a comparison between the measurement and a criterion.

In yet another embodiment, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: receiving information about an antenna system of a base station, the information comprising a number of collocated antenna groups and a number of antenna modules of each type of antenna module in each collocated antenna group, wherein each collocated antenna group of the collocated antenna groups has at least two types of antenna modules: a first module having a first antenna type and a second module having a second antenna type; receiving configuration information for at least one channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resource; receiving at least one CSI-RS according to the configuration information and obtaining a measurement result; determining a subset of antenna modules based on a comparison between the measurement and criteria; generating CSI for a subset of antenna modules; and transmitting a CSI report including the CSI.

Other technical features may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

Before proceeding with the following detailed description, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document. The term "couple" and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another. The terms "transmit," "receive," and "communicate," as well as derivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, are intended to be inclusive and not limited to. The term "or" is inclusive, meaning and/or. The phrase "associated with … …" and its derivatives are intended to include, be included within … …, interconnect … …, include, be included within … …, connect to … … or connect to … …, couple to … … or couple to … …, communicate with … …, cooperate with … …, interleave, juxtapose, be immediately adjacent to … …, be incorporated into … … or combine with … …, have the characteristics of … …, have the relationship to … …, and the like. The term "controller" means any device, system, or portion thereof that controls at least one operation. Such a controller may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and/or firmware. The functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. The phrase "at least one of … …," when used with a list of items, means that different combinations of one or more of the listed items can be used and that only one item in the list may be required. For example, "at least one of A, B and C" includes any one of the following combinations: A. b, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C.

Furthermore, the various functions described below may be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms "application" and "program" refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classifications, instances, related data, or portions thereof, adapted to be implemented in suitable computer readable program code. The phrase "computer readable program code" includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer readable medium" includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as Read Only Memory (ROM), random Access Memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. "non-transitory" computer-readable media exclude wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that transmit transient electrical signals or other signals. Non-transitory computer readable media include media that can permanently store data, as well as media that can store and subsequently rewrite data, such as rewritable optical disks or erasable memory devices.

Definitions for certain other words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

[ advantageous effects of the invention ]

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE and/or the Network (NW) may dynamically select antenna panels/subsets/RRHs/modules. This enables the UE and/or NW to reduce CSI feedback overhead while obtaining most of the benefits of distributed MIMO by effectively utilizing diversity gain.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a majority of the total signal power may be suitably obtained by selecting the most efficient antenna module by criterion-based antenna module selection.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, potential interference leakage effects from non-active antenna modules to other UEs may be minimized.

Drawings

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate like parts throughout:

fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to an embodiment of this disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example gNB, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 illustrates an example UE in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4A illustrates a high-level diagram of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access transmission path according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4B illustrates a high-level diagram of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access receive path according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 illustrates an example antenna according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 6 illustrates an example antenna port layout according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 7 illustrates an example modular multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) deployment in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 illustrates another example modular multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) deployment with collocated groupings, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 illustrates another example of channel coefficient comparison using an antenna module domain or frequency domain in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 10 illustrates a process for antenna subset selection by a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of collocated packet selection according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 12 illustrates an example antenna module type selection mode in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 13 illustrates an example hierarchical structure of components indicating a subset of antenna modules according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

Fig. 14 illustrates a process for antenna subset selection at a user equipment using a threshold in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 15 illustrates a process for antenna subset selection by a network in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of indicating module selection from unselected packets in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of indicating module deselection from a selected group according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 18 illustrates a process for antenna subset configuration and corresponding CSI reporting at a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 19 illustrates signaling exchanges between a network and user equipment for network-based antenna subset selection in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 20 illustrates a process for antenna subset selection for uplink transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and is also provided with

Fig. 21 illustrates a process for a user equipment to perform antenna subset configuration for uplink transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The figures 1 through 21, discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged system or device.

The following documents and standard descriptions are hereby incorporated by reference into the present disclosure as if fully set forth herein: 3GPP TS 36.211v16.4.0, "E-UTRA, physical channels and modulation (E-UTRA, physical channel and modulation)"; 3GPP TS 36.212v16.4.0, "E-UTRA, multiplexing and Channel coding (E-UTRA, multiplexing and channel coding)"; 3GPP TS 36.213v16.4.0, "E-UTRA, physical Layer Procedures (E-UTRA, physical layer procedure)"; 3GPP TS 36.321v16.3.0, "E-UTRA, medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (E-UTRA, medium Access Control (MAC) protocol Specification)"; 3GPP TS 36.331v16.3.0, "E-UTRA, radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (E-UTRA, radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol Specification)"; 3GPP TS 38.211v16.4.0, "NR, physical channels and modulation (NR, physical channel and modulation)"; 3GPP TS 38.212v16.4.0, "NR, multiplexing and Channel coding (NR, multiplexing and channel coding)"; 3GPP TS 38.213v16.4.0, "NR, physical Layer Procedures for Control (NR, physical layer procedure for control)"; 3GPP TS 38.214v16.4.0, "NR, physical Layer Procedures for Data (NR, physical layer procedure for data)"; 3GPP TS 38.215v16.4.0, "NR, physical Layer Measurements (NR, physical layer measurement)"; 3GPP TS 38.321v16.3.0, "NR, medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (NR, media Access Control (MAC) protocol specification)"; and 3GPP TS 38.331v16.3.1, "NR, radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification (NR, radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification)".

Aspects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description simply by illustrating a number of particular embodiments and implementations, including the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present disclosure. The disclosure is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various obvious respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive. The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, for brevity, both Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) and Time Division Duplexing (TDD) are considered duplex methods for DL and UL signaling.

Although the following exemplary description and embodiments employ Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), the present disclosure may be extended to other OFDM-based transmit waveforms or multiple access schemes, such as filtered OFDM (F-OFDM).

The present disclosure encompasses several components that may be used in combination or combination with one another or that may operate as a stand-alone solution.

In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or quasi 5G communication systems. Therefore, a 5G or quasi 5G communication system is also referred to as a "super 4G network" or a "LTE-after-system".

A 5G communication system is considered to be implemented at a higher frequency (millimeter wave) band (e.g., 60GHz band) in order to achieve a higher data rate. In order to reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase transmission coverage, beamforming, massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming, massive antenna techniques, and the like are discussed in 5G communication systems.

In addition, in the 5G communication system, development of system network improvement is being conducted based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Networks (RANs), ultra dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul communication, mobile networks, cooperative communication, coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission and reception, interference mitigation and cancellation, and the like.

In 5G systems, hybrid Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (FQAM) and Sliding Window Superposition Coding (SWSC) have been developed as Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) techniques, and Filter Bank Multicarrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) as advanced access techniques.

While certain embodiments of the present disclosure focus on a 3GPP 5G NR communication system, various embodiments may be generally applicable to UEs operating in other RATs and/or standards, such as different versions/generations of 3GPP standards (including beyond 5G, 6G, etc.), IEEE standards (such as 802.16WiMAX and 802.11 Wi-Fi), and so forth.

Fig. 1-4B below describe various embodiments implemented in a wireless communication system and utilizing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication techniques. The descriptions of fig. 1-3 are not meant to imply physical or architectural limitations with respect to different embodiments that may be implemented. The various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged communication system.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to an embodiment of this disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network shown in fig. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of wireless network 100 may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

As shown in fig. 1, the wireless network includes a gNB 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103.gNB 101 communicates with gNB 102 and gNB 103. The gNB 101 is also in communication with at least one network 130, such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data network.

The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of User Equipment (UEs) within the coverage area 120 of the gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes: UE 111, which may be located in a small enterprise; UE 112, which may be located in enterprise (E); UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi Hotspot (HS); UE 114, which may be located in a first home (R); a UE 115, which may be located in a second home (R); and UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cellular telephone, wireless laptop, wireless PDA, or the like. The gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within the coverage area 125 of the gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes UE 115 and UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of the eNBs 101-103 may communicate with each other and with UEs 111-116 using 5G, LTE, LTE-A, wiMAX, wiFi or other wireless communication techniques.

Depending on the network type, the term "base station" or "BS" may refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as a Transmission Point (TP), a transmission-reception point (TRP), an enhanced base station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G base station (gNB), a large base station, a femto base station, a WiFi Access Point (AP), or other wireless enabled device. The base station may provide wireless access according to one or more wireless communication protocols, e.g., 5G 3GPP new radio interface/access (NR), long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE advanced (LTE-A), high Speed Packet Access (HSPA), wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, etc. For convenience, the terms "BS" and "TRP" are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to network-based infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may refer to any component, such as a "mobile station", "subscriber station", "remote terminal", "wireless terminal", "reception point" or "user equipment", depending on the type of network. For convenience, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to a remote wireless device that is wireless to access the BS, whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile phone or smart phone) or is generally considered to be a stationary device (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).

The dashed lines illustrate the general extent of coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as being generally circular for purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with the gnbs, such as coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on the configuration of the gnbs and the variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

As described in more detail below, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 include a two-dimensional (2D) antenna array as described in embodiments of the disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 support codebook design and structure for systems with 2D antenna arrays.

As described in more detail below, one or more of UEs 111-116 include circuitry, programming, or a combination thereof for measuring signal quality of one or more UL RSs and one or more DL RSs for a period of time and performing measurement reporting of the measured signal quality. In certain embodiments, and one or more of the gnbs 101-103 comprise circuitry, programming, or a combination thereof to facilitate measurement reporting for UEs in an advanced wireless communication system.

Although fig. 1 illustrates one example of a wireless network, various changes may be made to fig. 1. For example, the wireless network may include any number of gnbs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. In addition, the gNB 101 may communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 may communicate directly with the network 130 and provide direct wireless broadband access to the network 130 to the UE. Furthermore, the gnbs 101, 102, and/or 103 may provide access to other or additional external networks (such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks).

Fig. 2 illustrates an example gNB 102 in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 shown in fig. 2 is for illustration only, and the gnbs 101 and 103 of fig. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, the gNB has a variety of configurations, and fig. 2 does not limit the scope of the disclosure to any particular implementation of the gNB.

As shown in fig. 2, the gNB 102 includes a plurality of antennas 205a through 205n, a plurality of RF transceivers 210a through 210n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 215, and Receive (RX) processing circuitry 220. The gNB 102 also includes a controller/processor 225, memory 230, and a backhaul or network interface 235.

RF transceivers 210a through 210n receive incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs in network 100, from antennas 205a through 205 n. The RF transceivers 210 a-210 n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signal is sent to RX processing circuit 220, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 220 sends the processed baseband signals to a controller/processor 225 for further processing.

TX processing circuitry 215 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, network data, email, or interactive video game data) from controller/processor 225. TX processing circuitry 215 encodes, multiplexes, and/or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 210a through 210n receive outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from TX processing circuitry 215 and up-convert the baseband or IF signals to RF signals for transmission via antennas 205a through 205 n.

The controller/processor 225 may include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, controller/processor 225 may control the reception of UL channel signals and the transmission of DL channel signals by RF transceivers 210a through 210n, RX processing circuitry 220, and TX processing circuitry 215 according to well-known principles. The controller/processor 225 may also support additional functions, such as higher-level wireless communication functions. For example, the controller/processor 225 may perform a Blind Interference Sensing (BIS) process such as that performed by a BIS algorithm and decode the received signal minus the interference signal. The controller/processor 225 may support any of a wide variety of other functions in the gNB 102. In some embodiments, controller/processor 225 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

In some embodiments, the controller/processor 225 may support a beamforming or directional routing operation in which outgoing signals from the multiple antennas 205 a-205 n are weighted differently to effectively direct the outgoing signals in a desired direction. Any of a variety of other functions may be supported in the gNB 102 by the controller/processor 225.

