Apparatus and method for joint channel and phase noise estimation

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a network device and a terminal device. The present disclosure proposes a network device configured to determine one or more first resources for at least one first reference signal based on one or more second resources of at least one second reference signal, wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase noise reduction and the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation; and provide resource configuration information to a terminal device, wherein the resource configuration information indicates the one or more first resources used for transmitting or receiving the at least one first reference signal. The present disclosure also proposes a terminal device configured to receive the resource configuration information from the network device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to communication networks, and more particularly to reference signal transmission in wireless communication networks. Communication and sensing in wireless communication networks are both affected by phase noise. This disclosure proposes a network device, a terminal device, and a corresponding method for channel and phase noise estimation in wireless communication networks. Background Technology

[0002] Communication and sensing in high-frequency bands (e.g., mmWave and sub-THz frequencies) that may be used in future wireless communication networks will be affected by phase noise. Random jitter in the local oscillators of wireless communication devices leads to phase noise in the carrier signals generated by these oscillators. This phase noise is a physical quantity that varies randomly over time, but its average intensity is proportional to the carrier frequency, meaning that the impact of phase noise cannot be ignored in wireless communication systems operating in high-frequency bands. In wireless systems based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), the randomness of phase noise manifests as common phase error (CPE) and inter-carrier interference (ICI). Since many deployment scenarios for future wireless systems will involve high mobility, the estimation and compensation of this random phase noise becomes even more complex.

[0003] In current wireless communication systems, a sounding reference signal (SRS) is used to estimate channel state information (CSI) for the uplink from the user terminal to the network device. A channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) is used to estimate CSI for the downlink from the network device to the user terminal. A phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS) is used to estimate phase noise based on assumed known channel states, or at least to estimate the CPE that affects OFDM symbols carrying data. For example, in low mobility scenarios, the CPE is based on channel state estimates obtained from the latest demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) pilot symbols, and is relative to the phase noise that spoils the symbol. When a PT-RS pattern with sufficient guard subcarriers is used, in addition to CPE, the dominant ICI component realized by phase noise in the symbol carrying the PT-RS can also be estimated. However, channel state estimation in high mobility scenarios can be contaminated by multiple phase noise instances. This is because interpolation is performed between multiple pilots in multiple symbols, and each symbol is affected by different instances of random phase noise processes, or the basis expansion model (BEM) estimation is performed based on these symbols, resulting in inaccurate phase noise estimation.

[0004] Therefore, an advanced solution is needed that can denoise, i.e. reduce the impact of phase noise on channel estimation or sensing reference signals. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In light of the challenges discussed above, this disclosure aims to propose a novel reference signal design for joint channel and phase noise estimation. One objective is to achieve denoising of the channel estimation reference signal and accurate channel and phase noise estimation. Another objective is to convert the resulting accurate channel and phase noise estimates to allow the use of high-modulation and coding schemes (MCS) even in high-mobility, high-frequency scenarios. Yet another objective is to convert the resulting accurate channel and phase noise estimates to obtain accurate target range and velocity estimates in sensing applications.

[0006] These and other objectives are achieved through the solutions disclosed herein, as set forth in the appended independent claims. Advantageous implementations are further specified in the dependent claims.

[0007] A first aspect of this disclosure provides a network device for: determining one or more first resources for at least one first reference signal based on one or more second resources of at least one second reference signal, wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising and the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation; and providing resource configuration information to a terminal device, wherein the resource configuration information indicates one or more first resources for transmitting or receiving at least one first reference signal.

[0008] This disclosure proposes a network device that allocates one or more resources for a new reference signal (i.e., at least one first reference signal) for joint channel and phase noise estimation. Such a new reference signal is needed for denoising, i.e., reducing the impact of phase noise on the channel estimation or sensing reference signal. In this disclosure, it may also be referred to as a channel de-noising reference signal (CD-RS). Notably, additional measurements can be obtained based on this new CD-RS; therefore, it achieves the denoising effect by providing the receiver with additional measurements at the same antenna port as the reference signal to be denoised. It should be understood that the resources used for transmitting / receiving the CD-RS are related to the resources used for transmitting / receiving the channel estimation or sensing reference signal to be denoised.

[0009] The impact of multiplicative noise (phase noise in this case) on estimation accuracy decreases with the number of measurements, provided that these measurements are performed in different time instances. In a sense, obtaining a large number of measurements affected by different instances of multiplicative noise can reduce the impact of this noise on the estimation results, thereby denoising the channel state.

[0010] In one implementation of the first aspect, the resource configuration information indicates one or more first symbol sets occupied by first resources, one or more first subcarrier sets occupied by first resources, and at least one first antenna port for transmitting at least one first reference signal.

[0011] It is possible to use a subcarrier index to indicate the occupied subcarrier.

[0012] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is used to determine a first symbol set based on a second symbol set occupied by one or more second resources, wherein the first symbol set and the second symbol set do not overlap.

[0013] Specifically, at least one first reference signal for channel phase denoising and at least one second reference signal for channel estimation are transmitted in different OFDM symbols.

[0014] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is used to determine a first subcarrier set based on one or more second subcarrier sets occupied by second resources, wherein the first subcarrier set is a subset of the second subcarrier set.

[0015] That is, at least one first reference signal used for channel phase denoising should be transmitted on a subset of the subcarriers occupied by at least one second reference signal used for channel estimation, but in an OFDM symbol different from the OFDM symbol it occupies.

[0016] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to determine at least one first antenna port based on one or more antenna ports for transmitting at least one second reference signal, wherein the at least one first antenna port is one of the one or more antenna ports for transmitting at least one second reference signal.

[0017] It is worth noting that at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal are transmitted using the same antenna port. When the reference signal to be denoised, i.e., at least one second reference signal, has multiple ports, at least one first reference signal can be transmitted using one or more of these ports.

[0018] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to determine whether to enable antenna port switching for at least one first reference signal; if antenna port switching is enabled, then based on one or more antenna ports for transmitting at least one second reference signal, at least one second antenna port for transmitting at least one first reference signal is determined, wherein the at least one second antenna port and the at least one first antenna port are associated with different transmission periods, and the at least one second antenna port is one of the one or more antenna ports for transmitting at least one second reference signal.

[0019] Optionally, port switching can be enabled for CD-RS. In this case, CD-RS can be associated with different ports in different transmission cycles (e.g., time slots).

[0020] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to: determine a first subset of resources associated with at least one first antenna port, wherein the first subset of resources occupies a first subset of symbols in a first symbol set and a first subset of subcarriers in a first subcarrier set, and / or determine a second subset of resources associated with at least one second antenna port, wherein the second subset of resources occupies a second subset of symbols in a first symbol set and a second subset of subcarriers in a first subcarrier set.

[0021] When antenna port switching is enabled, the network device configures time-frequency resources for transmitting CD-RS for each antenna port.

[0022] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to: if it is determined that an antenna port hopping for at least one first reference signal is enabled, provide a port hopping indication to a terminal device, wherein the port hopping indication is used to indicate at least one first antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated first subset of resources, and at least one second antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated second subset of resources.

[0023] If it is determined that CD-RS requires port switching, the network device sends a signal to the terminal device indicating the switching pattern to be used.

[0024] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is used to determine the time-domain density of at least one first reference signal based on the phase noise level and / or modulation and coding scheme.

[0025] Optionally, different time-frequency patterns can be configured for the CD-RS. For example, different time-domain densities can be determined for the CD-RS based on the required level of denoising. Understandably, the more additional measurements (the higher the time-domain density), the better the denoising effect can be achieved (but the overhead is also greater).

[0026] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is used to further determine a first symbol set based on the time-domain density of at least one first reference signal.

[0027] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is used to determine the frequency domain density of at least one first reference signal based on one or more of the following conditions:

[0028] —The bandwidth scheduled for at least one first reference signal;

[0029] —Subcarrier spacing;

[0030] —Channel frequency selectivity for at least one second reference signal;

[0031] —The frequency domain density of one or more second resources.

[0032] For example, a larger frequency domain density can be configured for CD-RS, possibly to accommodate denoising of DM-RS port channels with higher frequency selectivity.

[0033] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is used to further determine a first set of subcarriers based on the frequency domain density of at least one first reference signal.

[0034] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to send at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to the terminal device based on one or more first resources and one or more second resources.

[0035] The resource configuration information may also indicate one or more second resources for sending or receiving at least one second reference signal.

[0036] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to: receive at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal from a terminal device based on one or more first resources and one or more second resources; and perform channel estimation based on the received at least one first reference signal and the received at least one second reference signal to obtain a phase-denoised channel estimate.

[0037] In this example, the terminal device sends at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal based on resource configuration information provided by the network device. The network device then acquires measurements based on the received reference signals.

[0038] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to receive at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal from the terminal device based on a port transition indication.

[0039] When antenna port switching is enabled, the network device receives at least one first reference signal based on at least one first antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated first subset of resources, and at least one second antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated second subset of resources.

