Transmitting data in head and / or tail of single carrier waveform symbol

Abstract

A method is disclosed that includes transmitting at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol including at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, where at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence includes data and / or control information. The method is based on the known tail, KT and DFT-s-OFDM schemes. A different modulation scheme (MCS) may be used for each portion of the KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The following example embodiments relate to wireless communications. Background Art

[0002] As wireless communication systems move to higher frequencies, it is desirable to provide waveforms to better support these higher frequencies. Summary of the invention

[0003] The scope of protection sought for the various example embodiments is set out by the independent claims. Example embodiments and features described in this specification that do not fall within the scope of the independent claims, if any, are to be construed as examples useful for understanding the various embodiments.

[0004] According to one aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising: at least one processor, and at least one memory, the at least one memory comprising computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: transmit at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0005] According to another aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising means for transmitting at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0006] According to another aspect, a method is provided, comprising: transmitting at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0007] According to another aspect, a computer program comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed by an apparatus, causes the apparatus to at least perform the following: transmit at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0008] According to another aspect, a computer program is provided, comprising instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the following: transmitting at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0009] According to another aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the following: transmitting at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0010] According to another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided, comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the following: transmitting at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0011] According to another aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising: at least one processor, and at least one memory, the at least one memory comprising computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: receive at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0012] According to another aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes means for receiving at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol including at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence includes data and / or control information.

[0013] According to another aspect, a method is provided, comprising: receiving at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0014] According to another aspect, a computer program comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed by an apparatus, causes the apparatus to at least perform the following: receiving at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0015] According to another aspect, a computer program is provided, comprising instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the following: receiving at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0016] According to another aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the following: receiving at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

[0017] According to another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided, comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the following: receiving at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Hereinafter, various example embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

[0019] Figure 1 An example embodiment of a cellular communication network is shown;

[0020] Figure 2 The difference between the two symbol structures is shown;

[0021] Figure 3 shows a flow chart according to an example embodiment;

[0022] Figure 4 shows a flow chart according to an example embodiment;

[0023] Figure 5 An example of hybrid modulation is shown;

[0024] Figure 6 shows a signaling diagram according to an example embodiment;

[0025] Figure 7 shows a signaling diagram according to an example embodiment;

[0026] Figure 8 shows a signaling diagram according to an example embodiment;

[0027] Fig. 9 An example of a single carrier waveform symbol is shown;

[0028] Fig.10 An example of a single carrier waveform symbol is shown;

[0029] Fig.11 An example is shown of how the addition of known tail samples carrying data and / or control information affects the transport block size calculation;

[0030] Fig.12An example of transport block size calculation is shown when a hybrid modulation and coding scheme table indicates a modulation order for a first modulation and for a second modulation;

[0031] Fig.13a , Fig.13b and Fig.13c An example is shown of how a known sequence length affects the maximum power reduction requirement;

[0032] Fig.14 An example embodiment of an apparatus is shown; and

[0033] Fig.15 An example embodiment of an apparatus is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The following embodiments are exemplary. Although the specification may refer to "a", "one" or "some" embodiments in several places in the text, this does not necessarily mean that each reference is to the same (multiple) embodiments, or that a particular feature applies only to a single embodiment. Individual features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

[0035] In the following, different example embodiments will be described using the following: radio access architectures based on Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), New Radio (NR, 5G), beyond 5G or sixth generation (6G) as examples of access architectures to which the example embodiments may be applied, however, the example embodiments are not limited to such architectures. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the example embodiments may also be applied to other kinds of communication networks with appropriate means by appropriately adjusting the parameters and procedures. Some examples of other options for suitable systems may be Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Radio Access Network (UTRAN or E-UTRAN), Long Term Evolution (LTE, essentially the same as E-UTRA), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN or Wi-Fi), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Personal Communications Service (PCS), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), systems using Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology, sensor networks, mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), and Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), or any combination thereof.

[0036] Figure 1 An example of a simplified system architecture showing some elements and functional entities is depicted, all of which are logical units, the implementation of which may differ from what is shown. Figure 1The connections shown in are logical connections; the actual physical connections may be different. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the system may also include Figure 1 The functions and structures are different from those shown.

[0037] However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited to the systems given as examples, but a person skilled in the art may apply the solution to other communication systems equipped with the necessary properties.

[0038] Figure 1 The example of FIG. 1 shows a portion of an exemplary wireless access network.

[0039] Figure 1 A user device 100 and a user device 102 are shown, which are configured to be wirelessly connected to an access node 104 (such as an evolved Node B (abbreviated as eNB or eNodeB) or a next generation Node B (abbreviated as gNB or gNodeB)) providing a radio cell on one or more communication channels in the radio cell. The physical link from the user equipment to the access node can be called an uplink (UL) or reverse link, and the physical link from the access node to the user equipment can be called a downlink (DL) or forward link. The user equipment can also communicate directly with another user equipment via a sidelink (SL) communication. It should be understood that the access node or its functionality can be implemented by using any node, host, server or access point entity suitable for this purpose.

[0040] The communication system may include more than one access node, in which case the access nodes may also be configured to communicate with each other via links designed for this purpose, wired or wireless. These links may be used for signaling purposes. The access node may be a computing device configured to control the radio resources of the communication system to which it is coupled. The access node may also be referred to as a base station, a base transceiver station (BTS), an access point, or any other type of interface device, including a relay station capable of operating in a wireless environment. The access node may include a transceiver or be coupled to a transceiver. A connection may be provided from the transceiver of the access node to an antenna unit that establishes a two-way radio link to a user device. The antenna unit may include multiple antennas or antenna elements. The access node may also be connected to a core network 110 (CN or next generation core NGC). Depending on the system, the counterpart on the CN side can be a serving gateway (S-GW, routing and forwarding user data packets), a packet data network gateway (P-GW), which is used to provide connectivity for user equipment to external packet data networks, a user plane function (UPF), a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF) or a location management function (LMF), etc.

[0041] User equipment illustrates one type of apparatus to which resources on the air interface may be allocated and assigned, and thus any features described herein with user equipment may be implemented with corresponding apparatus such as a relay node.

[0042] An example of such a relay node may be a layer 3 relay towards an access node (self-backhaul relay). A self-backhaul relay node may also be referred to as an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node. An IAB node may comprise two logical parts: a mobile terminal (MT) part, which is responsible for the backhaul link(s) (i.e., the link(s) between the IAB node and the donor node, also referred to as the parent node) and a distributed unit (DU) part, which is responsible for the access link(s) (i.e., the sub-link(s) between the IAB node and the user equipment(s), and / or the sub-link(s) between the IAB node and other IAB nodes (multi-hop scenario)).

[0043] Another example of such a relay node may be a layer 1 relay called a repeater. A repeater may amplify a signal received from an access node and forward it to a user equipment and / or amplify a signal received from a user equipment and forward it to an access node.