The controller/processor 225 is also capable of executing programs and other processes residing in memory 230, such as an OS. Controller/processor 225 may move data into and out of memory 230 as needed to execute processes.

The controller/processor 225 is also capable of supporting channel quality measurements and reporting for systems having 2D antenna arrays, as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the controller/processor 225 supports communication between entities such as web RTCs. Controller/processor 225 may move data into and out of memory 230 as needed to execute processes.

The controller/processor 225 is also coupled to a backhaul or network interface 235. Backhaul or network interface 235 allows gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems through a backhaul connection or through a network. The interface 235 may support communication over any suitable wired or wireless connection. For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (e.g., a system supporting 5G, LTE or LTE-a), the interface 235 may allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gnbs over a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the interface 235 may allow the gNB 102 to communicate with a larger network (such as the internet) through a wired or wireless local area network or through a wired or wireless connection. Interface 235 includes any suitable structure that supports communication over a wired or wireless connection, such as an ethernet or RF transceiver.

Memory 230 is coupled to controller/processor 225. A portion of memory 230 may include RAM and another portion of memory 230 may include flash memory or other ROM. In some embodiments, a plurality of instructions (such as BIS algorithm) are stored in memory 230. The plurality of instructions are configured to cause the controller/processor 225 to perform a BIS process and to decode the received signal after subtracting the at least one interfering signal determined by the BIS algorithm.

As described in more detail below, the transmit and receive paths of the gNB 102 (implemented using RF transceivers 210 a-210 n, TX processing circuitry 215, and/or RX processing circuitry 220) support aggregated communications with FDD and TDD cells.

While fig. 2 illustrates one example of the gNB 102, various changes may be made to fig. 2. For example, the gNB 102 may include any number of each of the components shown in FIG. 2. As a particular example, an access point may include multiple interfaces 235 and the controller/processor 225 may support routing functions that route data between different network addresses. As another particular example, while shown as including a single instance of TX processing circuitry 215 and a single instance of RX processing circuitry 220, the gNB 102 can include multiple instances of each (such as one instance per RF transceiver). In addition, the various components in FIG. 2 may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components may be added according to particular needs.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example UE 116 according to an embodiment of this disclosure. The embodiment of UE 116 shown in fig. 3 is for illustration only, and UEs 111-115 of fig. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, the UE has a wide variety of configurations, and fig. 3 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of the UE.

As shown in fig. 3, UE 116 includes an antenna 305, a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver 310, TX processing circuitry 315, a microphone 320, and Receive (RX) processing circuitry 325.UE 116 also includes speaker 330, processor 340, input/output (I/O) Interface (IF) 345, touch screen 350 (or keyboard), display 355, and memory 360. Memory 360 includes an Operating System (OS) 361 and one or more application programs 362.

RF transceiver 310 receives incoming RF signals from antenna 305 that are transmitted by the gNB of network 100. The RF transceiver 310 down-converts an incoming RF signal to generate an Intermediate Frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to RX processing circuit 325, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 325 sends the processed baseband signals to a speaker 330 (such as for voice data) or to a processor 340 for further processing (such as for web-browsing data).

TX processing circuitry 315 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 320 or other outgoing baseband data (such as network data, email, or interactive video game data) from processor 340. TX processing circuitry 315 encodes, multiplexes, and/or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceiver 310 receives outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from TX processing circuitry 315 and up-converts the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are transmitted via antenna 305.

Processor 340 may include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute OS 361 stored in memory 360 to control the overall operation of UE 116. For example, processor 340 may control RF transceiver 310, RX processing circuit 325, and TX processing circuit 315 to receive DL channel signals and transmit UL channel signals in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, processor 340 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

Processor 340 is also capable of executing other processes and programs residing in memory 360, such as processes for UL transmissions on the uplink channel. Processor 340 may move data into and out of memory 360 as needed to execute processes. In some implementations, the processor 340 is configured to execute the application 362 based on the OS 361 or in response to a signal received from the gNB or operator. The processor 340 is also coupled to an I/O interface 345 that provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. I/O interface 345 is the communication path between these accessories and processor 340.

Processor 340 is also coupled to touch screen 350 and display 355. An operator of UE 116 may use touch screen 350 to input data into UE 116. Display 355 may be a liquid crystal display, a light emitting diode display, or other display capable of rendering text and/or at least limited graphics, such as from a website.

Memory 360 is coupled to processor 340. A portion of memory 360 may include Random Access Memory (RAM) and another portion of memory 360 may include flash memory or other Read Only Memory (ROM).

Although fig. 3 shows one example of UE 116, various changes may be made to fig. 3. For example, the various components in FIG. 3 may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components may be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, the processor 340 may be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs) and one or more Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). In addition, although fig. 3 shows the UE 116 configured as a mobile phone or smart phone, the UE may be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.

Fig. 4A is a high-level diagram of a transmit path circuit. For example, the transmit path circuitry may be used for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communications. Fig. 4B is a top level diagram of the receive path circuitry. For example, the receive path circuitry may be used for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communications. In fig. 4A and 4B, for downlink communications, the transmit path circuitry may be implemented in the base station (gNB) 102 or the relay station, and the receive path circuitry may be implemented in a user equipment (e.g., user equipment 116 of fig. 1). In other examples, for uplink communications, the receive path circuitry 450 may be implemented in a base station (e.g., the gNB 102 of fig. 1) or a relay station, and the transmit path circuitry may be implemented in a user equipment (e.g., the user equipment 116 of fig. 1).

The transmit path circuitry includes a channel coding and modulation block 405, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 410, an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 415 of size N, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 420, an add cyclic prefix block 425, and an up-converter (UC) 430. The receive path circuitry 450 includes a down-converter (DC) 455, a remove cyclic prefix block 460, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 465, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 470 of size N, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 475, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 480.

At least some of the components of fig. 4a 400 and 4b 450 may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented in configurable hardware or a mixture of software and configurable hardware. In particular, it should be noted that the FFT blocks and IFFT blocks described in this disclosure may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, wherein the value of size N may be modified depending on the implementation.

Furthermore, while the present disclosure is directed to embodiments implementing a fast fourier transform and an inverse fast fourier transform, this is merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated that in alternative embodiments of the present disclosure, the inverse fast fourier transform function and the inverse fast fourier transform function may be readily replaced by a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) function and an Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) function, respectively. It will be appreciated that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer (i.e., 1, 4, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integer that is a power of two (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).

In transmit path circuitry 400, a channel coding and modulation block 405 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (e.g., LDPC coding) and modulates (e.g., quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)) input bits to produce a sequence of frequency domain modulation symbols. The serial-to-parallel block 410 converts (i.e., demultiplexes) the serial modulation symbols into parallel data to produce N parallel symbol streams, where N is the IFFT/FFT size used in the BS102 and UE 116. The IFFT block 415 of size N then performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to produce a time domain output signal. Parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (i.e., multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from IFFT block 415 of size N to produce a serial time-domain signal. The cyclic prefix block 425 is added and then the cyclic prefix is inserted into the time domain signal. Finally, up-converter 430 modulates (i.e., up-converts) the output of the add cyclic prefix block 425 to an RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signal may also be filtered at baseband before being converted to RF frequency.

The transmitted RF signals arrive at the UE 116 after traversing the wireless channel and perform operations that are inverse to those at the gNB 102. The down converter 455 down converts the received signal to baseband frequency and remove cyclic prefix block 460 removes the cyclic prefix to produce a serial time domain baseband signal. Serial-to-parallel block 465 converts the time-domain baseband signal to a parallel time-domain signal. Then, an FFT block 470 of size N then performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency domain signals. Parallel-to-serial block 475 converts the parallel frequency domain signal into a sequence of modulated data symbols. The channel decode and demodulate block 480 demodulates and then decodes the modulation symbols to recover the original input data stream.

Each of the gnbs 101 to 103 may implement a transmission path similar to transmission to the user equipments 111 to 116 in the downlink, and may implement a reception path similar to reception from the user equipments 111 to 116 in the uplink. Similarly, each of the user equipments 111 to 116 may implement a transmission path corresponding to an architecture for transmitting to the gnbs 101 to 103 in the uplink, and may implement a reception path corresponding to an architecture for receiving from the gnbs 101 to 103 in the downlink.

5G communication system use cases have been identified and described. Those use cases can be roughly divided into three different groups. In one example, an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) is determined to meet high bit count/second requirements with less stringent latency and reliability requirements. In another example, ultra Reliable and Low Latency (URLL) is determined with less stringent bit/second requirements. In yet another example, large-scale machine type communication (mctc) is determined as the number of devices may be as high as 100000 to 1 million/km 2, but the requirements on reliability/throughput/latency may be less stringent. This situation may also relate to power efficiency requirements, as battery consumption may be minimized.

A communication system includes a Downlink (DL) that conveys signals from a transmission point, such as a Base Station (BS) or a NodeB, to a User Equipment (UE), and an Uplink (UL) that conveys signals from the UE to a reception point, such as a NodeB. The UE (also commonly referred to as a terminal or mobile station) may be fixed or mobile and may be a cellular telephone, a personal computer device or an automated device. An eNodeB, which is typically a fixed station, may also be referred to as an access point or other equivalent terminology. For LTE systems, the NodeB is commonly referred to as an eNodeB.

In a communication system such as an LTE system, DL signals may include data signals conveying information content, control signals conveying DL Control Information (DCI), and Reference Signals (RSs), also referred to as pilot signals. The eNodeB transmits data information through a Physical DL Shared Channel (PDSCH). The eNodeB transmits DCI over a Physical DL Control Channel (PDCCH) or Enhanced PDCCH (EPDCCH).

The eNodeB transmits Acknowledgement (ACK) information in a physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH) in response to a data Transport Block (TB) transmission from the UE. The eNodeB transmits one or more of multiple types of RSs including UE-Common RSs (CRSs), channel state information RSs (CSI) -RSs (CSI-RSs), or demodulation RSs (DMRSs). The CRS is transmitted over the DL system Bandwidth (BW) and may be used by UEs to obtain channel estimates to demodulate data or control information or perform measurements. To reduce CRS overhead, the eNodeB may transmit CSI-RS with a smaller time and/or frequency domain density than CRS. The DMRS may only be transmitted in BW of the corresponding PDSCH or EPDCCH, and the UE may use the DMRS to demodulate data or control information in the PDSCH or EPDCCH, respectively. The transmission time interval for the DL channel is referred to as a subframe and may have a duration of, for example, 1 millisecond.

The DL signal also includes the transmission of logical channels carrying system control information. The BCCH is mapped to a transport channel called a Broadcast Channel (BCH) when DL signals convey a Master Information Block (MIB) or to a DL shared channel (DL-SCH) when DL signals convey a System Information Block (SIB). Most of the system information is contained in different SIBs transmitted using the DL-SCH. The presence of system information on the DL-SCH in a subframe may be indicated by transmission of a corresponding PDCCH conveying a codeword with a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) scrambled by system information RNTI (SI-RNTI). Alternatively, the scheduling information for SIB transmission may be provided in an earlier SIB, and the scheduling information for the first SIB (SIB-1) may be provided by the MIB.

DL resource allocation is performed in units of subframes and a set of Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs). The transmission BW includes frequency resource units called Resource Blocks (RBs). Each RB includesIndividual subcarriers or Resource Elements (REs), such as 12 REs. The unit of one RB above one subframe is called a PRB. UEs may be allocated a total of BW for PDSCH transmissionM of RE _PDSCH And RB.

