Method and apparatus for performing spectrum sensing

Abstract

An apparatus of a radio communication device may include: a plurality of signal paths, each signal path of the plurality of signal paths configured to: receive a radio frequency (RF) signal from a corresponding RF circuit; and a processor configured to: determine a first signal path and a second signal path from the plurality of signal paths, where the first signal path is configured to: receive a first RF signal of the RF signals; demodulating the first RF signal received from the first signal path to decode the received communication data; an RF ambient listening operation is performed for the frequency band based on a digital signal converted from a second RF signal of the RF signals, where the second RF signal is provided by a second signal path.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to methods and apparatus for performing spectrum sensing using RF signals. Background Art

[0002] Cognitive radio is a technology that allows wireless devices to dynamically access and efficiently use shared radio frequencies by listening and adapting to their environment. This approach has found applications in various fields including wireless communications to improve spectrum utilization. Various examples of its application include sharing spectrum using TV White Space (TVWS) and Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), where radio communication devices can coexist with TV and radar transmissions. The protection schemes adopted have ranged from static exclusion zones to Environmental Listening Capability (ESC), demonstrating the adaptability of cognitive radio technology to diverse spectrum sharing scenarios.

[0003] In wireless communications, radio communication devices equipped with multiple RF circuits and antennas can operate on different frequency bands at the same time. For example, a remote radio head unit is one of the exemplary devices that provides this capability, enabling the expansion of network coverage and capacity. These devices use multiple RF circuits and antennas to send and receive data on different frequency bands at the same time. It is important to note that while some RF circuits are actively used for data transmission, other RF circuits may operate in an idle state, ready to participate in radio communications when needed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] In the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. These drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, but generally focus on illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. In the following description, various aspects of the present disclosure are described with reference to the following drawings, in which:

[0005] Figure 1 An exemplary radio communications network is shown;

[0006] Figure 2 shows an exemplary internal configuration of a communication device;

[0007] Figure 3 An exemplary illustration of various communication elements of a radio communication device is shown;

[0008] Figure 4 An exemplary illustration of a radio communication device according to various aspects described herein is shown;

[0009] Figure 5 shows an exemplary illustration of RF energy detectable via RF ES operation;

[0010] Figure 6 An exemplary illustration of an RX path is shown;

[0011] Fig. 7A and Figure 7B An example of a representation of spectrum detection is shown;

[0012] Figure 8 An exemplary illustration of a downsampled spectrum is shown;

[0013] Fig. 9 shows an exemplary illustration of an RX path according to various aspects described herein;

[0014] Fig.10 An exemplary illustration of a signal path between an antenna and a digital processing unit is shown;

[0015] Fig.11 An exemplary illustration of a time domain scheduling of a signal path is shown;

[0016] Fig.12 An example of a flow chart that a radio communication device may use is shown;

[0017] Fig.13 shows an exemplary illustration of a block diagram according to various aspects described herein;

[0018] Fig.14 An exemplary radio access network architecture is shown, wherein the radio access network is decomposed into multiple elements;

[0019] Fig.15 An example of a method is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, exemplary details and aspects in which aspects of the disclosure may be practiced.

[0021] One early application of cognitive radio technology may involve utilizing TV white space (TVWS) to provide Internet access in areas where certain TV channels remain unused. Initial plans contemplated the use of monitoring receivers, which were modified at a later stage for TVWS availability depending on the user's location and the known location and power levels of nearby TV channels. Despite early promise, Internet access based on TVWS faces challenges, including the lack of standardized protocols.

[0022] Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) deployments operating in the 3.550-3.70 GHz band may provide another opportunity for shared spectrum access. Various methods are used to ensure that the highest priority users (e.g., radars used for radio detection and ranging in specific critical operations (e.g., defense or aviation)) are protected from interference. Various protection methods have been employed, ranging from static exclusion zones to Environmental Listening Capability (ESC) (which utilizes network-based RF sensors and device-based RF sensors). It is important to note that these frequencies are now used by major radio telecommunications operators for 5G New Radio (NR), demonstrating successful commercial utilization of shared access mechanisms.

[0023] However, RF environment listening often requires dedicated receivers. In the case of direct conversion receivers, scanning the local oscillator (LO) to analyze the desired frequency band is time consuming. The current user equipment (UE) based scanning also poses challenges, including potential battery life degradation, data upload requirements to the RF network and privacy concerns.

[0024] There are currently various methods and products for accessing shared frequency bands, which may be examples of spectrum sensing and cognitive radio techniques. Various dedicated spectrum sensing solutions are provided for both narrowband and / or broadband data streams. Exemplarily, a dedicated analyzer monitoring tool may be specifically configured for an E-band backhaul data link, enabling real-time monitoring. Various methods are being developed, particularly to support dynamic spectrum sharing in the presence of military radars. Certain methods and apparatus utilize an environmental listening capability (ESC) to notify the network to modify channel usage accordingly.

[0025] According to various aspects of the present disclosure, methods and devices are described in which ESC operations and RF communication operations coexist with each other on multiple receive signal paths of a receiver of a radio communication device in a manner that each receive signal path can be used for both RF communication operations and RF environment listening (ES) operations. The radio communication device can determine (in some examples, adaptively) to use some of its available receive signal paths for RF communication, while at a time instance it simultaneously uses some of the remaining receive signal paths for RF ES. In some aspects, the receive signal paths determined to perform RF ES operations can be referred to as one or more second signal paths, and the receive signal paths determined to perform RF communication operations can be referred to as first signal paths.

[0026] Thus, the methods and devices provided in the present disclosure may include RF receive (RX) data capture systems and methods that are suitable for operating in parallel with existing direct RF sampling radio communication devices (e.g., direct RF sampling base station transceivers), which may require minimal overhead compared to conventional architectures of radio communication devices that include multiple receive signal paths in RF circuits. According to various aspects described herein, existing RF RX signal processing required to process RX data (e.g., for UE uplink functions) is not affected. According to various aspects described herein, a radio communication device that includes multiple signal paths configured to receive multiple RF signals may not require additional RF ports or antennas during its conventional operation to become an ESC device (i.e., perform RF ES).

[0027] According to various aspects provided herein, RF ES operations may include: determining one or more spectrum contents within a frequency band that may be narrowband or broadband, which may also be referred to as spectrum sensing. In this example, the RF ES operation may also include: generating information based on the determined one or more spectrum contents; and performing radio communication allocation or scheduling operations based on the generated information to avoid or reduce radio interference. In some examples, the RF ES operation may include: communicating digital data indicating the spectrum content within the frequency band to another entity, and the other entity performing spectrum analysis on the digital data to determine one or more spectrum contents. Illustratively, the radio communication device may be a remote radio head unit (RRH) of a radio access network, and the other entity performing the spectrum analysis may be a control entity (e.g., a distributed unit or a centralized unit) of the radio access network. The RRH may transmit the digital data indicating the spectrum content to the control entity via a designated communication interface (e.g., a fronthaul interface). It is noted that the term "digital data" as used herein within the context of RF ES operations may include digital data captured within the RX path and converted from a received RF signal, wherein the digital data may be captured at the output of the ADC or anywhere along the digital processing chain within the RX path, wherein the sampling rate of the captured data still conforms to the required or desired oversampling rate to correctly convey the spectral content desired for analysis, whether wideband or within a channel.

[0028] Based on the generated spectrum report representing one or more spectrum contents determined within one or more frequency bands, the device can obtain information about interfering signals within one or more frequency bands and configure its RF communication operations accordingly. In addition, the spectrum report can be communicated by another entity within the network architecture for scheduling and allocation operations. Illustratively, if a network operator knows that late at night, other operators of nearby adjacent channels turn off their carriers on these channels, the network operator can reduce network power consumption by: (a) reconfiguring the complexity of the RX digital filter to reduce adjacent channel selectivity without compromising overall RF blocking performance (because there are no nearby interferers), or (b) simplifying the downlink (DL) DPD configuration because when there are no other adjacent channels, strict ACLR and near-zone emission specifications are not required. Additionally or alternatively, if the network operator has multiple component carriers (CCs) that it uses to meet peak traffic, and it turns off certain CCs late at night when traffic subsides, it can select the CCs to be turned off so that the remaining CCs in use will be as far away from the CCs of other operators as possible, as determined by its own ESC capabilities.

[0029] It should be noted that although the description may sometimes exemplify the radio communication device described according to various aspects as an RRH, this should not be considered limiting. A skilled person will recognize aspects specific to RRHs, some of which may be so explicitly indicated within the present disclosure, while some or most aspects described by exemplifying RRHs are applicable to other types of radio communication devices within the framework described herein.

[0030] Note also that within the context of a remote radio head (RRH) that is typically dedicated to serving UEs within a specified RF band / channel, supporting wideband RF spectrum sensing is not a standard feature. According to various aspects described herein, RRH capabilities are extended to incorporate spectrum sensing, which can result in significant cost savings. The evolving blueprint for shared spectrum access and the need for efficient RF environment sensing may require creative solutions that can simplify spectrum sensing while optimizing costs, particularly in radio communication equipment deployment, particularly in RRH deployment.

[0031] According to various aspects provided herein, the processor of the radio communication device can selectively perform RF ES operation or RF communication operation with the RF signal received on each RX signal path.In some aspects, the processor can route the RF signal received from the RX signal path for RF communication operation (i.e., decoding the communication data included in the RF signal) or RF ES operation (i.e., analysis of the spectrum content in the RF signal).By using the same signal path for both RF communication operation and RF ES operation, the radio communication device may not need to use separate components (i.e., RF circuits, antennas) for each communication operation and RF ES operation.Sometimes, in the context of a base station transceiver, the RF communication operation can be referred to as a task mode, in which the transceiver can operate in a normal operating mode with respect to the corresponding RX path, and in the normal operating mode, the base station is actively serving its primary function, i.e., providing wireless communication services to the connected user equipment.During the task mode, the base station is actively sending and receiving data, connecting calls or processing data sessions for mobile devices within its coverage area.

[0032] According to various aspects provided herein, when a signal path is selected for RF ES operation, the processor can send digital data converted from the RF signal fed to the corresponding signal path to another component or another entity. Based on certain aspects, the processor can send digital data via a data converter serial interface, particularly when the digital data is sent to a digital processing unit as a stream substantially in real time. Illustratively, the data converter serial interface can be a joint electronic device engineering committee (JEDEC) solid state technology association interface (e.g., JESD204 interface). In some aspects, the processor can send digital data that can be stored in a memory via a packet-based communication interface. Illustratively, the packet-based communication interface can be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) or PCI-Express interface.

[0033] According to various aspects provided herein, the processor may determine a signal path (e.g., one or more second signal paths) to be used for RF ES operation from available signal paths based on the RF communication operation scheduled for the radio communication device. Illustratively, as an RRH, the radio communication device may schedule RF communication operations with the UE to receive / send RF communication signals from / to the UE in specific time and frequency resources. When there are time and frequency resources available for using the corresponding one or more signal paths for RF ES operation, the processor may enable the one or more signal paths to be used for RF ES operation.

[0034] According to various aspects provided herein, noting that detection of specific waveforms, particularly within a military or transportation (e.g., aviation) context, may be sensitive due to security risks or required authorization, a processor may perform RF ES operations using a trusted execution environment (TEE). Exemplarily, the processor may process digital data or any product of digital data to be used for RF ES operations within the TEE, and may store data associated with the processing of the digital data in a secure enclave. In addition, the processor may perform communications using a link encrypted according to an encryption mechanism to send digital data or any product of digital data.

[0035] The apparatus and methods of the present disclosure (i.e., radio communication devices and mobile radio communication devices, together with the methods described herein) may utilize or be associated with radio communication technologies. Although some examples may refer to specific radio communication technologies, the examples provided herein may be similarly applicable to various other existing and yet to be developed radio communication technologies, particularly where such radio communication technologies share similar features disclosed with respect to the following examples. Various exemplary radio communication technologies that may be utilized by the apparatus and methods described herein include, but are not limited to:

[0036] Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) radio communication technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) radio communication technology, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) radio communication technology and / or Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio communication technology, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Freedom of Multi-Media Access (FOMA), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), 3GPP Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE Advanced), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Mobitex, Third Generation (3G), Circuit Switched Data (CSD), High Speed ​​Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (Third Generation) (UMTS (3G)), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) (W-CDMA (UMTS)), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High Speed ​​Packet Access Enhanced (HSPA+), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System - Time Division Duplex (UMTS-TDD), Time Division - Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), Time Division - Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), 3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 8 (pre-4G) (3GPP 8 (Pre-4G)), 3GPP Release 9 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 9), 3GPP Release 10 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 10), 3GPP Release 11 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 11), 3GPP Release 12 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 12), 3GPP Release 13 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 13), 3GPP Release 14 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 14), 3GPP Release 15 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 15), 3GPP Release 16 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 16), 3GPP Release 17 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 17) and subsequent releases (for example, Rel. 18, Rel.19, etc.), 3GPP 5G, 5G, 5G New Radio (5G NR), 3GPP 5G New Radio, 3GPP LTE Extra, LTE-Advanced Pro, LTE License Assisted Access (LAA), MuLTEfire, UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), Long Term Evolution Advanced (4th Generation) (LTEAdvanced(4G)), cdmaOne(2G), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (3rd Generation) (CDMA2000(3G)), Evolution Data Optimized or Evolution Data Only (EV-DO), Advanced Mobile Phone System (1st Generation) (AMPS(1G)), Total Access Communication System / Extended Total Access Communication System (TACS / ETACS), Digital AMPS (2nd Generation) (D-AMPS(2G)), Push to Talk (PTT), Mobile Telephone System (MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone System (IMTS), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMTS), OLT (OffentligLandmobil in Norwegian) Telefoni (public land mobile), MTD (Swedish abbreviation Mobiltelefonisystem D or Mobile Phone System D), Public Automated Land Mobile (Autotel / PALM), ARP (Finnish Autoradiopuhelin, "car radio telephone"), NMT (Nordic mobile), High Capacity Version (Hicap) of NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Mobitex, DataTAC, Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), Circuit Switched Data (CSD), Personal Handyphone System (PHS), Broadband Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (WiDEN), iBurst, Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) (also known as the 3GPP Universal Access Network or GAN standard), Zigbee, Bluetooth(r), Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) standard, Generic mmWave standard (wireless systems operating at 10-300 GHz and above (e.g., WiGig, IEEE802.11ad, IEEE 802.11ay, etc.)) and technologies operating above 300 GHz and THz bands (based on 3GPP / LTE or IEEE 802.11p or IEEE 802.11bd and others), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-X (V2X) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication technologies, 3GPP cellular V2X, DSRC (dedicated short range communication) communication systems (e.g., intelligent transportation systems and others) (typically operating at 5850 MHz to 5925 MHz or above (typically up to 5935 MHz, subject to changes proposed in CEPT Report 71)), European ITS-G5 systems (i.e., based on IEEE European style DSRC of 802.11p, including ITS-G5A (i.e., operation of ITS-G5 in the European ITS band dedicated to ITS for safety-related applications in the frequency range of 5,875 GHz to 5,905 GHz), ITS-G5B (i.e., operation in the European ITS band dedicated to ITS non-safety applications in the frequency range of 5,855 GHz to 5,875 GHz), ITS-G5C (i.e., operation of ITS applications in the frequency range of 5,470 GHz to 5,725 GHz), Japanese DSRC in the 700 MHz band (715 MHz to 725 MHz inclusive), IEEE 802.11bd-based systems, etc. .

