Wireless communication device, method executed by wireless communication device, and storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a 5G communication system or a 6G communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond 4G communication systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). The present disclosure provides a wireless communication device, a method executed by the wireless communication device, and a storage medium, the wireless communication device comprising: a receiving antenna panel configured to receive a first signal for sensing and / or communication, the receiving antenna panel being divided into a plurality of sub-arrays; the sum-difference network is configured to obtain at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal based on the combined signals corresponding to at least two sub-arrays in the plurality of sub-arrays, and the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array is obtained based on the signals received by the plurality of antenna array elements included in the sub-array; wherein the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam are used for performing perception and / or communication channel estimation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a wireless communication device, a method performed by the wireless communication device, and a storage medium. Background Art

[0002] Considering the development of wireless communications from generation to generation, these technologies have mainly been developed for human-targeted services such as voice calls, multimedia services, and data services. With the commercialization of the fifth-generation (5G) communication system, it is expected that the number of connected devices will grow exponentially. These will be increasingly connected to the communication network. Examples of the Internet of Things can include vehicles, robots, drones, household appliances, displays, smart sensors connected to various infrastructures, construction machinery, and factory equipment. Mobile devices are expected to evolve in various forms such as augmented reality glasses, virtual reality headsets, and holographic devices. Efforts have been made to develop an improved 6G communication system to provide various services by connecting hundreds of billions of devices and things in the sixth-generation (6G) era. For these reasons, the 6G communication system is referred to as the ultra-5G system.

[0003] The 6G communication system, which is expected to be commercialized around 2030, will have a peak data rate of tera (1,000 giga) bps and a radio latency of less than 100 μsec, and thus will be 50 times the data rate of the 5G communication system and have 1 / 10 of its radio latency.

[0004] To achieve such high data rates and ultra-low latency, implementing a 6G communication system in the terahertz band (e.g., 95 GHz to 3 THz band) has been considered. It is expected that, since path loss and atmospheric absorption in the terahertz band are more severe than those in the millimeter wave (mmWave) band introduced in 5G, technologies capable of ensuring signal transmission distance (i.e., coverage) will become even more critical. As the main technology for ensuring coverage, it is necessary to develop radiofrequency (RF) components, antennas, and new waveforms with better coverage than orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), beamforming, and large-scale multiple input multiple output (MIMO), full dimensional multiple input multiple output (FD-MIMO), array antennas, and multi-antenna transmission technologies such as large-scale antennas. In addition, new technologies for improving signal coverage in the terahertz band, such as metasurface-based lenses and antennas, orbital angular momentum (OAM), and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), have been under discussion.

[0005] In addition, to improve spectral efficiency and overall network performance, the following technologies have been developed for 6G communication systems: full-duplex technology that enables uplink and downlink transmissions to use the same frequency resources simultaneously; network technologies that comprehensively utilize satellites, high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), etc.; improved network architectures that support mobile base stations, etc., and enable network operation optimization and automation, etc.; dynamic spectrum sharing technology via collision avoidance based on spectrum usage prediction; the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in wireless communication to improve overall network operation by leveraging AI from the design time of 6G development and internalizing end-to-end AI support capabilities; and next-generation distributed computing technologies that overcome the computing power limitations of user equipment (UE) through ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources (such as mobile edge computing (MEC), cloud, etc.) achievable on the network. In addition, by designing new protocols to be used in 6G communication systems, developing mechanisms for implementing hardware-based secure environments and secure data usage, and developing technologies for maintaining privacy, efforts are continuing to strengthen connectivity between devices, optimize the network, promote the softwareization of network entities, and increase the openness of wireless communication.

[0006] The research and development of 6G communication systems, which are expected to include ultra-connectivity such as person to machine (P2M) and machine to machine (M2M), will bring the next ultra-connectivity experience. In particular, services such as true immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile holograms, and digital replicas are expected to be provided through 6G communication systems. In addition, services such as remote surgery, industrial automation, and emergency response for security and reliability enhancement will be provided through 6G communication systems, enabling the technology to be applied to various fields such as industry, healthcare, automotive, and household appliances. Summary of the Invention

[0007] According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a wireless communication device is provided. The wireless communication device may include: a receiving antenna panel configured to receive a first signal for sensing and / or communication, wherein the receiving antenna panel is divided into a plurality of sub-arrays; and a sum-difference network configured to obtain at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal based on combined signals corresponding to at least two of the plurality of sub-arrays, wherein the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array is obtained based on signals received by a plurality of antenna elements included in the sub-array, and wherein the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal are used to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation.

[0008] Optionally, the wireless communication device further includes: a receiving radio frequency (RF) module including receiving RF channels respectively corresponding to the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal for performing receiving RF processing; and a digital signal processing module configured to perform digital signal processing on the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal after receiving RF processing to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation.

[0009] Optionally, the number of the receiving RF channels is less than the total number of paths of the combined signals corresponding to the at least two sub-arrays.

[0010] Optionally, each sum beam signal in the at least one sum beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by combining the combined signals corresponding to the sub-arrays in one sub-array combination of the plurality of sub-arrays. The at least one difference beam signal includes at least one azimuth difference beam signal and at least one elevation difference beam signal. Each azimuth difference beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any column of the plurality of sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other column of the plurality of sub-arrays. Each elevation difference beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any row of the plurality of sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other row of the plurality of sub-arrays.

[0011] Optionally, the wireless communication device further includes: a transmitting antenna panel configured to transmit a second signal for sensing and / or communication.

[0012] Optionally, the first signal and / or the second signal includes at least one OFDM symbol located at the start position of each time slot in a wireless frame; or, the first signal and / or the second signal includes at least one pilot signal located at the start position of a wireless frame signal waveform.

[0013] Optionally, the at least one OFDM symbol is a preset number of consecutive OFDM symbols, and the preset number of consecutive OFDM symbols share a cyclic prefix; or, the at least one pilot signal is a preset number of consecutive pilot signals, and the preset number of consecutive pilot signals share a cyclic prefix.

[0014] Optionally, the first signal and / or the second signal are set in the same way for the cyclic prefix in each time slot.

[0015] According to a second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a wireless communication device, including: receiving, by a receiving antenna panel, a first signal for sensing and / or communication, where the receiving antenna panel is divided into a plurality of sub-arrays; obtaining, by a sum-difference network, at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal based on combined signals corresponding to at least two of the plurality of sub-arrays, where the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array is obtained based on signals received by a plurality of antenna elements included in the sub-array; where the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal are used to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation.

[0016] Optionally, the method further includes: performing receive RF processing on the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal by using receive RF channels respectively corresponding to the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal; performing digital signal processing on the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal after the receive RF processing to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation.

[0017] Optionally, the number of the receive RF channels is less than the total number of paths of the combined signals corresponding to the at least two sub-arrays.

[0018] Optionally, each sum beam signal in the at least one sum beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by combining the combined signals corresponding to the sub-arrays in a sub-array combination of the plurality of sub-arrays, and the at least one difference beam signal includes at least one azimuth difference beam signal and at least one elevation difference beam signal, where each azimuth difference beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any column of sub-arrays in the plurality of sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other column of sub-arrays, and each elevation difference beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any row of sub-arrays in the plurality of sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other row of sub-arrays, where the performing sensing includes performing angle estimation on a sensing target.

[0019] Optionally, the method further includes: transmitting a second signal for sensing and / or communication.

[0020] Optionally, the first signal and / or the second signal includes at least one OFDM symbol located at the starting position of each time slot in a radio frame; alternatively, the first signal and / or the second signal includes at least one pilot signal located at the starting position of the radio frame signal waveform.

[0021] Optionally, the at least one OFDM symbol is a preset number of consecutive OFDM symbols, and the preset number of consecutive OFDM symbols share a cyclic prefix; alternatively, the at least one pilot signal is a preset number of consecutive pilot signals, and the preset number of consecutive pilot signals share a cyclic prefix.

[0022] Optionally, the first signal and / or the second signal are set in the same way for the cyclic prefix of each time slot.

[0023] According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which when run by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to execute the method as described above.

[0024] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure at least bring the following beneficial effects: Since the wireless communication device according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can receive a first signal for sensing and / or communication through a receiving antenna panel, and obtain a sum beam signal and a difference beam signal through sub-array division and a sum-difference network of the receiving antenna panel, where the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal are used for performing sensing and / or communication channel estimation, it is not necessary to use various multiplexing methods (such as time-division multiplexing, space-division multiplexing, frequency-division multiplexing) to achieve communication-sensing integration at the expense of spatial degrees of freedom, and when both the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal are used for performing sensing, the sensing performance can be improved.