[0044] A user device may also be referred to as a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, terminal device, or user equipment (UE), to mention only some names or devices. A user device may refer to a portable computing device, including a wireless mobile communication device operating with or without a subscriber identity module (SIM), including but not limited to the following types of devices: a mobile station (mobile phone), a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a device using a wireless modem (alarm or measurement device, etc.), a laptop computer and / or a touch screen computer, a tablet computer, a game console, a notebook, and a multimedia device. It should be understood that a user device may also be a device that almost exclusively has an uplink, an example of which may be a camera or video camera that loads an image or video clip to a network. A user device may also be a device having the ability to operate in an Internet of Things (IoT) network, an IoT network being a scenario in which objects may be provided with a means of transmitting data over a network without the need for human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. A user device may also utilize a cloud. In some applications, a user device may include a small portable or wearable device (such as a watch, earphones, or glasses) with a radio component, and computing may be performed in the cloud. The user equipment (or in some example embodiments, a layer 3 relay node) may be configured to perform one or more of the user equipment functionalities.The user equipment may also comprise or be included in a robot or a vehicle such as a train or car.

[0045] The various techniques described herein may also be applied to cyber-physical systems (CPS) (systems where collaborative computing elements control physical entities). CPS can enable the implementation and utilization of a large number of interconnected ICT devices (sensors, actuators, processor microcontrollers, etc.), where the ICT devices are embedded in physical objects at different locations. Mobile cyber-physical systems are a subcategory of cyber-physical systems, in which the physical systems discussed may have inherent mobility. Examples of mobile physical systems include mobile robots and electronic devices transported by humans or animals.

[0046] Additionally, although the apparatus has been depicted as a single entity, different units, processors and / or memory units may be implemented ( Figure 1 not shown).

[0047] 5G implements the use of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, more base stations or nodes (the so-called small cell concept) compared to LTE (including macro sites operating in cooperative operation with smaller stations), and various radio technologies depending on service requirements, use cases and / or available spectrum. 5G mobile communications can support a wide range of use cases and related applications, including video streaming, augmented reality, different ways of data sharing, and various formats of machine-type applications (such as (massive) machine-type communications (mMTC), including vehicle safety, different sensors and real-time control). 5G can have multiple radio interfaces, namely below 6GHz, cmWave and mmWave, and can also be integrated with existing traditional radio access technologies (such as LTE). Integration with LTE can be implemented as a system at least in the early stages, in which macro coverage can be provided by LTE, and 5G radio interface access can come from small cells by aggregation to LTE. In other words, 5G can support inter-RAT operability (such as LTE-5G) and inter-RI operability (inter-radio interface operability, such as below 6GHz-cmWave-mmWave). One of the concepts considered for use in 5G networks may be network slicing, in which multiple independent and dedicated virtual subnetworks (network instances) can be created within essentially the same infrastructure to run services with different requirements for latency, reliability, throughput and mobility.

[0048] The current architecture in LTE networks can be completely distributed in the radio and completely concentrated in the core network. Low-latency applications and services in 5G may require content to be close to the radio, which leads to local interruptions and multi-access edge computing (MEC). 5G can enable analysis and knowledge generation at the data source. The solution may need to utilize resources that may be discontinuously connected to the network, such as laptops, smart phones, tablet computers and sensors. MEC can provide a distributed computing environment for application and service hosting. It can also have the ability to store and process content close to cellular subscribers to obtain faster response times. Edge computing can cover a wide range of technologies, such as wireless sensor networks, mobile data collection, mobile signature analysis, collaborative distributed peer-to-peer self-organizing networking and processing, which can also be classified as local cloud / fog computing and net / grid computing, dew computing, mobile edge computing, micro-cloud, distributed data storage and retrieval, autonomous self-repairing networks, remote cloud services, augmented and virtual reality, data caching, Internet of Things (large-scale connection and / or latency critical), critical communications (autonomous vehicles, traffic safety, real-time analysis, time-critical control, medical applications).

[0049] The communication system may also be able to communicate with or utilize services provided by other networks, such as the public switched telephone network or the Internet 112. The communication network may also be able to support the use of cloud services, for example, at least a portion of the core network operations may be performed as a cloud service (this is in the Figure 1 114). The communication system may also include a central control entity or the like which provides facilities for networks of different operators to collaborate, for example in spectrum sharing.

[0050] Edge cloud can be brought into the radio access network (RAN) by leveraging network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN). The use of edge cloud can mean access node operations that are at least partially performed in a server, host, or node, where the server, host, or node is operably coupled to a remote radio head (RRH) or a radio unit (RU), or access node operations performed in an access node that includes a radio portion. Node operations may also be distributed among multiple servers, nodes, or hosts. For example, the execution of RAN real-time functions on the RAN side (in a distributed unit (DU) 104) and the execution of non-real-time functions in a centralized manner (in a central unit (CU) 108) can be achieved by applying a cloudRAN architecture.

[0051] It should also be understood that the distribution of workload between core network operations and access node operations may be different from that of LTE or even non-existent. Some other technological advances that may be used include big data and all-IP, which may change the way networks are being built and managed. 5G (or new radio, NR) networks may be designed to support multiple layers, where MEC servers may be placed between the core and access nodes. It should be understood that MEC may also be applied in 4G networks.

[0052] 5G may also make use of non-terrestrial communications (e.g., satellite communications), for example by providing backhaul to enhance or supplement the coverage of 5G services. Possible use cases may be to provide service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or for passengers in vehicles, or to ensure service availability for critical communications, as well as future rail / maritime / aeronautical communications. Satellite communications may make use of geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems, but may also make use of low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, especially large constellations (systems in which hundreds of (nano) satellites are deployed). At least one satellite 106 in a large constellation may cover several satellite-supported network entities that create a cell on the ground. The cell on the ground is created by a relay node 104 on the ground or by a gNB located on the ground or in a satellite.

[0053] 6G networks are expected to adopt flexible decentralized and / or distributed computing systems and architectures and ubiquitous computing with local spectrum licensing, spectrum sharing, infrastructure sharing and intelligent automated management enhanced by mobile edge computing, artificial intelligence, short packet communications and blockchain technology. Key features of 6G may include management and control functions for intelligent connectivity, programmability, integrated sensing and communications, reduction of energy footprint, trusted infrastructure, scalability and affordability. In addition to these, 6G also targets new use cases that cover the integration of positioning and sensing capabilities into system definitions to unify user experience across the physical and digital worlds.

[0054] It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that the depicted system is only an example of a part of a radio access system, and in practice the system may include multiple access nodes, the user equipment may have access to multiple radio cells, and the system may also include other devices, such as physical layer relay nodes or other network elements, etc. At least one of the access nodes may be a Home eNodeB or a Home gNodeB.

[0055] In addition, the access node can also be divided into: a radio unit (RU), which includes a radio transceiver (TRX), i.e. a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx); one or more distributed units (DU), which can be used for so-called layer 1 (L1) processing and real-time layer 2 (L2) processing; and a central unit (CU) (also called a centralized unit), which can be used for non-real-time L2 and layer 3 (L3) processing. The CU can be connected to one or more DUs, for example, by using an F1 interface. This division can achieve centralization of the CU relative to the cell site and the DU, while the DU can be more distributed and can even be maintained at the cell site. The CU and DU together can also be referred to as a baseband or baseband unit (BBU). The CU and DU can also be included in a radio access point (RAP).

