Channel-based beamforming

Abstract

This application relates to devices and components, including apparatus, systems, and methods for providing channel-based beamforming in a wireless communication system.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of international application No. PCT / CN2020 / 107180, filed on August 5, 2020, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Background Art

[0003] User equipment (UE) can use analog beamforming to receive communications from other network components.Analog beamforming can improve coverage. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] Figure 1 A network environment is shown according to some embodiments.

[0005] Figure 2 Channel-based beamforming operations are shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0006] Figure 3 A downlink resource grid is shown according to some embodiments.

[0007] Figure 4 A downlink resource grid is shown according to some embodiments.

[0008] Figure 5 A downlink resource grid is shown according to some embodiments.

[0009] Figure 6 Downlink resources according to some embodiments are shown.

[0010] Figure 7 An operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is shown.

[0011] Figure 8 An operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is shown.

[0012] Figure 9 An operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is shown.

[0013] Figure 10 A receiving component is shown according to some embodiments.

[0014] Figure 11 User equipment according to some embodiments is shown.

[0015] Figure 12 A gNB according to some embodiments is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are set forth for the purpose of illustration and not limitation, so as to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of the various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from this disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments can be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods have been omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments due to unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0017] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure.

[0018] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) configured to provide the described functionality, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable system on a chip (SoC)), or a digital signal processor (DSP). In some embodiments, the circuit can execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuit" can also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and program code for performing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code can be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0019] As used herein, the term "processor circuitry" refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that is capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuitry" may refer to an application processor, a baseband processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit, a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes).

[0020] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to circuitry that enables, is part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, and the like.

[0021] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can represent a remote user of network resources in a communication network. Furthermore, the terms "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0022] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing resources or networked resources.

[0023] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as computer equipment, mechanical equipment, memory space, processor / CPU time, processor / CPU utilization, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or utilization, power, input / output operations, ports or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory utilization, storage, network, database, and application, workload units, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage, or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage, or network resources provided by a virtualization infrastructure to applications, devices, systems, etc. The terms "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources accessible to a computer device / system via a communication network. The term "system resource" may refer to any type of shared entity that provides a service and may include computing resources or network resources. System resources may be considered a set of coherent functions, network data objects, or services accessible through a server, where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

[0024] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous or equivalent with "communication channel," "data communication channel," "transmission channel," "data transmission channel," "access channel," "data access channel," "link," "data link," "carrier," "radio frequency carrier," or any other similar term indicating a path or medium through which data is transmitted. Additionally, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection between two devices for transmitting and receiving information.

[0025] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0026] The term "connected" may mean that two or more elements at a common communication protocol layer have an established signaling relationship with each other through a communication channel, link, interface, or reference point.

[0027] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, virtualized network function, etc.

[0028] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains the contents. An information element may include one or more additional information elements.

[0029] Figure 1 A network environment 100 is shown according to some embodiments. Network environment 100 may include a UE 104 and a gNB 108. The gNB 108 may be a base station that provides a radio access cell, such as a 3GPP New Radio (NR) cell, through which the UE 104 can communicate with the gNB 108. The UE 104 and the gNB 108 may communicate over an air interface compliant with 3GPP technical specifications, such as those defining fifth generation (5G) NR system standards.

[0030] The gNB 108 can transmit information (e.g., data and control signaling) in the downlink direction by mapping logical channels onto transport channels and mapping transport channels onto physical channels. Logical channels can transmit data between the radio link control (RLC) layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer; transport channels can transfer data between the MAC and PHY layers; and physical channels can transfer information across the air interface. Physical channels can include the physical broadcast channel (PBCH); the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0031] The PBCH may be used to broadcast system information that a UE 104 may use to initially access a serving cell. The PBCH may be transmitted in a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block along with a physical synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS). The SS / PBCH block (SSB) may be used by the UE 104 during the cell search process and for beam selection.

[0032] The PDSCH may be used to transmit end-user application data, Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) messages, system information messages (in addition to, for example, the MIB), and paging messages.

[0033] The PDCCH may carry downlink control information (DCI), which is used by the scheduler of the gNB 108 to allocate both uplink and downlink resources. The DCI may also be used to provide uplink power control commands, configure the slot format, or indicate that preemption has occurred.

[0034] gNB 108 may also transmit various reference signals to UE 104. Reference signals may include demodulation reference signals (DMRS) for PBCH, PDCCH, and PDSCH. UE 104 may compare the received version of the DMRS with the transmitted known DMRS sequence to estimate the impact of the propagation channel. UE 104 may then apply an inversion of the propagation channel during the demodulation process for the corresponding physical channel transmission.

[0035] Reference signals may also include a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). CSI-RS can be a multi-purpose downlink transmission that can be used for CSI reporting, beam management, connected mode mobility, radio link failure detection, beam failure detection and recovery, and fine-tuning of time and frequency synchronization.

[0036] Reference signals and information from physical channels can be mapped to the resources of the resource grid. For a given antenna port, subcarrier spacing configuration, and transmission direction (e.g., downlink or uplink), there is one resource grid. The basic unit of the NR downlink resource grid can be a resource element, which can be defined by one subcarrier in the frequency domain and one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in the time domain. Twelve consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain can constitute a physical resource block (PRB). A resource element group (REG) can include one PRB in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain, for example, 12 resource elements. A control channel element (CCE) can represent a resource group used to transmit a PDCCH. One CCE can be mapped to multiple REGs, for example, six REGs.

