Joint communication and sensing

Abstract

An audio node for a wireless communication network is disclosed, the radio node being adapted for wireless communication and for sensing and / or for radar operation, the radio node further comprising a hardware switch for switching from operation in a communication mode to operation in a sensing mode. The disclosure also relates to related devices and methods.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to wireless communication and radar technologies, particularly high-frequency wireless communication and radar technologies. Background Art

[0002] For future wireless communication systems, the combination of wireless communication and sensing (radar) has been discussed, particularly for using the same spectrum and / or hardware for both. This is sometimes referred to as Joint Communication and Sensing (JCAS). Combining these functions presents many challenges. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of the present disclosure is to provide methods for processing JCAS, particularly methods for multiplexing communication signaling and sensing signaling. These methods described can be used in one frequency range or multiple different frequency ranges. For example, they can be implemented for frequency ranges of sensing signaling and / or communication signaling (e.g., carrier bandwidth and / or system bandwidth) of 1 GHz or higher, 2 GHz or higher, 5 GHz or higher, 6 GHz or higher, 10 GHz or higher, and / or can be implemented for millimeter-wave communication, particularly for radio carrier frequencies of approximately 52.6 GHz and / or higher than 52.6 GHz. 52.6 GHz can be considered high radio frequency (high frequency) and / or millimeter wave. The carrier frequency can be between 52.6 and 140 GHz, for example having a lower boundary between 52.6, 55, 60, 71 GHz and / or an upper boundary between 71, 72, 90, 114, 140 GHz or higher frequencies, particularly between 55 and 90 GHz or between 60 and 72 GHz; however, higher frequencies can be considered, particularly frequencies of 71 GHz or 72 GHz or above, and / or 100 GHz or above, and / or 140 GHz or above. The carrier frequency can specifically refer to the center frequency or the maximum frequency of the carrier. The radio nodes and / or networks described herein can operate in a broadband, for example having a carrier bandwidth (or bandwidth or carrier aggregation) of 400 MHz or higher, particularly 1 GHz or higher, 2 GHz or higher, or even larger (e.g., 6 GHz or higher, or 8 GHz or higher); for example, depending on the channel and / or process, the scheduled or allocated bandwidth can be the carrier bandwidth, or can be smaller. In some cases, the operation can be based on an OFDM waveform or an SC-FDM waveform (e.g., downlink and / or uplink), specifically based on the waveform of FDF-SC-FDM. However, operations based on a single-carrier waveform (e.g., SC-FDE (which can be pulse shaping or frequency-domain filtering, e.g., based on the modulation scheme and / or MCS)) can be considered for the downlink and / or uplink. Generally, different waveforms can be used for different communication directions. Communicating using or leveraging a carrier and / or a beam can correspond to operating using or leveraging a carrier and / or a beam, and / or can include transmitting on a carrier and / or a beam, and / or receiving on a carrier and / or a beam. The operation can be based on a parameter set and / or associated with a parameter set, which can indicate the subcarrier spacing and / or duration of the allocation unit and / or its equivalent parameters, for example, compared to an OFDM-based system. The subcarrier spacing or equivalent frequency spacing can correspond to, for example, 960 kHz or 1920 kHz, for example representing the bandwidth of the subcarrier or an equivalent parameter.

[0004] It is particularly advantageous to implement these methods in a future sixth-generation (6G) telecommunications network or 6G radio access technology or network (RAT / RAN) according to 3GPP (the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, a standardization organization). Specifically, a suitable RAN can be an RAN evolved from NR (e.g., version 18 or later versions) or LTE. However, these methods can also be used with other RATs (e.g., future 5.5G systems or IEEE-based systems).

[0005] A method of operating a radio node in a wireless communication network is disclosed; this method can be referred to as a first method of operating a radio node. The radio node is adapted for wireless communication and is adapted for sensing and / or radar operation. The method includes transmitting and / or receiving sensing signaling that is time-domain multiplexed with communication signaling.

[0006] Furthermore, a radio node for a wireless communication network is proposed; this radio node can be referred to as a first radio node. The radio node is adapted for wireless communication and is adapted for sensing and / or radar operation. The radio node is adapted to transmit and / or receive sensing signaling that is time-domain multiplexed with communication signaling.

[0007] Alternatively or additionally, a (second) radio node for a wireless communication network can be considered. The radio node is adapted for wireless communication and is adapted for sensing and / or radar operation. The radio node further includes a hardware switch for switching from operating in a communication mode to operating in a sensing mode. The radio node can be adapted for time-domain multiplexing of sensing signaling and communication signaling, and / or include the functions and / or features of the first radio node. A (second) method of operating such a radio node and / or the second radio node or the first radio node is also proposed. The method includes switching from a communication mode to a sensing mode based on and / or using a signal from the hardware switch. The method can also include the first method of operating the radio node.

[0008] Sensing and / or radar operation can be used interchangeably. Sensing operation can be performed in a sensing mode. Communication can be performed in a communication mode. Different antenna arrangements and / or different nodes can operate in different modes; in some cases, different antenna arrangements of the same radio node can operate in different modes using frequency-domain multiplexing (e.g., in addition to and / or superimposed on time-domain multiplexing). Sensing operation can include transmitting and / or receiving sensing signaling. The sensing signaling can be signaling intended to bounce off one or more targets, e.g., for determining the presence, and / or location, and / or speed and and / or rate of the target based on the reflected signaling. The sensing operation can be monostatic, or in some cases can be bistatic or multistatic.

[0009] It can be considered that communication signaling is based on an OFDM waveform, such as a waveform based on DFT-s-OFDM, and / or communication signaling is based on a waveform with a cyclic appended part. The cyclic appended part can generally be a cyclic prefix or a cyclic suffix. This appended part can represent the repetition of a part of the signaling carried by the symbol at its start (suffix) or end (prefix), and this part can be appended at the relative position (end or start) of the symbol; for example, the cyclic prefix can be considered as the signaling repetition at the end of the symbol to which it belongs. The cyclic appended part can be associated with a specific symbol, and it can have a duration shorter than the symbol duration (e.g., less than 1 / 4 of the symbol duration, or less than 1 / 6).

[0010] A radio node may operate in TDD mode, e.g., switching between a DL period and a UL period. The DL period may be a period during which the radio node operates using DL transmissions, and the UL period may be a period during which the radio node operates using UL transmissions (e.g., for a wireless device, the network node may transmit during the DL and receive during the UL, and vice versa). It can be considered that there is a TDD guard period between the DL period and the UL period and / or between the UL period and the DL period, and the guard period may include a plurality of symbol time intervals, e.g., 10 or more symbols, or 12 or more symbols; for DL / UL and UL / DL, the guard periods may have the same duration or different durations. The guard period may allow switching of circuits and / or handling of interference between different communication directions (especially considering that DL signaling is often much stronger than (received) UL signaling). The time-domain multiplexing of sensing signaling and communication signaling may refer to and / or include and / or represent a switch between a communication mode and a sensing mode such that at different times, at least a part of the signaling and / or antenna arrangement and / or circuit associated with the radio node uses different modes. The antenna arrangement may include one or more antenna elements and / or sub-arrays and / or panels; different antenna arrangements may include different antenna elements and / or sub-arrays and / or panels. Different antenna arrangements and / or panels and / or sub-arrays and / or elements may be controlled or controllable separately from each other. There may be the same number of DL periods and UL periods and / or the same duration associated with DL and UL (at least within a specific time interval, e.g., alternating such that one DL period is followed by one UL period, and vice versa), or there may be different numbers or durations, e.g., (about) 3:1 (e.g., 3 DL periods followed by a TDD guard period and 1 UL period), or (about) 2:1, or even (about) 1:2 or 1:NU, where for a scenario with more UL, NU is 3 or greater. The UL period duration may be the same as or different from the DL period duration. The distribution and / or duration of the DL period and the UL period may be referred to as the TDD mode; the TDD mode may be dynamically controllable (e.g., via DCI signaling), and / or configured or configurable (e.g., via higher layer signaling such as RRC signaling or RLC signaling), and / or may be semi-statically configurable or configured. For example, within one or more frames and / or sub-frames and / or time slots and / or durations covering multiple repetitions of the TDD mode, the TDD mode may describe the minimum time-domain distribution of the DL period and / or UL period and / or TDD guard period that repeats over time. It can be considered that operating in the sensing mode may include both transmission and reception of the same radio node, independent of the TDD periods associated with the communication mode.It can be considered that the sensing mode and / or sensing interval can be inserted and / or embedded and / or reused into the time periods and / or TDD guard periods nominally associated with DL and / or UL, especially the DL / UL guard periods.

[0011] Generally speaking, the sensing signaling can be based on a waveform without a cyclic prefix. It can correspond to the waveform used in the communication mode, such as the waveform for communication signaling and / or reference signaling. The transmission and / or reception and / or processing (e.g., demodulation and / or decoding and / or sampling) of the waveform for sensing signaling can reuse the circuits and / or functions for transmitting and / or receiving communication signaling, such as FFT and / or IFFT functions and / or circuits, and / or DFE and / or analog front-end components. It can be considered to avoid some of this circuitry for sensing operations.

[0012] It can be considered that the sensing signaling can include a sensing signal sequence in a first sensing interval, where the sequence can be grouped into two or more groups of sensing signals. The sensing interval can correspond to the time interval during which the radio node operates in the sensing mode, and / or the time interval for transmitting and / or receiving the sensing signaling. Each group of sensing signals can include one or more symbol time intervals, and / or one or more symbols, such as ZC symbols and / or modulation symbols; in some cases, each sensing signal can correspond to a symbol time interval and / or the time interval corresponding to the symbol time interval without an additional part, and / or be carried in these time intervals. For example, according to the configuration, the duration of the symbol time interval can correspond to the duration of the symbol time interval according to the communication signaling and / or communication mode and / or parameter set, and the parameter set can be a parameter set associated with the communication mode and / or a parameter set for the sensing signaling. The sensing interval can occur periodically, for example, in the DL and / or UL periods. Generally speaking, the sensing interval (e.g., the first sensing interval) can be shorter than the DL period and / or the UL period, and / or can include 20 or fewer, 16 or fewer, 12 or fewer, or 8 or fewer symbols and / or symbol time intervals or correspond in duration to these symbols and / or symbol time intervals. The sensing interval (e.g., the first sensing interval) can correspond in duration to the TDD guard period and / or have the same duration as the TDD guard period, or can be shorter than the TDD guard period. Different sensing intervals can have the same duration or different durations. Different sensing intervals can be in the same or different TDD periods (e.g., DL or UL periods).

[0013] In some cases, the sensing signaling can be sent at periodic intervals (e.g., sensing intervals). The periodic intervals can cause a sensing interval to occur in each TDD period (e.g., each DL period and / or UL period) and / or TDD guard period (e.g., DL-to-UL guard period and / or UL-to-DL guard period) within a specific time span, and the specific time span can cover multiple TDD periods and / or subframes and / or frames.

[0014] It can be considered that the sensing signaling can include multiple n-tuple sensing signals, where the sensing signals can have no cyclic prefix. Each n-tuple can include n signals, such as n modulation symbols. The signals of an n-tuple can be the same. The same or different signals can be associated with different n-tuples. There can be a guard period between n-tuples, and this guard period can be associated with beam switching; this guard period can be referred to as the second guard period or sensing guard period. Different n-tuples can be sent in different directions and / or in different beams, and / or received through different receiving beams. The second guard period can be shorter than the TDD guard period, and / or can be shorter than the switching interval.

[0015] In some cases, the sensing signaling can be based on and / or represent a Zadoff-Chu sequence, and / or correspond to a Zadoff-Chu signal. Such a sequence provides good correlation. The signaling can have no cyclic prefix. Different n-tuple signaling can be based on different ZC sequences. Other sequence roots can be considered, such as Golay sequences and / or Gold sequences and / or M sequences.

[0016] It can be considered that the sensing signaling includes multiple n-tuple sensing signals, where there is a guard period, such as the second guard period, between two tuples and / or between each pair of adjacent tuples in time. This guard period can allow beam switching.

[0017] The first antenna arrangement can be used to send the sensing signaling, and / or the second antenna arrangement can be used to receive the sensing signaling. The first antenna arrangement and the second antenna arrangement can be controlled separately or controllably.

[0018] It can be considered that sending and / or receiving the sensing signaling is based on switching from a communication mode to a sensing mode. This switching can be based on and / or use a hardware switch. A dedicated mode can allow separation of different types of signaling for different functions.

[0019] Receiving the sensing signaling can generally be performed, for example, during a sensing interval and / or intermittently compared to the transmission of the sensing signaling. For example, the receiving can be performed at the last symbol and / or signal of each n-tuple, and / or at every second symbol or signal in the sensing interval and / or the timeline corresponding to the transmission of the sensing signaling. Thus, in one sensing interval, for example, the symbols or sub-intervals at which the receiving is performed can be fewer than the symbols or sub-intervals at which the transmission is performed. This can facilitate the processing of near targets and far targets.

[0020] The hardware switch can be implemented as a switch and / or a pin, and / or can be adapted to carry and / or provide a switching signal. This signal can be provided to the DFE and / or the analog front end. This allows for fast switching, especially within the TDD guard period (e.g., the DL to UL guard period (also known as the DL / UL guard period)).

[0021] It can be considered that the sensing mode and / or operating in the sensing mode can include transmitting the sensing signaling and / or receiving the sensing signaling. The antenna arrangement operating in the sensing mode can be dedicated to the sensing mode operation; the antenna arrangement not participating in the sensing can be in a silent state (not transmitting and / or receiving), or be used in the communication mode, for example, depending on interference and / or self-interference and / or the beam direction utilized.

[0022] In some variants, in the sensing mode, the insertion of the cyclic prefix during transmission and / or the removal of the cyclic prefix during reception can be circumvented. For example, in the DFE, there can be circuitry and / or functionality provided for cyclic prefix or CP insertion (for transmission) or prefix or CP removal, which can be used in the communication mode, for example, for communication signaling and / or reference signaling (e.g., for ZC-based reference signaling). For the sensing mode, this functionality and / or circuitry can be bypassed and / or circumvented, for example, based on a hardware switch and / or a switching signal and / or in association with the hardware switch and / or the switching signal. Other circuitry (e.g., circuitry for waveforms based on OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM) can be reused. This allows for efficient construction and fast switching by efficiently utilizing radio resources. Generally, switching from the communication mode to the sensing mode and / or from DL to UL (e.g., within the DL / UL guard period) and / or from UL to DL can include circumventing the cyclic prefix insertion and / or removal functionality and / or circuitry.

[0023] Avoidance of loop addition part insertion and / or loop addition part removal can be based on a switching signal and / or a hardware switch, and / or associated with the switching signal and / or the hardware switch, and / or triggered by the switching signal and / or the hardware switch. This avoidance can be related to and / or associated with the function and / or circuit and / or radio circuit of the DFE. Generally, it can be considered that loop addition part insertion and / or removal can depend on the operating mode, for example, such that loop addition part insertion and / or removal is turned off during the sensing mode and turned on during the communication mode.

[0024] It can be considered that, for example, during the TDD guard period, especially during the DL / UL guard period, the switch from the communication mode to the sensing mode, especially the transmission of sensing signaling, can be performed within less than 250 ns, or within 220 ns or less, or 200 ns or less, or 180 ns or less.

[0025] The hardware switch can specifically include dedicated signaling pins and / or outputs and / or GPIO states of the parallel signaling interface, and / or can be associated with the dedicated signaling pins and / or outputs and / or GPIO states of the parallel signaling interface. Specifically, the signaling on a specific line or pin of the parallel interface can be associated with the switch between the communication mode and the sensing mode, and vice versa. This can allow for a cost-effective construction with a fast switching time.

[0026] In some cases, it can be considered that the switch to transmit sensing signaling can be faster than the switch to receive sensing signaling; this can refer to the switch between the communication mode and the sensing mode and / or the switch between the DL period and the UL period. For example, the hardware switch can only be involved in transmitting sensing signaling, and / or the switch to receive sensing signaling can be based on different signals and / or switches, and / or indirectly based on the hardware switch or the switching signal related to the transmitted signaling. This may be particularly applicable in the context of intermittent reception. Therefore, when needed, the transmission of sensing signaling can be quickly provided by efficiently using radio resources. Since reception can tolerate a larger delay (considering, for example, the signal propagation time and / or intermittent reception), different switching times can be used.

[0027] The transmission of sensing signaling and the reception of sensing signaling can partially overlap in time. For example, the reception can be intermittent, and / or the FFT window for reception can cover a part of the multiple signals or symbols transmitted, such as one symbol or signal, or symbols or signals of comparable duration.

[0028] The methods described herein facilitate the combination of sensing and communication capabilities in a node, and efficiently utilize shared resources and / or circuitry, and / or have low overhead. A radio node may be capable of full-duplex operation (e.g., using multiple different antenna arrangements such as antenna sub-arrays and / or panels to transmit and receive simultaneously, e.g., communication and / or sensing signaling), e.g., for operation in a monostatic sensing operation. However, in some variants, a radio node may be considered suitable for a half-duplex (transmitting or receiving only at a given time) scenario, e.g., for bistatic or multistatic sensing.

[0029] The sensing signaling and the communication signaling may be transmitted by the same transmitting node (e.g., a radio node) or different nodes. Specifically, e.g., in a monostatic scenario, it may be considered that a radio node transmits both communication signaling and sensing signaling, and may additionally monitor and / or receive reflections of the sensing signaling. In some cases, e.g., in a monostatic scenario, a radio node may receive communication signaling and sensing signaling, and / or may additionally transmit sensing signaling. In some cases, a radio node may transmit communication signaling and receive (and / or monitor) sensing signaling, and additionally may transmit sensing signaling, and vice versa. It should be considered that receiving sensing signaling may include and / or be based on, e.g., monitoring the sensing signaling using one or more receive beams and / or beam scanning. The received or monitored sensing signaling may represent, e.g., the reflected and / or diffracted sensing signaling after impinging on a target object and / or obstacle. The operation using the sensing signaling and the communication signaling may involve a specific time period in which communication and sensing are performed simultaneously, e.g., a joint operation interval. The operating state of a radio node may focus on one type of operation, e.g., only communication or only sensing. The frequency multiplexing of the sensing signaling with the communication signaling (also referred to as frequency-domain multiplexing or frequency duplexing) may mean, e.g., that in non-overlapping portions (non-overlapping bandwidths) of the spectrum, the sensing signaling has a different position in the frequency domain from the communication signaling. Specifically, the sensing signaling may occupy a first frequency bandwidth, while the communication signaling may occupy a second frequency bandwidth, where the first frequency bandwidth and the second frequency bandwidth may be non-overlapping and / or separated and / or distinct in the frequency domain.

[0030] A radio node may be, for example, a wireless device, a user equipment or a terminal, or a network node, a signaling radio node or a base station. Thus, the sensing function may be provided by a common participant in a wireless communication network.