The UL signals may include data signals conveying data information, control signals conveying UL Control Information (UCI), and ULRS. ULRS includes DMRS and Sounding RS (SRS). The UE transmits the DMRS only in the BW of the corresponding PUSCH or PUCCH. The eNodeB may use the DMRS to demodulate the data signal or UCI signal. The UE transmits SRS to provide UL CSI to the eNodeB. The UE transmits data information or UCI through a respective Physical UL Shared Channel (PUSCH) or Physical UL Control Channel (PUCCH). If the UE needs to transmit data information and UCI in the same UL subframe, the UE may multiplex both in PUSCH. UCI includes hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information indicating correct (e.g., acknowledgement (ACK)) or incorrect (e.g., negative Acknowledgement (NACK)) detection or absence of PDCCH Detection (DTX) of a data TB in a PDSCH, a Scheduling Request (SR) indicating whether the UE has data in a buffer of the UE, a Rank Indicator (RI), and Channel State Information (CSI) enabling the eNodeB to perform link adaptation for PDSCH transmission to the UE. The HARQ-ACK information is also sent by the UE in response to detection of PDCCH/EPDCCH indicating release of the semi-permanently scheduled PDSCH.

The UL subframe includes two slots. Each time slot includes a data information UCI, DMRS or SRS for transmittingAnd a symbol. The frequency resource unit of UL system BW is RB. The UE is assigned N _RB RB, total->The REs are used to send BW. For PUCCH, N _RB =1. The last subframe index may be used to multiplex SRS transmissions from one or more UEs. The number of subframe symbols available for data/UCI/DMRS transmission is +.>Wherein if the last subframe symbol is used for transmitting SRS, N _SRS =1; otherwise N _SRS ＝0。

As the operating band in NR becomes higher, UEs are evolving to accommodate multiple antenna panels in order to enhance various aspects of multi-beam operation, such as coverage enhancement, beam failure event minimization, fast beam switching, etc. Depending on the hardware architecture, each panel on the UE 116 may perform multi-beam operation in a decoupled manner such that the UE 116 may be able to simultaneously perform DL/UL operations via multiple beam links, each of which corresponds to a sufficiently reliable channel to independently communicate with the gNB 102. The previous NR specifications only allowed multiple panels on the UE 116 for simultaneous DL reception or single panel selection for UL transmission in TDD operation.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example antenna block 500 according to an embodiment of this disclosure. The embodiment of the antenna 500 shown in fig. 5 is for illustration only. Fig. 5 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of antenna 500. In certain embodiments, one or more of the gNB 102 or the UE 116 includes an antenna 500. For example, one or more of antenna 205 and its associated system, or antenna 305 and its associated system, may be configured the same as antenna 500.

Release 14LTE and release 15NR support up to 32 CSI-RS antenna ports, which enables an eNB to be equipped with a large number of antenna elements (such as 64 or 128). In this case, multiple antenna elements are mapped onto one CSI-RS port. For the millimeter wave band, while the number of antenna elements may be large for a given form factor, the number of CSI-RS ports (which may correspond to the number of digital pre-coding ports) tends to be limited due to hardware limitations (such as the feasibility of installing a large number of ADCs/DACs at millimeter wave frequencies).

In the example shown in fig. 5, antenna 500 includes an analog phase shifter 505, an analog Beamformer (BF) 510, a hybrid BF 515, a digital BF 520, and one or more antenna arrays 525. In this case, one CSI-RS port maps to a large number of antenna elements in the antenna array 525 that can be controlled by a set of analog phase shifters 505. One CSI-RS port may then correspond to one sub-array of narrow analog beams generated by analog BF 510 through analog beamforming. The analog beam may be configured to sweep 530 a wide range of angles by changing the phase shifter bank 505 across a symbol or subframe. The number of subarrays (equal to the number of RF chains) and the number of CSI-RS ports N _CSI-port The same applies. Digital BF 515 execution across NCSI- _{Port (port)} Linear combinations of analog beams to also increase the precoding gain. Although the analog beams are wideband (and thus not frequency selective), the digital precoding may vary across frequency subbands or resource blocks.

Since the above-described system utilizes multiple analog beams for transmission and reception (where one or a small number of analog beams are selected from a large number of analog beams, e.g., after a training duration-so as to be performed from time to time), the term "multi-beam operation" is used to refer to the entire system aspect. For illustration purposes, this includes indicating an allocated DL or UL Transmit (TX) beam (also referred to as a "beam indication"), measuring at least one reference signal for calculating and performing beam reporting (also referred to as "beam measurement" and "beam reporting", respectively), and receiving DL or UL transmissions via selecting a corresponding Receive (RX) beam.

In addition, the antenna 500 system is also suitable for higher frequency bands, such as > 52.6GHz (also known as FR 4). In this case, the system may employ only analog beams. Because of the O2 absorption loss around 60GHz frequency (@ 10 bell (dB) additional loss for a distance of 100 m), a larger number and sharper analog beams (and thus a larger number of radiators in the array) will be required to compensate for the additional path loss.

An antenna port is defined such that a channel conveying another symbol on the same antenna port can be inferred from the channel conveying the last symbol of the antenna port. Two antenna ports are considered quasi-co-located (QCL) if the massive nature of the channel conveying the symbols on one antenna port can be inferred from the channel conveying the symbols on the other antenna port. The large scale properties include one or more of delay spread, doppler shift, average gain, average delay, and spatial Rx parameters.

On the other hand, at lower frequency bands (such as <1 GHz), the number of antenna elements may not be as large in a given form factor due to the large wavelength. As an example, a Uniform Linear Array (ULA) antenna panel of 16 antenna elements requires 4m with a half wavelength distance between two adjacent antenna elements, when the wavelength size (λ) at a center frequency of 600MHz (50 cm). Considering that in practical cases multiple antenna elements are mapped to one digital port, the size required for an antenna panel to support a large number of antenna ports (such as 32 CSI-RS ports) at the gNB 102 becomes very large at such low frequency bands and can result in difficulty in deploying a 2-dimensional array of antenna elements within the size of a conventional form factor. This results in a limited number of CSI-RS ports that can be supported at a single site and limits the spectral efficiency of such systems.

One possible approach to solve the problem is to form multiple antenna panels (e.g., antenna modules, RRHs) with a small number of antenna ports instead of integrating all antenna ports in a single panel (or at a single site), and to distribute the multiple panels in multiple locations/sites (or RRHs). The plurality of antenna panels at the plurality of locations may still be connected to a single base unit, and thus signals transmitted/received via the plurality of distributed panels may be processed in a centralized manner by the single base unit. This is known as distributed MIMO (D-MIMO).

However, new problems may occur in such a scenario: as the number of antenna panels becomes larger and many panels/RRHs can be deployed in multiple locations/sites, a large amount of CSI feedback is needed to get channels for all panels/RRHs/modules to maximize distributed (or modular) MIMO gain. A practical solution to deal with this problem is to support or introduce a framework that allows dynamic antenna panel/subset/RRH/module selection. This enables the UE and/or the Network (NW) to reduce CSI feedback overhead while obtaining most of the benefits of distributed MIMO by effectively utilizing diversity gain. It is expected that selecting a subset of antenna panels/RRHs/modules with primary channel quality among all configured panels/RRHs/modules results in reasonable performance without causing too much performance degradation while significantly mitigating control data overhead (e.g., CSI reporting) for both NW and UE.

In accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure, to support efficient distributed (or modular) MIMO operation including antenna subset selection, several frameworks/mechanisms may be used that enable a UE or NW to perform dynamic antenna subset selection.

Preliminary measure a-antenna configuration parameters for modular MIMO

Fig. 6 illustrates an example antenna port layout according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The embodiment of the antenna port layout 600 shown in fig. 6 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure. In the antenna port layout 600 shown in fig. 6, "X" represents two antenna polarizations. In addition, in this disclosure, the term "polarization" refers to a set of antenna ports.

In some embodiments ("a.1"), the UE 116 is configured with information about an antenna system consisting of a basic antenna module structure.

In some embodiments ("a.1.1"), the base antenna module (or base antenna modules) follows (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) Wherein N is the same as the structure of ₁ And N ₂ The number of antenna ports having the same polarization in one and two dimensions, respectively. For example, antenna ports Includes a first antenna polarization, and an antenna port Including a second antenna polarization, where P _CSIRS Is the number of CSI-RS antenna ports and X is the starting antenna port number (e.g., x=3000, then the antenna ports are 3000, 3001, 3002 … …). In the embodiments presented below, a dual polarization setting is assumed, where the total number of antenna ports is n=2n ₁ N ₂ Unless a co-polarization setting is specifically mentioned.

In some embodiments ("a.1.1.1"), the base antenna module is defined as a single base unit, which may be formed from a single pair (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) And (3) representing. For example, (N) ₁ ，N ₂ )＝(1,1)，(2, 2) or (4, 4), etc. In this case, no explicit indication is required once a single base unit is defined and NW and UE 116 have a common understanding of the single base unit.

In some embodiments ("a.1.1.2"), the base antenna module pair is defined as a single pair of base units, which may be formed of two pairs (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) And (3) representing. For example, the first pair is (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) = (2, 1), and the second pair is (N) ₁ ，N ₂ ) = (1, 2). In this case, a single RRC (or MAC-CE/DCI) parameter (e.g., having a one-bit size) is used to indicate a single base unit pair. In one example, a '0' indication of the RRC parameter (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) = (2, 1) and '1' of RRC parameter indicates (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) = (1, 2). In another example, the parameter (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) Still used to indicate a single base unit pair.

In some embodiments ("a.1.1.3"), the plurality of basic antenna modules are defined as a plurality of basic elements, which may be formed from a plurality of pairs (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) And (3) representing. For example, by multiple pairs (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) The composed set is used to indicate a plurality of base units. In one example, the set consists of s= { (N) ₁ ，N ₂ ) (1, 1), (2, 1), (1, 2), (2, 2) } given. In this case, have log ₂ A single RRC parameter of the i s|bit may be used to indicate each of the basic antenna modules in the set S. In another example, the parameter (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) Itself still being used to indicate each of the basic antenna modules in the set S.

In some embodiments ("a.1.2"), the base antenna module or modules follow (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) Is of a structure of (2); but with a single polarization (co-polarized antenna element), i.e. in this case the total number of antenna ports is n=n ₁ N ₂ . In addition, for the dual polarization case, n=2n ₁ N ₂ 。

In examples a.1.2.1, a.1.2.2 and a.1.2.3, the basic antenna module/modules are defined in accordance with examples a.1.1.1, a.1.1.2 and a.1.1.3, respectively, in a single polarization setting.

In some embodiments ("a.2"), the UE 116 is configured with a number of basic antenna modules (or units, RRHs, panels) that is defined by N _module And (5) parameterizing. The 'basic antenna module' may be named differently under other terms such as unit, RRH, panel, etc.

In some embodiments ("a.2.1"), the total number of basic antenna modules, N _module Is selected from {1,2,3, &..32 } values. In another example, N _module Is selected from {1,2,3, &..16 } values. In another example, N _module Is a value selected from {2,4,8, 16 }. In another example, N _module Is selected from {1,2,3,.,. The value of X }, wherein:

and P is _CBl-RS，max Is the maximum supported value of the CSI-RS port.