[0040] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to further determine a first symbol set and a first subcarrier set based on one or more third resources for transmitting or receiving at least one third reference signal, wherein the at least one third reference signal is used for phase noise estimation based on channel estimation.

[0041] Alternatively, this disclosure also proposes to utilize a third reference signal, such as PT-RS, to achieve good phase noise estimation.

[0042] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to send at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal to the terminal device based on one or more first resources, one or more second resources, and one or more third resources.

[0043] The resource configuration information may also indicate one or more third resources used to send or receive at least one third reference signal.

[0044] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to further send at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal to the terminal device based on a port transition indication.

[0045] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to receive at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal from a terminal device based on one or more first resources, one or more second resources, and one or more third resources; and to perform channel estimation or joint channel and phase noise estimation based on the received at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal.

[0046] In this example, the terminal device sends at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal based on resource configuration information provided by the network device. The network device then acquires measurements based on the received reference signals.

[0047] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to receive at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal from the terminal device based on a port transition indication.

[0048] In one implementation of the first aspect, in order to perform channel estimation, the network device is configured to: estimate the channel based on measurements associated with at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to obtain a first channel estimate after phase denoising; estimate phase noise based on measurements associated with at least one third reference signal and the first channel estimate; optionally, further denoise the channel phase based on the estimated phase noise to obtain a channel estimation result.

[0049] This channel estimation process can be called "joint channel and phase noise estimation." It can be considered a two-step process, first estimating the channel at the reference signal port with its associated CD-RS based on the channel estimation reference signal combined with the associated CD-RS; then, based on this obtained channel estimate, estimating the phase noise based on the PT-RS (or some combination or reference signal). Optionally, the obtained phase noise estimate can be used to denoise other ports of the original reference signal.

[0050] In one implementation of the first aspect, at least one third reference signal is a phase tracking reference signal.

[0051] In one implementation of the first aspect, at least one second reference signal includes one of the following: DM-RS, CSI-RS, and SRS.

[0052] In one implementation of the first aspect, the network device is configured to receive a request from a terminal device, wherein the request indicates that one or more first resources will be allocated for at least one first reference signal.

[0053] The transmission process may begin with the terminal device requesting CD-RS resources for phase denoising.

[0054] A second aspect of this disclosure provides a terminal device for receiving resource configuration information from a network device, wherein the resource configuration information indicates one or more first resources for transmitting or receiving at least one first reference signal, wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising.

[0055] This disclosure also proposes a terminal device for assisting in joint channel and phase noise estimation. The terminal device may be a transmitter of a new reference signal (i.e., at least one first reference signal) or a receiver of a new reference signal.

[0056] In one implementation of the second aspect, the resource configuration information indicates one or more first symbol sets occupied by first resources, one or more first subcarrier sets occupied by first resources, and at least one first antenna port for transmitting at least one first reference signal.

[0057] In one implementation of the second aspect, the terminal device is configured to: receive a port hopping indication from a network device, wherein the port hopping indication is configured to indicate at least one first antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated first subset of resources, and at least one second antenna port for transmitting at least one first reference signal and its associated transmission period and its associated second subset of resources, wherein the at least one second antenna port and the at least one first antenna port are associated with different transmission periods, wherein the first subset of resources occupies a first subset of symbols in a first set of symbols and a first subset of subcarriers in a first set of subcarriers, and the second subset of resources occupies a second subset of symbols in a first set of symbols and a second subset of subcarriers in a first set of subcarriers.

[0058] If it is determined that CD-RS requires port switching, the network device sends a signal to the terminal device indicating the switching pattern to be used.

[0059] In one implementation of the second aspect, the terminal device is configured to send at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to the network device based on one or more first resources and one or more second resources, wherein the one or more second resources are used to send or receive at least one second reference signal, and wherein the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation.

[0060] The terminal device can be a CD-RS transmitter, that is, transmitting CD-RS at a defined time and frequency domain location, and using the same antenna port as the reference signal port associated with the CD-RS in the current transmission interval.

[0061] In one implementation of the second aspect, the terminal device is further configured to send at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to the terminal device based on a port transition indication.

[0062] In one implementation of the second aspect, the terminal device is configured to: receive at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal from a network device based on one or more first resources and one or more second resources, wherein the one or more second resources are used to transmit or receive at least one second reference signal, wherein the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation; and perform channel estimation based on the received at least one first reference signal and the received at least one second reference signal to obtain a phase-denoised channel estimate.

[0063] If the terminal device receives CD-RS at a defined time and frequency domain location, the terminal device also performs channel estimation or joint channel and phase noise estimation based on measurements associated with CD-RS and the reference signal port associated with CD-RS.

[0064] In one implementation of the second aspect, the terminal device is configured to further receive at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal from the terminal device based on a port switching indication.

[0065] In one implementation of the second aspect, the terminal device is used to transmit at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal to the network device based on one or more first resources, one or more second resources, and one or more third resources, wherein the one or more third resources are used to transmit or receive at least one third reference signal, and wherein the at least one third reference signal is used for phase noise estimation based on channel estimation.

[0066] Alternatively, this disclosure also proposes to utilize a third reference signal, such as PT-RS, to achieve good phase noise estimation.

[0067] In one implementation of the second aspect, the terminal device is further configured to send at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal to the terminal device based on the port switching indication.

[0068] In one implementation of the second aspect, the terminal device is configured to: receive at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal from a network device based on one or more first resources, one or more second resources, and one or more third resources, wherein the one or more third resources are used to transmit or receive at least one third reference signal, wherein the at least one third reference signal is used for phase noise estimation based on channel estimation; and perform channel estimation or joint channel and phase noise estimation based on the received at least one first reference signal, the received at least one second reference signal, and the received at least one third reference signal.

[0069] In one implementation of the second aspect, the terminal device is configured to receive at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal from the terminal device based on a port switching indication.

[0070] In one implementation of the second aspect, in order to perform channel estimation, the terminal device is configured to: estimate the channel based on measurements associated with at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to obtain a first channel estimate after phase denoising; estimate phase noise based on measurements associated with at least one third reference signal and the first channel estimate; optionally, further denoise the channel phase based on the estimated phase noise to obtain a channel estimation result.

[0071] In one implementation of the second aspect, at least one third reference signal is a phase tracking reference signal.

[0072] In one implementation of the second aspect, at least one second reference signal includes one of the following: DM-RS, CSI-RS, and SRS.

[0073] In one implementation of the second aspect, the terminal device is used to send a request to the network device, wherein the request indicates that one or more first resources will be allocated for at least one first reference signal.

[0074] Optionally, the terminal device may send a signal to the network device requesting the allocation of an index for a CD-RS and a reference signal port, wherein the requested CD-RS is associated with an index.

[0075] A third aspect of this disclosure provides a method performed by a network device, the method comprising: determining one or more first resources for at least one first reference signal based on one or more second resources of at least one second reference signal, wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising and the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation; and providing resource configuration information to a terminal device, wherein the resource configuration information indicates one or more first resources for transmitting or receiving at least one first reference signal.

[0076] The implementation of the third method corresponds to the implementation of the network device described in the first aspect above. The third method and its implementation achieve the same advantages and effects as the network device and its implementation described in the first aspect.

[0077] A fourth aspect of this disclosure provides a method performed by a terminal device, the method comprising: receiving resource configuration information from a network device, wherein the resource configuration information indicates one or more first resources for transmitting or receiving at least one first reference signal, wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising.

[0078] The implementation of the fourth method corresponds to the implementation of the terminal device described in the second aspect above. The fourth method and its implementation achieve the same advantages and effects as the terminal device and its implementation described in the second aspect.

[0079] The fifth aspect of this disclosure provides a computer program product including program code for performing, when implemented on a processor, a method according to the third aspect and any implementation thereof or the fourth aspect and any implementation thereof.

[0080] A sixth aspect of this disclosure provides a computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method according to the third aspect and any implementation thereof or the fourth aspect and any implementation thereof.

[0081] It should be noted that all devices, elements, units, and modules described in this application can be implemented in software or hardware elements or any combination thereof. All steps performed by the various entities described in this application, and the functions to be performed by the various entities described, are intended to indicate that the respective entities are suitable for or used to perform the respective steps and functions. Although in the following description of specific embodiments, a particular function or step performed by an external entity is not reflected in the detailed description of the specific element of the entity performing that particular step or function, those skilled in the art should understand that these methods and functions can be implemented in the corresponding software or hardware elements or any combination thereof. Attached Figure Description

[0082] With reference to the accompanying drawings, the various aspects and implementations of the present disclosure described above will be explained below through specific embodiments, wherein:

[0083] Figure 1 The network device provided in the embodiments of this disclosure is shown;

[0084] Figure 2This illustration shows a time-frequency resource in a transmission slot provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0085] Figure 3 The illustration shows an embodiment of the present disclosure of denoising a subcarrier of a reference signal with two time resources (here, two OFDM symbols) using CD-RS with four time resources and first-order linear regression.

