Techniques for estimating spectral efficiency from synchronization signal blocks

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may receive a single rank reference signal from a network node. The UE may obtain one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal for a plurality of candidate beams. The UE may identify a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric for each respective candidate beam included among the plurality of candidate beams, and based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam. The UE may identify a beam to be used for communicating with the network node from among the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam. Numerous other aspects are described.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 805,593, entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR ESTIMATING SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY FROM SYNCHRONIZATIONSIGNAL BLOCK” filed on June 6, 2022 and assigned to the assignee of this application. The disclosure of the prior application is considered a part of this patent application and is incorporated by reference into this patent application. Technical Field

[0003] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications and to techniques and apparatus associated with estimating spectral efficiency from synchronization signal blocks (SSBs).

[0004] Related technologies

[0005] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunication services, such as telephone, video, data, messaging, and broadcasting. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies that can support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, and long term evolution (LTE). LTE / LTE-Advanced is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

[0006] A wireless network may include one or more network nodes that support communications for wireless communication devices, such as a user equipment (UE) or multiple UEs. A UE may communicate with a network node via downlink communications and uplink communications. A "downlink" (or "DL") refers to a communication link from a network node to a UE, and an "uplink" (or "UL") refers to a communication link from a UE to a network node. Some wireless networks may support device-to-device communications, such as via a local link (e.g., a side link (SL), a wireless local area network (WLAN) link, and / or a wireless personal area network (WPAN) link, etc.).

[0007] The above-mentioned multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different UEs to communicate at a city, country, region and / or global level. New Radio (NR) (which may be referred to as 5G) is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3GPP. NR is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the downlink, using CP-OFDM and / or single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) (also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM)) on the uplink, and supporting beamforming, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna technology and carrier aggregation to improve spectrum efficiency, reduce costs, improve services, utilize new spectrum, and better integrate with other open standards. As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, further improvements in LTE, NR and other radio access technologies remain useful. Summary of the invention

[0008] Some aspects described herein relate to a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication. The UE may include a memory and one or more processors coupled to the memory. The one or more processors may be configured to receive a single-rank reference signal from a network node. The one or more processors may be configured to obtain one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal for multiple candidate beams. The one or more processors may be configured to identify a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric for each corresponding candidate beam included in the multiple candidate beams and at least in part based on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the corresponding candidate beam. The one or more processors may be configured to identify a beam to be used for communication with a network node from among the multiple candidate beams and at least in part based on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each corresponding candidate beam.

[0009] Some aspects described herein relate to a method of wireless communication performed by a UE. The method may include receiving a single-rank reference signal from a network node. The method may include, for a plurality of candidate beams, obtaining one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal. The method may include, for each respective candidate beam included in the plurality of candidate beams, and at least in part based on one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, identifying a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric. The method may include, from the plurality of candidate beams and at least in part based on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam, identifying a beam to be used for communicating with the network node.

[0010] Some aspects described herein relate to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing an instruction set for wireless communication by a UE. The instruction set, when executed by one or more processors of the UE, may cause the UE to receive a single-rank reference signal from a network node. The instruction set, when executed by one or more processors of the UE, may cause the UE to: obtain one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal for multiple candidate beams. The instruction set, when executed by one or more processors of the UE, may cause the UE to: for each corresponding candidate beam included in the multiple candidate beams, and at least in part based on one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the corresponding candidate beam, identify a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric. The instruction set, when executed by one or more processors of the UE, may cause the UE to: identify a beam to be used for communication with a network node from among the multiple candidate beams and at least in part based on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each corresponding candidate beam.

[0011] Some aspects described herein relate to an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include a component for receiving a single-rank reference signal from a network node. The apparatus may include: a component for obtaining one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal for multiple candidate beams. The apparatus may include: a component for identifying a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric for each respective candidate beam included in the multiple candidate beams and based at least in part on one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam. The apparatus may include: a component for identifying a beam to be used for communicating with a network node from among the multiple candidate beams and based at least in part on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

[0012] Aspects generally include methods, apparatus, systems, computer program products, non-transitory computer-readable media, user equipment, base stations, network nodes, wireless communication devices, and / or processing systems as fully described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings and description and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings and description.

[0013] The features and technical advantages of examples according to the present disclosure have been outlined quite extensively above so that the following specific embodiments may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described below. The disclosed concepts and specific examples may be easily used as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for achieving the same purpose of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. The characteristics of the concepts disclosed herein, both in terms of their organization and method of operation, and the associated advantages will be better understood by considering the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Each of the figures in the accompanying drawings is provided for the purpose of illustration and description, and not as a definition of the limitations of the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] In order that the above-mentioned features of the present disclosure may be fully understood, a more specific description of the above brief summary may be obtained by reference to various aspects (some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings). However, it should be noted that the accompanying drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of the present disclosure and are therefore not to be considered as limiting the scope thereof, as the specification may admit of other equally effective aspects. The same reference numerals in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.

[0015] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless network according to the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of communication between a network node and a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network according to the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a synchronization signal hierarchical structure according to the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a beam management procedure according to the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example associated with estimating spectral efficiency from a synchronization signal block (SSB) according to the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example process associated with estimating spectral efficiency from SSB according to the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 7 is a diagram of an example apparatus for wireless communications according to the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The various aspects of the present disclosure are described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure can be embodied in many different forms, and should not be interpreted as being limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout the present disclosure. On the contrary, these aspects are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and the scope of the present disclosure will be fully conveyed to those skilled in the art. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the present disclosure disclosed herein, whether it is implemented independently or in combination with any other aspect of the present disclosure. For example, any number of aspects set forth herein may be used to implement a device or practice method. In addition, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover such devices or methods that are practiced using other structures, functionality, or structures and functionality in addition to or different from the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of the claims.

[0023] Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various devices and techniques. These devices and techniques will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, modules, components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements can be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Whether these elements are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0024] Although various aspects may be described herein using terms generally associated with 5G or new radio (NR) radio access technology (RAT), various aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to other RATs, such as 3G RAT, 4G RAT and / or RATs beyond 5G (e.g., 6G).

[0025] Figure 1 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless network 100 according to the present disclosure. The wireless network 100 may be a 5G (e.g., NR) network and / or a 4G (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE)) network, etc., or may include elements of a 5G (e.g., NR) network and / or elements of a 4G (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE)) network, etc. The wireless network 100 may include one or more network nodes 110 (shown as network node 110a, network node 110b, network node 110c, and network node 110d), one user equipment (UE) 120 or multiple UEs 120 (shown as UE 120a, UE 120b, UE 120c, UE 120d, and UE 120e), and / or other entities. As shown, the network node 110 may include one or more network nodes. For example, the network node 110 may be a converged network node, which means that the converged network node is configured to utilize a radio protocol stack physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node (e.g., within a single device or unit). As another example, the network node 110 may be a disaggregated network node (sometimes referred to as a disaggregated base station), meaning that the network node 110 is configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed between two or more nodes, such as one or more central units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs).