[0025] It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are only exemplary and explanatory, and cannot limit the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] The accompanying drawings herein are incorporated into the specification and form a part of the specification, showing example embodiments consistent with the present disclosure, and are used together with the specification to explain the principles of the present disclosure and do not constitute an improper limitation to the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 1 Shows an example wireless network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 2 Shows an example base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 3 Shows an example user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0030] Figure 4 is a schematic block diagram showing a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0031] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0032] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing another example of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing a joint communication and sensing common waveform structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram showing a frame structure of a joint communication and sensing common waveform according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0035] Figure 9 is a flowchart showing a method performed by a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0036] Figure 10 shows a reference antenna coordinate system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0037] Figure 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a method performed by a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Detailed implementation manners

[0038] Before presenting the following detailed implementation, it may be beneficial to set forth definitions for certain words and phrases used throughout the patent document. The term "connected" and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more components, regardless of whether those components are in physical contact with each other. The terms "send", "receive", and "communicate" and their derivatives encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms "comprise" and "include" and their derivatives mean inclusion without limitation. The term "or" is inclusive, meaning and / or. The phrase "associated with" and its derivatives mean including, being included within, interconnected with, containing, being contained within, connected to or connected with, coupled to or coupled with, capable of communicating with, cooperating with, interlacing, juxtaposing, adjacent to, bound to or bound with, having, having the attribute of, having a relationship to or having a relationship with, etc. The term "controller" means any device, system, or part thereof that controls at least one operation. Such a controller can be implemented in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software and / or firmware. The functions associated with any particular controller, whether local or remote, can be centralized or distributed. The phrase "at least one of" when used to list items means that different combinations of one or more of the listed items can be used, and it may only be necessary to have one item in the list. For example, "at least one of A, B, and C" includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and only A, only B, only C. Similarly, the term "set" means one or more. Thus, a set of items can be a single item or a set of two or more items.

[0039] Moreover, the various functions described below can be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each formed of computer-readable program code and embodied in a computer-readable medium. The terms "application" and "program" refer to one or more computer programs, software components, instruction sets, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or portions thereof that are suitable for implementation in appropriate computer-readable program code. The phrase "computer-readable program code" includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer-readable medium" includes any type of medium that can be accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), hard disk drive, compact disc (CD), digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. A "non-transitory" computer-readable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that convey transient electrical or other signals. Non-transitory computer-readable media include media in which data can be permanently stored and media such as rewritable optical discs or erasable memory devices in which data can be stored and later rewritten.

[0040] Throughout this patent document, definitions of certain other words and phrases are provided. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that, in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to the prior and future use of the words and phrases so defined.

[0041] The figures included herein and the various embodiments for describing the principles of the present disclosure are for illustration only and should not be construed in any way as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure can be implemented in any appropriately arranged wireless communication system.

[0042] The following Figures 1 to 3 describes various embodiments of the present disclosure implemented in a wireless communication system. Figures 1 to 3 The description does not imply any physical or architectural limitations on the manner in which different embodiments can be implemented. Different embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in any appropriately arranged communication system.

[0043] Figure 1 illustrates an example wireless network in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 1 The embodiment of the wireless network shown is for illustration only. Other embodiments of wireless network 100 can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0044] As Figure 1As shown, the wireless network includes base stations (next generation nodeB, gNB or gNodeB) 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103. gNB 101 communicates with gNB 102 and gNB 103. gNB 101 also communicates with at least one network 130 such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data networks.

[0045] gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a plurality of first user equipment (UE) within the coverage area 120 of gNB 102. The plurality of first UEs includes UE 111 that may be located in a small business (SB); UE 112 that may be located in an enterprise (E); UE 113 that may be located in a WiFi hot spot (HS); UE 114 that may be located in a first residence (R1); UE 115 that may be located in a second residence (R2); and UE 116 that may be a mobile device (M) such as a cellular phone, a wireless laptop computer, a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA), etc. gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a plurality of second UEs within the coverage area 125 of gNB 103. The plurality of second UEs includes UE 115 and UE 116 as well as user stations (subscriber station, SS, e.g., UE) 117, 118, and 119. In some embodiments, one or more of gNBs 101 - 103 may communicate with each other and with UEs 111 - 116 using existing wireless communication technologies, and one or more of UEs 111 - 119 may communicate directly with each other (e.g., UEs 117 - 119) using other existing or proposed wireless communication technologies.

[0046] Depending on the network type, the term "base station" or "BS" can refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as a transmit point (TP), a transmit-receive point (TRP), an enhanced (or "evolved") base station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G base station (gNB), a macrocell, a femtocell, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (AP), or other wireless-capable device. A base station can provide wireless access according to one or more wireless communication protocols, such as 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, etc. For convenience, various names of base station types, devices, and functions are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to the network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Also, depending on the network type, the term "user equipment" (UE) can refer to any component such as a mobile station (MS), a user station (SS), a remote terminal, a wireless terminal, a receiving point, or a user device. For convenience, various names of user equipment types, devices, and functions are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to the remote wireless device that wirelessly accesses the BS regardless of whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile phone or a smart phone) or a device that is generally regarded as a fixed device (such as a desktop computer or a vending machine).

[0047] The dashed lines illustrate the approximate extent of coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as generally circular merely for illustrative and explanatory purposes. It should be clearly understood that coverage areas associated with a gNB, such as coverage areas 120 and 125, can have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on the configuration of the gNB and variations in the wireless environment associated with natural and man-made obstacles.

[0048] As described in more detail below, one or more of UEs 111 - 119 include circuitry, programming, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, one or more of gNBs 101 - 103 include circuitry, programming, or a combination thereof.

[0049] Although Figure 1 an example of a wireless network is shown, it is possible to Figure 1Make various changes. For example, the wireless network 100 can include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Moreover, the gNB 101 can communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each of the gNBs 102 - 103 can communicate directly with the network 130 and provide the UEs with direct wireless broadband access to the network 130. Additionally, the gNBs 101, 102, and / or 103 can provide access to other or additional external networks such as an external telephone network or other types of data networks.

[0050] Figure 2 An example base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 2 The embodiment of the gNB 102 shown in is for illustration only, and Figure 1 the gNBs 101 and 103 can have the same or similar configurations. However, gNBs appear in a variety of configurations, and Figure 2 do not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of the gNB.

[0051] As Figure 2 shown, the gNB 102 includes a plurality of antennas 200a - 200n, a plurality of radio frequency (RF) transceivers 201a - 201n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 203, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 204. The gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 205, a memory 206, and a backhaul or network interface (IF) 207.

[0052] The RF transceivers 201a - 201n receive incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs in the network 100, from the antennas 200a - 200n. The RF transceivers 201a - 201n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are sent to the RX processing circuitry 204, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The RX processing circuitry 204 sends the processed baseband signals to the controller / processor 205 for further processing.

[0053] The TX processing circuit 203 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, web data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 205. The TX processing circuit 203 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceivers 201a - 201n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuit 203 and up-convert the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal transmitted via the antennas 201a - 201n.

[0054] The controller / processor 205 may include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 205 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals performed by the RF transceivers 201a - 201n, the RX processing circuit 204, and the TX processing circuit 203 according to well-known principles. The controller / processor 205 may also support additional functions, such as more advanced wireless communication functions.

[0055] For example, the controller / processor 205 may support beamforming or directional routing operations, in which the outgoing signals from the multiple antennas 200a - 200n are weighted differently to effectively steer the outgoing signals in a desired direction. Any of a variety of other functions may be supported in the gNB 102 by the controller / processor 205.

[0056] The controller / processor 205 is also capable of executing programs and other processes located in the memory 206, such as an operating system (OS). The controller / processor 205 may move data into the memory 206 or out of the memory 206 as needed for the executing processes.

[0057] The controller / processor 205 is also connected to a backhaul or network interface 207. The backhaul or network interface 207 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems via a backhaul connection or via a network. The interface 207 may support communication via any suitable wired or wireless connection. For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as a cellular communication system supporting 5G, LTE, or LTE - A), the interface 207 may allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs via a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the interface 207 may allow the gNB 102 to communicate via a wired or wireless local area network or via a wired or wireless connection to a larger network (such as the Internet). The interface 207 includes any suitable structure that supports communication via a wired or wireless connection such as Ethernet or an RF transceiver.

[0058] Memory 206 is connected to the controller / processor 205. A portion of the memory 206 may include random access memory (RAM), and another portion of the memory 206 may include flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

[0059] Although Figure 2 illustrates one example of the gNB 102, various changes may be made Figure 2 thereto. For example, the gNB 102 may include any number of Figure 2 each of the components shown therein. As a specific example, the access point may include a plurality of interfaces 207, and the controller / processor 205 may support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another specific example, although shown as including a single instance of the TX processing circuit 203 and a single instance of the RX processing circuit 204, the gNB 102 may include multiple instances of each (such as one for each RF transceiver). For example, Figure 2 the various components therein may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components may be added according to specific needs.