[0037] Transmissions using different antenna ports may experience different radio channels. However, in some cases, different antenna ports may share common radio channel characteristics. For example, different antenna ports may have similar Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, or spatial reception parameters (e.g., characteristics associated with the angle of arrival of the downlink received signal at the UE). Antenna ports that share one or more of these large-scale radio channel characteristics may be considered to be quasi-co-located (QCL) with each other. 3GPP has specified four types of QCL to indicate which specific channel characteristics are shared. In QCL Type A, antenna ports share Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread. In QCL Type B, antenna ports share Doppler shift, and Doppler spread is shared. In QCL Type C, antenna ports share Doppler shift and average delay. In QCL Type D, antenna ports share spatial receiver parameters.

[0038] The gNB 108 may provide transmission configuration indicator (TCI) status information to the UE 104 to indicate the QCL relationship between antenna ports used for reference signals (e.g., synchronization signals / PBCH or CSI-RS) and downlink data or control signaling (e.g., PDSCH or PDCCH). The gNB 108 may use a combination of RRC signaling, MAC control element signaling, and DCI to inform the UE 104 of these QCL relationships.

[0039] The UE 104 and gNB 108 may perform beam management operations to identify and maintain desired beams for transmission in the uplink and downlink directions. Beam management may be applied to both PDSCH and PDCCH in the downlink direction and PUSCH and PUCCH in the uplink direction.

[0040] The UE 104 may select a beam to receive downlink transmissions based on the SSB and CSI-RS. The UE 104 may perform initial acquisition using the SSB and physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble during a random access procedure while in radio resource control (RRC) idle mode to establish uplink and downlink beam pairs. These initial beam pairs may correspond to relatively wide beams. The UE 104 may then enter RRC connected mode and initiate a beam refinement process to select a beam that is more directional and has higher gain. The beam refinement process may be based on the CSI-RS.

[0041] In various embodiments, both digital and analog beamforming concepts can be performed by UE 104 and gNB 108. However, digital beamforming can utilize more radio frequency chains, which can result in increased power consumption. Therefore, in some embodiments, UE 104 can rely primarily on analog beamforming, which can improve coverage and provide a desired link budget, especially when using a good gNB / UE beam pair.

[0042] In some implementations, the UE 104 may use channel-based beamforming to determine a desired beam for receiving downlink communications.

[0043] If the UE 104 includes N antenna elements with one port, the UE 104 may derive a simulated beam based on N measurement instances. Figure 2 Channel-based beamforming operations 200 using four antenna elements with one port are shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0044] At 204, operation 200 may include applying different sequences from a predefined matrix (which may be stored in a memory of the UE) as weights to receive different symbols of a beam management (BM) reference signal (RS) and obtain an estimated channel. The BM RS may correspond to an SSB or a CSI-RS. The predefined matrix may be, for example, a normalized Hadamard matrix as follows:

[0045]

[0046] A first weight W(:, 1) may be applied to a BM RS received on the first symbol (BM RS symbol 1); a second weight W(:, 2) may be applied to a BM RS received on the second symbol (BM RS symbol 2); a third weight W(:, 3) may be applied to a BM RS received on the third symbol (BM RS symbol 3); and a fourth weight W(:, 4) may be applied to a BM RS received on the fourth symbol (BM RS symbol 4). In this manner, N instances of channels (H1-H4) may be obtained.

[0047] At 208, the operation may include constructing a combined channel from the N instances of the channel obtained at 204. The combined channel may be given by H = [H1; H2; H4; H4].

[0048] At 212, the operation may include calculating an eigenvector based on the combined channel and a predefined matrix. In some embodiments, the eigenvector may be obtained by multiplying the predefined matrix W by the combined channel H. UE 104 may use the eigenvector of beamforming weights to provide a simulated beam for receiving downlink communications from gNB 108.

[0049] Several operational considerations can be applied to facilitate channel-based beamforming. For example, the same precoder / beam can be applied to BM RSs transmitted over a number of symbols no less than the number of antenna elements divided by the number of ports; and symbols for BM RSs should be transmitted within a certain time period to maintain coherence.

[0050] In various embodiments, aspects are described for defining control signaling to support channel-based beamforming. The control signaling may include: signaling for maintaining a common understanding between gNB 108 and UE 104 regarding a minimum number of symbols per BM RS resource or a minimum number of resources; signaling for configuring whether the same precoder / beam applies to different BM RS symbols; and signaling a maximum time period for BM RS symbols. In some embodiments, the minimum number or maximum time period may correspond to a desired number or time period. For example, the minimum number of symbols may be the number of symbols for which UE 104 desires to form the basis for channel-based beamforming. In some embodiments, channel-based beamforming may be performed even if the number of symbols is less than the desired minimum number of symbols.

[0051] Generally speaking, there are three options for facilitating channel-based beamforming. In various embodiments, aspects from each of these options can be used together. Therefore, these options are not considered mutually exclusive.

[0052] In a first option, gNB 108 can configure more than one symbol per CSI-RS resource for beam management. UE 104 can then apply channel-based beamforming per CSI-RS resource.

[0053] For each CSI-RS resource, a certain number of symbols can be configured. In some embodiments, this configuration can be provided by adding appropriate fields to the CSI-RS-ResourceMapping information element, which is used to configure the resource element mapping of the CSI-RS in the time and frequency domains. In some embodiments, the CSI-RS-ResourceMapping IE can be configured as follows.

[0054]

[0055] The frequencyDomainAllocation field may provide the frequency allocation within the physical resource block as provided, for example, in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.211 v16.2.0 (2020-07-14) section 7.4.1.5.3.

[0056] The number of ports (nrofPorts) field may provide the enumerated number of antenna ports that may be used for CSI-RS resources.