[0056] A CU may be defined as a logical node that hosts higher layer protocols such as the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and / or Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) of an access node. A DU may be defined as a logical node that hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), and / or Physical (PHY) layers of an access node. The operation of a DU may be at least partially controlled by a CU. A CU may include a control plane (CU-CP), which may be defined as a logical node that hosts the RRC and control plane portions of the PDCP protocol for the CU of an access node. A CU may also include a user plane (CU-UP), which may be defined as a logical node that hosts the user plane portions of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol for the CU of an access node.

[0057] The cloud computing platform can also be used to run the CU and / or DU. The CU can run in a cloud computing platform that can be referred to as a virtualized CU (vCU). In addition to the vCU, there can also be a virtualized DU (vDU) running in the cloud computing platform. In addition, there can also be a combination in which the DU can use a so-called bare metal solution, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a customer-specific standard product (CSSP) system-on-chip (SoC) solution. It should also be understood that the workload distribution between the above-mentioned access node units or between different core network operations and access node operations may be different.

[0058] Additionally, in a geographical area of ​​the radio communication system, a plurality of different kinds of radio cells and a plurality of radio cells may be provided. A radio cell may be a macro cell (or umbrella cell), which may be a large cell up to tens of kilometers in diameter, or a smaller cell, such as a micro cell, a femto cell or a pico cell. Figure 1The access node(s) may provide any kind of these cells. A cellular radio system may be implemented as a multi-layer network comprising several radio cells. In a multi-layer network, one access node may provide one radio cell or multiple radio cells, and therefore multiple access nodes may be required to provide such a network structure.

[0059] In order to meet the need to improve the deployment and performance of communication systems, the concept of "plug and play" access nodes can be introduced. In addition to the home eNodeB or home gNodeB, the network that can use the "plug and play" access node may include a home node B gateway or HNB-GW ( Figure 1 (not shown in the figure). The HNB-GW, which may be installed in the operator's network, may aggregate services from a large number of home eNodeBs or home gNodeBs back to the core network.

[0060] In wireless communications, phase noise from the transmitter and / or receiver radio frequency (RF) local oscillator (LO) can degrade signal quality. Phase noise can increase by about 6 dB as the carrier frequency doubles. Therefore, phase noise can be more significant in a frequency range, for example, between 52.6 GHz and 71 GHz (also referred to as FR2-2-2) when compared to lower frequency bands, such as FR2-1. Similarly, phase noise is even more significant at frequencies above 71 GHz. This can limit the use of higher order modulations and thus reduce the spectral efficiency of the system.

[0061] A higher subcarrier spacing (SCS) can be used to reduce the effects of phase noise. However, increasing the SCS may affect the system because the bandwidth and symbol rate increase. Therefore, faster processing may be required. In addition, when the SCS is larger, the duration of the cyclic prefix (CP) is reduced, and the CP overhead is maintained. Due to the inter-symbol interference caused by the frequency selective channel, the reduced CP may cause the radio link performance to degrade. In the case of a shorter symbol duration, the scheduling period may become too short and the control channel coverage may be degraded. In addition, the reduced CP length may cause problems with beam switching because the switching time may become longer than the CP duration. In addition, for a transmission signal with the same number of subcarriers, a smaller SCS is also provided for a higher power spectral density (PSD), and the sampling rate is smaller, thereby reducing power consumption.

[0062] Current NR (until Release 17) supports cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) in the downlink, and supports both CP-OFDM and discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) in the uplink. DFT-s-OFDM can also be called single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) because the DFT-s-OFDM waveform is actually a single carrier waveform. In DFT-s-OFDM, a time domain phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) can be used to track the phase noise about time within the DFT-s-OFDM symbol and correct the received samples. In other words, a DFT-s-OFDM symbol can include one or more pilot sub-symbols (ie, PTRS symbols) and one or more data sub-symbols. Here, a sub-symbol refers to a modulation symbol group that is part of a DFT-s-OFDM symbol. The pilot sub-symbol can be used to estimate phase noise, as well as for other channel estimation purposes. The pilot sub-symbols include known data, i.e., known modulation symbols, which can be used to detect changes in the channel, such as phase noise. The pilot sub-symbols are known at the receiver, and thus the receiver can compare the pilot sub-symbols included in the received signal with the known original pilot sub-symbols.

[0063] Currently, support for frequency range 2-2 (FR2-2) (i.e., frequencies 52.6 GHz-71 GHz) is standardized in NR Release 17, where the main scenario is unlicensed band operation with relatively low effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) (e.g., 40 dBm).

[0064] In NR Release 19 and above, even higher frequencies above 71 GHz can be supported. Among them, a single carrier waveform can be considered in both uplink and downlink because it allows high EIRP (e.g., 60 dBm) to be achieved with a smaller power amplifier (PA) output back-off. Therefore, a single carrier waveform allows to reduce hardware complexity as well as power consumption. In addition, a single carrier waveform can also be more robust to phase noise with low complexity.

[0065] Bands above 71 GHz include, for example, the W band (75 GHz to 110 GHz) and the D band (110 GHz to 170 GHz). In these bands, the amount of spectrum is higher, but there are also restrictions on band use, such as RR5.340, in which all transmissions are prohibited (passive satellite band).

[0066] European telecommunications regulator CEPT ECC has approved two recommendations for fixed services (FS) above 92 GHz: W-band ECC recommendation ECC / REC / (18)02 at frequencies 92 GHz-114.25 GHz, and D-band ECC recommendation ECC / REC / (18)01 at frequencies 130 GHz-174.8 GHz.

[0067] One possible waveform candidate for these higher frequencies above 71 GHz is the known tail DFT-s-OFDM (KT-DFT-s-OFDM). KT-DFT-s-OFDM may also be referred to as unique word DFT-s-OFDM. The difference between KT-DFT-s-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM is that DFT-s-OFDM uses a cyclic prefix (CP) to cope with delay spread, while in KT-DFT-s-OFDM, the cyclic prefix is ​​replaced at the beginning and end of the KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol by an intra-symbol known sequence (e.g., a reference sub-signal also known at the receiver), which is inserted before the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) operation at the transmitter. This provides several benefits, such as:

[0068] - An adjustable known tail (KT) length (i.e., the number of sub-symbols for the head / start and tail / end of a KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol), which provides optimized spectral efficiency depending on the situation. The KT length may also be referred to as a known sequence length, i.e., the length of at least one of the head sequence or the tail sequence. The length of the head sequence may be different from or the same as the length of the tail sequence.

[0069] -Reduction in peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) due to KT sub-symbols (reference sub-symbols), since the known sequence can be designed to have a near-constant envelope, thereby providing increased transmit power (the cyclic prefix creates phase / amplitude discontinuities which have a negative impact on the spectral properties of the signal).

[0070] - Spectral shaping techniques such as frequency domain spectral shaping (FDSS) or FDSS with spectrum spreading can be used to further reduce the PAPR.