[0060] Figure 3 An example user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 3 The embodiment of the UE 116 shown in Figure 1 is for illustration only, and the UEs 111-115 and 117-119 of Figure 3 may have the same or similar configurations. However, UEs appear in a variety of configurations, and

[0061] As Figure 3 shown, the UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, a TX processing circuit 303, a microphone 304, and a receive (RX) processing circuit 305. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller or processor 307, an input / output (I / O) interface (IF) 308, an input device 309, a touch screen display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an OS 312 and one or more applications 313.

[0062] The RF transceiver 302 receives an incoming RF signal transmitted by the gNB of the network 100 from the antenna 301. The RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to the RX processing circuit 305, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 305 sends the processed baseband signal to the speaker 306 (such as for voice data) or the processor 307 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

[0063] The TX processing circuit 303 receives analog or digital voice data from the microphone 304 or other outgoing baseband data (such as web data, email, or interactive video game data) from the processor 307. The TX processing circuit 303 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 302 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuit 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal transmitted via the antenna 301.

[0064] The processor 307 may include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute the OS 312 stored in the memory 311 to control the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the processor 307 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals performed by the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuit 305, and the TX processing circuit 303 according to well-known principles. In some embodiments, the processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0065] The processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and programs located in the memory 311, such as a process for CSI (Channel State Information) reporting on the uplink channel. The processor 307 may move data into or out of the memory 311 as needed for executing processes. In some embodiments, the processor 307 is configured to execute the application 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to a signal received from the gNB or the operator. The processor 307 is also coupled to the I / O interface 308, which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices such as laptops and portable computers. The I / O interface 308 is a communication path between these accessories and the processor 307.

[0066] The processor 307 is also connected to a touch screen display 310. A user of the UE 116 can use the touch screen display 310 to input data into the UE 116. The touch screen display 310 can be a liquid crystal display, a light emitting diode display, or other display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics such as from a website.

[0067] A memory 311 is connected to the processor 307. A portion of the memory 311 can include RAM, and another portion of the memory 311 can include flash memory or other ROM.

[0068] Although Figure 3 an example of the UE 116 is shown, various changes can be made to Figure 3 it. For example, Figure 3 the various components in Figure 3 can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components can be added according to specific needs. As a specific example, the processor 307 can be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Moreover, although

[0069] With the progress of science and technology, the types of communication devices are increasing. In addition to traditional devices such as mobile phones and computers, communication devices can also include mobile robots, such as autonomous vehicles, drones, etc. This type of mobile device often needs to have the ability to accurately locate or be accurately located, so as to accurately identify the current situation and make responses, that is, to have the positioning ability similar to that provided by radar technology. A direct way can be to equip the communication device with a radar module. However, in recent years, as the working frequency band of the communication system gradually develops towards higher frequency bands, the communication frequency band is gradually approaching the radar frequency band, and the resulting interference and resource conflicts between the communication system and the radar system will be unavoidable. One way to solve this problem can be to consider a communication and radar fusion system, called communication-sensing integration technology, to further enhance the function of the communication system and improve the spectrum efficiency. Currently, both the industrial community and the academic community regard communication-sensing integration as one of the key technologies for future communication systems.

[0070] The core concept of communication-sensing integration lies in using the same set of hardware devices. On the basis of ensuring the basic communication function, at the cost of as little resource overhead as possible, the function of perceiving the surrounding environment is realized. That is, the communication nodes in the communication system (such as gNB, UE, repeater, integrated access and backhaul base station IAB, etc.) can simultaneously have the functions of communication and sensing, and can be called communication-sensing integrated nodes, hereinafter simply referred to as communication-sensing nodes. To add a sensing function to the communication system, a feasible solution is that the first communication-sensing node receives the signal for sensing (hereinafter referred to as the sensing signal) sent by the second communication-sensing node, and obtains the characteristics of the sensing target object according to the signal detection of the sensing signal. Since the propagation channel frequency response changes correspondingly after the sensing signal is reflected by the sensing target object in the environment, and the change of the frequency response has a corresponding relationship with the characteristics of the sensing target object such as distance and moving speed, the first communication-sensing node can estimate the propagation channel according to the received sensing signal, so as to obtain the characteristics of the sensing target object. Among them, the characteristics of the sensing target object may include but are not limited to the number of sensing target objects, the distance between the sensing target object and the communication-sensing node, the radial speed of the sensing target object, etc.; and, the sensing target object may be an object accessing the communication network (such as a base station, a terminal, etc.), or an object not accessing the communication network (such as a small unmanned aerial vehicle, a building, an animal, a plant, etc.).

[0071] In the above communication-sensing solution, the first communication-sensing node and the second communication-sensing node can be a base station and a user respectively. For example, the first communication-sensing node is a user equipment and the second communication-sensing node is its serving cell; or the second communication-sensing node is a user equipment and the first communication-sensing node is its serving cell. According to the sensing requirement, the serving cell can configure the user equipment to send or receive the sensing signal. At this time, corresponding to the user equipment being configured to send an uplink sensing signal, the base station of the serving cell receives the uplink sensing signal and performs sensing measurement. Hereinafter, this process is simply referred to as uplink sensing; corresponding to the user equipment being configured to receive a downlink sensing signal, the user equipment receives the downlink sensing signal and performs sensing measurement. Hereinafter, this process is simply referred to as downlink sensing.

[0072] The currently commonly used method to achieve integrated communication and sensing is to adopt the method of integrated communication and sensing multiplexing waveforms. This method combines the sensing waveform and the communication waveform into an integrated waveform using the multiplexing method, and the multiplexing method covers multiple dimensions such as time, space, frequency, and code. This time-division multiplexing, space-division multiplexing, and frequency-division multiplexing integrated communication and sensing multiplexing waveforms can be achieved based on the orthogonality of one or more dimensions. The main characteristics of such waveforms are: easy design of radar and communication waveforms, little impact on each other's performance, and simple implementation. Currently, the common waveform multiplexing methods include time-division multiplexing, space-division multiplexing, and frequency-division multiplexing. Although the multiplexing method achieves the goal of radar and communication sharing the same platform, the multiplexing method cannot enable radar and communication to work simultaneously at the same frequency without sacrificing the spatial degrees of freedom to achieve integrated communication and sensing, which results in a reduction in communication and sensing efficiency. Therefore, the multiplexing method cannot truly achieve the goal of integrated communication and sensing.

[0073] In response to this, the present disclosure adopts a non-multiplexing method to achieve integrated communication and sensing. Specifically, the present disclosure proposes a wireless communication device that shares a receiving antenna panel for signals used for communication and / or sensing, enables the received signals used for communication and / or sensing to share the receiving antenna panel, and obtains sum beam signals and difference beam signals through sub-array division and sum-difference networks of the receiving antenna panel. Among them, the sum beam signals and difference beam signals are used to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation. Therefore, there is no need to use various multiplexing methods (such as time-division multiplexing, space-division multiplexing, frequency-division multiplexing) to achieve integrated communication and sensing at the expense of spatial degrees of freedom. In addition, when both the sum beam signals and the difference beam signals are used to perform sensing, the sensing performance can be improved. In addition, the present disclosure proposes a new design of an integrated communication and sensing shared waveform, which simultaneously realizes sensing and / or communication functions by redesigned a new single waveform.

[0074] Figure 4 is a schematic block diagram showing a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0075] Referring to Figure 4 , the wireless communication device 400 may include a receiving antenna panel 410 and a sum-difference network 420. According to an embodiment, the receiving antenna panel 410 may receive a first signal used for sensing and / or communication. For example, the first signal may include an echo signal after the second signal used for sensing is reflected by a sensing target and a signal for communication from a communication node. In addition, the second signal may adopt the integrated communication and sensing shared waveform design proposed by the present disclosure. Regarding the integrated communication and sensing shared waveform design, it will be described below with reference to Figure 7 and Figure 8 and will not be described here for the time being.

[0076] The receiving antenna panel 410 can be divided into multiple sub-arrays, and each sub-array includes a single or multiple antenna elements. As an example, the receiving antenna panel is divided into M×N sub-arrays, where M is the number of sub-arrays in the vertical direction of the receiving antenna panel, and N is the number of sub-arrays in the horizontal direction of the receiving antenna panel. As an example, the receiving antenna panel can be evenly divided into multiple two-dimensional sub-arrays, that is, M = N, or it can also be unevenly divided, that is, M≠N. As an example, sub-array i of the receiving antenna panel includes antenna elements, is the number of antenna elements in the vertical direction of sub-array i, is the number of antenna elements in the horizontal direction of sub-array i, is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1, is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1. As an example, the number of antenna elements of sub-array i, 1≤i≤M×N, on the receiving antenna panel can be equal to As an example, the receiving antenna panel is divided into M×M sub-arrays, where M is the number of sub-arrays in the vertical and horizontal directions of the receiving antenna panel, and M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1. Each sub-array includes M AE ×M AE antenna elements, where M AE is the number of antenna elements in the vertical and horizontal directions of the sub-array, and M AE is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0077] As an example, the receiving antenna panel can be divided in the horizontal and vertical directions, or it can also be divided in other angular directions. The present disclosure places no restrictions on the sub-array division method of the receiving antenna panel 410, and various division methods can be adopted to obtain multiple sub-arrays.

