Satellite communication resource allocation method, communication device and communication system

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a satellite communication resource allocation method, a communication device and a communication system, and relates to the technical field of wireless communication. The satellite communication resource allocation method comprises: obtaining satellite communication resource demands reported by a plurality of terminal devices, wherein the satellite communication resource demands comprise a cell corresponding to the terminal device and a satellite service demand of the terminal device for a current hop beam pattern period; determining transmission benefits of a satellite beam for a cell according to the satellite communication resource demands of terminal devices corresponding to the cell; and determining activated cells corresponding to each satellite beam in the current hop beam pattern period according to the transmission benefits of each cell and the number of activated beams, so as to determine a data channel hop beam pattern of the current hop beam pattern period. The embodiment of the present disclosure can optimize the quality of satellite communication.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and more specifically, to a satellite communication resource allocation method, communication equipment, and communication system. Background Technology

[0002] In satellite communication applications, satellites cover ground service areas using multiple beams. Beam hopping technology precisely controls the spatial pointing of satellite beams through phased array technology, generating various beam patterns. In each pattern, only some beams are active, concentrating energy on the active beams and improving coverage performance. However, in existing satellite beam hopping systems, beam sizes are typically fixed, failing to dynamically adapt to the spatiotemporal changes in ground user distribution and service demands. For example, in sparsely populated areas (such as oceans and deserts), small fixed beams cover fewer users, potentially leading to spectrum and power wastage; while in high-density hotspot areas (such as airports and sports venues), large fixed beams cover more users, but the reception quality at beam edges is worse, resulting in decreased coverage performance. Furthermore, existing solutions treat beam patterns, beam sizes, and resource allocation in isolation, making it difficult to coordinate and optimize temporal / frequency / spatial three-dimensional resources. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this disclosure is to provide a satellite communication resource allocation method, communication equipment, and communication system to improve satellite downlink coverage performance and optimize satellite communication quality.

[0004] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a satellite communication resource allocation method is provided, comprising: acquiring satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices, the satellite communication resource requirements including the cell corresponding to the terminal device and the satellite service requirements of the terminal device for the current beam hopping pattern period; determining the transmission revenue of the cell for the satellite beam based on the satellite communication resource requirements of the terminal device corresponding to a cell; and determining the active cell corresponding to each satellite beam in the current beam hopping pattern period based on the transmission revenue of each cell and the number of active beams, so as to determine the data channel beam hopping pattern for the current beam hopping pattern period.

[0005] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to execute the method described in any of the preceding embodiments based on instructions stored in the memory.

[0006] According to a third aspect of this disclosure, a communication system is provided, comprising: a plurality of terminal devices, the plurality of terminal devices corresponding to at least one cell; a base station; and a satellite communicatively connected to the plurality of terminal devices and the base station; wherein the base station performs the method as described in any of the preceding claims, or the terminal devices perform the steps of the method as described in any of the preceding claims.

[0007] According to a fourth aspect of this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided having a program stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, implements the satellite communication resource allocation method as described in any of the preceding claims.

[0008] According to a fifth aspect of this disclosure, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program, characterized in that, when executed by a processor, the computer program implements the steps of the method as described in any of the preceding claims.

[0009] This disclosure embodiment obtains the satellite communication resource requirements of the terminal device periodically, dynamically calculates the transmission revenue of each cell to the satellite beam, and then determines the active cell corresponding to the active beam. It can dynamically adjust the active beam pattern and beam width in each cycle—contracting the beam in high-density service areas to improve spatial reuse rate, and expanding the beam in low-density areas to reduce energy consumption, thereby maximizing satellite downlink coverage performance and optimizing satellite communication quality.

[0010] It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and are not intended to limit this disclosure. Attached Figure Description

[0011] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with this disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of this disclosure. It is obvious that the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of this disclosure, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without any inventive effort.

[0012] Figure 1 This is a flowchart of a satellite communication resource allocation method in an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure.

[0013] Figure 2 This is a sub-flowchart of step S2 of an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure.

[0014] Figure 3 This is a sub-flowchart of step S3 in an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure.

[0015] Figure 4 This is a sub-flowchart of step S3 in an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure.

[0016] Figure 5This is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0017] Figure 6 This is a block diagram of a communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 7 This is a block diagram of a communication system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0019] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, example embodiments can be implemented in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided to make this disclosure more comprehensive and complete, and to fully convey the concept of the example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics can be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a full understanding of embodiments of this disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the technical solutions of this disclosure can be practiced with one or more of the specific details omitted, or other methods, components, apparatus, steps, etc., can be employed. In other instances, well-known technical solutions are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring various aspects of this disclosure.

[0020] Furthermore, the accompanying drawings are merely illustrative of this disclosure, and the same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar parts, thus repeated descriptions of them will be omitted. Some block diagrams shown in the drawings are functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically independent entities. These functional entities may be implemented in software, in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different network and / or processor devices and / or microcontroller devices.

[0021] The exemplary embodiments of this disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0022] Figure 1 This is a flowchart of a satellite communication resource allocation method in an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure.

[0023] refer to Figure 1 The satellite communication resource allocation method 100 may include:

[0024] Step S1: Obtain satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices. The satellite communication resource requirements include the cell corresponding to the terminal device and the satellite service requirements of the terminal device for the current beam hopping pattern period.