[0086] Figure 4 This illustration shows a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0087] Figure 5 This illustration shows a wireless communication system provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0088] Figure 6 Two time-frequency patterns within the transmission time slot of the CD-RS associated with the DM-RS port, as provided in an embodiment of this disclosure, are shown.

[0089] Figure 7 The illustration shows a time-frequency pattern of a CD-RS associated with one of a plurality of DM-RS ports, as provided in an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0090] Figure 8 A schematic flowchart of a reference signal transmission method provided in an embodiment of this disclosure is shown;

[0091] Figure 9 A schematic flowchart of a reference signal transmission method provided in an embodiment of this disclosure is shown;

[0092] Figure 10 The illustration shows a time-frequency pattern of a CD-RS associated with one of four possible CSI-RS ports in two time slots (not necessarily consecutive), as provided in an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0093] Figure 11 The present disclosure provides an embodiment of a two-timeslot (not necessarily consecutive) time slot. Figure 10 One of the four possible CSI-RS ports shown (but different from the one shown) Figure 10 The time-frequency pattern of the CD-RS associated with the port of CSI-RS;

[0094] Figure 12 A schematic flowchart of a reference signal transmission method provided in an embodiment of this disclosure is shown;

[0095] Figure 13 The illustration shows a time-frequency pattern of a CD-RS associated with an SRS port, as provided in an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0096] Figure 14A schematic flowchart of a reference signal transmission method provided in an embodiment of this disclosure is shown;

[0097] Figure 15 The method provided by the embodiments of this disclosure is illustrated;

[0098] Figure 16 The method provided by an embodiment of this disclosure is illustrated. Detailed Implementation

[0099] The following describes illustrative embodiments of network devices, terminal devices, and corresponding methods with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although this description provides detailed examples of possible implementations, it should be noted that these details are exemplary only and do not limit the scope of this application.

[0100] Furthermore, one embodiment or example may refer to other embodiments or examples. For instance, any descriptions mentioned in one embodiment or example, including but not limited to terms, elements, processes, explanations, and / or technical advantages, may also be applicable to other embodiments or examples.

[0101] To facilitate understanding of this application, conventional reference signals will be introduced first.

[0102] As mentioned earlier, SRS is used in current wireless communication systems to estimate the uplink CSI from the user terminal to the network equipment. This estimated CSI is then used by the network for scheduling purposes, i.e., allocating different users to different resources on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In the case of terminals equipped with multiple antennas, this CSI can be fed back to the user in quantized form to help the user determine the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) precoding to be applied to these antennas. The time-frequency resources allocated to one SRS port for a user can span multiple time instances, i.e., multiple OFDM symbols in the same time slot. For example, an SRS signal can be repeated over multiple subsequent OFDM signals to achieve coverage gain for cell-edge users. Alternatively, the SRS signal can be divided into several OFDM symbols (not necessarily adjacent to each other) in a frequency-hopping manner to achieve diversity gain. Furthermore, multiple SRS resources across multiple time slots can be used to estimate the time-varying channel of the uplink from the terminal in mobility scenarios (e.g., using interpolation or BEM methods), or at least obtain an estimate of the Doppler shift associated with that link in those scenarios. In all these cases, the SRS resources occupying different time instances will be affected by different instances of phase noise, which is itself random and time-varying. This leads to a degradation in the quality of CSI or Doppler shift estimates obtained from SRS in the presence of phase noise.

[0103] In current wireless communication systems, CSI-RS is used to estimate the CSI of the downlink from network devices to user terminals. This CSI estimate can then be fed back to the network in quantized form, allowing it to be used, for example, to determine the MIMO precoding that the network device should use when transmitting to the terminal device on the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled for that device. For SRS, a CSI-RS signal can span multiple OFDM symbols in time within the same time slot according to a predefined time-frequency pattern. Furthermore, multiple CSI-RS resources in multiple time slots can be used to estimate the time-varying channel of the downlink from network devices to terminals in mobility scenarios (e.g., using interpolation or BEM methods), or at least obtain an estimate of the Doppler shift associated with that link in those scenarios. Similarly, reference signal resources occupying different time instances will be affected by different instances of phase noise, which is itself random and time-varying. This leads to a degradation in the quality of the CSI or Doppler shift estimates obtained from the reference signal resources in the presence of phase noise.

[0104] One of the anticipated requirements for future wireless communication systems is support for Sensing as a Service (SAS). This includes providing network sensing or network-supported / coordinated sensing to user equipment via an integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) approach. One of the most practical methods to achieve this is using a channel estimation reference signal, which can be an existing reference signal, such as SRS and CSI-RS, or a new dedicated reference signal for sensing purposes. In effect, channel estimation provides the possibility of identifying the delay and Doppler components associated with the propagation medium. This is relevant to sensing and radar applications because the delay-Doppler representation of the wireless channel associated with the round-trip propagation from the radio transmitter to its nearby target and back to the transmitter is converted into range-velocity information about these targets. As with channel estimation, in the presence of phase noise, different instances of phase noise affecting different time instances of the sensing reference signal will lead to errors in range and velocity estimation.

[0105] Figure 1 A network device 100 provided in an embodiment of this disclosure is shown.

[0106] Network device 100 may include processing circuitry (not shown) for performing, conducting, or initiating various operations of network device 100 as described herein. The processing circuitry may include hardware and software. The hardware may include analog or digital circuitry, or both. The digital circuitry may include components such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or multi-purpose processors. Network device 100 may also include memory circuitry for storing one or more instructions that can be executed by a processor or processing circuitry (specifically, under software control). For example, the memory circuitry may include a non-transitory storage medium storing executable software code that, when executed by a processor or processing circuitry, causes various operations of network device 100 to be performed. In one embodiment, the processing circuitry includes one or more processors and non-transitory memory connected to one or more processors. The non-transitory memory may carry executable program code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes network device 100 to perform, conduct, or initiate the operations or methods described herein.

[0107] Network device 100 is configured to determine one or more first resources 101 for at least one first reference signal based on one or more second resources of at least one second reference signal. Specifically, at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising, and at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation. Network device 100 is also configured to provide resource configuration information 102 to terminal device 110, wherein the resource configuration information 102 indicates one or more first resources 101 for transmitting or receiving at least one first reference signal.

[0108] The objective of this disclosure is to address the aforementioned challenges by designing a novel reference signal, i.e., at least one first reference signal, for joint channel and phase noise estimation. Such a novel reference signal is needed for denoising, i.e., reducing the impact of phase noise on channel estimation or the sensing reference signal.

[0109] It is understood that at least one second reference signal includes, but is not limited to, one of the following: DM-RS, CSI-RS, and SRS.

[0110] This new reference signal is proposed for:

[0111] 1. To achieve denoising of the channel estimation reference signal and accurate channel and phase noise estimation, so that a) high modulation and coding schemes (MCS) can be used even in high mobility and high frequency scenarios, b) accurate MIMO CSI can be obtained to achieve better MIMO precoding performance, and c) accurate target distance and velocity estimation can be obtained in sensing applications;

[0112] 2. Compatible with low-complexity joint channel and phase noise estimation methods, such as alternating optimization;

[0113] 3. And without increasing excessive expenses.

[0114] Consider a port of a reference signal (e.g., DM-RS, SRS, or CSI-RS) with multiple resources across multiple OFDM symbols, either in the same or multiple time slots, used to estimate a time-varying (due to user mobility) radio channel on these different symbols. This channel is simultaneously affected by different instances of phase noise, which is itself random and time-varying. In this case, estimating the time-varying channel based on different instances of the reference signal requires (e.g., when using interpolation or BEM methods) mitigating the effect of phase noise on each individual instance of the reference signal in some way. That is, “denoising” these instances. This requires obtaining good CSI based on DM-RS, SRS, or CSI-RS to obtain good range and velocity estimates (if the reference signal is intended for sensing), but also good phase noise estimates based on PT-RS in OFDM symbols carrying data based on the “denoised” DM-RS CSI.

[0115] The denoising scheme proposed in this disclosure is to provide the receiver with additional measurements of the same port as the reference signal to be denoised, on a subset of the subcarriers occupied by the reference signal port but in OFDM symbols located in different subcarriers than the subcarriers it occupies.

[0116] Possibly, the resource configuration information 102 indicates a first set of symbols occupied by one or more first resources 101, a first set of subcarriers occupied by one or more first resources 101, and at least one first antenna port for transmitting at least one first reference signal.

[0117] According to embodiments of this disclosure, network device 100 is further configured to determine a first symbol set based on one or more second symbol sets with second resource occupancy, wherein the first symbol set and the second symbol set do not overlap. That is, at least one first reference signal for channel phase denoising and at least one second reference signal for channel estimation are transmitted in different OFDM symbols.

[0118] According to an embodiment of this disclosure, the network device 100 is further configured to determine a first subcarrier set based on one or more second subcarrier sets occupied by second resources, wherein the first subcarrier set is a subset of the second subcarrier set. That is, at least one first reference signal for channel phase denoising should be transmitted in a subset of the subcarriers occupied by at least one second reference signal for channel estimation.