[0057] The first OFDM symbol in the time domain (firstOFDMSymbolinTimeDomain) field may provide time domain allocation by indicating the first OFDM symbol within the PRB used for CSI-RS. The first OFDM symbol in time domain 2 (firstOFDMSymbolinTimeDomain2) may be used when DMRS type A position three is used.

[0058] The Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) Type (cdm type) field may define the CDM value and mode.

[0059] The density field may define the CSI-RS frequency density per CSI-RS port per PRB, and the CSI-RS PRB offset if the density value is 1 / 2. For density 1 / 2, odd / even PRB allocation may be with respect to a common resource block.

[0060] The frequency band (freqBand) field may indicate whether the CSI-RS is wideband or partial-band.

[0061] The number of symbols (nrofSymbols) field may indicate the number of OFDM symbols configured for each CSI-RS resource. The configuration of more than one symbol may facilitate channel-based beamforming as described herein. In some embodiments, this field may only apply to certain types of CSI-RS. For example, this field may apply to CSI-RS used for RSRP / SINR calculations or CSI-RS used for mobility, and may not apply to other CSI-RS types.

[0062] If more than one symbol is configured in Option 1, the mapping of CSI-RS to the resource elements of each symbol can be done in a variety of ways. Figure 3-Figure 5 RE mapping patterns according to some embodiments are shown.

[0063] Figure 3 A downlink resource grid 300 with a first RE mapping pattern according to some embodiments is shown. The downlink resource grid 300 may include 14 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain.

[0064] In this embodiment, the CSI-RS can be mapped to three resource elements in each OFDM symbol. Four consecutive OFDM symbols are configured for the CSI-RS resources, starting from OFDM symbol 0. In this embodiment, the RE mapping pattern can be the same for each OFDM symbol. For example, in each of OFDM symbols 0, 1, 2, and 3, the CSI-RS can be mapped to REs 2, 6, and 10.

[0065] Figure 4 A downlink resource grid 400 with a second RE mapping pattern according to some embodiments is shown. The downlink resource grid 400 may include 14 OFDM symbols in the time domain and 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain.

[0066] In this embodiment, the CSI-RS may be mapped to four consecutive OFDM symbols, starting from OFDM symbol 0, similar to the above with respect to Figure 3 As shown. However, in this embodiment, the resource elements used in different symbols may be different. For example, in OFDM symbol 0, resource elements 2, 6, and 10 may be used to carry CSI-RS. For OFDM symbol 1, the mapping pattern may shift two resource elements. Therefore, in OFDM symbol 1, CSI-RS may be carried by resource elements 4, 8, and 0. The mapping pattern may shift two resource elements again, so that in OFDM symbol 2, resource elements 2, 6, and 10 carry CSI-RS. The mapping pattern may shift two resource elements again, so that in OFDM symbol 3, resource elements 0, 4, and 8 carry CSI-RS. The offset shift between consecutive OFDM symbols carrying CSI-RS may be predefined or configured by higher layer signaling, such as, for example, RRC signaling.

[0067] Although Figure 4 The RE mapping pattern is shown for each OFDM symbol shift, but in other embodiments, other RE mapping patterns or densities may be used. For example, different numbers of resource elements may be used in different OFDM symbols to carry CSI-RS.

[0068] Figure 5 A downlink resource grid 500 is shown with a third RE mapping option according to some embodiments. The downlink resource grid 500 may include a first PRB 504, a second PRB 508, a third PRB 512, and a fourth PRB 516.

[0069] In this embodiment, different bandwidths may be used for CSI-RS in different symbols. For example, the first PRB 504 may include the CSI-RS in the first OFDM symbol. The second PRB 508 may include the CSI-RS in the second symbol. The third PRB 512 may include the CSI-RS in the third symbol. And the fourth PRB 516 may include the CSI-RS in the fourth symbol. Thus, the CSI-RS has a frequency-bandwidth offset of one or more PRBs from OFDM symbol to OFDM symbol. In various embodiments, the frequency-bandwidth offset may be predefined or configured by higher-layer signaling, such as, for example, RRC signaling.

[0070] Although Figure 3-Figure 5 The embodiment shown in shows that consecutive OFDM symbols are used to carry CSI-RS, but other embodiments may include non-consecutive OFDM symbols.

[0071] In some embodiments, UE 104 may report the desired minimum number of CSI-RS symbols per CSI-RS resource via UE capabilities. To facilitate channel-based beamforming of the CSI-RS for BM, gNB 108 may then configure the CSI-RS to have no fewer than the reported desired minimum number of CSI-RS symbols. In some embodiments, gNB 108 may configure the CSI-RS to have more than the desired minimum number of CSI-RS symbols.

[0072] In various implementations, gNB 108 can configure UE 104 with one or more CSI-RS resource sets. Each resource set can include one or more CSI-RS resources. A single resource set can be configured with a sequence of up to 64 CSI-RS resource identifiers. The resource set configuration can include a flag indicating whether repetition is enabled. If gNB 108 sets the repetition flag to 'on,' all CSI-RS belonging to the resource set can be transmitted using the same beam, e.g., all CSI-RS can be transmitted using the same spatial filter.

[0073] In some embodiments, the gNB 108 may use the repeat flag during the beam management process to: change the beam selection, for example, for the purpose of beam refinement, which may be referred to as a P-2BM process; or improve the downlink UE reception beam, which may be referred to as a P-3BM process.

[0074] For the P-3BM process, gNB 108 may transmit repetitions of the CSI-RS using the beam selected during the P-2BM process. This may provide sufficient time for UE 104 to switch between its own beam positions and identify the best beam to pair with the beam selected by gNB 108.