[0037] The devices and methods described herein may use such radio communication technologies in accordance with various spectrum management schemes, including but not limited to dedicated licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, authorized exempt spectrum, (authorized) shared spectrum (e.g., LSA = Authorized Shared Access in 2.3-2.4 GHz, 3.4-3.6 GHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz and other frequencies and SAS = Spectrum Access System / CBRS = Citizens Broadband Radio System in 3.55-3.7 GHz and other frequencies). Applicable spectrum segments include IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) spectrum and other types of spectrum / bands, such as bands with national allocations (including 450-470 MHz, 902-928 MHz (Note: for example, allocated in the United States (FCC Part 15)), 863-868.6 MHz (Note: for example, allocated in the European Union (ETSI EN300220)), 915.9-929.7MHz (Note: for example, allocated in Japan), 917-923.5MHz (Note: for example, allocated in South Korea), 755-779MHz and 779-787MHz (Note: for example, allocated in China), 790-960MHz, 1710-2025MHz, 2110-2200MHz, 2300-2400MHz, 2.4-2.4835GHz (Note: it is an ISM band with global availability, and it is used by the Wi-Fi technology family (11b / g / n / ax) and also by Bluetooth), 2500-2690MHz , 698-790MHz, 610-790MHz, 3400-3600MHz, 3400-3800MHz, 3800-4200MHz, 3.55-3.7GHz (Note: for example, allocated in the United States for Citizens Broadband Radio Service), 5.15-5.25GHz and 5.25-5.35GHz and 5.47-5.725GHz and 5.725-5.85GHz bands (Note: for example, allocated in the United States (FCC Part 15), including four U-NII bands in a total of 500MHz spectrum), 5.725-5.875GHz (Note: for example, allocated in the European Union (ETSI EN 301 893)), 5.47-5.65 GHz (Note: allocated in Korea, for example, 5925-7125 MHz and 5925-6425 MHz bands (Note: under consideration in the United States and the European Union, respectively. The next generation of Wi-Fi systems is expected to include 6 GHz spectrum as an operating band, but note that as of December 2017, no Wi-Fi systems are permitted in this band.Regulation is expected to be completed in the 2019-2020 timeframe), IMT-Advanced spectrum, IMT-2020 spectrum (expected to include 3600-3800MHz, 3800-4200MHz, 3.5GHz band, 700MHz band, bands in the 24.25-86GHz range, etc.), spectrum made available under the FCC's "Spectrum Frontier" 5G initiative (including 27.5-28.35GHz, 29.1-29.25GHz, 31-31.3GHz, 37-38.6GHz, 38.6-40GHz, 42-42.5GHz, 57-64GHz, 71-76GHz, 81-86GHz and 92-94GHz, etc.), the 5.9GHz (typically 5.85-5.925GHz) and 63-64GHz ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) bands currently allocated to WiGig ( For example, WiGig Band 1 (57.24-59.40 GHz), WiGig Band 2 (59.40-61.56 GHz), WiGig Band 3 (61.56-63.72 GHz), and WiGig Band 4 (63.72-65.88 GHz), 57-64 / 66 GHz (Note: This band has a near-global designation for Multi-Gigabit Wireless Systems (MGWS) / WiGig. A total of 14 GHz of spectrum is allocated in the United States (FCC Part 15), while a total of 9 GHz is allocated in the European Union (ETSI EN 302 567 and ETSI EN 301 217-2 for fixed P2P), 70.2 GHz-71 GHz, any band between 65.88 GHz and 71 GHz, bands currently allocated for automotive radar applications (e.g., 76-81 GHz), and future bands including 94-300 GHz and above. Furthermore, the solution can also be used in an auxiliary manner on frequency bands such as TV white space bands (typically below 790MHz), where in particular the 400MHz and 700MHz bands are promising candidates. In addition to cellular applications, specific applications for vertical markets can also be addressed (e.g. PMSE (Programming and Special Events), medical, health, surgical, automotive, low latency, drones, etc.).

[0038] For purposes of this disclosure, radio communication technologies may be categorized as one of short-range radio communication technologies or cellular wide area radio communication technologies. Short-range radio communication technologies may include Bluetooth, WLAN (eg, according to any IEEE 802.11 standard), and other similar radio communication technologies. Cellular wide area radio communication technologies may include Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (“CDMA2000”), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“UMTS”), Long Term Evolution (“LTE”), General Packet Radio Service (“GPRS”), Evolution-Data Optimized (“EV-DO”), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (“EDGE”), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA; including High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (“HSDPA”), High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (“HSUPA”), HSDPA Plus (“HSDPA+”), and HSUPA Plus (“HSUPA+”)), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (“WiMax”) (e.g., in accordance with the IEEE 802.16 radio communication standard, such as WiMax Fixed or WiMax Mobile), and the like, and other similar radio communication technologies. Cellular wide area radio communication technologies also include “small cells” (e.g., microcells, millicells, and picocells) of such technologies. Cellular wide area radio communication technologies may generally be referred to herein as “cellular” communication technologies.

[0039] The aspects described herein may also enable tiered application of the scheme, for example by introducing tiered prioritization for use by different types of users (e.g., low / medium / high priority, etc.) based on prioritized access to the spectrum (e.g., where highest priority is used for layer 1 users, followed by layer 2, then layer 3 users, etc.).

[0040] The technical solutions described in this document can also be applied to different single carrier or OFDM styles (CP-OFDM, SC-FDMA, SC-OFDM, filter bank based multi-carrier (FBMC), OFDMA, etc.), in particular, by allocating OFDM carrier data bit vectors to corresponding symbol resources and applied to 3GPP NR (new air interface). Some features in this document are defined for the network side (e.g., access point, eNodeB, new air interface (NR) or next generation node B (gNodeB or gNB - note that this term is typically used in 3GPP fifth generation (5G) communication systems)). However, the user equipment (UE) can also play this role and act as an access point, eNodeB, gNodeB, etc. That is, some or all of the features defined for the network device can be implemented by the UE.

[0041] Figure 1 and Figure 2 Describes the general network and device architecture for wireless communications. Specifically, Figure 1 An exemplary radio communication network 100 according to some aspects is shown, which may include terminal devices 102 and 104 and network access nodes 110 and 120. The radio communication network 100 may communicate with terminal devices 102 and 104 (i.e., mobile radio communication devices (e.g., UE)) via network access nodes 110 and 120 (i.e., radio communication devices) over a radio access network. Although specific examples described herein may refer to a specific radio access network context (e.g., LTE, UMTS, GSM, other 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) networks, WLAN / WiFi, Bluetooth, 5G NR, mmWave, etc.), these examples are illustrative and can therefore be easily applied to any other type or configuration of radio access network. The number of network access nodes and terminal devices in the radio communication network 100 is exemplary and can be scaled to any amount.

[0042] In an exemplary cellular context, the network access nodes 110 and 120 may be base stations (e.g., eNodeB, NodeB, base transceiver station (BTS), gNodeB, or any other type of base station), and the terminal devices 102 and 104 may be cellular terminal devices (e.g., mobile stations (MS), user equipment (UE), or any type of cellular terminal devices). The network access nodes 110 and 120 may therefore interface with a cellular core network (e.g., Evolved Packet Core (EPC, for LTE), Core Network (CN, for UMTS), or other cellular core networks) (e.g., via a backhaul interface), which may also be considered to be part of the radio communication network 100. The cellular core network may interface with one or more external data networks. In an exemplary short-range context, the network access nodes 110 and 120 may be access points (APs, such as WLAN or WiFi APs), and the terminal devices 102 and 104 may be short-range terminal devices (e.g., stations (STAs)). The network access nodes 110 and 120 may interface with one or more external data networks (e.g., via internal or external routers). The network access nodes 110 and 120 and the terminal devices 102 and 104 may include one or more transmit / receive points (TRPs).

[0043] Network access nodes 110 and 120 (and optionally, Figure 1 Other network access nodes of the radio communication network 100 not explicitly shown in the figure) can accordingly send the signal to the terminal devices 102 and 104 (and optionally, in Figure 1The core network may provide a wireless access network for other terminal devices of the radio communication network 100 (not explicitly shown in the figure). In the exemplary cellular context, the wireless access network provided by the network access nodes 110 and 120 may enable the terminal devices 102 and 104 to access the core network via radio communication wireless. The core network may provide for the exchange, routing and transmission of service data related to the terminal devices 102 and 104, and may further provide access to various internal data networks (e.g., control nodes, routing nodes for transmitting information between other terminal devices on the radio communication network 100, etc.) and external data networks (e.g., data networks providing voice, text, multimedia (audio, video, images) and other Internet and application data). In the exemplary short-range context, the wireless access network provided by the network access nodes 110 and 120 may provide access to internal data networks (e.g., for transmitting data between terminal devices connected to the radio communication network 100) and external data networks (e.g., data networks providing voice, text, multimedia (audio, video, images) and other Internet and application data).

[0044] The radio access network and core network (if applicable, e.g., for a cellular environment) of the radio communication network 100 may be governed by communication protocols, which may vary depending on the specifics of the radio communication network 100. These communication protocols may define the scheduling, formatting, and routing of both user and control data traffic through the radio communication network 100, including the transmission and reception of such data through both the radio access and core network domains of the radio communication network 100. Thus, the terminal devices 102 and 104 and the network access nodes 110 and 120 may follow the defined communication protocols to send and receive data through the radio access network domain of the radio communication network 100, while the core network may follow the defined communication protocols to route data within and outside the core network. Exemplary communication protocols include 5G (NR), LTE, UMTS, GSM, WiMAX, Bluetooth, WiFi, mmWave, etc., any of which may be applicable to the radio communication network 100.

[0045] Figure 2 200 includes an antenna system 202, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 204, a baseband modem 206 (including a digital signal processor 208 and a protocol controller 210), an application processor 212, and a memory 214. Although in Figure 2Not explicitly shown, but in some aspects, the communication device 200 may include one or more additional hardware and / or software components (e.g., a processor / microprocessor, a controller / microcontroller, other dedicated or general-purpose hardware / processors / circuits, peripherals, memory, power supplies, external device interfaces, a subscriber identity module (SIM), user input / output devices (display, keyboard, touch screen, speaker, external buttons, camera, microphone, etc.), or other related components).

[0046] The communication device 200 can send and receive radio signals over one or more radio access networks. The baseband modem 206 can direct such communication functions of the communication device 200 according to the communication protocol associated with each radio access network, and can perform control of the antenna system 202 and the RF transceiver 204 to send and receive radio signals according to the format and scheduling parameters defined by each communication protocol. Although various actual designs may include separate communication components (e.g., separate antennas, RF transceivers, digital signal processors, and controllers) for each supported radio communication technology, for the sake of simplicity, Figure 2 The illustrated configuration of communications device 200 depicts only a single instance of such components.

[0047] The communication device 200 may send and receive wireless signals using an antenna system 202. The antenna system 202 may be a single antenna, or may include one or more antenna arrays, each of which includes multiple antenna elements. For example, the antenna system 202 may include an antenna array at the top of the communication device 200 and a second antenna array at the bottom of the communication device 200. In some aspects, the antenna system 202 may additionally include analog antenna combining and / or beamforming circuits. In the receive (RX) path (i.e., RX signal path), the RF transceiver 204 may receive analog RF signals from the antenna system 202 and perform analog and digital RF front-end processing on the analog RF signals to generate digital baseband samples (e.g., in-phase / quadrature (IQ) samples) to provide to the baseband modem 206. The RF transceiver 204 may include analog and digital receive components, including amplifiers (e.g., low noise amplifiers (LNAs)), filters, RF demodulators (e.g., RF IQ demodulators), and analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), which the RF transceiver 204 may utilize to convert received radio frequency signals into digital baseband samples.

[0048] In a transmit (TX) path, the RF transceiver 204 may receive digital baseband samples from the baseband modem 206 and perform analog and digital RF front-end processing on the digital baseband samples to generate analog RF signals to provide to the antenna system 202 for wireless transmission. Thus, the RF transceiver 204 may include analog and digital transmit components, including amplifiers (e.g., power amplifiers (PAs), filters, RF modulators (e.g., RF IQ modulators), and digital-to-analog converters (DACs), which the RF transceiver 204 may utilize to mix the digital baseband samples received from the baseband modem 206 and generate analog RF signals for wireless transmission by the antenna system 202. In some aspects, the baseband modem 206 may control radio transmission and reception of the RF transceiver 204, including specifying transmit and receive radio frequencies for operation of the RF transceiver 204.

[0049] The RF transceiver 204 may include multiple TX and RX paths, each of which is configured as described above, such that each TX path can receive a digital baseband signal from the baseband modem 206 and perform analog and digital RF front-end processing on the digital baseband samples to produce an analog RF signal to provide to the antenna system 202, and each RX path can receive an analog RF signal from the antenna system 202 and perform analog and digital RF front-end processing on the analog RF signal to produce a digital baseband signal to provide to the baseband modem.

[0050] like Figure 2As shown, the baseband modem 206 may include a digital signal processor 208 that may perform physical layer (PHY, Layer 1) transmit and receive processing to prepare outgoing transmit data provided by the protocol controller 210 in a transmit path for transmission via the RF transceiver 204, and to prepare incoming receive data provided by the RF transceiver 204 in a receive path for processing by the protocol controller 210. The digital signal processor 208 may be configured to perform one or more of the following: error detection, forward error correction encoding / decoding, channel coding and interleaving, channel modulation / demodulation, physical channel mapping, radio measurements and searches, frequency and time synchronization, antenna diversity processing, power control and weighting, rate matching / dematching, retransmission processing, interference cancellation, and any other physical layer processing functions. The digital signal processor 208 may be implemented structurally as a hardware component (e.g., as one or more digitally configured hardware circuits or FPGAs), a software-defined component (e.g., one or more processors configured to execute program code defining arithmetic, control, and I / O instructions stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (e.g., software and / or firmware)), or as a combination of hardware and software components. In some aspects, the digital signal processor 208 may include one or more processors configured to acquire and execute program code defining control and processing logic for physical layer processing operations. In some aspects, the digital signal processor 208 may perform processing functions in software via execution of executable instructions. In some aspects, the digital signal processor 208 may include one or more dedicated hardware circuits (e.g., ASICs, FPGAs, and other hardware) that are digitally configured to specifically perform processing functions, wherein one or more processors of the digital signal processor 208 may offload certain processing tasks to these dedicated hardware circuits, referred to as hardware accelerators. Exemplary hardware accelerators may include fast Fourier transform (FFT) circuits and encoder / decoder circuits. In some aspects, the processor and hardware accelerator components of the digital signal processor 208 may be implemented as coupled integrated circuits.

[0051] The communication device 200 can be configured to operate according to one or more radio communication technologies. The digital signal processor 208 can be responsible for the lower layer processing functions (e.g., layer 1 / PHY) of the radio communication technology, while the protocol controller 210 can be responsible for the upper layer protocol stack functions (e.g., data link layer / layer 2 and / or network layer / layer 3). Therefore, the protocol controller 210 can be responsible for controlling the radio communication components (antenna system 202, RF transceiver 204 and digital signal processor 208) of the communication device 200 according to the communication protocol of each supported radio communication technology, and can therefore represent the access layer and non-access layer (NAS) of each supported radio communication technology (also covering layer 2 and layer 3). The protocol controller 210 can be embodied as a protocol processor in structure, which is configured to execute the protocol stack software (obtained from the controller memory), and then control the radio communication components of the communication device 200 to send and receive communication signals according to the corresponding protocol stack control logic defined in the protocol software. The protocol controller 210 may include one or more processors configured to acquire and execute program code defining upper layer protocol stack logic for one or more radio communication technologies, which may include data link layer / layer 2 and network layer / layer 3 functions. The protocol controller 210 may be configured to perform both user plane and control plane functions to facilitate the transmission of application layer data to and from the radio communication device 200 according to the specific protocols of the supported radio communication technologies. User plane functions may include header compression and encapsulation, security, error detection and correction, channel multiplexing, scheduling and priority, while control plane functions may include the establishment and maintenance of radio bearers. The program code acquired and executed by the protocol controller 210 may include executable instructions defining the logic of such functions.