[0119] According to embodiments of this disclosure, the network device 100 is further configured to determine at least one first antenna port based on one or more antenna ports used for transmitting at least one second reference signal, wherein the at least one first antenna port is one of the one or more antenna ports used for transmitting at least one second reference signal. It is noteworthy that at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal are transmitted using the same antenna port. When the reference signal to be denoised, i.e., at least one second reference signal, has multiple ports, one or more of these ports can be used to transmit at least one first reference signal.

[0120] This disclosure enables the acquisition of these additional measurements due to the proposed new reference signal, namely at least one first reference signal. In this disclosure, it may also be referred to as the channel de-noising reference signal (CD-RS). When using interpolation or BEM methods, the time-varying channel estimation problem under phase noise can be written as an estimation problem simultaneously affected by multiplicative and additive noise (unlike the case where only additive noise affects the channel without phase noise), for example, least squares estimation under multiplicative-additive noise. The impact of multiplicative noise (phase noise in this example) on estimation accuracy decreases with the number of measurements, provided that these measurements are performed in different time instances characterized by different (preferably statistically independent or poorly correlated) instances of multiplicative noise. In a sense, obtaining a large number of measurements affected by different instances of multiplicative noise can reduce the impact of this noise on the estimation results, i.e., denoising the channel state. This sought-after denoising effect can be achieved through the additional measurements provided by the proposed reference signal CD-RS.

[0121] According to embodiments of this disclosure, network device 100 can also be used to determine whether antenna port hopping for at least one first reference signal is enabled. If antenna port hopping is enabled, network device 100 is further used to determine at least one second antenna port for transmitting at least one first reference signal based on one or more antenna ports for transmitting at least one second reference signal. It is noteworthy that the at least one second antenna port is associated with a different transmission period than the at least one first antenna port, and the at least one second antenna port is also one of one or more antenna ports for transmitting at least one second reference signal.

[0122] Possibly, the network device 100 is further configured to determine a first subset of resources associated with at least one first antenna port, wherein the first subset of resources occupies a first subset of symbols in a first symbol set and a first subset of subcarriers in a first subcarrier set. Possibly, the network device 100 is further configured to determine a second subset of resources associated with at least one second antenna port, wherein the second subset of resources occupies a second subset of symbols in a first symbol set and a second subset of subcarriers in a first subcarrier set.

[0123] Optionally, network device 100 is further configured to provide a port hopping indication to terminal device 110 if it is determined that an antenna port hopping for at least one first reference signal is enabled, wherein the port hopping indication is used to indicate at least one first antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated first subset of resources, and at least one second antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated second subset of resources.

[0124] According to embodiments of this disclosure, network device 100 can be used to send at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to terminal device 110 based on one or more first resources 101 and one or more second resources.

[0125] At this time, network device 100 is the transmitter of the reference signal.

[0126] Optionally, when enabling antenna port switching, network device 100 is also configured to send at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to terminal device 110 based on the port switching indication. Specifically, network device 100 sends at least one first reference signal based on at least one first antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated first subset of resources, and at least one second antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated second subset of resources.

[0127] It is worth noting that the network device 100 can also be used to determine a first symbol set and a first subcarrier set based on one or more third resources used for transmitting or receiving at least one third reference signal. The at least one third reference signal is used for phase noise estimation based on channel estimation. Specifically, the at least one third reference signal is a PT-RS.

[0128] Optionally, the network device 100 can also be used to send at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal to the terminal device 110 based on one or more first resources 101, one or more second resources, and one or more third resources.

[0129] Optionally, when antenna port switching is enabled, network device 100 is also configured to send at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal to terminal device 110 based on the port switching indication.

[0130] According to another embodiment of this disclosure, network device 100 can also be configured to receive at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal from terminal device 110 based on one or more first resources 101 and one or more second resources. Accordingly, network device 100 is also configured to perform channel estimation based on the received at least one first reference signal and the received at least one second reference signal to obtain a phase-denoised channel estimate.

[0131] In this case, network device 100 is a receiver of the reference signal.

[0132] Understandably, when enabling antenna port switching, network device 100 is also used to receive at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal from terminal device 110 based on the port switching indication.

[0133] According to embodiments of this disclosure, network device 100 is further configured to receive at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal from terminal device 110 based on one or more first resources 101, one or more second resources, and one or more third resources; and to perform channel estimation or joint channel and phase noise estimation based on the received at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal.

[0134] It is worth noting that the resource configuration information may also indicate one or more third resources used to send or receive at least one third reference signal.

[0135] When the antenna port switching is enabled, the network device 100 is also configured to receive at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal from the terminal device 110 based on the port switching indication.

[0136] Furthermore, to perform channel estimation, network device 100 is used to estimate the channel based on measurements associated with at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to obtain a first channel estimate after phase denoising; and to estimate phase noise based on measurements associated with at least one third reference signal and the first channel estimate. Optionally, network device 100 can also be used to further denoise the channel phase based on the estimated phase noise to obtain a channel estimation result.

[0137] It is worth noting that network device 100 can be used to receive a request from terminal device 110, wherein the request indicates that one or more first resources 101 will be allocated for at least one first reference signal.

[0138] Figure 2 The illustration shows the time-frequency resources in a transmission slot of a CD-RS provided in an embodiment of this disclosure. It is worth noting that the CD-RS is at least one first reference signal discussed in the foregoing embodiments.

[0139] It can be seen that the frequency domain density of CD-RS is less than that of its associated channel estimation reference signal. Specifically, the new reference signal is configured with the following resources: 1) occupying different symbols in time than the original reference signal, 2) occupying subcarriers in frequency, which are also subcarriers of the original reference signal (in fact, subsets of them), and 3) using the same ports as the original reference signal for transmission, i.e., the same antenna elements and the same MIMO precoding or beamforming (if any).

[0140] Figure 3 The illustration shows the denoising of a subcarrier of a reference signal with two time resources using CD-RS and first-order linear regression. Figure 3 (a) shows two pilot measurements affected by phase noise, and a noisy and erroneous channel estimate for the symbol between the two pilot measurements. Figure 3 (b) shows the results of two pilot measurements supplemented by four CD-RS measurements and the first-order linear regression channel estimation based on these measurements.

[0141] In this embodiment, on each subcarrier in each time slot, such as Figure 3 The channel estimation reference signal shown provides One measurement. Using the published reference signal, a portion of the subcarriers of the original reference signal will be obtained in each time slot. One measurement.

[0142] If channel estimation is performed based solely on the original reference signal without using CD-RS in the presence of phase noise, the estimated channel state at the location of the resource unit of the reference signal will contain errors, i.e., it will be noisy (e.g., ...). Figure 3 (As shown by the black "X" symbol in (a)), this is because the phase noise instances affecting these resources differ between two different time instances. If channel estimation is performed on the data symbols between the reference signal symbols based on these noisy reference signal estimations, the result will be subject to errors (such as...). Figure 3 (a) The effect of the relatively large spacing between the solid and dashed lines.

[0143] Based on this disclosure, if channel estimation of the reference signal symbols and bearer data symbols is performed jointly based on measurements from the original reference signal and new CD-RS resource units (e.g., using least squares first-order linear regression or other regression methods), then the effect of phase noise on the estimated channel state of the original reference signal symbols and bearer data symbols will be reduced (e.g., the position of the new gray "X" symbol and...). Figure 3 (b) shows the smaller spacing between the solid and dashed lines.

[0144] In this embodiment, linear regression is assumed to be used as the denoising method. However, CD-RS is by no means limited to linear regression. For example, similar denoising effects can be achieved using CD-RS when using higher-order regression methods or when using BEM for channel estimation.

[0145] To obtain these new measurements and their denoising effects, it is unnecessary to transmit the new reference signal with the same frequency domain density as the original reference signal, as that would be wasteful of resources. However, to achieve the desired denoising effect, the frequency domain density of the new reference signal should be sufficiently large relative to the channel frequency selectivity of the port of the original reference signal associated with the new reference signal. For example, the frequency domain density of the new reference signal can be positively correlated with the maximum delay offset of the channel at that port (because a larger offset results in greater frequency selectivity).

[0146] According to embodiments of this disclosure, network device 100 can be used to determine the frequency domain density of at least one first reference signal based on one or more of the following conditions:

[0147] —The bandwidth scheduled for at least one first reference signal;

[0148] —Subcarrier spacing;

[0149] —Channel frequency selectivity for at least one second reference signal;

[0150] —The frequency domain density of one or more second resources.

[0151] Optionally, the network device 100 can also be used to determine a first set of subcarriers based on the frequency domain density of at least one first reference signal.

[0152] For the time-domain density of the new reference signal CD-RS, i.e., in the above formula The value of this value should be determined based on the required level of denoising, specifically the factor by which the power of the phase noise affecting the original reference signal port needs to be reduced. As can be understood from the above discussion regarding the estimation of simultaneous multiplicative and additive noise, the more additional measurements are performed, the better the denoising effect (but the higher the overhead). This target denoising factor and the subsequent time-domain density can be determined by network device 100 and transmitted to terminal device 110 based on, but not limited to, the following:

[0153] 1. Target channel estimation performance, for example, measured by relative mean squared error (RMSE).