[0078] The sum-difference network 420 can be configured to obtain at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal based on the combined signals corresponding to at least two sub-arrays among the multiple sub-arrays, where the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array is obtained based on the signals received by the multiple antenna elements included in the sub-array. According to an embodiment, the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam are used to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation. For example, the at least one sum beam signal is used to perform sensing and / or communication signal estimation, and the at least one difference beam is used to perform sensing.

[0079] According to an embodiment, the combined signal corresponding to the sub-array can be obtained by combining the signals received by a plurality of antenna elements included in the sub-array. Various possible combining methods can be adopted to combine the signals received by the plurality of antenna elements to obtain the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array, and the present disclosure does not impose any limitation on the specific combining method. For example, the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array can be obtained by adjusting the amplitude and phase of the first signal for communication and / or sensing received by each antenna element in each sub-array, and combining (e.g., summing) the signals corresponding to each antenna element after the amplitude and phase adjustment. To this end, optionally, the wireless communication device may further include: an analog weighting network for adjusting the amplitude and phase of the first signal for communication and / or sensing received by each antenna element in each sub-array; a combining network for combining the signals corresponding to each antenna element after the amplitude and phase adjustment to obtain the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array. It should be noted that the present disclosure does not limit the manner of obtaining the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array.

[0080] According to an embodiment, optionally, all of the plurality of sub-arrays can be used to obtain at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal, or alternatively, at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal can be obtained based only on a part of the plurality of sub-arrays (two or more than two sub-arrays). Optionally, the "obtaining at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal based on the combined signals corresponding to at least two sub-arrays among the plurality of sub-arrays" mentioned above can include both the case where the sub-arrays on which at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal are based are the same, and the case where the sub-arrays on which at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal are based are different, or a partially same or different case. For example, assuming that the antenna unit is divided into eight sub-arrays, then, for example, the sum beam signal can be obtained based on sub-arrays 1 to 4, and the difference beam signal can be obtained based on sub-arrays 1 to 4, or alternatively, the difference beam signal can be obtained based on sub-arrays 5 to 8, or further, the difference beam signal can be obtained based on sub-arrays 1 and 2 and sub-arrays 5 and 6.

[0081] In addition, the present disclosure places no restrictions on the number of obtained sum beam signals and difference beam signals. For example, only one sum beam signal and one difference beam signal can be obtained, or one sum beam signal and two difference beam signals can be obtained, or multiple sum beams and multiple difference beams can be obtained, and so on. The fewer the number of obtained sum beam signals and difference beam signals, the fewer RF link resources required for subsequent processing of the sum beam signals and difference beam signals, which is beneficial for realizing integrated communication and sensing at a lower cost. Although the number of RF link resources used subsequently increases when the number of obtained sum beam signals and difference beam signals is larger, the advantage of obtaining multiple sum beam signals and multiple difference beam signals is that fewer sub-arrays can be used to obtain the required sum beam signals and difference beam signals, reducing power loss and lowering the computational complexity. In addition, multiple sum beams or multiple difference beams can also be combined to obtain spatial gain.

[0082] According to an embodiment, optionally, each sum beam signal in the at least one sum beam signal can be obtained by the sum-difference network combining the combined signals corresponding to each sub-array in one sub-array combination among the multiple sub-arrays. For example, the sum beam signal can be obtained by directly summing the combined signals corresponding to each sub-array, or alternatively, the sum beam signal can be obtained by weighted summing the combined signals corresponding to each sub-array. The present disclosure places no restrictions on the combination rule, and any possible predefined combination rule can be used to combine the combined signals to obtain the sum beam signal. Optionally, the at least one difference beam signal can include at least one azimuth difference beam signal and at least one elevation difference beam signal, where each azimuth difference beam signal can be obtained by the sum-difference network subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any column of sub-arrays among the multiple sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other column of sub-arrays, and each elevation difference beam signal can be obtained by the sum-difference network subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any row of sub-arrays among the multiple sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other row of sub-arrays. Optionally, the performing sensing can include performing angle estimation of the sensing target, but is not limited thereto. For example, the performing sensing can also include performing distance estimation, speed estimation, etc. of the sensing object.

[0083] According to an embodiment, the wireless communication device 400 can itself perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation based on the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal, or alternatively, the wireless communication device 400 can send the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal to other devices for the other devices to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation.

[0084] Optionally, according to an embodiment, the wireless communication device 400 may further include: a receiving radio frequency (RF) module including receiving RF channels for performing receiving RF processing corresponding to the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal respectively; and a digital signal processing module configured to perform digital signal processing on the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal after the receiving RF processing to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation. Optionally, the number of the receiving RF channels is less than the total number of combined signals corresponding to the at least two sub-arrays. In other words, each sum beam signal and each difference beam signal respectively correspond to their own receiving RF channels. Therefore, the number of the receiving RF channels being less than the total number of combined signals corresponding to the at least two sub-arrays indicates that the number of the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal output by the sum-difference network (equal to the number of the receiving RF channels) is less than the total number of combined signals input to the sum-difference network 420.

[0085] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, by providing a sum-difference network before the receiving RF module, the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal can be obtained before the RF receiving channels process them, thereby enabling the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal to be directly obtained at the RF end. In addition, since the number of the receiving RF channels is less than the total number of combined signals input to the sum-difference network, compared with the case where each combined signal directly passes through its corresponding receiving RF channel and then performs digital signal processing to obtain the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal without providing a sum-difference network, fewer RF link resources can be utilized to achieve high-performance communication and sensing at a lower implementation cost.

[0086] Optionally, the wireless communication device 400 may further include: a transmitting antenna panel configured to transmit a second signal for sensing and / or communication. For example, the transmitting antenna panel may transmit a second signal for sensing, and the receiving antenna panel 410 may receive the echo signal of the second signal for sensing after being reflected by a sensing target and the signal for communication from a communication node. In addition, the second signal may adopt the integrated communication and sensing common waveform design proposed in the present disclosure. Regarding the integrated communication and sensing common waveform design, it will be described below with reference to Figure 7 and Figure 8 are described, and will not be described here for the time being.

[0087] Optionally, the wireless communication device 400 may be a full-duplex communication system, but is not limited thereto. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The wireless communication device 400 may be a full-duplex communication system as shown in Figure 5 shown, but is not limited thereto.

[0088] Such as Figure 5As shown, the wireless communication device 400 may include a transmitting end and a receiving end. Among them, the transmitting end may include five parts: transmitting digital signal processing, transmitting RF channel, splitting network, analog weighting network, and transmitting antenna panel. The receiving end may include a receiving antenna panel, an analog weighting network, a combining network, a sum-difference network, a receiving RF channel, and receiving digital signal processing. The transmitting digital signal processing and the receiving digital signal processing may share the same digital signal processor.

[0089] The following will separately describe Figure 5 each component of the transmitting end and each component of the receiving end involved.

[0090] According to an embodiment, the transmitting digital signal processing may perform encoding, modulation, framing, digital-to-analog conversion, etc. on signals (such as service data) for communication and / or sensing. The transmitting RF channel may be used to perform upconversion, amplification, etc. on the signals after the transmitting digital signal processing. The splitting network included in the transmitting end may split the transmitted RF signals equally, and the number of splits is the same as the number of antenna elements of the transmitting antenna panel. The analog weighting network of the transmitting end may adjust the amplitude and phase of each split signal. The transmitting antenna panel may transmit the signals after amplitude and phase adjustment. In addition, for example, the transmitting antenna panel may be composed of a plurality of antenna elements arranged uniformly to form a rectangular transmitting array surface.

[0091] As an example, the size of the transmitting antenna panel may be 16*16 (256 elements), the spacing between elements may be 5.5 mm, and the carrier frequency may be 28 GHz, but it is not limited thereto. One path of baseband transmission signal after the transmitting digital signal processing may pass through the transmitting RF channel to complete 28 GHz upconversion. The upconverted signal passes through the splitting network to form 16*16 = 256 paths of signals. Each path of signal is subjected to amplitude, phase weighting adjustment and amplification through the analog weighting network, and then radiated out through the 256 antenna elements of the transmitting antenna panel to form a transmitting beam. The transmitting beam may include a second signal for sensing and / or communication. Using all the elements to complete the transmitting beamforming can achieve the benefits of a high-gain transmitting beam.