[0052] The communication device 200 may also include an application processor 212 and a memory 214. The application processor 212 may be a multi-core CPU and may be configured to process layers above the protocol stack, including a transport layer and an application layer. The application processor 212 may be configured to execute various applications (e.g., base station management applications) and / or programs (e.g., operating system (OS), a user interface (UI) for supporting user interaction with the communication device 200, and / or various user applications) of the communication device 200 at the application layer of the communication device 200. The application processor may interface with the baseband modem 206 and act as a source (in the transmission path) and sink (in the receiving path) for user data (e.g., voice data, audio / video / image data, messaging data, application data, basic Internet / web access data, etc.). Therefore, in the transmission path, the protocol controller 210 may receive and process the outgoing data provided by the application processor 212 according to the layer-specific functions of the protocol stack, and provide the resulting data to the digital signal processor 208. The digital signal processor 208 may then perform physical layer processing on the received data to produce digital baseband samples, which the digital signal processor may provide to the RF transceiver 204. The RF transceiver 204 may then process the digital baseband samples to convert the digital baseband samples to analog RF signals, which the RF transceiver 204 may wirelessly transmit via the antenna system 202. In the receive path, the RF transceiver 204 may receive the analog RF signals from the antenna system 202 and process the analog RF signals to obtain digital baseband samples. The RF transceiver 204 may provide the digital baseband samples to the digital signal processor 208, which may perform physical layer processing on the digital baseband samples. The digital signal processor 208 may then provide the resulting data to the protocol controller 210, which may process the resulting data according to layer-specific functions of the protocol stack and provide the resulting incoming data to the application processor 212. The application processor 212 may then process the incoming data at the application layer, which may include executing one or more applications with the data and / or presenting the data to a user via a user interface.

[0053] The memory 214 may embody a memory component of the communication device 200 (e.g., a hard drive, a solid-state drive (SSD), or another such persistent storage device). Figure 2 It is not clearly described, but Figure 2 The various other components of the illustrated communications device 200 may additionally each include integrated persistent and non-persistent memory components (eg, dynamic RAM (DDR) for storing software program code, buffering data, etc.).

[0054] According to various aspects provided herein, at least one of the baseband modem 206 (e.g., a processor of the baseband modem 206) or the application processor 212 can perform various aspects disclosed herein (e.g., perform RF communication operations, perform or configure RF ES operations, or any other associated aspects). For example, at least one of the baseband modem 206 or the application processor 212 can determine which RX paths to use for RF ES operations. Alternatively or additionally, at least one of the baseband modem 206 or the application processor 212 can selectively perform RF ES operations or RF communication operations.

[0055] According to some radio communication networks, the terminal devices 102 and 104 may perform mobility procedures to connect to, disconnect from, and switch between available network access nodes of the radio access network of the radio communication network 100. Since each network access node of the radio communication network 100 may have a specific coverage area, the terminal devices 102 and 104 may be configured to select and reselect available network access nodes in order to maintain a strong radio access connection with the radio access network of the radio communication network 100. For example, the terminal device 102 may establish a radio access connection with the network access node 110, and the terminal device 104 may establish a radio access connection with the network access node 112. In the event that the current radio access connection degrades, the terminal device 102 or 104 may seek a new radio access connection with another network access node of the radio communication network 100; for example, the terminal device 104 may move from the coverage area of ​​the network access node 112 to the coverage area of ​​the network access node 110. As a result, the radio access connection with the network access node 112 may be degraded, which the terminal device 104 may detect via radio measurements (e.g., signal strength or signal quality measurements of the network access node 112). Depending on the mobility procedures defined in the appropriate network protocol for the radio communications network 100, the terminal device 104 may seek a new radio access connection (which may be triggered, for example, at the terminal device 104 or by the radio access network), for example, by performing radio measurements on neighboring network access nodes to determine whether any neighboring network access node is able to provide a suitable radio access connection. Since the terminal device 104 may have moved into the coverage area of ​​the network access node 110, the terminal device 104 may identify the network access node 110 (which may be selected by the terminal device 104 or by the radio access network) and transfer to a new radio access connection with the network access node 110. Such mobility procedures (including radio measurements, cell selection / reselection, and handover) are established in various network protocols and may be employed by terminal devices and radio access networks in order to maintain a strong radio access connection between each terminal device and the radio access network in any number of different radio access network scenarios.

[0056] Figure 3 An exemplary illustration of various communication elements of a radio communication device according to various aspects provided herein is shown. The radio communication device 300 may include a processing circuit 310 (e.g., a baseband modem 206) that may control RF operations of the radio communication device 300 according to a communication protocol associated with a wireless access network. The radio communication device 300 may include one or more antennas, which are illustratively provided in this example as an antenna array 330 including a plurality of antennas. The radio communication device 300 may include the antenna array 330, or may include an antenna interface that may be coupled to the antenna array 330. The radio communication device 300 may send and receive radio communication signals with the antenna array 330.

[0057] In the receive (RX) path, the RF chain (i.e., the corresponding RF circuit) of the RF circuit 320 can receive analog RF signals from one or more antennas of the antenna array. In some examples, each RX path can be coupled to an antenna port, which couples the RX path to multiple antennas of the antenna array 330, which can be referred to as sub-arrays of the antenna array 330. The corresponding RF chain can perform analog and digital RF front-end processing on the analog RF signal to generate digital baseband samples (e.g., in-phase / quadrature (IQ) samples) to provide to the processing circuit 310. The RF circuit 320 can include two RF chains 321a, 321b for each path, each of which can be specified for polarization with respect to this illustrative example, in which each antenna element of the antenna array is configured for two orthogonal polarizations. Alternatively, the RF chains 321a, 321b can be derived from the same antenna and polarization, for example via an RF power divider, and routed to different processing chains. Each RF chain of the RF circuit 320 may include analog and digital receive components, including amplifiers (e.g., low noise amplifiers (LNAs)), filters, RF demodulators (e.g., RF IQ demodulators), and analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), which each RF chain may utilize to convert received RF signals into digital baseband samples.

[0058] In the transmit (TX) path, each RF chain of the RF circuit 320 may receive digital baseband samples from the processing circuit 310 and perform analog and digital RF front-end processing on the digital baseband samples to generate analog RF signals to provide to a corresponding sub-array of the antenna array 330 for radio transmission. Thus, each RF chain of the RF circuit 320 may include analog and digital transmit components, including amplifiers (e.g., power amplifiers (PAs), filters, RF modulators (e.g., RF IQ modulators), and digital-to-analog converters (DACs), which each RF chain may utilize to mix the digital baseband samples received from the processing circuit 310 and generate corresponding analog RF signals for radio transmission by a corresponding sub-array of the antenna array 330. In some aspects, the processing circuit 310 may control radio transmission and reception of each RF chain of the RF circuit 320, including specifying transmit and receive radio frequencies for operation of the RF circuit 320.

[0059] The processing circuit 310 may include a digital signal processor (e.g., the digital signal processor 208), which may be configured to operate as a digital front end. The digital signal processor 208 may be configured to perform one or more of the following: error detection, forward error correction encoding / decoding, channel coding and interleaving, channel modulation / demodulation, physical channel mapping, channel filtering, downsampling or upsampling, radio measurements and searches, frequency and time synchronization, antenna diversity processing, power control and weighting, rate matching / dematching, retransmission processing, interference cancellation, and any other physical layer processing functions.

[0060] According to various aspects provided herein, particularly within the context of an RRH, the processing circuit 310 may perform some of the functions described for each RF chain. In a decomposed approach within an RRH, each RF chain may include an RF circuit that may include an amplifier (e.g., a low noise amplifier (LNA)), a filter, an impedance matching component (i.e., a component closer to an antenna port than to baseband processing) in an RX path, and the processing circuit 310 may include a corresponding ADC, an RF downconverter, a LO (i.e., a component closer to baseband processing than to an antenna port) within the same RX path. Sometimes, the processing circuit 310 may include an RFIC.

[0061] According to various aspects provided herein, the processing circuit 310 can independently control each RF chain of the RF circuit 320. In some examples, the processing circuit 310 can control whether the RF chain (particularly the RX path of the corresponding RF chain) is used for RF communication operation or for RF ES operation. Based on determining whether the RX path of the corresponding RF chain is to be used for RF communication operation or for RF ES operation, the processing circuit 310 can send a control signal to configure the RF chain for the determined operation. In some examples, the control signal can cause the RX path to route the signal for demodulating the received RF signal, or can cause the RX path to route the signal to send the digital data converted from the RF signal within the RX path to another component within the radio communication device 300, or store the digital signal in a memory. In some examples, the processing circuit 310 can control one or more switches within each RX path of the RF circuit based on the determination. Routing the signal for demodulation can include: down-converting the RF signal.

[0062] According to various aspects provided herein, the processing circuit 310 can independently control the operations performed for each RF chain of the RF circuit 320. The processing circuit 310 may include various components within each RX path, and in some examples, the processing circuit 310 may control whether the components within the RX path are to be used for RF communication operations or for RF ES operations. Based on determining whether the RX path is to be used for RF communication operations or for RF ES operations, the processing circuit 310 may send a control signal to configure the corresponding component for the determined operation. In some examples, the control signal may cause the RX path to route a signal within the RX path (e.g., an RF signal or a digital signal converted from a received RF signal) for demodulation, or may cause the RX path to route a signal to send digital data within the RX path to another component within the processing circuit 310 or within the radio communication device 300, or to store the digital signal in a memory. In some examples, the processing circuit 310 may control one or more switches within each RX path based on the determination.

[0063] Figure 4An exemplary illustration of a radio communication device according to various aspects described herein, shown as an RRH, is shown. The RRH 400 shown includes: a transceiver circuit 410, which includes a processor 411; and a plurality of RF chains 421, each RF chain 421 coupled to a corresponding antenna 430 or a sub-array or array of an antenna array. Each RF chain 421 is shown as including a portion of a corresponding RF circuit and a transceiver circuit 410, which generally includes a TX path 422 path and an RX path 423. Only two RF chains 421 are depicted herein, but the RRH may include many RF chains 421 to send and receive RF signals, exemplarily 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc. The circulator 424 may couple each corresponding TX path 422 and RX path 423 of the corresponding RF chain 421 to the corresponding antenna 430 via a bandpass filter 425.

[0064] Each TX path 422 is depicted as including, from right to left, as corresponding RF circuits: directional coupler 481, power amplifier 482, filter 483, Balun 484, and as corresponding portions of transceiver circuit 410: TX amplifier 485, RF DAC 486, and DUC, DFE, mixer block 487. Each RX path 422 is depicted as including, from right to left, as corresponding RF circuits: LNA 491, bandpass filter 492, Balun 493, and as corresponding portions of transceiver circuit 410: RX amplifier 494, and RF ADC 495, and DDC, DFE, mixer block 496.

[0065] In a disaggregated deployment of a network access node, the RRH may operate with another entity (e.g., a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit and / or a control unit (sometimes referred to as a central unit or centralized unit)) to process communication data according to a communication protocol stack (e.g., a 5G protocol stack) in a manner that the RRH may only provide processing for a portion of the protocol stack. There are many methods to provide a split of the protocol stack between multiple units.

[0066] In one example of a split at the PHY layer, another entity or entities may be primarily responsible for hosting non-real-time operations of the control plane of the radio resource control (RRC) and PDCP protocols, and may be responsible for hosting real-time operations such as RLC layer functions, MAC layer functions, and Higher-PHY functions, while the RRH 400 may be configured to host the Lower-PHY functions and provide data streams to the other entity via a fronthaul interface 440 (e.g., open fronthaul). In a specific example of a split at the PHY layer that may be referred to as a 7.2 split, the Lower PHY layer may be defined to include a cyclic prefix (CP) function, a fast Fourier transform (FFT) function, a beamforming and port extension function, a resource element mapping function, and the Higher PHY layer functions may include precoding, layer mapping, modulation, scrambling, rate matching, coding and block segmentation, and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) function on an antenna port.

[0067] The RRH 400 may include a digital processing unit 450 (e.g., a baseband processor) configured to perform at least digital processing of the protocol stack based on signals received from the transceiver circuit 420 when receiving and based on signals received from the fronthaul interface 440 when transmitting. Exemplarily, the digital processing unit 450 may be configured to perform specified Lower PHY layer functions, illustratively, for 7.2 splitting, the digital processing unit 450 may perform CP functions, FFT functions (i.e., FFT and inverse FFT), beamforming functions, port extension functions, and resource element mapping functions.

[0068] In various examples, the fronthaul interface 440 may provide communication between the RRH 400 and another entity via a connection via a fiber optic cable according to a common public radio interface (CPRI) or an enhanced common public radio interface (eCPRI), but there are other communication media that can handle fronthaul communications. The digital processing unit 450 may also be configured to perform communication through the fronthaul interface 440 illustratively according to a CPRI, eCPRI, or O-RAN (Open RAN) protocol. It is also noted that the various aspects performed by the processor 411 of the transceiver circuit 410 are provided illustratively. In some examples, the digital processing unit 450 may be configured to perform operations described herein with respect to the processor 411 of the transceiver circuit 410, which are associated with the control of the RF ES operation, including determining the RX path for the RF ES operation, controlling the corresponding switching circuit, etc. For these aspects, the digital processing unit may send corresponding signals via the specified interface or any existing interface between the digital processing unit 450 and the transceiver circuit 410.

[0069] Illustratively, the digital processing unit 450 may include a layer 1 (L1) baseband ASIC or FPGA configured to perform the above-described functions for RF communication signals and for fronthaul interface related functions. In some examples, the digital processing unit 450 may include a multi-core CPU cluster in a Linux-based architecture for non-real-time processing. While focusing on non-real-time operations, these CPU clusters may also include accelerators and thus may be used for non-real-time post-processing of captured wideband I / Q samples.

[0070] The transceiver circuit 410 may include units and components for independently providing additional radio communication functions in some examples for each RF chain 421. The transceiver circuit 410 may include the rest of the TX path 422 and the RX path 423. Illustratively, in each TX path 422, the transceiver circuit 410 may include a digital front end (DFE), an upconverter (e.g., a digital upconverter) and a mixer (i.e., a DUC, a DFE mixer block 487), an RF digital-to-analog converter (RF DAC) 486, and an RF amplifier 485. Similarly, in each RX path 423, the transceiver circuit 410 may include an RF amplifier 494, an RF analog-to-digital converter (RFADC) 495, and a digital front end (DFE), a downconverter (e.g., a digital downconverter (DDC)) and a mixer (DDC, DFE, mixer block 496). According to various aspects provided herein, each RF ADC within each RX path 423 may convert an RF signal received at RX path 423 from a corresponding antenna 430 to obtain a digital signal, which may sometimes be referred to as a digital signal converted from the (received) RF signal.

[0071] Data communication between the digital processing unit 450 and the transceiver circuit 410 can be based on a conventional serial data transmission method. Illustratively, the RRH 400 may include a serial data transmission interface 451 (e.g., a data converter serial interface) to synchronously provide a corresponding baseband signal between a signal path (i.e., RX path, TX path) and the digital processing unit 450. In some examples, the serial data transmission interface 451 may be a JESD204 interface. Illustratively, the processor 411 may control the operation of the serial data transmission interface 451.

[0072] For example, for each TX path 422, the digital processing unit 450 may provide a signal including a corresponding in-phase / quadrature (IQ) signal via the serial data transmission interface 451, and the corresponding DUC, DFE, mixer block 487 of the corresponding TX path 422 may receive the IQ signal for up-conversion and provide the corresponding output signal to the corresponding RF DAC 486. For each RX path 423, the corresponding DDC, DFE, mixer block 496 of the corresponding RX path 423 may receive a digital signal converted from the corresponding RF signal and send the corresponding IQ signal to the digital processing unit 450 via the serial data transmission interface 451 for baseband processing.

[0073] When the RX path 423 is configured for RF communication operation, the corresponding DDC, DFE, mixer block can receive the digital signal at the corresponding RX path 423. When the RX path 423 is configured for RF ES operation according to various aspects provided herein, the processor 411 can route the digital signal to another component of the RF ES operation different from the corresponding DDC, DFE, mixer block 496. Illustratively, each RX path 423 can include a switch circuit to provide the digital signal to the corresponding DDC, DFE, mixer block 496 of the corresponding RX path 423 when the corresponding RX path 423 is configured for RF communication operation, and to provide the digital signal to the RF ES operation component when the corresponding RX path 423 is configured for RF ES operation. In some examples, when the RX path 423 is configured for RF communication operation, the processor 411 can route the digital signal to both another component of the RF ES operation and the corresponding DDC, DFE, mixer block 496.