In certain embodiments ("a.2.2"), the parameter N _module Independently for indicating the number of basic antenna modules of each type of antenna module. In one example, if the case of example a.1.1.2 (or a.1.2.2) is assumed, N is for illustration purposes _module，V For indicating the number of basic antenna modules of the first basic unit (e.g., (N) ₁ ，N ₂ ) = (2, 1)), and N _module，H For indicating the number of basic antenna modules of the second basic unit (e.g., (N) ₁ ，N ₂ ) = (1, 2)). In this case N _module ＝N _module，V +N _module，H . (where subscripts V and H represent vertical and horizontal antenna modules.) in another example, if the case of example A.1.1.3 (or A.1.2.3) is assumed, N is for purposes of illustration _module，i For indicating the number of basic antenna modules of the i-th type (e.g., the i-th element of S). In this case N _module ＝∑ _i N _module，i

Fig. 7 illustrates an example modular multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) deployment in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of modular MIMO 700 shown in fig. 7 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, (N) ₁ ，N ₂ ) = (2, 1) and (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) = (1, 2) is used as the base antenna module pair 705. Here, (N) ₁ ，N ₂ ) = (2, 1) and (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) The number of basic antenna modules of = (1, 2) is 5 and 4, respectively. If the parameters described in example A.2.2 are used, the number is defined by N _module，V =5 and N _module，H And=4.

In some embodiments ("a.3"), the UE 116 is configured with a number of concatenated packets for the antenna module, which is defined by N _col And (5) parameterizing.

In some embodiments ("A.3.1"), the number N of packets is concatenated _col Is a value selected from {1,2,3,4 }. In another example, N _col Is a value selected from {2,4,6,8 }. In another example, N _col Is a value selected from {1,2,3,4.

In some embodiments ("a.3.2"), for each collocated packet g, N _module For indicating the number of basic antenna modules. For example, N _module，g May be used in the case of a single base unit 710. In another example, N _{module，V，g} And N _{module，H，g} May be used to indicate the number of basic antenna modules for each collocated packet g, the first basic unit and the second basic unit respectively. In another example, N _{module，i，g} May be used to indicate the number of basic antenna modules for the i-th type of basic antenna module of each collocated packet g.

Fig. 8 illustrates another example modular multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) deployment with collocated groupings, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of modular MIMO 800 shown in fig. 8 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

In the example shown in fig. 8, UE 116 may be configured with parameter N _col ＝4、And->To indicate the antenna system structure of the NW to the UE 116. That is, any antenna system of such deployment shown in figure C may be abstracted to have a parameter N _col 、N _{module，H，g} And N _{module，V，g} And these parameters may be used to construct a codebook structure corresponding to the abstracted antenna system (which will be described herein below with respect to component B).

Codebook structure for preliminary measure B-modularized MIMO

In some embodiments ("b.1"), the UE 116 is configured with a modular MIMO codebook that includes a base matrix W in the codebook structure _b To compress the channel coefficients of the basic antenna module.

In some embodiments ("b.2"), the precoder structure of the modular MIMO codebook (for each layer l) is, for each port j of all basic antenna modules, defined byGive, wherein->Is a channel coefficient matrix, W, over each port j antenna module and sub-band (frequency) domain for all basic antenna modules _b Antenna module domain (AD) basis, W for indicating/reporting an AD basis vector _f For indicating/reporting Frequency Domain (FD) basis composed of FD basis vectors, and W _c For indicating/reporting coefficients corresponding to the AD-FD basis vector pairs. Here, W is _b 、W _c And W is _f Is N _module Multiplication U matrix, U multiplication M matrix and K multiplication M matrix, wherein U (.ltoreq.N) _module ) Is the number of AD basis vectors, K is the number of subbands, and M (+.K) is the number of FD basis vectors.

Fig. 9 illustrates another example of channel coefficient comparison using an antenna module domain or a frequency domain according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the AD/FD base 900 shown in FIG. 9 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure. In the example shown in fig. 9, channel coefficient compression using AD/FD basis is used for (N ₁ ，N ₂ )＝(1，2)。

In certain embodiments ("b.2.1"), for (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) In the case of the basic antenna module of = (1, 2), W is independently selected for each port j=0, 1,2,3 _b 、W _c And W is _f (port specific) and report it to NW. As shown in fig. 9, channel coefficients (i.e., center grid) corresponding to the jth port and subband of the basic antenna module may be obtained by using W _b And W is _f To reduce the dimensionality of the channel coefficients to be reported to the NW, i.e. in W _c 905, in the form of a solid.

In certain embodiments ("b.2.2"), for (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) In the case of the basic antenna module of = (1, 2), W is independently selected for each dual polarized port pair j=0, 1 _b 、W _c And W is _f (polarization common) and report it to the NW. Optionally, the in-phase factor may be indicated as the channel coefficient difference between the two polarizations.

In some embodiments ("b.2.3"), W is selected jointly for all antenna ports _b 、W _c And W is _f And reports it to the NW. Optionally, the Spatial Domain (SD) basis, consisting of SD basis vectors, may be indicated as the channel coefficient difference between the antenna ports within each panel.

In certain embodiments ("b.2.4"), W _f =i, i.e. there is no FD base matrix and no frequency compression. In this case, the precoder structure is composed of Given.

In certain embodiments ("b.2.5"), W _b The cross antenna ports are commonly selected (i.e., the AD basis is the same on the antenna ports) and reported to the NW. W may be independently selected for each antenna port _c And W is _f And reports it to the NW.

In certain embodiments ("b.2.6"), W _f The cross-antenna ports are commonly selected (i.e., the FD groups are all the same on the antenna ports) and reported to the NW. W may be independently selected for each antenna port _b And W is _c And reports it to the NW.

In certain embodiments ("b.2.7"), W _b And W is _f The cross antenna ports are commonly selected (i.e., the AD/AD basis are the same on the antenna ports, respectively) and reported to the NW. W (W) _c May be selected independently for each antenna port and reported to the NW.

In some embodiments ("b.3"), the precoder structure of the modular MIMO codebook (for each layer l) is defined (in particular, by the base unit 710) for each port j of all base antenna modulesAndgive, wherein->And->Channel coefficient matrix, W, on each port j antenna module and subband (frequency) domain for all base antenna modules for the first base unit and the second base unit, respectively _b，V And W is _b，H Antenna module domain (AD) basis consisting of AD basis vectors for indicating/reporting respectively for a first base unit and a second base unit, W _f，V And W is _f，H Frequency Domain (FD) basis consisting of FD basis vectors for the first and second base units, respectively, and W _c，V And W is _c，H For indicating/reporting coefficient matrices corresponding to AD-FD basis vector pairs for the first and second base units, respectively. Here, W is _b，V 、W _c，V And W is _f，V Is N _module，V Multiplication U matrix, U multiplication M matrix and K multiplication M matrix, wherein U (.ltoreq.N) _module，V ) Is the number of AD basis vectors, K is the number of subbands, and M (+.K) is the number of FD basis vectors, and W _b，H 、W _c，H And W is _f，H Is N _module，H Multiplication U matrix, U multiplication M matrix and K multiplication M matrix, wherein U (.ltoreq.N) _module，V ) Is the number of AD basis vectors, K is the number of subbands, and M (+.K) is the number of FD basis vectors.

Although the illustrated example presents two types of base antenna modules for purposes of illustration, the precoder structure may be implemented by simply adding subscript parameters for indicating the type of base module (e.g.) To directly extend to situations where more than two types of basic antenna modules are present.

In certain embodiments ("b.3.1"), for (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) In the case of the basic antenna modules of = (1, 2) and (2, 1), W is selected individually for each port j=0, 1,2,3 _b，V 、W _c，V And W is _f，V (port specific) and report it to NW, and select W individually for each port j=0, 1,2,3 _b，H 、W _c，H And W is _f，H (port specific) and report it to NW.

In certain embodiments ("b.3.2"), for (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) In the case of the basic antenna modules of = (1, 2) and (2, 1), W is independently selected for each dual polarized port pair j=0, 1 _b，V 、W _c，V And W is _f，V (polarization common) and report it to the NW. Optionally, the in-phase factor may beIndicated as the channel coefficient difference between the two polarizations for the first base unit. Individually selecting W for each dual polarized port pair j=0, 1 _b，H 、W _c，H And W is _f，H (polarization common) and report it to the NW. Optionally, the in-phase factor may be indicated as the channel coefficient difference between the two polarizations for the second base unit.

In some embodiments ("b.3.3"), W is selected jointly for all antenna ports of the first base unit _b，V 、W _c，V And W is _f，V And reports it to the NW. Optionally, the Spatial Domain (SD) basis consisting of SD basis vectors may be indicated as the channel coefficient difference between the antenna ports within each panel for the first base unit. Commonly selecting W for all antenna ports of the second base unit _b，H 、W _c，H And W is _f，H And reports it to the NW. Optionally, the Spatial Domain (SD) basis consisting of SD basis vectors may be indicated as the channel coefficient difference between the antenna ports within each panel for the second base unit.

In certain embodiments ("b.3.4"), W _f＝I I.e. no FD base matrix and no frequency compression. In this case, the precoder structure is composed ofAnd->Given.

In certain embodiments ("b.3.5"), W _b，V And W is _b，H Are commonly selected across antenna ports (i.e., the AD basis is the same on both antenna ports) and reported to NW, respectively. W may be independently selected for each antenna port _e，V 、W _c，H 、W _f，V And W is _f，H And reports it to the NW.

In certain embodiments ("b.3.6"), W _f，V And W is _f，H Are commonly selected across antenna ports (i.e., the FD groups are all the same on the antenna ports) and reported to NW, respectively. Can be used forIndependently selecting W for each antenna port _b，V 、W _b，H ，W _c，V And W is _c，H And reports it to the NW.

In certain embodiments ("b.3.7"), W _b，V 、W _b，H 、W _f，V And W is _f，H Respectively, are commonly selected across the antenna ports (i.e., the AD/FD groups are all the same on the antenna ports, respectively) and reported to the NW. W may be independently selected for each antenna port _c，V And W is _c，H And reports it to the NW.

In certain embodiments ("b.4"), the precoder structure of a modular MIMO codebook (for each layer l) is defined (in particular, by a base unit) for each port j of all base antenna modules of a given group gAnd- >Give, wherein->And->Channel coefficient matrices, W, on given port j antenna modules and subband (frequency) domains for a given packet g for all base antenna modules for a first base unit and a second base unit, respectively _b，V，g And W is _b，H，g Antenna module domain (AD) basis consisting of AD basis vectors for a given group g for a first base unit and a second base unit, W _f，V，g And W is _f，H，g Frequency Domain (FD) basis consisting of FD basis vectors for a given group g for a first and a second base unit, respectively, and W _c，V，g And W is _c，H，g For indicating/reporting, respectively, for a given group g, the coefficient matrix for the first and second base units corresponding to the AD-FD basis vector pairs. Here, W is _b，V，g 、W _c，V，f And W is _f，V，g Is N _{module，V，g} Multiplication U matrix, U multiplication M matrix and K multiplication M matrix, wherein U (.ltoreq.N) _module，V ) Is the number of AD basis vectors, K is the number of subbands, and M (+.K) is the number of FD basis vectors, and W _b，H，g 、W _c，H，g And W is _f，H，g Is N _{module，H，g} Multiplication U matrix, U multiplication M matrix and K multiplication M matrix, wherein U (.ltoreq.N) _module，V ) Is the number of AD basis vectors, K is the number of subbands, and M (+.K) is the number of FD basis vectors.

Although some embodiments show a case with two types of basic antenna modules, the precoder structure may be implemented by simply adding a subscript parameter for indicating the type of basic module (e.g. ) To directly extend to situations where more than two types of basic antenna modules are present.

In one example ("b.4.1"), for (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) In the case of the basic antenna modules of = (1, 2) and (2, 1), W is selected individually for each port j=0, 1,2,3 for packet g _b，V，g 、W _c，V，g And W is _f，V，g (port specific) and report it to NW, and for packet g, W is selected individually for each port j=0, 1,2,3 _b，H，g 、W _c，H，g And W is _f，H，g (port specific) and report it to NW.