[0026] In some examples, the network node 110 is or includes a network entity, such as a RU, that communicates with the UE 120 via a radio access link. In some examples, the network node 110 is or includes a network entity, such as a DU, that communicates with other network nodes 110 via a fronthaul link or a midhaul link. In some examples, the network node 110 is or includes a network entity, such as a CU, that communicates with other network nodes 110 via a midhaul link or communicates with a core network via a backhaul link. In some examples, the network node 110 (such as an aggregated network node 110 or a decomposed network node 110) may include multiple network nodes, such as one or more RUs, one or more DUs, and / or one or more CUs. For example, the network node 110 may include an NR base station, an LTE base station, a Node B, an eNB (e.g., in 4G), a gNB (e.g., in 5G), an access point, a transmit receive point (TRP), a RU, a DU, a CU, a mobility element of a network, a core network node, a network element, a network equipment, a RAN node, or a combination thereof. In some examples, network nodes 110 may be interconnected to each other and / or to one or more other network nodes 110 in wireless network 100 via various types of fronthaul interfaces, midhaul interfaces, and / or backhaul interfaces (such as direct physical connections, air interfaces, or virtual networks) using any suitable transport network.

[0027] In some aspects, the network node 110 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the term "cell" may refer to the coverage area of ​​a base station and / or a base station subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. The network node 110 may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and / or another type of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by a UE 120 with a service subscription. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by a UE 120 with a service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by a UE 120 associated with the femto cell (e.g., a UE 120 in a closed subscriber group (CSG)). A base station for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro base station. A base station for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico base station. A base station for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto base station or a home base station. In Figure 1 In the example shown, network node 110a may be a macro base station for macro cell 102a, network node 110b may be a pico base station for pico cell 102b, and network node 110c may be a femto base station for femto cell 102c. A base station may support one or more (eg, three) cells.

[0028] In some examples, a cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of ​​a cell may move depending on the location of a mobile network node 110 (eg, a mobile base station).

[0029] The wireless network 100 may include one or more relay stations. A relay station is a network node that can receive transmissions of data from an upstream node (e.g., a network node 110 or a UE 120) and transmit transmissions of data to a downstream node (e.g., a UE 120 or a network node 110). A relay station may be a UE 120 that can relay transmissions for other UEs 120 or network nodes 110. Figure 1 In the example shown, network node 110d (e.g., a relay base station) can communicate with network node 110a (e.g., a macro base station) and UE 120d to facilitate communication between network node 110a and UE 120d. A network node 110 that relays communications may be referred to as a relay station, relay base station, relay node, relay, etc.

[0030] The wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of network nodes 110, such as macro base stations, pico base stations, femto base stations, relay base stations, TRPs, RUs, etc. These different types of network nodes 110 may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and / or different impacts on interference in the wireless network 100. For example, a macro base station may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 5 watts to 40 watts), while a pico base station, a femto base station, and a relay base station may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 0.1 watt to 2 watts).

[0031] The network controller 130 may be coupled to or in communication with a set of network nodes 110 and may provide coordination and control for the network nodes 110. The network controller 130 may communicate with the network nodes 110 via a backhaul communication link or a midhaul communication link. The network nodes 110 may also communicate directly with each other or indirectly via a wireless backhaul communication link or a wired backhaul communication link. In some aspects, the network controller 130 may include a CU or a core network device.

[0032] UE 120 can be distributed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE 120 can be stationary or mobile. UE 120 can include, for example, an access terminal, a terminal, a mobile station and / or a subscriber unit. UE 120 can be a cellular phone (e.g., a smart phone), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet computer, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device, a biometric device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, a smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., a smart ring or a smart bracelet)), an entertainment device (e.g., a music device, a video device and / or a satellite radio), a vehicle component or sensor, a smart meter / sensor, an industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, a UE function of a network node and / or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless medium.

[0033] Some UE 120 may be considered as machine type communication (MTC) UE or evolved or enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) UE. MTC UE and / or eMTC UE may include, for example, a robot, a drone, a remote device, a sensor, a meter, a monitor and / or a location tag, which may communicate with a network node, another device (e.g., a remote device) or some other entity. Some UE 120 may be considered as an Internet of Things (IoT) device and / or may be implemented as a NB-IoT (narrowband IoT) device. Some UE 120 may be considered as customer premises equipment. UE 120 may be included in a housing that houses components of UE 120, such as a processor component and / or a memory component. In some examples, the processor component and the memory component may be coupled together. For example, a processor component (e.g., one or more processors) and a memory component (e.g., a memory) may be operationally coupled, communicatively coupled, electronically coupled and / or electrically coupled.

[0034] In some examples, two or more UEs 120 (e.g., shown as UE 120a and UE 120e) may communicate directly using one or more side link channels (e.g., without using network node 110 as an intermediary to communicate with each other). For example, UE 120 may communicate using peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) protocols (e.g., the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) protocols may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocols, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocols, or vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) protocols) and / or mesh networks. In such examples, UE 120 may perform scheduling operations, resource selection operations, and / or other operations described elsewhere herein as being performed by network node 110.

[0035] Generally speaking, any number of wireless networks 100 may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network 100 may support a specific RAT and may operate on one or more frequencies. RAT may be referred to as a radio technology, air interface, etc. Frequency may be referred to as a carrier, frequency channel, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

[0036] The devices of the wireless network 100 may communicate using an electromagnetic spectrum that may be subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc., based on frequency or wavelength. For example, the devices of the wireless network 100 may communicate using one or more operating bands. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency ranges designated FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). It should be understood that, although portions of FR1 are greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “below 6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. Similar naming issues sometimes occur with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, although different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz) identified as the “millimeter wave” band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0037] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125GHz-24.25GHz). The bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, so the features of FR1 and / or FR2 can be effectively extended to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations to more than 52.6GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6GHz-71GHz), FR4 (52.6GHz-114.25GHz) and FR5 (114.25GHz-300GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0038] In view of the above examples, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that where the term "below 6 GHz" or the like is used herein, the term can broadly refer to frequencies that can be lower than 6 GHz, can be within FR1, or can include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that where the term "millimeter wave" or the like is used herein, the term can broadly refer to frequencies that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or can be within the EHF band. It is contemplated that the frequencies included in these operating bands (e.g., FR1, FR2, FR3, FR4, FR4-a, FR4-1, and / or FR5) can be modified, and the techniques described herein are applicable to those modified frequency ranges.

[0039] In some aspects, the UE 120 may include a communication manager 140. As described in greater detail elsewhere herein, the communication manager 140 may receive a single-rank reference signal from the network node 110; obtain one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal for a plurality of candidate beams; identify a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric for each respective candidate beam included in the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal for the respective candidate beam; and identify a beam to be used for communication with the network node 110 from the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam. Additionally or alternatively, the communication manager 140 may perform one or more other operations described herein.

[0040] As indicated above, Figure 1 are provided as examples. Other examples can be found in the Figure 1 The examples described are different.

[0041] Figure 2 2 is a diagram illustrating an example 200 of a network node 110 communicating with a UE 120 in a wireless network 100 according to the present disclosure. The network node 110 may be equipped with a set of antennas 234a to 234t, such as T antennas (T≥1). The UE 120 may be equipped with a set of antennas 252a to 252r, such as R antennas (R≥1). The network node 110 of example 200 includes one or more radio frequency components, such as an antenna 234 and a modem 254. In some examples, the network node 110 may include an interface, a communication component, or another component that facilitates communication with the UE 120 or another network node. For example, some network nodes 110 may not include a radio frequency component.