[0025] Step S2: Determine the transmission revenue of the cell to the satellite beam based on the satellite communication resource requirements of the terminal equipment corresponding to the cell;

[0026] Step S3: Based on the transmission revenue and the number of active beams for each cell, determine the active cell corresponding to each satellite beam in the current beam hopping pattern period, so as to determine the data channel beam hopping pattern for the current beam hopping pattern period.

[0027] This disclosure embodiment obtains the satellite communication resource requirements of the terminal device periodically, dynamically calculates the transmission revenue of each cell to the satellite beam, and then determines the active cell corresponding to the active beam. It can dynamically adjust the active beam pattern and beam width in each cycle—contracting the beam in high-density service areas to improve spatial reuse rate, and expanding the beam in low-density areas to reduce energy consumption, thereby maximizing satellite downlink coverage performance and optimizing satellite communication quality.

[0028] The method disclosed in this embodiment can be applied to satellite communication scenarios in the NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) context.

[0029] The steps of satellite communication resource allocation method 100 will be described in detail below.

[0030] In step S1, satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices are obtained. The satellite communication resource requirements include the cell corresponding to the terminal device and the satellite service requirements of the terminal device for the current beam hopping pattern period.

[0031] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the user equipment (UE) is configured to report satellite service requirements for the current beam hopping pattern period according to the beam hopping pattern period. These satellite service requirements include services from the previous period that the user equipment has not yet completed transmitting, as well as satellite service requirements corresponding to newly added services in the current beam hopping pattern period.

[0032] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the hopping beam pattern includes the number of active beams and the beam width (affected by the number of corresponding active cells). In some embodiments, the data of the hopping beam pattern includes time and frequency resource data allocated by the active beams to each terminal device in their respective cells (see subsequent embodiments for details).

[0033] The hopping beam pattern period, which is the period for updating the number of active beams and the width of each beam, can be any one or a combination of symbol, slot, frame, ms, s, and min. Preferably, it can be consistent with an integer multiple of the SSB (Synchronization signal and PBCH block) period.

[0034] A symbol is the smallest unit of signal transmission in communication. Satellites convert binary data into transmittable electrical or electromagnetic signals, and each signal unit is a symbol. A time slot is a time segment composed of multiple symbols. It divides continuous transmission time into fixed-length "small squares". Each time slot can be allocated to different users or beams. A frame is a complete data transmission unit composed of multiple time slots. Each frame contains a fixed number of time slots. Milliseconds, seconds, and minutes are specific time constraints that are independent of the above communication rules.

[0035] The SSB (Secondary Signal Bus) serves as the synchronization reference for user equipment (mobile phones, IoT terminals) to establish a connection with the satellite. Users need to find the satellite signal and complete time / frequency synchronization through the SSB to communicate. By prioritizing that the hopping beam pattern period is an integer multiple of the SSB period, users can immediately receive the latest beam pattern after synchronizing with the SSB, avoiding signal interruptions caused by period asynchrony. At the same time, the satellite does not need to adjust the synchronization timing, reducing computational complexity and improving the reliability of beam updates.

[0036] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the beam hopping pattern period can be determined based on the user distribution density within the coverage area, the dynamic changes in service requirements (such as service priority, transmission delay constraints, and the amount of data to be transmitted), and the resource load status of the satellite system. Alternatively, the beam hopping pattern period can be updated periodically or irregularly based on preset performance optimization targets, user service completion progress feedback, and system configuration update instructions.

[0037] In an exemplary embodiment, the satellite communication resource requirements reported by the UE can be reported via uplink control messages or uplink data messages. The satellite communication resource requirements include at least the following: the cell ID of the UE (i.e., the cell to which the UE corresponds); the UE's user priority; the service type of the service in the current beam hopping pattern period (i.e., the service type of services not yet transmitted at the time of reporting and the newly added service type in this period); the service priority of the service in the current beam hopping pattern period (i.e., the service priority of services not yet transmitted at the time of reporting and the newly added service priority in this period); and the service data volume of the service in the current beam hopping pattern period (i.e., the service data volume of services not yet transmitted at the time of reporting and the newly added service data volume in this period). In some embodiments, it may also include the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) required for service transmission of the service in the current beam hopping pattern period (i.e., the SNR required for transmission of services not yet transmitted at the time of reporting and the SNR required for transmission of newly added services in this period).

[0038] Generally, when a UE reports satellite communication resource requirements, it can do so through its corresponding NextGeneration NodeB (gNB). In this case, the satellite forwards the satellite communication resource requirements reported by the UE via uplink messages (uplink control messages or uplink data messages) to the gNB, so that the gNB can obtain the satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices and perform subsequent processing.

[0039] In some embodiments, to save satellite communication resources and improve communication efficiency, a proxy node can be selected in each cell. The UE sends its satellite communication resource requirements to the proxy node in its cell. The proxy node then obtains the satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices in the cell and performs subsequent processing. The proxy node is a terminal device selected according to preset rules.

[0040] In step S2, the transmission revenue of the cell to the satellite beam is determined based on the satellite communication resource requirements of the terminal equipment corresponding to the cell.

[0041] In some embodiments, when the base station obtains satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices, the base station performs step S2 to determine the transmission revenue.

[0042] In other embodiments, when a proxy node in a cell obtains satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices in the cell, the base station may send data related to the satellite single-beam transmission power to the proxy node, which will then execute step S2 locally to determine the transmission revenue of the cell. Alternatively, each proxy node may aggregate and report the satellite communication resource requirements of each terminal in its corresponding cell to the base station, which will then execute step S2.