[0031] It can be considered that the radio node is adapted to use antenna sub-arrays and / or panels with a number of NP, where NP can be an integer of 4 or greater. The antenna sub-array can include a plurality of antenna elements, such as 4 or more, or 10 or more, or 50 or more, or 100 or more. The antenna sub-array and / or the antenna elements associated with and / or included therein can be associated and / or connected or connectable to one and / or the same antenna circuit, and / or can be jointly controlled for analog and / or digital beamforming, and / or can be operable for joint transmission or reception. The panel can include a support structure that supports one or more antenna sub-arrays, such as plastic and / or metal material and / or wood, and the support structure can additionally support additional circuits (such as antenna circuits and / or interface circuits). Each antenna sub-array can be associated with a communication direction (such as receiving or transmitting) and / or a function (such as sensing or communicating). It can be considered that the antenna elements of the antenna sub-array share the same polarization, such as horizontal or vertical polarization. In some cases, NP can be an even number, where it can be considered that NP / 2 antenna sub-arrays (and / or their antenna elements) can be associated with a first polarization (such as horizontal, vertical, left circular, right circular, or any other suitable polarization), and the additional NP / 2 antenna sub-arrays are associated with a second polarization that can be orthogonal to the first polarization. For example, the first polarization can be horizontal and the second polarization can be vertical; or the first polarization can be left circular and the second polarization can be right circular. This allows the operation of multiple beams and has good flexibility and / or a large signaling capacity. Generally, the antenna arrangement associated with the radio node can include one or more antenna sub-arrays, especially an even number of antenna sub-arrays. Generally, at different times, different antenna sub-arrays and / or panels can be used for different functions, such as transmitting or receiving, and / or sensing or communicating. The polarization of the antenna elements can be associated with a specific operating direction, such as for transmitting or receiving. Depending on the signaling direction (transmitting or receiving), the polarization can be different. For example, the antenna sub-array can be associated with a first polarization for transmitting and a second polarization for receiving, and vice versa. This can be achieved, for example, by providing the sub-array with cross-linear antenna elements having associated connections / circuits according to the polarization.

[0032] Specifically, it can be considered that, for example, a radio node uses a first set of antenna elements and / or antenna sub-arrays and / or antenna panels to transmit and / or receive sensing signaling, and, for example, the radio node uses a second set of antenna elements and / or antenna sub-arrays and / or antenna panels to transmit and / or receive communication signaling. The first set may include different sub-arrays and / or antenna elements and / or antenna panels from the second set. The first set may include one or more antenna sub-arrays and / or panels, such as NC sub-arrays and / or panels, particularly an even number of sub-arrays and / or panels. It can be considered that the second set may include one or more antenna sub-arrays and / or panels, such as NS sub-arrays, particularly an even number of sub-arrays. It can be considered that NC + NS = NP. In some cases, the NC and / or NS sub-arrays and / or panels may include the same number of antenna sub-arrays and / or panels associated with a first polarization and a second polarization (generally, it can be considered that the antenna sub-array is associated with a polarization if all antenna elements of the antenna sub-array are associated with the same polarization). Different antenna sub-arrays can be considered for transmitting sensing signaling and receiving signaling, where the same polarization can be associated with the transmission and reception of sensing signaling.

[0033] It can be considered that sensing signaling and communication signaling are transmitted and / or received within an operating time interval (e.g., a time slot, or an integer N symbol time intervals, or an allocation unit or block of symbols). The operating time interval can correspond to 1 ms or less, or 0.5 ms or less, or 0.1 ms or less, and / or N can be 1000 or less, or 300 or less, or 200 or less, or 100 or less, or 20 or less. Thus, the radio node can operate two types of signaling on a short time scale. Within the operating time interval, the sensing signaling and the communication signaling can be time-division multiplexed, or operated simultaneously, or both (in different sub-intervals).

[0034] In some variants, the transmission and / or reception of the sensing signaling and the communication signaling, for example, within the operating time interval or one or more of its sub-intervals, can at least partially or completely overlap in time. Partially overlapping in time can mean that a part of the sensing signaling does not overlap with the communication signaling, and completely overlapping can mean that all of the sensing signaling overlaps with the communication signaling (in the time domain, particularly within the operating time interval and / or one or more of its sub-intervals).

[0035] Specifically, the sensing signaling can typically be transmitted within a sensing time interval and the reflection of the sensing signaling can be monitored (and / or received) within a monitoring time interval, where the sensing time interval and the monitoring time interval can at least partially or completely overlap in time. The sensing time interval and / or the monitoring time interval can be part of the operating time interval, for example, included as a sub-interval within the operating time interval or covering the operating time interval. Thus, short-time scale joint operation is facilitated.

[0036] It can be considered that the first antenna subarray and / or antenna panel can be used to transmit sensing signaling, and the second antenna subarray and / or antenna panel can be used to monitor and / or receive the reflection of the sensing signaling. For example, during an operating time interval, two or more antenna subarrays and / or panels can be used to communicate using communication signaling. The first subarray and / or antenna panel and the second subarray and / or antenna panel can have different polarizations. Especially for a relatively large NP (e.g., 8 or larger), this can facilitate sensing operations while having a relatively small impact on communication operations.

[0037] Generally speaking, the sensing signaling and the communication signaling occupy the same spectrum, such as the same carrier. Frequency reuse usually means that different positions of the spectrum (e.g., different parts of the carrier bandwidth) are assigned to the sensing signaling and the communication signaling; in addition, different bandwidths can be assigned to the sensing signaling and the communication signaling. Therefore, spectrum reuse can be provided. This can refer to the operating time interval.

[0038] It can be considered that the sensing signaling can occupy a bandwidth of 350 MHz or less, or 300 MHz or less, and / or 10% or less of the carrier or system bandwidth, and / or 5% or less of the carrier or system bandwidth, and / or 10% or less of the bandwidth (the second frequency bandwidth or the second bandwidth) for the communication signaling, and / or 7% or less of the bandwidth (the first frequency bandwidth or the first bandwidth) for the communication signaling. This can refer to the operating time interval; in addition, different bandwidth sizes can be used. For example, if only the communication signaling is used for a long time (e.g., 5 times or more times the duration of the operating time interval, or 10 times, 20 times, or 50 times or more times the duration of the operating time interval), the full carrier / system bandwidth can be applied to the communication signaling. Therefore, the bandwidth limitation can be improved.

[0039] In some variants, the sensing signaling can occupy the first frequency bandwidth (or the first bandwidth), and the communication signaling can occupy the second frequency bandwidth (the second bandwidth), and there can be a frequency gap between or located between the first frequency bandwidth and the second frequency bandwidth. The size of the second frequency bandwidth can be larger than the size of the first frequency bandwidth. For example, it can be SM times the size of the first frequency bandwidth, where SM can be 3 times or more times, or 5 times or more times, or 10 times or more times, or 15 times or more times. This gap can correspond to a bandwidth smaller than the second frequency bandwidth and / or can be smaller than the first frequency bandwidth. This gap can correspond to a guard bandwidth, which, for example, limits the interference between the first frequency bandwidth and the second frequency bandwidth.

[0040] Generally speaking, the communication signaling can be based on an OFDM waveform, such as a waveform based on DFT-s-OFDM. This can facilitate high-capacity and reliable communication.

[0041] The method described herein facilitates the use of the hardware of a communication radio node for radar or sensing, while limiting the overhead or efficiency loss.

[0042] Sensing signaling can generally be represented by reference signaling. Different types of sensing signaling can differ in the following aspects: parameter set and / or waveform and / or modulation symbol sequence and / or sequence root and / or duration and / or frequency bandwidth and / or density (e.g., in the time domain and / or frequency domain) and / or code and / or timing (especially regarding periodicity) and / or beam shape or beam size.

[0043] Communication signaling and / or sensing signaling can be based on an OFDM waveform, such as OFDM and / or SC-FDM. Transmitting and / or receiving sensing signaling can be considered as operating with the sensing signaling. It can be considered that operating with communication signaling and / or communicating with communication signaling can include transmitting communication signaling and / or receiving communication signaling. Depending on whether the radio node is suitable for full-duplex operation, operating with sensing signaling can include operating in the same direction (e.g., both operations include transmitting or consist of transmitting, or both operations include receiving or consist of receiving) or operating in different directions (for either operation or both operations, or between operations and / or for one operation). Thus, different use cases and different types of setups (monostatic or multistatic) can be considered.

[0044] In some cases, operating with sensing signaling can include transmitting sensing signaling and / or receiving sensing signaling. Generally, receiving sensing signaling can include receiving the reflection of the sensing signaling; the reflection can be offset in time relative to the transmitted signaling (due to propagation delay); the offset in time can be two symbol time intervals or less, or one symbol time interval or less, or the duration of the cyclic prefix or less. The range of the sensing signaling can be configured accordingly. Generally, operating with sensing signaling can include performing sensing and / or determining the presence (or absence) of an object and / or determining one or more properties of one or more objects (sensing targets).

[0045] It can be considered that communication signaling is based on an OFDM waveform, such as OFDM, DFT-s-OFDM, or pulse-shaped DFT-s-OFDM. Such waveforms are particularly suitable for wireless communication with high frequencies and / or high communication loads. In some cases, sensing signaling can be based on an OFDM waveform, such as OFDM, DFT-s-OFDM, pulse-shaped DFT-s-OFDM, or an OFTS-based waveform. The sensing signaling waveform can be based on the same waveform as the communication signaling, which allows for easy reuse of configurations and circuits. In some cases, it can be based on a different waveform, thus allowing for flexibility, for example, for different use cases and functions.

[0046] A radio node can be a wireless device, a user equipment or a terminal. Alternatively, it can be a network node or a signaling radio node. A radio node suitable for wireless communication can be a radio node suitable for transmitting and / or receiving communication signaling. For example, according to wireless communication standards such as 3GPP standards or IEEE standards, the communication signaling can be and / or include data signaling and / or control signaling and / or reference signaling. A radio node suitable for sensing operations and / or radar operations can be suitable for and / or configured or configurable to transmit and / or receive signaling for sensing or radar functions, especially according to the configuration for sensing and / or processing the signaling. A radio node can share circuitry, such as processing circuitry and / or radio circuitry and / or antenna circuitry and / or antenna elements and / or sub-arrays, between communication signaling and sensing operations and / or sensing signaling. The sensing operation can be monostatic and / or multistatic. The sensing signaling can be reference signaling, and / or can be communication signaling and / or signaling dedicated to sensing. The sensing signaling can have different types of signaling, such as based on or associated with use and / or object and / or sensing function (e.g., which parameters of the object will need to be determined). Multiplexing communication signaling and sensing signaling within a multiplexing time interval can correspond to, for example, the communication signaling and the sensing signaling being transmitted by the same or different nodes within the multiplexing time interval. Operations using communication signaling can include transmitting and / or receiving communication signaling. Operations using sensing signaling can include transmitting and / or receiving sensing signaling. A radio node can be suitable for monostatic operation. In this case, it can be suitable for full-duplex operation, transmitting and receiving within completely or at least partially overlapping time intervals (e.g., corresponding to the multiplexing time interval and / or at least partially overlapping with the multiplexing time interval), such that it can receive the reflected sensing signaling it has transmitted itself (due to the very fast speed of radio waves, the reflected sensing signaling will generally be received while the radio node is still transmitting the sensing signaling). The radio circuitry and / or processing circuitry and / or antenna circuitry of the radio node can be suitable for processing both communication signaling and sensing signaling. A radio node can be suitable for full-duplex operation and / or half-duplex operation. Full-duplex can refer to, for example, simultaneously transmitting and receiving using the same or different circuitry and / or using different antenna sub-arrays or individually operable antenna sub-arrays or antenna elements.

[0047] The sensing signaling can be beamformed. The communication signaling can be beamformed. The sensing signaling can use a different beam than the communication signaling, particularly a narrower beam. In some cases, the beam shape of the sensing signaling can vary for different occurrences and / or signaling types and / or sensing signaling functions. When switching from communication signaling to sensing signaling, beam switching can be performed, and vice versa. The sensing signaling can be sent via a sensing beam and / or an isotropic or default beam; it can be received via a receiving beam or via default or isotropic reception. The sensing beam can be scanned through a spatial angle, e.g., performing sensing at that spatial angle according to a scanning scheme.

[0048] A waveform based on DFT-s-OFDM can be a waveform constructed by performing a DFT spreading operation on modulation symbols mapped to frequency intervals (e.g., subcarriers), e.g., to provide a time-varying signal. A waveform based on DFT-s-OFDM can also be referred to as an SC-FDM waveform. It can be considered to provide good PAPR characteristics, thus allowing for optimized operation of power amplifiers, particularly for high frequencies. In general, the methods described herein can also be applicable to single-carrier-based waveforms, such as FDE-based waveforms. Communication (e.g., communication on data channels and / or control channels) can be based on and / or utilize a waveform based on DFT-s-OFDM or a single-carrier-based waveform.

[0049] Communication can specifically occur on multiple communication links and / or beams and / or simultaneously with multiple targets (e.g., TRP or other forms of transmission sources that are also received) and / or multiple layers; different reference signals for multiple transmissions or receptions can be based on different sequence roots and / or combs and / or cyclic shifts. Thus, high throughput and low interference can be achieved. In general, different reference signals (e.g., reference signals of the same type) can be associated with different transmission sources and / or beams and / or layers, particularly if transmissions are performed simultaneously and / or overlap in time (e.g., considering different timing advance values if transmitted in the uplink). For example, there can be a first reference signal transmitted using a first transmission source and / or a first beam and / or a first layer, and a second reference signal transmitted using the first transmission source and / or the first beam and / or the first layer.

[0050] A program product including instructions is also described, the instructions causing a processing circuit to control and / or execute the methods as described herein. In addition, carrier medium devices carrying and / or storing the program product described herein are considered. An information system including and / or connected to or connectable to a radio node is also disclosed. Description of the Drawings

[0051] The drawings are provided to illustrate the concepts and methods described herein and are not intended to limit their scope. The drawings include:

[0052] Figure 1 shows an exemplary JCAS scenario;

[0053] Figure 2 shows an example sensing signaling scenario;

[0054] Figure 3 shows an exemplary downlink scenario;

[0055] Figure 4 shows an exemplary uplink scenario;

[0056] Figure 5 shows an exemplary guard period scenario;

[0057] Figure 6 shows an exemplary circuit;

[0058] Figure 7 shows an exemplary wireless device, which may include according to Figure 6 of the circuit; and

[0059] Figure 8 shows an exemplary network node, which may include according to Figure 6 of the circuit. Detailed Description

[0060] Joint communication and sensing (JCAS) is becoming one of the use cases in future wireless cellular communications such as 6G. In one approach, it may be considered to use cellular communication (radio) nodes (base stations / UEs) to sense the environment through communication dedicated signals and / or dedicated sensing signals, and provide information such as the position, shape, speed, etc. of objects in the surrounding environment. Some possible applications of using cellular communication systems for sensing are traffic monitoring and collision avoidance, gesture / motion detection, object or person presence detection, vital sign detection, environmental map construction, particle / pollution detection, etc. Generally, joint communication and sensing may include and / or be based on sensing and / or radar operations using radio nodes of a communication network, such as sharing radio circuits and / or antennas and / or resources.

[0061] It is possible to provide a closer integration of communication and sensing. By reusing the existing macro infrastructure, sensing can be added at low cost. Sensing technologies can be used to enhance both network performance and add new features such as traffic monitoring and surveillance. If radar and communication use the same hardware, the performance and capacity of both systems may be affected. In this discussion, radar signaling can be considered as sensing signaling and vice versa. For example, to monitor a traffic intersection, detect approaching vehicles and their speeds, most of the available resources may be used for radar operation, thus reducing the resources available for communication. The methods described herein facilitate the efficient operation of joint communication and sensing, and the impact of sensing operations on communication capabilities is limited.

[0062] Sensing can be performed using a single node (i.e., the transmitter and receiver are co-located and / or associated with the same radio node (monostatic)) or multiple nodes (in which case, the transmitter and receiver can be at different locations (multistatic)); in some variants of the multistatic approach, one or more nodes can have a transmitter and a receiver, and / or can operate to transmit and receive. In joint communication and sensing, a particular challenge faced by the monostatic scenario is that if the same radio node is used for both transmitting and receiving simultaneously, the radio node must be able to perform full-duplex communication (the received signal is offset in time with respect to the transmitted signal, but typically overlaps in time). This can be particularly challenging because the received signal level in cellular communication can be several orders of magnitude lower than the transmitted signal; the reception of such a signal can be facilitated by considering certain methods or designs to reduce interference. In a monostatic radar setup, if targets close to the base station should be detectable (from this perspective, targets that are far enough away may be less challenging because the echo (reflected signal) may arrive after the BS has stopped transmitting), then simultaneous transmission and reception (and thus full-duplex) is inevitable.

[0063] The multistatic scenario may not require simultaneous transmission and reception from the same node. However, in the multistatic scenario, one challenge in using communication nodes is that adjacent nodes must be in different duplex directions (uplink and downlink, or sidelink, or transmit and receive modes), which means that different time-division duplex (TDD) configurations can be used in two cells. This is also quite challenging because using different TDD configurations in adjacent cells may cause significant inter-cell interference, especially from downlink transmission in one cell to uplink reception in another cell, as downlink signaling typically has a significantly higher power level than uplink signaling.

[0064] In some applications, sensing can improve network performance and / or add new features such as traffic monitoring and surveillance. If radar and communication use the same hardware, the performance and capacity of both systems may be affected compared to using separate dedicated devices for the two systems. For example, if a traffic intersection is being monitored to detect approaching vehicles and their speeds, radar operation may require a large portion (e.g., half) of the available resources.

[0065] The available carrier or system bandwidth at 6G high frequencies is expected to be very wide, e.g., covering 1 GHz or higher, especially 5 GHz or higher. There are several regions with a ≈6 GHz continuous spectrum (bandwidth) available for high frequencies (above 90 GHz).

[0066] Sensing (also known as active sensing) generally can refer to transmitting signaling (e.g., radar signaling and / or communication signaling) and / or receiving the reflection of that signaling; sensing can include and / or be based on processing the received (reflected) signaling to determine one or more properties of a target object, such as position and / or velocity (total velocity or its components, e.g., the direction towards the receiver) and / or shape and / or size and / or velocity (total velocity or its components) and / or the surface structure and / or reflectivity of the reflecting object, e.g., based on one or more signaling characteristics of the transmitted (radar) signaling and / or one or more signaling characteristics of the received (radar) signaling, and / or based on one or more changes and / or offsets and / or differences and / or increments (e.g., subtracting one value from another) between one or more signaling characteristics of the transmitted signaling and / or the received signaling. For the multi-static case, one or more signaling characteristics can be informed to the receiving node, for example, based on configuration (e.g., high-layer signaling such as RRC signaling or MAC layer signaling, or F1 signaling, or X2 signaling, or physical layer signaling).

[0067] Sensing signal processing is described below. In active sensing, a signal or signaling (such as radar signaling) is transmitted to probe the environment, and the received reflections are used to estimate, for example, the position and / or velocity and / or rate of objects within the range covered by the signaling. Depending on the required accuracy and range of the object's position and velocity, there are specific requirements for the duration, bandwidth, and periodicity of the signaling or signal to be used.