[0042] At the network node 110, the transmit processor 220 may receive data intended for the UE 120 (or a set of UEs 120) from the data source 212. The transmit processor 220 may select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCS) for the UE 120 based at least in part on one or more channel quality indicators (CQI) received from the UE 120. The network node 110 may process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for the UE 120 based at least in part on the MCS selected for the UE 120, and provide data symbols for the UE 120. The transmit processor 220 may process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI)) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, and / or upper layer signaling), and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. The transmit processor 220 may generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS) or demodulation reference signals (DMRS)) and synchronization signals (e.g., primary synchronization signals (PSS) or secondary synchronization signals (SSS)). The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., pre-decoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, overhead symbols, and / or reference symbols, where applicable, and may provide a set of output symbol streams (e.g., T output symbol streams) to a corresponding set of modems 232 (e.g., T modems) (shown as modems 232a to 232t). For example, each output symbol stream may be provided to a modulator component (shown as MOD) of the modem 232. Each modem 232 may process a corresponding output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM) using a corresponding modulator component to obtain an output sample stream. Each modem 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and / or up-convert) the output sample stream using a corresponding modulator component to obtain a downlink signal. The modems 232a to 232t may transmit a set of downlink signals (e.g., T downlink signals) via a corresponding set of antennas 234 (e.g., T antennas) (shown as antennas 234a to 234t).

[0043] At the UE 120, a set of antennas 252 (shown as antennas 252a to 252r) may receive downlink signals from the network node 110 and / or other network nodes 110 and may provide a set of received signals (e.g., R received signals) to a set of modems 254 (e.g., R modems) (shown as modems 254a to 254r). For example, each received signal may be provided to a demodulator component (shown as DEMOD) of the modem 254. Each modem 254 may use a corresponding demodulator component to condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and / or digitize) the received signal to obtain input samples. Each modem 254 may use a demodulator component to further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from the modem 254, may perform MIMO detection on the received symbols where applicable, and may provide detected symbols. The receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, may provide decoded data for the UE 120 to the data sink 260, and may provide decoded control information and system information to the controller / processor 280. The term "controller / processor" may refer to one or more controllers, one or more processors, or a combination thereof. The channel processor may determine a reference signal received power (RSRP) parameter, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) parameter, a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) parameter, and / or a CQI parameter, among other things. In some examples, one or more components of the UE 120 may be included in the housing 284.

[0044] The network controller 130 may include a communication unit 294, a controller / processor 290, and a memory 292. The network controller 130 may include, for example, one or more devices in a core network. The network controller 130 may communicate with the network node 110 via the communication unit 294.

[0045] One or more antennas (e.g., antennas 234a to 234t and / or antennas 252a to 252r) may include or be included within one or more antenna panels, one or more antenna groups, one or more sets of antenna elements, and / or one or more antenna arrays, etc. The antenna panels, antenna groups, sets of antenna elements, and / or antenna arrays may include one or more antenna elements (in a single housing or multiple housings), sets of coplanar antenna elements, sets of non-coplanar antenna elements, and / or may be coupled to one or more transmit and / or receive components (such as, Figure 2 One or more antenna elements of one or more components in.

[0046] On the uplink, at the UE 120, the transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from the data source 262 and control information from the controller / processor 280 (e.g., for reports including RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, and / or CQI). The transmit processor 264 may generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be pre-decoded by the TX MIMO processor 266, where applicable, further processed by the modem 254 (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM or CP-OFDM), and sent to the network node 110. In some examples, the modem 254 of the UE 120 may include a modulator and a demodulator. In some examples, the UE 120 includes a transceiver. The transceiver may include any combination of an antenna 252, a modem 254, a MIMO detector 256, a receive processor 258, a transmit processor 264, and / or a TX MIMO processor 266. The transceiver may be used by a processor (eg, controller / processor 280) and memory 282 to perform the functions described herein (eg, with reference to Figures 5 to 7 ) or any aspect of any of the methods described herein.

[0047] At the network node 110, uplink signals from the UE 120 and / or other UEs may be received by the antenna 234, processed by the modem 232 (e.g., a demodulator component of the modem 232 shown as DEMOD), detected by the MIMO detector 236 (where applicable), and further processed by the receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by the UE 120. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to the data sink 239 and the decoded control information to the controller / processor 240. The network node 110 may include a communication unit 244 and may communicate with the network controller 130 via the communication unit 244. The network node 110 may include a scheduler 246 to schedule one or more UEs 120 for downlink and / or uplink communications. In some examples, the modem 232 of the network node 110 may include a modulator and a demodulator. In some examples, the network node 110 includes a transceiver. The transceiver may include any combination of antenna 234, modem 232, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, transmit processor 220, and / or TX MIMO processor 230. The transceiver may be used by a processor (e.g., controller / processor 240) and memory 242 to perform operations described herein (e.g., with reference to Figures 5 to 7 ) or any aspect of any of the methods described herein.

[0048] The controller / processor 240 of the network node 110, the controller / processor 280 of the UE 120, and / or Figure 2 Any other component in the network node 110 may perform one or more techniques associated with estimating spectral efficiency from synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, the controller / processor 240 of the network node 110, the controller / processor 280 of the UE 120, and / or Figure 2 Any other component of the Figure 6 600 and / or other processes as described herein. Memory 242 and memory 282 may store data and program codes for network node 110 and UE 120, respectively. In some examples, memory 242 and / or memory 282 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores one or more instructions (e.g., code and / or program code) for wireless communication. For example, the one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of network node 110 and / or UE 120 (e.g., directly, or after compilation, conversion, and / or interpretation), may cause the one or more processors, UE 120, and / or network node 110 to perform or direct, for example, Figure 6 The process 600 and / or operations of other processes as described herein. In some examples, executing instructions may include running instructions, converting instructions, compiling instructions, and / or interpreting instructions, etc.

[0049] In some aspects, the UE 120 includes: a component for receiving a single-rank reference signal from the network node 110; a component for obtaining one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal for a plurality of candidate beams; a component for identifying a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric for each respective candidate beam included in the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal for the respective candidate beam; and / or a component for identifying a beam to be used for communicating with the network node from the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam. The components for the UE 120 to perform the operations described herein may include, for example, one or more of the communication manager 140, the antenna 252, the modem 254, the MIMO detector 256, the receive processor 258, the transmit processor 264, the TX MIMO processor 266, the controller / processor 280, or the memory 282.

[0050] Although Figure 2 The blocks in the 2000 and 2010 are illustrated as distinct components, but the functionality described above for these blocks may be implemented in a single hardware, software, or combined component or in various combinations of components. For example, the functionality described with respect to the transmit processor 264, the receive processor 258, and / or the TX MIMO processor 266 may be performed by or under the control of the controller / processor 280.

[0051] As indicated above, Figure 2 are provided as examples. Other examples can be found in the Figure 2 The examples described are different.

[0052] Figure 3 3 is a diagram illustrating an example 300 of a synchronization signal (SS) hierarchical structure according to the present disclosure. Figure 3 As shown, the SS hierarchy may include an SS burst set 305, which may include multiple SS bursts 310 (shown as SS burst 0 through SS burst N-1, where N is the maximum number of repetitions of the SS burst 310 that can be sent by the base station). As further shown, each SS burst 310 may include one or more SS blocks (SSBs) 315 (shown as SSB 0 through SSB M-1, where M is the maximum number of SSBs 315 that can be carried by the SS burst 310). In some aspects, different SSBs 315 may be beamformed in different manners (e.g., transmitted using different beams) and may be used for cell search, cell acquisition, beam management, and / or beam selection (e.g., as part of an initial network access procedure). The SS burst set 305 may be sent periodically (such as every X milliseconds) by a wireless network node (e.g., network node 110), such as Figure 3 In some aspects, SS burst set 305 may have a fixed or dynamic length (which may be Figure 3 In some cases, the SS burst set 305 or SS burst 310 may be referred to as a discovery reference signal (DRS) transmission window or an SSB measurement time configuration (SMTC) window.