[0075] In some embodiments, when gNB 108 receives an indication from UE 104 of a desired minimum number of CSI-RS symbols for channel-based beamforming, gNB 108 may ensure that for CSI-RS in resource sets with repetition set to “on”, the total number of symbols may not be less than the minimum number of reported CSI-RS symbols.

[0076] In a second option, gNB 108 can configure a new QCL type or port association for the CSI-RS resource. The new QCL type or port association can indicate that the reference signals associated with the QCL or port are transmitted from the same precoder and analog beam. This can allow UE 104 to apply channel-based beamforming based on the CSI-RS used for BM and other reference signals associated with that CSI-RS QCL or port, as described below.

[0077] For the purposes of this specification, the new QCL type may be referred to as QCL Type E; however, the QCL type designation is not restrictive. QCL Type E may indicate that the signals transmitted by the antenna port share the following parameters: Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, spatial reception parameters, and average gain. The QCL source can be CSI-RS or SSB.

[0078] Therefore, in some embodiments, gNB 108 can indicate that another reference signal has a QCL type E relationship with the CSI-RS used for BM. The other reference signal, which can be a QCL source, can be a CSI-RS or an SSB. UE 104 can then apply channel-based beamforming based on the received CSI-RS and QCL source.

[0079] Considering that UE 104 has four antenna elements associated with one antenna port and therefore requires four measurements to support channel-based beamforming, UE 104 may make two measurements based on the CSI-RS for BM and another two measurements based on a QCL source (e.g., another CSI-RS or SSB) that has a QCL type E relationship with the CSI-RS for BM.

[0080] In another embodiment, gNB 108 can indicate a port association between a first antenna port for a CSI-RS for a BM and a second antenna port for another CSI-RS or SSB. Similar to the QCL-type relationship described above, UE 104 can assume that the reference signal transmitted on the port-associated antenna port can be transmitted from the same precoder and analog beam. Therefore, UE 104 can base measurements for channel-based beamforming on the reference signal transmitted on any of the port-associated antenna ports.

[0081] In some embodiments, UE 104 may report the desired minimum number of symbols of CSI-RS resources for UE beam searching to gNB 108. If the CSI-RS used for BM is associated with an SSB QCL or port, then the SSB may be considered as three or four CSI-RS resources. Whether an SSB is considered as three or four CSI-RS resources may be predefined or reported by the UE capabilities.

[0082] In some embodiments, the relationship between resources used for channel-based beamforming calculations may only apply for a limited time period. Therefore, in some embodiments, a time window may be used to constrain the resources used for channel-based beamforming.

[0083] Figure 6 1 shows downlink resources 600 according to some embodiments. The downlink resources 600 may include N CSI-RS resources configured for a UE 104 to perform channel-based beamforming, the UE including N antenna elements coupled to one antenna port. The N CSI-RS resources may include a CSI-RS for a beamforming channel and one or more reference signals associated with a CSI-RS QCL or port for the beamforming channel.

[0084] If a burst of N CSI-RS resources occurs within time window 604, UE 104 can assume that the resources are phase coherent and can therefore use measurements from these N CSI-RS to construct the entire channel for channel-based beamforming. In some embodiments, UE 104 can report to gNB 108 the desired maximum time window of CSI-RS resources for UE beam searching (e.g., time window 620).

[0085] In some embodiments, channel-based measurements can be based on SSBs transmitted in one or more serving cells. For example, in some embodiments, gNB 108 can configure a QCL relationship (e.g., QCL Type E) or port association between SSBs in or across serving cells. UE 104 can then apply channel-based beamforming for the QCL or port-associated SSBs.

[0086] The QCL relationship or port association between SSBs can be similar to the QCL relationship or port association described above with respect to CSI-RS resources. Similarly, UE 104 can assume that QCL or port-associated SSBs in the same serving cell or different serving cells are transmitted from the same precoder and analog beam. Therefore, channel-based measurements can be performed on multiple QCL or port-associated SSBs.

[0087] In some embodiments, a QCL or port association relationship between SSBs can be established by configuring one or more SSB sets. Each SSB set can include SSBs that may be present on multiple component carriers in a band or band group. UE 104 can determine whether SSBs in the same SSB set are QCL or port associated with each other for channel-based beamforming measurements.

[0088] The QCL and port association relationships described herein facilitate beam fault detection (BFD) and radio link monitoring (RLM) operations.

[0089] RLM operations may be performed by various layers of the UE 104. For example, if an RLM reference signal (RLM-RS) falls below a first quality level (Qout) at which the radio link is considered unreliable, the physical layer may generate an out-of-sync indication, which may be based on a first block error rate (BLER) target for a hypothetical PDCCH transmission; if at least one RLM-RS exceeds a second quality level (Qin) at which the radio link is considered reliable, the physical layer may generate an in-sync indication, which may be based on a second BLER target for a hypothetical PDCCH transmission; and if all RLM-RSs fall below a third quality level (Qout_LR), the physical layer may generate a beam failure instance, which may correspond to a BLER of 10% of the hypothetical PDCCH transmission. The out-of-sync and in-sync indications may be provided to the RRC layer, and the beam failure instance may be provided to the MAC layer.

[0090] The RRC layer can evaluate the condition of radio link failure and can trigger radio link failure and RRC re-establishment. The MAC layer can evaluate the condition of beam failure and trigger beam failure and beam failure recovery.

[0091] In some embodiments, the gNB 108 may configure the CSI-RS resources or SSBs associated with a QCL or port as RLM-RSs for BFD / RLM operations. When reporting UE capabilities for BFD and RLM, the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources associated with a QCL or port may be counted as one RLM-RS.