[0068] In a typical pulsed radar, a sequence of waveforms, symbols, or signals (e.g., spread codes) with a chip duration of T, a signal integration duration of Tint, and a period of Tr is transmitted within a duration Tf (e.g., one transmission or signaling occurs per Tr). The selection of these parameters determines the range (sensing range if the waveforms are the same), range resolution, speed or rate (speed or rate range), and speed / speed resolution for sensing the target. L and M can represent integers (representing the number of chips or symbols within the time period corresponding to the cycle and the number of transmissions occurring in Tf, respectively).

[0069] Depending on the usage, the sensing signal design can be customized to meet the basic requirements for the following: range resolution (Rr), representing the minimum distinguishable distance between two objects; and / or (explicitly) range (Ru), representing the maximum distance at which an object can be located for detection (e.g., guaranteed and / or within a desired error range); and / or speed or rate range (vu), representing the maximum range of speed or rate of a moving object that can be measured; and / or speed or rate resolution (vr), representing the minimum change in the speed or rate of a moving object that can be measured.

[0070] The parameters of the sensing signal (which can also typically be referred to as sensing signaling, radar signal, or radar signaling) can include bandwidth (such as the minimum bandwidth) and / or duration (such as the minimum duration of the sensing signal), and / or minimum and / or maximum repetition period, and / or the minimum duration of the sensing frame (the time interval during which sensing signaling can be transmitted), and can be designed to meet the above sensing requirements. Table 1 below shows the relationship between the sensing requirements and the sensing signal parameters, where c represents the speed of light and fc represents the carrier frequency.

[0071] Table 1

[0072] Required bandwidth <![CDATA[BW min =c / 2R r > Minimum gap between sensing signals <![CDATA[T rmin = 2R u / c]]> Maximum gap between sensing signals <![CDATA[T rmax =c / 4f c v u > Required sensing frame duration <![CDATA[T f =c / 2f c v r >

[0073] At the receiver, a reflected signal is received (e.g., a reflected signal reflected from one or more objects and / or from the surrounding environment), and it can be matched with the transmitted waveform and / or filtered using the transmitted waveform to provide a delay (e.g., representing the distance of an object) and / or a phase rotation between successive waveforms, e.g., representing a Doppler shift due to the movement of an object. Generally, the above signal generation and receiver processing can be common to all types of sensing methods and signals and is not limited to pulse radar. In a joint communication and sensing scenario, the choice of waveform can depend on which waveform is more suitable for both communication and sensing, although this is not necessary and the waveforms of the two systems can be different. The following description of receiver processing is independent of the waveform type and is equally applicable to the waveform as well as any typical communication waveform (such as OFDM, DFT-s-OFDM, etc.). As an example, the waveform can include and / or be based on and / or represent and / or be one or several OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM symbols (or even sub-symbols) and / or block symbols, as it is a common waveform used in most existing wireless access links (for wireless and / or cellular communication). The sensing signal can be based on OFDM symbols, especially a string of OFDM symbols as sensing signaling; such a string can be repeated multiple times, for example, according to periodicity (e.g., in one or more sensing frames). A string of symbols can represent a sequence of symbols, and each symbol can carry and / or represent a sequence of modulated symbols (e.g., for an OFDM-based waveform), and this sequence of symbols can be mapped to the frequency domain; each symbol can carry the same or different sequences. In some cases, the sequence can be mapped to multiple symbols, e.g., frequency-first. Common receiver processing can include and / or be based on performing a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) for each occurrence of a sequence (e.g., a string of symbols), e.g., converting the delay domain to the sub-carrier (frequency) domain, and performing an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) across sequences for each sub-carrier, e.g., converting the time domain to the Doppler domain. Then, peaks exceeding a threshold (e.g., all peaks) can be identified, and the delay and Doppler values associated with each peak (representing a target) can be considered to correspond to the delay and velocity or rate of that target.

[0074] It is desirable to interleave (or multiplex) sensing and communication with as little performance loss as possible. However, frequent measurements may be required, e.g., to obtain a higher unambiguous velocity, v u =c / (4f c T rep )), where f c : carrier frequency (in Hz), T rep: Repetition time (in seconds) (e.g., the following 52 symbols are converted to seconds). It is recommended to use some symbols in DL, some in the guard period, and some for radar / sensing during UL. The switching between the communication mode and the radar mode (also known as the sensing mode) should be fast to avoid excessive capacity loss. For TDD mode, there can be a sensing interval in the DL / UL guard period, one or more in each DL period, and one in each UL period; in TDD mode, the sensing interval can be periodic. Figure 1 An example of JCAS is shown. Sensing intervals are inserted in a 140-symbol DL period, a 12-symbol guard period between DL and UL, and a 56-symbol UL period, representing a TDD mode with embedded and / or inserted sensing signaling. The sensing interval can be periodic. As shown, a sensing interval can include 4 2-tuples of signals, which may not have a cyclic prefix. This facilitates embedding them in the 12-symbol DL / UL guard period, leaving enough protection for acceptable communication operations, and / or allowing tracking of 4 objects. Each object can be associated with a 2-tuple. Avoiding CP for sensing signaling allows sufficient time for beam switching and switching to the sensing mode, and such 8 sensing signals in 4 2-tuples only require 8 symbol times corresponding to symbols with CP.

[0075] Communication can be based on (DFTS-)OFDM; OFDM-based radar can be used to allow as much hardware reuse as possible. Zadoff-Chu is a good waveform candidate widely used as a reference signal in LTE / NR, with low PAPR and good autocorrelation properties. Sending the same signal twice (as a 2-tuple) without CP can be considered. Measurement (reception) may be late to enable collection of the complete OFDM signal for near and far reflections, such that intermittent reception of radar / sensing signaling can be performed. Cross-correlating the received signal with the transmitted signal can be performed to obtain the delay peak corresponding to that distance. Note that when using high parameter sets and high frequencies (e.g., parameter sets with 960 kHz or higher SCS, or 1.92 MHz or higher SCS), symbol repetition is a particularly good fit. Figure 2 An example sensing scenario is shown, where 2-tuple sensing signaling is sent, with a (second) guard period in between, e.g., for beam switching. This guard period is shorter than the TDD guard period, e.g., shorter than one symbol duration. Receiving using the FFT window has delay / intermittency such that for each n-tuple sent (the second or last symbol in each receive timeline in this example), only one symbol period is received / monitored. The receive timeline can be synchronized with the transmit timeline such that the received sensing signaling can be offset due to path delay. AsFigure 2 As shown, the time offset of a nearer target can be less than that of a farther target.

[0076] Figure 3 An interleaved (or multiplexed) radar mode in DL is exemplarily shown. This example uses numbers with 1.92 MHz SCS and 80 ns CP time. 80 ns is allocated for beam switching and 200 ns for communication-radar switching, which is covered by discarding / evading the CP for sensing signaling. Reception occurs only intermittently every other radar symbol. The upper row shows only DL communication signaling, and the lower row shows multiplexed communication and sensing signaling. Switching to RX for sensing occurs only in the second symbol of each 2-tuple signal; the transmitter is already active. Before the first radar transmission, it may be necessary to switch the beam direction and reconfigure the DFE, which can be based on fast switching using a hardware switch. Saving 80 ns in each radar transmission can be achieved by evading the CP. Thus, 4 radar transmissions (4 sensing signaling 2-tuple signals) provide 0.32 us of time, which also accommodates switching back to the DL communication mode.

[0077] Figure 4 An interleaved (or multiplexed) radar in the uplink (UL) is exemplarily shown. It can be switched to TX before the first chirp of the sensing signaling; switching the beam direction and / or reconfiguring the DFE can also be performed. Saving 80 ns in each radar transmission for the sensing n-tuples used for 4 radar transmissions allows 0.32 us. It can accommodate switching back to the UL communication mode. The 0.2 us protection time provided in this way can be sufficient to avoid leakage of the last sensed / radar symbol transmitted into the communication UL.

[0078] Figure 5 A radar in the guard period is exemplarily shown. Due to TA offset (timing advance offset of UL), the effective guard period can be reduced by one symbol. Reception can occur every other radar symbol. Switching the beam direction and reconfiguring the FPGA and / or DFE can be performed. 80 ns is saved in each radar transmission. Up to 5 n-tuple / 2-tuple radar transmissions can be inserted, which can save 0.4 us (or 4 radar transmissions save 0.32 us), and thus can accommodate switching back to the UL communication mode. Generally, the sensing interval in the TDD guard period can be longer than other sensing intervals, for example, accommodating one or more n-tuple signals more than other sensing intervals. This can allow detection of additional targets and / or tracking of slower targets. Thus, the additional n-tuples can have a different beam direction from the n-tuples used for DL or UL sensing. However, the same beam as one or more n-tuples used for DL or UL can be used, for example, to increase the sensing frequency of high-speed targets.

[0079] Generally, the periodic occurrence of sensing intervals can indicate the periodic occurrence of sensing intervals with the same duration and / or number of transmitted n-tuples, or the periodic occurrence of sensing intervals with different durations and / or different numbers of n-tuples. For example, compared to the sensing intervals in the DL period and / or UL period, the sensing intervals during the TDD guard period can be longer and / or include at least one n-tuple of sensing signals.

[0080] Generally, it is possible to consider superimposing sensing signaling and / or the periodicity of sensing signaling on the TDD mode, in particular such that the sensing intervals coincide with the TDD guard period (in particular the DL / UL guard period). Thus, the radio resources extracted from the communication for sensing can be restricted.

[0081] In the communication mode, dual-polarization communication can be used in TDD. Both the first antenna or antenna arrangement and the second antenna or antenna arrangement can transmit or receive. In the radar mode, single-polarization sensing can be used, for example, using one antenna arrangement in the TX mode and one antenna arrangement in the RX mode. TX-RX antenna isolation can be provided by appropriate shielding and / or interference or leakage compensation.

[0082] As Figure 6 shown, the DFE can include GPIO: providing a parallel interface, several bits, fast direct mode control, and ns-level accuracy. The beam index interface can be provided with a fast serial interface, several bits, and time-precise gating, ns-level accuracy, and a 200 ns transmission time. In addition, an SPI slow serial interface can be provided, which has many bits, us-level accuracy, and a transmission time of several us. Thus, different functions can be controlled on different time scales. Specifically, the switching between the communication mode and the sensing mode can be provided appropriately quickly and cost-effectively.

[0083] For fast interleaved OFDM radar operation, fast mode switching in the DFE can be provided. Consider performing back-to-back TX transmissions of the same symbol in the DFE (e.g., using the same 2-tuple signal for different directions / radar transmissions). It is recommended to avoid CP insertion during TX and CP removal during RX. It is recommended to simulate fast mode switching in the analog front end, for example, faster than the switching speed required to implement only communication. Specifically, GPIO-controlled mode switching is proposed. The decoding of the GPIO state can be pre-configured, for example, to allow different gains and / or echo cancellation in the radar mode compared to the communication mode. A dedicated interface can be used, for example, to provide fast beam index updates.

[0084] Fast switching between radar and communication modes can avoid using additional protection symbols. Since OFDM radar can operate without CP, cascading several radar transmissions (multiple symbols (such as dual symbols) and / or multiple adjacent combs (such as multiple adjacent multi - symbols)) can gain time. Using dedicated GPIO status can allow for fast mode switching.

[0085] Figure 7 A radio node is schematically shown, specifically a wireless device or terminal 10 or UE (User Equipment). The radio node 10 includes a processing circuit (which may also be referred to as a control circuit) 20, and the processing circuit 20 may include a controller connected to a memory. Any module of the radio node 10 (e.g., a communication module or a determination module) may be specifically implemented as a module in the controller within the processing circuit 20 and / or executable by the processing circuit 20. The radio node 10 further includes a radio circuit 22 that provides receive and transmit or transceiver functionality (e.g., one or more transmitters and / or receivers and / or transceivers), and the radio circuit 22 is connected to or connectable to the processing circuit. The antenna circuit 24 of the radio node 10 is connected to or connectable to the radio circuit 22 to acquire or transmit and / or amplify signals. The radio circuit 22 and the processing circuit 20 that controls it are configured for cellular communication with a network (e.g., a RAN as described herein), and / or for sidelink communication (which may be within the coverage of a cellular network, or outside the coverage; and / or may be considered non - cellular communication and / or associated with a non - cellular wireless communication network). The radio node 10 is generally adapted to perform any of the methods of operating a radio node (such as a terminal or UE) disclosed herein; specifically, it may include corresponding circuits (e.g., a processing circuit) and / or modules (e.g., software modules). The radio node 10 may be considered to include and / or be connected to or connectable to a power source. The DFE may be considered part of the radio circuit; the analog front - end may be associated with the radio circuit and / or the antenna circuit.

[0086] Figure 8FIG. schematically illustrates a radio node 100, which may be embodied as a network node 100, such as an eNB or a gNB or a similar node for NR. The radio node 100 includes a processing circuit (which may also be referred to as a control circuit) 120, and the processing circuit 120 may include a controller connected to a memory. Any module of the node 100 (e.g., a transmitting module and / or a receiving module and / or a configuration module) may be implemented in the processing circuit 120 and / or may be executed by the processing circuit 120. The processing circuit 120 is connected to the control radio circuit 122 of the node 100, and the control radio circuit 122 provides receiver and transmitter and / or transceiver functions (e.g., including one or more transmitters and / or receivers and / or transceivers). The antenna circuit 124 may be connected to or connectable to the radio circuit 122 for signal reception or transmission and / or amplification. The node 100 may be adapted to perform any of the methods disclosed herein for operating a radio node or a network node; specifically, it may include corresponding circuits (e.g., a processing circuit) and / or modules. The antenna circuit 124 may be connected to and / or include an antenna array. The node 100 and its circuits may be adapted to perform any of the methods of operating a network node or a radio node described herein; specifically, it may include corresponding circuits (e.g., a processing circuit) and / or modules. The radio node 100 may generally include, for example, communication circuits for communicating with another network node (such as a radio node) and / or with a core network and / or the Internet or a local network (in particular for communicating with an information system), which may provide information and / or data to be sent to a user equipment. The DFE may be considered as part of the radio circuit; the analog front end may be associated with the radio circuit and / or the antenna circuit.

[0087] Generally, a wireless device and / or a network node may operate in the TDD mode, and / or communication signaling may operate in the TDD mode. It should be noted that the signaling transmission from a transmission source may be synchronous and simultaneous; due to different propagation times (e.g., due to different beams and / or source positions), a time offset may occur.

[0088] A wireless device may generally comprise processing circuitry and / or radio circuitry, specifically a receiver and / or a transceiver and / or a transmitter, for performing measurements and / or controlling beam switching and / or controlling beamforming and / or receiving and / or transmitting signaling (such as communication signaling and / or sensing signaling). The wireless device may be specifically implemented as a terminal or a user equipment. However, in some cases, such as in a relay and / or reverse link and / or IAB scenario, it may be implemented as a network node or a network radio node. A network node may generally comprise processing circuitry and / or radio circuitry, specifically a receiver and / or a transceiver and / or a transmitter, for transmitting reference signaling and / or beam switching indication and / or for beam switching and / or controlling beam switching and / or controlling beamforming and / or receiving and / or transmitting signaling (such as communication signaling and / or sensing signaling). The second radio node may be specifically implemented as a network node, such as a network radio node and / or a base station or a relay node or an IAB node. However, in some cases, such as in a sidelink scenario, the second radio node may be implemented as a wireless device or a terminal, such as a user equipment.

[0089] Generally, the sensing signaling may be based on the same waveform as the communication signaling. However, in some variants, it may be based on a different waveform. The sensing signaling may be based on OFDM (e.g., conventional OFDM, or extended OFDM (such as DFT-s-OFDM), and / or pulse-shaped OFDM), or based on a filter-bank, or based on single-carrier. The communication signaling may be based on OFDM (e.g., conventional OFDM, or extended OFDM (such as DFT-s-OFDM), and / or pulse-shaped OFDM), or based on a filter-bank, or based on single-carrier. The sensing signaling may be transmitted in a transmission timing structure corresponding to the transmission timing structure (e.g., frame structure) associated with the communication signaling, and / or based on the same or different parameter set as the communication signaling. The type and / or timing structure (e.g., symbol duration or allocation unit duration) of the modulation symbols carried by the signaling may be based on the waveform used.

[0090] Generally, a block symbol may represent and / or correspond to an extension in the time domain, such as a time interval. The block symbol duration (the length of the time interval) may correspond to the duration of an OFDM symbol or a corresponding duration, and / or may be based on and / or defined by the subcarrier spacing used and / or (e.g., based on a parameter set) or the like, and / or may correspond to the duration of a modulation symbol (e.g., for OFDM or a similar frequency-domain multiplexing type of signaling). A block symbol may be considered to include a plurality of modulation symbols, e.g., based on the subcarrier spacing and / or parameter set or the like, specifically for time-domain multiplexing type (at the symbol level of a single transmitter) of signaling (such as single-carrier based signaling, e.g., SC-FDE or SC-FDMA (specifically, FDF-SC-FDMA or pulse-shaped SC-FDMA)). The number of symbols may be based on and / or defined by the number of subcarriers to be DFTS extended (for SC-FDMA) and / or based on, e.g., the number of FFT samples for extension and / or mapping and / or the like, and / or may be predefined and / or configured or configurable. A block symbol in this context may include and / or contain a plurality of individual modulation symbols, which may be, for example, 1000 or more, or 3000 or more, or 3300 or more. The number of modulation symbols in a block symbol may be based on and / or depend on the bandwidth scheduled for the transmission of the signaling in the block symbol. The block symbol and / or the number of block symbols (an integer less than 20, e.g., equal to or less than 14 or 7 or 4 or 2 or a flexible number) may be a unit for the scheduling and / or allocation of resources (e.g., an allocation unit), particularly in the time domain. For a (e.g., scheduled or allocated) block symbol and / or a group of block symbols and / or an allocation unit, there may be an associated frequency range and / or frequency-domain allocation and / or bandwidth allocated for transmission.

[0091] Allocation units and / or block symbols may be associated with a specific (e.g., physical) channel and / or a specific type of signaling (e.g., reference signaling). In some cases, there may be a block symbol associated with a channel, which is also associated with the form of reference signaling and / or pilot signaling and / or tracking signaling associated with that channel, e.g., for timing purposes and / or decoding purposes (such signaling may include resource elements of a small number of modulation symbols and / or block symbols, e.g., less than 10% or less than 5% or less than 1% of the resource elements in the modulation symbols and / or block symbols). For a block symbol, there may be resource elements associated therewith; the resource elements may be represented in the time domain / frequency domain, e.g., by the smallest frequency unit carried or mapped to (e.g., subcarrier) in the frequency domain and the duration of the modulation symbol in the time domain. A block symbol may include a structure, and / or a structure is associated with the block symbol, which allows and / or includes: a plurality of modulation symbols, and / or an association with one or more channels (and / or the structure may depend on the channel with which the block symbol is associated and / or allocated or used), and / or (e.g., as discussed above) reference signaling, and / or one or more guard periods and / or transient periods, and / or one or more affixes (e.g., prefix and / or suffix and / or one or more infixes (input within the block symbol)), specifically a cyclic prefix and / or suffix and / or infix. The cyclic affix may represent the repetition of the signaling and / or modulation symbols used in the block symbol, with possible minor modifications to the signaling structure of the affix to provide a smooth and / or continuous and / or distinguishable connection between the affix signaling and the signaling of the modulation symbols associated with the content of the block symbol (e.g., channel and / or reference signaling structure). In some cases, specifically, in some cases of OFDM-based waveforms, the affix may be included in the modulation symbol. In other cases, e.g., in some cases of single-carrier-based waveforms, the affix may be represented by a sequence of modulation symbols within the block symbol. It can be considered that, in some cases, the block symbol is defined and / or used in the context of an association structure.