[0053] In some aspects, the SSB 315 may include resources that carry a primary synchronization signal (PSS) 320, a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) 325, and / or a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) 330. In some aspects, multiple SSBs 315 are included in the SS burst 310 (e.g., utilizing transmissions on different beams), and the PSS 320, SSS 325, and / or PBCH 330 may be the same across each SSB 315 of the SS burst 310. In some aspects, a single SSB 315 may be included in the SS burst 310. In some aspects, the SSB 315 may be at least four symbols (e.g., OFDM symbols) in length, with each symbol carrying one or more of the following: the PSS 320 (e.g., occupying one symbol), the SSS 325 (e.g., occupying one symbol), and / or the PBCH 330 (e.g., occupying two symbols). In some aspects, the SSB 315 may be referred to as a SS / PBCH block.

[0054] In some aspects, such as Figure 3 As shown, the symbols of the SSB 315 may be contiguous. Additionally or alternatively, in some aspects, the symbols of the SSB 315 may be non-contiguous. Similarly, in some aspects, one or more SSBs 315 of the SS burst 310 may be sent in contiguous radio resources (e.g., contiguous symbols) during one or more time slots. Additionally or alternatively, one or more SSBs 315 of the SS burst 310 may be sent in non-contiguous radio resources.

[0055] In some aspects, the SS burst 310 may have a burst periodicity, and the SSB 315 of the SS burst 310 may be sent by a wireless network node (e.g., the network node 110) according to the burst periodicity. In this case, the SSB 315 may repeat during each SS burst 310. In some aspects, the SS burst set 305 may have a burst set periodicity, whereby the SS bursts 310 in the SS burst set 305 are sent by the wireless network node according to a fixed burst set periodicity. In other words, the SS burst 310 may repeat during each SS burst set 305.

[0056] In some aspects, the SSB 315 may include an SSB index, which may correspond to a beam for carrying the SSB 315. The UE 120 may monitor and / or measure the SSB 315 using different receive (Rx) beams during an initial network access procedure, a cell search procedure, a beam selection procedure, a beam scanning procedure, and / or a beam refinement procedure, etc. Based at least in part on the monitoring and / or measurement, the UE 120 may indicate one or more SSBs 315 having the best signal parameters (e.g., the highest RSRP parameter and / or the highest spectral efficiency metric) to the radio network node. The radio network node and the UE 120 may use the one or more indicated SSBs 315 to select one or more beams to be used for communication between the network node 110 and the UE 120 (e.g., for a random access channel (RACH) procedure). Additionally or alternatively, the UE 120 may use the SSB 315 and / or the SSB index to determine a cell timing for a cell (e.g., a serving cell) via which the SSB 315 is received.

[0057] As indicated above, Figure 3 are provided as examples. Other examples can be found in the Figure 3 The examples described are different.

[0058] Figure 4 4 is a diagram illustrating examples 400, 410, and 420 of a beam management procedure based on downlink reference signal transmission according to the present disclosure. Figure 4 As shown, examples 400, 410, and 420 include UE 120 communicating with network node 110 in a wireless network (e.g., wireless network 100). Figure 4 The devices shown in are provided as examples, and the wireless network may support communication and beam management between other devices (e.g., between UE 120 and TRP, DU or RU, between mobile termination nodes and control nodes, between integrated access and backhaul (IAB) child nodes and IAB parent nodes, between scheduled nodes and scheduling nodes). In some aspects, UE 120 and network node 110 may be in a connected state (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) connected state) when performing beam management procedures.

[0059] like Figure 4 As shown, example 400 may include network node 110 and UE 120 communicating to perform beam management using SSB transmission or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission. Example 400 depicts a first beam management procedure (e.g., P1 beam management). The first beam management procedure may be referred to as a beam selection procedure, an initial beam acquisition procedure, a beam scanning procedure, a cell search procedure, and / or a beam search procedure. Figure 4 As shown in example 400, during the first beam management procedure, the SSB and / or CSI-RS may be configured to be sent from the network node 110 to the UE 120. For example, the SSB sent by the network node 110 is a single-rank (rank 1) periodic reference signal that is always sent by the network node 110 to enable initial network acquisition and synchronization in addition to beam selection and beam management. For example, an identifier associated with the SSB may have a one-to-one mapping to a transmit beam used by the network node 110, and the one-to-one mapping may not change over time (e.g., be static). Additionally or alternatively, in the case where CSI-RS transmission is used for the first beam management procedure, the CSI-RS used for beam selection or beam management may be configured to be periodic (e.g., using RRC signaling), semi-persistent (e.g., using medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) signaling) and / or aperiodic (e.g., using downlink control information (DCI)).

[0060] The first beam management procedure may include the network node 110 performing beam scanning on multiple transmit (Tx) beams. The network node 110 may use each transmit beam used for beam management to transmit an SSB or CSI-RS. In order to enable the UE 120 to perform receive (Rx) beam scanning, the network node 110 may use the transmit beam to transmit each SSB or CSI-RS multiple times within the same reference signal resource set (e.g., using repetition) so that the UE 120 may perform beam scanning on multiple receive beams in multiple transmit instances. For example, in a situation where the network node 110 has a set of N transmit beams and the UE 120 has a set of M receive beams, the SSB or CSI-RS may be transmitted M times on each of the N transmit beams, so that the UE 120 may receive M instances of the SSB or CSI-RS per transmit beam. In other words, for each transmit beam of the network node 110, the UE 120 may perform beam scanning on the receive beam of the UE 120. Thus, the first beam management procedure may enable UE 120 to measure SSB or CSI-RS on different transmit beams using different receive beams to support selection of one or more transmit / receive beam pairs (e.g., pairings between transmit beams of network node 110 and receive beams of UE 120). UE 120 may report the measurements to network node 110 to enable network node 110 to select one or more beam pairs for communication between network node 110 and UE 120.

[0061] like Figure 4 As shown, example 410 may include network node 110 and UE 120 communicating to perform beam management using SSB transmission or CSI-RS transmission. Example 410 depicts a second beam management procedure (e.g., P2 beam management). The second beam management procedure may be referred to as a beam refinement procedure, a base station beam refinement procedure, a network node beam refinement procedure, and / or a transmit beam refinement procedure, etc. Figure 4As shown in example 410, SSBs and / or CSI-RSs may be configured to be sent from network node 110 to UE 120. SSBs may be periodic, and CSI-RSs may be configured to be non-periodic (e.g., using DCI). The second beam management procedure may include network node 110 performing beam scanning on one or more transmit beams. The one or more transmit beams may be a subset of all transmit beams associated with network node 110 (e.g., determined based at least in part on measurements performed by UE 120 in conjunction with the first beam management procedure). Network node 110 may transmit SSBs or CSI-RSs using each of the one or more transmit beams used for beam management. UE 120 may measure each SSB or CSI-RS using a single (e.g., identical) receive beam (e.g., determined based at least in part on measurements performed in conjunction with the first beam management procedure). The second beam management procedure may enable the network node 110 to select the best transmit beam based at least in part on measurements of SSB and / or CSI-RS reported by the UE 120 (eg, measured by the UE 120 using a single receive beam).