[0071] -15 symbol slots compared to 14 symbol slots (5G NR defines 14 symbol slots for normal CP).

[0072] - The known sequence can be used for channel estimation and phase noise estimation, providing improved performance.

[0073] Figure 2The difference between a DFT-s-OFDM symbol structure 210 and a KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol structure 220 is shown. In DFT-s-OFDM, the CP overhead is fixed and the symbol is extended by it (after the inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT)). In KT-DFT-s-OFDM, there are known sequences 221 and 222 at the end (tail sequence 222) and the beginning (head sequence 221) of the KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol (inserted before DFT), and the length of the known sequence can be adjusted. The known sequence may also be referred to as a KT sequence or a KT known sequence. It can be assumed that the known sequence (in the head and tail) is known at the receiver and has the purpose of reducing the PAPR and out-of-band emission of the waveform. In addition, there is no additional guard interval between symbols. In other words, the use of KT-DFT-s-OFDM can make the system more flexible to support different delay extensions without modifying the time slot structure.

[0074] The design of KT-DFT-s-OFDM is different from the currently supported waveforms because the cyclic prefix is ​​removed and replaced by a known sequence within the symbol in the head and tail of the KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol. In order to provide more benefits of the waveform, the length of the (multiple) known sequences can be configurable (adjustable), for example, by using RRC signaling. For example, the length of the (multiple) known sequences in the previous DFT symbol can be 4, 16, 64, 128, or 256. The length of the (multiple) known sequence refers to the number of sub-symbols allocated to the head and tail of the OFDM symbol before the DFT operation. For example, a KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol can carry 50 sub-symbols, and if the known sequence length is set to 4, this means that 4 sub-symbols at the beginning (head) and 4 sub-symbols at the end (tail) of the KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol will correspond to the known sequence. The length of the known sequence(s) may be selected based on the delay spread of the channel or based on a PAPR target for the waveform, which may result in different maximum power reduction (MPR) targets.

[0075] However, the known sequence(s) may also be used for other purposes, such as carrying control information or data. Therefore, there is a challenge on how to design the system to maximize the use of the known sequence(s).

[0076] In some example embodiments, at least a portion of the known sequence(s) is used or reserved for transmission of data and / or control information. Some example embodiments may also be beneficial for the downlink. In the uplink, the control information may include uplink control information (UCI), such as hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) and / or channel state information (CSI). In the downlink, the control information may include downlink control information (DCI).

[0077] Some example embodiments may provide improved coverage. Some example embodiments may also provide improved performance compared to conventional DFT-s-OFDM, such as an optimized tradeoff between KT overhead and coverage. In addition, some example embodiments may implement the use of a hybrid modulation and coding scheme (MCS) to achieve both high spectral efficiency (a property of shorter known sequences) and high power efficiency (a property of longer known sequences).

[0078] Some example embodiments are described below using the principles and terminology of 5G technology, however the example embodiments are not limited to 5G communication systems.

[0079] Figure 3 A flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method performed by an apparatus is shown, wherein the apparatus such as or includes or is included in: a user equipment (in an uplink scenario) or a network element of a radio access network (in a downlink scenario). A user equipment may also be referred to as a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a terminal device, or a user equipment (UE). A user equipment may correspond to Figure 1 The network element may correspond to a user equipment 100 or a user equipment 102. Figure 1 access node 104.

[0080] Reference Figure 3 In box 301, the device transmits at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol includes at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence includes data and / or control information. For example (in an uplink scenario), the control information may include uplink control information (UCI), and the data may include physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) data. As another example (in a downlink scenario), the control information may include downlink control information (DCI), and the data may include physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) data. The header sequence and / or the tail sequence may also include one or more reference sub-symbols known at a receiver of the transmission.

[0081] In one example, at least one single carrier waveform symbol may be transmitted using frequency domain spectral shaping with spectral spreading.

[0082] A single carrier waveform symbol may refer to, for example, a KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol or a DFT-s-OFDM symbol. Figure 5 , Fig. 9 and Fig.10 Some examples of at least one single carrier waveform symbol are shown in FIG. For example, at least one single carrier waveform symbol may include multiple different modulation orders, such as Figure 5 However, it should be noted that the single carrier waveform symbol is not limited to Figure 5 , Fig. 9 and Fig.10 The example shown in .

[0083] At least one of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence may be multiplexed before discrete Fourier transform. At least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence may use one of: pi / 2 binary phase shift keying modulation, constrained phase shift keying modulation, or Zadoff-Chu sequence. The header sequence and the tail sequence may also be referred to as known sequences in this article. The header sequence may refer to a group of sub-symbols at the beginning of at least one single carrier waveform symbol, and the tail sequence may refer to a group of sub-symbols at the end of at least one single carrier waveform symbol.

[0084] Figure 4 A flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method performed by an apparatus is shown, wherein the apparatus such as or comprises or is comprised in: a network element of a radio access network (in an uplink scenario), or a user equipment (in a downlink scenario). The network element may correspond to Figure 1 The user equipment may correspond to the access node 104. Figure 1 A user equipment among user equipment 100 and user equipment 102.

[0085] Reference Figure 4 In box 401, the device receives at least one single carrier waveform symbol, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol includes at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence includes data and / or control information. For example (in an uplink scenario), the control information may include uplink control information (UCI), and the data may include physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) data. As another example (in a downlink scenario), the control information may include downlink control information (DCI), and the data may include physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) data. The header sequence and / or the tail sequence may also include one or more reference sub-symbols known at the receiver of the transmission.

[0086] At least a portion of the known sequence(s) used or reserved for data and / or control information may use low PAPR modulation to optimize the PAPR properties of the KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol. Some examples of low PAPR modulation may include (but are not limited to): pi / 2 binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation, constrained phase shift keying (CPSK) modulation, and Zadoff-Chu sequences. The KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol may also be referred to as a single carrier waveform symbol.

[0087] A single carrier waveform symbol may involve multiple different modulation orders within the same symbol.A single carrier waveform symbol may carry multiple different modulation orders before the DFT stage in the modulator.

[0088] By using appropriate low PAPR modulation for the known sequence(s), substantial output power back-off (OBO) gains can be achieved for all modulation orders.

[0089] Compared to the quality of resource elements (REs) transmitted via regular symbols, data carried via (multiple) known sequences may have better quality. This may be exploited, for example, when transmitting uplink control signals multiplexed with UL data, and in the downlink for certain DL control and / or broadcast signaling (i.e., for signaling requiring higher reliability).

[0090] For example, (multiple) known sequences may be utilized with a specific priority order. An example of such a priority order is presented below: HARQ-ACK (if present) is mapped to the known sequence first, rank indicator (if present) is mapped to the known sequence second, CSI (if present) is mapped to the known sequence third, and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) data (if present) is mapped to the known sequence fourth.

[0091] At least a portion of the known sequence reserved for data and / or control information may be configured via downlink control information (DCI), MAC, and / or RRC.