[0043] In this embodiment of the disclosure, transmission revenue refers to the comprehensive value quantification index obtained by the satellite communication system after transmitting service data to users within the coverage area by allocating beam resources (number of activated beams, beam width) during the beam hopping scheduling period.

[0044] For satellite communication resource requests reported by the same cell in the same period, the transmission benefits differ depending on whether the cell is at the beam center or the beam edge, due to the different distances from the beam center. Furthermore, the transmission benefits differ even if the cell shares a satellite beam with other cells, even if the distance from the beam center remains the same.

[0045] The method for determining transmission revenue according to the embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail below.

[0046] Figure 2 This is a sub-flowchart of step S2 of an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure.

[0047] refer to Figure 2 In an exemplary embodiment, the satellite service requirements for the current beam hopping pattern period include the user priority of the terminal device, the service priority of the satellite service for the current beam hopping pattern period, and the service data volume. Step S2 may include:

[0048] Step S21: Determine the single beam transmission power based on the number of activated beams and the total satellite transmission power;

[0049] Step S22: Determine the first received signal-to-noise ratio when the cell is located at the center of the satellite beam based on the single beam transmit power and the distance between the cell and the satellite;

[0050] Step S23: Determine the average service data volume, average service priority, and average user priority of the cell based on the service data volume of the terminal equipment reporting satellite communication resource requirements within the cell.

[0051] Step S24: Determine the first transmission benefit when the cell is located at the center of the satellite beam based on the average service data volume, average service priority, average user priority, and first received signal-to-noise ratio.

[0052] Specifically, in step S21, when determining the hopping beam pattern of the current hopping beam pattern period, the base station initializes the single-beam transmit power and the number of beams activated at one time parameters, wherein the initialization of the single-beam transmit power P beam Number of beams activated in a single shot N beam The following constraints must be met:

[0053] (1)

[0054] Where, N maxbeamThe maximum number of active beams for a single satellite launch is limited by factors such as device components; P all This represents the total launch power of the satellite.

[0055] That is, the base station first determines the number of active beams corresponding to the hopping beam period (i.e., the number of active beams in a single instance), and then determines the single beam transmission power corresponding to each active beam based on the total satellite transmission power and the number of active beams.

[0056] In some embodiments, the transmit power corresponding to each active beam can be dynamically determined. The transmit power of each active beam can be different or can change dynamically. In this case, when determining the active cell corresponding to each active beam in the future, the transmit power of the active beam can be included as a reference factor in determining the active cell. See the following embodiments for details.

[0057] In step S22, based on the location of each cell, the received signal-to-noise ratio is calculated at the single-beam transmit power during the current hopping beam pattern period when each cell is located at the center of the satellite beam.

[0058] The received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the UE in this cell is determined using the following formula:

[0059] (2)

[0060] Among them, G u and G s These represent the antenna gain and satellite antenna gain of the UE located at the center of the cell, respectively. d c When the cell is located at the center of the active beam, the distance between the UE and the satellite at the center of the cell is: f is the satellite downlink transmission frequency; v is the speed of light; β is the sum of atmospheric attenuation and pointing attenuation; σ 2 This represents the noise power of the UE located at the center of the cell.

[0061] Since the received signal-to-noise ratio in the above formula (2) is the received signal-to-noise ratio assuming the cell is located at the center of the satellite beam, this received signal-to-noise ratio can also be called the first received signal-to-noise ratio.

[0062] From formula (2), it can be seen that when the single-beam transmit power is determined, the first receive signal-to-noise ratio of the UE in each cell under the single-beam transmit power is determined.

[0063] In addition, to prepare for the possibility that the cell may be located outside the beam center of the satellite, the corresponding second received signal-to-noise ratio can be calculated when the center distance between the cell and the satellite beam is different.

[0064] The second received signal-to-noise ratio at different distances from the beam center can be determined using the following formula:

[0065] (3)

[0066] in, d c-l When the cell is not at the center of the active beam, the distance between the UE located at the center of the cell and the satellite is approximately calculated using the following formula:

[0067] (4)

[0068] in, l This is the distance between the cell center and the cell corresponding to the active beam center, and is a positive integer multiple of the cell radius. When the cell is located at the active beam center, l =0.

[0069] Since it is not yet certain whether the cell is located at the beam center, the second received signal-to-noise ratio may not be included in the subsequent calculation. It can be calculated and stored directly in step S22, or it can be calculated in real time when it is determined that the cell is not located at the beam center.

[0070] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the UE is set to report the signal-to-noise ratio required for service transmission in the current period, it can also be determined that the cell will withdraw from the current satellite communication resource allocation if the calculated first received signal-to-noise ratio of the cell does not meet the signal-to-noise ratio required for service transmission in the current period as required by the UE of the cell.

[0071] Alternatively, if the calculated first received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a cell does not meet the SNR required by the UE for service transmission in the current period, the single-beam transmit power of a certain beam can be dynamically adjusted (correspondingly, the single-beam transmit power of other beams can be adaptively adjusted based on the total transmit power limit of the satellite). This ensures that the first received SNR of the cell calculated based on the updated single-beam transmit power can meet the SNR required by each UE in the cell for service transmission in the current period. In this way, a beam with higher transmit power can be provided for the cell where UEs with high transmission requirements are located, avoiding impact on user communication.

[0072] In steps S23 and S24, after aggregating the satellite service requirements of UEs with the same cell ID, the total satellite service requirements of UEs within each cell are calculated.

[0073] Total UE service transmission requirements within the cell D c The following formula is used to determine it:

[0074] (5)

[0075] in, d u The amount of business data of terminal device u.