[0092] In some embodiments, the hypothetical BLER providing the basis for each beam failure instance or in-sync / out-of-sync indication may be based on beamforming weights calculated according to a channel-based beamforming operation as described herein.

[0093] Once a beam failure is detected, the UE 104 may attempt to recover by initiating a random access procedure. Before transmitting a PRACH preamble, the UE 104 may identify a new target beam. The candidate beam reference signal list configuration may provide up to 16 SSB or CSI-RS beams as candidate beams. Each beam may be assigned a specific dedicated PRACH preamble so that the gNB 108 can use the preamble transmission to infer which beam has been selected by the UE 104. In some embodiments, the gNB 108 may configure multiple CSI-RS resources associated with a QCL or port for candidate beam detection (CBD). For primary cell (Pcell) beam failure recovery, each PRACH resource may then be associated with more CSI-RS resources. For secondary cell (Scell) beam failure recovery, the CSI-RS resources may be divided into N sets, where the CSI-RS resources in a set are QCL or port associated with each other. The UE 104 may then report the set index via the beam failure recovery MAC CE.

[0094] Figure 7 An operational flow / algorithm structure 700 according to some embodiments may be included. The operational flow / algorithm structure 700 may be performed or implemented by a UE (such as, for example, UE 104 or 1100) or a component thereof (eg, baseband processor 1104A).

[0095] The operational flow / algorithm structure 700 may include, at 704, processing an IE to determine a number of OFDM symbols for a CSI-RS resource. The IE may be a CSI-RS resource mapping IE including a number of symbol fields. The number of symbols field may include a value corresponding to a number of OFDM symbols for the CSI-RS resource.

[0096] In some embodiments, the number of OFDM symbols indicated in the IE may be based on a UE capability report. The UE capability report may have provided the gNB with information about the number of measurement instances the UE expects for channel-based beamforming operations. The number of measurement instances may correspond to the number of antenna elements divided by the number of antenna ports of the UE.

[0097] In some implementations, the IE may provide other information to facilitate determining which resource elements in a particular OFDM symbol are to include the CSI-RS.

[0098] The operational flow / algorithm structure 700 may also include, at 708, receiving a CSI-RS over a plurality of OFDM symbols. In some embodiments, the CSI-RS may be received on the same resource element in each of the plurality of OFDM symbols. In other embodiments, the resource element mapping pattern may shift in subsequent OFDM symbols. In other embodiments, a different resource element mapping pattern may be used, a different number of resource elements may be used, and a different bandwidth may be used to transmit / receive the CSI-RS over the plurality of OFDM symbols.

[0099] The operational flow / algorithm structure 700 may also include determining an estimated channel corresponding to a plurality of OFDM symbols at 712. In some embodiments, different weights may be applied to receive CSI-RS on different OFDM symbols to obtain a channel estimate. The weights may correspond to a sequence from a predefined matrix, such as, for example, a normalized Hadamard matrix.

[0100] The operational flow / algorithm structure 700 may further include constructing a channel based on the estimated channel at 716. The channel may be constructed by utilizing each of the channel estimates obtained by receiving the CSI-RS over a plurality of OFDM symbols.

[0101] The operational flow / algorithm structure 700 may also include determining a receive beam based on the constructed channel and the matrix at 720. In some embodiments, an eigenvector may be calculated based on the constructed channel and the predefined matrix. The eigenvector may correspond to a simulated receive beam.

[0102] Figure 8 An operational flow / algorithm structure 800 according to some embodiments may be included. The operational flow / algorithm structure 800 may be performed or implemented by a UE (such as, for example, UE 104 or 1100) or a component thereof (eg, baseband processor 1104A).

[0103] The operational flow / algorithm structure 800 may include, at 804, receiving an IE to configure an RS for BM. The IE may include an indication that the RS for BM is a beam associated with another signal, which may be a CSI-RS or an SSB. The RS for BM may itself be a CSI-RS or an SSB. In various embodiments, the beam association may be an indication of a port QCL (e.g., QCL type E) through which the RS for BM is to be transmitted and a port QCL (e.g., QCL type E) through which the other signal is transmitted. In other embodiments, the beam association may be an indication that a port association exists between the two ports. In either case, the UE may assume that both the RS for BM and the other signal are transmitted from the same antenna port, for example, using the same precoder and analog beam transmission.

[0104] In some embodiments, the indication may be a TCI state indicating a QCL relationship between the RS for the BM and another signal.

[0105] In another embodiment where the signal is an SSB, the UE may determine that the SSB corresponds to three or four CSI-RS transmissions for the purpose of channel-based beamforming operation. This may be based on a predefined configuration or UE capabilities.

[0106] The operational flow / algorithm structure 800 may further include receiving an RS for a BM and a beam-associated signal over a plurality of OFDM symbols at 808. In various embodiments, the plurality of OFDM symbols over which the RS for a BM and a beam-associated signal are received may correspond to the number of measurement instances desired by the UE for channel-based beamforming operations.

[0107] The operational flow / algorithm structure 800 may also include determining a receive beam for the antenna panel based on the received RS for the BM and the beam-associated signal at 812. In some embodiments, the receive beam may be determined based on a predefined matrix and channel estimation / calculation as described herein.

[0108] Figure 9 An operational flow / algorithm structure 900 according to some embodiments may be included. In some embodiments, the operational flow / algorithm structure 900 may be performed or implemented by a gNB (e.g., gNB 108 or 1200) or a component thereof (e.g., baseband processor 1204A).