In certain embodiments ("b.4.2"), for (N ₁ ，N ₂ ) In the case of the basic antenna modules of = (1, 2) and (2, 1), W is independently selected for each dual polarized port pair j=0, 1 for packet g _b，V，g 、W _c，V，g And W is _f，V，g (polarization common) and report it to the NW. Optionally, the in-phase factor may be indicated as the channel coefficient difference between the two polarizations for the first base unit. W is selected individually for packet g for each dual polarized port pair j=0, 1 _b，H，g 、W _c，H，g And W is _f，H，g (polarization Co-ordination) andreporting it to the NW. Optionally, the in-phase factor may be indicated as the channel coefficient difference between the two polarizations for the second base unit.

In one example ("b.4.3"), W is commonly selected for all antenna ports of the first base unit for packet g _b，V，g 、W _c，V，g And W is _f，V，g And reports it to the NW. Optionally, the Spatial Domain (SD) basis consisting of SD basis vectors may be indicated as the channel coefficient difference between the antenna ports within each panel for the first base unit. Selecting W jointly for all antenna ports of the second base unit for packet g _b，H，g 、W _c，H，g And W is _f，H，g And reports it to the NW. Optionally, the Spatial Domain (SD) basis consisting of SD basis vectors may be indicated as the channel coefficient difference between the antenna ports within each panel for the second base unit.

In one example ("B.4.4"), W _f＝I I.e. no FD base matrix and no frequency compression. In this case, the precoder structure is composed ofAnd->Given.

In one example ("b.4.5"), W is commonly selected across antenna ports, respectively, for packet g _b，V，g And W is _b，H，g (i.e., the AD basis is the same on the antenna port) and reports it to the NW. W may be independently selected for each antenna port for group g _c，V，g 、W _c，H，g 、W _f，V，g And W is _f，H，g And reports it to the NW.

In one example ("b.4.6"), W is commonly selected across antenna ports, respectively, for packet g _f，V，g And W is _f，H，g (i.e., the FD groups are all the same on the antenna port) and report it to the NW. W may be independently selected for each antenna port for group g _b，V，g 、W _b，H，g 、W _c，V，g And W is _c，H，g And reports it to the NW.

In one example ("b.4.7"), W is commonly selected across antenna ports, respectively, for packet g _b，V，g 、W _b，H，g 、W _f，V，g And W is _f，H，g (i.e., the AD/FD groups are the same on the antenna ports, respectively) and report them to the NW. W may be independently selected for each antenna port for group g _c，V，g And W is _c，H，g And reports it to the NW.

In some embodiments ("B.5"), the AD base matrix W _b Selected from the set of oversampled DFT vectors. In one example, for a given N _module And an oversampling factor O ₄ DFT vector p _i Can be expressed as:

in equation (3), i e {0, 1., O ₄ N _modle -1}. In another example, for the j-th type of basic antenna module of group g, the DFT vector p _i Can be expressed as the above equation and let N _module Replaced by N _{module，j，g} 。

In some embodiments ("b.6"), the AD base matrix W _b Is selected as a linear combination of the indicator columns. In one example, it may be a permutation matrix, where each column is an indicator column. In general, it may be a matrix from any basis set.

In some embodiments ("B.7"), each element W _c Is decomposed into amplitude and phase values and they are selected from different quantized codebooks. In one example, they may be designed to resemble that in a version 16 codebook Is a codebook of (a) for a mobile device.

In an example ("b.7.1"), a bitmap is used to indicate W _c The position (or index) of the non-zero coefficients of the matrix.

In the example ("b.7.2"), the Strongest Coefficient Indicator (SCI) is used to indicate W _c The location (or index) of the strongest coefficient of the matrix.

In the example ("b.7.3"), W _c The magnitude and phase of the non-zero coefficients of the matrix are reported using the corresponding codebook. In one example, the phase codebook is fixed, e.g., 16PSK. In one example, the phase codebook is configured by, for example, 8PSK (3 bits per phase) and 16PSK (4 bits per phase).

In some embodiments ("B.8"), for { W across antenna ports _c } _j Coefficient matrix element group of (a) matrix stack { W _c } _j Is decomposed into two matrices W _c，1 And W is _c，2 It can be expressed as:

in the equation (4) for the case of the optical fiber,is the coefficient matrix W of the antenna port j _c ，W _c，1 Is a Q X R (.ltoreq.Q) base matrix, and W _c，2 Is an r×m coefficient matrix. In one example, q=un for the case of the same number of AD basis vectors across the antenna ports _port . In another example, q= Σfor the case with different numbers of AD basis vectors across the antenna ports _j U _j 。W _c，1 And W is _c，2 Reported to NW to construct { W _c } _i 。

In some embodiments ("b.8.1"), the base matrix W _c，1 Selected from the set of oversampled DFT vectors. In one example, for a given Q and oversampling factor O ₅ DFT vector c _i Can be expressed as:

where i e {0,1,., QO } ₅ -1}。

In some embodiments ("b.8.2"), each element W _c，2 Is decomposed into amplitude and phase values and they are selected from different quantized codebooks. In one example, they may be designed to resemble W in a version 16 codebook ₂ Is a codebook of (a) for a mobile device.

In an example ("b.8.2.1"), a bitmap is used to indicate W _c，2 The position (or index) of the non-zero coefficients of the matrix.

In the example ("b.8.2.2"), the Strongest Coefficient Indicator (SCI) is used to indicate W _c，2 The location (or index) of the strongest coefficient of the matrix.

In the example ("b.8.2.3"), W _c，2 The magnitude and phase of the non-zero coefficients of the matrix are reported using the corresponding codebook. In one example, the phase codebook is fixed, e.g., 16PSK. In one example, the phase codebook is configured by, for example, 8PSK (3 bits per phase) and 16PSK (4 bits per phase).

In some embodiments ("b.9, for coefficient matrix element groups { W) grouped across antenna ports, basic antenna module types, and/or apposition _c，i，s } _j Matrix stack { W _c，i，s } _j Is decomposed into two matrices W _c，1 And W is _c，2 It may follow the same method as shown in example B.8 and its sub-embodiments/examples.

Component 1-antenna subset (panel/module/RRH) selection by the UE.

Fig. 10 illustrates a process for antenna subset selection by a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Although a flowchart depicts a series of sequential steps, no particular order of execution should be inferred from the sequence, unless explicitly stated, whether the steps or portions thereof are performed sequentially, rather than simultaneously or in an overlapping manner, or the depicted steps are performed only with no intervening or intermediate steps occurring. The process depicted in the examples is implemented by a processor or a transmitter chain in the UE, for example. Process 1000 may be performed by, for example, UEs 114, 115, and 116 in network 100.

At operation 1005, the UE 116 receives information regarding a signal transmitted by one or more antennasAnd the information of the antenna system formed by the modules comprises basic antenna module structure, the number of basic antenna units and configuration information. In a sub-embodiment, one or more basic antenna modules (panels/RRHs) are defined as (N) ₁ ，N ₂ ) I.e., a 2D antenna array), and configures a number of basic antenna modules per basic antenna module form for the UE. Optionally, grouping information for indicating, for example, the collocated information may be configured for the UE with respect to a subset of the basic antenna modules. In one example, the number of concatenated packets is defined by N _col Parameterization, g=1 for each group _col The number of basic antenna modules of each basic antenna module form (or type) i is defined by N _{module，i，g} And (5) parameterizing. In one example, these parameterized values are indicated by one or more RRC parameters of the UE. Some of the antenna configuration parameters (described in preliminary action a) of the modular MIMO may be configured via higher layer parameters (i.e., RRC). In one example, 'concatenated packet selection mode', 'antenna module type selection mode', or 'concatenated packet and antenna module type selection mode' may be indicated/configured to the UE via higher layer parameters (i.e., RRC) or via MAC-CE/DCI. Details of the operation for the 'collocated group selection mode', 'antenna module type selection mode', or 'collocated group and antenna module type selection mode' are also described in operation 1020.

At operation 1010, the UE 116 is configured with CSI-RS resources for a configured antenna system comprised of one or more base antenna modules. In one example, CSI-RS ports are numbered in the following order: an antenna module for the basic antenna module form 1 in the collocated group 1, an antenna module for the basic antenna module form 2 in the collocated group 1, an antenna module for the basic antenna module form 1 in the collocated group 2, an antenna module for the basic antenna module form 2 in the collocated group 2, and so on.

At operation 1015, the UE 116 receives CSI-RS according to the configuration and performs channel estimation.

At operation 1020, UE 116 utilizes some sort of decision to send data to/from NW or to receive dataA subset of antenna modules is determined. In one example, some criteria for selecting a subset of antenna modules may be configured by the NW. For example, a threshold may be configured for a UE to determine a subset of antenna modules. In one example, UE 116 may select N based on Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP)/Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ)/signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR)/Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) _module N is the best in (a) _sel An antenna module. In another example, the best N may be selected for each collocated packet g _sel An antenna module. In one example, N _sel May be configured by the NW. In another example, UE 116 may determine N by itself _sel . In one example, UE 116 may select an antenna module based on criteria with a threshold, and this may be configured by the NW. In one example, the ratio γ of the sum of the signal powers of all antenna modules is equal to or less than 1 as the threshold value. Assume the signal power P of all antenna modules _sum Is a sum of (a) and (b). The criteria may be as follows: select N _sel Optimum antenna module, and N _sel Is determined to be N _sel The sum of the signal powers of the optimal antenna modules is greater than or equal to gamma P _sum A minimum number. In other words, the criteria enables the antenna module selection to include the best antenna module until their sum power becomes greater than the γ portion of the sum of the signal powers of all antenna modules. By criterion-based antenna module selection, a large portion of the total signal power may be suitably obtained by selecting the most efficient antenna modules, and at the same time the potential interference leakage effects from these non-efficient antenna modules to other UEs are minimized by excluding them (i.e. not selecting them). Furthermore, the amount of feedback may be significantly reduced by reporting only CSI corresponding to the selected antenna module. In one example, the ratio γ is selected from {0.8,0.9,0.95,0.99} and is configured by the NW. In another example, γ is selected from {0.9,0.99}. In another example, γ is fixed and predetermined, and thus an on-off parameter may be used for the NW to indicate it to the UE 116.

In another example, UE 116 uses threshold X _TH To select an antenna mode whose signal power exceeds a thresholdA block.

In one example, the criteria introduced above may be used in subsequent examples/embodiments.

The packet selects the mode.

Fig. 11 illustrates an example of collocated packet selection according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the collocated packet selection 1100 shown in fig. 11 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

In the example shown in fig. 11, the gNB 102 includes four collocated antenna element groupings. The first group 1105 includes two 4X1 antenna modules having linearly arranged elements, where each antenna module is less than 1 meter (m) long. The second packet 1110 includes four 2X1 antenna modules when each antenna module is less than 50 centimeters (cm) long. The third group 1115 includes one 4X1 antenna module and one 2X2 antenna module. The fourth group 1120 includes a single 4X2 antenna module. In the example shown in fig. 11, a hatched area 1125 around each antenna group shows an area unsuitable for antenna placement.

In one example, the UE 116 is configured to select N based on RSRP/RSRQ/SINR/CQI _col N in a parallel packet _sel，col And each packet. In this case, it is considered that N is selected _sel，col All antenna modules under the selected collocated group. In one illustrated embodiment, the first packet 1105 and the second packet 1110 are selected, which implies that the antenna modules associated with each of the selected packets are all selected. This selection method is hereinafter referred to as 'concatenated packet selection mode'. In another example, UE 116 may determine the 'collocated packet selection mode' by itself and report it to the NW.

Several criteria may be utilized for determining the 'collocated packet selection mode' (initiated by the NW or UE).