[0076] Next, the transmission gain of the cell under different received signal-to-noise ratios is calculated. Rc - l :

[0077] (6)

[0078] in, α 1. α 2. α 3 and α 4 is the adjustment coefficient, which satisfies... α 1+ α 2+ α 3+ α 4=1, used to adjust the average user priority, average business priority, and average business volume revenue ratio; This represents the average user priority of the cell, which is the average user priority of each UE within the cell. This is the average service priority of the cell, which is the average of the service priorities corresponding to each UE in the cell; The average service data volume of the cell during the current beam hopping pattern period is obtained from formula (5). D c The ratio of the number of UEs reporting satellite service requests within the cell; r c-l Under single-beam transmit power (i.e., when the active beam corresponds only to the current cell), the transmission rates at different receive signal-to-noise ratios are:

[0079] (7)

[0080] Among them, B c The transmission bandwidth of a single beam can be determined in real time during step S21, or it can be a preset value.

[0081] According to formula (6), the higher the average user priority, the higher the average service priority, and the more average service volume in a cell, the greater the transmission benefit; the higher the received signal-to-noise ratio and the higher the transmission rate, the greater the transmission benefit.

[0082] When calculating the transmission revenue for each cell in step S2, since it is uncertain whether the cell is located at the beam center, and when the cell is not located at the beam center, its corresponding transmission revenue is also affected by the number of cells located at other locations in the same beam, it is possible to calculate only the transmission revenue when the cell is assumed to be located at the beam center, i.e., the first transmission revenue.

[0083] Furthermore, when the single-beam transmission power is calculated using the same logic as the transmission power of each beam in step S21, the transmission power of each beam is determined, and the first transmission benefit of the same cell is determined; when the single-beam transmission power is dynamically adjusted according to the actual situation, the first transmission benefit of the same cell under different beams can also be determined for the single-beam transmission power of each beam.

[0084] After calculating the transmission revenue, maintain a set of cell signal-to-noise ratio and transmission revenue queues for each cell. J c It is represented in the following form:

[0085] Jc ={( b , l , g c-l , R c-l(M) )} (8)

[0086] (9)

[0087] Where b is the activation beam number, and b=0 when the activation beam is not determined; l This represents the distance between the cell center and the corresponding cell of the active beam center. When the cell is located at the active beam center... l=0 ; g c-l The distance between this cell and the cell corresponding to the center of the active beam is... l Transmission signal-to-noise ratio at that time, R c-l（M） The distance between this cell and the cell corresponding to the center of the active beam is... l The transmission gain when the number of cells corresponding to the active beam is M. When the active beam is not determined, M=1.

[0088] For satellite beams in cells where the beam center is not yet determined, i.e. during initialization, l=0 b=0, M=1 R c-l(1) For the first transmission benefit, this queue set J c There is only one element.

[0089] As calculations continue, when it is determined that the cell does not correspond to the center of any active beam, the elements in the queue are updated. Each element corresponds to an active beam, and the number of elements equals the number of active beams, N. Within each element, based on the distance between the cell corresponding to the beam center of each active beam and the current cell, the current cell's position relative to different active beams (b) in each element is updated. l The value, and each element in the corresponding lThe value and the transmission gain under the number of cells M currently covered by the activated beam. See subsequent embodiments for details.

[0090] In step S3, based on the transmission revenue and the number of active beams for each cell, the active cell corresponding to each satellite beam in the current beam hopping pattern period is determined, so as to determine the data channel beam hopping pattern for the current beam hopping pattern period.

[0091] The hopping beam pattern includes the number of active beams and the width of the active beams. The width of the active beam is determined by the number of neighboring cells it covers; the more neighboring cells it covers, the wider the beam. Since the number of active beams is generally a set value, step S3 mainly determines the cell ID and the number of cells corresponding to the active beams.

[0092] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the satellite beam corresponding to at least one cell in the current hopping beam pattern period is called the active beam, and the cell corresponding to the active beam is called the active cell.

[0093] Figure 3 This is a sub-flowchart of step S3 in an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure.

[0094] refer to Figure 3 In an exemplary embodiment, step S3 may include:

[0095] Step S31: Obtain the first transmission revenue for each cell, where the first transmission revenue is the transmission revenue when the cell is located at the center of the satellite beam.

[0096] Step S32: The cells with the first transmission revenue ranking in the top N are set as active cells corresponding to N satellite beams, where N is the number of active beams and N is a natural number.

[0097] According to Figure 2 The illustrated embodiment determines the first transmission revenue for each cell.

[0098] In some embodiments, step S2 is performed by the base station, and step S3 is performed by the base station.

[0099] In other embodiments, step S2 is executed by the proxy node, and step S31 can be reported by the proxy node to the base station, and the base station executes step S32, with the proxy node participating in the execution of step S32.

[0100] For example, this can be achieved through an auction algorithm. Figure 3 The illustrated embodiment.

[0101] That is, each proxy node stores the first transmission revenue of its cell and auctions a satellite beam with multiple proxy nodes corresponding to multiple cells through an auction algorithm. The satellite beam is then allocated to the cell where the proxy node with the highest first transmission revenue is located, and the cell allocated the satellite beam is set as the active cell. After the active cell corresponding to the center of a satellite beam is determined, the proxy node corresponding to the active cell withdraws from the auction, and the remaining proxy nodes auction the next satellite beam, until N satellite beams correspond to N active cells.

[0102] An exemplary process may include:

[0103] 1) Initialization: Begin the auction for the first active beam, setting E b =1.