[0062] like Figure 4 As shown, example 420 depicts a third beam management procedure (e.g., P3 beam management). The third beam management procedure may be referred to as a beam refinement procedure, a UE beam refinement procedure, a receive beam refinement procedure, and / or a UE beam management procedure, etc. Figure 4As shown in example 420, one or more SSBs or CSI-RSs may be configured to be sent from the network node 110 to the UE 120. The SSBs may be configured to be periodic, and the CSI-RSs may be configured to be aperiodic (e.g., using DCI). The third beam management procedure may include the network node 110 sending the one or more SSBs or CSI-RSs using a single transmit beam (e.g., determined at least in part based on measurements reported by the UE 120 in conjunction with the first beam management procedure and / or the second beam management procedure). In order to enable the UE 120 to perform receive beam scanning, the network node 110 may use the transmit beam to send the SSBs or CSI-RSs multiple times in the same reference signal resource set (e.g., using repetition), so that the UE 120 can scan one or more receive beams one by one in multiple transmission instances. The one or more receive beams may be a subset of all receive beams associated with the UE 120 (e.g., determined at least in part based on measurements performed in conjunction with the first beam management procedure and / or the second beam management procedure). The third beam management procedure may enable UE 120 to select the best receive beam based at least in part on measurements of the SSB or CSI-RS, and / or may enable network node 110 to select the best receive beam for UE 120 based at least in part on reported measurements received from UE 120 (e.g., measurements of the SSB and / or CSI-RS using the one or more receive beams).

[0063] In some cases, the UE 120 and the network node 110 may use beamforming to improve the performance associated with downlink and / or uplink communications performed over millimeter wave (mmW) channels. For example, mmW channels (e.g., in FR2 and / or FR4) may suffer from high propagation losses because mmW signals have higher frequencies and shorter wavelengths than various other radio waves used for communication (e.g., communications below 6 GHz in FR1). Therefore, mmW signals typically have shorter propagation distances, may suffer from atmospheric attenuation, and / or may be more easily blocked and / or suffer from penetration losses through objects or other obstacles, etc. For example, mmW signals may be reflected by lamp posts, vehicles, glass / windows, and / or metal objects, may be diffracted by the edges or corners of buildings and / or walls, and / or may be scattered via irregular objects such as walls and / or human bodies (e.g., a hand blocking an antenna module when the device is operating in gaming mode). Therefore, beamforming may be used at both the UE 120 and the network node 110 to counteract propagation losses in mmW channels and thereby improve the performance of mmW communications. For example, to achieve beamforming gain on the downlink, network node 110 may generate a downlink transmit beam steered in a particular direction, and UE 120 may generate a corresponding downlink receive beam. Similarly, to achieve beamforming gain on the uplink, UE 120 may generate an uplink transmit beam steered in a particular direction, and network node 110 may generate a corresponding uplink receive beam. In some cases, UE 120 may be permitted to select a downlink receive beam to optimize reception of downlink transmissions from network node 110, and / or may be permitted to select an uplink transmit beam to optimize reception of uplink transmissions made by UE 120 at network node 110.

[0064] In general, wireless communication standards currently specify that UE beam management is performed based on SSB transmission or CSI-RS P3 transmission (e.g., in FR2 or FR4). However, limiting UE beam management to SSB or CSI-RS P3 transmission may result in an inability to optimize rank 2 performance, where the rank value generally refers to the number of transmission streams (sometimes referred to as layers) observed at a receiver (e.g., UE 120). For example, a transmitting antenna and / or a receiving antenna may have two ports, which may include a horizontally polarized (H) port and a vertically polarized (V) port. Therefore, when a transmitter (e.g., network node 110) independently uses the H port and the V port to transmit a signal and / or uses a suitable precoder (e.g., a nonlinear precoder) to transmit a signal, the receiver (e.g., UE 120) may simultaneously observe two streams of the transmitted signal, which may be referred to as rank 2 communication. Alternatively, when the transmitter uses a linear precoder (e.g., an H+V precoder or an HV precoder) or uses only one port (e.g., only the H port or only the V port) to send a signal, the receiver may observe only one stream of the transmitted signal, which may be referred to as rank 1 communication.

[0065] Although rank 2 communications can provide improved downlink performance, current UE beam management techniques cannot fully optimize rank 2 performance. Specifically, as described above, current wireless communication standards specify that UE beam management in FR2 or millimeter wave bands is based on SSB transmission or CSI-RS P3 transmission, where SSB is a rank 1 periodic reference signal guaranteed to be transmitted in all 5G NR networks, and CSI-RS P3 is an optional downlink reference signal (e.g., for beam management) that can be configured in different ways across different 5G NR networks. However, to some extent, CSI-RS P3 can be configured as a rank 1 signal or a rank 2 signal, but there are currently no 5G NR networks deployed with CSI-RS P3, nor have any infrastructure providers and / or wireless network providers indicated any plans to deploy CSI-RS P3. Therefore, according to current wireless communication standards, UE beam management must work with SSB-based beam selection, which significantly limits the metrics that can be optimized when performing UE beam selection due to the rank 1 nature of SSB. For example, because SSB is a rank 1 signal, SSB generally cannot be used to optimize rank 2 spectral efficiency or throughput.

[0066] Some aspects described herein relate to techniques in which a UE 120 may estimate a multi-rank (e.g., rank 2) spectral efficiency metric from a single-rank (e.g., rank 1) reference signal (such as an SSB), whereby the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric may then be used to select a beam to optimize the spectral efficiency of a multi-rank data channel (such as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)). For example, a network node 110 may be equipped with two transmit ports, which may include a first transmit port associated with horizontal polarization and a second transmit port associated with vertical polarization. When the network node 110 transmits a rank 2 signal (such as a CSI-RS or a PDSCH), the network node 110 may apply a pre-decoder on the two ports to construct a rank 2 channel or a 2×2 channel (H), which may be represented in matrix form as shown in the following expression:

[0067]

[0068] For rank 2 transmissions, UE 120 may observe a 2×2 channel, which may then be used to evaluate one or more beam selection metrics that will have substantially similar properties to the services carried on the PDSCH (e.g., using a rank 2 metric to make beam selection decisions may optimize the performance of rank 2 services). However, because SSBs are rank 1 signals, network node 110 applies a rank 1 predecoder when transmitting SSBs in order to shrink the two transmit ports, whereby UE 120 is only able to observe a single stream of SSBs and is unable to reconstruct the 2×2 channels required to select beams to maximize a rank 2 spectral efficiency metric similar to the PDSCH spectral efficiency. Nevertheless, under certain channel conditions, UE 120 may be able to estimate a rank 2 spectral efficiency metric from a rank 1 reference signal transmission (such as an SSB). For example, when the wireless channel between network node 110 and UE 120 is non-line-of-sight (NLOS) (e.g., there are one or more obstacles in the propagation path between network node 110 and UE 120), the signal transmitted on the wireless channel may be subject to Rayleigh fading. For example, Rayleigh fading is a statistical model that can be used to represent the effect of the propagation environment on a radio signal, and it tends to apply to situations where there are many objects in the environment that scatter the radio signal before the signal reaches the receiver. Specifically, if there is sufficient scattering and there is no dominant component of scattering, the channel impulse response can be modeled as a Gaussian process with zero mean and a phase uniformly distributed between 0 and 2π radians. Some aspects described herein relate to techniques for utilizing this property of NLOS propagation to estimate multi-rank (e.g., rank 2) spectral efficiency from single-rank (e.g., rank 1) SSB measurements.

[0069] As indicated above, Figure 4 is provided as an example of a beam management procedure. Other examples of beam management procedures may be related to Figure 4For example, UE 120 and network node 110 may perform a third beam management procedure before performing a second beam management procedure, and / or UE 120 and network node 110 may perform a similar beam management procedure to select a UE transmit beam.

[0070] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example 500 of estimating spectral efficiency from SSB according to the present disclosure. Figure 5 As shown in , example 500 includes a UE communicating with a network node (e.g., a base station, a TRP, a DU, a RU, etc.) in a wireless network. In some aspects, the UE and the network node may communicate via a wireless access link using beamforming, which may include an uplink and a downlink.