In one example, the NW determines to indicate a 'concatenated packet selection pattern' to the UE 116 based on the channel quality of the antenna module measured from SRS transmissions of the UE 116. For example, if the difference between the channel quality (e.g., RSRP) across multiple collocated packet antenna modules is within η (e.g., RSRP of the collocated packet antenna modules is similar), the NW determines to perform a 'collocated packet selection mode' and indicates it to the UE 116. Note that the fact that the difference is within η implies that it is difficult to decide which packet is better than the other packets by means of only the channel quality measured by UL SRS transmission. Thus, the NW may require UE 116 to perform packet selection directly through DL reference signal (e.g., CSI-RS) transmission.

In another example, there are cases where the channel quality across the antenna modules of the configuration packet is not available on the NW side. Alternatively, the channel quality information has aged out, and thus the information may not be meaningful for NW to perform packet selection. In these cases, the NW may determine to perform the 'collocated packet selection mode' and indicate it to the UE 116 so that the UE 116 may perform the collocated packet selection directly through DL reference signal (e.g., CSI-RS) transmission.

In another example, the NW may want to obtain collocated packet selection information for multiple (or many) UEs (cell-specific) in a cell. In this case, instead of scheduling multiple UEs to perform ULRS transmissions one after another for NW to pick up packets, NW may determine to perform 'concatenated packet selection mode' and indicate it to UE 116. Thus, the NW may directly obtain the collocated packet selection information through CSI reports from multiple UEs, which may be more efficient.

In one example, the UE determines to perform a 'concatenated packet selection mode' based on one of the following criteria:

1) If the difference between the signal power of the best collocated packet and the signal power of the considered collocated packet is within ε, the UE selects the considered collocated packet; and

2) If the signal quality of the considered collocated packet is greater than the threshold μ, the UE selects the considered collocated packet. In one example, the signal quality may be based on CQI and μ is one of the CQI values, e.g., μ=2.

In one example, ε is configured by the NW. In another example, ε is predetermined, e.g., 3 decibels (dB). In one example, μ is configured by NW. In another example, μ is predetermined.

In one example of this, in one implementation,the parameter is defined to indicate a 'concatenated packet selection pattern'. If parameters for 'concatenated packet selection mode' are indicated to UE 116, then UE 116 performs N _sel，col And selecting the packets. In one example, N _sel，col May be configured by the NW. In another example, UE 116 may determine N by itself _sel，col And reports it to the NW.

In one example, when the 'concurrent packet selection mode' is on, as shown in the above criteria, the UE 116 may select the best N _sel，col A number of groups such that the ratio gamma of the sum of the signal powers of all antenna modules in the entire group is optimized to N _sel，col The individual packets occupy.

In another example, when the 'concatenated packet selection mode' is on, as shown in the above criteria, the UE 116 selects its signal power to exceed the threshold X _TH N of (2) _sel，col And each packet.

Antenna module type selection mode

Fig. 12 illustrates an example antenna module type selection mode in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the antenna module type selection 1200 shown in fig. 12 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

In one example, the UE 116 is configured to select N based on RSRP/RSRQ/SINR/CQI _type N in the type of antenna module _sel，type A number of antenna module types 1205, where N _type Is the number of antenna module types configured for UE 116. In this case, it is considered that N is selected _sel，type All antenna modules under the selected antenna module type 1205. As shown in fig. 12, two antenna module types 1205 of the five antenna module types are selected, which implies that all antenna modules 1210 associated with each of the selected antenna module types 1205 are selected. That is, the selected antenna module type 1205 includes a 4X1 antenna module and a 2X1 antenna module, which means that all 2X1 antenna modules 1210 and 4X1 antenna modules 1215 are selected. This selection method is hereinafter referred to as 'antenna module type selection mode'. In another example, the UE 116 may determine the' antenna module type by itselfThe mode' is selected and reported to the NW.

Several criteria may be utilized for determining the 'antenna module type selection mode' (initiated by NW or UE).

In one example, the NW indicates an 'antenna module type selection mode' to the UE according to one of the criteria shown in the case of the above "collocated packet selection mode".

In another example, the NW determines to indicate an 'antenna module type selection mode' to the UE based on a current total UL Resource Utilization (RU). When the NW is in a high RU scenario in UL reception, the NW may want to relax the amount of UL payload by indicating an 'antenna module type selection mode' to the UE 116 so that the UE 116 can report CSI corresponding to antenna modules associated with the same module type, which reduces CSI feedback overhead.

In one example, the UE 116 determines to perform the 'antenna module type selection mode' according to one of the criteria shown in the case of the "collocated packet selection mode" above.

In another example, UE 116 is based on a threshold X for an amount of UL payload for CSI reporting _payload，TH To determine to perform an 'antenna module type selection mode'. In one example, if the amount of CSI feedback required by the selected antenna module is greater than X _payload，TH The UE 116 determines to perform an 'antenna module type selection mode' and selects an antenna module according to the 'antenna module type selection mode'.

In one example, the parameter is defined to indicate an 'antenna module type selection mode'. If parameters for the 'antenna module type selection mode' are indicated to the UE 116, the UE 116 performs N _sel，type Antenna module type selection. In one example, N _sel，type May be configured by the NW. In another example, UE 116 may determine N by itself _sel，type And reports it to the NW.

In one example, when the 'antenna module type selection mode' is on, as shown in the above criteria, the best N _sel，type The individual antenna module types can beSelected as the selected antenna module type 1205 such that the ratio gamma of the sum of the signal powers of all antenna modules in the entire packet is optimized for N _sel，type The individual antenna module types are occupied.

In another example, when the 'antenna module type selection mode' is on, as shown in the above criteria, for the selected antenna module type 1205, the ue 116 selects its signal power to exceed the threshold X _TH N of (2) _sel，type And the type of antenna module.

Mixing of collocated packet mode and antenna module type selection mode

In one example, the UE 116 is configured to select N based on RSRP/RSRQ/SINR/CQI _col N in a parallel packet _sel，col Grouping and selecting for selected N _sel，col N of each packet g of the plurality of packets _type，g N in the type of antenna module _{sel，type，g} A number of antenna module types 1205, where N _type，g Is the number of antenna module types configured for UE 116 for packet g. In this case, it is considered that the selection is made for the selected N _sel，col N of each packet g of the plurality of packets _{sel，type，g} All antenna modules under the selected antenna module type.

In one example, the parameters are defined to indicate 'collocated packet and antenna module type selection mode'. If parameters of the 'collocated packet and antenna module type selection mode' are indicated to the UE 116, the UE 116 selects N _sel，col Individual packets and for selected N _sel，col N of each packet g of the plurality of packets _{sel，type，g} . In one example, N _sel，col And N _{sel，type，g} May be configured by the NW. In another example, UE 116 may determine N by itself _sel，col And N _{sel，type，g} And then report it to the NW.

When the 'collocated packet and antenna module type selection mode' is on, N _sel，col And N _{sel，type，g} The selection may be made in a manner that follows the above criteria.

In one example, a mix of criteria may be applied to' juxtapositionThe case of grouping and antenna module type selection mode', for example: 1) UE 116 selects its signal power to exceed threshold X _TH N of (2) _sel，col Grouping; and 2) for selected N _sel，col Each group g of the groups can select the best N _{sel，type，g} The antenna module types are such that the ratio gamma of the sum of the signal powers of all antenna modules in group g is defined by the optimum N _{sel，type，g} The individual antenna module types are occupied.

In some embodiments, 'concatenated packet selection mode', 'antenna module type selection mode', and 'concatenated packet and antenna module type selection mode' may be configured in an aperiodic manner via DCI/MAC-CE signaling. In this case, the configured mode is turned on for only one CSI report, which means that the mode is performed only for CSI processes indicated by DCI/MAC-CE, and then the mode ends.

In some embodiments, 'concatenated packet selection mode', 'antenna module type selection mode', and 'concatenated packet and antenna module type selection mode' may be configured in a semi-persistent manner via DCI/MAC-CE or RRC. In this case, activation and deactivation may be signaled via DCI/MAC-CE to determine the mode to turn on and off. Once the activation is signaled, the UE 116 remains in the configured mode until deactivation is signaled to the UE 116.

In some embodiments, the 'collocated packet selection mode', 'antenna module type selection mode', and 'collocated packet and antenna module type selection mode' may be configured in a periodic manner via RRC.

At operation 1025, UE 116 generates CSI for the selected subset of antenna modules and sends the CSI to the NW.

Fig. 13 illustrates an example hierarchical structure of components indicating a subset of antenna modules according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The embodiment of structure 1300 shown in fig. 13 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

In one example, the UE 116 may subset the selected antenna modules) Is reported to the NW. For example, a method having N _module A bitmap of bits, and each bit corresponds to each antenna module, and '0'1305 indicates an unselected module and '1'1310 indicates a selected module.

In one example, bitmap indication for the selected subset of antenna modules is performed for each collocated packet 1315, 1320, 1325 and/or base antenna module 1330 form. For example, g may use a vector with N for each i _{module，i，g} A bitmap of bits, and for a given i, g each bit corresponds to each antenna module, and '0'1305 indicates an unselected module and '1'1310 indicates a selected module.

In another example, the amplitude of the collocated packet may indicate the antenna module selection, i.e., by reporting that the corresponding amplitude is zero.

In some embodiments, the hierarchical structure of components indicating the subset of antenna modules may be used by the UE 116 to report the selected subset of antenna modules to the NW. In one example, the hierarchy contains the collocated packet g as the highest level, the base antenna module 1330 type i as the second highest level, and each antenna module as the last level.

In one example, at each level, a bitmap indicator is used to indicate subset selection. At the highest level, the size is N _col Is used to indicate whether concatenated packet g is selected. In one example, '1'1310 refers to 'select', while '0'1310 refers to 'unselect' of the concatenated packet corresponding to each bit. In one example, if the collocated packet g is not selected, all basic antenna modules (at a lower level) associated with the collocated packet g are considered 'unselected'. At the second highest level, for each packet g in the selected collocated packets at the highest level, a size of N _type，g Is used to indicate whether the basic antenna module type i is selected, where N _type，g Is the number of basic antenna module types at the collocated packet g. In one illustrationIn an example, '1'1310 refers to 'select', and '0'1305 refers to 'unselected' of the basic antenna module type corresponding to each bit. In one example, if basic antenna module 1330 type i at collocated group g is not selected, then all basic antenna modules 1330 associated with basic antenna module type i at collocated group g (i.e., all N _{module，i，g} Individual modules) are considered 'unselected'. In one example, indicator 1335 is used to indicate that all antenna modules associated with the selected base antenna module type i are selected. In this case, no further hierarchy is needed to indicate the antenna module selected for the basic antenna module type i. At the last level, for a given selected basic antenna module type i at a given selected packet g, the size is N _{module，i，g} A bitmap indicator 1335 of (i) is used to indicate whether each base antenna module is selected.

In another example, at each level, an indicator 1340 is used to indicate the index for selecting a selected one of the subsets. At the highest level, an indicator 1335 is used to indicate N _col N in a parallel packet _sel，col Index of each selected concatenated packet. In one example, N _sel，col Determined and reported by UE 116. In another example, N _sel，col Is predetermined or configured by the NW and therefore does not require reporting. At the second highest level, for each packet g of the selected collocated packet 1320 at the highest level, an indicator 1335 is used to indicate N at the collocated packet g _type，s N in the types of the antenna modules _{sel，type，g} Index of the type of antenna module selected. In one example, N _{sel，type，g} Determined and reported by the UE. In another example, N _{sel，type，g} Is predetermined or configured by the NW and therefore does not require reporting. At the last level, for a given selected basic antenna module type i at a given selected packet g, an indicator 1340 is used to indicate N _{module，i，g} N in each antenna module _{sel，module，i，g} Index of the individual antenna modules. In one example, N _{sel，module，i，g} Determined and reported by UE 116. In another example, N _{sel，module，i，g} Is predetermined or configured by the NW and therefore does not require reporting.