[0092] Communication can include transmission or reception. It can be considered that communication (such as transmitting signaling) is based on an SC-FDM-based waveform, and / or corresponds to a frequency-domain filtering (FDF) DFTS-OFDM waveform. However, these methods can be applied to single-carrier-based waveforms, such as SC-FDM or SC-FDE waveforms, which can be pulse-shaped / FDF-based. It should be noted that SC-FDM can be considered as DFT-spread OFDM, so that SC-FDM and DFTS-OFDM can be used interchangeably. Alternatively or additionally, signaling (e.g., first signaling and / or second signaling) and / or beams (especially first receiving beam and / or second receiving beam) can be based on a waveform with a CP or comparable guard time. The receiving beam and the transmitting beam of the first beam pair can have the same (or similar) or different angles and / or spatial spreads; the receiving beam and the transmitting beam of the second beam pair can have the same (or similar) or different angles and / or spatial spreads. It can be considered that the receiving beam and / or the transmitting beam of the first beam pair and / or the second beam pair have an angular spread of 20 degrees or less, or 15 degrees or less, or 10 degrees or 5 degrees or less at least in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction or both directions; different beams can have different angular spreads. The extended guard interval or the switched guard interval can have a duration corresponding to substantially or at least N CP (cyclic prefix) durations or equivalent durations, where N can be 2, or 3 or 4. The equivalent duration of the CP duration can represent the CP duration associated with signaling with a CP (e.g., SC-FDM-based or OFDM-based), because the waveform without a CP has the same or similar symbol duration as the signaling with a CP. Pulse shaping (and / or performing FDF) on modulation symbols and / or signaling associated with, for example, a first subcarrier or bandwidth can include mapping the modulation symbols (and / or samples associated with them after FFT) to an associated second subcarrier or partial bandwidth, and / or applying a shaping operation on the power and / or amplitude and / or phase of the modulation symbols on the first subcarrier and the second subcarrier, where the shaping operation can be according to a shaping function. Pulse-shaped signaling can include pulse shaping one or more symbols; pulse-shaped signaling generally can include at least one pulse-shaped symbol. Pulse shaping can be performed based on a Nyquist-filter. It can be considered that pulse shaping is based on periodically expanding the frequency distribution of modulation symbols (and / or associated samples after FFT) on a first number of subcarriers to a larger second number of subcarriers, where a subset of the first number of subcarriers from one end of the frequency distribution is appended to the other end of the first number of subcarriers.

[0093] In some variations, the communication can be based on a parameter set (which can be represented by and / or correspond to and / or indicate, for example, a subcarrier spacing and / or a symbol time length) and / or on a waveform based on SC-FDM (including a waveform based on FDF-DFTS-FDM) or a single-carrier waveform; whether to use pulse shaping or FDF for SC-FDM or an SC-based waveform can depend on the modulation scheme used (e.g., MCS). Such waveforms can utilize a cyclic prefix and / or particularly benefit from the described methods. The communication can include and / or be based on beamforming, e.g., transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming, respectively. It can be considered that a beam is generated by performing analog beamforming to provide a beam, e.g., a beam corresponding to a reference beam. Thus, the signaling can be adjusted, for example, based on the movement of a communication partner. For example, a beam can be generated by performing analog beamforming to provide a beam corresponding to a reference beam. This allows for effective post-processing of digitally formed beams without the need to change the digital beamforming chain and / or without the need to change the criteria defining the beamforming precoder. Generally, a beam can be generated, for example, by hybrid beamforming and / or by digital beamforming based on a precoder. This helps to easily handle beams and / or limits the number of power amplifiers / ADCs / DCAs required for the antenna arrangement. It can be considered that a beam is generated by hybrid beamforming (e.g., by performing analog beamforming on a beam representation or a beam formed based on digital beamforming). Monitoring and / or performing cell search can be based on receive beamforming, e.g., analog or digital or hybrid receive beamforming. The parameter set can determine the length of the symbol time interval and / or the duration of the cyclic prefix. The methods described herein are particularly suitable for SC-FDM to ensure orthogonality in the corresponding system, especially subcarrier orthogonality, but can also be used for other waveforms. The communication can include utilizing a waveform with a cyclic prefix. The cyclic prefix can be based on the parameter set and can help maintain signaling orthogonality. The communication can include and / or be based on performing, for example, a cell search for a wireless device or terminal, or can include transmitting cell identification signaling and / or a selection indication, and a radio node receiving the selection indication can perform a cell search by selecting a signaling bandwidth from a set of signaling bandwidths based on the selection indication.

[0094] A beam or beam pair can typically be directed at a single radio node, or a group of radio nodes and / or an area including one or more radio nodes. In many cases, the beam or beam pair can be receiver-specific (e.g., UE-specific), such that each beam / beam pair serves only one radio node. Switching of the beam pair or switching of the receive beam (e.g., by using different receive beams) and / or switching of the transmit beam can be performed at the boundaries of the transmission timing structure (e.g., slot boundaries) or within a slot (e.g., between symbols). Some tuning of the radio circuitry used for reception and / or transmission, for example, can be performed. Beam pair switching can include switching from a second receive beam to a first receive beam, and / or from a second transmit beam to a first transmit beam. The switching can include inserting a guard period to cover the retuning time; however, the circuitry can be adapted to switch fast enough to be substantially instantaneous; this can be especially the case when digital receive beamforming is used to switch the receive beam for beam switching.

[0095] A reference beam (or reference signaling beam) can be a beam that includes reference signaling based on which one of, for example, beam signaling characteristics can be determined (e.g., measured and / or estimated). A signaling beam can include signaling such as control signaling and / or data signaling and / or reference signaling. The reference beam can be transmitted by a source radio node or a transmitting radio node, in which case one or more beam signaling characteristics can be reported from the receiver (e.g., wireless device) to the source radio node or the transmitting radio node. However, in some cases, a radio node can receive a reference beam from another radio node or wireless device. In this case, one or more beam signaling characteristics can be determined by the radio node. The signaling beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. The set of signaling characteristics can include multiple subsets of beam signaling characteristics, each subset associated with a different reference beam. Thus, a reference beam can be associated with different beam signaling characteristics.

[0096] Beam signaling characteristics (each set of these characteristics) can represent and / or indicate the signal strength and / or signal quality and / or latency characteristics of a beam, and / or be associated with the received signaling and / or measurement signaling carried on the beam. The beam signaling characteristics and / or latency characteristics can specifically relate to and / or indicate the number and / or list and / or order of beams having the best (e.g., lowest average latency and / or lowest spread / range) timing or delay spread, and / or the number and / or list and / or order of the strongest and / or best quality beams, which is for example associated with the delay spread. The beam signaling characteristics can be based on measurements performed on reference signaling carried on a reference beam associated therewith. The measurement can be performed by a radio node or another node or a wireless device. Using reference signaling can improve the accuracy and / or metrology of the measurement. In some cases, a beam and / or a beam pair can be represented by a beam identifier indication (e.g., a beam or beam pair number). Such an indication can be represented by one or more signaling sequences (e.g., a specific reference signaling sequence or sequences) and / or signaling characteristics and / or resources used (e.g., time / frequency and / or code) and / or a specific RNTI (e.g., for scrambling the CRC of some messages or transmissions) that can be sent on the beam and / or beam pair, and / or by information (e.g., coding and / or a cell provided in an information field or as a message in a certain form of signaling (e.g., DCI and / or MAC and / or RRC signaling)) provided in the signaling (e.g., control signaling and / or system signaling) on the beam and / or beam pair.

[0097] A reference beam can generally be one reference beam in a set of reference beams, and a second set of reference beams is associated with the set of signaling beams. The associated sets can refer to at least one beam in the first set that is associated with and / or corresponds to the second set (and vice versa), e.g., based on it, e.g., by having the same analog or digital beamforming parameters and / or precoder and / or the same shape before analog beamforming, and / or being a modified form thereof, e.g., by performing additional analog beamforming. The set of signaling beams can be referred to as the first beam set, and the corresponding set of reference beams can be referred to as the second beam set.

[0098] In some variations, one reference beam and / or multiple reference beams and / or reference signaling can correspond to and / or carry random access signaling, e.g., a random access preamble. Such a reference beam or signaling can be sent by another radio node. The signaling can indicate which beam is used for transmission. Alternatively, the reference beam can be the beam for receiving the random access signaling. The random access signaling can be used for an initial connection to the radio node and / or the cell provided by the radio node, and / or for reconnection. Utilizing the random access signaling helps with fast and early beam selection. For example, based on the broadcast information provided by the radio node (the radio node performing beam selection), e.g., using synchronization signaling (e.g., SSB block and / or associated with the SSB block), the random access signaling can be on the random access channel. The reference signaling can correspond to, e.g., synchronization signaling sent by the radio node in multiple beams. For example, these characteristics can be reported, e.g., during the random access procedure, by a node receiving the synchronization signaling (e.g., msg3 for contention resolution, which can be sent on the physical uplink shared channel based on the resource allocation provided by the radio node).

[0099] The delay characteristic (which may correspond to delay spread information) and / or the measurement report may represent and / or indicate at least one of the following: average delay, and / or delay spread, and / or delay distribution, and / or delay spread distribution, and / or delay spread range, and / or relative delay spread, and / or energy (or power) distribution, and / or impulse response to received signaling, and / or power delay profile of the received signal, and / or parameters related to the power delay profile of the received signal. The average delay may represent the average value and / or mean of the delay spread, which may be weighted or unweighted. The distribution may be, for example, the distribution of the received power and / or energy of the signal over time / delay. The range may indicate the interval of the delay spread distribution over time / delay, which may cover a predetermined percentage of the corresponding received energy or power of the delay spread, such as 50% or more, 75% or more, 90% or more, or 100%. The relative delay spread may indicate the relationship with a threshold delay such as the average delay, and / or the offset relative to the desired and / or configured timing (e.g., the timing of the signaling expected based on the scheduling), and / or the relationship with the cyclic prefix duration (which may be considered in the form of a threshold). The energy distribution or power distribution may relate to the energy or power received within the time interval of the delay spread. The power delay profile may relate to the representation of the received signal or the received signal energy / power across time / delay. The parameters related to the power delay profile may relate to the metrics calculated from the power delay profile. Different values and different forms of delay spread information and / or reports may be used to achieve a wide range of capabilities. For example, using measurement configuration and / or reference signaling configuration, in particular using higher layer signaling (such as RRC or MAC signaling) and / or physical layer signaling (such as DCI signaling), the type of information represented by the measurement report may be predefined, or configured or configurable.

[0100] Generally, different beam pairs may have at least one different beam; for example, a beam pair using a first receive beam and a first transmit beam may be considered different from a second beam pair using the first receive beam and a second transmit beam. A transmit beam without using precoding and / or beamforming (e.g., using the natural antenna distribution) may be regarded as a special form of the transmit beam of the beam pair. The transmitter may indicate the beam to the radio node with a beam indication and / or configuration, which may indicate, for example, beam parameters, and / or the time / frequency resources associated with the beam, and / or the transmit mode associated with the beam, and / or the antenna distribution, and / or the antenna port, and / or the precoder. Different beams may be provided with different contents, for example, different receive beams may carry different signaling; however, there may be a consideration that different beams carry the same signaling (e.g., the same data signaling and / or reference signaling). The beam may be transmitted by the same node and / or transmission point and / or antenna arrangement, or by different nodes and / or transmission points and / or antenna arrangements.

[0101] Communicating using a beam pair or a beam may include: receiving signaling on a receiving beam (which may be one of the beam pair), and / or transmitting signaling on a beam (e.g., one of the beam pair). The following terms will be explained from the perspective of the radio node mentioned: A receiving beam may be the beam carrying the signaling received by the radio node (for reception, the radio node may use, for example, a receiving beam directed to the receiving beam, or be non-beamformed). A transmitting beam may be the beam used by the radio node to transmit signaling. A beam pair may consist of a receiving beam and a transmitting beam. For example, at least under stationary or almost stationary conditions, the transmitting beam and the receiving beam of the beam pair may be associated with and / or correspond to each other, such that the signaling on the receiving beam and the signaling on the transmitting beam propagate along substantially the same path (but in opposite directions). It should be noted that the terms "first" and "second" do not necessarily indicate a chronological order; the second signaling may be received and / or transmitted before the first signaling or in some cases simultaneously with the first signaling, and vice versa. For example, in TDD operation, the receiving beam and the transmitting beam of the beam pair may be on the same carrier or frequency range or bandwidth part; however, variants with FDD can also be considered. Different beam pairs may operate on the same frequency range or carrier or bandwidth part (e.g., the transmitting beam operates on the same frequency range or carrier or bandwidth part, and the receiving beam operates on the same frequency range or carrier or bandwidth part (the transmitting beam and the receiving beam may be on the same or different ranges or carriers or BWPs)). Communicating using the first beam pair and / or the first beam may be based on and / or include switching from the second beam pair or the second beam to the first beam pair or the first beam for communication. This switching may be controlled by the network (e.g., a network node (which may be the source or transmitter of the receiving beam of the first beam pair and / or the second beam pair, or be associated with it, e.g., the associated transmission point or node in dual connectivity)). Such control may include transmitting control signaling, e.g., physical layer signaling and / or higher layer signaling. In some cases, for example, based on measurements of the signal quality and / or signal strength of a beam pair (especially the first beam pair and / or the second beam pair), such as (e.g., the first receiving beam and the second receiving beam), the switching may be performed by the radio node without additional control signaling. For example, if the signal quality or signal strength measured for the second beam pair (or the second beam) is considered insufficient, and / or is worse than that indicated by the corresponding measurement of the first beam pair, then a switch to the first beam pair (or the first beam) may be made. The measurements performed on the beam pair (or beam) may specifically include measurements performed on the receiving beam of the beam pair. It can be considered that the timing indication may be determined before switching from the second beam pair to the first beam pair for communication. Therefore, when starting to communicate using the first beam pair or the first beam, this synchronization may be in place and / or the timing indication may be used for synchronization.However, in some cases, the timing indication can be determined after switching to the first beam pair or the first beam. This can be particularly useful if it is desired to receive the first signaling only after switching, for example, based on the periodicity or scheduling timing of suitable reference signaling on the first beam pair (e.g., the first receive beam). In general, the receive beam of a node can be associated with and / or corresponding to the transmit beam of that node, e.g., such that the (spatial) receive angle of the receive beam and the (spatial) transmit angle of the transmit beam at least partially, or substantially or completely overlap and / or coincide, especially for TDD operation and / or independent of frequency. In some cases, the spatial correspondence between the beams can be considered, e.g., such that a beam pair (e.g., the transmit beam of a transmitting node and the receive beam of a receiving node) can be considered to include corresponding beams (e.g., the receive beam is suitable for receiving transmissions on the transmit beam and / or is the best beam for receiving transmissions on the transmit beam, e.g., based on a threshold signal quality and / or signal strength and / or measurement); for each such beam, there can be an associated or corresponding complementary beam of the corresponding node (e.g., for the transmit beam of a beam pair, there can be a receive beam of the transmitting node associated therewith; and / or for the receive beam of a beam pair, there can be a transmit beam of the receiving node associated therewith; if these beams (e.g., at least substantially or essentially) overlap (e.g., in spatial angle), then in some cases, the beam pair can be considered to indicate four beams (or actually, two beam pairs).

[0102] In some cases, one or more beams, signals, or signaling may be associated with a quasi - co - located (QCL) property or set of properties or QCL class (also referred to as QCL type) or QCL identity; beams, signals, or signaling sharing such can be considered quasi - co - located. Quasi - co - located beams, signals, or signaling can be considered (e.g., by a receiver) to be the same beam or to originate from the same transmitter or transmission source, at least with respect to the QCL property or set or class or identity, and / or to share these properties. QCL properties can relate to the propagation of signaling, and / or one or more delay properties, and / or path loss, and / or signal quality, and / or signal strength, and / or beam direction, and / or beam shape (specifically, an angle or region, e.g., a coverage area), and / or Doppler shift, and / or Doppler spread, and / or delay spread, and / or time synchronization, and / or frequency synchronization, and / or one or more other parameters, e.g., relating to the propagation channel and / or spatial RX parameters (which can refer to receive beams and / or transmit beams, e.g., shape, coverage, or direction). QCL properties can relate to a specific channel (e.g., a physical layer channel such as a control channel or data channel) and / or a reference signaling type and / or an antenna port. Different QCL classes or types can relate to different QCL properties or sets of properties; a QCL class can define and / or relate to one or more criteria and / or thresholds and / or ranges such that one or more QCL property beams must meet to be considered quasi - co - located according to that class; a QCL identity can refer to and / or indicate that all beams are quasi - co - located according to a QCL class. Different classes can relate to the same property (e.g., for one or more properties, different classes can have different criteria and / or thresholds and / or ranges) and / or one or more of different properties. A QCL indication can be considered a form of beam indication, e.g., relating to all beams belonging to a QCL class and / or QCL identity and / or quasi - co - located beams. A QCL identity can be indicated by a QCL indication. In some cases, a beam and / or beam indication can be considered to refer to and / or indicate a QCL identity, and / or to indicate quasi - co - located beams, signals, or signaling.

[0103] Transmission on multiple layers (multi - layer transmission) can refer to simultaneously transmitting communication signaling and / or reference signaling in one or more beams, and / or using multiple transmission sources controlled, for example, by a network node or a wireless device. These layers can refer to transmission layers; a layer can be considered to represent a data or signaling stream. Different layers can carry different data and / or data streams, e.g., to increase data throughput. In some cases, the same data or data stream can be transmitted on different layers, e.g., to improve reliability. Multi - layer transmission can provide diversity, e.g., transmit diversity and / or spatial diversity. It can be considered that multi - layer transmission includes 2 layers or more than 2 layers; the number of transmission layers can be represented by a rank or rank indication.

[0104] The transmission source may specifically include an antenna or a set of antenna elements or an antenna sub-array or an antenna array or a transmission point or a TRP or a TP (transmission point) or an access point, and / or be represented by and / or associated with the same. In some cases, the transmission source may represent or may represent and / or correspond to and / or be associated with an antenna port or a transmission layer, for example, for multi-layer transmission. Different transmission sources may specifically include different and / or separately controllable antenna elements or (sub-)arrays, and / or be associated with different antenna ports. Specifically, analog beamforming may be used to perform separate analog control on different transmission sources. The antenna port may indicate the transmission source and / or one or more transmission parameters, particularly the reference signaling associated with the antenna port. Specifically, the transmission parameters relate to and / or indicate the frequency-domain distribution or mapping of the modulation symbols of the reference signaling (e.g., which comb is used and / or which subcarriers are used or the frequency offset, etc.), and / or which cyclic shift is used (e.g., shifting the elements of the modulation symbol sequence, the root sequence, or a sequence based on or derived from the root sequence), and / or which covering code is used (e.g., shifting the elements of the modulation symbol sequence, the root sequence, or a sequence based on or derived from the root sequence). In some cases, for example, if the transmission source is implemented as a TRP or an AP (access point), it may represent a reception target.