[0071] As indicated by reference numeral 510, the UE may perform beam scanning on one or more SSB (or other single-rank reference signal) transmissions received from the network node. For example, as described herein, the UE may be configured to optimize rank 2 performance (e.g., in the case of receiving downlink signals via two spatial streams) by performing beam scanning on SSB transmissions that are configured as periodic rank 1 reference signals that are always sent by the network node 110 (e.g., to achieve initial network acquisition, beam selection, or beam refinement). For example, as described herein, the network node may use a rank 1 predecoder to send SSBs via a first transmit port (e.g., a transmit port associated with horizontal polarization) and a second transmit port (e.g., a transmit port associated with vertical polarization), which may cause the transmitted signals to be contracted together into a single spatial stream (e.g., the SSB transmissions are observed as one stream at the UE). Therefore, because the two transmit ports at the network node are contracted when the SSB is sent using a rank 1 predecoder, the UE may not be able to distinguish between the two transmit ports because the two transmit ports have been summed in the vector domain. However, as described herein, a UE may be able to approximate multi-rank (e.g., rank 2) spectral efficiency from rank 1 SSB under certain channel conditions.

[0072] For example, as shown by reference numeral 520, the UE may obtain one or more measurements of the SSB transmission received from the network node. For example, for each candidate beam included in the candidate beams associated with the beam scan, the UE may obtain a 2×1 signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) vector, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) vector including a first SNR measurement and a second SNR measurement corresponding to SNR measurements at different receive ports of the UE, respectively. For example, given a 2×2 complex channel matrix, which may be represented as H=[h 00 ,h 01 ;h 10 ,h 11]. After normalization, the 2×1 SNR vector obtained by the UE from the SSB transmission of each corresponding candidate beam can be expressed as [|h 00 +h 01 | 2 ,|h 10 +h 11 | 2 ]. For example, the item |h 00 +h 01 | 2 may represent the SNR measurement of the rank 1 SSB transmission at the first receive port of the UE, and the term |h 10 +h 11 | 2 May represent an SNR measurement of a rank 1 SSB transmission at the second receive port of the UE.

[0073] As further shown by reference numeral 530, the UE may estimate one or more spectral efficiency metrics for each candidate beam included in the beam scan based on the 2×1 SNR vector associated with each corresponding candidate beam. For example, in some aspects, the rank-2 spectral efficiency of each candidate beam may be estimated by the expression E(log2(D(I+H×H))), where D(I+H×H) is the determinant of the matrix I+H×H. In some aspects, the determinant term D(I+H×H) may be expressed by the expression 1+|h where the wireless channel between the network node and the UE has zero mean (e.g., is subject to Rayleigh fading, which is typically true when the wireless channel is NLOS) 1+|h 00 +h 01 | 2 +|h 10 +h 11 | 2 +|h 00 +h 01 | 2 |h 10 +h 11 | 2 For example, in the above expression that approximates the upper limit of the rank-2 spectral efficiency, the term |h 00 +h 01 | 2 Expanded to h 00 2 +h 01 2 +2×h 00 ×h 01 , and the term |h 10 +h 11 | 2 Similarly, it expands to h 10 2 +h 11 2 +2×h 10 ×h11 . Therefore, in the case where the wireless channel has zero mean (e.g., NLOS or otherwise associated with Rayleigh fading), 2×h 00 ×h 01 and 2×h 10 ×h 11 The cross term of has a zero value. Therefore, in the case where the UE determines that the wireless channel has a zero mean, the UE may select |h 00 +h 01 | 2 and |h 10 +h 11 | 2 Specifically, the UE can estimate the rank 2 spectral efficiency of each candidate beam based on the value of |h 00 +h 01 | 2 and |h 10 +h 11 | 2 The 2×1 SNR vector of values ​​is calculated by the expression E(log2(1+|h 00 +h 01 | 2 +|h 10 +h 11 | 2 +|h 00 +h 01 | 2 |h 10 +h 11 | 2 ) value to estimate the rank-2 spectral efficiency of each candidate beam, which represents the upper limit of the spectral efficiency of each candidate beam. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may estimate the rank-2 spectral efficiency of each candidate beam based on the value of |h in the 2×1 SNR vector of each candidate beam. 00 +h 01 | 2 and |h 10 +h 11 | 2 The value of is calculated by the expression E(log2(1+|h 00 +h 01 | 2 +|h 10 +h 11 | 2 ) is used to estimate the rank-1 spectral efficiency of each candidate beam, which represents the lower limit of the spectral efficiency of each candidate beam.

[0074] As further indicated by reference numeral 540, the UE may then select a beam to be used for receiving subsequent downlink transmissions from the network node based on the estimated spectral efficiency metrics associated with the various candidate receive beams scanned on the SSB transmission. For example, in some aspects, the UE may select a beam associated with the best (e.g., highest) rank 2 spectral efficiency metric among the candidate receive beams scanned on the SSB transmission in order to optimize rank 2 performance (e.g., to maximize an upper limit on spectral efficiency). Additionally or alternatively, in some aspects, the UE may select a beam associated with the best (e.g., highest) rank 1 spectral efficiency to ensure that the selected beam provides a guaranteed minimum spectral efficiency. Additionally or alternatively, as indicated by reference numeral 550, the UE may report the spectral efficiency metrics associated with the beams scanned on the SSB transmission to the network node, and the network node may indicate to the UE the beam to be used by the UE to receive subsequent downlink transmissions based on the reported spectral efficiency metrics.

[0075] As indicated above, Figure 5 are provided as examples. Other examples can be found in the Figure 5 The examples described are different.

[0076] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example process 600 performed, for example, by a UE in accordance with the present disclosure. Example process 600 is an example in which a UE (eg, UE 120) performs operations associated with estimating spectral efficiency from SSBs.

[0077] like Figure 6 As shown, in some aspects, process 600 may include receiving a single-rank reference signal from a network node (block 610). For example, a UE (e.g., using Figure 7 The communication manager 140 and / or receiving component 702 depicted in FIG. 7 may receive a single rank reference signal from a network node, as described above.

[0078] like Figure 6 As further shown, in some aspects, process 600 may include obtaining one or more single-rank measurements from a single-rank reference signal for a plurality of candidate beams (block 620). Figure 7 The communication manager 140 and / or measurement component 708 depicted in FIG. 1 may obtain one or more single-rank measurements from a single-rank reference signal for multiple candidate beams, as described above.

[0079] like Figure 6 As further shown, in some aspects, process 600 may include, for each respective candidate beam included in the plurality of candidate beams, identifying a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric based at least in part on one or more single-rank measurements obtained from a single-rank reference signal for the respective candidate beam (block 630). Figure 7 The communication manager 140 and / or the spectral efficiency estimation component 710 depicted in the figure may identify a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric for each corresponding candidate beam included in a plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on one or more single-rank measurements obtained from a single-rank reference signal of the corresponding candidate beam, as described above.

[0080] like Figure 6 As further shown, in some aspects, process 600 may include identifying a beam to be used for communicating with a network node from among a plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam (block 640). Figure 7 The communication manager 140 and / or beam selection component 712 depicted in FIG. 1 may identify a beam to be used for communicating with a network node from among multiple candidate beams and based at least in part on a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam, as described above.

[0081] Process 600 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and / or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

[0082] In a first aspect, process 600 includes determining that a wireless channel between a UE and a network node has zero mean, wherein a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric is identified from one or more single-rank measurements of a plurality of candidate beams based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel has zero mean.