In another example, at some levels, bitmap indicator 1335 is used to indicate subset selection, while at other levels, indicator 1340 is used to indicate the index of each selected for subset selection (i.e., a mix case).

Note that the layered bitmap indicator can be used to reduce the amount of feedback overhead in a modular massive MIMO scenario. Channels of antenna modules in the collocated packet are correlated at least in terms of large-scale fading (e.g., path loss). Thus, since the signal power of the antenna modules in the collocated packet may be similar, the selection pattern of the antenna modules in the collocated packet may be similar. This property can be exploited by the proposed layered bitmap indicator. It is also noted that module type selection is an important feature to be utilized in antenna module selection. For antenna modules associated with the same antenna module type, the codebook structure of the antenna module becomes simpler than in the case of antenna modules associated with different module types. Thus, the NW may configure the UE 116 to be in the 'antenna module type selection mode', and in this case, the UE 116 may select an antenna module type and antenna modules associated with the selected antenna module type are all selected, but antenna modules associated with unselected antenna module types are not selected. This functionality can also be effectively utilized by the proposed hierarchical bitmap indicator.

In some embodiments, when the 'concatenated packet selection mode' is on, reporting about N is required _sel，col Information of the selected packets. In one example, bitmap indicator 1310 may be used to indicate which concatenated packets are selected. In another example, an indicator is used to indicate an index of the selected collocated packet.

In some embodiments, when the 'antenna module type selection mode' is on, reporting about N is required _sel，type Information of the type of the selected antenna module. In one example, a bitmap indicator 1340 is used to indicate which antenna module types are selected. In another example, an indicator is used to indicate an index of the antenna module type.

In some embodiments, when the 'concurrent grouping and antenna module type selection mode' is on, reporting on N is required _sel，col Selected packets and N _{sel，type，g} Information of the type of the selected antenna module. In one example, bitmap indicators 1310, 1335 are used to indicate which collocated packets and antenna module types are selected. In another example, an indicator is used to indicate an index of the collocated packet and antenna module type.

In some embodiments, when the 'collocated packet selection mode', 'antenna module type selection mode', or 'collocated packet and antenna module selection mode' is on, UE 116 does not indicate the selected module if the selected antenna module from each of the selected at the previous CSI report has not changed. In one example, instead of indicating the selected module, the UE 116 reports a bit parameter (explicit indication) indicating 'no change of the selected module'. In another example, predefined rules may be used, such as that the UE 116 does not report anything about indicating the selected module when the selected module is unchanged.

In some embodiments, the UE 116 targets the selected subset of antenna modules based solely on the codebook structure provided in preliminary action BCSI (precoding matrix indicator (PMI)) is selected/generated.

CSI (PMI) feedback for selected antenna modules:

in the equation (6) for the case of the optical fiber,is the set of selected antenna modules associated with the selected antenna module type i at the selected collocated group g

For use inEach port j of all basic antenna modules. In equation 7, +.>Is a subset of the selected basic antenna modules +.>Channel coefficient matrix on given port j antenna module and subband (frequency) domain, +.>For indicating/reporting a selected subset of basic antenna modules>An antenna module domain (AD) basis consisting of AD basis vectors, < >>For indicating/reporting selected subsets for basic antenna modulesFD base consisting of Frequency Domain (FD) base vectors, and +.>For indicating/reporting a selected subset of basic antenna modules>Coefficients corresponding to the AD-FD basis vector pairs. Here, a->Andis N _{sel，module，i，g} Multiplication U matrix, U multiplication M matrix and K multiplication M matrix, wherein U (.ltoreq.N) _{sel，module，i，g} ) Is the number of AD basis vectors, K is the number of subbands, and M (+.K) is the number of FD basis vectors.

In some embodiments, UE 116 generates a set for non-selected sets And transmits it to the NW. X is X _n，i，g Is a set of unselected +.>Signal quality (or interference) of the antenna module n associated with antenna module type i at the mid-collocated packet g. In one example, X _n，i，g ∈{RSRP，RSRQ，SINR}。

In one example, UE 116 reports to the NW{ X of all antenna modules in (1) _n，i，g }. In one example, UE 116 reports +_ to NW>RSRP/RSRQ/SINR for each antenna module in (a).

In one example, UE 116 reports to the NW{ X } of some of the antenna modules in (B) _n，i，g }. In one example, UE 116 reports +_ to NW>RSRP/RSRQ/SINR of the antenna module with the best P not less than 1. In another example, UE 116 reports +_ to NW>Wherein its measure is greater than orRSRP/RSRQ/SINR of the antenna module equal to the threshold.

In one example, UE 116 reports to the NWF ({ X) of all antenna modules in (1) _n，i，g }). In one example, UE 116 reports x= Σxto NW _n，i，g For example, and RSRP/RSRQ/SINR.

In one example, UE 116 reports to the NWF ({ X) of some of the antenna modules in (B) _n，i，g }). In one example, UE 116 reports +_ to NW>E.g. sum RSRP/RSRQ/SINR, where g ^* Is the concatenated packet with the best and RSRP among all concatenated packets.

In one example, the UE 116 report is based on the selected moduleAnd unselected Module->Calculated SINR. For example, SINR may be calculated as follows:Where Pi is the signal power of the antenna module i. Note that SINR calculation depends on the antenna module selection performed by the UE (rather than NW), i.e. the numerator term has the sum of the signal powers of the selected antenna modules and the denominator term is the sum of the signal powers (interference powers) and noise powers of the unselected antenna modules.

Fig. 14 illustrates a process for antenna subset selection at a user equipment using a threshold in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Although a flowchart depicts a series of sequential steps, no particular order of execution should be inferred from the sequence, unless explicitly stated, whether the steps or portions thereof are performed sequentially, rather than simultaneously or in an overlapping manner, or the depicted steps are performed only with no intervening or intermediate steps occurring. The process depicted in the examples is implemented by a processor or a transmitter chain in the UE, for example. Process 1400 may be performed by, for example, UEs 114, 115, and 116 in network 100.

At operation 1405, the UE 116 receives information regarding an antenna system comprised of one or more antenna modules, the information including a basic antenna module structure, a number of basic antenna units, and configuration information. In one example, this operation may be performed similar to operation 1005.

At operation 1410, the UE 116 is configured with CSI-RS resources for the configured antenna system and a threshold for antenna subset selection. In one example, this operation may be performed similar to operation 1010. In one example, the threshold may be a value corresponding to BLER/BER/RSRP/RSRQ/SINR/MCS/CQI element.

In one example, multiple thresholds may be configured for UE 116 and each of these thresholds may correspond to a different unit. For example, one threshold is used for RSRP criteria and the other threshold is used for BLER. In another example, UE 116 may use two thresholds to select some antenna modules whose RSRP is between the two thresholds.

At operation 1415, the UE 116 receives CSI-RS according to the configuration, performs channel estimation, and selects a subset of antenna modules that meet a threshold.

In one example, the UE 116 selects an antenna module whose RSRP (or RSRQ/SINR) exceeds a configured threshold. In another example, the UE selects an antenna module whose BLER (BER) is less than a configured threshold.

At operation 1420, UE 116 generates CSI for the selected subset of antenna modules and sends the CSI to the NW. In one example, this operation may be performed similar to operation 1025.

Antenna subset (panel/module/RRH) selection by component 2-NW

Fig. 15 illustrates a process for antenna subset selection by a network in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Although a flowchart depicts a series of sequential steps, no particular order of execution should be inferred from the sequence, unless explicitly stated, whether the steps or portions thereof are performed sequentially, rather than simultaneously or in an overlapping manner, or the depicted steps are performed only with no intervening or intermediate steps occurring. The process depicted in the examples is implemented by a processor or a transmitter chain in a base station, for example. Process 1500 may be accomplished by, for example, gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 in network 100.

At operation 1505, the NW configures the UE 116 to transmit signals for measuring signal quality, such as by or via the gNB 102. In one example, the transmit signal may be an SRS signal or a RACH signal or other data uplink signal (such as PUSCH).

At operation 1510, the NW receives the signal and measures its quality at one or more antenna modules, and determines a subset of antenna modules for UE 116. In one example, NW selects N configured in advance for UE 116 based on signal quality at one or more antenna modules _module N in each antenna module _sel Antenna modules (panel/RRH).

At operation 1515, the NW configures the UE 116 with CSI-RS resources for the subset of antenna modules and sends CSI-RS to the UE 116. In one example, NW configures UE 116 with CSI-RS resources and N _sel And the selected antenna modules. In one example, similar to the example at operation 1025, the selected module may be indicated with a bitmap indicator/index indicator. The CSI-RS port mapping rules of the selected subset of antenna modules follow predetermined rules or may be implicitly/explicitly configured.

In another example, the configured antenna modules may be divided into two groups: one group contains unselected antenna modules and another group contains selected antenna modules. These two packets may use the bitmap indicator alone to reduce control data overhead.

Fig. 16 illustrates an example of indicating module selection from unselected packets in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of module selection 1600 shown in fig. 16 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

In one example, the NW may indicate 1605 the newly selected module in the unselected packet 1610, which is the same as the total number of antenna modules (N _module ) May have a smaller number of elements (e.g., N _module -N _sel ). In one example, the indication may be done via DCI/MAC-CE/higher layer parameters.

Fig. 17 illustrates an example of indicating module deselection from a selected group according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of module selection 1700 shown in FIG. 17 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

In another example, NW may indicate a newly selected module 1705 in the selected packet 1710 that is equal to the total number of antenna modules (N _module ) May have a smaller number of elements (e.g., N _sel ) In one example, the indication may be done via DCI/MAC-CE/higher layer parameters.

Note that by dividing all antenna modules into two groups, the indication overhead can be reduced due to the reduced radix at the occurrence of events regarding selection/deselection.

At operation 1520, the NW receives CSI feedback from the UE 116 regarding the configured CSI-RS resources.

Fig. 18 illustrates a process for antenna subset configuration and corresponding CSI reporting at a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Although a flowchart depicts a series of sequential steps, no particular order of execution should be inferred from the sequence, unless explicitly stated, whether the steps or portions thereof are performed sequentially, rather than simultaneously or in an overlapping manner, or the depicted steps are performed only with no intervening or intermediate steps occurring. The process depicted in the examples is implemented by a processor or a transmitter chain in the UE, for example. Process 1800 may be performed by UEs 114, 115, and 116 in network 100, for example.

At operation 1805, the UE 116 is configured to transmit a signal for measuring signal quality to the NW. In one example, UE 116 is configured to transmit SRS signals or RACH signals, or PUCCH/PUSCH signals.

At operation 1810, the UE 116 sends a signal to the NW according to the configuration.

At operation 1815, the UE 116 is configured to receive CSI-RS for a subset of antenna modules. In one example, the entire set of antenna modules before the NW completes the subset selection is indicated via RRC parameters. In one example, a subset of antenna modules is indicated via RRC/MAC-CE/DCI parameters. In one example, the RRC/MAC-CE/DCI parameter for subset selection/deselection is a bitmap indicator/index indicator, as described in the example of operation 1515. In one example, CSI-RS configuration and indication for a subset of antenna modules may be performed similar to the example of operation 1515.

At operation 1820, UE 116 receives the CSI-RS according to the configuration and sends CSI feedback to the NW.

A signaling flow diagram between the NW and the UE for antenna subset selection by the NW (i.e., with respect to the operations shown in fig. 15-18) is shown in fig. 19.