[0092] The possible options for the length of the (multiple) known sequences and the length of the data and / or control information can follow the rules shown in Table 1 below (assuming that the known sequence lengths 4, 16, 64, 128 and 256, i.e., powers of 2, are supported as examples). The known sequence length can be selected according to one of the supported known sequence lengths. That is, the length of the data and / or control information can be equal to the total known sequence length minus the actual known sequence length. The actual known sequence refers to the part of the known sequence that does not carry any data and / or control information. The actual known sequence is mainly used for channel estimation or phase noise compensation and delay spread protection. It should be noted that, for example, when using an artificial intelligence or machine learning receiver, even an actual known sequence of length 0 can be used, which may be able to compensate for the delay spread effect. Table 1

[0093] However, other lengths are possible, and thus some example embodiments are not limited to the options presented in Table 1.

[0094] The user equipment may be configured with a hybrid modulation and coding scheme (MCS). The beginning (header) and end (tailer) of a single carrier waveform symbol may include multiple data sub-symbols using lower order modulation (these data sub-symbols may be part of a known sequence). The remainder of the single carrier waveform symbol may use higher order modulation (or alternatively the same modulation as the beginning and end). Thus, the user equipment may be configured with at least two different MCS indices.

[0095] As an example, there may be X data sub-symbols for a first lower order modulation, and Y data sub-symbols for a second modulation order, where the time domain distribution within the single carrier waveform symbol may be predefined. For example, X / 2 sub-symbols may be at the beginning (corresponding to the lower order modulation), Y / 2 sub-symbols may be next, then Y / 2 sub-symbols, and finally X / 2 sub-symbols. Alternatively, a specific time domain distribution may be signaled.

[0096] As another example, there may be X data sub-symbols for a first lower order modulation, Y data sub-symbols for a second modulation order, and Z data sub-symbols for a third modulation order, where the time domain distribution within the single carrier waveform symbol may be predefined. For example, X / 2 sub-symbols may be at the beginning (corresponding to the lower order modulation), Y / 2 sub-symbols may be next, then Z sub-symbols, then Y / 2 sub-symbols, and finally X / 2 sub-symbols. The third modulation order may be used to further reduce OBO and / or MPR.

[0097] As another example, there may be a first KT sub-symbol as a reference sub-symbol, followed by a data sub-symbol, and then a higher order modulation.

[0098] Figure 5 An example of hybrid modulation within a KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol is shown, where two different modulations (16QAM and 64QAM) are used in the data portion (QAM is an abbreviation for quadrature amplitude modulation). Header sequence 501 refers to the header sample of KT, and tail sequence 502 refers to the tail sample of KT. At least a portion of these header samples 501 and tail samples 502 may be reserved to carry data and / or control information. It should be noted that CP 503 may be optional. CP 503 may carry the same samples as tail sequence 502. The length of tail sequence 502 may be the same as the CP length, or it may be different from the CP length. If CP 503 is used at the beginning of a KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol, header sequence 501 may be avoided.

[0099] Figure 6 A signaling diagram according to an example embodiment is shown. Figure 6 An uplink scenario (PUSCH) is shown, which may also be applied to the downlink.

[0100] refer to Figure 6 In block 601, a network element of a radio access network transmits a configuration to a user equipment, the configuration indicating a known sequence length and a reservation for free use. In other words, the configuration may indicate the length of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence of at least one single carrier waveform symbol, and at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence reserved for data and / or control information. The configuration may also indicate whether at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence is included in the same transport block or in a different transport block compared to a central portion of at least one single carrier waveform symbol. The configuration may also indicate a modulation and coding scheme to be used for one or more transport blocks within at least one single carrier waveform symbol. For example, the configuration may be transmitted via RRC signaling.

[0101] The network element may be, for example, an access node such as a gNB.

[0102] In block 602, a network element schedules (e.g., via DCI) a PUSCH for a user equipment and indicates activation to configure data and / or control information for reserved resources in a known sequence(s). The activation means that the user equipment is allowed to use at least a portion of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence for data and / or control information.

[0103] In block 603, based on the configuration, the user equipment allocates data and / or control information to reserved resources in at least a portion of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence of at least one single carrier waveform symbol.

[0104] In block 604, the user equipment transmits a PUSCH with allocated data and / or control information to a network element in at least a portion of a header and / or tail sequence of at least one single carrier waveform symbol.

[0105] Figure 7 A signaling diagram according to another example embodiment is shown. Figure 7 An uplink scenario (PUSCH) is shown, which may also be applied to the downlink.

[0106] refer to Figure 7 In block 701, a network element of a radio access network transmits to a user equipment a configuration having a known sequence length, a reservation for free use, and an unlicensed UL transmission. In other words, the configuration may indicate the length of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence of at least one single carrier waveform symbol, and at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence reserved for data and / or control information. The configuration may also indicate whether at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence is included in the same transport block or in a different transport block compared to a central portion of at least one single carrier waveform symbol. The configuration may also indicate a modulation and coding scheme to be used for one or more transport blocks within at least one single carrier waveform symbol. For example, the configuration may be transmitted via RRC signaling.

[0107] Ungranted UL transmission means that the user equipment does not need to wait for a separate activation or indication from a network element to transmit data and / or control information in the header sequence and / or the tail sequence. Ungranted transmission can be scheduled via RRC (semi-persistent allocation), or it can be configured via RRC and activated / deactivated via MAC.

[0108] The network element may be, for example, an access node such as a gNB.

[0109] In block 702, the user equipment transmits a PUSCH with data and / or control information to a network element, the data and / or control information being in at least a portion of a header and / or tail sequence of at least one single carrier waveform symbol. The user equipment may also indicate activation of data and / or control information for reserved resources in a (multiple) known sequence. This may be indicated, for example, in uplink control information or in the known sequence itself.

[0110] In block 703, the network element demodulates the PUSCH. The network element may also check activation before demodulation to determine whether the user equipment has used (multiple) known sequences to carry data and / or control information. For example, the user equipment may indicate activation to the network element by using data-associated control signaling, such as demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence selection. Alternatively, checking activation may mean that the network element detects whether the user equipment has transmitted anything. For example, in a grant-free situation, the user equipment may not transmit anything.

[0111] Figure 8 A signaling diagram according to another example embodiment is shown, wherein at least two different MCSs are associated with different transport blocks (TBs) and different hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes (multi-TB scheduling). This may allow for optimizing transmissions separately for different MCS parts.

[0112] refer to Figure 8 In block 801, a network element of a radio access network transmits a DCI to a user equipment, the DCI indicating a first MCS (MCS1) having a higher order modulation for a central portion of a single carrier waveform symbol with a HARQ process A. For example, the network element may be an access node such as a gNB.

[0113] In block 802, the user equipment determines a second MCS (MCS2) for lower order modulation, i.e., a header sequence and a tail sequence of a single carrier waveform symbol. The user equipment may implicitly determine the second MCS from the MCS of the first MCS (→HARQ process A+1). The DCI may include a new data indicator (NDI) for each of the two HARQ processes. In other words, there may be separate HARQ-ACK feedback for the two HARQ processes.

[0114] In block 803, the user equipment may indicate to the network element at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the trailer sequence including data and / or control information and the determined second MCS for the data and / or control information.