[0083] In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, determining that a radio channel between the UE and the network node has a zero mean is based at least in part on determining that the radio channel is NLOS.

[0084] In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, the single-rank reference signal is an SSB.

[0085] In a fourth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, for each candidate beam among a plurality of candidate beams, one or more single-rank measurements include a first SNR measurement and a second SNR measurement of a single-rank reference signal.

[0086] In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fourth aspects, the one or more single-rank measurements are each associated with a combination of multiple transmission ports at a network node.

[0087] In a sixth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of aspects 1 to 5, process 600 comprises identifying a single-rank spectral efficiency metric for each respective candidate beam included in a plurality of candidate beams based at least in part on one or more single-rank measurements obtained from a single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, wherein the beam for communicating with the network node is further identified based at least in part on the single-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

[0088] In a seventh aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of aspects one to six, the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric approximates an upper limit of the spectral efficiency associated with the candidate beam, and the single-rank spectral efficiency metric approximates a lower limit of the spectral efficiency associated with the candidate beam.

[0089] although Figure 6 An example block diagram of process 600 is shown, but in some aspects, process 600 may include Figure 6 Additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or blocks arranged in a different manner than those depicted in the process 600. Additionally or alternatively, two or more of the blocks in the process 600 may be performed in parallel.

[0090] Figure 7 700 is a diagram of an example apparatus 700 for wireless communication. Apparatus 700 may be a UE, or a UE may include apparatus 700. In some aspects, apparatus 700 includes a receiving component 702 and a transmitting component 704 that may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses and / or one or more other components). As shown, apparatus 700 may communicate with another apparatus 706 (such as a UE, a base station, or another wireless communication device) using receiving component 702 and transmitting component 704. As further shown, apparatus 700 may include a communication manager 140. Communication manager 140 may include one or more of a measurement component 708, a spectral efficiency estimation component 710, or a beam selection component 712, among others.

[0091] In some aspects, the apparatus 700 may be configured to perform Figure 5 Additionally or alternatively, the apparatus 700 may be configured to perform one or more processes described herein, such as Figure 6 In some aspects, the apparatus 700 and / or Figure 7 One or more of the components shown in the figure may include a combination of Figure 2 Additionally or alternatively, Figure 7 One or more of the components shown in the figure may be combined with Figure 2Additionally or alternatively, one or more components in the set of components may be implemented at least in part as software stored in a memory. For example, a component (or a portion of a component) may be implemented as instructions or code stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and may be executed by a controller or processor to perform the function or operation of the component.

[0092] The receiving component 702 may receive communications from the device 706, such as reference signals, control information, data communications, or combinations thereof. The receiving component 702 may provide the received communications to one or more other components of the device 700. In some aspects, the receiving component 702 may perform signal processing (such as filtering, amplification, demodulation, analog-to-digital conversion, demultiplexing, deinterleaving, demapping, equalization, interference cancellation, or decoding, etc.) on the received communications and may provide the processed signals to one or more other components of the device 700. In some aspects, the receiving component 702 may include combining Figure 2 One or more antennas, modems, demodulators, MIMO detectors, receive processors, controllers / processors, memories, or combinations thereof of the described UE.

[0093] The transmitting component 704 may transmit communications, such as reference signals, control information, data communications, or combinations thereof, to the device 706. In some aspects, one or more other components of the device 700 may generate communications and may provide the generated communications to the transmitting component 704 for transmission to the device 706. In some aspects, the transmitting component 704 may perform signal processing (such as filtering, amplification, modulation, digital-to-analog conversion, multiplexing, interleaving, mapping, or encoding, etc.) on the generated communications and may transmit the processed signals to the device 706. In some aspects, the transmitting component 704 may include combining Figure 2 One or more antennas, modems, modulators, transmit MIMO processors, transmit processors, controllers / processors, memories, or combinations thereof of the described UE. In some aspects, the transmit component 704 can be co-located with the receive component 702 in a transceiver.

[0094] The receiving component 702 may receive a single-rank reference signal from a network node. The measuring component 708 may obtain one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal for a plurality of candidate beams. The spectral efficiency estimation component 710 may identify a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric for each respective candidate beam included in the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam. The beam selection component 712 may identify a beam to be used for communication with the network node from the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

[0095] The spectral efficiency estimation component 710 can determine that a wireless channel between the UE and the network node has zero mean, and can identify a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric from one or more single-rank measurements of multiple candidate beams based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel has zero mean.

[0096] The spectral efficiency estimation component 710 may identify a single-rank spectral efficiency metric for each respective candidate beam included in a plurality of candidate beams based at least in part on one or more single-rank measurements obtained from a single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, wherein the beam used for communicating with the network node is further identified based at least in part on the single-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

[0097] Figure 7 The number and arrangement of components shown in the figure are provided as examples. In practice, there may be Figure 7 Additional components, fewer components, different components, or components arranged in a different manner than those shown in FIG. Figure 7 Two or more components shown in may be implemented in a single component, or Figure 7 The single component shown in may be implemented as multiple distributed components. Additionally or alternatively, Figure 7 The assembly of (one or more) components shown in the executable is described as being composed of Figure 7 Another collection of components shown in the figure performs one or more functions.

[0098] The following provides an overview of some aspects of the disclosure:

[0099] Aspect 1: A method of wireless communication performed by a UE, the method comprising: receiving a single-rank reference signal from a network node; obtaining one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal for multiple candidate beams; identifying a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric for each corresponding candidate beam included in the multiple candidate beams and at least partially based on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the corresponding candidate beam; and identifying a beam to be used for communicating with the network node from among the multiple candidate beams and at least partially based on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each corresponding candidate beam.

[0100] Aspect 2: According to the method of Aspect 1, the method also includes: determining that the wireless channel between the UE and the network node has a zero mean, wherein the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric is identified from the one or more single-rank measurements of the multiple candidate beams based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel has a zero mean.

[0101] Aspect 3: The method according to aspect 2, wherein determining that the wireless channel between the UE and the network node has a zero mean is based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel is NLOS.

[0102] Aspect 4: The method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 3, wherein the single-rank reference signal is an SSB.

[0103] Aspect 5: A method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 4, wherein for each candidate beam of the multiple candidate beams, the one or more single-rank measurements include a first SNR measurement and a second SNR measurement of the single-rank reference signal.

[0104] Aspect 6: The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 5, wherein the one or more single-rank measurements are each associated with a combination of multiple transmission ports at the network node.

[0105] Aspect 7: According to the method described in any one of Aspects 1 to 6, the method further includes: identifying a single-rank spectral efficiency metric for each corresponding candidate beam included in the multiple candidate beams based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the corresponding candidate beam, wherein the beam used for communicating with the network node is further identified at least in part based on the single-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each corresponding candidate beam.

[0106] Aspect 8: A method according to Aspect 7, wherein the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric approximates an upper limit of the spectral efficiency associated with the candidate beam, and wherein the single-rank spectral efficiency metric approximates a lower limit of the spectral efficiency associated with the candidate beam.

[0107] Aspect 9: An apparatus for performing wireless communications at a device, the apparatus comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to perform one or more of the methods described in Aspects 1 to 8.

[0108] Aspect 10: A device for wireless communication, the device comprising: a memory; and one or more processors, the one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to execute the method according to one or more of aspects 1 to 8.

[0109] Aspect 11: An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising at least one means for performing the method according to one or more of aspects 1 to 8.

[0110] Aspect 12: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to perform the method according to one or more of aspects 1 to 8.