[0092] According to an embodiment, the receiving antenna panel may be composed of a plurality of antenna elements arranged uniformly to form a rectangular receiving array surface. The receiving array surface is divided into four sub-arrays in the horizontal and vertical directions, and each sub-array may contain NxN antenna elements, such as Figure 5As shown, the two upper sub-arrays (from left to right) are denoted by A and C, and the two lower sub-arrays (from left to right) are denoted by B and D. The analog weighting network at the receiving end can perform amplitude and phase adjustments on the RF signals received by each antenna element on the receiving array surface (for example, the first signal for communication and / or sensing). Since there are four sub-arrays, the analog weighting network can include four independent analog weighting networks, corresponding to sub-arrays A, B, C, and D respectively. The combining network can sum the received signals whose amplitude and phase have been adjusted by each antenna element passing through the analog weighting network. Since four analog weighting networks can be included, the four combining networks can be independent, and the four combining networks independently form four-way combined signals, that is, four-way combined signals corresponding to sub-arrays A, B, C, and D respectively. The sum-difference network can sum the combined signals corresponding to the four sub-arrays to form a sum beam signal; sum the combined signal corresponding to sub-array B and the combined signal corresponding to sub-array D, and then subtract the combined signal corresponding to sub-array A and the combined signal corresponding to sub-array C to form an elevation difference beam signal; sum the combined signal corresponding to sub-array C and the combined signal corresponding to sub-array D, and subtract the combined signal corresponding to sub-array A and the combined signal corresponding to sub-array B to form an azimuth difference beam signal. The receiving RF channels can perform receiving RF processing on the corresponding sum beam signal and difference beam signals, including amplification, down-conversion, etc. Since the sum beam signal, azimuth difference beam signal, and elevation difference beam signal need to be processed separately for receiving RF, there are three independent receiving RF channels. The signals obtained after receiving RF processing can be input into a digital signal processor for receiving digital signal processing, including analog-to-digital conversion, sensing, demodulation, decoding, etc.

[0093] For example, the echo signal after the transmitted beam emitted by the transmitting array surface is reflected by the sensed target and the communication signal from the far end of the channel are superimposed and enter the receiving array surface formed by 256 antenna elements. The receiving array surface is divided into four sub-arrays A, B, C, and D in a "field" shape, and the number of antenna elements included in each sub-array is 8×8 = 64. The receiving elements in each sub-array perform amplitude and phase weighting adjustments on the received echo signal and communication signal. Then, taking the sub-array as a unit, the weighted signals of each element in each sub-array form one signal after passing through the combining network, and a total of four-way combined signals are formed by the four sub-arrays. The four-way combined signals formed by the four sub-arrays are sent to the sum-difference network to obtain the sum beam signal, azimuth difference beam signal, and elevation difference beam signal. The three signals of the sum beam, azimuth difference beam, and elevation difference beam formed by the sum-difference network pass through their respective receiving RF channels to complete down-conversion and form baseband signals. In addition, if only horizontal or vertical direction measurement is required, Figure 5 the hardware structure shown can be further simplified. For example, the number of sub-arrays and the number of receiving RF channels can both be reduced to two.

[0094] By using the above full-duplex communication and sensing integrated system, the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal can be directly obtained at the RF end. Compared with obtaining the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal through baseband processing, fewer RF link resources can be utilized, the computational complexity can be reduced, and high-performance communication and sensing can be achieved at a lower implementation cost.

[0095] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram showing another example of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In Figure 6 the example, the receiving antenna panel can also be divided into M x N sub-arrays, where each sub-array i includes antenna elements, is the number of antenna elements in the vertical direction of sub-array i, is the number of antenna elements in the horizontal direction of sub-array i, is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1, is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1. Each sub-array passes through an analog weighting network, a combining network, a sum-difference network, and a receiving RF channel. Specifically, the receiving antenna panel can be divided into a sub-array combination of M rows and N columns, including sub-arrays (1,1),..., sub-arrays (M,N), a total of MxN sub-arrays. According to a pre-determined criterion, the sum-difference network can be used to combine the combined signals corresponding to each sub-array to obtain at least two combined combined signals. As Figure 6As shown, based on the radio frequency signals received by each sub-array for communication and / or sensing, k1 sum beams, k2 azimuth difference beams, and k3 elevation difference beams can be obtained using a sum-difference network, where k1, k2, and k3 are integers greater than or equal to 1. For example, the k1 sum beams can be obtained by selecting k1 different sub-array combinations from the MxN sub-arrays, and then merging the outputs of the combining networks corresponding to these k1 different sub-array combinations through the sum-difference network into k1 sum beams. For example, the outputs of the combining networks of the sub-arrays corresponding to (i,j), i = 1, 2,.., M are merged into sum beam j, where j = 1, 2,…, k1, and k1 <= N. The advantage of obtaining k1 sum beams is that fewer sub-arrays can be used to obtain the required sum beam signals, reducing power loss, reducing computational complexity, and the multiple obtained sum beams can be further merged (for example, merged into one sum beam) to obtain spatial gain. Additionally, the k2 azimuth difference beams can be obtained by subtracting the sum of the combined signals obtained through the sum-difference network of any one column in the MxN sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals obtained through the sum-difference network of any other column; similarly, the k3 elevation difference beams can be obtained by subtracting the sum of the combined signals obtained through the sum-difference network of any one row in the MxN sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals obtained through the sum-difference network of any other row. The advantage of obtaining k2 azimuth difference beams or k3 elevation difference beams is that fewer sub-arrays can be used to obtain the required difference beam signals, reducing power loss, reducing computational complexity, and the multiple obtained difference beams can also be merged to obtain spatial gain.

[0096] It should be noted that the present disclosure places no restrictions on the manner of dividing the antenna array into multiple sub-arrays, and the present disclosure also places no restrictions on the shape and size of the sub-arrays. Additionally, it should be noted that although the wireless communication device was divided into units for performing corresponding processing respectively in the above introduction, however, those skilled in the art are aware that the unit division manner of the wireless communication device is not limited to Figure 4 、 Figure 5 and Figure 6 examples, as long as it can implement the inventive concept of the present disclosure. According to the embodiment, the wireless communication device can be a base station side wireless communication device, a terminal side wireless communication device, or a bypass device side wireless communication device.

[0097] As mentioned above, the first signal received by the receiving antenna panel for sensing and / or communication, and / or the second signal transmitted by the transmitting antenna panel for sensing and / or communication can both adopt the integrated communication and sensing common waveform design proposed by the present disclosure. The following combines Figure 7 and Figure 8 to describe the integrated communication and sensing common waveform design according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0098] The integrated sensing and communication shared waveform according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be a wireless frame signal waveform, and the front of this waveform may be the first signal or the second signal mentioned above. For example, the first signal and / or the second signal may include at least one pilot signal located at the starting position of the wireless frame signal waveform. Optionally, the at least one pilot signal may be a preset number of consecutive pilot signals, and the preset number of consecutive pilot signals share a cyclic prefix (CP). As an example, the preset number of consecutive pilot signals may be two consecutive pilot signals, but it is not limited thereto. As Figure 7 shown, the integrated sensing and communication shared waveform may include two consecutive pilot signals for sensing and / or communication channel estimation. After the second pilot signal may be a service signal carrying communication service data.

[0099] The advantage of the integrated sensing and communication shared waveform structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is that it can be used for both sensing and communication simultaneously, without the need to additionally add a guard interval between sensing and communication, reducing the overhead of simultaneous sensing and communication. In addition, by setting the signals for sensing and / or communication at the starting position of the waveform, the delay of sensing and / or communication can be reduced, improving the timeliness of sensing and / or communication. Additionally, by setting a preset number of consecutive pilot signals and sharing the cyclic prefix for these pilot signals, the sensing distance can be increased and the sensing performance can be improved. The integrated sensing and communication shared waveform structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is applicable to full-duplex communication systems, but it is not limited thereto.

[0100] Next, with further reference to Figure 8 the following example to introduce the frame structure of the integrated sensing and communication shared waveform according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0101] According to an embodiment, the first signal for sensing and / or communication and / or the second signal for sensing and / or communication may include at least one OFDM symbol located at the start position of each time slot in a wireless frame. At least one OFDM symbol at the start position of each time slot in all time slots of the wireless frame may jointly constitute the first signal or the second signal. By placing the OFDM symbols constituting the first signal or the second signal at the start position of each time slot, the latency of receiving the first signal or transmitting the second signal can be reduced, and the timeliness of sensing and / or communication can be improved. Optionally, the at least one OFDM symbol is a preset number of consecutive OFDM symbols, and the preset number of consecutive OFDM symbols share a cyclic prefix. For example, the preset number of consecutive OFDM symbols may be two consecutive OFDM symbols. By having a preset number of OFDM symbols that are consecutive in the time domain, the performance of sensing can be improved. Optionally, the CP configuration of the first signal or the second signal in each time slot may be the same, which is conducive to forming a signal with a time slot as the period and reducing the complexity of subsequent engineering implementation.