[0154] 2. The modulation and coding scheme (MCS) to be adopted based on the CSI data to be detected obtained from the denoised channel estimation reference signal and its associated PT-RS resources.

[0155] 3. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the wireless link (assuming other factors remain constant, the smaller the SNR, the greater the required density).

[0156] 4. Maximum Doppler shift associated with the wireless link (the higher the mobility, the more frequency CD-RS may be required).

[0157] According to embodiments of this disclosure, network device 100 can be used to determine the temporal density of at least one first reference signal based on phase noise level and / or modulation and coding scheme.

[0158] Optionally, the network device 100 can also be used to determine a first symbol set based on the time-domain density of at least one first reference signal.

[0159] This relates to the time-domain and frequency-domain density of the resources in the new reference signal CD-RS. The relative position of resources within the time-frequency resource grid can be selected by network device 100 and transmitted to terminal device 110 based on various factors, including but not limited to:

[0160] 1. Available resources within the frame not occupied by other reference signals: CD-RS resources should not conflict with other reference signals.

[0161] 2. Cell ID: The relative position of the resource pattern in the intra-frame CD-RS can be cell-related.

[0162] When the reference signal to be denoised has multiple ports—that is, different instances of the reference signal are allocated orthogonal resources and transmitted using different antenna ports, and when these antenna ports share the same local oscillator—the phase noise process affecting all these ports is the same, and denoising one port of the reference signal is sufficient to denoise the other ports. In practice, the denoised reference signal port can be used to estimate the phase noise implementation affecting the transmission interval to which that port belongs. It is best to use the denoised measurement of the original reference signal and the measurement of the new reference signal (with noise, i.e., affected by phase noise), and possibly combine this estimation with noisy measurements of other reference signals that may exist in the transmission interval (e.g., PT-RS). Once the phase noise implementation is estimated, the results can be used to denoise the other ports of the original reference signal. In practice, when the phase noise (estimated) affecting the time-frequency resources of these other ports is available, its impact can be compensated for by, for example, simple division.

[0163] In situations where not all reference signal ports share the same local oscillator—for example, when the transmitter or receiver is equipped with multiple antenna panels, each with its own local oscillator—some ports of the original reference signal may be affected by a different phase noise process than that affecting other ports. In such cases, multiple CD-RS ports (at least equal to the number of local oscillators) are required, each associated with a different port of the original reference signal.

[0164] Figure 4 A terminal device 110 provided in an embodiment of this disclosure is shown.

[0165] Terminal device 110 may include processing circuitry (not shown) for performing, conducting, or initiating various operations of terminal device 110 as described herein. The processing circuitry may include hardware and software. The hardware may include analog or digital circuitry, or both. The digital circuitry may include components such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or multi-purpose processors. Terminal device 110 may also include memory circuitry for storing one or more instructions that can be executed by a processor or processing circuitry (specifically, under software control). For example, the memory circuitry may include a non-transitory storage medium storing executable software code that, when executed by a processor or processing circuitry, causes various operations of terminal device 110 to be performed. In one embodiment, the processing circuitry includes one or more processors and non-transitory memory connected to one or more processors. The non-transitory memory may carry executable program code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes terminal device 110 to perform, conduct, or initiate the operations or methods described herein.

[0166] The terminal device 110 is configured to receive resource configuration information 102 from the network device 100, wherein the resource configuration information 102 indicates one or more first resources 101 for transmitting or receiving at least one first reference signal, wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising.

[0167] This disclosure also proposes a terminal device 110 for assisting in joint channel and phase noise estimation. The terminal device 110 can be used as a transmitter of a new reference signal (i.e., at least one first reference signal) or as a receiver of a new reference signal.

[0168] Possibly, the resource configuration information 102 indicates a first set of symbols occupied by one or more first resources 101, a first set of subcarriers occupied by one or more first resources 101, and at least one first antenna port for transmitting at least one first reference signal.

[0169] According to an embodiment of this disclosure, the terminal device 110 is further configured to send at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to the network device 100 based on one or more first resources 101 and one or more second resources, wherein the one or more second resources are used to send or receive at least one second reference signal, and wherein the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation.

[0170] It is understood that at least one second reference signal includes one of the following: DM-RS, CSI-RS, and SRS. One or more first resources 101 for at least one first reference signal are associated with one or more second resources for at least one second reference signal. Specifically, at least one first reference signal for channel phase denoising should be transmitted in a subset of the subcarriers occupied by at least one second reference signal for channel estimation. Furthermore, at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal are transmitted in different OFDM symbols. Moreover, at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal are transmitted using the same antenna port. It is noteworthy that when at least one second reference signal has multiple antenna ports, at least one first reference signal can be transmitted using one or more of these ports.

[0171] It is worth noting that the resource configuration information 102 received by the terminal device 110 may also indicate one or more second resources for sending or receiving at least one second reference signal.

[0172] According to an embodiment of this disclosure, the terminal device 110 is further configured to: receive at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal from a network device based on one or more first resources and one or more second resources, wherein the one or more second resources are used to transmit or receive at least one second reference signal, wherein the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation; and perform channel estimation based on the received at least one first reference signal and the received at least one second reference signal to obtain a phase-denoised channel estimate.

[0173] According to an embodiment of this disclosure, terminal device 110 is further configured to receive a port hopping indication from network device 100. The port hopping indication is used to indicate at least one first antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated first subset of resources, as well as at least one second antenna port for transmitting at least one first reference signal and its associated transmission period and its associated second subset of resources. Specifically, at least one second antenna port and at least one first antenna port are associated with different transmission periods. The first subset of resources occupies a first subset of symbols in a first symbol set and a first subset of subcarriers in a first subcarrier set, and the second subset of resources occupies a second subset of symbols in a first symbol set and a second subset of subcarriers in a first subcarrier set.

[0174] Accordingly, the terminal device 110 is also configured to send at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to the terminal device 110 based on the port switching indication.

[0175] Similarly, terminal device 110 can also be used to receive at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal from terminal device 110 based on port switching indication.

[0176] According to embodiments of this disclosure, terminal device 110 is further configured to transmit at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal to network device 100 based on one or more first resources 101, one or more second resources, and one or more third resources. The one or more third resources are used to transmit or receive at least one third reference signal, wherein the at least one third reference signal is used for phase noise estimation based on channel estimation. It is noteworthy that the at least one third reference signal may be PT-RS.

[0177] According to an embodiment of this disclosure, the terminal device 110 is further configured to: receive at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal from the network device 100 based on one or more first resources 101, one or more second resources, and one or more third resources, wherein the one or more third resources are used to transmit or receive at least one third reference signal, and wherein the at least one third reference signal is used for phase noise estimation based on channel estimation; and perform channel estimation or joint channel and phase noise estimation based on the received at least one first reference signal, the received at least one second reference signal, and the received at least one third reference signal.

[0178] When antenna switching is enabled, i.e., if terminal device 110 receives a port switching indication, terminal device 110 is further configured to send at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal to terminal device 110 based on the port switching indication. Alternatively, terminal device 110 is further configured to receive at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal from terminal device 110 based on the port switching indication.

[0179] According to embodiments of this disclosure, in order to perform channel estimation, terminal device 110 is configured to estimate the channel based on measurements associated with at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal to obtain a first channel estimate after phase denoising; and to estimate phase noise based on measurements associated with at least one third reference signal and the first channel estimate. Terminal device 110 can be used to further denoise the channel phase based on the estimated phase noise to obtain a channel estimation result.

[0180] Optionally, the terminal device 110 is further configured to send a request to the network device 100, wherein the request indicates that one or more first resources 101 will be allocated for at least one first reference signal.

[0181] Figure 5 A wireless communication system provided in an embodiment of this disclosure is illustrated. The system comprises a network device 100 and multiple communication devices, some of which (possibly including the network device) may be integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) devices, i.e., also capable of sensing. Network device 100 may be… Figure 1 or Figure 4 The network device shown. Multiple communication devices may include... Figure 1 or Figure 4 The terminal device 110 shown in the figure is illustrated as an example of a communication device. The signals transmitted by the different components of the system are OFDM signals or Discrete Fourier Transform Spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) signals.

[0182] The "CD-RS Pattern Determination" module determines the time-domain and frequency-domain densities of the CD-RS (i.e., at least one first reference signal mentioned in the previous embodiments) for uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) CD-RS, as well as its location within the time-frequency resources of the resource grid. The time-domain and frequency-domain densities can be determined based on factors such as maximum delay offset and maximum Doppler shift, the target RMSE for channel estimation, and MCS, SNR, or SINR for data transmission.

[0183] In the case of port switching for CD-RS, this module also determines which port of the original reference signal the CD-RS should be associated with in which transmission interval (e.g., time slot). The "CD-RS Insertion" module then generates the CD-RS based on the determined pattern and inserts it into the transmission resource grid.