[0109] Operational flow / algorithm structure 900 may include, at 904, receiving an indication of a desired number of measurement instances for channel-based beamforming operations at the UE. In some embodiments, the indication may be received in a UE capability report. The number of measurement instances may correspond to the number of antenna elements divided by the number of antenna ports at the UE.

[0110] The operation flow / algorithm structure 900 may further include generating configuration information for configuring an RS for BM at 908. The RS may be a CSI-RS or an SSB.

[0111] In some embodiments, the CSI-RS resources may be configured with a number of OFDM symbols equal to or greater than the number of measurement instances desired by the UE.

[0112] In some embodiments, the configuration information may additionally / alternatively include beam association information to associate the beam used to transmit the RS for the BM with another signal, such as a CSI-RS or SSB. The gNB may transmit the RS for the BM and other signals over a number of OFDM symbols at least equal to the number of measurement instances.

[0113] The operational flow / algorithm structure 900 may also include transmitting configuration information to the UE at 912. In some implementations, the configuration information may be transmitted to the UE in one or more configuration signals.

[0114] Figure 10 1. Receive component 1000 of UE 104 according to some embodiments is shown. Receive component 1000 may include an antenna panel 1004 that includes a plurality of antenna elements. Panel 1004 is shown as having four antenna elements, but other embodiments may include other numbers.

[0115] The antenna panel 1004 may be coupled to an analog beamforming (BF) component, which includes a plurality of phase shifters 1008(1)-1008(4). The phase shifters 1008(1)-1008(4) may be coupled to a radio frequency (RF) chain 1012. The RF chain 1012 may amplify the received analog RF signal, downconvert the RF signal to baseband, and convert the analog baseband signal to a digital baseband signal that may be provided to a baseband processor for further processing.

[0116] In various embodiments, control circuitry that may reside in a baseband processor may provide BF weights (e.g., W1-W4) to phase shifters 1008(1)-1008(4) to provide receive beams at antenna panel 1004. These BF weights may represent phase shift values. These BF weights may be determined based on channel-based beamforming. For example, the BF weights may be based on, for example, Figure 2 The operation described determines the eigenvector.

[0117] Figure 11 FIG shows a UE 1100 according to some embodiments. The UE 1100 may be similar to Figure 1 UE 104, and can basically be used with Figure 1 UE 104 is swapped.

[0118] Similar to what is described above with respect to UE 104, UE 1100 may be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as, for example, a mobile phone, a computer, a tablet, an industrial wireless sensor (e.g., a microphone, a carbon dioxide sensor, a pressure sensor, a humidity sensor, a thermometer, a motion sensor, an accelerometer, a laser scanner, a fluid level sensor, an inventory sensor, a voltage / current meter, an actuator, etc.), a video monitoring / surveillance device (e.g., a camera, a video camera, etc.), a wearable device, or a loose IoT device. In some embodiments, the UE may be a reduced-capacity UE or an NR-Light UE.

[0119] UE 1100 may include a processor 1104, an RF interface circuit 1108, a memory / storage 1112, a user interface 1116, a sensor 1120, a driver circuit 1122, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 1124, and a battery 1128. The components of UE 1100 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions of integrated circuits, discrete electronic devices or other modules, logical components, hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof. Figure 11 The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of certain of the components of the UE 1100. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0120] Components of the UE 1100 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 1132, which may represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extension), transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc., that allows various circuit components (on a common or different chip or chipset) to interact with each other.

[0121] The processor 1104 may include processor circuits such as, for example, a baseband processor circuit (BB) 1104A, a central processor unit circuit (CPU) 1104B, and a graphics processor unit circuit (GPU) 1104C. The processor 1104 may include any type of circuit or processor circuit that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, or functional processes from the memory / storage device 1112) to cause the UE 1100 to perform operations as described herein.

[0122] In some embodiments, the baseband processor circuit 1104A can access the communication protocol stack 1136 in the memory / storage device 1112 to communicate over a 3GPP-compatible network. Generally speaking, the baseband processor circuit 1104A can access the communication protocol stack to perform user plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, SDAP layer, and PDU layer; and control plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, RRC layer, and non-access stratum (NAS) layer. In some embodiments, PHY layer operations can additionally / alternatively be performed by components of the RF interface circuit 1108.

[0123] The baseband processor circuit 1104A may generate or process baseband signals or waveforms that carry information in 3GPP-compliant networks. In some implementations, waveforms for NR may be based on cyclic prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM) in the uplink or downlink, and discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the uplink.

[0124] The baseband processor circuit 1104A may also access group information 1124 from the memory / storage 1112 to determine search space groups in which multiple repetitions of the PDCCH may be transmitted.

[0125] The memory / storage 1112 may include any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that may be distributed throughout the UE 1100. In some embodiments, some of the memory / storage 1112 may be located on the processor 1104 itself (e.g., L1 cache and L2 cache), while other memory / storage 1112 may be external to the processor 1104 but accessible via a memory interface. The memory / storage 1112 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

[0126] The RF interface circuit 1108 may include transceiver circuitry and a radio frequency front-end module (RFEM), which allows the UE 1100 to communicate with other devices over a radio access network. The RF interface circuit 1108 may include various components arranged in a transmit path or a receive path. These components may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuits, control circuits, and the like.

[0127] In the receive path, the RFEM receives the radiated signal from the air interface via antenna 1126 and further filters and amplifies the signal (using a low-noise amplifier). The signal can be provided to the transceiver's receiver, which down-converts the RF signal to a baseband signal that is provided to the baseband processor of processor 1104.