[0115] In block 804, the user equipment transmits at least one single carrier waveform symbol, i.e., scheduled data containing two MCSs, to the network element. The header sequence and / or the tail sequence use a lower order modulation (MCS2), and the center portion of the single carrier waveform symbol uses a higher order modulation (MCS1). Fig. 9 An example of a single carrier waveform symbol is shown in FIG. The transmission may also include information related to the transmission format. For example, MCS2 may be determined by the user equipment.

[0116] In block 805, the network element demodulates the single carrier waveform symbol(s) accordingly. Based at least in part on an indication that may be received from the user equipment, data and / or control information may be demodulated. The network element uses HARQ process A for a first MCS and uses HARQ process A+1 for a second MCS.

[0117] The above is based on Figure 3 to Figure 4 and Figures 6 to 8 There is no absolute time order for the described blocks, related functions and information exchanges (messages), and some of them may be performed simultaneously or in a different order than described. Other functions may also be performed between or within them, and other information may be sent and / or other rules may be applied. Some blocks or parts of blocks or one or more pieces of information may also be discarded or replaced by corresponding blocks or parts of blocks or one or more pieces of information.

[0118] Fig. 9 An example of a single carrier waveform symbol is shown, where different MCSs are part of different transport blocks (TBs). Fig. 9 , the first MCS (MCS1) is part of the first TB (TB1) 901. The second MCS (MCS2) is part of the second TB (TB2) 902. In other words, the two TBs refer to two time division multiplexed transport blocks within a single carrier waveform symbol.

[0119] It should be noted that there may also be additional TBs (on top of the two TBs) that are spatially multiplexed and transmitted in parallel with one or more TBs within a single carrier waveform symbol (ie, additional MIMO layers).

[0120] Alternatively, different MCSs may be associated with the same TB (i.e., there are no time-division multiplexed transport blocks within a single carrier waveform symbol). In this case, this may have an impact on the transport block size definition. In some example embodiments, the number of information bits (N_info) may be calculated by N_info=sum_i(N_RE_i*R_i*Q_m,i)*v, where i varies according to the different modulation orders defined for the symbol. N_RE is the number of resource elements, R_i is the coding rate, Q_m is the modulation order, and v is the number of transmission layers. The error vector magnitude (EVM) requirement may be defined, for example, based on a higher order modulation. Alternatively, the EVM requirement may be defined based on a weighted average between different EVM limits for the modulation used and the portion they occupy within the symbol. For example, EVM_limit = (L1*X+L2*Y+L3*Z) / (X+Y+Z), where Li is the EVM limit for modulation order i, and X+Y+Z is the total number of QAM data sub-symbols allocated within a single carrier waveform symbol. In this example, three modulations are used, but the number of modulations can also be less than three or more than three.

[0121] Fig.10 An example of a single carrier waveform symbol is shown, where a normal CP 1001 is followed by a known sequence 1002 , ie, a header sequence 1002 adjacent to the CP 1001 . Fig.10 Part 1003 in is part of the header sequence used for data and / or control information. Instead of extending the CP, lower order data sub-symbols can be used in the extended CP part or in the traditional DFT-s-OFDM waveform because they are not sensitive to errors. In this case, there may be a normal CP 1001, and when an extended CP is needed, a known sequence 1002 can be used in addition to the normal CP to provide greater flexibility and avoid the use of the extended CP. This can provide flexibility even when applied on top of a traditional DFT-s-OFDM waveform in some example embodiments. In the case of a normal CP, a time slot includes 14 symbols, while an extended CP (ECP) results in a time slot of 12 symbols.

[0122] Fig.11 An example is shown of how the addition of KT samples carrying data and / or control information affects the transport block size calculation. Fig.11 In the example, KT table 1101 indicates the modulation order used (eg, pi / 2 BPSK). The sub-symbols reserved for data and / or control information may be indicated by RRC, and the activation of KT sub-symbols carrying data and / or control information may be indicated in DCI. Fig.11 An example is for the case where different MCSs are associated with the same TB.

[0123] Alternatively, more than one modulation may be used within the data portion of a KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol. Fig.12 An example of transport block size calculation is shown when the hybrid MCS table 1201 indicates the modulation order for the first modulation and for the second modulation. For example, the number of REs for modulation order 1 and modulation order 2 (and the position within the KT-DFT-s-OFDM symbol) can be indicated by the DCI or tabulated as part of the hybrid MCS table 1201. This example is for the case where different MCSs are associated with the same TB.

[0124] Fig.13a , Fig.13b and Fig.13c An example of how a known sequence length affects the MPR requirement is shown. After transmitting a KT-DFT-s-OFDM waveform (without using FDSS or any other technique for reducing the PAPR of the signal), has been obtained by a PA model with a carrier frequency of 150 GHz. Fig.13a , Fig.13b and Fig.13c The results are shown in . FR2 radio frequency (RF) requirements of EVM, in-band emission (IBE), occupied bandwidth (OBW) and spectrum emission mask (SEM) are considered. The PA output power is gradually increased while measuring the corresponding PA output signal relative to the limits set by the RF requirements. The power is increased until at least one signal quality metric is not met. Fig.13a , Fig.13b and Fig.13c The OBO of KT-DFT-s-OFDM as a function of known sequence length and allocation size is shown. The OBO is measured for a power class 1 UE from FR2, where a negative OBO value means that the output power is greater than the maximum output power of the UE power class. The known sequence for the test case is generated by shaping the pi / 2-BPSK sequence with a [1+D] filter (which combines two consecutive pi / 2-BPSK symbols, thereby reducing the PAPR). It can be seen from the figure that increasing the known sequence length with appropriate design of the known sequence can result in a larger output power increase when compared to DFT-s-OFDM.

[0125] exist Fig.13a, line 1311 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM QPSK with a known sequence length of 4, line 1312 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM QPSK with a known sequence length of 16, line 1313 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM QPSK with a known sequence length of 32, line 1314 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM QPSK with a known sequence length of 64, line 1315 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM QPSK with a known sequence length of 128, line 1316 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM QPSK with a known sequence length of 256, and line 1317 represents DFT-s-OFDM QPSK.

[0126] exist Fig.13b , line 1321 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 16QAM with a known sequence length of 4, line 1322 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 16QAM with a known sequence length of 16, line 1323 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 16QAM with a known sequence length of 32, line 1324 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 16QAM with a known sequence length of 64, line 1325 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 16QAM with a known sequence length of 128, line 1326 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 16QAM with a known sequence length of 256, and line 1327 represents DFT-s-OFDM 16QAM.

[0127] exist Fig.13c , line 1331 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 64QAM with a known sequence length of 4, line 1332 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 64QAM with a known sequence length of 16, line 1333 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 64QAM with a known sequence length of 32, line 1334 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 64QAM with a known sequence length of 64, line 1335 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 64QAM with a known sequence length of 128, line 1336 represents KT-DFT-s-OFDM 64QAM with a known sequence length of 256, and line 1337 represents DFT-s-OFDM 64QAM.