[0074] According to various aspects provided herein, the RRH 400 (e.g., the processor 411) can be configured to configure all RX and TX paths for RF communication operations, such that each RX path in the RX path 423 or each TX path of the corresponding RF chain 421 is configured to receive or send a radio communication signal via a corresponding signal path at a time instance. In addition, for at least some of the ES-capable RX paths of all RX paths, the processor 411 can determine which one or more RX paths are to be configured for RF ES operations, which correspond to one or more second signal paths, in which the other RX paths configured for RF communication operations are referred to as first signal paths. In other words, at least some RX paths can be configured to operate in a first state and in a second state, in which the corresponding RX path is configured for RF communication operations (e.g., to enable digital data to be sent for demodulation), and in the second state, the corresponding RX path 423 is configured for RF ES operations (e.g., to enable digital data to be sent to ES components). The processor 411 may accordingly send a control signal to one or more RX paths determined for RF ES operation (illustratively, to corresponding switching circuits) so that each of the one or more RX paths determined for RF ES operation operates in a second state, which may include: the switching circuit routing the corresponding digital signal to the corresponding RF ES operating component.

[0075] In various aspects provided herein, the processor 411 can selectively perform RFES operations or RF communication operations at each RX path 423, or both simultaneously. The processor 411 can control each RX path 423 so that each RX path 423 capable of performing RF communication operations or RF ES operations performs RF communication operations or RF ES operations at a time instance, which can be independent of any of the other RX paths in the RX path. Illustratively, the processor 411 can control the operation of signal routing components (e.g., switch devices) provided in each RX path 423 so that each RX path 423 independently performs RF communication operations or RF ES operations.

[0076] Note that the direct RF sampling architecture of the RRH 400 as described herein can capture the full RF spectrum within the bandwidth of the RF filters in the RRH 400 in line-up, such that the frequency band of each RX path 423 is defined by the RF filters 425, 492 provided in the corresponding RX path 423. The desired signal can be extracted by digital frequency conversion and digital filtering as shown in the corresponding DDC, DFE, mixer block 496. However, at the output of the corresponding RF ADC 495 at each RX path 423, the full spectrum content within the frequency band of the corresponding RF filter within the RX path 423 may be available. Illustratively, determining one or more spectrum contents associated with the RX path 423 may include detecting energy in the entire frequency band that may be defined by one of the filters shown herein (i.e., the bandpass filter (BPF) 425 coupled between the antenna 430 and the circulator 424 and the BPF 492 between the LNA 491 and the Balun 493 within the corresponding RX path 423).

[0077] In some examples, for the RX path 423 determined for RF ES operation, the RF ES operation may include: tapping the RF ADC 495 of the corresponding RX path 423 so that the digital signal including the unfiltered IQ stream is tapped and sent to the digital processing unit 450. In response to determining that the specific RX path 423 is to be used for RF ES operation, the processor 411 may cause the RF ADC 495 to be tapped and cause the digital signal to be sent to the digital processing unit 450 via the serial data transmission interface 451. The processor 411 may route the digital signal to be sent to the digital processing unit 450 via the serial data transmission interface 451. It should be noted that at or around this time instance, the serial data transmission interface 451 may also carry communication data including the down-converted IQ signal of other RX paths, so that while the specific RX path 423 performs RF ES operation, the other RX paths 421 simultaneously perform RF communication operations. In this specific example, the digital processing unit 450 may determine one or more spectral contents of the corresponding frequency band of the specific RX path 423 based on the digital signal. Alternatively, the digital processing unit 450 may send the digital signal to another entity through the fronthaul interface 440, and the other entity may perform spectrum sensing.

[0078] In some examples, for the RX path 423 determined for the RF ES operation, the RF ES operation may include: storing digital data (e.g., the output of the corresponding RF ADC 495) in the memory 412. Illustratively, the processor 411 may cause the digital data received over a period of time to accumulate in the memory 412. In some examples, the processor 411 may analyze the digital data stored in the memory 412 to determine one or more spectral contents of the frequency band for the corresponding RX path 423. In some examples, the processor 411 may cause the digital data stored in the memory 412 to be sent to the digital processing unit 450. Illustratively, the processor 411 may cause the digital data stored in the memory 412 to be sent to the digital processing unit 450 via another data transmission interface different from the serial data transmission interface 451. For example, the other data transmission interface may be a packet-based data transmission interface (e.g., a PCI-E interface). In this particular example, the digital processing unit 450 may determine one or more spectral contents of the corresponding frequency band of the specific RX path 423 based on the digital signal. Alternatively, the digital processing unit 450 may send the digital signal to another entity through the fronthaul interface 440, and the other entity may perform spectrum sensing.

[0079] According to various aspects described herein, the operation of the RX path (more precisely, whether the RX path 423 is configured for RF communication operation or RF ES operation) can be based on the allocation and scheduling of radio communication operations. In other words, in some examples, the processor 411 can select one or more RX paths from the RX path to be configured for RFES operation based on a received request that can come from an upper layer of the protocol stack or a received request that is independent of the protocol stack (e.g., a request from the ESC for a specific frequency band, etc.). In some examples, the processor 411 can select one or more RX paths from the RX path to be configured for RF ES operation based on the scheduled radio communication operation.

[0080] Illustratively, in a strong radio communication scenario, the RRH 400 may use all RF chains 421 (either via the corresponding RX path 423 or via the TX path 422) to perform radio communication operations, i.e., to send or receive radio communication signals to or from a mobile radio communication device (i.e., UE) wirelessly connected to the RRH 400. Thus, each RF chain 421 and the corresponding signal path of the RF chain 421 may be scheduled to send and / or receive radio communication signals according to the scheduled radio communication to be performed by the RRH 400. The schedule of the radio communication to be performed may be stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 412), and the scheduling information may at least represent one or more time instances or time periods in which each RF chain 421 is scheduled for RF communication operations.

[0081] The processor 411 may select one or more RF chains (or illustratively, RX paths) based on the scheduled radio communication operations, with which the RRH 400 may perform RF ES operations. Illustratively, when the processor 411 identifies that the RX path 423 is not scheduled for RF communication operations, illustratively for at least a predefined time period, the processor 411 may determine to use the RX path 423 to perform RF ES operations. Thus, by routing the digital data of the RX path 423 during the corresponding time period, the RRH 400 or another entity connected to the RRH 400 may determine one or more spectral contents of the frequency band configured for the path. Additional operations associated with the scheduled radio communication operations are described in the present disclosure.

[0082] In some examples, the processor 411 and the memory 412 can be configured to provide their functionality to process digital signals and store in the TEE, respectively. Illustratively, when the processor 411 analyzes the digital signal to determine one or more spectral contents, the processing of the digital signal can be performed in the TEE. In some examples, the processor 411 can generate data communications within the RRH 400 or outside the RRH 400 through the fronthaul interface 440 by encryption. The memory 412 can also store the digital signal in a secure enclave. Additional operations associated with security methods for digital signals are also described in the present disclosure.

[0083] Figure 5 An exemplary illustration of RF energy that can be detected via RF ES operations that can be performed by a radio communication device (e.g., RRH 400, radio communication device 300) according to various aspects described herein is shown. The Y-axis of the graph represents RF power density (dBm / MHz), and the X-axis represents frequency. The graph specifically shows the detected RF energy in the n78 frequency band in 5G NR. Illustratively, 501 and 502 represent uplink services at the radio communication device, and 503, 504, 505 represent other RF signals in the same frequency band. Exemplarily, the detected RF signals 501, 502, 503, 504, 505 may have cross-interference with each other, and the other RF signals may be RF signals in the same radio environment, which may illustratively include RF communication signals of other base stations (e.g., other RRHs), military radars, etc.

[0084] Figure 6An exemplary illustration of an RX path according to various aspects described herein is shown. Illustratively, according to the description of the path followed by the received RF signal, the RX path (e.g., RX path 423) can be within an RF chain (e.g., RF chain 421) described with respect to the radio communication device 300 or the RRH 400. For example, the RRH 400 may include at least one RX path as described herein with respect to the RX path. Therefore, the corresponding RF chain 421 and the transceiver circuit 410 of the RRH 400 may include the following components.

[0085] The RX path may include an LNA 601 to couple to a duplexer (e.g., an RF circulator) coupled to an antenna associated with the RX path to receive an RF signal received by the antenna. The received RF signal may be filtered by a first bandpass filter. The LNA 601 may amplify the received RF signal and output the amplified signal to a second bandpass filter 602. It should be noted that the joint filtering of the first bandpass filter and the second bandpass filter 602 may define the frequency band of the RX path. The second bandpass filter 602 may output the filtered RF signal to a Balun 603, which may couple an unbalanced signal line to a balanced signal line input to an RX amplifier 604. The RX amplifier 604 may provide an output RF signal to an RF ADC 605, which may convert the output RF signal into a digital signal.

[0086] The RX path can operate in a first state, in which the RX path provides the digital signal at the output of the RF ADC 605 to the DDC, DFE, mixer blocks. The RX path can operate in a second state, in which the RX path provides the digital signal at the output of the RF ADC 605 to the RF ES operation components depicted as the RF stream capture unit 620. In the second state, the RF stream capture unit 620 can receive the digital signal and route the digital signal to be sent to the digital processing unit 650 through the data converter serial interface 607. Exemplarily, the digital signal can include an unfiltered real RF sample or an unfiltered IQ signal, which is converted from an analog RF signal at the input of the RF ADC 605, the analog RF signal being an RF signal within a frequency band defined by the first bandpass filter and the second bandpass filter 602.

[0087] Illustratively, when the corresponding processor 611 (e.g., processor 411) controlling the RF ES operation determines that the RF ES operation is to be performed with the RX path, the processor 611 may enable the RF stream capture unit 620 to receive a digital signal from the RF ADC 605. The processor 611 may further activate the RF stream capture unit 620 based on the determination to cause the RF stream capture unit 620 to send digital data to the digital processing unit 650 through the data converter serial interface 607. The digital data may be accordingly tapped from the output of the RF ADC 605 including unfiltered real RF samples from the portion of the RX path connecting the RF ADC 605 to the DDC, DFE, mixer blocks, and the RF stream capture unit 620 may feed the digital data to the digital processing unit 650 via the data converter serial interface 607.

[0088] For efficient RF sampling, the sampling rate (F s ) can be at least the frequency band of the RX path (f c,max ) is twice the highest frequency. Note that an oversampling ratio OSR greater than 1 is achieved relative to the Nyquist rate. margin , the sampling rate of RF ADC 605 can be formulated as:

[0089] F s ≥2*OSE margin *f c,max

[0090] For example, in the case of a 4.4-5 GHz band with an OSR of 1.2 margin In the 5G NR n79 band, the minimum sampling rate of the RF ADC 605 can be 12 gigasamples per second (GSPS). Illustratively, the RF stream capture unit 620 can inject 12 GSPS of unfiltered RF sampled digital data into the data traffic of the data converter serial interface 607 to send the digital data to the digital processing unit 650. In the case of a configuration with a 13-bit resolution of the RF ADC 605, and assuming that the radio communication device includes two of these RX paths as described herein that perform RF ES operations within two channels, 12 GSPS sampling plus 13-bit resolution and 2 channels, the amount of digital data to be transmitted via the data converter serial interface 607 becomes 312 Gbps, which may be a considerable payload, but particularly for the UL direction, there may be such capacity for communicating digital data through the data converter serial interface 607.

[0091] According to various aspects described herein, the digital data may include sub-sampled data, or in some examples, the sampling rate of the RFADC 605 may be configured for a sampling rate lower than the above sampling rate. Given that the frequency band of the RX path may be limited by the RF front-end filter frequency band, only the RF ADC 605 may sample at the sampling rate of the corresponding frequency band while considering the aliasing effect. Illustratively, the frequency band is limited to f c,max to f c,min The Nyquist formula can be transformed into:

[0092] F s ≥2*OSR margin *(f c,max -f c,min )

[0093] Note that within the 5G NR n79 band, this sampling rate will result in a sampling rate of 1.44 GHz. If an Fs of 12 GSPS is used, it may not cause aliasing, and the RF samples can still represent the actual spectrum within the band.

[0094] Note that, instead of the above, RF ADC 605 can be configured to use a 2nd or higher order Nyquist zone. This can allow the use of a lower rate RF ADC at the expense of more complex signal processing (e.g., to account for aliasing from other frequency bands).

[0095] Fig. 7A and Figure 7B An example of a representation of detection in the n79 band is shown for sampling rates at 12 GSPS and 6 GSPS, respectively. Assume that the desired user traffic has a bandwidth of 50 MHz on the first component carrier and a bandwidth of 30 MHz on the second component carrier, and there are other RF signals in the band. Fig. 7A In which, with a sampling rate of 12GSPS and no aliasing, Figure 7B In the , it can be seen that aliasing exists and the band-limited spectrum is mirrored around the Nyquist Fs / 2 frequency of 3000 MHz. Dealing with this aliased spectrum is not a problem, however, the processor 611 can apply conventional digital processing methods to perform the image cancellation, and the resulting data can still provide an adequate representation of the frequency band for RF ES operation. Therefore, as long as the above Fs formula is met, the data rate required to send digital data through the data converter serial interface can be reduced.

[0096] In some examples, processor 611 can apply conventional signal processing methods to the digital data to reduce the amount of digital data. Illustratively, the processor can digitally convert the desired spectrum into a complex baseband equivalent spectrum, thereby allowing the use of a greatly reduced sampling rate without compromising the accuracy of the estimate of the spectral content. For example, through digital complex mixing, the full n79 frequency band can be converted to be centered around 0 Hz. The down-mixed signal can then be down-sampled (decimated) to the sampling rate to ensure that the desired bandwidth is within 2*OSR margin *(RF bandwidth / 2) adaptation. Illustratively, the RF bandwidth is 600MHz, so OSR can be used margin *600MHz sampling rate.

[0097] Figure 8 An exemplary illustration of a downsampled spectrum is shown. Note also that for purposes of RF ES operation, processor 611 may perform digital downmixing functions and associated decimation stages that processor 611 may use to capture digital data as described herein. Thus, a lower rate RF ADC may be used to reduce the data rate required to transmit digital data to digital processing unit 650. Illustratively, based on a conventional 5G NR sampling rate of 122.88MSPS per 100MHz band, the data rate required to capture a complex signal may be formulated as follows: R ES Represents the data rate, RF bandwidhth Represents frequency band, Interface overhead Represents the data transmission overhead, IQ resolution Represents the resolution of IQ sampling:

[0098]

[0099] In the example of the n79 band with 32 IQ resolution (i.e., 16-bit fixed-point per sample) and 66 / 64 JESD204 interface overhead, the result would be 48.66 Gbps for a 600 MHz band with two channels, which is still well below the 312 Gbps in direct RF sampling up to 5 GHz. Also note that the decimator can decimate the RF samples for less communication overhead.

[0100] Fig. 9An exemplary illustration of an RX path according to various aspects described herein is shown. Illustratively, according to the description of the path followed by the received RF signal, the RX path can be within the RF chain described with respect to the radio communication device 300 or the RRH 400. For example, the RRH 400 may include at least one RX path as described herein with respect to the RX path. Thus, the corresponding RF chain 421 and transceiver circuit 410 of the RRH 400 may include the following components. In some examples, the RX path shown herein may be associated with the RX path described herein within the radio communication device. Figure 6 One or more RX paths described may coexist.

[0101] The RX path may include an LNA 901 to couple to a duplexer (e.g., an RF circulator) coupled to an antenna associated with the RX path to receive an RF signal received by the antenna. The received RF signal may be filtered by a first bandpass filter. The LNA 901 may amplify the received RF signal and output the amplified signal to a second bandpass filter 902. It should be noted that the joint filtering of the first bandpass filter and the second bandpass filter 902 may define the frequency band of the RX path. The second bandpass filter 902 may output the filtered RF signal to a Balun 903, and the Balun 603 may couple an unbalanced signal line to a balanced signal line input to an RX amplifier 904. The RX amplifier 904 may provide an output RF signal to an RF ADC 905, and the RFADC 905 may convert the output RF signal into a digital signal.