[0105] In some variants, the reference signaling may be and / or include, for example, CSI-RS and / or PT-RS and / or DMRS sent by a network node. In other variants, the reference signaling may be sent by a UE, for example, to a network node or another UE, in which case it may include and / or be sounding reference signaling. Other (e.g., new) forms of reference signaling may be considered and / or used. Generally, the modulation symbols of the reference signaling carried by respective resource elements may be associated with a cyclic prefix.

[0106] The data signaling may be on a data channel, for example, on the PDSCH or PSSCH, or on a dedicated data channel (e.g., URLLC channel) for low latency and / or high reliability. The control signaling may be on a control channel, for example, on a common control channel or the PDCCH or PSCCH, and / or include one or more DCI messages or SCI messages. The reference signaling may be associated with the control signaling and / or the data signaling (e.g., DM-RS and / or PT-RS).

[0107] For example, the reference signaling may include DM-RS and / or pilot signaling and / or discovery signaling and / or synchronization signaling and / or sounding signaling and / or phase tracking signaling and / or cell-specific reference signaling and / or user-specific signaling, in particular CSI-RS. The reference signaling may generally be signaling having one or more signaling characteristics (specifically, the transmission power known to the receiver and / or the sequence of modulation symbols and / or the resource distribution and / or the phase distribution). Accordingly, the receiver may use the reference signaling as a reference and / or for training and / or for compensation. The receiver may be notified of the reference signaling by the transmitter, for example, the signaling being configured and / or signaled by control signaling, in particular physical layer signaling and / or higher layer signaling (e.g., DCI and / or RRC signaling), and / or may determine the corresponding information itself, for example, the network node that configures the UE to transmit the reference signaling. The reference signaling may be signaling including one or more reference symbols and / or structures. The reference signaling may be adapted to measure and / or estimate and / or represent the transmission conditions, such as the channel conditions and / or the transmission path conditions and / or the channel (or signal or transmission) quality. It may be considered that the transmission characteristics of the reference signaling (e.g., the signal strength and / or the form and / or the modulation and / or the timing) are available to both the transmitter and the receiver of the signaling (e.g., due to being predefined and / or being configured or configurable and / or being communicated). Different types of reference signaling may be considered, such as those related to the uplink, downlink or sidelink, cell-specific (in particular cell-wide, e.g., CRS) or device or user-specific (for a specific target or user equipment, e.g., CSI-RS), demodulation-related (e.g., DMRS) and / or signal strength-related, such as power-related or energy-related or amplitude-related (e.g., SRS or pilot signaling) and / or phase-related, etc.

[0108] References to specific resource structures, such as allocation units and / or block symbols and / or groups of block symbols and / or transmission timing structures and / or symbols and / or time slots and / or mini time slots and / or subcarriers and / or carriers, may refer to a specific set of parameters, which may be predefined and / or configured or configurable. A transmission timing structure may represent a time interval, which may cover one or more symbols. Some examples of transmission timing structures are transmission time intervals (TTIs), subframes, time slots, and mini time slots. A time slot may include a predefined (e.g., predefined and / or configured or configurable) number of (e.g., 6 or 7 or 12 or 14) symbols. A mini time slot may include a number of symbols less than the number of symbols in a time slot (which may be specifically configurable or specifically configured), specifically 1, 2, 3, or 4 or more symbols, e.g., fewer symbols than in a time slot. A transmission timing structure may cover a time interval of a specific length, which may depend on the symbol time length and / or cyclic prefix used. A transmission timing structure may relate to and / or cover a specific time interval in the time stream, e.g., be synchronized for communication. A timing structure used for and / or scheduled for transmission (e.g., a time slot and / or a mini time slot) may be scheduled with respect to a timing structure provided and / or defined by another transmission timing structure, and / or be synchronized to a timing structure provided and / or defined by another transmission timing structure. Such a transmission timing structure may define a timing grid, which, for example, has a symbol time interval representing a minimum timing unit within each structure. Such a timing grid may be defined, for example, by a time slot or a subframe (where, in some cases, a subframe may be considered a specific variant of a time slot). Possibly in addition to one or more cyclic prefixes used, a transmission timing structure may have a duration (time length) determined based on the duration of its symbols. The symbols in a transmission timing structure may have the same duration, or in some variants may have different durations. The number of symbols in a transmission timing structure may be predefined and / or configured or configurable, and / or may depend on the set of parameters. The timing of a mini time slot may generally be configured or configurable, specifically, by a network and / or network node. The timing may be configurable to start and / or end at any symbol of a transmission timing structure (specifically, one or more time slots).

[0109] Transmission quality parameters may generally correspond to the number of retransmissions R and / or the total number of transmissions T, and / or coding (e.g., the number of coded bits, e.g., for error detection coding and / or error correction coding (such as FEC coding)) and / or code rate and / or BLER and / or BER requirements and / or transmission power level (e.g., minimum level and / or target level and / or base power level P0 and / or transmission power control command TPC, step size) and / or signal quality, e.g., SNR and / or SIR and / or SINR and / or power density and / or energy density.

[0110] A buffer status report (or buffer status report BSR) may include information indicating the presence and / or size of data to be transmitted (e.g., available in one or more buffers provided, for example, by a higher layer). The size may be explicitly indicated, and / or indexed to a range of sizes, and / or may be related to one or more different channels and / or response procedures and / or higher layers and / or channel groups (e.g., one or more logical channels and / or transport channels and / or groups thereof): The structure of the BSR may be predefined and / or configurable, e.g., configured to override and / or modify the predefined structure using, for example, higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). There may be different forms of BSR with different levels of resolution and / or information, e.g., a more detailed long BSR and a less detailed short BSR. The short BSR may cascade and / or combine the information of the long BSR, e.g., providing the sum of data available for one or more channels and / or channel groups and / or buffers, which may be represented separately in the long BSR; and / or may index a less detailed range scheme for the available or buffered data. The BSR may be used in place of a scheduling request, e.g., by a network node to schedule or allocate (uplink) resources for a transmitting radio node such as a wireless device or UE or IAB node.

[0111] Generally considering a program product, the program product includes instructions adapted to cause a processing circuit and / or a control circuit to execute and / or control any method described herein, particularly when the instructions are executed on the processing circuit and / or the control circuit. Similarly, a carrier medium device is also considered, the carrier medium device carrying and / or storing the program product described herein.

[0112] The carrier medium device may include one or more carrier media. Generally, the carrier medium may be accessed and / or read and / or received by a processing circuit or a control circuit. Storing data and / or program product and / or code may be regarded as part of carrying data and / or program product and / or code. The carrier medium generally may include a boot / transmission medium and / or a storage medium. The boot / transmission medium may be adapted to carry and / or convey and / or store signals, specifically electromagnetic signals and / or electrical signals and / or magnetic signals and / or optical signals. The carrier medium (specifically, the boot / transmission medium) may be adapted to guide and carry these signals. The carrier medium (specifically, the boot / transmission medium) may include an electromagnetic field (e.g., radio waves or microwaves) and / or an optically transmissive material (e.g., glass fiber and / or cable). The storage medium may include at least one of a memory, a buffer, a cache, an optical disc, a magnetic memory, a flash memory, etc., which may be volatile or non-volatile.

[0113] Describes a system comprising one or more radio nodes as described herein, specifically network nodes and user equipment. The system may be a wireless communication system, and / or provide and / or represent a radio access network.

[0114] In addition, a method of operating an information system can generally be considered, which includes providing information. Alternatively or additionally, an information system suitable for providing information can be considered. Providing information can include providing information for and / or to a target system, which can include and / or be implemented as a radio access network and / or a radio node, specifically, a network node or a user equipment or terminal. Providing information can include transmitting and / or streaming and / or sending and / or delivering information, and / or providing information for such and / or for downloading, and / or triggering such provision by, for example, triggering different systems or nodes to stream and / or transmit and / or send and / or deliver information. The information system can include and / or be connected to or connectable to the target via one or more intermediate systems (such as, for example, a core network and / or the Internet and / or a dedicated or local network). Information can be provided using and / or via such intermediate systems. Providing information can be used for radio transmission and / or for transmission via an air interface and / or using a RAN or radio node as described herein. Connecting the information system to the target and / or providing information can be based on a target indication, and / or adapted to the target indication. The target indication can indicate the target and / or one or more transmission parameters related to the path or connection for providing information to and / or with the target. Such one or more parameters can specifically relate to the air interface and / or the radio access network and / or the radio node and / or the network node. Example parameters can indicate, for example, the type and / or nature of the target, and / or the transmission capacity (such as, for example, the data rate) and / or the latency and / or the reliability and / or the cost, and their respective one or more estimates. The target indication can be provided, for example, by the target based on information received from the target and / or historical information, or determined by the information system, and / or provided by a user (such as, for example, a user operating the target or a device communicating with the target) via, for example, the RAN and / or the air interface. For example, a user can indicate on a user equipment communicating with the information system: to provide information via the RAN, for example, by selecting from options provided by the information system on a user application or user interface (which can be a web interface). The information system can include one or more information nodes. The information nodes can generally include processing circuitry and / or communication circuitry. Specifically, the information system and / or the information nodes can be implemented as a computer and / or a computer device, such as, for example, a host computer or a host computer device and / or a server or a server device. In some variations, an interaction server (such as, for example, a web server) of the information system can provide a user interface, and based on user input, can trigger the transmission and / or streaming of information from another server to the user (and / or the target), which can be connected to or connectable to the interaction server and / or be part of or connected to or connectable to the information system.The information can be any type of data, specifically, data intended for use by a user at a terminal, such as video data and / or audio data and / or location data and / or interaction data and / or game-related data and / or environmental data and / or technical data and / or traffic data and / or vehicle data and / or situation data and / or operation data. The information provided by an information system can be mapped to and / or be mappable to and / or be intended to be mapped to communication or data signaling and / or one or more data channels as described herein (which can be signaling or channels of an air interface and / or used within a RAN and / or for radio transmission). It can be considered to format the information based on a target indication and / or a target (e.g., regarding data volume and / or data rate and / or data structure and / or timing, which can specifically relate to the mapping of communication or data signaling and / or data channels). Mapping the information to data signaling and / or data channels can be considered to mean using the signaling / channel to carry data, for example, at a higher layer of communication, where the signaling / channel is the underlying layer of transmission. The target indication typically can include different components, which can have different sources, and / or can indicate different characteristics of the target and / or the communication path thereto. The format of the information can be specifically selected, for example, from a set of different formats, for information transmitted over an air interface and / or information transmitted by a RAN as described herein. This can be particularly relevant because the air interface may be limited in capacity and / or predictability, and / or may be cost-sensitive. The format can be selected to be suitable for a transmission indication, which can specifically indicate the path of the information between a RAN or radio node as described herein and the information system in a path of the information (which can be an indicated and / or planned and / or expected path). The (communication) path of the information can represent the interface (e.g., air and / or cable interface) between the information system and / or the node providing or transmitting the information and the target receiving or to receive the information and / or an intermediate system (if any). When the target indication is provided and / or the information is provided / transmitted by the information system, the path may (at least partially) be undetermined, for example, if the Internet is involved, it may include multiple, dynamically selected paths. The information and / or the format for the information can be packet-based, and / or be mapped to, and / or be mappable to, and / or be intended to be mapped to packets. Alternatively or additionally, a method for operating a target device can be considered, which includes providing a target indication to the information system. More alternatively or additionally, a target device can be considered, which is adapted to provide a target indication to the information system. In another method, a target indication tool can be considered, which is adapted to and / or includes an indication module for providing a target indication to the information system. The target device can typically be the target as described above. The target indication tool can include and / or be implemented as software and / or an application or app, and / or a web interface or user interface, and / or can include one or more modules for implementing the actions performed and / or controlled by the tool.The tool and / or the target device may be adapted to and / or the method may include receiving user input, and based on the user input, a target indication may be determined and / or provided. Alternatively or additionally, the tool and / or the target device may be adapted to and / or the method may include receiving information and / or communication signaling carrying information, and / or operating on and / or presenting (e.g., presenting on a screen and / or as audio or as other forms of indication) the information. The information may be based on the received information and / or communication signaling carrying information. Presenting the information may include processing the received information, e.g., decoding and / or converting (specifically between different formats), and / or hardware for presentation. Operating on the information may be independent of presentation or without presentation, and / or continue presentation or successful presentation, and / or may be without user interaction or even user reception, e.g., for an automatic process, or for a target device without (e.g., normal) user interaction, such as an MTC device for automotive or transportation or industrial use. Information or communication signaling may be anticipated and / or received based on the target indication. Presenting and / or operating on the information generally may include one or more processing steps, specifically, decoding and / or executing and / or interpreting and / or converting the information. Operating on the information generally may include, for example, relaying and / or transmitting the information over an air interface, which may include mapping the information onto signaling (such mapping typically involves one or more layers, e.g., one or more layers of the air interface, such as the RLC (Radio Link Control) layer and / or MAC layer and / or physical layer). The information may be imprinted (or mapped) onto the communication signaling based on the target indication, which may make it particularly suitable for use in the RAN (e.g., for a target device such as a network node or specifically a UE or terminal). The tool generally may be adapted to be used on a target device such as a UE or terminal. Generally, the tool may provide multiple functions, such as for providing and / or selecting a target indication, and / or presenting, e.g., video and / or audio, and / or operating on and / or storing the received information. Providing the target indication may include sending or transmitting the indication as signaling in the RAN, and / or carrying it on the signaling, e.g., if the target device is a UE or a tool of the UE. It should be noted that the information provided in this way may be transmitted to the information system via one or more additional communication interfaces and / or paths and / or connections. The target indication may be a high-layer indication and / or the information provided by the information system may be high-layer (e.g., application layer or user layer, specifically above radio layers such as the transport layer and physical layer) information. The target indication may be mapped onto physical layer radio signaling, which is, for example, related to or on the user plane, and / or the information may be mapped onto physical layer radio communication signaling, which is, for example, related to or on the user plane (specifically, in the opposite communication direction). The described method allows for providing a target indication and facilitating the provision of information in a specific format that is particularly suitable and / or adapted for the efficient use of the air interface.For example, in terms of the data rate and / or encapsulation and / or size of the information to be provided by the information system, the user input can, for example, represent a selection from multiple possible transmission modes or formats and / or paths.

[0115] Generally, a parameter set and / or subcarrier spacing can indicate the bandwidth of the subcarriers of a carrier (in the frequency domain), and / or the number of subcarriers in the carrier and / or the numbering of the subcarriers in the carrier, and / or the symbol time length. Specifically, different parameter sets can differ in terms of the bandwidth of the subcarriers. In some variants, all subcarriers in a carrier have the same bandwidth associated therewith. Between carriers, the parameter set and / or subcarrier spacing can be different, especially in terms of the subcarrier bandwidth. The time length of the timing structure related to a carrier and / or the symbol time length can depend on the carrier frequency and / or subcarrier spacing and / or parameter set. Specifically, even on the same carrier, different parameter sets can have different symbol time lengths.

[0116] Signaling can generally include one or more (e.g., modulated) symbols and / or signals and / or messages. A signal can include or represent one or more bits. An indication can represent the signaling and / or can be implemented as one signal or implemented as multiple signals. One or more signals can be included in a message and / or represented by a message. Signaling, especially control signaling, can include multiple signals and / or messages, which can be transmitted on different carriers and / or associated with different signaling processes, e.g., representing and / or regarding one or more such processes and / or corresponding information. An indication can include the signaling and / or multiple signals and / or messages, and / or can be included therein, and these signaling and / or multiple signals and / or messages can be sent on different carriers and / or associated with different response signaling processes, e.g., representing and / or relating to one or more such processes. Signaling associated with a channel can be sent to represent the signaling and / or information of that channel, and / or the signaling is interpreted by a transmitter and / or receiver as belonging to that channel. Such signaling can generally conform to the transmission parameters and / or format of the channel.

[0117] An antenna arrangement may include one or more antenna elements (radiating elements), which may be combined into an antenna array. An antenna array or sub-array may include one antenna element or multiple antenna elements, which may be arranged, for example, two-dimensionally (e.g., a panel) or three-dimensionally. It can be considered that each antenna array or sub-array or unit is independently controllable, and correspondingly, different antenna arrays may be separately controllable from each other. A single antenna element / radiator can be considered as the smallest example of a sub-array. Examples of antenna arrays include one or more multi-antenna panels or one or more separately controllable antenna elements. The antenna arrangement may include multiple antenna arrays. It can be considered that the antenna arrangement is associated with a (specific and / or single) radio node (e.g., configuring or notifying or scheduling the radio node), and is, for example, controlled or controllable by the radio node. The antenna arrangement associated with a UE or a terminal may be smaller (e.g., in terms of the size and / or number of antenna elements or arrays) than the antenna arrangement associated with a network node. The antenna elements of the antenna arrangement may be configured for different arrays, for example, to change beamforming characteristics. Specifically, an antenna array can be formed by combining one or more independent or separately controllable antenna elements or sub-arrays. A beam can be provided by analog beamforming, or in some variants by digital beamforming, or by hybrid beamforming that combines analog beamforming and digital beamforming. The notifying radio node may be configured in a way of beam transmission, for example, by transmitting a corresponding indicator or indication such as a beam identification indication. However, the following situations can be considered: the notifying radio node is not configured using such information, and / or operates transparently (not knowing the beamforming method used). It can be considered that the antenna arrangement is separately controllable in terms of the phase and / or amplitude / power and / or gain of the signal fed to it for transmission, and / or the separately controllable antenna arrangement may include independent or separate transmit units and / or receive units and / or ADCs (analog-to-digital converters, alternatively, ADC chains) or DACs (digital-to-analog converters, alternatively, DAC chains) for converting digital control information into analog antenna feeds for the entire antenna arrangement (the ADC / DAC can be considered as part of the antenna circuit, and / or connected to or connectable to the antenna circuit), and vice versa. A scenario of directly controlling the ADC or DAC for beamforming can be considered as an analog beamforming scenario; this control can be performed after encoding / decoding and / or after the modulation symbols have been mapped to resource elements. This can be at the level of the antenna arrangement using the same ADC / DAC, for example, one antenna element or a group of antenna elements associated with the same ADC / DAC. Digital beamforming may correspond to a scenario of providing beamforming processing before feeding the signaling to the ADC / DAC, for example, before and / or when mapping the modulation symbols to resource elements, for example, by using one or more precoders and / or precoding information.Such a precoder for beamforming can provide weights for amplitude and / or phase, for example, and / or can be based on a (precoder) codebook, such as selected from a codebook. The precoder can relate to one beam or multiple beams, for example, defining one beam or multiple beams. The codebook can be configured or configurable, and / or predefined. DFT beamforming can be considered a form of digital beamforming, where the DFT process is used to form one or more beams. Hybrid forms of beamforming can be considered.