[0102] For example, in Figure 8 A 10 ms radio frame is shown, where 1 radio frame consists of 10 subframes, the length of 1 subframe is 1 ms, 1 subframe consists of 8 time slots, each time slot consists of 14 OFDM symbols, and the first 2 OFDM symbols of each time slot are used for sensing and / or communication channel estimation, and the subsequent 12 OFDM symbols are used for service communication. For example, the subcarrier spacing of each OFDM may be 120 KHz, the total number of subcarriers may be 4096, the number of valid subcarriers may be 3168, the signal bandwidth may be 400 MHz, the sampling frequency may be 491.52 MHz, the length of each time slot may be 0.125 ms, and the length of each subcarrier may be T c . The data such as the length of the wireless frame, the number of subframes, the subframe length, the number of time slots, etc. mentioned in the above examples are all examples, and the present disclosure is not limited to the above examples.

[0103] Different from the signals for sensing in the existing NR system being located at the 3rd and 12th OFDM symbol positions, in the frame structure of the integrated communication and sensing shared waveform according to the embodiment, for example, the signals for sensing may be located at the 1st and 2nd OFDM symbol positions. The advantage of such a design is that by placing the sensing signals at the start position of each time slot, the latency of receiving the sensing signals can be reduced, the timeliness of sensing can be improved, and moreover, by having two consecutive sensing symbols in the time domain, the performance of sensing can be improved.

[0104] In addition, in the existing NR system, the lengths of the cyclic prefixes (CPs) of OFDM symbols within a time slot are different. Specifically, the CP length of the first OFDM symbol in time slot 0 is 544T c (T c being the length of each subcarrier), and the CP lengths of the subsequent 13 OFDM symbols are 288T c . The CP lengths of the 14 OFDM symbols in time slots 1 to 3 are all 288T c . Such a frame structure will lead to inconsistent inter-slot structures, making it impossible to form periodic signals in units of time slots, which will increase the logical workload of engineering implementation, that is, increase the implementation complexity. In the integrated communication and sensing common waveform structure according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the setting methods of the cyclic prefixes of each time slot can be the same. For example, the first two OFDM symbols in each time slot can share a CPT with a length of 640 c , and the CP lengths of the subsequent 12 OFDM symbols are all 288T c . The advantage of such a frame structure design is that it forms signals with a time slot as the period. In this frame structure, the setting methods of the cyclic prefixes of the first signal and / or the second signal in each time slot are the same. For example, the first signal and / or the second signal share a CP with a length of 640T in the two OFDM symbols included in each time slot c . Therefore, the first signal and / or the second signal can form a waveform with a time slot as the period, reducing the implementation complexity.

[0105] As described above, the wireless communication device and the integrated communication and sensing waveform design according to the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described. Since the wireless communication device according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can receive the first signal for sensing and / or communication through the receiving antenna panel, and obtain the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal through the sub-array division and the sum-difference network of the receiving antenna panel, where the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal are used for communication and / or sensing, there is no need to use various multiplexing methods (such as time division multiplexing, space division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing) to achieve integrated communication and sensing at the expense of spatial degrees of freedom. Moreover, when both the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal are used for sensing, the sensing performance can be improved. In addition, the integrated communication and sensing waveform according to the embodiments of the present disclosure is also different from the existing integrated communication and sensing multiplexing waveform design. Therefore, it can be used for the wireless communication device to perform integrated communication and sensing without sacrificing spatial degrees of freedom.

[0106] It should be noted that the signals for sensing (which may be simply referred to as "sensing signals") mentioned in this disclosure may include uplink sensing signals and / or downlink sensing signals. The uplink sensing signals at least include one of the following: uplink sensing dedicated signals, uplink shared channels, uplink control channels, sounding reference signals (SRS), random access channels (such as physical random access channels (PRACH)), demodulation reference signals of uplink shared channels, demodulation reference signals of uplink control channels, etc.; the downlink sensing signals at least include one of the following: downlink sensing dedicated signals, downlink shared channels, downlink control channels, channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), positioning reference signals (PRS), synchronization signals, broadcast channels (such as physical broadcast channels (PBCH)), synchronization signal blocks (SSB), demodulation reference signals of downlink shared channels, demodulation reference signals of downlink control channels, etc. The uplink (or downlink) sensing dedicated signal is an uplink (or downlink) physical signal and / or channel for sensing purposes. The sidelink sensing signals at least include one of the following: sidelink sensing dedicated signals, sidelink positioning reference signals (SL PRS), etc.

[0107] In addition, in embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication-sensing node (e.g., the wireless communication device described above) that transmits signals for sensing and / or communication (e.g., sensing signals) may include a terminal or a network node (e.g., a base station, IAB). In some examples, the base station acting as a communication-sensing node may transmit a downlink physical channel / signal (e.g., a downlink sensing signal), and the terminal acting as the communication target object may or may not receive the downlink physical channel / signal (e.g., the downlink sensing signal). In other examples, the terminal acting as a communication-sensing node may transmit an uplink physical channel / signal (e.g., an uplink sensing signal), and the base station acting as the communication target object may or may not receive the uplink physical channel / signal. In still other examples, the terminal acting as a communication-sensing node may transmit a physical bypass channel / signal (e.g., a bypass sensing signal), and another terminal acting as the communication target object may or may not receive the physical bypass channel / signal (e.g., the bypass sensing signal). In embodiments of the present disclosure, the configuration of physical resources may include time-domain resources and / or frequency-domain resources. In embodiments of the present disclosure, the time-domain resources may include symbols (e.g., OFDM symbols), time slots, mini-slots, sub-frames, etc., and the frequency-domain resources may include channels, sub-channels, carriers, sub-carriers, etc.

[0108] The following describes Figure 9 a method performed by a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0109] Referring to Figure 9 , in step S910, a first signal for sensing and / or communication is received through a receiving antenna panel. According to an embodiment, the receiving antenna panel is divided into a plurality of sub-arrays. In the above description, the content involved in step S910 (e.g., the sub-array division method, etc.) has been described, and will not be repeated here. The same details can be found in the above description.

[0110] In step S920, at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal may be obtained by using a sum-difference network based on the combined signals corresponding to at least two of the plurality of sub-arrays, where the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array is obtained based on the signals received by a plurality of antenna elements included in the sub-array. According to an embodiment, the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal may be used to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation. Optionally, Figure 9The method shown may further include: performing receive RF processing on the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal by using receive RF channel pairs corresponding to the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal respectively; performing digital signal processing on the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal after receive RF processing to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation. For example, each sum beam signal may correspond to a receive RF channel for performing receive RF processing, and each difference beam signal may correspond to a receive RF channel for performing receive RF processing. According to an embodiment, optionally, the number of receive RF channels may be less than the total number of combined signals corresponding to the at least two subarrays.

[0111] According to an embodiment, each sum beam signal in the at least one sum beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by combining the combined signals corresponding to each subarray in one subarray combination among the multiple subarrays. The at least one difference beam signal may include at least one azimuth difference beam signal and at least one elevation difference beam signal, wherein each azimuth difference beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any column of subarrays among the multiple subarrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other column of subarrays, and each elevation difference beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any row of subarrays among the multiple subarrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other row of subarrays.

[0112] Optionally, Figure 9 The method shown may further include transmitting a second signal for sensing and / or communication. Above, the first signal and the second signal have been described in the description related to the integrated communication and sensing waveform structure, and will not be elaborated here. For related content, refer to the above.

[0113] As described above, the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal can be used to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation. As an example, performing sensing may include performing angle estimation of a sensing target, but is not limited thereto. For example, the performing of sensing may further include performing distance estimation, speed estimation, etc. of a sensing object.

[0114] For example, assuming that a sum beam signal, an azimuth difference beam signal, and an elevation difference beam signal are obtained by using a sum-difference network, the angle estimation of the sensing target and the communication signal estimation can be performed in the following manner:

[0115] In some examples, a specific implementation method may be that the second signal transmitted by the antenna panel of the transmitting antenna may be the transmitted baseband signal x(n):

[0116]

[0117] Among them, X(k) is the transmitted signal on the m-th subcarrier, and N is the number of points of the IFFT (equal to 4096).

[0118] The transmitted beam signal after up-conversion module transmitting beamforming is

[0119]

[0120] Among them, Transmitted beam array factor, f c Is the carrier frequency of the signal. For example, it can be 28 GHz.

[0121] The received signal (the first signal) of the antenna element (j, k) in the receiving antenna panel can be expressed as

[0122]

[0123] Among them, τ j,k Is the relative time delay between antenna elements, h is the amplitude-phase attenuation of the sensing channel, τ is the time delay of the channel, R is the initial distance between the wireless communication device (such as a base station) and the target to be sensed, and w(t) is additive white Gaussian noise.