Fig. 19 illustrates signaling exchanges between a network and user equipment for network-based antenna subset selection in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Although signaling 1900 depicts a series of sequential signals, no particular order of execution should be inferred from the order, unless explicitly stated, whether steps or portions thereof are performed sequentially, rather than simultaneously or in an overlapping manner, or only the depicted steps are performed with no intervening or intermediate steps occurring. The process depicted in the examples is implemented by a processor or transmitter chain in, for example, the UE and the base station. The signaling 1900 may be implemented by, for example, UEs 114, 115 and 116 and the gnbs 101, 102, 103 in the network 100.

In the example shown in fig. 19, the NW sends a signal 1905 with information about the antenna system including the plurality of basic antenna modules, such as through or via the gNB 102. NW then configures UE 116 via signal 1910 to perform Uplink (UL) transmission. In response, UE 116 performs uplink transmission 1915. In operation 1920, the NW measures signal quality at the antenna modules and determines a subset of the antenna modules to support the UE 116. The NW then configures the UE 116 via signal 1925 to receive CSI-RS resources for the subset of antenna modules. Thereafter, the NW transmits a signal 1930 with CSI-RS resources. In operation 19356, in response to receiving the signal 1930, the ue 116 estimates a Downlink (DL) channel and selects CSI. UE 116 then transmits feedback signal 1940 reporting CSI for the subset of antenna modules.

Component 3-antenna subset (panel/module/RRH) selection for uplink

Fig. 20 illustrates a process for antenna subset selection for uplink transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Although a flowchart depicts a series of sequential steps, no particular order of execution should be inferred from the sequence, unless explicitly stated, whether the steps or portions thereof are performed sequentially, rather than simultaneously or in an overlapping manner, or the depicted steps are performed only with no intervening or intermediate steps occurring. The process depicted in the examples is implemented by a processor or a transmitter chain in a base station, for example. Procedure 2000 may be accomplished by, for example, gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 in network 100.

At operation 2005, NW configures UE 116 to transmit uplink signals for measuring signal quality, such as by or via gNB 102. In one example, the transmit signal may be an SRS signal or a RACH signal or other data uplink signal (such as PUSCH).

At operation 2010, the NW measures uplink signal quality for the UE 116 and determines one or more antenna configurations of the included UL precoding and amplitude scaling factors. In one example, the NW determines a subset of antenna modules and decides which antenna modules are assigned to which resource blocks, i.e. for frequency selective UL transmission. In one example, the NW may determine different UL precoding and amplitude scaling factors for different antenna modules that are subject to different resource blocks for uplink transmission.

At operation 2015, NW instructs UE 116 to perform one or more uplink transmissions with one of a plurality of uplink antenna configurations. In one example, the NW informs of multiple UL precoding and amplitude scaling factors for uplink transmissions, each of which is assigned to a different resource block (i.e., to perform frequency selective UL transmissions). In one example, the information about which antenna modules are assigned to each of the resource blocks may be transparent to the UE 116 or may be implicitly/explicitly indicated to the UE 116.

At operation 2020, the NW receives the uplink signals transmitted from UE 116 according to the indication and the corresponding uplink antenna configuration.

Fig. 21 illustrates a process for a user equipment to perform antenna subset configuration for uplink transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Although a flowchart depicts a series of sequential steps, no particular order of execution should be inferred from the sequence, unless explicitly stated, whether the steps or portions thereof are performed sequentially, rather than simultaneously or in an overlapping manner, or the depicted steps are performed only with no intervening or intermediate steps occurring. The process depicted in the examples is implemented by a processor or a transmitter chain in the UE, for example. Process 2100 may be completed by, for example, UEs 114, 115, and 116 in network 100.

At operation 2105, the UE 116 is configured to transmit an uplink signal for measuring signal quality. In one example, the UE is configured to transmit SRS signals or RACH signals, or PUCCH/PUSCH signals.

At operation 2110, the UE 116 is configured with one or more antenna configurations for uplink transmission including UL precoding and an amplitude scaling factor. In one example, UE 116 is configured with different UL precoding and amplitude scaling factors for uplink transmissions for different resource blocks.

At operation 2115, UE 116 is instructed to perform one or more uplink transmissions with one of the configured uplink antenna configurations.

At operation 2120, the UE 116 performs uplink transmission according to the indication and the corresponding uplink antenna configuration.

While the present disclosure has been described with exemplary embodiments, various changes and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art. The present disclosure is intended to embrace such alterations and modifications that fall within the scope of the appended claims. Any description of the present application should not be construed as implying that any particular element, step, or function is an essential element which must be included in the scope of the claims.

Claims (15)

1. A user equipment, UE, comprising:

a transceiver configured to:

receiving information about an antenna system of a base station, the information comprising a number of collocated antenna groups and a number of antenna modules of each type of antenna module in each collocated antenna group, wherein the collocated antenna groups of the collocated antenna groups have at least two types of antenna modules: a first module having a first antenna type and a second module having a second antenna type;

receiving configuration information for at least one channel state information-reference signal, CSI-RS, resource; and is also provided with

Receiving at least one CSI-RS according to the configuration information and obtaining a measurement result; and

a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to:

determining a subset of antenna modules based on a comparison between the measurement and a criterion; and is also provided with

CSI is generated for a subset of the antenna modules,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to: and sending a CSI report comprising the CSI.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein:

the criteria include gamma e 0,1,

the processor is configured to: a first number of best antenna modules is selected based on gamma,

the first number is determined such that the sum of the signal powers of the best antenna modules corresponding to the first number is greater than or equal to γp _sum And (2) minimum number of

P _sum Is the sum of the signal powers of the antenna modules in each collocated antenna group.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein:

the criterion includes a threshold value X _TH ，

The processor is configured to: based on the threshold value X _TH To select a second number N of said collocated antenna groups _sel，col And (2) juxtaposed antenna groups, and

the second number is determined such that the total signal power of the antenna modules in the collocated antenna group of the selected collocated antenna group exceeds the threshold value X _TH 。

4. The UE of claim 3, wherein:

the processor is configured to: for selected N _sel，col Each of the collocated antenna groups g, a third number N of antenna module types is selected _sel,type,g An antenna module of the type described above,

the third number N _sel，type,g Is determined to be such that the selected N _sel，type,g The sum of the signal powers of the antenna modules in the type of antenna module is greater than or equal to γp _sum Gamma e {0,1}, and

P _sum is the sum of said signal powers of the antenna modules of the associated collocated antenna group g.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein:

the processor is further configured to:

for selected antenna modules associated with the same antenna module type, determining a channel coefficient matrix including channel coefficients across the selected antenna modules for each port, and

determining for the channel coefficient matrix:

the antenna module domain AD basis vector,

frequency domain FD basis vector, and

coefficients corresponding to the (AD, FD) basis vector pairs,

generating information about signal quality for at least one unselected antenna module, and

the CSI further includes information about the signal quality and a precoding matrix indicator, PMI, indicating the AD base vector, the FD base vector and the coefficients corresponding to the (AD, FD) base vector pair.

6. The UE of claim 1, wherein:

the CSI report further includes a layered bitmap indicator configured to indicate a subset of antenna modules,

the hierarchical bitmap indicator includes:

a first level bitmap indicator, indicating the selected collocated antenna group,

a second level bitmap indicator indicating a selected antenna module type for each selected collocated antenna group, an

A third level bitmap indicator indicating selected antenna modules associated with the selected antenna module types.

7. A base station, BS, in a wireless communication system, the BS comprising:

a transceiver configured to:

transmitting information about an antenna system of a base station, the information comprising a number of collocated antenna groups and a number of antenna modules of each type of antenna module in each of the collocated antenna groups, wherein each of the collocated antenna groups has at least two types of antenna modules: a first module having a first antenna type and a second module having a second antenna type;

transmitting configuration information for at least one channel state information-reference signal, CSI-RS, resource;

transmitting at least one CSI-RS according to the configuration information; and is also provided with

A CSI report is received that includes CSI generated for a subset of antenna modules determined based on a comparison between the measurement and a criterion.

8. The BS of claim 7, wherein:

the criteria include gamma e {0,1} and a threshold X _TH ，

The transceiver is configured to: also send information about gamma and about X _TH And (2) information of

The subset of antenna modules is based on gamma and the threshold value X _TH To determine.

9. The BS of claim 7, wherein:

for selected antenna modules associated with the same antenna module type, determining a channel coefficient matrix comprising channel coefficients across the selected antenna modules for each port,

for the channel coefficient matrix:

determining an AD base vector of an antenna module domain;

determining a frequency domain FD base vector; and is also provided with

Determining coefficients corresponding to the (AD, FD) basis vector pairs, and

the CSI also includes a precoding matrix indicator, PMI, indicating the AD base vector, the FD base vector, and the coefficients corresponding to the (AD, FD) base vector pair.

10. The BS of claim 7, wherein:

the configuration information further comprises an indication for generating information about signal quality for at least one non-selected antenna module,

The CSI report further includes information regarding the signal quality and a layering bitmap indicator configured to indicate a subset of antenna modules,

the hierarchical bitmap indicator includes:

a first level bitmap indicator, indicating the selected collocated antenna group,

a second level bitmap indicator indicating a selected antenna module type for each selected collocated antenna group, an

A third level bitmap indicator indicating selected antenna modules associated with the selected antenna module types.

11. A method of a wireless communication system user equipment, UE, the method comprising:

receiving information about an antenna system of a base station, the information comprising a number of collocated antenna groups and a number of antenna modules of each type of antenna module in each of the collocated antenna groups, wherein each of the collocated antenna groups has at least two types of antenna modules: a first module having a first antenna type and a second module having a second antenna type;

receiving configuration information for at least one channel state information-reference signal, CSI-RS, resource; and

receiving at least one CSI-RS according to the configuration information and obtaining a measurement result;

Determining a subset of antenna modules based on a comparison between the measurement and a criterion;

generating CSI for a subset of the antenna modules; and

and sending a CSI report comprising the CSI.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the criteria comprises γ e {0,1}, the method further comprising:

a first number of best antenna modes is selected based on gamma,

wherein the first number is determined such that the sum of the signal powers of the best antenna modules corresponding to the first number is greater than or equal to γp _sum And wherein P is the minimum number of _sum Is the sum of the signal powers of the antenna modules in each collocated antenna group.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the criterion includes a threshold value X _TH The method further comprises:

based on the threshold value X _TH To select a second number N of said collocated antenna groups _sel，col Wherein the second number is determined such that ones of the selected collocated antenna groupsThe total signal power of the antenna modules in (a) exceeds the threshold value X _TH The method comprises the steps of carrying out a first treatment on the surface of the And

for selected N _sel,col Each of the collocated antenna groups g, a third number N of antenna module types is selected _sel,type,g An antenna module of the type in which the third number N _sel,type,g Is determined to be such that the selected N _sel,type，g The sum of the signal powers of the antenna modules in the type of antenna module is greater than or equal to γp _sum Gamma e {0,1}, and where P _sum Is the sum of the signal powers of the antenna modules of the associated collocated antenna group g.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, for selected antenna modules associated with the same antenna module type, a channel coefficient matrix comprising channel coefficients across the selected antenna modules for each port;

determining for the channel coefficient matrix:

the antenna module domain AD basis vector,

frequency domain FD basis vector, and

coefficients corresponding to the (AD, FD) basis vector pair, and

information about signal quality is generated for at least one non-selected antenna module,

wherein the CSI further comprises information about the signal quality and a precoding matrix indicator, PMI, indicating the AD basis vector, the FD basis vector and the coefficients corresponding to the (AD, FD) basis vector pair.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein:

the CSI report further includes a layered bitmap indicator configured to indicate a subset of antenna modules, and

The hierarchical bitmap indicator includes:

a first level bitmap indicator, indicating the selected collocated antenna group,

a second level bitmap indicator indicating a selected antenna module type for each selected collocated antenna group, an

A third level bitmap indicator indicating selected antenna modules associated with the selected antenna module types.