[0102] The RX path can operate in a first state, in which the RX path provides a digital signal at the output of the RF ADC 905 to the DDC, DFE, mixer block 906. The RX path can operate in a second state, in which the RX path provides a digital signal at the output of the RF ADC 905 to an RF ES operational component, which is depicted as a memory 920 configured to store digital data. In the second state, the memory 920 can receive a digital signal including RF samples and store in the memory for a period of time. In some examples, the processor 911 can cause the stored digital signal to be sent to the digital processing unit 950.

[0103] It is noted that while the RF samples may still be communicated via the data converter serial interface 907 present between the transceiver circuit and the digital processing unit to stream baseband data for RF communications, they may be communicated via the packet-based communication interface 921 (e.g., a PCIe interface) or any other interface currently used between the transceiver circuit and the digital processing unit 950. Correspondingly, the processor 911 may encode the stored digital data according to the packet-based communication interface protocol, and the digital processing unit 950 may decode the encoded digital data to obtain information representing the RF samples.

[0104] Illustratively, the minimum capacity of the memory 920 can be calculated according to the formula: Memory_size_Mbytes) = Num_symbols*Symbol_time_usec*ADC_resolution*Fs_GSPS*1000*Number_of_channels / (8*1024 2 ), Num_symbols represents the number of symbols, Symbol_time_usec represents the symbol time in microseconds, ADC_resolution represents the resolution of the RF ADC 905, Fs_GSPS represents the sampling rate of the RF ADC 905, and Number_of_channels represents the number of channels for sending corresponding digital data to the digital processing unit 950. In the case of a numerical example of a 12GSPS sampling rate of the RF ADC 905 with a 14-bit resolution, in order to capture RF data for four channels and three symbols each having a duration of 17.86 microseconds, the memory size will be 4.3M bytes. Therefore, the processor 911 can use a packet-based communication interface to send the stored digital data.

[0105] In an illustrative example where the packet-based communication interface is a PCIe interface, the required transfer time for sending digital data over the PCIe interface can be approximated using the formula: RF_data_transfer_time_usec≈10 6 *Memory_size_Mbytes*8*1024 2 / (PCIE_speed_Gbps*10 9 ), note that this formula does not take into account PCIe overhead. For example, for a 4.3M-byte RF data sample with a 32Gbps data rate on a PCIe Gen-5 interface, the required transfer time may be approximately 1.1ms.

[0106] In some examples, the processor 911 may analyze the stored digital data to determine the spectral content indicated by the RF sampling. The processor 911 may identify and additionally or alternatively characterize the spectral content within the received RF signal. The processor 911 may perform the determination of the spectral content using conventional methods. Illustratively, the processor may use a series of specified algorithms and mathematical techniques by delving into the digital data and scrutinizing the digital data to discern the various frequency components present in the RF signal. For example, the processor 911 may evaluate at least one of the amplitude, frequency, and time domain characteristics extractable from the digital representation of the RF signal to identify the spectral components. It should be noted that within the context of analyzing digital data to determine one or more spectral contents, the aspects described herein for the processor 911 regarding the determination of the spectral content may be performed by another processor (e.g., digital processing unit 950) within the radio communication device or another entity connected to the radio communication device.

[0107] Illustratively, in order to identify the spectral content, the processor 911 can employ various techniques such as fast Fourier transform (FFT) and spectrum analysis, which can enable the processor 911 to convert the time domain RF samples into their frequency domain representations. Through the transformed samples, the processor 911 can specifically identify the frequency distribution, amplitude, and phase relationships associated with the spectral components within the specified frequency band. The processor 911 can then evaluate these characteristics to identify peaks, valleys, and patterns within the spectrum. In some examples, the results can include a comprehensive spectrum profile that provides valuable insights into the content of the RF signal, including the presence of interference, modulation schemes, and signal occupancy. In some examples, the output of the analysis can be presented as a spectrum report of the frequency band preferably within the specified sampling time.

[0108] According to various aspects described herein, the processor 911 may be implemented by a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or a hardware acceleration unit (e.g., one or more dedicated hardware accelerator circuits (e.g., ASICs, FPGAs, and other hardware)). In some examples, the processor 911 may be implemented with a cluster architecture (e.g., a VEX (Very Long Instruction Word VLIW) Example) architecture) that can issue multiple instructions in parallel for parallel processing. In some examples, the VEX architecture may perform the above-described analysis of the digital data to determine spectral components and generate corresponding spectral reports for the frequency bands. In some examples, the processor 911 may further perform post-processing operations, and / or send the spectral report for the frequency band to an upper layer of the protocol stack.

[0109] Fig.10An exemplary illustration of a signal path between an antenna and a digital processing unit configured to process a baseband signal is shown. The signal paths shown herein include an RX path 1001 and a TX path 1021. Illustratively, the signal path including the RX path and the TX path may be within an RF chain described with respect to the radio communication device 300 or the RRH 400, according to the description of the path followed by the received RF signal. For example, the RRH 400 may include at least one signal path described herein with respect to a signal path including an RX path and a TX path that may be connected to the same antenna. Thus, the corresponding RF chain 421 and transceiver circuit 410 of the RRH 400 may include the components described below. In some examples, the RX path 1001 and TX path 1021 shown herein may be coupled to a radio communication device according to the description of the path followed by the received RF signal. Figure 6 and / or Fig. 9 One or more RX paths described may coexist.

[0110] The RX path 1001 may include an LNA 1002 to couple to a duplexer (e.g., an RF circulator), which is coupled to an antenna associated with the RX path to receive an RF signal received by the antenna. The received RF signal may be filtered by a first bandpass filter. The LNA 1002 may amplify the received RF signal and output the amplified signal to a Balun 1003, which may couple an unbalanced signal line to a balanced signal line input to an RX amplifier 1004. The RX amplifier 1004 may provide an output RF signal to an RF ADC 1005, which may convert the output RF signal into a digital signal.

[0111] In this illustrated example, the portion between the RF ADC 1005 and the corresponding interface circuit is described in more detail. The RF ADC 1005 can output the converted RF signal to the DDC 1008. The DDC 1008 can receive the digital signal converted by the RF ADC 1005 and output the digital down-converted signal to the extraction block 1009, which outputs the extracted signal to the RX gain block 1010. The output of the RX gain block 1010 can be coupled to the interface circuit 1022, which is configured to communicate with the digital processing unit via a data converter serial interface (e.g., JESD204). In some examples, the RX path can also include an accumulation block 1012, a digitally controlled oscillator 1013 for the DDC 1008, and a power detector (PDET) 1014.

[0112] The interface circuit 1022 may provide baseband data (e.g., an IQ stream) to an interpolator 1023 of the TX path. The TX gain block 1024 may receive the interpolated signal from the interpolator and provide an output to a digital upconverter (DUC) 1025. Another NCO 1026 may provide an oscillator signal for upconversion to the DUC 1025. The RF DAC 1027 may receive the output of the DUC 1025 and provide an analog RF signal to the duplexer 1030 through a matching network 1028 and a digital step attenuator 1029.

[0113] In some examples, particularly when the RF ES operation may include detection of intra-channel interference (i.e., detecting whether intra-channel interference is present), the processor may determine to perform the RF ES operation in a manner such that the RF ES operation is executable during a scheduled TX or RX symbol, or selectively in place of the RF communication operation described above, wherein no TX or RX symbol is designated to be transmitted via the signal path.

[0114] According to various aspects described herein, the processor 1040 may cause a digital signal converted from a received RF signal to be stored in a memory 1041 for use in RF ES operations. In some examples, the digital signal may include the RF sampling described above. In this example, the processor 1040 may route the signal at the output of the RF ADC 1005 or anywhere between the output of the RF ADC 1005 and the DDC 1008. Therefore, by analysis of the RF ES operation, in a wideband approach, the spectrum content may be identified for the corresponding frequency band of the RF chain. In some examples, the digital signal to be stored in the memory 1041 may include an IQ signal after down-conversion of the DDC 1008, preferably from the output of the RX gain block 1010 obtained between the RX gain block 1010 and the interface circuit 1022. By capturing the IQ signal in the channel and analyzing the RF ES operation, in the in-channel approach, the spectrum content may be identified for a narrower frequency band corresponding to the frequency band of the unfiltered IQ signal.

[0115] According to various aspects described herein, the RX path 1001 can operate in a first state in which the RX path provides a digital signal at the output of the RF ADC 1005 to the DDC 1008. The RX path 1001 can operate in a second state in which the RX path 1001 provides the signal at the output of the RF ADC 1005 as a digital signal for storage in the memory 1041. Thus, the digital signal stored in the memory 1041 can include RF samples of the RF signal at the input of the RF ADC 1005.

[0116] According to various aspects described herein, the RX path 1001 can operate in a first state in which the RX path provides a down-converted signal at the output of the DDC 1008 to a digital processing unit for baseband processing. The RX path 1001 can operate in a second state in which the RX path 1001 provides a down-converted signal at the output of the DDC 1008 (e.g., at the output of the DDC, at the output of the decimation block 1009, at the output of the RX gain block 1010) for storage in the memory 1041. Thus, the digital signal stored in the memory 1041 can include down-converted IQ samples of the RF signal at the input of the RF ADC 1005.

[0117] In some examples, the processor 1040 may analyze the stored digital data to determine the spectral content indicated by the stored digital data. The processor 1040 may identify and additionally or alternatively characterize the spectral content within the received RF signal. The processor 1040 may perform determining the spectral content using conventional methods. Illustratively, the processor may use a series of specified algorithms and mathematical techniques by delving into the digital data and scrutinizing the digital data to discern the various frequency components present in the RF signal. For example, the processor 1040 may evaluate at least one of the amplitude, frequency, and time domain characteristics extractable from the digital representation of the RF signal to identify the spectral components. It is to be noted that within the context of analyzing the digital data to determine one or more spectral contents, the aspects described herein for the processor 1040 regarding the determination of the spectral content may be performed by another processor (e.g., the digital processing unit 950) within the radio communication device or another entity connected to the radio communication device.

[0118] Illustratively, in order to identify the spectral content, the processor 1040 can employ various techniques such as fast Fourier transform (FFT) and spectrum analysis, which can cause the processor 1040 to convert the time domain RF samples into their frequency domain representations. Through the transformed samples, the processor 1040 can specifically identify the frequency distribution, amplitude, and phase relationships associated with the spectral components within the specified frequency band. The processor 1040 can then evaluate these characteristics to identify peaks, valleys, and patterns within the spectrum. In some examples, the results can include a comprehensive spectrum profile that provides valuable insights into the content of the RF signal, including the presence of interference, modulation schemes, and signal occupancy. In some examples, the output of the analysis can be presented as a spectrum report of the frequency band, preferably within the specified sampling time.

[0119] According to various aspects described herein, the processor 1040 can be implemented by a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or a hardware acceleration unit (e.g., one or more dedicated hardware accelerator circuits (e.g., ASICs, FPGAs, and other hardware)). In some examples, the processor 1040 can be implemented with a cluster architecture that can issue multiple instructions in parallel for parallel processing (e.g., a VEX (Very Long Instruction Word VLIW) Example) architecture). In some examples, the VEX architecture can perform the above-mentioned analysis of the digital data to determine the spectral components and generate corresponding spectrum reports for the frequency bands. In some examples, the processor 1040 can further perform post-processing operations and / or send the spectrum report for the frequency band to an upper layer of the protocol stack.

[0120] Fig.11 An exemplary illustration of a time domain scheduling of signal paths as described in the present disclosure is shown. The depicted illustration shows an exemplary TDD scheduling of radio communications to be performed for a signal path including an RX path (e.g., RX path 1001) and a TX path (e.g., TX path 1021). The RX path and the TX path can be within an RF chain described with respect to the radio communication device 300 or the RRH 400. For example, the RRH 400 may include at least one signal path described herein with respect to a signal path including an RX path and a TX path that can be connected to the same antenna. Thus, the corresponding RF chain 420 and transceiver circuit 410 of the RRH 400 may include the following components. In some examples, the RX path and the TX path shown herein may be associated with a radio communication device according to Figure 6 , Fig. 9 and / or Fig.10 One or more RX paths described may coexist.

[0121] It should be noted that, as an example, in a conventional method, the CBRS spectrum can be captured via an RF signal for analysis of the spectrum without explicitly knowing the LTE or NR TDD schedule. Illustratively, in an example where the radio communication device is a base station (e.g., RRH400), the radio communication device may store information representing the scheduled radio communication operation in a memory and schedule the RF ES operation based on the scheduled radio communication operation. Illustratively, the scheduling information stored in the memory may represent time information at which the radio communication device is to perform the RF communication operation using the signal path of the radio communication device. More precisely, the scheduling information may include a real-time TDD schedule for each specified time slot, and therefore, the radio communication device may schedule the signal path to perform the RF ES operation, wherein there is no RF communication to be performed within a particular time slot.

[0122] Illustratively, time domain scheduling information is provided for a 5G NR RRH, in which portions of a first time slot and a second time slot are illustrated. Each time slot may include 14 time domain resources (i.e., OFDM symbols in 5G NR). Note that in 5G NR or LTE, the TDD pattern across an operator's network typically uses a fixed schedule (e.g., two time slots for the downlink (DL); one "mixed time slot" with DL symbols and a guard period and UL symbols; and then an UL time slot, which the RRH may use for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) (user UL data), the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) (user control data), and the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) (UE random access procedure to allow the UE to obtain resources)). When the system load is reduced, unneeded DL or UL symbols may be changed to "blank" symbols (no DL or UL) on a per-slot basis to save power. It must be noted that in order to avoid interference to other cells, the RRH may not be able to dynamically change DL symbols to UL symbols but only to blank symbols, and similarly, the RRH may not be able to dynamically change UL symbols to DL symbols.

[0123] Possible TDD patterns are as follows: Fig.11 As shown, it is shown that the symbol S1-S5 of time slot N is scheduled for DL ​​operation of RF communication operation, and the symbol S6-S9 of time slot N is a blank DL symbol that RRH will not send or receive RF communication signal with signal path. The symbol S10-S14 of time slot N and the symbol S1-S5 of time slot N+1 are scheduled for UL operation of RF communication operation, and the symbol S6-S9 of time slot N+1 is not scheduled for any RF communication operation. According to various aspects provided herein, the processor of RRH (e.g., processor 1040) can schedule RF ES operation in the time period when RRH is not scheduled to perform RF communication operation. Illustratively, RRH can perform RFES operation in the symbol S6-S9 of time slot N or preferably in the symbol S6-S9 of time slot N+1. In various examples, the processor can schedule both RF communication operation and RF ES operation in the time domain segmented in multiple durations for each signal path, so that RF communication operation takes precedence over RF ES operation (i.e., has a higher priority).

[0124] According to various aspects provided herein, a processor may schedule RF ES operations for an RX path only during blank UL symbols (i.e., uplink time slots in which RF communication operations are not scheduled). Thus, the RRH may avoid or reduce in-channel interference from expected UE UL services. It should be noted that the number of blank UL symbols may be changed from one UL (or mixed) time slot to another, making the execution of RF ES operations dynamically based on the scheduled radio communication operations. However, even at the busiest times of the day, some blank symbols may be expected. Scheduling RF ES operations during known blank UL periods may maximize the probability that an unexpected interferer (e.g., a naval radar or a "rogue" (unauthorized) signal) may be detected. This is particularly relevant for in-channel methods where the focus will be on detecting these unexpected interferers.