[0124] For example, it can be designed that the spacing between elements on the antenna panel is 5.5 mm. Then, in the case of covering 90 degrees, the maximum relative time delay between antenna elements is less than 8% of the signal duration. Therefore, the received signal of the antenna element (j, k) can be further expressed as

[0125]

[0126] Assume as Figure 5 Shown, the receiving antenna panel is divided into four sub-arrays A, B, C, and D. Then, the signals obtained by weighted synthesis of the signals received by the antenna arrays included in the four sub-arrays are respectively:

[0127]

[0128]

[0129] After simplifying and combining the above signals, the following further representation can be obtained:

[0130] S A = h'·x(t - τ)·exp[i(2π·f c ·(t - τ))|exp[iΔφ A + w A (t) (8)

[0131] S B = h'·x(t - τ)·exp[i(2π·fc ·(t - τ))] exp[iΔφ B + w B (t) (9)

[0132] S C = h′·x(t - τ)·exp[i(2π·f c ·(t - τ))] exp[iΔφ C + w C (t) (10)

[0133] S D = h′·x(t - τ)·exp[i(2π·f c ·(t - τ))] exp[iΔφ D + w D (t) (11)

[0134] where w A (t), W B (t), w C (t) and w D (t) are the additive white noises corresponding to sub - arrays A, B, C, and D respectively,

[0135] Δφ A = 0 (12)

[0136]

[0137] Δφ D = φ B + φ C (15)

[0138] where D x represents the sub - array spacing in the x - axis direction, and D y represents the sub - array spacing in the y - axis direction; is the array beam pointing; is the incoming wave direction.

[0139] And the beam signal can be expressed as:

[0140] S ∑ = S A + S B + S C + S D = h′·x(t - τ)·exp[i(2π·f c ·(t - τ))] E ∑ + w ∑ (t) (16)

[0141] where E ∑ = exp[iΔφ​A + exp[iΔφ B + exp[iΔφ C + exp[iΔφ D ,w ∑ (t) = w A (t) + w B (t) + w C (t) + w D (t)。

[0142] The azimuth difference beam signal can be expressed as:

[0143]

[0144] Wherein,

[0145] The elevation difference beam signal can be expressed as:

[0146] S Δθ = S B + S D - S A - S C = h′·x(t - τ)·exp[i(2π·f c ·(t - τ))]E Δθ + w Δθ (t) (18)

[0147] Wherein, E Δθ = exp[iΔφ B + exp[iΔφ D - exp[iΔφ A - exp[iΔφ C , w Δθ (t) = w B (t) + w D (t) - w A (t) - w C (t). After down-conversion and discretization, the digital sum beam signal and the two digital difference beam signals can be transformed into the frequency domain. The sum beam signal and the two digital difference beam signals transformed into the frequency domain can be respectively expressed as follows:

[0148]

[0149] Wherein, T S is the sampling period, c is the speed of light, H is the frequency domain signal corresponding to h′, W ∑ (k), and W Δθ (k) are respectively corresponding to w ∑ (t), and W Δθ (t) corresponding frequency-domain additive white noise.

[0150] Next, the effective subcarriers (M0) can be taken and, after being normalized by pilot symbols, we get

[0151]

[0152] where Y′ ∑ (k), and Y′ Δθ (k) are respectively the results of normalizing Y ∑ (k), and Y Δθ (k), and W′ ∑ (k), and W′ Δθ (k) are respectively the results of normalizing W ∑ (k), and W Δθ (k).

[0153] After performing an M0-point FFT transformation on the sum beam signal, we can obtain

[0154]

[0155] After taking the modulus of the first term, we can obtain

[0156]

[0157] where W″ ∑ (z) is the result of performing an FFT transformation on W ∑ (k).

[0158] From the above formula, it can be seen that at the position, |F ∑,1 (z)| reaches the peak value G max , and from this peak position, the ranging result between the wireless communication device and the sensing target can be obtained as

[0159]

[0160] Similarly, the peaks of the two difference beam signals in the frequency domain will also appear at the z max of the sum beam signal. Assuming that the signal-to-noise ratio of z max is large enough, then the sum beam signal, azimuth difference beam signal, and elevation difference beam signal at the peak position can be expressed as

[0161] F ∑ (z max ) = G max E∑ (26)

[0162]

[0163] F Δθ (z max ) = G max E Δθ (28)

[0164] Dividing the two difference beam signals by the sum beam signal gives:

[0165]

[0166] Solving the above equation gives the estimated angle as

[0167]

[0168] In addition, the communication signal in the sum beam signal can be equalized according to the channel estimation value Y ∑ ′(k) to obtain

[0169]

[0170] Finally, demodulation and decoding are performed to obtain the estimated value of the communication data.

[0171] Although how to perform angle estimation is exemplarily described in the above examples, performing sensing is not limited to performing angle estimation. For example, speed estimation, distance estimation, etc. can also be performed. The present disclosure imposes no restrictions on the type of sensing performed and the specific ways of performing various sensing estimations.

[0172] In some examples, the specific implementation methods for performing speed estimation, distance estimation, and angle estimation can be:[[]]

[0173] Figure 10 A reference antenna coordinate system is shown: the origin of the coordinate system is located at the center of the antenna array (antenna panel), and the antenna array includes N×N antenna elements. The x-axis and z-axis are the horizontal and vertical directions of the antenna array, respectively. Each point in the coordinate system corresponds to three off-axis angles (i.e., the angles with the positive axes), which are respectively denoted as β X , β Y and β Z . These three off-axis angles always satisfy cos 2 β X + cos 2 β Y + cos 2 β Z = 1. Given a distance and any two of the three off-axis angles, a unique coordinate can be determined, where β X and βZ can be regarded as the horizontal direction and the vertical direction.

[0174] The tactile node sends a sensing signal (second signal) at time interval T, and the antenna element (n X , n Z ) of the receiving antenna panel receives the echo signal (first signal) backscattered from the m-th object at time t, which can be expressed as:

[0175]

[0176] where α X and α Z represent the horizontal beam direction and the vertical beam direction respectively. For the tactile node, these two directions are both known parameters; and ρ m are the instantaneous horizontal object direction, the instantaneous vertical object direction, the instantaneous distance from the center of the antenna array (the center of the receiving antenna panel), and the total constant coefficient of the m-th object. It should be noted that the approximation in the formula comes from the far-field assumption, which is applicable to most of the integrated tactile and communication use cases.

[0177] In addition, the observation period is defined as the time period for performing a complete sensing process. The duration of the observation period is usually very short, so the following approximation holds: In addition, the in the phase can be approximated as where V r (m) is the radial velocity of the m-th object. The in the time delay can be approximated as For , different approximations are based on the fact that radar is more sensitive to phase changes.

[0178] What the sensing function expects to achieve is to successfully detect the presence of an object and accurately estimate the V r (m) , and

[0179] According to the wireless communication device 400 (full-duplex integrated tactile and communication system) described in the present invention, the sum beam and difference beam signals can be directly obtained at the RF end, and the signals obtained after receiving RF processing can be input into a digital signal processor for receiving digital baseband signal processing. The digital baseband signal includes:

[0180] √ sum beam received signal

[0181]

[0182] where M is the total number of (perceived) objects. Substituting into the above equation, we can obtain:

[0183]

[0184] where is the known steering matrix of the synaesthesia node, and are the horizontal steering vector and the vertical steering vector, respectively. and are the horizontal space vector and the vertical space vector, respectively. It should be noted that the received signal of the traditional phased array antenna array is only the sum beam received signal.

[0185] √ Difference beam (or differential beam) received signal (including horizontal difference beam signal and vertical difference beam signal)

[0186] The horizontal difference beam signal is the difference between the sum signal from half of the receiving antenna panel in the horizontal direction (e.g., Figure 5 the left half antenna panel in Figure 5 , subarrays A and B) and the sum signal from the other half of the receiving antenna panel (e.g., Figure 5 the right half antenna panel in Figure 5 , subarrays C and D). The vertical difference beam signal is the difference between the sum signal from half of the receiving antenna panel in the vertical direction (e.g., Figure 5 the upper half antenna panel in Figure 5 , subarrays A and C) and the sum signal from half of the receiving antenna panel (e.g., Figure 5 the upper half antenna panel in Figure 5 , subarrays B and D). Therefore, the horizontal difference beam signal and the vertical difference beam signal can be expressed as:

[0187]

[0188]

[0189] Substituting we can obtain:

[0190]

[0191] where and I N / 2 are the identity matrices, and ρ′ m is the constant coefficient of the m-th object.

[0192] Detect the presence of objects and estimate their distances from the above sum beam and difference beam received signals and two object directions ( and ).