[0104] 2) Randomly select a terminal device U in each cell. c As a proxy node, it maintains the signal-to-noise ratio and transmission revenue queue set of this cell. The current set only contains the first transmission revenue.

[0105] 3) Each agent node participates in the auction process, and each agent node bids for a certain beam in each round of the auction.

[0106] 4) When the single beam transmission power is a fixed value, since the first transmission revenue is calculated according to the fixed single beam transmission power, the beam corresponding to the cell where the agent node with the highest bid (first transmission revenue) is located can be directly determined as the active beam.

[0107] When the single-beam transmit power is a dynamic, real-time determined value, for each agent node, the set of cell revenue queues it maintains is updated in real time according to that single-beam transmit power. J c The first transmission revenue of the cell under the single beam transmit power is obtained. Then, the beam corresponding to the cell where the agent node with the highest bid (first transmission revenue) is located is determined as the active beam.

[0108] 5) The successful bidder exits the auction;

[0109] 6) Set E b +1, repeat steps 3)-5) to begin the auction for the next active beam, until E b Achieving N beams activated in a single operation beam .

[0110] Therefore, the cell corresponding to the center of each active beam can be obtained, and the cell corresponding to the center of the active beam is called the active cell.

[0111] In this embodiment of the disclosure, in addition to determining the cell corresponding to the center of the active beam, it is also determined whether the active beam can correspond to more cells, thereby maximizing the utilization of satellite communication resources.

[0112] Figure 4 This is a sub-flowchart of step S3 in an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure.

[0113] refer to Figure 4 In an exemplary embodiment, step S3 further includes:

[0114] Step S33: Based on the distance between the candidate cell that was not selected as the active cell and the active cell, and the transmission bandwidth of the active beam corresponding to the active cell, determine the second transmission gain of the candidate cell under the active beam corresponding to the active cell, and the third transmission gain of the active cell after the candidate cell is added to the active beam.

[0115] Step S34: Determine the total transmission revenue corresponding to the activated beam after adding the candidate cell to the service range of the activated beam based on the sum of the second transmission revenue and the third transmission revenue.

[0116] Step S35: Based on the total transmission revenue corresponding to all activated beams, determine whether to add the candidate cell to the service range of the activated beam.

[0117] Continuing with the previous example Figure 4 The illustrated embodiment.

[0118] In step S33, after all active beams are determined, the queue set of the unsuccessful proxy nodes is updated. Jc N elements are formed based on the number of active beams, with each element corresponding to one active beam. Within each element, M is updated to 2, based on the distance between the current cell and the cell corresponding to the center of the active beam. l The transfer revenue of each element in the set is updated using formulas (8) and (9). R c-l（M） That is, the second transmission revenue.

[0119] The proxy node that fails to win the bid will report the second total transmission revenue to the gNB. Alternatively, the gNB can calculate the second total transmission revenue itself and report it to the proxy node. Then, the gNB can calculate the corresponding total satellite transmission revenue after adding cell i to the service range of different active beams based on the second total transmission revenue.

[0120] Next, according to formula (9), update the queue combination of the active cell where the successful bidder is located, M=2, and obtain the third transmission benefit of the active cell after the active cell is added to the active beam in the candidate cell.

[0121] Therefore, based on the sum of the second and third transmission revenues, the total transmission revenue R of the cell corresponding to the active beam b after adding the candidate cell i to the service range of the active beam b is calculated. b :

[0122] (10)

[0123] Next, we calculate the total transmission revenue R of all active beams corresponding to the satellite after adding candidate cell i to the service range of active beam b in the current scenario. ib :

[0124] (11)

[0125] The gNB calculates the sum of the total transmission revenue corresponding to the service range of each candidate cell when it is added to the active beam b, and uses the highest total transmission revenue corresponding to each candidate cell as the bid of the agent node corresponding to that cell for the active beam b.

[0126] When the bid of the highest-bidding agent node reaches a preset threshold (greater than the preset revenue threshold), the candidate cell i corresponding to the highest-bidding agent node is added to the service range of the active beam corresponding to the highest total transmission revenue, and the agent node corresponding to candidate cell i is set to exit the auction.

[0127] If the highest bidder's bid does not reach the preset threshold, the current auction ends. In this embodiment, the preset threshold is a positive number.

[0128] repeat Figure 4 In the illustrated embodiment, the auction continues until the agent node of each candidate cell exits the auction or each active beam participates in the auction again.

[0129] Only when the total transmission revenue brought about by the newly added coverage cell increases will the beamwidth be increased, that is, the candidate cell will be added to the service range of the active beam b.

[0130] If, when each activated beam participates in the auction again, the bids of each agent node are still greater than the preset threshold, then a third round of auction is conducted, M is updated to 3, and the above process is repeated. Figure 4 In the illustrated embodiment, the third active cell corresponding to the active beam is determined.

[0131] Repeat the above process until the bids of each agent node for each active beam are all below the preset threshold.

[0132] Through multiple rounds of auctions, as many active cells as possible can be selected while ensuring the maximum total transmission revenue of the active beam, thereby achieving dual optimization of coverage and communication quality.

[0133] In an exemplary embodiment, method 100 further includes step S4: determining the satellite communication resource allocation result corresponding to the active cell based on the satellite communication resource requirements reported by the terminal device, the satellite communication resource allocation result including the time slot resources and frequency domain resources allocated to the terminal device of the active cell within the satellite beam; and sending the satellite communication resource allocation result to the terminal device.