[0118] A beam can be defined by the spatial and / or angular and / or spatial angular distribution of the radiation and / or the spatial angle (also known as solid angle) or spatial (solid) angle distribution to which the radiation is sent (for receive beamforming) or from which the radiation is received (for transmit beamforming). Receive beamforming can include, for example, in digital post-processing (e.g., digital beamforming), only accepting signals incoming from the receive beam (e.g., not receiving external receive beams using analog beamforming), and / or picking out signals not incoming in the receive beam. A beam can have a solid angle equal to or less than 4*pi sr (4*pi corresponds to a beam covering all directions), particularly less than 2*pi, or pi, or pi / 2, or pi / 4 or pi / 8 or pi / 16. Particularly for high frequencies, smaller beams can be used. Different beams can have different directions and / or sizes (e.g., solid angle and / or range). A beam can have a main direction that can be defined by the main lobe (e.g., the center of the main lobe, e.g., related to signal strength and / or solid angle, which can be averaged and / or weighted to determine the direction), and can have one or more side lobes. A lobe can generally be defined as having a continuous or contiguous distribution of transmitted and / or received energy and / or power, e.g., bounded by one or more continuous or contiguous regions of zero energy (or effectively zero energy). The main lobe can include the lobe having the maximum signal strength and / or energy and / or power content. However, due to beamforming limitations, side lobes typically occur, some of which may carry signals with high intensity and may cause multipath effects. A side lobe can generally have a different direction from the main lobe and / or other side lobes, however, due to reflection, the side lobe can still contribute to the energy or power of transmission and / or reception. The beam can be scanned and / or switched over time, e.g., such that its (main) direction changes, but its shape (angular / solid angle distribution) around the main direction does not change, e.g., from the perspective of the transmit beam of the transmitter or from the perspective of the receive beam of the receiver. Scanning can correspond to a continuous or nearly continuous change in the main direction (e.g., such that after each change, the main lobe before the change at least partially covers the main lobe after the change, e.g., at least 50% or 75% or 90%). Switching can correspond to a discontinuous change in direction, e.g., such that after each change, the main lobe before the change does not cover the main lobe after the change, e.g., at most 50% or 25% or 10%.

[0119] For example, from the perspective of a transmitting node or a receiving node, the signal strength can be an indication of the signal power and / or signal energy. For example, due to interference and / or obstruction and / or scattering and / or absorption and / or reflection and / or consumption or other effects that affect the beam or the signal carried by it, a beam with a greater strength during transmission (e.g., according to the beamforming used) does not necessarily have a greater strength at the receiver, and vice versa. The signal quality can generally be an indication of how well the signal is received in the presence of noise and / or interference. A beam with better signal quality than another beam does not necessarily have a greater beam strength than the other beam. The signal quality can be represented by, for example, SIR, SNR, SINR, BER, BLER, the energy per resource element in the presence of noise / interference, or another corresponding quality metric. The signal quality and / or the signal strength can relate to a beam and / or a specific signaling carried by the beam (e.g., a reference signaling and / or a specific channel, such as a data channel or a control channel), and / or can be measured for a beam and / or a specific signaling carried by the beam. The signal strength can be represented by the received signal strength and / or, for example, the relative signal strength compared to a reference signal (strength).

[0120] The uplink or sidelink signaling can be OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) or SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) signaling. The downlink signaling can specifically be OFDMA signaling. However, the signaling (such as communication signaling and / or sensing signaling) is not limited to this (filter bank-based signaling and / or single carrier-based signaling (e.g., SC-FDE signaling) can be considered as alternatives).

[0121] A radio node can generally be considered as a device or node suitable for wireless and / or radio (and / or millimeter wave) frequency communication according to, for example, a communication standard and / or suitable for communicating using an air interface.

[0122] The radio node can be a network node or a user equipment or terminal. The network node can be any radio node of a wireless communication network, such as, for example, a base station and / or a gNodeB (gNB) and / or an eNodeB (eNB) and / or a relay node and / or a micro / nano / pico / femto node and / or a transmission point (TP) and / or an access point (AP) and / or other nodes, specifically the RAN or other wireless communication networks described herein.

[0123] In the context of the present disclosure, the terms user equipment (UE) and terminal may be considered interchangeable. A wireless device, user equipment, or terminal may represent a terminal device for communicating using a wireless communication network, and / or may be implemented as a user equipment according to a standard. Examples of user equipment may include: a telephone (e.g., a smart phone), a personal communication device, a mobile phone or terminal, a computer (especially a laptop computer), a sensor or machine having radio capabilities (and / or adapted to an air interface), especially adapted for MTC (Machine Type Communication, sometimes also referred to as M2M (Machine to Machine)), or a vehicle adapted for wireless communication. The user equipment or terminal may be mobile or stationary. A wireless device generally may include and / or be implemented as a processing circuit and / or a radio circuit, which may include one or more chips or chip sets. One circuit and / or multiple circuits may be encapsulated, for example, in a chip housing, and / or may have one or more physical interfaces for interacting with other circuits and / or for power supply. Such a wireless device may be intended for use as a user equipment or terminal.

[0124] A radio node generally may include a processing circuit and / or a radio circuit. A radio node, especially a network node, may in some cases include a cable circuit and / or a communication circuit, through which the radio node may be connected or connectable to another radio node and / or a core network.

[0125] A circuit may include an integrated circuit. A processing circuit may include one or more processors and / or controllers (e.g., a microcontroller) and / or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) and / or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), etc. It may be considered that the processing circuit includes and / or (operably) connects to or is connectable to one or more memories or memory arrangements. A memory arrangement may include one or more memories. A memory may be adapted to store digital information. Examples of memories include: volatile and non-volatile memories and / or random access memory (RAM) and / or read-only memory (ROM) and / or magnetic memory and / or optical memory and / or flash memory and / or hard disk memory and / or EPROM or EEPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM or Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM).

[0126] A radio circuit may include one or more transmitters and / or receivers and / or transceivers (a transceiver may operate or be operable as a transmitter and a receiver, and / or may include combined or separate circuits for receiving and transmitting in, for example, one package or housing) and / or may include one or more amplifiers and / or oscillators and / or filters and / or may include antenna circuitry and / or one or more antennas and / or may be connected or connectable to antenna circuitry and / or one or more antennas and / or an antenna array. The antenna array may include one or more antennas, which may be arranged in a dimensional array (e.g., a 2D array or a 3D array) and / or an antenna panel. A remote radio head (RRH) may be considered an example of an antenna array. However, in some variants, the RRH may also be implemented as a network node, depending on the kind of circuitry and / or functions implemented therein.

[0127] A communication circuit may include a radio circuit and / or a cable circuit. The communication circuit may generally include one or more interfaces, which may be one or more air interfaces and / or one or more cable interfaces and / or one or more laser-based optical interfaces, for example. One or more interfaces may be packet-based in particular. The cable circuit and / or the cable interface may include and / or be connected or connectable to one or more cables (e.g., fiber-optic-based and / or wire-based), which may be connected or connectable to a target directly or indirectly (e.g., via one or more intermediate systems and / or interfaces) and be controlled by the communication circuit and / or the processing circuit, for example.

[0128] Any one or all of the modules disclosed herein may be implemented in software and / or firmware and / or hardware. Different modules may be associated with different components of a radio node (e.g., different circuits or different parts of a circuit). It may be contemplated that the modules are distributed over different components and / or circuits. The program product described herein may include modules associated with an apparatus (e.g., a user equipment or a network node) intended to execute the program product (the execution may be performed on or controlled by the associated circuitry).

[0129] A wireless communication network may be or include a radio access network and / or a backhaul network (e.g., a relay or backhaul network or an IAB network), and / or in particular a radio access network (RAN) according to a communication standard. The communication standard may specifically be a standard according to 3GPP and / or 5G (e.g., according to NR or LTE, in particular according to LTE evolution).

[0130] A wireless communication network can be and / or can include a radio access network (RAN), which can be and / or can include any type of cellular and / or wireless radio network that can be connected to or is connectable to a core network. The methods described herein are particularly suitable for 5G networks, such as, for example, LTE evolution and / or NR (New Radio), and their respective successor technologies. The RAN can include one or more network nodes, and / or one or more terminals, and / or one or more radio nodes. A network node can specifically be a radio node adapted to communicate radio and / or wireless and / or cellularly with one or more terminals. A terminal can be any device adapted to communicate radio and / or wireless and / or cellularly with the RAN or within the RAN, such as, for example, a user equipment (UE) or a mobile phone or a smart phone or a computing device or a vehicle communication device or a device for machine type communication (MTC), etc. A terminal can be mobile, or in some cases can be stationary. The RAN or wireless communication network can include at least one network node and a UE, or at least two radio nodes. A wireless communication network or system can generally be considered, such as, for example, a RAN or a RAN system including at least one radio node and / or at least one network node and at least one terminal.

[0131] Transmission in the downlink can be related to transmission from the network or a network node to a terminal. Transmission in the uplink can be related to transmission from the terminal to the network or a network node. Transmission in the side link can be related to (direct) transmission from one terminal to another terminal. The uplink, downlink, and side link (e.g., side link transmission and reception) can be considered communication directions. In some variants, the uplink and downlink can also be used to describe wireless communication between network nodes, such as for wireless backhaul, and / or relay communication and / or (wireless) network communication between, for example, base stations or similar network nodes, particularly terminating such communication. Implementing backhaul and / or relay communication and / or network communication as a side link or uplink communication or a form similar thereto can be considered.

[0132] Control information or a control information message or corresponding signaling (control signaling) may be sent on a control channel (e.g., a physical control channel), which may be a downlink channel (or a sidelink channel in some cases where, for example, one UE schedules another UE). For example, control information / assignment information may be signaled by a network node on a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) and / or a PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) and / or a HARQ specific channel. Acknowledgment signaling, for example as a form of control information or signaling such as uplink control information / signaling, may be sent by a terminal on a PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel) and / or a PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel) and / or a HARQ specific channel. Multiple channels may be applicable for multi-component / multi-carrier indication or signaling.

[0133] Sending acknowledgment signaling may generally be based on and / or in response to a subject transmission, and / or control signaling that schedules the subject transmission. Such control signaling and / or subject signaling may be transmitted by a signaling radio node (e.g., in a dual connectivity scenario, it may be a network node and / or an associated node therewith). The subject transmission and / or subject signaling may be an ACK / NACK or the transmission or signaling to which the acknowledgment information pertains, e.g., indicating correct or incorrect reception and / or decoding of the subject transmission or signaling. The subject signaling or transmission may specifically include, for example, data signaling on a PDSCH or a PSSCH, or certain forms of control signaling, e.g., for a specific format, on a PDCCH or a PSSCH, and / or be represented thereby.

[0134] The signaling characteristics may be based on the type or format of a scheduling grant and / or a scheduling assignment, and / or the type of allocation, and / or the timing of the acknowledgment signaling and / or the scheduling grant and / or the scheduling assignment, and / or the resources associated with the acknowledgment signaling and / or the scheduling grant and / or the scheduling assignment. For example, if a specific format for a scheduling grant (scheduling or allocating the allocated resources) or a scheduling assignment (scheduling the subject transmission for the acknowledgment signaling) is used or detected, a first communication resource or a second communication resource may be used. The type of allocation may be related to dynamic allocation (e.g., using DCI / PDCCH) or semi-static allocation (e.g., for configured grants). The timing of the acknowledgment signaling may be related to the time slot and / or symbol in which the signaling is to be sent. The resources for the acknowledgment signaling may be related to the allocated resources. The timing and / or resources associated with the scheduling grant or assignment may represent the search space or CORESET (a set of resources configured for receiving PDCCH transmissions) in which the grant or assignment was received. Thus, which transmission resources to use may be based on implicit conditions, thereby requiring low signaling overhead.

[0135] Scheduling may include, for example, one or more scheduling opportunities using control signaling (such as DCI or SCI signaling) and / or signaling on a control channel (such as PDCCH or PSCCH) indicating a configuration intended to carry data signaling or topic signaling. The configuration may be represented or representable by a table and / or correspond to a table. A scheduling assignment may, for example, point to an opportunity to receive an allocation configuration, such as indexing a table of scheduling opportunities. In some cases, the received allocation configuration may include 15 or 16 scheduling opportunities. The configuration may specifically represent a time allocation. It may be considered that the received allocation configuration is related to data signaling, particularly data signaling on a physical data channel (such as PDSCH or PSSCH). Generally, the received allocation configuration may be related to downlink signaling or, in some cases, sidelink signaling. Control signaling scheduling a topic transmission (such as data signaling) may point to and / or index and / or reference and / or indicate a scheduling opportunity of the received allocation configuration. It may be considered that the received allocation configuration is configured or configurable with higher layer signaling, such as RRC or MAC layer signaling. The received allocation configuration may apply to and / or be applicable to and / or be effective for multiple transmission timing intervals, for example, such that for each interval, one or more opportunities may be indicated or allocated for data signaling. These methods allow for efficient and flexible scheduling, which may be semi-static but can be updated or reconfigured on a useful time scale in response to changes in operating conditions.

[0136] Control information (such as in a control information message) in this context may be specifically implemented as a scheduling assignment and / or represented by a scheduling assignment, which may indicate a topic transmission for feedback (transmission of acknowledgment signaling) and / or reporting timing and / or frequency resources and / or code resources. The reporting timing may indicate the timing for the scheduled acknowledgment signaling, such as time slots and / or symbols and / or resource sets. The control information may be carried by control signaling.

[0137] The topic transmission may include one or more individual transmissions. The scheduling assignment may include one or more scheduling assignments. It should generally be noted that in a distributed system, the topic transmission, configuration, and / or scheduling may be provided by different nodes or devices or transmission points. Different topic transmissions may be on the same carrier or different carriers (e.g., in carrier aggregation), and / or on the same or different bandwidth parts, and / or on the same or different layers or beams (e.g., in a MIMO scenario), and / or to the same or different ports. Generally, the topic transmission may be related to different HARQ or ARQ processes (or different sub-processes, e.g., in MIMO, having different beams / layers associated with the same process identifier but different sub-process identifiers, such as scrambling bits). The scheduling assignment and / or the HARQ codebook may indicate the target HARQ structure. The target HARQ structure may, for example, indicate the expected HARQ response to the topic transmission, such as the number of bits and / or whether a code block group level response is provided. However, it should be noted that, for example, due to the total size of the target structure for a sub-mode being greater than a predetermined size, the actual structure used may be different from the target structure.

[0138] Sending acknowledgment signaling (also referred to as sending acknowledgment information or feedback information or simply ARQ or HARQ feedback or feedback or reported feedback) may include and / or be based on determining the correct or incorrect reception of a topic transmission, e.g., based on error coding and / or on the scheduling assignment that schedules the topic transmission. The acknowledgment information may be based on and / or include the structure for sending the acknowledgment information, e.g., the structure of one or more sub-modes, e.g., based on which topic transmission is scheduled for the associated breakdown. The acknowledgment information may include sending corresponding signaling, e.g., at an instance and / or in a message and / or a channel, specifically in a physical channel that may be a control channel. In some cases, e.g., with rate matching of the acknowledgment information, the channel may be a shared channel or a data channel. The acknowledgment information may generally be related to multiple topic transmissions, which may be on different channels and / or carriers, and / or may include data signaling and / or control signaling. The acknowledgment information may be based on a codebook, which may be based on one or more size indications and / or assignment indications (representing the HARQ structure), which may be received together with multiple control signaling and / or control messages, e.g., in the same or different transmission timing structures, and / or in the same or different (target) resource sets. Sending the acknowledgment information may include: determining the codebook, for example, based on the control information and / or configuration in one or more control information messages. The codebook may relate to sending the acknowledgment information at a single and / or specific moment (e.g., a single PUCCH or PUSCH transmission) and / or in a message or together with jointly encoded and / or modulated acknowledgment information. Generally, the acknowledgment information may be sent together with other control information (e.g., scheduling requests and / or measurement information).

[0139] In some cases, the response signaling may include other information beside the response information (e.g., control information, specifically uplink or sidelink control information such as scheduling requests and / or measurement information, etc., and / or error detection and / or correction information, associated bits respectively). The payload size of the response signaling may indicate: the number of bits of the response information, and / or in some cases, the total number of bits carried by the response signaling, and / or the number of resource elements required. The response signaling and / or information may be related to ARQ and / or HARQ processes; the ARQ process may provide ACK / NACK feedback (and possibly additional feedback), and may perform decoding for each (re)transmission individually without soft buffering / soft combining of the intermediate data, while HARQ may include soft buffering / soft combining of the intermediate data for decoding one or more (re)transmissions.

[0140] The subject transmission may be data signaling or control signaling. The transmission may be on a shared or dedicated channel. The data signaling may be on a data channel, e.g., on the PDSCH or PSSCH, or on a dedicated data channel for low latency and / or high reliability (e.g., URLLC channel). The control signaling may be on a control channel, e.g., on a common control channel or PDCCH or PSCCH, and / or include one or more DCI messages or SCI messages. In some cases, the subject transmission may include or represent a reference signaling. For example, the reference signaling may include DM-RS and / or pilot signaling and / or discovery signaling and / or sounding signaling and / or phase-tracking signaling and / or cell-specific reference signaling and / or user-specific signaling, specifically, CSI-RS. The subject transmission may be related to a scheduling assignment and / or a response signaling process (e.g., according to an identifier or sub-identifier) and / or a sub-division. In some cases, e.g., due to being scheduled to start from one sub-division and extend to another, the subject transmission may cross the boundary of the sub-division in time and even span more than one sub-division. In such a case, it may be considered that the subject transmission is associated with the sub-division where it ends.

[0141] It may be considered that sending the response information (especially the response information of the response information) is based on determining whether the subject transmission has been correctly received, e.g., based on error coding and / or reception quality. The reception quality may be based on the determined signal quality, for example. The response information is typically sent to the signaling radio node and / or node arrangement and / or network and / or network node.

[0142] One or more bits of the response information or a sub - pattern structure of such information (e.g., the response information structure) can represent and / or include one or more bits, specifically the pattern of the bits. Multiple bits associated with a data structure or sub - structure or a message (such as a control message) can be considered a sub - pattern. The structure or arrangement of the response information can indicate the order of the information, and / or the meaning, and / or the mapping, and / or the pattern of the bits (or sub - pattern of bits). This structure or mapping can specifically indicate one or more data block structures, e.g., code blocks and / or code block groups and / or transport blocks and / or messages related to the response information (e.g., command messages), and / or which bits or sub - patterns of bits are associated with which data block structure. In some cases, this mapping can be related to one or more response signaling processes (e.g., processes with different identifiers and / or one or more different data streams). This configuration or structure or codebook can indicate which processes and / or which data streams the information is related to. Generally, the response information can include one or more sub - patterns, and each sub - pattern can be related to a data block structure (e.g., a code block or a code block group or a transport block). The sub - pattern can be arranged to indicate the response or non - response of the associated data block structure, or another re - transmission state, such as non - scheduled or non - received. It can be considered that the sub - pattern includes one bit, or in some cases more than one bit. It should be noted that the response information may undergo significant processing before being sent together with the response signaling. Different configurations can indicate different sizes and / or mappings and / or structures and / or patterns.