[0128] Tables 2 to 4 below show the output power gain of KT-DFT-s-OFDM relative to DFT-s-OFDM for QPSK, 16QAM and 64QAM, giving a quantitative analysis of the achievable gain. PRB is an abbreviation for Physical Resource Block.

[0129] Table 2 shows the output power gain in dB of KT-DFT-s-OFDM relative to DFT-s-OFDM for QPSK. Table 2

[0130] Table 3 shows the output power gain in dB of KT-DFT-s-OFDM relative to DFT-s-OFDM for 16QAM. Table 3

[0131] Table 4 shows the output power gain in dB of KT-DFT-s-OFDM relative to DFT-s-OFDM for 64QAM. Table 4

[0132] Fig.14 An example embodiment of an apparatus 1400 is shown, which may be an apparatus such as or including or included in a user equipment. The user equipment may correspond to Figure 1 The user equipment 100 and the user equipment 102 are one of the user equipments. A user equipment may also be referred to as a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a terminal device or a user equipment (UE).

[0133] The apparatus 1400 includes at least one processor 1410. The at least one processor 1410 interprets computer program instructions and processes data. The at least one processor 1410 may include one or more programmable processors. The at least one processor 1410 may include programmable hardware with embedded firmware, and may alternatively or additionally include one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

[0134] At least one processor 1410 is coupled to at least one memory 1420. At least one processor is configured to read data from and write data to at least one memory 1420. At least one memory 1420 may include one or more memory cells. The memory cell may be volatile or non-volatile. It should be noted that in some example embodiments, there may be one or more non-volatile memory cells and one or more volatile memory cells, alternatively, there may be one or more non-volatile memory cells, or alternatively, there may be one or more volatile memory cells. The volatile memory may be, for example, a random access memory (RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM). The non-volatile memory may be, for example, a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, optical storage, or magnetic storage. In general, the memory may be referred to as a non-transitory computer-readable medium. At least one memory 1420 stores computer-readable instructions, which are executed by at least one processor 1410 to perform one or more of the above-described example embodiments. For example, non-volatile memory stores computer readable instructions, and at least one processor 1410 executes the instructions using volatile memory to temporarily store data and / or instructions.

[0135] The computer readable instructions may be pre-stored in at least one memory 1420, or, alternatively or additionally, they may be received by the device via an electromagnetic carrier signal, and / or may be copied from a physical entity (such as a computer program product). The execution of the computer readable instructions causes the device 1400 to perform one or more of the above functionalities.

[0136] In the context of this document, "memory" or "computer-readable media" or "computer-readable media" may be any non-transitory medium or media or components that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device (such as a computer).

[0137] The device 1400 may also include or be connected to an input unit 1430. The input unit 1430 may include one or more interfaces for receiving input. The one or more interfaces may include, for example, one or more temperature, motion and / or orientation sensors, one or more cameras, one or more accelerometers, one or more microphones, one or more buttons and / or one or more touch detection units. In addition, the input unit 1430 may include an interface to which an external device may be connected.

[0138] The device 1400 may also include an output unit 1440. The output unit may include or be connected to one or more displays capable of rendering visual content, such as a light emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), and / or a liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) display. The output unit 1440 may also include one or more audio outputs. The one or more audio outputs may be, for example, a speaker.

[0139] The device 1400 also includes a connectivity unit 1450. The connectivity unit 1450 implements wireless connectivity to one or more external devices. The connectivity unit 1450 includes at least one transmitter and at least one receiver, which can be integrated into the device 1400, or the device 1400 can be connected to the at least one transmitter and at least one receiver. At least one transmitter includes at least one transmission antenna, and at least one receiver includes at least one receiving antenna. The connectivity unit 1450 may include an integrated circuit or a group of integrated circuits that provide wireless communication capabilities to the device 1400. Alternatively, the wireless connectivity may be a hardwired application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The connectivity unit 1450 may include one or more components controlled by a corresponding control unit, such as: a power amplifier, a digital front end (DFE), an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a frequency converter, a modulator (demodulator) and / or an encoder / decoder circuit system.

[0140] It should be noted that the apparatus 1400 may also include Fig.14 Various components are not shown in the figure. The various components can be hardware components and / or software components.

[0141] Fig.15 The apparatus 1500 shows an example embodiment of an apparatus such as or including or included in a network element of a radio access network. The network element may correspond to Figure 1 The access node 104 of the present invention. The network element may also be referred to as, for example, a network node, a radio access network (RAN) node, a NodeB, an eNB, a gNB, a base transceiver station (BTS), a base station, a NR base station, a 5G base station, an access node, an access point (AP), a relay node, a relay, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, an IAB donor node, a distributed unit (DU), a central unit (CU), a baseband unit (BBU), a radio unit (RU), a radio head, a remote radio head (RRH), or a transmission and reception point (TRP).

[0142] The device 1500 may include, for example, a circuit system or a chipset suitable for implementing one or more of the above-mentioned example embodiments. The device 1500 may be an electronic device including one or more electronic circuit systems. The device 1500 may include a communication control circuit system 1510, such as at least one processor and at least one memory 1520 storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the device 1500 to perform one or more of the above-mentioned example embodiments. Such instructions may, for example, include computer program code (software) 1522, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code (software) 1522 are configured to cause the device 1500 to perform some of the above-mentioned example embodiments together with the at least one processor. Herein, the computer program code may also refer to instructions that cause the device 1500 to perform one or more of the above-mentioned example embodiments. That is, the at least one processor and the at least one memory 1520 storing instructions may cause the performance of the device.

[0143] The processor is coupled to the memory 1520. The processor is configured to read data from the memory 1520 and write data to the memory 1520. The memory 1520 may include one or more memory cells. The memory cell may be volatile or non-volatile. It should be noted that in some example embodiments, there may be one or more non-volatile memory cells and one or more volatile memory cells, or alternatively, there may be one or more non-volatile memory cells, or alternatively, there may be one or more volatile memory cells. The volatile memory may be, for example, a random access memory (RAM), a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM). The non-volatile memory may be, for example, a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, optical storage, or magnetic storage. In general, the memory may be referred to as a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The memory 1520 stores computer-readable instructions executed by the processor. For example, the non-volatile memory stores computer-readable instructions, and the processor executes the instructions using the volatile memory to temporarily store data and / or instructions.

[0144] The computer readable instructions may be pre-stored in the memory 1520, or alternatively or additionally, they may be received by the device via an electromagnetic carrier signal and / or may be copied from a physical entity (such as a computer program product). The execution of the computer readable instructions causes the device 1500 to perform one or more of the above functionalities.

[0145] The memory 1520 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and / or removable memory. The memory may include a configuration database for storing configuration data. For example, the configuration database may store a current neighboring cell list, and in some example embodiments, may store the structure of frames used in detected neighboring cells.

[0146] The device 1500 may also include a communication interface 1530, which includes hardware and / or software for implementing a communication connection according to one or more communication protocols. The communication interface 1530 includes at least one transmitter (Tx) and at least one receiver (Rx), which may be integrated into the device 1500, or the device 1500 may be connected to at least one transmitter (Tx) and at least one receiver (Rx). The communication interface 1530 may include one or more components controlled by a corresponding control unit, such as: a power amplifier, a digital front end (DFE), an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a frequency converter, a modulator (demodulator) and / or an encoder / decoder circuit system.