[0134] In an exemplary embodiment, after determining the active cell corresponding to an active beam, the allocated time slot resources and frequency domain resources are determined for each terminal device in each active cell covered by the active beam based on the single beam transmit power of the active beam and the number of active cells covered.

[0135] The overall logic for allocating time and frequency resources is to prioritize allocating time and frequency resources to UEs with high transmission benefits.

[0136] The overall allocation logic can be expressed by the following formula:

[0137]

[0138] (12)

[0139] in, d represents the transmission revenue of terminal device u; u It is the amount of service data of terminal device u, p u User priority for terminal device u; p d For terminal device u, the service priority; B u-t The number of time slot resources allocated to terminal device u must satisfy... That is, the number of time slot resources allocated to all UEs does not exceed the total number of time slot resources in the cell; B u-f The number of frequency domain resources allocated to terminal device u must satisfy... This means that the number of frequency domain resources allocated to all UEs does not exceed the total number of frequency domain resources in the cell. The meanings of other characters are the same as those in the aforementioned formula.

[0140] Formula (12) means that, according to the logic of maximizing the sum of transmission revenue of each UE in the cell, the number of time slot resources and frequency domain resources allocated to each UE are determined by iterative calculation.

[0141] After allocating time and frequency resources, the gNB sends the beam hopping pattern set to each UE in each active cell. For example, the gNB can indicate the beam hopping pattern through higher-layer signaling configuration, downlink control information indication, MAC CE indication, or downlink data information.

[0142] In an exemplary embodiment, the hopping beam pattern includes the number of active beams, the width of the active beams, and the time-frequency resource allocation results within the active beams. Specifically, it may include: the active beam ID, the cell ID corresponding to the coverage area of ​​the active beam, the transmit power of the active beam, and the duration of the active beam, i.e., the hopping beam pattern period, which can be any one or a combination of symbol, slot, frame, ms, s, and min, preferably consistent with an integer multiple of the SSB (Synchronization signal and PBCH block) period.

[0143] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0144] To simplify the explanation, the specific numerical calculations involved in this example are only shown as illustrations.

[0145] refer to Figure 5 There are 5 cells within the satellite's coverage area, with cell IDs 1-5, referred to as Cell 1 to Cell 5. The satellite has 3 active beams, with each beam having a transmission power of 1 / 3 of the total transmission power, referred to as Active Beam 1 to Active Beam 3.

[0146] During the beam hopping pattern period, the UE reports its own satellite service requirements for the current beam hopping pattern period.

[0147] The satellite service request reported by a UE in cell 1 is as follows:

[0148] UE's cell ID: 1

[0149] UE priority: 1

[0150] Service type: Voice

[0151] Business priority: 2

[0152] Business data volume: d1

[0153] Required signal-to-noise ratio for service transmission: SNR1

[0154] The gNB aggregates the satellite service requirements of UEs with the same cell ID and calculates the first transmission revenue for each cell according to formulas (1) to (7), as shown in Table 1:

[0155]

[0156] Set of queues for signal-to-noise ratio and total transmission revenue of each cell Jc ={( b , l , g c-l , R c-l（M） At this point, it is:

[0157] The queue set for cell 1 is: {(0, 0, SNR1, 40)};

[0158] The queue set for cell 2 is: {(0, 0, SNR1, 36)};

[0159] The queue set for cell 3 is: {(0, 0, SNR1, 20)};

[0160] The queue set for cell 4 is: {(0, 0, SNR1, 25)};

[0161] The queue set for cell 5 is: {(0, 0, SNR1, 19)}.

[0162] Next, based on the principle of maximizing the total revenue from satellite transmission, an auction algorithm is used to determine the active cells and their corresponding actual transmission power. Adjacent active cells form the active beam.

[0163] a) Initialization: Begin the auction for the first active beam, setting E b =1.

[0164] b) Randomly select a UE in each cell and maintain the cell's signal-to-noise ratio and total transmission revenue queue set.

[0165] c) The UE participates in the auction process as an auction agent node. In each round of the auction, the agent node bids for a certain beam and its transmission power.

[0166] d) The proxy node will use the highest bid in the set as the bid for this auction, and the base station will determine the beam corresponding to the cell where the proxy node with the highest bid is located as the active beam.

[0167] In the first round, the bids from the agent nodes were 40, 36, 20, 25, and 19 respectively. Cell 1 bid the highest, therefore Cell 1 successfully won the bid for activating beam 1.

[0168] e) The agent node that wins the bid exits the auction; that is, the agent node corresponding to cell 1 exits the auction.

[0169] f) Set E b =2, and the agent nodes bid again; the agent node bids were 36, 20, 25, and 19 respectively. Cell 2 bid the highest, so Cell 2 won the bid for activating beam 2.

[0170] g) The agent node corresponding to community 2 exits the auction.

[0171] h) Set E b =3, and the agent nodes bid again; the agent nodes bid 20, 25, and 19 respectively. Cell 4 bid the highest, so Cell 4 won the bid for activating beam 3.

[0172] i) Once all active beams are determined, the proxy nodes that did not win the bid update the queue set and determine the bid for each element in the set according to the distance from the active beam; the bid is the total revenue of multi-beam cell transmission between the cell and the cell corresponding to the active beam.

[0173] Specifically, the queue sets for communities 3 and 5 are updated as follows:

[0174] Cell 3: {(1, 3, SNR3, -8), (2, 3, SNR3, -10), (4, 1, SNR2, 6)};

[0175] Cell 5: {(1, 3, SNR3, -17), (2, 1, SNR1, -12), (4, 1, SNR2, -2)} (Values ​​are for illustrative purposes only).