[0125] According to aspects provided herein, RX path 1001 can be configured for an intra-channel approach (i.e., a digital signal including IQ samples) and a wideband approach (i.e., a digital signal including RF samples). Illustratively, in a second state, RX path 1001 either provides a signal at the output of RF ADC 1005 or anywhere between RF ADC 1005 and DDC 1008 as a digital signal for storage in memory 1041, which is referred to as a wideband mode, or provides a down-converted signal at the output of DDC 1008 (e.g., at the output of the DDC, at the output of decimation block 1009, at the output of RX gain block 1010) as a digital signal for storage in memory 1041, which is referred to as an intra-channel mode. Processor 1040 can determine which of the intra-channel mode or the wideband mode is to be used.

[0126] Fig.12 An example of a flow chart that may be used by a radio communication device according to various aspects described herein is shown. In 1201, the processor 1040 determines to perform RF ES operation with the RX path 1001. In 1202, the processor 1040 may determine whether to perform RF ES operation with a wideband mode or an intra-channel mode.

[0127] If the processor 1040 determines to perform RF ES operation in wideband mode, the processor 1040 may obtain (1211) scheduling information stored in a memory (e.g., memory 1041), the scheduling information indicating a schedule of radio communication operations to be performed using a signal path including the RX path 1001. The processor 1040 may determine (1212) whether there are any UL symbols to be received in one or more time slots. If there are no UL time slots, the processor 1040 may wait (1213) until the next TDD schedule (one or more scheduled UL time slots). If one or more UL time slots are scheduled for reception, the processor 1040 may cause (1214) the RX path 1001 to operate in wideband mode. Illustratively, the processor 1040 may control a switch device that routes the digital signals described above with respect to the wideband mode to be stored in the memory 1041. For example, the switching device may be coupled to at least one of: the output of DDC 1008, between DDC 1008 and the extraction block, between DDC 1008 and RX gain block 1010, or anywhere between DDC 1008 and interface circuit 1022, so that the down-converted signal received at the switching device may be routed for storage in memory 1041.

[0128] In 1215, processor 1040 may analyze a digital signal including the captured symbols (IQ samples or RF samples) and determine one or more spectral contents within the frequency band. In some examples, determining one or more spectral contents may include determining in-channel interference, adjacent channel activity, or wideband activity within the frequency band. In 1216, processor 1040 may generate a corresponding spectrum report, and in 1217, processor 1040 may cause the generated spectrum report to be sent to an entity that will use the spectrum report (e.g., a digital processing unit, another entity within a network, etc.).

[0129] If the processor 1040 determines to perform RF ES operation in intra-channel mode, the processor 1040 may obtain (1221) scheduling information stored in a memory (e.g., memory 1041), the scheduling information indicating a schedule of radio communication operations to be performed using a signal path including the RX path 1001. The processor 1040 may determine (1222) whether there are any blank UL symbols scheduled for the RX path 1001. If there are no blank UL time slots, the processor 1040 may wait (1223) until the next TDD schedule (one or more scheduled blank UL time slots). If one or more blank UL symbols are scheduled for the RX path 1001, the processor 1040 may cause (1224) the RX path 1001 to operate in intra-channel mode for a period of time (e.g., during the duration of the blank UL time slot). Illustratively, the processor 1040 may control a switch device that routes the digital signals described above with respect to the wideband mode to be stored in the memory 1041. For example, a switching device may be coupled to the output of the RF ADC 1005 or anywhere between the DDC 1008 and the output of the RF ADC 1005 so that the sampled RF signal can be routed for storage in the memory 1041 .

[0130] In 1225, processor 1040 may analyze the digital signal including the captured RF samples and determine one or more spectral contents within the frequency band. In some examples, determining the one or more spectral contents may include determining intra-channel interference. In 1226, processor 1040 may generate a corresponding spectrum report, and in 1227, processor 1040 may cause the generated spectrum report to be sent to an entity that will use the spectrum report (e.g., a digital processing unit, another entity within a network, etc.).

[0131] The aspects described herein with respect to blocks 1201 , 1202 , 1215 , 1216 , 1217 may occur as non-real time operations, whereas the aspects described with respect to blocks 1211 , 1212 , 1213 , 1214 , 1221 , 1222 , 1223 , and 1224 may occur in real time.

[0132] Note that for intra-channel mode, the processor 1040 may only capture data during blank UL symbols. Another example may include performing the described RF ES operations for intra-channel mode during UL symbols dedicated to PRACH, since the UE may not actually transmit PRACH during the allocated symbols, and even if they do, may only use a portion of the channel spectrum. This may be particularly important because for RX symbol occurrences where no user data traffic, control data, or PRACH opportunities are scheduled in the operator channel, setting the RX front-end automatic gain control (AGC) cutback to a minimum value may result in maximum sensitivity for other spectrum being monitored. The processor 1040 of the digital processing unit 450 may configure the AGC parameters accordingly.

[0133] In wideband mode, RF ES operation can occur during any UL symbol in a time slot. This can allow detection of adjacent channel services or any other services / interferers in the frequency band. If only a portion of the frequency band is of interest, processor 1040 can apply down-channel / decimation of the spectrum to reduce processing complexity, as described in various aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, using the existing down-mixing and decimation of the filter chain present in RX path 1001 to apply down-channel / decimation of the spectrum can result in lower overhead. Potentially, processor 1040 can perform adjacent channel spectrum capture, and if it is detected that there is no RF activity in the adjacent channel, processor 1040 can reconfigure the transceiver to relax adjacent channel selectivity (ACS) and adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR). In some examples, processor 1040 can adjust one or more parameters of the ACS configuration or one or more parameters of the ACLR configuration based on the output of the RF ES operation (i.e., the determined spectrum content) for power saving. Wideband mode can provide maximum flexibility for post-processing because down-conversion, filtering, and amplification on a specific sub-band may be possible. On the other hand, the in-channel acquisition mode may involve less power consumption and processing because the DFE path for RF communication operations may already be enabled, but this mode may be used to detect in-channel interference.

[0134] Illustratively, the processor 1040 may reconfigure the RX digital filter complexity to reduce ACS without compromising overall RF blocking performance (because the RF ES operation may indicate that there are no nearby interferers). Additionally or alternatively, the processor 1040 may simplify the DL DPD configuration because strict ACLR and near-zone emission specifications may not be required if the RF ES operation indicates that there are no other adjacent channels in use. Additionally or alternatively, if the RF communication operation is configured to use various component carriers (CCs) to meet peak traffic, the processor 1040 may optionally disable the use of certain CCs when traffic is muted based on time (e.g., at night) so that the remaining CCs in use can be configured to be away from CC spanning of other operators based on the RF ES operation.

[0135] Fig.13 An exemplary illustration of a block diagram according to various aspects described herein is shown. The processors described in the present disclosure (e.g., processor 1040, processor 911, processor 611, processor 411) may be configured to cause digital signals converted from RF signals of corresponding RX paths determined for RF ES operations to be processed and / or stored in a trusted execution environment (TEE) 1302. TEE 1302 may refer to code and data loaded inside the TEE 1302 (e.g., digital data or any processed output of the digital data) that is protected from access by code executed outside the TEE. Thus, TEE 1302 may provide an isolated execution environment that blocks access to data and code contained in TEE 1302 at a hardware level. Note that there are various methods for obtaining TEE 1302. In general, a TEE may be provided via executing code within a portion of a memory that is protected from access by processes outside the TEE 1302. An example TEE 1302 may include a processor that is configured to execute code within a portion of a memory that is protected from access by processes outside the TEE 1302. Enclaves created by Software Guard Extensions (SGX) and Trust domains created by Trust Domain Extension (TDX).

[0136] Please note, Fig.13 The examples depicted in can be applied to any of the RX paths described herein. Illustratively, a signal routing component 1301 (e.g., a switch device) can cause digital data converted from a received RF signal of an RX path within a TEE 1302 to be stored in a memory 1320 of the TEE. Exemplarily, the memory 1320 can include a secure enclave to store the received digital data.

[0137] There are various examples provided herein in which either processor 1311 performs processing of stored digital data to determine one or more spectral contents within a frequency band, or another entity (which may be a digital processing unit (e.g., digital processing unit 450, digital processing unit 950) or another entity external to the radio communication device that includes a digital processing unit or processor 1311) performs processing of stored digital data to determine one or more spectral contents within a frequency band.

[0138] In some aspects where the processor 1311 at least partially performs spectrum analysis, the processor 1311 may perform its operations for spectrum analysis of stored digital data within the TEE 1302 and store data associated with its operations within the memory 1320. In some examples, the processor 1311 may generate a spectrum report representing the identified spectrum components based on the spectrum analysis for storage in the memory 1320 within the TEE 1302. In this example, the data to be sent to the digital processing unit 1350 may include the generated spectrum report, which is referred to as RF ES-related data. In some aspects where the processor 1311 may cause the stored digital signal to be sent to the digital processing unit 1350, the RF ES-related data may include the stored digital signal itself, or a variation of the stored digital signal (e.g., sub-sampled digital data, down-sampled digital data, compressed digital data, encrypted digital data, etc.). The processor 1311 may cause the RF ES-related data to be sent to the digital processing unit via a packet-based communication interface (e.g., PCIe).

[0139] In some examples, processor 1311 may use an encrypted link to send RF ES related data to digital processing unit 1311. To this end, encryption block 1322 (e.g., an encryption algorithm executed by processor 1311) may encrypt the RF ES related data to be sent to digital processing unit 1350 via interface 1340. Processor 1311 may further perform encoding of the encrypted RF ES related data to be sent to the digital processing unit via interface 1340.

[0140] Any conventional method can be used for encryption of RF ES related data. Illustratively, encryption block 1322 can encrypt RF ES related data via a private key-public key pair. If the actual entity that is to use the RF ES related data is the digital processing unit 1350, the processor 1311 can use the encryption key of the digital processing unit 1350. However, in the case where the actual entity that is to use the RF ES related data is not the digital processing unit 1350, the processor 1311 can use the encryption key of the actual entity. Illustratively, when the RRH intends to provide the RF ES related data to another upper layer entity (e.g., CU, DU, or any other entity having an architecture) within the network by encryption using the encryption key of the actual entity, even the digital processing unit 1350 may not be able to access the RF ES related data. It should be further noted that the processor 1311 can encrypt the RF ES related data of different RX paths using different encryption keys. Illustratively, the processor 1311 may encrypt the RF ES related data of the first RX path via a first encryption key (e.g., the encryption key of the digital processing unit 1350), and the processor 1311 may encrypt the RF ES related data of the second RX path via a second encryption key (e.g., the encryption key of the CU). Thus, each stream may be adapted for a specific user of the RF ES related data, accessible only by that user, and may also contain a subset of data as needed.

[0141] According to the various aspects provided in this article, according to Fig.13 The described aspects may be used only for certain RX paths that are configured for secure operation. A processor (e.g., processor 1311 or digital processing unit 1350) may be configured only for selection of RX paths that are configured for RF ES operation for secure operation. Specifically, it is noted that in order to detect specific classified waveforms (e.g., C-band naval radar signals), specific authorizations may be required, which may be illustratively indicated by the digital processing unit 1350 or processor 1311 itself specific to certain RX paths, and processing and storage of digital data may be performed within the TEE 1302 only when the RX path is specifically configured for secure operation. Configuration for secure operation may include the number of streams, encryption to be used, etc.

[0142] As indicated in the present disclosure, determining one or more spectrum contents based on the received RF signal can be used for various operations that require a representation of the corresponding frequency band. Information representing the determined one or more spectrum contents is referred to as a spectrum report in the present disclosure. Illustratively, the processor 1311 or the digital processing unit 1350 can determine one or more sources of unwanted or unexpected interference based on the spectrum report. In some examples, the processor 1311 or the digital processing unit 1350 can determine the presence of a military or aviation radar and modify the channel allocation for RF communication operations accordingly. In some examples, the processor 1311 or the digital processing unit 1350 can monitor the RF services of other operators or base stations based on the spectrum report. In large applications, an entity (e.g., a DU or CU) can obtain spectrum reports for multiple RUs and can generate an RF service distribution based on the location of each of the multiple RUs.

[0143] According to various aspects of the RF ES related data including digital data, the processor (e.g., processor 1311, processor 1040, processor 911, processor 611, processor 411) can send the RF ES related data in a time-stamped format. The following table is an example data structure for sending digital data to the corresponding digital processing unit. Note that this flexible format can specify the RF band, antenna port number and start symbol # (expressed in 3GPP network time units) together with the ADC sampling rate, resolution, and can allow the actual sampling to be included at the end of the record.

[0144]

[0145] Obviously, the table provided above is illustrative only, and other RF ADC data formats may be used in accordance with the described aspects. For example, the RF samples may be 1s complement instead of 2s complement.

[0146] Fig.14An exemplary radio access network architecture is shown, in which the radio access network is decomposed into multiple units. In LTE or 5G NR, a network access node (e.g., network access nodes 110 and 120) (e.g., BS) can implement the entire network stack including the physical layer (PHY), medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence control (PDCP) and radio resource control (RRC) functions of the network stack. In a distributed approach to a radio access network, the processing of the network stack is decomposed into at least two units (e.g., a radio unit (RU), a distributed unit (DU) and a central unit (CU)). Although the example shows a distributed structure based on an open RAN (O-RAN) architecture, a technician can migrate the teachings provided herein in other types of distributed architectures (e.g., a baseband unit (BBU) that can be operated in the cloud and can be split into a control unit (CU) according to Rel.15 of the 3GPP standard).

[0147] In various deployments in recently emerging RAN architectures (e.g., open radio access network (O-RAN) architectures), network access nodes may have functionality split between multiple units, with the intent of meeting increased capacity requirements by providing a flexible and interoperable approach to RAN. The exemplary RAN 1400 provided herein includes a radio unit (RU) 1401, a DU 1402, a CU 1403, a near-RT RIC 1404, and a service management and orchestration framework (SMO) 1405 including a non-RT RIC 1406. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the illustrated structure may represent a logical architecture in which one or more of the entities of a mobile communication network may be implemented by the same physical entity, or a distributed physical entity (a plurality of devices operating jointly) may implement one of the entities of a mobile communication network provided herein.

[0148] There are many ways to provide splitting between multiple units. In this illustrative example, CU 1403 (e.g., O-CU) can be primarily responsible for hosting non-real-time operations of radio resource control (RRC), PDCP protocol, and service data adaptation protocol (SDAP). DU (e.g., O-DU) 1402 can be primarily responsible for hosting real-time operations such as RLC layer functions, MAC layer functions, and Higher-PHY functions. RU 1401 (e.g., O-RU) can be primarily responsible for hosting Lower-PHY functions to send and receive radio communication signals to / from terminal devices (e.g., UE) and provide data streams to DU via a fronthaul interface (e.g., open fronthaul). SMO 1405 can provide functions for management domains (e.g., RAN management, core management, transmission management), and non-RTRIC 1406 can provide functions for supporting intelligent RAN optimization via policy-based guidance, AI / ML model management, etc. The Near-RT RIC 1404 may provide functionality for real-time optimization, including hosting one or more xApps that may collect real-time information (per UE or per cell) and provide services that may also include AI / ML services.

[0149] For the sake of brevity, an exemplary RAN 1400 is shown. A skilled person will recognize the aspects provided herein, and may also recognize that the exemplary RAN 1400 may include additional characterizations, for example, the CU may also be at least logically distributed to two entities (e.g., CU control plane, CU user plane), and various types of interfaces (e.g., E2, F1, O1, X2, NG-u, etc.) may exist between different entities of the exemplary RAN 1400. The RAN 1400 may include more than one RU connected to a common entity executing an upper layer of a protocol stack within the architecture, such as the two RUs 1401 exemplarily shown herein, providing network access services to corresponding UEs 1411, 1421 for corresponding cells 1410, 1420.

[0150] According to the exemplary distributed RAN architecture, the UE may transmit and receive radio communication signals to and from the RU 1401. Processing associated with the communication is performed at respective layers of the network stack by respective entities responsible for performing corresponding functions of the respective layers.