[0128] In the transmit path, the transmitter of the transceiver up-converts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides an RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM may amplify the RF signal through a power amplifier before the signal is radiated across the air interface via the antenna 1126.

[0129] In various embodiments, the RF interface circuit 1108 may be configured to transmit / receive signals in a manner compatible with NR access technology.

[0130] Antenna 1126 may include multiple antenna elements, each of which converts electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and converts received radio waves into electrical signals. These antenna elements may be arranged into one or more antenna panels. Antenna 1126 may have antenna panels that are omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof to enable beamforming and multiple-input, multiple-output communications. Antenna 1126 may include microstrip antennas, printed antennas fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, patch antennas, phased array antennas, and the like. Antenna 1126 may have one or more panels designed for a specific frequency band, including a band in FR1 or FR2.

[0131] User interface circuitry 1116 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable a user to interact with UE 1100. User interface circuitry 1116 includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including, in particular, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a trackpad, a touchscreen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, and the like. Output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for displaying or otherwise communicating information, such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information. Output device circuitry may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, including, in particular, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators (such as light-emitting diodes "LEDs") and multi-character visual outputs), or more complex outputs, such as a display device or touchscreen (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), an LED display, a quantum dot display, a projector, and the like), where the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, and the like is generated or produced by the operation of UE 1100.

[0132] Sensors 1120 may include devices, modules, or subsystems designed to detect events or changes in their environment and transmit information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit including an accelerometer, gyroscope, or magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system or nanoelectromechanical system including a three-axis accelerometer, three-axis gyroscope, or magnetometer; a fluid level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; etc.

[0133] The driver circuit 1122 may include software and hardware components for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 1100. The driver circuit 1122 may include various drivers to allow other components to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the UE 1100. For example, the driver circuit 1122 may include a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings from the sensor circuit 1120 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 1120, a driver for obtaining actuator positions of electromechanical components or controlling and allowing access to electromechanical components, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0134] The PMIC 1124 may manage power provided to various components of the UE 1100. Specifically, with respect to the processor 1104, the PMIC 1124 may control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion.

[0135] In some embodiments, the PMIC 1124 may control or otherwise be part of various power-saving mechanisms for the UE 1100. For example, if the platform UE is in the RRC_Connected state, in which it remains connected to a RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the UE 1100 may power down for short intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the UE 1100 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handovers, etc. The UE 1100 enters a very low-power state and performs paging, in which the device periodically wakes up to listen to the network before powering down again. The UE 1100 may not receive data in this state; to do so, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power-saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for periods exceeding the paging interval (which can range from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will incur significant delays, assuming that the delay is acceptable.

[0136] The battery 1128 can power the UE 1100, but in some examples, the UE 1100 can be installed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. The battery 1128 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 1128 can be a typical lead-acid automobile battery.

[0137] Figure 12 A gNB 1200 is shown in accordance with some embodiments. The gNB node 1200 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with gNB 128.

[0138] gNB 1200 may include a processor 1204, an RF interface circuit 1208, a core network (CN) interface circuit 1212, and a memory / storage device circuit 1216.

[0139] Components of gNB 1200 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 1228.

[0140] The processor 1204, RF interface circuit 1208, memory / storage circuit 1216 (including communication protocol stack 1210), antenna 1224, and interconnect 1228 may be similar to those of reference 1200. Figure 11 Like-named elements are shown and described.

[0141] The CN interface circuitry 1212 can provide connectivity to a core network (e.g., a 5th Generation Core Network (5GC) using a 5GC-compatible network interface protocol, such as a Carrier Ethernet protocol, or some other suitable protocol). Network connectivity can be provided to / from the gNB 1200 via optical fiber or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuitry 1212 can include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuitry 1212 can include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0142] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0143] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods described in the Examples section below. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below. For another example, circuitry associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown in the Examples section below.

[0144] Example

[0145] In the following sections, additional exemplary embodiments are provided.

[0146] Embodiment 1 may include a method of operating a UE, the method comprising: processing an information element (IE) to determine a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resource; receiving a plurality of CSI-RSs on the plurality of OFDM symbols of the CSI-RS resource; determining a plurality of estimated channels corresponding to each of the plurality of OFDM symbols by applying different sequences from a predetermined matrix; constructing a channel based on the plurality of estimated channels; and determining a receive beam based on the channel and the predetermined matrix.

[0147] Embodiment 2 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein each CSI-RS of the plurality of CSI-RSs is mapped to a corresponding OFDM symbol using a common resource element mapping pattern.

[0148] Embodiment 3 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein individual CSI-RSs among the plurality of CSI-RSs are mapped to corresponding OFDM symbols using an individual RE mapping pattern.

[0149] Embodiment 4 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein each CSI-RS of the plurality of CSI-RSs is mapped to a corresponding physical resource block within the bandwidth portion.

[0150] Embodiment 5 may include the method of embodiment 4 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: determining an offset between adjacent physical resource blocks including CSI-RSs in the multiple CSI-RSs based on a predetermined configuration or control signal.

[0151] Embodiment 6 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: transmitting a report to a base station indicating a minimum number of symbols for each CSI-RS resource, wherein the multiple OFDM symbols are equal to or greater than the minimum number.

[0152] Embodiment 7 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the plurality of CSI-RSs are associated with a resource set configured with repetition.

[0153] Embodiment 8 may include a method of operating a UE, the method comprising: receiving an information element (IE) to configure a reference signal (RS) for beam management (BM), the information element including an indication that the RS for BM is a beam associated with a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) or a synchronization signal block (SSB); receiving the RS for BM and the CSI-RS or SSB over multiple OFDM symbols; and determining a receive beam for the antenna panel based on receiving the RS for BM and the CSI-RS or SSB.