[0176] j) Set E respectively b =1, 2, 3, Cell 3 successfully bid for the active beam 4.

[0177] Therefore, the final activated cells are 1, 2, 3, and 4, corresponding to activated beams 1, 2, 3, and 3, respectively. (Reference) Figure 5 The active and inactive cells are marked in the middle, as well as the active beams 1, 2, and 3.

[0178] Next, based on the principle of maximizing the total revenue from satellite transmission, the allocation results of time and frequency resources in each active beam are determined according to formula (12): the time and frequency resources in active beam 1 are allocated to the UE in cell 1, the time and frequency resources in active beam 2 are allocated to the UE in cell 2, and the time and frequency resources in active beam 3 are allocated to the UEs in cells 3 and 4.

[0179] Once the activation beam determination and time-frequency resource allocation are completed, the gNB sends the satellite communication resource allocation results to the UE.

[0180] The format of the higher-level signaling issued by the gNB is as follows:

[0181] -- ASN1START

[0182] -- TAG-NTN-RESOURCE-CONFIG-START

[0183] NTN-Beam-Config ::= EQUENCE {

[0184] Beam pattern index 1

[0185] Beam pattern latency 20ms

[0186] Active beam number {1, 2, 3}

[0187] Active beam width {1, 1, 2}

[0188] The active cell corresponding to the activated beam is {(1), (2), (3, 4)}

[0189] Activate beam power {1 / 3Pall, 1 / 3Pall, 1 / 3Pall}

[0190] }

[0191] -- TAG-NTN-BEAM POSITION-CONFIG-STOP

[0192] -- ASN1STOP

[0193] In summary, the beam hopping pattern optimization method proposed in this disclosure comprehensively considers UE distribution and UE service requirements (including service priority, user priority, and transmission service volume requirements), and dynamically adjusts the number of active beams and the width of each beam in each cycle. In high-density service areas, the beams are contracted to improve spatial reuse, while in low-density areas, the beams are expanded to reduce energy consumption. At the same time, the time and frequency resources within each active beam are periodically and dynamically allocated, which can maximize satellite downlink coverage performance.

[0194] Corresponding to the above method embodiments, this disclosure also provides a communication device that can be used to execute the above method embodiments.

[0195] Figure 6 This is a block diagram of a communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0196] refer to Figure 6 The communication device 600 may include: a memory 61; and a processor 62 coupled to the memory 61, the processor 62 being configured to execute the method 100 as described above based on instructions stored in the memory 61.

[0197] Since the functions of the communication device 600 have been described in detail in its corresponding method embodiments, they will not be repeated here.

[0198] Figure 7 This is a block diagram of a communication system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0199] refer to Figure 7 The communication system 700 may include:

[0200] Multiple terminal devices 71, each terminal device corresponds to at least one cell;

[0201] Base station 72;

[0202] Satellite 73 is communicatively connected to multiple terminal devices 71 and base station 72;

[0203] The base station 72 can be used to execute the method steps of any of the above embodiments, or the terminal device 71 can act as a proxy node to execute the method steps of any of the above embodiments.

[0204] It should be noted that although several modules or units for the device used to perform actions have been mentioned in the detailed description above, this division is not mandatory. In fact, according to embodiments of this disclosure, the features and functions of two or more modules or units described above can be embodied in one module or unit. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above can be further divided and embodied by multiple modules or units.

[0205] Those skilled in the art will understand that various aspects of the present invention can be implemented as systems, methods, or program products. Therefore, various aspects of the present invention can be specifically implemented in the following forms: entirely in hardware, entirely in software (including firmware, microcode, etc.), or in a combination of hardware and software, collectively referred to herein as “circuit,” “module,” or “system.”

[0206] From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the exemplary embodiments described herein can be implemented by software or by combining software with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solutions according to the embodiments of this disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (such as a CD-ROM, USB flash drive, external hard drive, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to cause a computing device (such as a personal computer, server, terminal device, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods according to the embodiments of this disclosure.

[0207] In exemplary embodiments of this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, on which a program product capable of implementing the methods described above is stored. In some possible embodiments, various aspects of the invention may also be implemented as a program product comprising program code that, when the program product is run on a terminal device, causes the terminal device to perform the steps of the various exemplary embodiments of the invention described in the "Exemplary Methods" section of this specification.

[0208] The program product for implementing the above-described method according to embodiments of the present invention may employ a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) and include program code, and may run on a terminal device, such as a personal computer. However, the program product of the present invention is not limited thereto. In this document, the readable storage medium may be any tangible medium containing or storing a program that may be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0209] The program product may employ any combination of one or more readable media. A readable medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. A readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination thereof. More specific examples of readable storage media (a non-exhaustive list) include: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0210] Computer-readable signal media may include data signals propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, carrying readable program code. Such propagated data signals may take various forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination thereof. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium other than a readable storage medium, capable of sending, propagating, or transmitting programs for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0211] The program code contained on the readable medium may be transmitted using any suitable medium, including but not limited to wireless, wired, optical fiber, RF, etc., or any suitable combination thereof.

[0212] Program code for performing the operations of this invention can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java and C++, and conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as C or similar languages. The program code can execute entirely on the user's computing device, partially on the user's device, as a standalone software package, partially on the user's computing device and partially on a remote computing device, or entirely on a remote computing device or server. In cases involving remote computing devices, the remote computing device can be connected to the user's computing device via any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or it can be connected to an external computing device (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0213] Furthermore, the above figures are merely illustrative of the processes included in the method according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to be limiting. It is readily understood that the processes shown in the above figures do not indicate or limit the temporal order of these processes. Additionally, it is readily understood that these processes may be executed synchronously or asynchronously, for example, in multiple modules.