[0151] According to various aspects of the present disclosure, RU 1401 may include a radio communication device (e.g., RRH 400) described in the present disclosure to communicate with a UE attached to RU 1401. RU 1401 may selectively use one or more of the available RX paths for uplink communications and use other one or more of the available RX paths for RFES operations. RU 1401 may generate one or more spectrum reports based on the RF ES operations performed, which RU 1401 may use to schedule RF operations in both the uplink direction and / or the downlink direction. RU 1401 may send RF ES related data to DU 1402, CU 1403, near-RT RIC 1404, non-RT RIC 1406, and / or SMO 1405 so that these entities may analyze the RF-ES related data to determine the spectrum content and configure various network parameters accordingly.

[0152] Fig.15 An example of a method is shown. The method may include: identifying (1501) a plurality of signal paths, each of the plurality of signal paths being configured to receive an RF signal from a corresponding radio frequency (RF) circuit; determining (1502) a first signal path and a second signal path from the plurality of signal paths, wherein the first signal path is configured to receive a first RF signal in the RF signals; demodulating (1503) the first RF signal received from the first signal path to decode received communication data; and performing (1504) an RF environment listening operation for a frequency band based on a digital signal converted from a second RF signal in the RF signals, wherein the second RF signal is provided by the second signal path. Illustratively, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may include instructions that, if executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method.

[0153] The following examples pertain to further aspects of the present disclosure.

[0154] In Example 1, the subject matter includes: a device of a radio communication equipment, the device including: multiple signal paths, each of the multiple signal paths is configured to: receive an RF signal from a corresponding radio frequency (RF) circuit; a processor, configured to: determine a first signal path and a second signal path from the multiple signal paths, wherein the first signal path is configured to: receive a first RF signal among the RF signals; demodulate the first RF signal received from the first signal path to decode received communication data; perform an RF environment listening operation for a frequency band based on a digital signal converted from a second RF signal among the RF signals, wherein the second RF signal is provided by the second signal path.

[0155] In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine spectral content of a frequency band based on the digital signal.

[0156] In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the first RF signal and the second RF signal are obtained from a same RX antenna.

[0157] In Example 4, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-3, wherein each signal path is capable of demodulating a received digital signal and performing RF environment listening operations based on the received digital signal.

[0158] In Example 5, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-4, wherein the processor is further configured to: selectively perform an RF environment listening operation using a corresponding RF signal received from each of the multiple signal paths, or demodulate a corresponding RF signal received from each of the multiple signal paths.

[0159] In Example 6, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-5, wherein the processor is further configured to: route the digital signal for transmission to a digital processing unit via a data converter serial interface; and wherein the data converter serial interface is further configured to: send communication data obtained based on the demodulated first RF signal.

[0160] In Example 7, the subject matter as described in any of Examples 1-6 may also include a memory configured to store the digital signal.

[0161] In Example 8, the subject matter of Example 7, wherein the processor is further configured to: route the stored digital signal for transmission to the digital processing unit via the packet-based communication interface.

[0162] In Example 9, the subject matter as described in Example 7 or Example 8, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine information representing spectral content within the frequency band based on analysis of the stored digital signal; wherein the processor is further configured to: send the determined information via a packet-based communication interface.

[0163] In Example 10, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-9, wherein the processor is configured to determine the first signal path and the second signal path based on a scheduled radio communication operation associated with the RF circuit.

[0164] In Example 11, the subject matter of Example 10, wherein the processor is configured to select one of the plurality of signal paths as the second signal path if a corresponding RF circuit of the signal path is not scheduled for radio communication.

[0165] In Example 12, the subject matter as described in Example 10 or Example 11, wherein the processor is further configured to: based on a corresponding scheduled radio communication operation associated with a corresponding RF circuit, schedule one of the multiple signal paths to be used as the second signal path for a time period, such that no scheduled radio communication operation exists during the time period.

[0166] In Example 13, the subject matter of any of Examples 10-12, wherein the processor is configured to: perform an RF environment listening operation during a blank LTE or NR symbol scheduled for the second signal path.

[0167] In Example 14, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-13, wherein the digital signal comprises a downsampled signal converted from the second RF signal.

[0168] In Example 15, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-14, wherein the digital signal comprises unfiltered in-phase and quadrature (I / Q) samples.

[0169] In Example 16, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-15, wherein the digital signal comprises unfiltered real RF samples.

[0170] In Example 17, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-16, wherein the digital signal comprises a baseband signal.

[0171] In Example 18, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-17, wherein the processor is further configured to: process the digital signal in a trusted execution environment for an RF environment listening operation.

[0172] In Example 19, the subject matter of Example 18, wherein the digital signal and / or data obtained by processing the digital signal is stored in a secure enclave.

[0173] In Example 20, the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-19, wherein the processor is further configured to: transmit the digital signal or data obtained based on the digital signal using an encrypted link.

[0174] In Example 21, the subject matter as described in Example 20, wherein the processor is further configured to: establish multiple encrypted links to transmit multiple digital signals or multiple data obtained based on the multiple digital signals.

[0175] In Example 22, the subject matter as described in any of Examples 1-21 may also include multiple RF circuits, each RF circuit being configured to send and / or receive radio communication signals within a corresponding frequency band; wherein the RF environment listening operation performed is used to couple to the frequency band of the corresponding RF circuit of the second signal path.

[0176] In Example 23, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-22, wherein the processor is configured to: adjust RF communication parameters to reduce adjacent channel selectivity (ACS) or adjacent channel leakage rate (ACLR) operation when the determined one or more spectral contents indicate reduced adjacent channel activity.

[0177] In Example 24, a remote radio unit may include: an antenna array; a fronthaul interface; a plurality of RF circuits as described in any of Examples 1-23, each RF circuit including a corresponding analog-to-digital converter configured to convert a corresponding RF signal received by the RF circuit; wherein the processor is further configured to: control each of the plurality of RF circuits.

[0178] In Example 25, a remote radio unit as described in Example 24, wherein the fronthaul interface is configured to: provide communication between the remote radio unit and an external communication device outside the remote radio unit; wherein the processor is further configured to: implement a first part of a radio communication protocol stack and send communication data to the external communication data, wherein the communication data is obtained by implementing the first part of the radio communication protocol stack on the first RF signal.

[0179] In Example 26, the remote radio unit as described in Example 24 or Example 25, wherein the processor is further configured to: encode at least one of the digital signal or data obtained based on the digital signal for transmission over the fronthaul interface.

[0180] In Example 27, a remote radio unit as described in any of Examples 24-26, wherein the remote radio unit is a radio unit (O-RU) of an open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture; wherein the external communication device includes a distributed unit (O-DU) and / or a centralized unit (O-CU).

[0181] In Example 28, the subject matter includes: a device of a radio communication equipment, the device comprising: multiple signal paths, configured to: receive RF signals from multiple radio frequency (RF) circuits; a processor, configured to: select at least one signal path among the multiple signal paths for RF environment listening operation; perform RF environment listening operation with a corresponding RF signal provided by at least one selected signal path among the multiple signal paths; perform RF radio communication operation with corresponding RF signals of other signal paths among the multiple signal paths, wherein the other signal paths are different from the selected at least one signal path.

[0182] In Example 29, the subject matter as described in Example 28, wherein the subject matter is further configured according to any aspect described herein, in particular the aspects described in Examples 2 to 27.

[0183] In Example 30, the subject matter includes: a method comprising: identifying multiple signal paths, each of the multiple signal paths being configured to: receive an RF signal from a corresponding radio frequency (RF) circuit; determining a first signal path and a second signal path from the multiple signal paths, wherein the first signal path is configured to: receive a first RF signal among the RF signals; demodulate the first RF signal received from the first signal path to decode received communication data; and perform an RF environment listening operation for a frequency band based on a digital signal converted from a second RF signal among the RF signals, wherein the second RF signal is provided by the second signal path.

[0184] In Example 31, the subject matter of Example 30 may further include: determining a spectral content of a frequency band based on the digital signal.

[0185] In Example 32, the subject matter of Example 30 or Example 31, wherein the first and second RF signals are obtained from the same RX antenna.

[0186] In Example 33, the subject matter of any of Examples 30-32, wherein each signal path is capable of demodulating a received digital signal and performing an RF environment listening operation based on the received digital signal.

[0187] In Example 34, the subject matter as described in any of Examples 30-33 may also include: selectively performing an RF environment listening operation using a corresponding RF signal received from each of the multiple signal paths, or demodulating a corresponding RF signal received from each of the multiple signal paths.

[0188] In Example 35, the subject matter as described in any of Examples 30-34 may also include: routing the digital signal for transmission to a digital processing unit via a data converter serial interface; and sending communication data obtained based on the demodulated first RF signal via the data converter serial interface.

[0189] In Example 36, the subject matter as described in any of Examples 30-35 may further include: storing the digital signal.

[0190] In Example 37, the subject matter of Example 36 may further include routing the stored digital signal for transmission to a digital processing unit via a packet-based communication interface.

[0191] In Example 38, the subject matter as described in Example 36 or Example 36 may also include: determining information representing the spectral content within the frequency band based on analysis of the stored digital signal; and sending the determined information via a packet-based communication interface.

[0192] In Example 39, the subject matter of any of Examples 30-38 may further include determining the first signal path and the second signal path based on a scheduled radio communication operation associated with the RF circuit.

[0193] In Example 40, the subject matter of Example 39 may further include selecting one of the plurality of signal paths as the second signal path if a corresponding RF circuit of the signal path is not scheduled for radio communication.

[0194] In Example 41, the subject matter as described in Example 39 or Example 40 may also include: based on a corresponding scheduled radio communication operation associated with the corresponding RF circuit, scheduling one of the multiple signal paths to be used as the second signal path for a time period, such that no scheduled radio communication operation exists during the time period.

[0195] In Example 42, the subject matter of any of Examples 39-41 may further include: performing an RF environment listening operation during a blank LTE or NR symbol scheduled for the second signal path.

[0196] In Example 43, the subject matter of any of Examples 30-42, wherein the digital signal comprises a downsampled signal converted from the second RF signal.

[0197] In Example 44, the subject matter of any of Examples 30-43, wherein the digital signal comprises unfiltered in-phase and quadrature (I / Q) samples.

[0198] In Example 45, the subject matter of any of Examples 30-44, wherein the digital signal comprises unfiltered real RF samples.

[0199] In Example 46, the subject matter of any of Examples 30-45, wherein the digital signal comprises a baseband signal.

[0200] In Example 47, the subject matter of any of Examples 30-46 may further include: processing the digital signal in a trusted execution environment for an RF environment listening operation.

[0201] In Example 48, the subject matter of Example 47, wherein the digital signal and / or data obtained by processing the digital signal is stored in a secure enclave.

[0202] In Example 49, the subject matter as described in any of Examples 30-48 may also include: using an encrypted link to transmit the digital signal or data obtained based on the digital signal.

[0203] In Example 50, the subject matter as described in Example 49 may further include: establishing multiple encrypted links to transmit multiple digital signals or multiple data obtained based on the multiple digital signals.

[0204] In Example 51, the subject matter as described in any of Examples 30-50 may also include: sending and / or receiving radio communication signals via the multiple RF circuits within the corresponding frequency band; wherein the RF environment listening operation performed is used to couple to the frequency band of the corresponding RF circuit of the second signal path.

[0205] In Example 52, the subject matter as described in any of Examples 30-51 may also include: adjusting RF communication parameters to reduce adjacent channel selectivity (ACS) or adjacent channel leakage rate (ACLR) operation when the determined one or more spectral contents indicate reduced adjacent channel activity.

[0206] In Example 53, the subject matter as described in any of Examples 30-52 may also include: providing communication between the remote radio unit and an external communication device outside the remote radio unit via a fronthaul interface; and implementing a first part of a radio communication protocol stack and sending communication data to the external communication data, wherein the communication data is obtained by implementing the first part of the radio communication protocol stack on the first RF signal.

[0207] In Example 54, the subject matter as described in Example 53 may also include: encoding at least one of the digital signal or the data obtained based on the digital signal for transmission through the fronthaul interface.

[0208] In Example 55, the subject matter may include: a method comprising: determining a plurality of signal paths, the plurality of signal paths being configured to receive RF signals from a plurality of radio frequency (RF) circuits; selecting at least one of the plurality of signal paths for use in an RF environment listening operation; performing an RF environment listening operation using a corresponding RF signal provided by at least one selected signal path of the plurality of signal paths; and performing an RF radio communication operation using corresponding RF signals of other signal paths of the plurality of signal paths, wherein the other signal paths are different from the at least one selected signal path.

[0209] In Example 56, the subject matter of Example 55, wherein the method further includes any aspect described herein, in particular the aspects described in Examples 30-54.

[0210] In Example 57, a non-transitory computer-readable medium includes one or more instructions, which, if executed by a processor, causes the processor to: identify multiple signal paths, each of the multiple signal paths being configured to: receive an RF signal from a corresponding radio frequency (RF) circuit; determine a first signal path and a second signal path from the multiple signal paths, wherein the first signal path is configured to: receive a first RF signal among the RF signals; demodulate the first RF signal received from the first signal path to decode received communication data; and perform an RF environment listening operation for a frequency band based on a digital signal converted from a second RF signal among the RF signals, wherein the second RF signal is provided by the second signal path.

[0211] In Example 58, the subject matter of Example 57, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: determine spectral content of a frequency band based on the digital signal.

[0212] In Example 59, the subject matter of Example 57 or Example 58, wherein the first and second RF signals are obtained from the same RX antenna.

[0213] In Example 60, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-59 is described, wherein each signal path is capable of demodulating a received digital signal and performing an RF environment listening operation based on the received digital signal.

[0214] In Example 61, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-60, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: selectively perform an RF environment listening operation using a corresponding RF signal received from each of the multiple signal paths, or demodulate a corresponding RF signal received from each of the multiple signal paths.

[0215] In Example 62, the subject matter of any one of Examples 57-61, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: route the digital signal for transmission to a digital processing unit via a data converter serial interface; and wherein the data converter serial interface is further configured to: send communication data obtained based on the demodulated first RF signal.

[0216] In Example 63, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-62, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: store the digital signal in a memory.

[0217] In Example 64, the subject matter of Example 63, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: route the stored digital signal for transmission to a digital processing unit via a packet-based communication interface.

[0218] In Example 65, the subject matter as described in Example 63 or Example 64, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: determine information representing spectral content within the frequency band based on analysis of the stored digital signal; wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: send the determined information via a packet-based communication interface.

[0219] In Example 66, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-65, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: determine the first signal path and the second signal path based on a scheduled radio communication operation associated with the RF circuit.

[0220] In Example 67, the subject matter of Example 66, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to select one of the plurality of signal paths as the second signal path if a corresponding RF circuit of the signal path is not scheduled for radio communication.

[0221] In Example 68, the subject matter of Example 66 or Example 67, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: schedule one of the plurality of signal paths to serve as the second signal path for a time period based on a corresponding scheduled radio communication operation associated with the corresponding RF circuit, such that no scheduled radio communication operation exists during the time period.

[0222] In Example 69, the subject matter of any of Examples 66-68, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: perform an RF environment listening operation during a blank LTE or NR symbol scheduled for the second signal path.

[0223] In Example 70, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-69 is described, wherein the digital signal comprises a downsampled signal converted from the second RF signal.

[0224] In Example 71, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-70, wherein the digital signal comprises unfiltered in-phase and quadrature (I / Q) samples.

[0225] In Example 72, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-71, wherein the digital signal comprises unfiltered real RF samples.

[0226] In Example 73, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-72, wherein the digital signal comprises a baseband signal.

[0227] In Example 74, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-73, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: process the digital signal in a trusted execution environment for an RF environment listening operation.

[0228] In Example 75, the subject matter of Example 74, wherein the digital signal and / or data obtained by processing the digital signal is stored in a secure enclave.

[0229] In Example 76, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-75, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: transmit the digital signal or data obtained based on the digital signal using an encrypted link.

[0230] In Example 77, the subject matter as described in Example 76, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: establish multiple encrypted links to transmit multiple digital signals or multiple data obtained based on the multiple digital signals.

[0231] In Example 78, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-77 is described, wherein the RF environment listening operation performed is for a frequency band of a corresponding RF circuit coupled to the second signal path.