[0154] Embodiment 9 may include the method of embodiment 8 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the indication includes a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for indicating a quasi-co-location relationship between the RS for BM and the CSI-RS or SSB.

[0155] Embodiment 10 may include the method of embodiment 9 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the quasi co-location relationship indicates a common Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, spatial reception parameters, and average gain.

[0156] Embodiment 11 may include the method of embodiment 9 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: assuming, based on the indication, that the RS for BM and the CSI-RS or SSB are transmitted from the same antenna port (e.g., the same precoder and analog beam); and determining the receive beam based on the assumption that the RS for BM and the CSI-RS or SSB are transmitted from the same antenna port.

[0157] Embodiment 12 may include the method of embodiment 9 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the indication is used to indicate that the RS used for the BM is a beam associated with the SSB, and the method further includes: considering that the SSB is three or four CSI-RS resources; and determining the receiving beam based on the consideration that the SSB is three or four CSI-RS resources.

[0158] Embodiment 13 may include the method of embodiment 12 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: considering whether the SSB is three or four CSI-RS transmissions based on a predefined configuration or UE capability.

[0159] Embodiment 14 may include the method of embodiment 9 or some other embodiments herein, further comprising: transmitting a report to the gNB indicating a time window in which resources including the RS for the BM and the CSI-RS or SSB can be considered coherent with each other and can be used for a beam search operation; and determining the receive beam based on the resources within the time window.

[0160] Embodiment 15 may include the method of embodiment 9 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the RS for BM is a first SSB and the CSI-RS or SSB includes a second SSB, wherein the first SSB and the second SSB are in a common serving cell or in different serving cells.

[0161] Embodiment 16 may include the method of embodiment 9 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the indication is used to indicate that the first antenna port used to transmit the RS for BM is a port associated with the second antenna port used to transmit the CSI-RS or SSB.

[0162] Embodiment 17 may include the method of embodiment 9 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: generating a UE capability report for RLM or BFD based on counting resources including RS and CSI-RS or SSB for BM as one radio link monitoring (RLM) or beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal.

[0163] Embodiment 18 may include the method of embodiment 9 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: calculating beamforming weights for the receive beam; calculating a block error rate (BLER) for a hypothetical physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission based on the beamforming weights; and determining a beam failure instance or synchronization / desynchronization indication based on the BLER.

[0164] Embodiment 19 may include a method of operating a gNB, the method comprising: receiving an indication of a number of measurement instances desired for channel-based beamforming operation from a user equipment (UE); generating configuration information for configuring reference signals for beamforming to be transmitted on a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols corresponding to the number of measurement instances; and transmitting the configuration information to the UE.

[0165] Embodiment 20 may include the method of embodiment 19 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the configuration information includes: a channel state information-reference signal resource mapping information element including an indication of the number of OFDM symbols; or beam association information for indicating that the first reference signal and the second reference signal are to be transmitted by the gNB using a common antenna port (e.g., a precoder and analog beam).

[0166] Example 21 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Examples 1-20, or any other method or process described herein.

[0167] Example 22 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of the methods described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 20 or any other method or process described herein.

[0168] Embodiment 23 may include an apparatus comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1-20, or any other method or process described herein.

[0169] Example 24 may include methods, techniques, or processes as described or related to any one of Examples 1 to 20, or portions or components thereof.

[0170] Embodiment 25 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or portion thereof, as described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20.

[0171] Embodiment 26 may include a signal as described or associated with any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion or component thereof.

[0172] Embodiment 27 may include a datagram, information element, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message, or a portion or component thereof, as described or associated with any one of embodiments 1 to 20, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0173] Embodiment 28 may include a signal encoded with data as described or associated with any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion or component thereof, or as otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0174] Embodiment 29 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, IE, packet, frame, segment, PDU, or message as described or associated with any one of embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion or component thereof, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0175] Embodiment 30 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors will cause the one or more processors to perform the method, technique, or process described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion thereof.

[0176] Embodiment 31 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform a method, technique, or process described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion thereof.

[0177] Embodiment 32 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0178] Embodiment 33 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0179] Embodiment 34 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0180] Embodiment 35 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0181] Unless expressly stated otherwise, any of the above examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the various embodiments.

[0182] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to encompass all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause user equipment (UE) to: generating a report to be transmitted to a base station, the report indicating a minimum number of symbols that each channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource is to include; Processing an information element (IE) to determine a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols for a CSI-RS resource, wherein the number of OFDM symbols is equal to or greater than the minimum number; receiving a plurality of CSI-RSs on the plurality of OFDM symbols of the CSI-RS resource; determining a plurality of estimated channels corresponding to each OFDM symbol of the plurality of OFDM symbols by applying different sequences from a predetermined matrix; constructing a channel based on the plurality of estimated channels; as well as A receive beam is determined based on the channel and the predetermined matrix.

2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of CSI-RSs is mapped to a corresponding OFDM symbol using a common resource element mapping pattern.

3. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein individual CSI-RSs among the plurality of CSI-RSs are mapped to corresponding OFDM symbols using an individual RE mapping pattern.

4. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein each CSI-RS of the plurality of CSI-RSs is mapped to a corresponding physical resource block within a bandwidth portion.

5. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 4, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: determine an offset between adjacent physical resource blocks including CSI-RSs in the plurality of CSI-RSs based on a predetermined configuration or control signal.

6. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the plurality of CSI-RSs are associated with a resource set configured with repetition.

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