[0184] Network device 100 can send CD-RS resource configuration information to terminal device 110 via the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or by using higher-layer signaling (such as radio resource control (RRC)). Terminal device 110 can send CD-RS resource request messages to network device 100 via the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or some higher-layer signaling.

[0185] The module "Joint Channel (CH) and Phase Noise (PN) Estimation" can be a simple two-step process, involving first estimating the channel at the reference signal port with its associated CD-RS based on the channel estimation reference signal combined with the associated CD-RS, and then estimating the phase noise based on the PT-RS (or some combination or reference signal) based on the channel estimate thus obtained. Alternatively, it can be an iterative process involving repeating the above two-step estimation multiple times to optimize the results. Finally, it can be a more complex nonlinear joint estimation method. The resulting phase noise estimate can be used to denoise other ports of the original reference signal (in the case of a reference signal with multiple ports), which, although not equipped with associated CD-RS, share the same local oscillator as the ports that are equipped with associated CD-RS.

[0186] The following embodiments of the present invention will describe their integration with the transmitter and receiver portions of terminal device 110 or network device 100.

[0187] Figure 6 Two time-frequency patterns of CD-RS associated with a DM-RS port, provided in an embodiment of this disclosure, are shown.

[0188] Specifically, the figure shows two time-frequency patterns within the transmission time slot of the CD-RS associated with the DM-RS port. Each of these patterns has a different frequency domain density. The figure illustrates the adaptation of the CD-RS frequency domain density to the frequency selectivity level of the channel with its associated reference signal port, for example, by ensuring that the number of CD-RS subcarriers is at least equal to the number of the most significant delay taps of the channel. Figure 6 The time-frequency pattern shown in (a) has a larger frequency domain density, which may be adapted to denoise the DM-RS port channel with higher frequency selectivity. It should be noted that this density adaptation is not limited to this embodiment, i.e., not limited to CD-RS associated with downlink DM-RS, but can be applied to all subsequent embodiments.

[0189] Figure 7 The illustration shows the time-frequency resources of a CD-RS associated with one of a plurality of DM-RS ports, as provided in an embodiment of this disclosure. Specifically, the time-frequency pattern of the CD-RS is associated with one of a plurality of DM-RS ports that share the same local oscillator, and its resources span two consecutive OFDM symbols for each DM-RS time instance. As can be seen in this example, there are two time instances per time slot, possibly to handle moderate mobility.

[0190] It is worth noting that the DM-RS port associated with CD-RS may be different from the port associated with PT-RS.

[0191] Figure 8 A flowchart illustrating the transmission of CD-RS associated with a DM-RS port in the downlink of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of this disclosure is shown. The wireless communication system includes a network device 100 and a terminal device 110. In one implementation, the network device 100 may be... Figure 1 or Figure 4 The network device shown. Terminal device 110 can be... Figure 1 or Figure 4 The terminal device 110 shown is shown.

[0192] Optionally, the transmission process may begin with terminal device 110 requesting CD-RS resources for DM-RS phase denoising. Then, network device 100 configures resources corresponding to at least one DM-RS and one CD-RS port. Specifically, the DM-RS is mapped to at least one symbol among a plurality of symbols, and the CD-RS is mapped to at least another symbol among a plurality of symbols. The subcarrier mapped by the CD-RS on at least one symbol among the plurality of symbols has the same frequency domain position as the subcarrier mapped by the DM-RS on at least one of the remaining symbols among the plurality of symbols. Network device 100 provides terminal device 110 with resource configuration information 102 for DM-RS, PT-RS, and CD-RS. Notably, the resource configuration information may include one or more DM-RS port numbers associated with the CD-RS, one or more CD-RS symbols, and subcarrier indices. Network device 100 also sends DM-RS, PT-RS, and CD-RS samples to terminal device 110.

[0193] Terminal device 110 performs phase denoising on the DM-RS port based on samples received on the DM-RS port and the corresponding associated CD-RS. Then, terminal device 110 estimates phase noise based on PT-RS and denoised DM-RS samples, or performs joint channel and phase noise estimation based on DMRS and PT-RS samples.

[0194] Optionally, network device 110 can send CD-RS resource configuration information to terminal device 110 via PDCCH or by using higher-layer signaling (such as RRC signaling). Terminal device 110 can send CD-RS resource request messages to network device 100 via PUCCH or some higher-layer signaling.

[0195] Figure 9A flowchart illustrating the transmission of CD-RS associated with a DM-RS port in the uplink of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of this disclosure is shown. The wireless communication system includes a network device 100 and a terminal device 110. In one implementation, the network device 100 may be... Figure 1 or Figure 4 The network device shown. Terminal device 110 can be... Figure 1 or Figure 4 The terminal device 110 shown is shown.

[0196] In this embodiment, the transmitter of terminal device 110 is used to send CD-RS associated with uplink DM-RS to the receiver of network device 100.

[0197] Similar to the downlink scenario, the transmission process may begin with terminal device 110 requesting CD-RS resources for DM-RS phase denoising. Then, network device 100 configures resources corresponding to at least one DM-RS and one CD-RS port. Specifically, the DM-RS is mapped to at least one symbol among a plurality of symbols, and the CD-RS is mapped to at least another symbol among a plurality of symbols. The subcarrier mapped by the CD-RS on at least one symbol among the plurality of symbols has the same frequency domain position as the subcarrier mapped by the DM-RS on at least one of the remaining symbols among the plurality of symbols. Network device 100 provides terminal device 110 with resource configuration information 102 for uplink DM-RS, PT-RS, and CD-RS. Notably, the resource configuration information may include one or more DM-RS port numbers associated with the CD-RS, one or more CD-RS symbols, and subcarrier indices. Terminal device 110 then sends DM-RS, PT-RS, and CD-RS samples to network device 100 based on the resource configuration information 102.

[0198] Then, network device 100 performs phase denoising on the DM-RS port based on the samples received on the DM-RS port and the corresponding associated CD-RS. Then, network device 100 estimates phase noise based on PT-RS and the denoised DM-RS samples, or performs joint channel and phase noise estimation based on DMRS and PT-RS samples.

[0199] Optionally, network device 110 can send CD-RS resource configuration information to terminal device 110 via PDCCH or by using higher-layer signaling (such as RRC signaling). Terminal device 110 can send CD-RS resource request messages to network device 100 via PUCCH or some higher-layer signaling.

[0200] In another embodiment, the transmitter of network device 100 can be used to send CD-RS associated with downlink CSI-RS to the receiver of terminal device 110.

[0201] Figure 10 The time-frequency pattern of the CD-RS associated with the CSI-RS transmitted in these two time slots is shown.

[0202] This figure illustrates the time-frequency resources of a CD-RS port associated with a CSI-RS port, which is scheduled in transmission time slots n and n+p, where n and p are integer values. For example, scheduling of the same port in two different transmission time slots can be used to estimate the Doppler shift associated with the wireless link in the event of movement of terminal device 110 relative to network device 100. Transmissions of CD-RS associated with such a CSI-RS port help reduce the impact of phase noise on the estimation of these Doppler shifts.

[0203] Figure 11 It shows a kind of Figure 10 The diagrams shown represent time-frequency patterns of CD-RS with different patterns. This difference is introduced due to the enabling of the CD-RS port switching feature in this embodiment.

[0204] Specifically, Figure 11 This diagram illustrates an example of the time-frequency pattern of a CD-RS associated with CSI-RS when "port switching" is enabled for CD-RS. In this example, the CD-RS is associated with CSI-RS port number 1 in time slots n+2p and n+3p (unlike the case in the diagram above where it is associated with CSI-RS port number 3 in time slots n and n+p). The time-frequency resources of the CD-RS signal also change accordingly within time slots n+2p and n+3p.

[0205] Figure 12 A flowchart illustrating the transmission of CD-RS associated with a CSI-RS port in the downlink of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of this disclosure is shown. Similar to the foregoing embodiments, the wireless communication system includes a network device 100 and a terminal device 110. In one implementation, the network device 100 may be… Figure 1 or Figure 4 The network device shown. Terminal device 110 can be... Figure 1 or Figure 4 The terminal device 110 shown is shown.

[0206] Optionally, the transmission process may begin with terminal device 110 requesting CD-RS resources for CSI-RS phase denoising. Then, network device 100 configures resources corresponding to at least one CSI-RS and one CD-RS port. Specifically, the CSI-RS is mapped to at least one symbol among a plurality of symbols, and the CD-RS is mapped to at least another symbol among a plurality of symbols. The subcarrier mapped to the CD-RS on at least one symbol among the plurality of symbols has the same frequency domain position as the subcarrier mapped to the CSI-RS on at least one of the remaining symbols among the plurality of symbols. Network device 100 provides terminal device 110 with CSI-RS and CD-RS resource configuration information 102. Notably, the resource configuration information may include one or more CSI-RS port numbers associated with the CD-RS, one or more CD-RS symbols, and subcarrier indices. Network device 100 also sends CSI-RS and CD-RS samples to terminal device 110.