[0232] In Example 79, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-78, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: adjust RF communication parameters to reduce adjacent channel selectivity (ACS) or adjacent channel leakage rate (ACLR) operation when the determined one or more spectral contents indicate reduced adjacent channel activity.

[0233] In Example 80, the subject matter of any of Examples 57-79, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: communicate via a fronthaul interface.

[0234] In Example 81, the subject matter of Example 80, wherein the fronthaul interface is configured to: provide communication between the remote radio unit and an external communication device outside the remote radio unit; wherein the one or more instructions also cause the processor to implement a first portion of a radio communication protocol stack and send communication data to the external communication data, wherein the communication data is obtained by implementing the first portion of the radio communication protocol stack on the first RF signal.

[0235] In Example 82, the non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Example 80 or Example 81, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to: encode at least one of the digital signal or data obtained based on the digital signal for transmission via the fronthaul interface.

[0236] In Example 83, a non-transitory computer-readable medium includes one or more instructions, which, if executed by a processor, causes the processor to: determine multiple signal paths, wherein the multiple signal paths are configured to: receive RF signals from multiple radio frequency (RF) circuits; select at least one signal path among the multiple signal paths for an RF environment listening operation; perform the RF environment listening operation using a corresponding RF signal provided by at least one selected signal path among the multiple signal paths; and perform RF radio communication operations using corresponding RF signals of other signal paths among the multiple signal paths, wherein the other signal paths are different from the selected at least one signal path.

[0237] In Example 84, the subject matter of Example 83, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises any aspect described herein, in particular the aspects described in Examples 57 to 82.

[0238] The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs.

[0239] The words "plurality" and "several" in the specification and claims explicitly refer to a number greater than 1. The terms "group", "set", "collection", "series", "sequence", "grouping", etc. in the specification or claims refer to a number equal to or greater than 1 (i.e., one or more). Any term expressed in plural form without explicitly stating "plurality" or "several" also refers to a number equal to or greater than 1.

[0240] Any vector and / or matrix notation utilized herein is exemplary in nature and is employed for purposes of explanation only. Thus, the apparatus and methods of the present disclosure accompanied by vector and / or matrix notation are not limited to implementation using only vectors and / or matrices, and associated processes and calculations may equally be performed with respect to sets, sequences, groups, etc. of data, observations, information, signals, samples, symbols, elements, etc.

[0241] As used herein, "memory" is understood to be a non-transient computer-readable medium that can store data or information for acquisition. References to "memory" included herein can therefore be understood to refer to volatile or non-volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, tape, hard disk drive, optical drive, etc. or any combination thereof. In addition, registers, shift registers, processor registers, data buffers, etc. are also covered by the term memory in this article. A single component referred to as "memory" or "a memory" can be composed of more than one different type of memory, and thus can refer to a joint component including one or more types of memory. Any single memory component can be separated into multiple joint equivalent memory components, and vice versa. In addition, although the memory can be depicted as being separated from one or more other components (e.g., in the accompanying drawings), the memory can also be integrated with other components, such as on a common integrated chip or a controller with embedded memory.

[0242] The term "software" refers to any type of executable instructions, including firmware.

[0243] In the context of the present disclosure, the term "process" may be used, for example, to indicate a method. Illustratively, any process described herein may be implemented as a method (e.g., a channel estimation process may be understood as a channel estimation method). Any process described herein may be implemented as a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause one or more processors to perform a process (e.g., perform a method).

[0244] Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that, unless otherwise indicated, similar reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features and structures. It should be noted that certain components may be omitted for simplicity. It should be noted that nodes (points) are provided to identify circuit line intersections in the drawings including electronic circuit diagrams.

[0245] The phrases "at least one" and "one or more" may be understood to include numerical numbers greater than or equal to 1 (e.g., one, two, three, four, [...], etc.). The phrase "at least one of" with respect to a set of elements may be used herein to mean at least one element from a group consisting of elements. For example, the phrase "at least one of" with respect to a set of elements may be used herein to mean a selection of: one of the listed elements, one of a plurality of the listed elements, a plurality of individually listed elements, or a number of a plurality of individually listed elements.

[0246] The words "plurality" and "several" in the specification and claims clearly refer to numbers greater than 1. Therefore, any phrase that explicitly refers to the above words (e.g., "plurality [elements]", "several [elements]") referring to a number of elements clearly refers to more than one of the elements. For example, the phrase "plurality" can be understood to include a numerical number greater than or equal to 2 (e.g., two, three, four, five, [.. . ], etc.).

[0247] As used herein, a signal or information "indicating," "representing," "representing," or "indicating" a value or other information may be a digital or analog signal that encodes or otherwise communicates a value or other information in a manner that can be decoded by a component receiving the signal and / or produce a responsive action in a component receiving the signal. The signal may be stored or buffered in a computer-readable storage medium prior to its receipt by a receiving component, and the receiving component may retrieve the signal from the storage medium. Furthermore, a "value" that "indicates" or "represents" a number, state, or parameter may be physically embodied as a digital signal, an analog signal, or stored bits that encode or otherwise communicate a value.

[0248] As used herein, a signal may be transmitted or conducted through a signal chain where the signal is processed to change characteristics such as phase, amplitude, frequency, etc. Even if these characteristics are adapted, the signal may be referred to as the same signal. In general, as long as the signal continues to encode the same information, the signal may be considered to be the same signal. For example, a transmitted signal may be considered to refer to a transmitted signal in baseband, intermediate frequency, and radio frequency.

[0249] For example, the term "processor" or "controller" used herein can be understood as any kind of technical entity that allows the processing of data. Data can be processed according to one or more specific functions performed by the processor. In addition, the processor or controller used herein can be understood as any kind of circuit (for example, any kind of analog or digital circuit). The processor or controller can thus be or include an analog circuit, a digital circuit, a mixed signal circuit, a logic circuit, a processor, a microprocessor, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an integrated circuit, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. or any combination thereof. Any other kind of implementation of the corresponding function described in further detail below can also be understood as a processor, a controller or a logic circuit. It should be understood that any two (or more) processors, controllers or logic circuits described in detail herein can be implemented as a single entity with equivalent or similar functions, and conversely, any single processor, controller or logic circuit described in detail herein can be implemented as two (or more) separate entities with equivalent or similar functions.

[0250] The term "one or more processors" is intended to refer to a processor or a controller. The one or more processors may include one processor or multiple processors. The term is only used as an alternative to "processor" or "controller".

[0251] The term "user device" is intended to refer to a device of a user (e.g., an occupant) that can be configured to provide information related to the user. User devices may exemplarily include mobile phones, smart phones, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart wristbands), computers, etc.

[0252] As used herein, the terms "module," "component," "system," "circuit," "element," "slice," "circuit," and the like are intended to refer to one or more electronic components, computer-related entities, hardware, software (e.g., in execution), and / or firmware. For example, a circuit or similar term may be a processor, a process running on a processor, a controller, an object, an executable program, a storage device, and / or a computer with a processing device. By way of illustration, applications running on servers and servers may also be circuits. One or more circuits may reside within the same circuit, and circuits may be located on one computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. A collection of elements or other collections of circuits may be described herein, where the term "collection" may be interpreted as "one or more."

[0253] The terminology according to the Open RAN (O-RAN) specifications is considered for Radio Units (RU), Distributed Units (DUs) and Centralized Units (CUs). Essentially, the base station is considered to be broken down into such units according to the layers of the corresponding protocol stacks entering these logical nodes, all of which can be implemented by the same device or multiple devices, where each device can be deployed with one of these units.

[0254] The term "data" as used herein may be understood to include information in any suitable analog or digital form provided, for example, as a file, a portion of a file, a collection of files, a signal or stream, a portion of a signal or stream, a collection of signals or streams, etc. In addition, the term "data" may also be used to refer to a reference to information in the form of, for example, a pointer. However, the term "data" is not limited to the above examples, and may take various forms and represent any information understood in the art. The term "data item" may include data or a portion of data.

[0255] As used herein, the term "demodulation" or "demodulation" may be understood as extracting the information-bearing signal sent by a transmitter / modulator from a carrier wave, or in other words, recovering information from an RF signal including a modulated carrier wave. Illustratively, demodulation may include down-conversion, and extracting a baseband signal from the down-converted signal.

[0256] It should be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be physically connected or coupled to the other element so that current and / or electromagnetic radiation (e.g., a signal) can flow along a conductive path formed by the element. In essence, such an element is connectable or coupleable to another element. When elements are described as being coupled or connected to each other, there may be intervening conductive, inductive, or capacitive elements between the element and the other element. In addition, when coupled or connected to each other, an element may have the ability to induce a voltage or current or the propagation of an electromagnetic wave in the other element without physical contact or intervening components. In addition, when a voltage, current, or signal is referred to as being "provided" to an element, the voltage, current, or signal can be conducted to the element by means of a physical connection or by means of capacitive, electromagnetic, or inductive coupling that does not involve a physical connection.

[0257] Unless expressly stated otherwise, the term "point in time" refers to the time of a particular event or circumstance, depending on the context. A point in time may refer to an instantaneous point in time, or to a period of time relating to a particular event or circumstance.

[0258] Unless expressly specified, the term "sending" implies both direct (point-to-point) and indirect transmission (via one or more intermediary points). Similarly, the term "receiving" implies both direct and indirect reception. In addition, the terms "sending", "receiving", "communicating" and other similar terms imply both physical transmission (e.g., transmission of radio signals) and logical transmission (e.g., transmission of digital data through logical software-level connections). For example, a processor or controller may send or receive data with another processor or controller through a software-level connection in the form of radio signals, where the physical transmission and reception are handled by radio layer components (e.g., RF transceiver and antenna), and the logical transmission and reception through the software-level connection is performed by the processor or controller. The term "communicating" implies one or both of sending and receiving (i.e., unidirectional or bidirectional communication in one or both of the incoming and outgoing directions). The term "computing" implies both "direct" computation via mathematical expressions / formulas / relationships and "indirect" computation via lookups or hash tables and other array indexing or searching operations.

[0259] An antenna port may be understood as a logical concept representing a specific channel or associated with a specific channel. An antenna port may be understood as a logical structure associated with a corresponding channel (e.g., a corresponding channel between a user equipment and a base station). Illustratively, a symbol (e.g., an OFDM symbol) sent through an antenna port (e.g., through a first channel) may be subject to different propagation conditions relative to other symbols sent through another antenna port (e.g., through a second channel).

[0260] Although the above description and related drawings may depict electronic device components as separate elements, the skilled person will appreciate the various possibilities of combining or integrating discrete elements into a single element. This may include: combining two or more circuits to form a single circuit, mounting two or more circuits onto a common chip or chassis to form an integrated element, executing discrete software components on a common processor core, etc. Conversely, the skilled person will recognize the possibility of separating a single element into two or more discrete elements (e.g., splitting a single circuit into two or more separate circuits, separating a chip or chassis into discrete elements originally provided thereon, separating a software component into two or more sections and executing each section on a separate processor core, etc.).

[0261] It should be understood that the implementation of the method detailed herein is demonstrative in nature and is thus understood to be capable of being implemented in a corresponding device. Similarly, it should be understood that the implementation of the device detailed herein is understood to be capable of being implemented as a corresponding method. It should thus be understood that a device corresponding to the method detailed herein may include one or more components configured to perform each aspect of the related method. All abbreviations defined in the above description also hold true in all claims included herein.

Claims

1. A device for a radio communication device, the device comprising: a plurality of signal paths, each of the plurality of signal paths being configured to: receive a radio frequency (RF) signal from a corresponding RF circuit; The processor is configured as: determining a first signal path and a second signal path from the plurality of signal paths, wherein the first signal path is configured to: receive a first RF signal among the RF signals; demodulating the first RF signal received from the first signal path to decode received communication data; An RF environment listening operation is performed for a frequency band based on a digital signal converted from a second RF signal among the RF signals, wherein the second RF signal is provided by the second signal path.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processor is further configured to: Based on the digital signal, a spectral content of a frequency band is determined.

3. The device according to claim 1, in, The first RF signal and the second RF signal are obtained from the same RX antenna.

4. The device according to claim 1, in, Each signal path has the capability to demodulate a received digital signal and perform RF environment listening operations based on the received digital signal.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processor is further configured to: An RF environment listening operation is selectively performed using a corresponding RF signal received from each of the plurality of signal paths, or a corresponding RF signal received from each of the plurality of signal paths is demodulated.

6. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, in, The processor is further configured to: route the digital signal for transmission to a digital processing unit via a data converter serial interface; and Wherein, the data converter serial interface is further configured to: send communication data obtained based on the demodulated first RF signal.

7. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The processor is further configured to: The stored digital signal is routed for transmission to a digital processing unit via a packet-based communication interface.

8. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, in, The processor is further configured to: determine information representative of spectral content within the frequency band based on analysis of the stored digital signal; The processor is further configured to: send the determined information via a packet-based communication interface.

9. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The processor is configured to: The first signal path and the second signal path are determined based on scheduled radio communication operations associated with the RF circuit.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein: The processor is further configured to: One of the plurality of signal paths is scheduled to function as the second signal path for a time period based on a respective scheduled radio communication operation associated with a respective RF circuit such that no scheduled radio communication operation exists during the time period.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein: The processor is configured to: If a corresponding RF circuit of one of the plurality of signal paths is not scheduled for radio communication, the signal path is selected as the second signal path.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein: The processor is configured to: During blank Long Term Evolution (LTE) or New Radio (NR) symbols scheduled for the second signal path, RF environment sensing operations are performed.

13. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, in, The digital signal includes a down-sampled signal converted from the second RF signal.

14. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, in, The digital signal includes unfiltered in-phase and quadrature (I / Q) samples.

15. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, in, The digital signal comprises unfiltered true RF samples.

16. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, in, The digital signal includes a baseband signal.

17. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The processor is further configured to: The digital signal is processed in a trusted execution environment for RF environment listening operations.

18. The device according to claim 17, in, The digital signal and / or data obtained by processing the digital signal are stored in a secure enclave.

19. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The processor is further configured to: The digital signal or data obtained based on the digital signal is transmitted using an encrypted link.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein: The processor is further configured to: Multiple encrypted links are established to transmit multiple digital signals or multiple data obtained based on multiple digital signals.

21. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The processor is configured to: Where the determined one or more spectral contents indicate reduced adjacent channel activity, RF communication parameters are adjusted to reduce adjacent channel selectivity (ACS) or adjacent channel leakage rate (ACLR) operation.

22. A remote radio unit comprising: Antenna arrays; Fronthaul interface; A device comprising: a plurality of signal paths, each of the plurality of signal paths being configured to: receive a radio frequency (RF) signal from a corresponding RF circuit; The processor is configured as: determining a first signal path and a second signal path from the plurality of signal paths, wherein the first signal path is configured to: receive a first RF signal among the RF signals; demodulating the first RF signal received from the first signal path to decode received communication data; performing an RF environment listening operation for a frequency band based on a digital signal converted from a second RF signal among the RF signals, wherein the second RF signal is provided by the second signal path, wherein the fronthaul interface is configured to: provide communication between the remote radio unit and an external communication device external to the remote radio unit; The processor is further configured to: implement a first part of a radio communication protocol stack and send communication data to the external communication device, wherein the communication data is obtained by implementing the first part of the radio communication protocol stack on the first RF signal.

23. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising one or more instructions which, if executed by a processor, cause the processor to: identifying a plurality of signal paths, each signal path of the plurality of signal paths being configured to: receive a radio frequency (RF) signal from a corresponding RF circuit; A first signal path and a second signal path are determined from the plurality of signal paths, wherein: The first signal path is configured to: receive a first RF signal among the RF signals; demodulating the first RF signal received from the first signal path to decode received communication data; An RF environment listening operation is performed for a frequency band based on a digital signal converted from a second RF signal among the RF signals, wherein the second RF signal is provided by the second signal path.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein: The one or more instructions further cause the processor to: Based on the digital signal, a spectral content of a frequency band is determined.

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