[0147] The communication interface 1530 provides the apparatus with radio communication capabilities to communicate in a cellular communication system. The communication interface may, for example, provide a radio interface to one or more user equipments. The apparatus 1500 may also include another interface towards a core network such as a network coordinator apparatus and / or an access node of a cellular communication system.

[0148] The apparatus 1500 may further include a scheduler 1540 configured to allocate radio resources. The scheduler 1540 may be configured together with the communication control circuitry 1510, or it may be configured separately.

[0149] It should be noted that the apparatus 1500 may also include Fig.15 Various components are not shown in the figure. The various components can be hardware components and / or software components.

[0150] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: a) a hardware circuit implementation only (such as an implementation in analog only and / or an implementation in digital circuitry); and b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (where applicable): i) a combination of (multiple) analog and / or digital hardware circuits with software / firmware, and ii) any portion of (multiple) hardware processors (including (multiple) digital signal processors), software and (multiple) memories with software that work together to enable a device such as a mobile phone to perform various functions; and c) (multiple) hardware circuits and / or (multiple) processors, such as (multiple) microprocessors or portions of (multiple) microprocessors, that require software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when not required for operation.

[0151] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to a particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0152] The techniques and methods described herein can be implemented by various means. For example, these techniques can be implemented in hardware (one or more devices), firmware (one or more devices), software (one or more modules), or a combination thereof. For hardware implementations, the (multiple) devices of the example embodiments can be implemented in one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For firmware or software, the implementation can be performed by a module of at least one chipset (e.g., a process, a function, etc.) that performs the functions described herein. The software code can be stored in a memory unit and executed by a processor. The memory unit can be implemented within a processor or outside a processor. In the latter case, it can be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means as known in the art. Additionally, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the components of the system described herein can be rearranged and / or supplemented by additional components to support the implementation of the various aspects described herein, etc., and are not limited to the precise configurations set forth in the given figures.

[0153] It is obvious to those skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the disclosed concept can be implemented in various ways. The embodiments are not limited to the above-described example embodiments, but can be varied within the scope of the claims. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly, and they are intended to illustrate but not limit the example embodiments.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory, the at least one memory comprising computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: At least one single carrier waveform symbol is transmitted, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information. 2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence is multiplexed before discrete Fourier transform.

3. The apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence uses one of: pi / 2 binary phase shift keying modulation, constrained phase shift keying modulation or a Zadoff-Chu sequence.

4. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprises a plurality of different modulation orders.

5. The apparatus of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one single carrier waveform symbol uses at least two different modulation and coding schemes, wherein the at least two different modulation and coding schemes are associated with different transport blocks.

6. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the header sequence and / or the tail sequence uses a lower order modulation and the central portion of the at least one single carrier waveform symbol uses a higher order modulation.

7. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the at least one single carrier waveform symbol uses at least two different modulation and coding schemes, wherein the at least two different modulation and coding schemes are associated with the same transport block.

8. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising: A configuration is received, the configuration indicating the at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence reserved for the data and / or the control information.

9. The device according to claim 8, further causing the device to: Based on the configuration, the data and / or the control information are allocated to the at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence.

10. The apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 9, wherein the configuration further indicates whether the at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence is included in the same transport block or in a different transport block compared to the central portion of the at least one single carrier waveform symbol.

11. The apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the configuration further indicates a modulation and coding scheme to be used for one or more transport blocks within the at least one single carrier waveform symbol.

12. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising: A transmission indication is used to indicate a modulation and coding scheme used for the data and / or the control information. 13 . The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the indication further indicates that the at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence includes the data and / or the control information.

14. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the at least one single carrier waveform symbol is transmitted without a cyclic prefix.

15. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein at least one single carrier waveform symbol further comprises a cyclic prefix, and the header sequence is adjacent to the cyclic prefix.

16. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the at least one single carrier waveform symbol is transmitted using frequency domain spectral shaping with spectral spreading.

17. An apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the control information comprises uplink control information and the data comprises physical uplink shared channel data.

18. An apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus comprises or is comprised in user equipment.

19. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory, the at least one memory comprising computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: At least one single carrier waveform symbol is received, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence uses one of: pi / 2 binary phase shift keying modulation, constrained phase shift keying modulation, or a Zadoff-Chu sequence.

21. The apparatus of any one of claims 19 to 20, wherein the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprises a plurality of different modulation orders.

22. The apparatus of any one of claims 19 to 21, wherein the at least one single carrier waveform symbol uses at least two different modulation and coding schemes, wherein the at least two different modulation and coding schemes are associated with different transport blocks.

23. The apparatus according to any one of claims 19 to 22, wherein the header sequence and / or the tail sequence uses a lower order modulation, and the central portion of the at least one single carrier waveform symbol uses a higher order modulation.

24. The apparatus of any one of claims 19 to 21, wherein the at least one single carrier waveform symbol uses at least two different modulation and coding schemes, wherein the at least two different modulation and coding schemes are associated with the same transport block.

25. The device according to any one of claims 19 to 24, further comprising: A transmission configuration is provided, the configuration indicating the at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence reserved for the data and / or the control information.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the configuration further indicates whether the at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence is included in the same transport block or a different transport block compared to the central portion of the at least one single carrier waveform symbol.

27. The apparatus according to any one of claims 25 to 26, wherein the configuration further indicates a modulation and coding scheme to be used for one or more transport blocks within the at least one single carrier waveform symbol.

28. The device according to any one of claims 19 to 26, further comprising: receiving an indication of a modulation and coding scheme to be used for the data and / or the control information; and Based at least in part on the received indication, the data and / or the control information is demodulated.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the indication further indicates that the at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises the data and / or the control information.

30. The apparatus of any one of claims 19 to 29, wherein the at least one single carrier waveform symbol is received without a cyclic prefix.

31. The apparatus of any one of claims 19 to 29, wherein at least one single carrier waveform symbol further comprises a cyclic prefix, and the header sequence is contiguous with the cyclic prefix.

32. An apparatus according to any one of claims 19 to 31, wherein the control information comprises uplink control information and the data comprises physical uplink shared channel data.

33. The apparatus according to any one of claims 19 to 32, wherein the apparatus comprises or is comprised in a network element of a radio access network.

34. An apparatus comprising components for: At least one single carrier waveform symbol is transmitted, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

35. An apparatus comprising components for: At least one single carrier waveform symbol is received, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

36. A method comprising: At least one single carrier waveform symbol is transmitted, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

37. A method comprising: At least one single carrier waveform symbol is received, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

38. A computer program comprising instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the following: At least one single carrier waveform symbol is transmitted, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

39. A computer program comprising instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the following: At least one single carrier waveform symbol is received, the at least one single carrier waveform symbol comprising at least one of a header sequence and / or a tail sequence, wherein at least a portion of the header sequence and / or the tail sequence comprises data and / or control information.

Images