[0207] Terminal device 110 performs phase denoising on the CSI-RS port based on samples received on the CSI-RS port and the corresponding associated CSI-RS. Optionally, terminal device 110 derives a phase noise estimate and uses it for denoising, i.e., to compensate for phase noise on other CSI-RS ports. Then, terminal device 110 performs DLMIMO channel estimation based on the denoised CSI-RS samples.

[0208] Optionally, network device 110 can send CD-RS resource configuration information to terminal device 110 via PDCCH or by using higher-layer signaling (such as RRC signaling). Terminal device 110 can send CD-RS resource request messages to network device 100 via PUCCH or some higher-layer signaling.

[0209] In another embodiment, the transmitter of terminal device 110 can be used to send CD-RS associated with uplink SRS to the receiver of network device 100.

[0210] Figure 13The diagram illustrates a time-frequency pattern of CD-RS associated with one SRS port for uplink channel estimation based on four SRS ports from a terminal device 110 with four antennas. In this embodiment, signals from two of these SRS ports are transmitted in different time slots than the other two ports, and the signals from all ports have a comb pattern in the frequency domain to allow multiplexing of multiple SRS signals from multiple terminal devices. In the presence of phase noise, channel estimation from each terminal antenna will be affected by different implementations of the phase noise process, resulting in large MIMO channel estimation errors. CD-RS transmitted from one of the terminal antennas (port 4 in this example) on the time-frequency resources of the pattern shown in the diagram can help reduce these errors.

[0211] Figure 14 A flowchart illustrating the transmission of CD-RS associated with an SRS port in the uplink of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of this disclosure is shown. Similar to the foregoing embodiments, the wireless communication system includes a network device 100 and a terminal device 110. In one implementation, the network device 100 may be… Figure 1 or Figure 4 The network device shown. Terminal device 110 can be... Figure 1 or Figure 4 The terminal device 110 shown is shown.

[0212] Optionally, the transmission process may begin with terminal device 110 requesting CD-RS resources for SRS phase denoising. Then, network device 100 configures resources corresponding to at least one SRS and one CD-RS port. Specifically, the SRS is mapped to at least one symbol among a plurality of symbols, and the CD-RS is mapped to at least another symbol among a plurality of symbols. The subcarrier mapped to the CD-RS on at least one symbol among the plurality of symbols has the same frequency domain position as the subcarrier mapped to the SRS on at least one of the remaining symbols among the plurality of symbols. Network device 100 provides terminal device 110 with SRS and CD-RS resource configuration information 102. Notably, the resource configuration information may include one or more SRS port numbers associated with the CD-RS, one or more CD-RS symbols, and subcarrier indices. Terminal device 110 then sends SRS and CD-RS samples to network device 100 accordingly.

[0213] Network device 100 performs phase denoising on the SRS port based on samples received on the SRS port and the corresponding associated CD-RS. Optionally, network device 100 derives a phase noise estimate and uses it for denoising, i.e., compensating for phase noise on other SRS ports. Then, network device 100 performs UL MIMO channel estimation based on the denoised SRS samples.

[0214] Optionally, network device 110 can send CD-RS resource configuration information to terminal device 110 via PDCCH or by using higher-layer signaling (such as RRC signaling). Terminal device 110 can send CD-RS resource request messages to network device 100 via PUCCH or some higher-layer signaling.

[0215] Figure 15 A method 1500 provided in an embodiment of this disclosure is illustrated, particularly for controlling event-based traffic processing. In a particular embodiment, method 1500 is... Figure 1 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 8 , Figure 9 , Figure 12 or Figure 14 The network device 100 shown in the figure performs the following method 1500: Method 1500 includes step 1501: determining one or more first resources 101 for at least one first reference signal based on one or more second resources of at least one second reference signal, wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising, and the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation. Furthermore, method 1700 includes step 1502: providing resource configuration information 102 to terminal device 110, wherein the resource configuration information 102 indicates one or more first resources 101 for transmitting or receiving at least one first reference signal. Possibly, terminal device 110 may be... Figure 1 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 8 , Figure 9 , Figure 12 or Figure 14 The network entities shown in the image.

[0216] Figure 16 A method 1600 provided by an embodiment of this disclosure is illustrated. In a particular embodiment, method 1600 is performed by... Figure 1 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 8 , Figure 9 , Figure 12 or Figure 14 The method 1600 is performed by a terminal device 110 shown in one of the figures. Method 1600 includes step 1601: receiving resource configuration information 102 from network device 100, wherein the resource configuration information 102 indicates one or more first resources 101 for transmitting or receiving at least one first reference signal, wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising. Possibly, network device 100 may be... Figure 1 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 8 , Figure 9, Figure 12 or Figure 14 One of the network devices shown in the diagram.

[0217] In summary, the embodiments of this application propose:

[0218] A communication device (which may be a network device or a terminal device) is used for:

[0219] • Transmit CD-RS at a defined time and frequency domain location, using the same antenna port as the reference signal port associated with the CD-RS in the current transmission interval.

[0220] • Receive CD-RS at a defined time and frequency domain location, and perform channel estimation or joint channel and phase noise estimation based on measurements associated with the CD-RS and measurements associated with the reference signal port associated with the CD-RS.

[0221] A terminal for:

[0222] • Send a signal to the network device requesting the allocation of an index for a CD-RS and a reference signal port, wherein the requested CD-RS is associated with that index.

[0223] A network device for:

[0224] • Determine the time and frequency domain density and location of the channel denoising reference signal (CD-RS), which is associated with one or more ports of another reference signal (e.g., DM-RS, SRS, or CSI-RS to be sent to or from the terminal device).

[0225] • The time and frequency domain locations of the CD-RS are selected based on the following: 1) the time-frequency pattern of the pilot port associated with the CD-RS, for example, sharing some subcarrier indices of the port but on different time indices; 2) the time-frequency pattern of other scheduled reference signals, for example, avoiding transmission in locations occupied by other signals.

[0226] • Select the temporal density of CD-RS based on the phase noise level and the modulation and coding scheme (MCS).

[0227] • The frequency domain density of the CD-RS is selected based on the scheduled bandwidth, subcarrier spacing, and channel frequency selectivity (power delay profile) of the port associated with the CD-RS.

[0228] • Send a signal to the terminal indicating the CD-RS time-frequency pattern (density and position) and the index of the reference signal port associated with the CD-RS.

[0229] • Determine if CD-RS requires port switching. If so, send a signal to the terminal indicating the switching pattern to be used.

[0230] Based on the embodiments presented in this application, this disclosure permits:

[0231] • In high-mobility scenarios of high-frequency band communication, channel estimation based on "demodulation reference signal" and phase noise compensation is more accurate, thus enabling the use of high modulation and coding scheme (MCS) with higher spectral efficiency in these scenarios.

[0232] • In high-mobility scenarios of high-frequency band communication, MIMO channel estimation based on "channel state information reference signal" and "probe reference signal" has higher accuracy, thereby achieving better MIMO precoding and beamforming, which reduces inter-stream interference and inter-user interference, thus improving spectral efficiency.

[0233] • Improved target range and velocity estimation performance for bistatic sensing affected by phase noise.

[0234] This disclosure has been described in conjunction with various embodiments as examples and implementations. However, based on a study of the drawings, this disclosure, and the independent claims, those skilled in the art will be able to understand and implement other variations in practice of the claimed embodiments of the invention. In the claims and the description, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items described in the claims. Listing certain measures in dissimilar dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in advantageous implementations.

[0235] Furthermore, any method according to embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented in a computer program having code modules, which, when run by a processing module, causes the processing module to perform the method steps. The computer program is included in a computer-readable medium of the computer program product. The computer-readable medium can substantially include any memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), flash memory, electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), or a hard disk drive.

[0236] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments of network device 100 or terminal device 110 include necessary communication capabilities in the form of functions, modules, units, elements, etc., for executing the scheme. Other examples of such modules, units, elements, and functions include: processors, memories, buffers, control logic, encoders, decoders, rate matchers, rate-reducing matchers, mapping units, multipliers, decision units, selection units, switches, interleavers, deinterleavers, modulators, demodulators, inputs, outputs, antennas, amplifiers, receiving units, transmitting units, DSPs, trellis-coded modulation (TCM) encoders, TCM decoders, power supply units, power feeders, communication interfaces, communication protocols, etc., which are suitably arranged together to execute the scheme.

[0237] Specifically, one or more processors in network device 100 or terminal device 110 may include, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a processing unit, processing circuitry, a processor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a microprocessor, or one or more instances of other processing logic capable of interpreting and executing instructions. Therefore, the term "processor" can refer to a processing circuitry that includes multiple processing circuits (e.g., any, some, or all of the processing circuits described above). The processing circuitry may also perform data processing functions for inputting, outputting, and processing data, including data buffering and device control functions such as call processing control, user interface control, etc.