[0214] Other embodiments of this disclosure will readily occur 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 this disclosure that follow the general principles of this disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The specification and examples are to be considered exemplary only, and the true scope and concept of this disclosure are indicated by the claims.

Claims

1. A satellite communication resource allocation method, characterized in that, include: The satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices are obtained. The satellite communication resource requirements include the cell corresponding to the terminal device and the satellite service requirements of the terminal device for the current beam hopping pattern period. Based on the satellite communication resource requirements of the terminal devices corresponding to a cell, determine the transmission revenue of the cell from the satellite beam; Based on the transmission revenue and the number of active beams for each cell, the active cell corresponding to each satellite beam is determined within the current beam hopping pattern period, so as to determine the data channel beam hopping pattern for the current beam hopping pattern period.

2. The satellite communication resource allocation method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Based on the transmission revenue and the number of active beams for each cell, the active cells corresponding to each satellite beam in the current beam hopping pattern period are determined as follows: Obtain the first transmission revenue for each cell, where the first transmission revenue is the transmission revenue when the cell is located at the center of the satellite beam. The cells with the first transmission revenue ranking in the top N are set as active cells corresponding to N satellite beams, where N is the number of active beams and N is a natural number.

3. The satellite communication resource allocation method as described in claim 2, characterized in that, The cells with the first transmission revenue ranking in the top N are set as the active cells corresponding to N satellite beams, including: In each cell, a proxy node is determined, and the proxy node stores the first transmission revenue of the cell; An auction algorithm is used to auction a satellite beam to multiple agent nodes corresponding to multiple cells, so as to allocate the satellite beam to the cell where the agent node with the highest current first transmission revenue is located, and the cell that allocates the satellite beam is set as the active cell. The agent node corresponding to the activated cell withdraws from the auction, and the remaining agent nodes auction the next satellite beam, until the N satellite beams correspond to N activated cells respectively.

4. The satellite communication resource allocation method as described in claim 2, characterized in that, Based on the transmission revenue and the number of active beams for each cell, the active cells corresponding to each satellite beam in the current hopping beam pattern period further include: Based on the distance between the candidate cell that was not selected as the active cell and the active cell, and the transmission bandwidth of the active beam corresponding to the active cell, the second transmission gain of the candidate cell under the active beam corresponding to the active cell and the third transmission gain of the active cell after the active beam is added to the candidate cell are determined. The total transmission revenue corresponding to the active beam is determined based on the sum of the second and third transmission revenues after the candidate cell is added to the service range of the active beam. Based on the total transmission revenue corresponding to all activated beams, determine whether to add the candidate cell to the service range of the activated beam.

5. The satellite communication resource allocation method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The satellite service requirements of the terminal device for the current beam hopping pattern period include the satellite service requirements corresponding to the services of the previous beam hopping pattern period that the terminal device has not yet completed transmitting, as well as the satellite service requirements corresponding to the newly added services in the current beam hopping pattern period. The satellite service requirements include the user priority of the terminal device, the service priority of the satellite service, and the service data volume. Determining the transmission revenue of the satellite beam corresponding to a cell based on the satellite communication resource requirements of the terminal device corresponding to a cell includes: The single-beam transmission power is determined based on the number of activated beams and the total transmission power of the satellite. The first received signal-to-noise ratio when the cell is located at the center of the satellite beam is determined based on the single beam transmit power and the distance between the cell and the satellite; The average service data volume, average service priority, and average user priority of the cell are determined based on the service data volume of the terminal devices that report the satellite communication resource requirements within the cell. Based on the average service data volume, average service priority, average user priority, and the first received signal-to-noise ratio, the first transmission benefit when the cell is located at the center of the satellite beam is determined.

6. The satellite communication resource allocation method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices include: The base station obtains satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices, or the proxy node in the cell obtains satellite communication resource requirements reported by multiple terminal devices in the cell, wherein the proxy node is a terminal device selected according to preset rules.

7. The satellite communication resource allocation method as described in claim 6, characterized in that, Based on the satellite communication resource requirements of the terminal equipment corresponding to a cell and the satellite single-beam transmission power, the transmission revenue of the satellite beam corresponding to the cell is determined to include: The base station determines the transmission revenue, or the proxy node of the cell determines the transmission revenue of the cell.

8. The satellite communication resource allocation method as described in claim 6, characterized in that, Based on the transmission revenue and the number of active beams for each cell, the active cells corresponding to each satellite beam in the current beam hopping pattern period are determined as follows: The base station determines the active cell corresponding to each of the satellite beams.

9. The satellite communication resource allocation method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: The satellite communication resource allocation result corresponding to the active cell is determined based on the satellite communication resource requirements reported by the terminal device. The satellite communication resource allocation result includes the time slot resources and frequency domain resources allocated to the terminal device of the active cell within the satellite beam. The satellite communication resource allocation results are sent to the terminal device.

10. A communication device, characterized in that, include: Memory; as well as A processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1-9 based on instructions stored in the memory.

11. A communication system, characterized in that, include: Multiple terminal devices, wherein the multiple terminal devices correspond to at least one cell; Base station; The satellite is in communication connection with the terminal device and the base station; Wherein, the base station performs the method as described in any one of claims 1-9, or the terminal device performs the steps of the method as described in any one of claims 1-9.

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