[0143] The response signaling process (providing the response information) can be a HARQ process, and / or be identified by a process identifier (e.g., a HARQ process identifier or a sub - identifier). The response signaling and / or the associated response information can be referred to as feedback or response feedback. It should be noted that the data block or structure that may be related to the sub - pattern can be intended to carry data (e.g., information bits and / or system bits and / or coded bits). However, depending on the transmission conditions, such data may be received or not received (or not received correctly), which can be indicated accordingly in the feedback. In some cases, for example, if the response information of a data block requires fewer bits than the bits indicated as the size of the sub - pattern, the sub - pattern of the response signaling can include padding bits. For example, this can occur if the size is indicated by a unit size larger than required for the feedback. The response information can generally indicate at least ACK or NACK, e.g., ACK or NACK related to an element or a message of the response signaling process or the data block structure (such as a data block, a sub - block group or a sub - block), specifically a control message. Generally, for a response signaling process, there can be an associated specific sub - pattern and / or data block structure for which the response information is provided. The response information can include multiple pieces of information represented by multiple ARQ and / or HARQ structures.

[0144] The response signaling process can determine the correct or incorrect reception of a data block (such as a transport block) and / or its sub-structure and / or the corresponding response information based on the coded bits associated with the data block and / or based on the coded bits associated with one or more data blocks and / or sub-blocks and / or groups of sub-blocks. The response information (determined by the response signaling process) can be related to the entire data block and / or to one or more sub-blocks or groups of sub-blocks. Code blocks can be considered as examples of sub-blocks, and code block groups can be considered as examples of groups of sub-blocks. Thus, the associated sub-pattern can include one or more bits indicating the reception status or feedback of the data block and / or one or more bits indicating the reception status or feedback of one or more sub-blocks or groups of sub-blocks. Each sub-pattern or the bits of the sub-pattern can be associated and / or mapped to a specific data block or sub-block or group of sub-blocks. In some variations, if all sub-blocks or groups of sub-blocks are correctly identified, the correct reception of the data block can be indicated. In such a case, the sub-pattern can represent the response information for the entire data block, reducing the overhead compared to providing response information for sub-blocks or groups of sub-blocks. The smallest structure for which the sub-pattern provides response information and / or with which it is associated (e.g., sub-block / group of sub-blocks / data block) can be considered its (highest) resolution. In some variations, the sub-pattern can provide response information about several elements of the data block structure and / or at different resolutions, for example to allow more specific error detection. For example, even if the sub-pattern indicates response signaling related to the entire data block, in some variations, a higher resolution (e.g., sub-block or group of sub-blocks resolution) can be provided by the sub-pattern. The sub-pattern can generally include: one or more bits indicating the ACK / NACK of the data block and / or one or more bits for indicating the ACK / NACK of a sub-block or group of sub-blocks or more than one group of sub-blocks.

[0145] The sub-blocks and / or sub-block groups may include information bits (representing data to be transmitted, such as user data and / or downlink / sidelink data or uplink data). It can be considered that the data blocks and / or sub-blocks and / or sub-block groups also include one or more error detection bits, which may be related to and / or determined based on the information bits (for sub-block groups, the error detection bits may be determined based on the information bits and / or error detection bits and / or error correction bits of the sub-blocks of the sub-block group. The data block or sub-structure (such as a sub-block or sub-block group) may include error correction bits, which may be specifically determined based on the information bits and error detection bits of the block or sub-structure, for example, using an error correction coding scheme (specifically, for forward error correction (FEC), such as LDPC or polar coding and / or turbo coding). Generally, the error correction coding of the data block structure (and / or associated bits) may cover the information bits and error detection bits of the structure and / or be related to them. The sub-block group may represent a combination of one or more code blocks (corresponding bits respectively). The data block may represent a code block or a group of code blocks, or a combination of more than one group of code blocks. For example, based on the bit size of the information bits of the high-layer data structure provided for error coding and / or the size requirement or preference for error coding (specifically, error correction coding), the transport block may be divided into code blocks and / or groups of code blocks. Such a high-layer data structure is sometimes also referred to as a transport block, which represents the information bits without the error coding bits described in this document in this context, although it may include high-layer error handling information, such as for Internet protocols (such as TCP). However, such error handling information represents the information bits in the context of this disclosure because the described response signaling process processes it accordingly.

[0146] In some variations, a sub-block (such as a code block) may include error correction bits, which may be determined based on the information bits and / or error detection bits of the sub-block. An error correction coding scheme may be used to determine the error correction bits, for example, based on LDPC or polar coding or Reed-Mueller coding. In some cases, a sub-block or code block may be considered to be defined as a block or pattern of bits that includes information bits, error detection bits determined based on the information bits, and error correction bits determined based on the information bits and / or error detection bits. It can be considered that in a sub-block (e.g., a code block), the information bits (and possibly the error correction bits) are protected and / or covered by an error correction scheme or corresponding error correction bits. A code block group may include one or more code blocks. In some variations, no additional error detection bits and / or error correction bits are applied, however, it may be considered to apply one or both of them. A transport block may include one or more code block groups. It may be considered not to apply additional error detection bits and / or error correction bits to the transport block, however, it may be considered to apply one or both of them. In some specific variations, the code block group does not include an additional layer of error detection or correction coding, and the transport block may include only additional error detection coding bits and not additional error correction coding. This may be particularly true if the transport block size is greater than the code block size and / or the maximum size used for error correction coding. A sub-pattern of the acknowledgment signaling (specifically, indicating ACK or NACK) may be related to a code block, for example, indicating whether the code block has been correctly received. It can be considered that the sub-pattern is related to a subgroup (such as a code block group) or a data block (such as a transport block). In this case, if all sub-blocks or code blocks of the group or data / transport block have been correctly received (e.g., based on a logical "AND" operation), the sub-pattern may indicate ACK, and if at least one sub-block or code block has not been correctly received, the sub-pattern indicates NACK or another state of incorrect reception. It should be noted that a code block may be considered to be correctly received not only if it has actually been correctly received, but also if it can be correctly reconstructed based on soft combining and / or error correction coding.

[0147] The sub - pattern / HARQ structure may be related to an acknowledgment signaling process and / or a carrier (such as a component carrier) and / or a data block structure or data block. Specifically, it can be considered that a (e.g., specific and / or single) sub - pattern is related to (e.g., mapped by a codebook to) a (e.g., specific and / or single) acknowledgment signaling process (e.g., a specific and / or single HARQ process). It can be considered that in a bit pattern, the sub - pattern is mapped to the acknowledgment signaling process and / or data block or data block structure in a one - to - one manner. In some variants, for example, if multiple data streams transmitted on a carrier are subject to an acknowledgment signaling process, there may be multiple sub - patterns (and / or associated acknowledgment signaling processes) associated with the same component carrier. A sub - pattern may include one or more bits, and the number of which can be considered to represent its size or bit - size. Different bit n - tuples (where n is 1 or greater) of the sub - pattern may be associated with different elements of the data block structure (e.g., data block or sub - block or group of sub - blocks), and / or represent different resolutions. Variants can be considered where only one resolution is represented by the bit pattern (e.g., data block). The bit n - tuple may represent acknowledgment information (also referred to as feedback), specifically ACK or NACK, and optionally, (if n>1) may represent DTX / DRX or other reception states. ACK / NACK can be represented by one bit or more than one bit, for example, to improve the ambiguity of the bit sequence representing ACK or NACK, and / or to improve transmission reliability.

[0148] The acknowledgment information or feedback information may be related to multiple different transmissions, which may be associated with and / or represented by a data block structure (data blocks or data signaling respectively associated). The data block structure and / or the corresponding blocks and / or signaling may be scheduled for simultaneous transmission, for example, for the same transmission timing structure, especially within the same time slot or sub - frame, and / or on the same symbol. However, alternatives for scheduling non - simultaneous transmissions can be considered. For example, the acknowledgment information may be related to data blocks scheduled for different transmission timing structures (e.g., different time slots (or mini - slots, or time slots and mini - slots), etc.), which may be received (or not received or mis - received) accordingly. The scheduling signaling may generally include indication of resources, e.g., the time and / or frequency resources for receiving or transmitting the scheduled signaling.

[0149] A signaling can generally be considered to represent an electromagnetic wave structure (e.g., in terms of time intervals and frequency intervals), which is intended to convey information to at least one specific or general (e.g., anyone who may pick up the signaling) target. The process of signaling can include transmitting the signaling. Transmitting the signaling, specifically control signaling or communication signaling (e.g., including or representing acknowledgment signaling and / or resource request information), can include encoding and / or modulation. Encoding and / or modulation can include error detection coding and / or forward error correction coding and / or scrambling. Receiving control signaling can include corresponding decoding and / or demodulation. Error detection coding can include and / or be based on parity check or checksum methods, such as CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check). Forward error correction coding can include and / or be based on, for example, turbo coding and / or Reed - Muller coding, and / or polar coding and / or LDPC coding (Low - Density Parity - Check). The type of coding used can be based on the channel (e.g., physical channel) associated with the coded signal. Considering that coding adds coding bits for error detection coding and forward error correction, the code rate can represent the ratio of the number of information bits before coding to the number of coded bits after coding. Coded bits can refer to information bits (also called systematic bits) plus coding bits.

[0150] Communication signaling can include and / or represent and / or be implemented as data signaling and / or user - plane signaling. Communication signaling can be associated with a data channel, such as a physical downlink channel or a physical uplink channel or a physical sidelink channel, particularly the PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) or the PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel). Generally, a data channel can be a shared channel or a dedicated channel. Data signaling can be signaling associated with and / or on a data channel.

[0151] An indication can generally explicitly and / or implicitly indicate the information it represents and / or indicates. Implicit indication can be based on, for example, the location and / or resources used for transmission. Explicit indication can be based on, for example, a parameter with one or more parameters and / or an index or multiple indexes and / or one or more bit patterns representing information. Specifically, it can be considered that the control signaling based on the resource sequence utilized described herein implicitly indicates the control signaling type.

[0152] A resource element can generally describe the smallest individually available and / or encodable and / or decodable and / or modulatable and / or demodulatable time-frequency resource, and / or can describe a time-frequency resource that covers a symbol time length in time and subcarriers in frequency. A signal can be assigned to and / or can be allocated to a resource element. A subcarrier can be, for example, a sub-band of a carrier defined according to a standard. A carrier can define a frequency and / or a frequency band for transmission and / or reception. In some variants, a (jointly encoded / modulated) signal can cover more than one resource element. A resource element can generally be as defined by the corresponding standard (e.g., NR or LTE). Since the symbol time length and / or the subcarrier spacing (and / or the parameter set) may be different between different symbols and / or subcarriers, different resource elements may have different extents (length / width) in the time domain and / or the frequency domain, especially resource elements associated with different carriers.

[0153] A resource can generally represent a time-frequency and / or code resource on which signaling according to a specific format, for example, can be transmitted (e.g., sent and / or received), and / or on which signaling according to a specific format is intended for transmission and / or reception, for example.

[0154] A boundary symbol can generally represent a start symbol for transmission or an end symbol for reception. Specifically, the start symbol can be the start symbol of uplink or sidelink signaling (e.g., control signaling or data signaling). Such signaling can be on a data channel or a control channel, for example, on a physical channel, especially a physical uplink shared channel (such as, PUSCH) or a sidelink data or shared channel, or a physical uplink control channel (such as, PUCCH) or a sidelink control channel. If the start symbol is associated with control signaling (e.g., on a control channel), the control signaling can be in response to received signaling (e.g., in a sidelink or downlink), for example, representing an acknowledgment signaling associated therewith, which can be HARQ or ARQ signaling. The end symbol can represent the (temporal) end symbol of a downlink or sidelink transmission or signaling, which can be intended for or scheduled for a radio node or a user equipment. Such downlink signaling can specifically be, for example, data signaling on a physical downlink channel such as a shared channel (e.g., PDSCH (physical downlink shared channel)). The start symbol can be determined based on and / or with respect to such an end symbol.

[0155] Configuring a radio node, in particular a terminal or user equipment, can refer to adapting or causing or setting and / or indicating the radio node to operate according to a configuration. The configuration can be done by a network node such as a radio node of the network (e.g., a base station or eNodeB of the network) or another device of the network. In this case, this can include sending configuration data to the radio node to be configured. Such configuration data can represent the configuration to be configured and / or include one or more instructions related to the configuration, e.g., a configuration for transmission and / or reception on the allocated resources (in particular frequency resources). The radio node can configure itself, for example, based on the configuration data received from the network or a network node. The network node can utilize and / or be adapted to utilize its circuit / circuits to perform the configuration. The allocation information can be considered a form of configuration data. The configuration data can include configuration information and / or one or more corresponding indications and / or one or more messages, and / or be represented by the configuration information and / or one or more corresponding indications and / or one or more messages

[0156] Generally, configuring can include determining the configuration data representing the configuration and providing (e.g., sending) it to one or more other nodes (in parallel and / or sequentially), and the one or more other nodes can further send the configuration data to the radio node (or another node, which can be repeated until the configuration data reaches the wireless device). Alternatively or additionally, configuring a radio node, for example, by a network node or other device can include: receiving configuration data and / or data related to the configuration data from another node such as a network node, which can be a higher-layer node of the network; and / or sending the received configuration data to the radio node. Thus, the determination of the configuration and the sending of the configuration data to the radio node can be performed by different network nodes or entities that are capable of communicating via an appropriate interface (e.g., the X2 interface in the case of LTE or the corresponding interface for NR). Configuring a terminal can include: scheduling downlink and / or uplink transmissions for the terminal, e.g., downlink data and / or downlink control signaling and / or DCI and / or uplink control or data or communication signaling, in particular acknowledgment signaling; and / or configuring resources and / or resource pools for it.

[0157] If a resource structure shares a common boundary frequency with another resource structure (e.g., one as the upper frequency boundary and the other as the lower frequency boundary), the resource structure can be considered adjacent to the other resource structure in the frequency domain. Such a boundary can be represented, for example, by the upper end of the bandwidth assigned to subcarrier n, which also represents the lower end of the bandwidth assigned to subcarrier n+1. If a resource structure shares a common boundary time (e.g., one as the upper (or right in the figure) boundary and the other as the lower (or left in the figure) boundary), the resource structure can be considered adjacent to the other resource structure in the time domain. Such a boundary can be represented, for example, by the end of the symbol time interval assigned to symbol n, which also represents the start of the symbol time interval assigned to symbol n+1.

[0158] Generally, a resource structure adjacent to another resource structure in a domain can also be referred to as being adjacent and / or contiguous to the other resource structure in the domain.

[0159] A resource structure can generally represent a structure in the time domain and / or the frequency domain, particularly representing a time interval and a frequency interval. A resource structure can include resource elements and / or be composed of resource elements, and / or the time interval of the resource structure can include symbol time intervals and / or be composed of symbol time intervals, and / or the frequency interval of the resource structure can include subcarriers and / or be composed of subcarriers. A resource element can be considered an example of a resource structure, and a time slot or a mini-slot or a physical resource block (PRB) or a part thereof can be considered other examples of a resource structure. A resource structure can be associated with a specific channel (e.g., PUSCH or PUCCH, particularly a resource structure smaller than a time slot or a PRB).

[0160] Examples of resource structures in the frequency domain include a bandwidth or a frequency band, or a portion of a bandwidth. A portion of a bandwidth can be, for example, a part of the bandwidth available for a radio node to communicate due to circuitry and / or configuration and / or regulation and / or standard. A portion of a bandwidth can be configured or allocated to a radio node. In some variants, a portion of a bandwidth can be a portion of the bandwidth used for communication (e.g., transmitted and / or received by a radio node). A portion of a bandwidth can be smaller than the bandwidth (which can be the device bandwidth defined by the device's circuitry / configuration, and / or the system bandwidth, e.g., available for the RAN). It can be considered that a portion of a bandwidth includes one or more resource blocks or groups of resource blocks, particularly one or more PRBs or groups of PRBs. A portion of a bandwidth can relate to and / or include one or more carriers.

[0161] A carrier can generally represent a frequency range or a frequency band, and / or be associated with a center frequency and an associated frequency interval. It can be considered that a carrier includes a plurality of subcarriers. A carrier may have been assigned a center frequency or a center frequency interval represented by, for example, one or more subcarriers (usually a frequency bandwidth or interval can be assigned to each subcarrier). Different carriers can be non-overlapping, and / or can be adjacent in the frequency domain.

[0162] It should be noted that the term "radio" in the present disclosure can generally be considered to be related to wireless communication and can also include wireless communication using millimeter waves, particularly millimeter waves above one of the following thresholds: 10 GHz or 20 GHz or 50 GHz or 52 GHz or 52.6 GHz or 60 GHz or 72 GHz or 100 GHz or 114 GHz. Such communication can utilize, for example, one or more carriers in FDD and / or carrier aggregation. The upper frequency boundary can correspond to 300 GHz or 200 GHz or 120 GHz or any threshold greater than the threshold representing the lower frequency boundary.

[0163] A radio node (particularly a network node or a terminal) can generally be any device adapted to transmit and / or receive radio and / or wireless signals and / or data (particularly communication data), particularly on at least one carrier. The at least one carrier can include a carrier accessed based on an LBT process (which can be referred to as an LBT carrier), such as an unlicensed carrier. The carrier can be considered to be part of carrier aggregation.

[0164] Receiving or transmitting on a cell or a carrier can refer to receiving or transmitting using the frequency (frequency band) or spectrum associated with the cell or the carrier. A cell can generally include one or more carriers and / or be defined by or for one or more carriers. Specifically, at least one carrier is used for UL communication / transmission (referred to as a UL carrier) and at least one carrier is used for DL communication / transmission (referred to as a DL carrier). It can be considered that a cell includes different numbers of UL carriers and DL carriers. Alternatively or additionally, for example, in a TDD-based method, a cell can include at least one carrier for UL communication / transmission and at least one carrier for DL communication / transmission.

[0165] A channel can generally be a logical channel, a transport channel, or a physical channel. A channel can include one or more carriers (particularly multiple subcarriers) and / or be arranged on one or more carriers. A channel carrying and / or used to carry control signaling / control information can be considered a control channel, particularly if it is a physical layer channel and / or if it carries control plane information. Similarly, a channel carrying and / or used to carry data signaling / user information can be considered a data channel, particularly if it is a physical layer channel and / or if it carries user plane information. A channel can be defined for a specific communication direction or two complementary communication directions (e.g., UL and DL, or sidelink in both directions), in which case it can be considered to have two component channels, one for each direction. Examples of channels include channels for low-latency and / or high-reliability transmission, particularly channels for ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), which can be used for control and / or data.

[0166] Generally, a symbol may represent a symbol time length and / or be associated with a symbol time length, which may depend on a carrier and / or a subcarrier spacing and / or a parameter set of an associated carrier. Thus, a symbol may be considered as a time interval having a symbol time length with respect to a frequency domain indication. The symbol time length may depend on a carrier frequency and / or a bandwidth and / or a parameter set and / or a subcarrier spacing of the symbol or associated with the symbol. Thus, different symbols may have different symbol time lengths. Specifically, parameter sets with different subcarrier spacings may have different symbol time lengths. Generally, the symbol time length may be based on and / or include a guard time interval or a cyclic extension such as a prefix or a suffix.