[0111] Aspect 13: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing an instruction set for wireless communication, the instruction set comprising one or more instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors of a device, causes the device to perform one or more of the methods described in aspects 1 to 8.

[0112] The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the aspects to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of these aspects.

[0113] As used herein, the term "component" is intended to be broadly interpreted as a combination of hardware and / or hardware and software. Whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language or other names, "software" should be broadly interpreted as meaning instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures and / or functions, etc. As used herein, a "processor" is implemented by a combination of hardware and / or hardware and software. It will be apparent that the systems and / or methods described herein can be implemented by a combination of hardware and / or hardware and software in different forms. The actual dedicated control hardware or software code used to implement these systems and / or methods does not limit various aspects. Therefore, there is no reference to a specific software code herein to describe the operation and behavior of the system and / or method, because it will be understood by those skilled in the art that software and hardware can be designed to implement the system and / or method at least in part based on the description herein.

[0114] As used herein, "satisfying a threshold" may refer to a value being greater than a threshold, greater than or equal to a threshold, less than a threshold, less than or equal to a threshold, equal to a threshold, not equal to a threshold, etc., depending on the context.

[0115] Although the specific combination of features is set forth in the claims and / or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of various aspects. Many of these features can be combined in a manner that is not specifically listed in the claims and / or is not disclosed in the specification. The disclosure of various aspects includes each dependent claim combined with each other claim in the claim set. As used herein, the phrase "at least one of" the list of items refers to any combination of these items (which includes a single member). As an example, "at least one of a, b or c" is intended to cover a, b, c, a+b, a+c, b+c and a+b+c, and any combination with multiple identical elements (e.g., a+a, a+a+a, a+a+b, a+a+c, a+b+b, a+c+c, b+b, b+b+b, b+b+c, c+c and c+c+c, or any other ordering of a, b and c).

[0116] Unless explicitly stated, any element, action or instruction used herein should not be interpreted as critical or necessary. In addition, as used herein, the articles "one" and "a kind of" are intended to include one or more items, and can be used interchangeably with "one or more". In addition, as used herein, the article "the" is intended to include one or more items connected to the article "the", and can be used interchangeably with "one or more". In addition, as used herein, the terms "set" and "group" are intended to include one or more items, and can be used interchangeably with "one or more". If only one item is intended to be referred to, the phrase "only one" or similar terms are used. Moreover, as used herein, the terms "have", "have" etc. are intended to be open terms, which do not limit the elements they modify (for example, "elements with" A can also have B). In addition, unless explicitly stated otherwise, the phrase "based on" is intended to represent "based at least in part". Furthermore, as used herein, the term "or" when used in a series is intended to be open-ended and may be used interchangeably with "and / or" unless explicitly stated otherwise (e.g., when used in conjunction with "either" or "only one").

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, the user equipment (UE) comprising: Memory; and one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to: receiving a single-rank reference signal from a network node; For a plurality of candidate beams, obtaining one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal; identifying, for each respective candidate beam included in the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric; as well as A beam to be used for communicating with the network node is identified from among the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: A determination is made that a wireless channel between the UE and the network node has a zero mean, wherein the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric is identified from the one or more single-rank measurements of the plurality of candidate beams based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel has a zero mean.

3. The UE of claim 2, wherein determining that the wireless channel between the UE and the network node has a zero mean is based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel is non-line-of-sight.

4. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the single-rank reference signal is a synchronization signal block.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein for each candidate beam in the plurality of candidate beams, the one or more single-rank measurements include a first signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurement and a second SNR measurement of the single-rank reference signal.

6. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more single-rank measurements are each associated with a combination of multiple transmit ports at the network node.

7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: A single-rank spectral efficiency metric is identified for each respective candidate beam included in the multiple candidate beams based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, wherein the beam used to communicate with the network node is further identified at least in part based on the single-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

8. The UE of claim 7, wherein the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric approximates an upper limit of a spectral efficiency associated with a candidate beam, and wherein the single-rank spectral efficiency metric approximates a lower limit of the spectral efficiency associated with the candidate beam.

9. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a single-rank reference signal from a network node; For a plurality of candidate beams, obtaining one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal; identifying, for each respective candidate beam included in the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric; as well as A beam to be used for communicating with the network node is identified from among the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: A determination is made that a wireless channel between the UE and the network node has a zero mean, wherein the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric is identified from the one or more single-rank measurements of the plurality of candidate beams based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel has a zero mean.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the wireless channel between the UE and the network node has a zero mean is based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel is non-line-of-sight.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the single-rank reference signal is a synchronization signal block.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein for each candidate beam in the plurality of candidate beams, the one or more single-rank measurements include a first signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurement and a second SNR measurement of the single-rank reference signal.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more single-rank measurements are each associated with a combination of a plurality of transmit ports at the network node.

15. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: A single-rank spectral efficiency metric is identified for each respective candidate beam included in the multiple candidate beams based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, wherein the beam used to communicate with the network node is further identified at least in part based on the single-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric approximates an upper limit of a spectral efficiency associated with a candidate beam, and wherein the single-rank spectral efficiency metric approximates a lower limit of the spectral efficiency associated with the candidate beam.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing an instruction set for wireless communication, the instruction set comprising: One or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receiving a single-rank reference signal from a network node; For a plurality of candidate beams, obtaining one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal; identifying, for each respective candidate beam included in the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric; as well as A beam to be used for communicating with the network node is identified from among the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the UE to: A determination is made that a wireless channel between the UE and the network node has a zero mean, wherein the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric is identified from the one or more single-rank measurements of the plurality of candidate beams based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel has a zero mean.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein determining that the wireless channel between the UE and the network node has a zero mean is based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel is non-line-of-sight.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the single-rank reference signal is a synchronization signal block.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein for each candidate beam in the plurality of candidate beams, the one or more single-rank measurements comprise a first signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurement and a second SNR measurement of the single-rank reference signal.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more single-rank measurements are each associated with a combination of a plurality of transmit ports at the network node.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the UE to: A single-rank spectral efficiency metric is identified for each respective candidate beam included in the multiple candidate beams based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, wherein the beam used to communicate with the network node is further identified at least in part based on the single-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

24. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: means for receiving a single-rank reference signal from a network node; means for obtaining, for a plurality of candidate beams, one or more single-rank measurements from the single-rank reference signal; means for identifying, for each respective candidate beam included in the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, a multi-rank spectral efficiency metric; and Means for identifying a beam to be used for communicating with the network node from among the plurality of candidate beams and based at least in part on the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising: Means for determining that a wireless channel between the apparatus and the network node has a zero mean, wherein the multi-rank spectral efficiency metric is identified from the one or more single-rank measurements of the plurality of candidate beams based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel has a zero mean.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein determining that the wireless channel between the apparatus and the network node has a zero mean is based at least in part on determining that the wireless channel is non-line-of-sight.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the single-rank reference signal is a synchronization signal block.

28. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein for each candidate beam in the plurality of candidate beams, the one or more single-rank measurements comprise a first signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurement and a second SNR measurement of the single-rank reference signal.

29. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the one or more single-rank measurements are each associated with a combination of a plurality of transmit ports at the network node.

30. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising: A component for identifying a single-rank spectral efficiency metric for each respective candidate beam included in the plurality of candidate beams based at least in part on the one or more single-rank measurements obtained from the single-rank reference signal of the respective candidate beam, wherein the beam used for communicating with the network node is further identified at least in part based on the single-rank spectral efficiency metric associated with each respective candidate beam.

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