[0193] Figure 11 A flowchart of an example is given.

[0194] Step 1: Imaging

[0195] Imaging is a signal processing process to achieve energy focusing. The following imaging process will be applied to all three received signals, namely, the horizontal direction difference beam signal, the sum beam signal, and the vertical direction difference beam signal. Here, we only take the sum beam received signal y(t,τ) as an example.

[0196] (Step 1.a) Perform Fourier transform in the fast time domain τ to obtain

[0197]

[0198] where S(f τ ) is the Fourier transform of the sensed signal s(τ)

[0199] (Step 1.b) Frequency domain channel estimation

[0200] Since S(f τ ) is known, S(f τ ) can be removed from Y(t,f τ ) to obtain the frequency domain channel for each slow time t, denoted as

[0201]

[0202] (Step 1.c) Perform inverse Fourier transform on the frequency domain channel estimation result

[0203] The result can be expressed as:

[0204]

[0205] where sinc{·} is the sinc function, and a variable substitution r = cτ / 2 is introduced here to convert the fast time to distance.

[0206] (Step 1.d) Perform Fourier transform in the slow time domain t

[0207] After performing Fourier transform on h(t,r), an image corresponding to the sum beam (sum beam image) is obtained in the range-velocity domain:

[0208]

[0209] Here, a second variable substitution v = 2f Doppler / λ is introduced to convert the Doppler frequency to the radial velocity.

[0210] Since the sinc function is a function with sharp peaks, the energy of each object is concentrated at its distance and radial velocity V r (m) . Similarly, images corresponding to two difference beam signals can also be obtained:

[0211]

[0212] Step 2: Object Detection and Range-Velocity Measurement

[0213] By searching for peaks in the sum beam image I(v,r), the presence of an object can be detected. If the m-th object does exist, a peak can be found in the sum beam image I(v,r) at . Therefore, once an object is detected (i.e., a sharp peak is found), its range and radial velocity V r (m) can be read out.

[0214] Step 3: Parameter Measurement

[0215] The following parts in this sub-step can be applied to both the horizontal and vertical directions. So only the horizontal direction will be described as an example.

[0216] (Step 3.a) Extract Image Values

[0217] As long as all objects can be resolved, if the m-th object is detected, the following two image values can be obtained from the sum beam and the horizontal difference beam:

[0218]

[0219] (Step 3.b) Calculate the Ratio

[0220] The following ratio can be calculated based on these two image values:

[0221]

[0222] (Step 3.c) Calculate the Direction

[0223] Substitute a X , a Z , and P, and the following can be obtained:

[0224]

[0225] Since the beam direction α X is a known parameter, the horizontal object direction can be calculated As follows:

[0226]

[0227] Similarly, the vertical object direction can be obtained by the above method

[0228]

[0229] According to and the three-dimensional coordinates of the m-th detected object can be calculated. The calculated three-dimensional coordinates can be defined in the antenna coordinate system or converted to other coordinate systems.

[0230] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions may also be provided. When the instructions are executed by at least one processor, the at least one processor is caused to perform the following operations: controlling a receiving antenna panel to receive a first signal for sensing and / or communication, wherein the receiving antenna panel is divided into a plurality of sub-arrays, and each sub-array corresponds to a combined signal obtained based on signals received by a plurality of antenna elements included in the sub-array; using a sum-difference network to obtain at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal based on the combined signals corresponding to at least two sub-arrays among the plurality of sub-arrays, wherein the at least one sum beam signal is used to perform sensing and communication channel estimation, and the at least one difference beam signal is used to perform sensing. Examples of such computer-readable storage media include: read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), flash memory, non-volatile memory, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD+R, CD-RW, CD+RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-R LTH, BD-RE, Blu-ray or optical disc memory, hard disk drive (HDD), solid state drive (SSD), cartridge memory (such as multimedia card, secure digital (SD) card or extreme digital (XD) card), magnetic tape, floppy disk, magneto-optical data storage device, optical data storage device, hard disk, solid state disk, and any other device configured to store a computer program and any associated data, data files, and data structures in a non-transitory manner and provide the computer program and any associated data, data files, and data structures to a processor or computer such that the processor or computer can execute the computer program. The instructions or computer programs in the above computer-readable storage medium may run in an environment deployed in computer devices such as clients, hosts, proxy devices, servers, etc. In addition, in one example, the computer program and any associated data, data files, and data structures are distributed on a networked computer system such that the computer program and any associated data, data files, and data structures are stored, accessed, and executed in a distributed manner by one or more processors or computers.

[0231] Other embodiments of the present disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present disclosure that follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include known common general knowledge or conventional technical means in the technical field not disclosed in the present disclosure. The specification and examples are only to be considered as exemplary, and the true scope and spirit of the present disclosure are defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A wireless communication device, comprising: A receiving antenna panel configured to receive a first signal for sensing and / or communication, wherein the receiving antenna panel is divided into a plurality of sub-arrays; A sum-difference network configured to obtain at least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal based on combined signals corresponding to at least two of the plurality of sub-arrays, wherein the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array is obtained based on signals received by a plurality of antenna elements included in the sub-array, wherein the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam are used to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation.

2. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, further comprising: A receiving radio frequency (RF) module including receiving RF channels respectively corresponding to the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal for performing receiving RF processing; A digital signal processing module configured to perform digital signal processing on the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal after receiving RF processing to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation.

3. The wireless communication device according to claim 2, wherein, The number of the receiving RF channels is less than the total number of paths of the combined signals corresponding to the at least two sub-arrays.

4. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein, Each sum beam signal in the at least one sum beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by combining the combined signals corresponding to each sub-array in a combination of one sub-array among the plurality of sub-arrays; The at least one difference beam signal includes at least one azimuth difference beam signal and at least one elevation difference beam signal, wherein each azimuth difference beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any one column of sub-arrays among the plurality of sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other column of sub-arrays, and each elevation difference beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any one row of sub-arrays among the plurality of sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other row of sub-arrays.

5. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, further comprising: A transmitting antenna panel configured to transmit a second signal for sensing and / or communication.

6. The wireless communication device according to claim 1 or 5, wherein, The first signal and / or the second signal includes at least one OFDM symbol located at the start position of each time slot in a wireless frame; or, the first signal and / or the second signal includes at least one pilot signal located at the start position of a wireless frame signal waveform.

7. The wireless communication device according to claim 6, wherein, The at least one OFDM symbol is a preset number of consecutive OFDM symbols sharing a cyclic prefix; or, the at least one pilot signal is a preset number of consecutive pilot signals sharing a cyclic prefix.

8. The wireless communication device according to claim 1 or 5, wherein, The first signal and / or the second signal are set in the same manner for the cyclic prefix of each time slot.

9. A method performed by a wireless communication device, comprising: Receiving, by a receiving antenna panel, a first signal for sensing and / or communication, wherein the receiving antenna panel is divided into a plurality of sub-arrays; At least one sum beam signal and at least one difference beam signal are obtained by using a sum-difference network based on combined signals corresponding to at least two of a plurality of sub-arrays, wherein the combined signal corresponding to each sub-array is obtained based on signals received by a plurality of antenna elements included in the sub-array; wherein the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal are used to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: Performing receive RF processing on the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal by using receive RF channels corresponding to the at least one sum beam signal and the at least one difference beam signal respectively; Performing digital signal processing on the sum beam signal and the difference beam signal after the receive RF processing to perform sensing and / or communication channel estimation.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein, The number of the receive RF channels is less than the total number of paths of the combined signals corresponding to the at least two sub-arrays.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein, Each sum beam signal in the at least one sum beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by combining the combined signals corresponding to the sub-arrays in one sub-array combination among the plurality of sub-arrays; The at least one difference beam signal includes at least one azimuth difference beam signal and at least one elevation difference beam signal, wherein each azimuth difference beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any one column of sub-arrays among the plurality of sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other column of sub-arrays, and each elevation difference beam signal is obtained by the sum-difference network by subtracting the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any one row of sub-arrays among the plurality of sub-arrays from the sum of the combined signals corresponding to any other row of sub-arrays.

13. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: Transmitting a second signal for sensing and / or communication, wherein the first signal and / or the second signal includes at least one OFDM symbol located at the start position of each time slot in a wireless frame; or, the first signal and / or the second signal includes at least one pilot signal located at the start position of a wireless frame signal waveform.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein, The at least one OFDM symbol is a preset number of consecutive OFDM symbols, and the preset number of consecutive OFDM symbols share a cyclic prefix; or, the at least one pilot signal is a preset number of consecutive pilot signals, and the preset number of consecutive pilot signals share a cyclic prefix.

15. The method according to claim 9 or 13, wherein The first signal and / or the second signal are set in the same way for the cyclic prefix of each time slot.

Images