[0167] A sidelink may generally represent a communication channel (or a channel structure) between two UEs and / or terminals, where data is transmitted directly between participants (UEs and / or terminals) via the communication channel and / or without relaying via a network node. A sidelink may be established only via an air interface of a participant and / or directly via an air interface of a participant, and the air interfaces may be directly linked via a sidelink communication channel. In some variants, sidelink communication may be performed without interaction by a network node, for example, on fixedly defined resources and / or on resources negotiated between participants. Alternatively or additionally, a network node may be considered to provide some control functions, for example, by configuring resources (in particular, one or more resource pools) for sidelink communication and / or by monitoring the sidelink, for example, for billing purposes.

[0168] Sidelink communication may also be referred to as device-to-device (D2D) communication, and / or in some cases as ProSe (Proximity Services) communication, for example, in the case of LTE. A sidelink may be implemented in the case of V2x communication (vehicle communication), for example, in the case of V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle), V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure), and / or V2P (vehicle-to-person). Any device suitable for sidelink communication may be considered as a user equipment or a terminal.

[0169] The sidelink communication channel (or structure) may include one or more (e.g., physical or logical) channels, such as, for example, the PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Control Channel, which may carry control information such as, for example, an acknowledgment position indication) and / or the PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel, which may carry data and / or acknowledgment signaling). It can be considered that the sidelink communication channel (or structure) involves and / or uses one or more carriers and / or frequency ranges associated with and / or used by cellular communication, for example, according to a specific grant and / or standard. Participants may share (physical) channels and / or resources, particularly in the frequency domain and / or related to the frequency resources of the sidelink (such as, carriers), such that two or more participants transmit thereon, for example, simultaneously and / or in a time-offset manner, and / or there may be specific channels and / or resources associated with a particular participant, such that, for example, only one participant transmits on a specific channel or specific resource or multiple specific resources in the frequency domain and / or related to one or more carriers or subcarriers.

[0170] The sidelink may comply with a specific standard (e.g., an LTE-based standard and / or NR) and / or be implemented according to a specific standard. The sidelink may utilize, for example, TDD (Time Division Duplex) and / or FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) techniques configured and / or preconfigured by a network node and / or negotiated between participants. A user equipment may be considered suitable for sidelink communication if the user equipment and / or its radio circuitry and / or processing circuitry are suitable (particularly according to a specific standard, e.g., in one or more frequency ranges and / or carriers and / or in one or more formats) to utilize the sidelink. The radio access network can generally be considered to be defined by two participants communicating via the sidelink. Alternatively or additionally, the radio access network may be represented and / or defined by and / or associated with a network node and / or communication with such a node.

[0171] Communicating or to communicate generally may include transmitting and / or receiving signaling. Communication (or sidelink signaling) on the sidelink may include communicating (transmitting signaling respectively) using the sidelink. Sidelink transmission and / or transmitting on the sidelink may be considered to include transmitting using the sidelink (e.g., associated resources and / or transmission format and / or circuitry and / or air interface). Sidelink reception and / or receiving on the sidelink may be considered to include receiving using the sidelink (e.g., associated resources and / or transmission format and / or circuitry and / or air interface). Sidelink control information (e.g., SCI) can generally be considered to include control information transmitted using the sidelink.

[0172] Generally, carrier aggregation (CA) may refer to the concept of radio connections and / or communication links between a wireless and / or cellular communication network and / or network nodes and a terminal, or on a side link, which for at least one direction of transmission (e.g., DL and / or UL) includes a plurality of carriers and the aggregation of carriers. The corresponding communication link may be referred to as a carrier aggregation communication link or a CA communication link; the carriers in carrier aggregation may be referred to as component carriers (CCs). In such a link, data may be transmitted through more than one carrier and / or all carriers in the carrier aggregation (aggregation of carriers). Carrier aggregation may include one (or more) dedicated control carriers and / or a primary carrier (which may be referred to, for example, as a primary component carrier or PCC), on which control information may be sent, where the control information may refer to the primary carrier and other carriers (which may be referred to as secondary carriers (or secondary component carriers SCCs)). However, in some methods, control information may be sent through more than one aggregated carrier (e.g., one or more PCCs, and one PCC and one or more SCCs).

[0173] Transmission generally may involve a specific channel and / or specific resources, specifically having a start symbol and an end symbol in time, covering the interval between them. Scheduled transmission may be a scheduled and / or expected transmission and / or a transmission for which resources are scheduled or provided or reserved. However, not every scheduled transmission has to be realized. For example, a scheduled downlink transmission may not be received, or a scheduled uplink transmission may not be sent due to power limitations or other effects (e.g., the channel on an unlicensed carrier is occupied). Transmission may be scheduled for a transmission timing sub-structure (e.g., a mini-slot and / or only covering a part of the transmission timing structure) within a transmission timing structure (such as a time slot). A boundary symbol may indicate the symbol in the transmission timing structure at which the transmission starts or ends.

[0174] In the context of the present disclosure, "predefined" may refer to relevant information being defined, for example, in a standard and / or being available from a network or network node without specific configuration, such as being stored in a memory, for example, being independent of configuration. "Configured" or "configurable" may be considered to involve corresponding information being set / configured, for example, by a network or network node.

[0175] Configurations or scheduling (e.g., mini-slot configuration and / or frame structure configuration) can schedule transmissions (e.g., the time / transmission for which it is valid) and / or transmissions can be scheduled by separate signaling or separate configurations (e.g., separate RRC signaling and / or downlink control information signaling). The scheduled transmission can represent signaling to be sent by the device that schedules it, or signaling to be received by the device that schedules it, depending on which side of the communication the device is on. It should be noted that downlink control information or specifically DCI signaling can be considered physical layer signaling, rather than higher layer signaling (e.g., MAC (Media Access Control) signaling or RRC layer signaling). The higher the layer of the signaling, the less frequent / more time / resources it can be considered to consume, at least in part because the information contained in the signaling must be passed through several layers, each of which requires processing and operation.

[0176] The scheduled transmission and / or the transmission timing structure (e.g., mini-slot or slot) can relate to a specific channel, specifically the physical uplink shared channel, the physical uplink control channel, or the physical downlink shared channel (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, or PDSCH), and / or can relate to a specific cell and / or carrier aggregation. The corresponding configuration (e.g., scheduling configuration or symbol configuration) can relate to the channel, cell, and / or carrier aggregation. It can be considered that the scheduled transmission represents a transmission on a physical channel, specifically a shared physical channel, such as the physical uplink shared channel or the physical downlink shared channel. For these channels, semi-persistent configuration may be particularly suitable.

[0177] Generally, a configuration can be a configuration indicating timing, and / or represented or configured with corresponding configuration data. The configuration can be embedded in and / or included in a message or configuration or corresponding data, which can (especially semi-persistently and / or semi-statically) indicate and / or schedule resources.

[0178] The control region of the transmission timing structure can be a time interval and / or frequency domain that is intended for or scheduled for control signaling (specifically downlink control signaling) and / or a specific control channel (e.g., the physical downlink control channel (such as, PDCCH)), or a time interval reserved for control signaling and / or a specific control channel. The interval can include multiple time symbols and / or be composed of multiple time symbols, and the multiple time symbols can be configured or configurable, for example, by (UE-specific) dedicated signaling (which can be unicast, e.g., addressed to or intended for a specific UE) on, for example, the PDCCH or RRC signaling or on a multicast or broadcast channel. Generally, the transmission timing structure can include a control region covering a configurable number of symbols. It can be considered that typically the boundary symbols are configured to be after the control region in time. For example, via configuration and / or determination, the control region can be associated with one or more specific UEs and / or the format and / or identifier of the PDCCH and / or DCI (e.g., UE identifier and / or RNTI or carrier / cell identifier), and / or be represented and / or associated with a CORESET and / or a search space.

[0179] The duration (symbol time length or interval) of the symbols of the transmission timing structure can generally depend on the parameter set and / or the carrier, where the parameter set and / or the carrier can be configurable. The parameter set can be the parameter set to be used for the scheduled transmission.

[0180] The transmission timing structure can include multiple symbols and / or can define an interval (its respective associated time interval) including several symbols. In the context of the present disclosure, it should be noted that for ease of reference, the reference to a symbol can be interpreted as referring to the time domain projection or time interval or time component or duration or time length of the symbol, unless it is clear from the context that the frequency domain component must also be considered. Examples of the transmission timing structure include a time slot, a subframe, a mini-slot (which can also be considered a sub-structure of a time slot), a time slot aggregation (which can include multiple time slots and can be considered a super-structure of a time slot), or their corresponding time domain components. The transmission timing structure can generally include multiple symbols that define the time domain extension (e.g., interval or length or duration) of the transmission timing structure and are arranged adjacent to each other in a numbered order. The timing structure (which can also be regarded as or implemented as a synchronization structure) can be defined by a series of such transmission timing structures, and this series of transmission timing structures can, for example, define a timing grid with symbols representing a minimum grid structure. The transmission timing structure and / or the boundary symbols or the scheduled transmission can be determined or scheduled relative to such a timing grid. The received transmission timing structure can be, for example, the transmission timing structure for receiving scheduling control signaling relative to the timing grid. The transmission timing structure can specifically be a time slot or a subframe or in some cases a mini-slot.

[0181] Feedback signaling can be considered a form of control signaling, such as uplink or sidelink control signaling, such as UCI (Uplink Control Information) signaling or SCI (Sidelink Control Information) signaling. Feedback signaling can specifically include and / or represent acknowledgment signaling and / or acknowledgment information and / or measurement reports.

[0182] Signaling that utilizes a resource or resource structure and / or is on a resource or resource structure and / or is associated with a resource or resource structure can be signaling that covers the resource or structure, signaling on an associated frequency and / or in an associated time interval. It can be considered that the signaling resource structure includes and / or contains one or more substructures, which can be associated with one or more different channels and / or signaling types, and / or includes one or more holes (one or more resource elements not scheduled for transmission or reception of transmission). A resource substructure, such as a feedback resource structure, is typically continuous in time and / or frequency within an associated interval. It can be considered that a substructure, especially a feedback resource structure, represents a rectangle filled with one or more resource elements in the time / frequency space. However, in some cases, a resource structure or substructure, especially a frequency resource range, can represent a discontinuous pattern of resources in one or more domains (e.g., time domain and / or frequency domain). The resource elements of the substructure can be scheduled for the associated signaling.

[0183] Example types of signaling include signaling for a specific communication direction, especially uplink signaling, downlink signaling, sidelink signaling, and reference signaling (e.g., SRS or CRS or CSI-RS), communication signaling, control signaling, and / or signaling associated with a specific channel (such as PUSCH, PDSCH, PUCCH, PDCCH, PSCCH, PSSCH, etc.).

[0184] In the context of the present disclosure, a distinction can be made between dynamic scheduling or aperiodic transmissions and / or configurations and semi-static or semi-permanent or periodic transmissions and / or configurations. The term "dynamic" or similar terms generally may relate to an effective configuration / transmission and / or being scheduled and / or being configured for a (relatively) short time scale and / or (e.g., predefined and / or configured and / or limited and / or determined) number of occurrences and / or transmission timing structures, such as one or more transmission timing structures, such as time slots or time slot aggregations, and / or for one or more (e.g., a specific number) of transmissions / occurrences. The dynamic configuration may be based on low-level signaling, such as control signaling on the physical layer and / or MAC layer, in particular signaling in the form of DCI or SCI. Periodic / semi-static may relate to a longer time scale, such as several time slots and / or more than one frame, and / or an undefined number of occurrences, e.g., until the dynamic configuration contradicts itself, or until a new periodic configuration arrives. The periodic or semi-static configuration may be based on and / or be configured with high-level signaling, in particular RCL layer signaling and / or RRC signaling and / or MAC signaling.

[0185] In the present disclosure, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details (such as specific network functions, processing, and signaling steps) are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the techniques presented herein. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the concepts and aspects may be practiced in other variations and modifications different from these specific details.

[0186] For example, the concepts and variations are described in part in the context of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) or New Radio mobile or wireless communication technologies; however, this does not exclude using the concepts and aspects in combination with additional or alternative mobile communication technologies (e.g., Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or IEEE standards such as IEEE 802.11ad or IEEE 802.11ay). Although the described variations may relate to certain technical specifications (TS) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), it will be understood that the methods, concepts, and aspects may also be implemented in combination with different performance management (PM) specifications.

[0187] In addition, those skilled in the art will recognize that the services, functions, and steps explained herein can be implemented using software functionality in conjunction with a programmed microprocessor or using an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or a general-purpose computer. It should also be understood that although the variations described herein are in the context of methods and apparatuses, the concepts and aspects presented herein can also be embodied in a program product and in a system including a control circuit (e.g., a computer processor and a memory coupled to the processor), where the memory is encoded with one or more programs or program products that execute the services, functions, and steps disclosed herein.

[0188] It is believed that the advantages of the aspects and variations presented herein will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes can be made to the form, structure, and arrangement of the exemplary aspects thereof without departing from the scope of the concepts and aspects described herein or sacrificing all of their advantageous effects. The aspects presented herein can vary in many ways.

[0189] Some useful abbreviations include:

[0190] Abbreviation Explanation

[0191] ABF Analog Beamformer, Fanout to Antenna + Beamforming

[0192] ACK / NACK Acknowledgment / Negative Acknowledgment

[0193] Ant Antenna

[0194] ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

[0195] BB Baseband

[0196] Beamindex IF Beam Index Interface

[0197] BER Bit Error Rate

[0198] BI Beam Index

[0199] BLER Block Error Rate

[0200] BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying

[0201] BWP Bandwidth Part

[0202] CAZAC Constant Amplitude Zero Auto-Correlation

[0203] CB Code Block

[0204] CBB Code Block Bundle

[0205] CBG Code Block Group

[0206] CDM Code Division Multiplexing

[0207] CM Cubic Measure

[0208] Comm RXBB Communication Receiver Baseband

[0209] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0210] CP Cyclic Prefix

[0211] CP remCP Removal

[0212] CQI Channel Quality Information

[0213] CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0214] CRS Common Reference Signal

[0215] CSI Channel State Information

[0216] CSI-RS Channel State Information Reference Signal

[0217] DAI Downlink Assignment Indicator

[0218] DCI Downlink Control Information

[0219] DFE Digital Front End

[0220] DFT Discrete Fourier Transform

[0221] DFTS-FDM DFT-Spread-FDM

[0222] DM(-)Rs Demodulation Reference Signal (Signaling)

[0223] eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband

[0224] FDD Frequency Division Duplexing

[0225] FDE Frequency Domain Equalization

[0226] FDF Frequency Domain Filtering

[0227] FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0228] FFT Fast Fourier Transform

[0229] GPIO General Purpose Input Output

[0230] HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0231] IAB Integrated Access and Backhaul

[0232] IFFT Inverse Fast Fourier Transform

[0233] Im Imaginary part (e.g., for pi / 2*BPSK) modulation

[0234] IR Impulse response

[0235] ISI Inter-Symbol Interference

[0236] JCAS Joint Communication and Sensing

[0237] MBB Mobile Broadband

[0238] MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme

[0239] MIMO Multiple-Input Multiple-Output

[0240] MRC Maximum Ratio Combining

[0241] MRT Maximum Ratio Transmission

[0242] MU-MIMO Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output

[0243] OFDM / A Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing / Access

[0244] PAPR Peak-to-Average Power Ratio

[0245] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0246] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0247] PRACH Physical Random Access Channel

[0248] PRB Physical Resource Block

[0249] PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel

[0250] PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0251] (P)SCCH(Physical) Sidelink Control Channel

[0252] PSS Primary Synchronization Signal (signaling)

[0253] PT-RS Phase Tracking Reference Signaling

[0254] (P)SSCH(Physical) Sidelink Shared Channel

[0255] QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

[0256] OCC Orthogonal Cover Code

[0257] QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying

[0258] PSD Power Spectral Density

[0259] RAN Radio Access Network

[0260] RAT Radio Access Technology

[0261] RB Resource Block

[0262] RE Resource Element

[0263] Re Real part (e.g., for pi / 2*BPSK) modulation

[0264] RF Radio Frequency

[0265] RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0266] RRC Radio Resource Control

[0267] RX Receiver, receive, receive-related / receiving side

[0268] SA Scheduling Assignment

[0269] SC-FDE Single Carrier Frequency Domain Equalization

[0270] SC-FDM / A Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing / Multiple Access

[0271] SCI Sidelink Control Information

[0272] SINR Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio

[0273] SIR Signal-to-Interference Ratio

[0274] SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio

[0275] SPI Serial-to-Parallel Interface

[0276] SR Scheduling Request

[0277] SRS Sounding Reference Signal (signaling)

[0278] SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal (signaling)

[0279] SVD Singular Value Decomposition

[0280] TB Transport Block

[0281] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0282] TDM Time Division Multiplexing

[0283] T-RS Tracking Reference Signal or Timing Reference Signal

[0284] TX Transmitter, transmit, transmit-related / transmitting side

[0285] UCI Uplink Control Information

[0286] UDC Up / Down Converter, from BB-RF Hybrid

[0287] UE User Equipment

[0288] URLLC Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication

[0289] VL-MIMO Very Large Multiple-Input Multiple-Output

[0290] WD Wireless Device

[0291] Wfg Waveform Generator

[0292] ZC Zadoff-Chu

[0293] ZF Zero Forcing

[0294] ZP Zero Power, e.g., muted CSI-RS symbol

[0295] If applicable, the abbreviations used by 3GPP may be considered

Claims

1. A radio node for a wireless communication network, the radio node being adapted for wireless communication and for sensing and / or for radar operation, the radio node further comprising a hardware switch for switching from operating in a communication mode to operating in a sensing mode.

2. A method of operating a radio node, the radio node being the radio node according to claim 1, the method comprising switching from a communication mode to a sensing mode based on and / or using a signal from the hardware switch.

3. The method or device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, the hardware switch is implemented as a switch and / or a pin, and / or is adapted to carry and / or provide a switching signal.

4. The method or device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, the sensing mode includes transmitting sensing signaling and / or receiving sensing signaling.

5. The method or device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, in the sensing mode, the cyclic prefix insertion during transmission and / or the cyclic prefix removal during reception are circumvented.

6. The method or device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, circumventing the cyclic prefix insertion and / or circumventing the cyclic prefix removal is based on the switching signal and / or the hardware switch, and / or is associated with the switching signal and / or the hardware switch, and / or is triggered by the switching signal and / or the hardware switch.

7. The method or device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, the switching from the communication mode to the sensing mode is performed in less than 250 ns, and the sensing mode is specifically transmitting sensing signaling.

8. The method or device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, the hardware switch includes an output of a dedicated signaling pin and / or a parallel signaling interface, and / or is associated with the output of the dedicated signaling pin and / or the parallel signaling interface.

9. The method or device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, switching to transmitting sensing signaling is faster than switching to receiving sensing signaling.

10. The method or device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, transmitting sensing signaling and receiving sensing signaling partially overlap in time.

11. A program product comprising instructions that cause a processing circuit to control and / or execute the method according to any one of claims 2 to 9.

12. A carrier medium device that carries and / or stores the program product according to claim 10.

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