Claims

1. A network device (100), characterized in that, Used for: Based on one or more second resources of at least one second reference signal, one or more first resources are determined for at least one first reference signal (101), wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising, and the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation; and Resource configuration information (102) is provided to the terminal device (110), wherein the resource configuration information (102) indicates one or more first resources (101) for sending or receiving the at least one first reference signal.

2. The network device (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that, The resource configuration information (102) indicates the first symbol set occupied by the one or more first resources (101), the first subcarrier set occupied by the one or more first resources (101), and at least one first antenna port for transmitting the at least one first reference signal.

3. The network device (100) according to claim 2, characterized in that, Used for: The first symbol set is determined based on the second symbol set occupied by the one or more second resources, wherein the first symbol set does not overlap with the second symbol set.

4. The network device (100) according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, Used for: The first subcarrier set is determined based on the second subcarrier set occupied by one or more second resources, wherein the first subcarrier set is a subset of the second subcarrier set.

5. The network device (100) according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that, Used for: The at least one first antenna port is determined based on one or more antenna ports used to transmit the at least one second reference signal, wherein the at least one first antenna port is one of the one or more antenna ports used to transmit the at least one second reference signal.

6. The network device (100) according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that, Used for: Determine whether to enable antenna port switching for the at least one first reference signal; as well as If antenna port switching is enabled, at least one second antenna port for transmitting the at least one first reference signal is determined based on one or more antenna ports used to transmit the at least one second reference signal, wherein the at least one second antenna port and the at least one first antenna port are associated with different transmission periods, and the at least one second antenna port is one of the one or more antenna ports used to transmit the at least one second reference signal.

7. The network device (100) according to claim 6, characterized in that, Used for: A first subset of resources is determined to be associated with the at least one first antenna port, wherein the first subset of resources occupies a first subset of symbols in the first symbol set and a first subset of subcarriers in the first subcarrier set, and / or A second subset of resources is determined to be associated with the at least one second antenna port, wherein the second subset of resources occupies a second subset of symbols in the first symbol set and a second subset of subcarriers in the first subcarrier set.

8. The network device (100) according to claim 7, characterized in that, Used for: If it is determined that an antenna port hopping for the at least one first reference signal is enabled, a port hopping indication is provided to the terminal device (110), wherein the port hopping indication is used to indicate at least one first antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated first subset of resources, and at least one second antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated second subset of resources.

9. The network device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, Used for: The temporal density of the at least one first reference signal is determined based on the phase noise level and / or the modulation and coding scheme.

10. The network device (100) according to claims 9 and 3, characterized in that, Used for: The first symbol set is also determined based on the time-domain density of the at least one first reference signal.

11. The network device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, Used for: The frequency domain density of the at least one first reference signal is determined based on one or more of the following conditions: The bandwidth scheduled for the at least one first reference signal; Subcarrier spacing; Channel frequency selectivity for the at least one second reference signal; Frequency domain density of the one or more second resources.

12. The network device (100) according to claims 11 and 4, characterized in that, Used for: The first subcarrier set is also determined based on the frequency domain density of the at least one first reference signal.

13. The network device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the one or more first resources (101) and the one or more second resources, the at least one first reference signal and the at least one second reference signal are sent to the terminal device (110).

14. The network device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the one or more first resources (101) and the one or more second resources, the terminal device (110) receives the at least one first reference signal and the at least one second reference signal; as well as Channel estimation is performed based on at least one received first reference signal and at least one received second reference signal to obtain a phase-denoised channel estimate.

15. The network device (100) according to claims 14 and 8, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the port switching indication, the terminal device (110) also receives the at least one first reference signal and the at least one second reference signal.

16. The network device (100) according to any one of claims 2 to 15, characterized in that, Used for: The first symbol set and the first subcarrier set are also determined based on one or more third resources used for transmitting or receiving at least one third reference signal, wherein the at least one third reference signal is used for phase noise estimation based on channel estimation.

17. The network device (100) according to claim 16, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the one or more first resources (101), the one or more second resources, and the one or more third resources, the at least one first reference signal, the at least one second reference signal, and the at least one third reference signal are sent to the terminal device (110).

18. The network device (100) according to claims 17 and 8, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the port switching indication, the terminal device (110) is also sent at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal and at least one third reference signal.

19. The network device (100) according to claim 16, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the one or more first resources (101), the one or more second resources and the one or more third resources, the terminal device (110) receives the at least one first reference signal, the at least one second reference signal and the at least one third reference signal; as well as Channel estimation or joint channel and phase noise estimation is performed based on at least one received first reference signal, at least one received second reference signal, and at least one received third reference signal.

20. The network device (100) according to claims 19 and 8, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the port switching indication, the terminal device (110) also receives the at least one first reference signal, the at least one second reference signal, and the at least one third reference signal.

21. The network device (100) according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that, In order to perform the channel estimation, the network device (100) is configured to: The channel is estimated based on measurements associated with the at least one first reference signal and the at least one second reference signal to obtain a first channel estimate after phase denoising; as well as Phase noise is estimated based on measurements associated with the at least one third reference signal and the first channel estimation. as well as Optionally, the channel phase can be further denoised based on the estimated phase noise to obtain the channel estimation result.

22. The network device (100) according to any one of claims 16 to 21, characterized in that, The at least one third reference signal is a phase tracking reference signal.

23. The network device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 22, characterized in that, The at least one second reference signal includes one of the following: Demodulation reference signal; Channel state information reference signal; and Detect reference signal.

24. The network device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 23, characterized in that, Used for: A request is received from the terminal device (110), wherein the request indicates that one or more first resources (101) will be allocated for the at least one first reference signal.

25. A terminal device (110), characterized in that, Used for: Receive resource configuration information (102) from network device (100), wherein the resource configuration information (102) indicates one or more first resources (101) for transmitting or receiving at least one first reference signal, wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising.

26. The terminal device (110) according to claim 25, characterized in that, The resource configuration information (102) indicates the first symbol set occupied by the one or more first resources (101), the first subcarrier set occupied by the one or more first resources (101), and at least one first antenna port for transmitting the at least one first reference signal.

27. The terminal device (110) according to claim 25 or 26, characterized in that, Used for: The network device (100) receives a port hopping indication, wherein the port hopping indication is used to indicate the at least one first antenna port and its associated transmission period and its associated first subset resources, and at least one second antenna port for transmitting the at least one first reference signal and its associated transmission period and its associated second subset resources, wherein the at least one second antenna port and the at least one first antenna port are associated with different transmission periods, wherein the first subset resources occupy a first subset of symbols in the first symbol set and a first subset of subcarriers in the first subcarrier set, and the second subset resources occupy a second subset of symbols in the first symbol set and a second subset of subcarriers in the first subcarrier set.

28. The terminal device (110) according to any one of claims 25 to 27, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the one or more first resources (101) and one or more second resources, the at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal are sent to the network device (100), wherein the one or more second resources are used to send or receive the at least one second reference signal, and wherein the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation.

29. The terminal device (110) according to claims 28 and 27, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the port switching indication, the terminal device (110) is also sent at least one first reference signal and at least one second reference signal.

30. The terminal device (110) according to any one of claims 25 to 27, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the one or more first resources (101) and one or more second resources, the network device (100) receives the at least one first reference signal and the at least one second reference signal, wherein the one or more second resources are used to transmit or receive the at least one second reference signal, and wherein the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation; and Channel estimation is performed based on at least one received first reference signal and at least one received second reference signal to obtain a phase-denoised channel estimate.

31. The terminal device (110) according to claims 30 and 27, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the port switching indication, the terminal device (110) also receives the at least one first reference signal and the at least one second reference signal.

32. The terminal device (110) according to any one of claims 25 to 31, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the one or more first resources (101), the one or more second resources and the one or more third resources, the network device (100) sends the at least one first reference signal, the at least one second reference signal and the at least one third reference signal, wherein the one or more third resources are used to send or receive the at least one third reference signal, and wherein the at least one third reference signal is used for phase noise estimation based on channel estimation.

33. The terminal device (110) according to claims 32 and 27, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the port switching indication, the terminal device (110) is also sent at least one first reference signal, at least one second reference signal and at least one third reference signal.

34. The terminal device (110) according to any one of claims 25 to 31, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the one or more first resources (101), the one or more second resources, and the one or more third resources, the network device (100) receives the at least one first reference signal, the at least one second reference signal, and at least one third reference signal, wherein the one or more third resources are used to transmit or receive the at least one third reference signal, and wherein the at least one third reference signal is used for phase noise estimation based on channel estimation; and Channel estimation or joint channel and phase noise estimation is performed based on at least one received first reference signal, at least one received second reference signal, and at least one received third reference signal.

35. The terminal device (110) according to claims 34 and 27, characterized in that, Used for: Based on the port switching indication, the terminal device (110) also receives the at least one first reference signal, the at least one second reference signal, and the at least one third reference signal.

36. The terminal device (110) according to claim 34 or 35, characterized in that, In order to perform the channel estimation, the terminal device (110) is configured to: The channel is estimated based on measurements associated with the at least one first reference signal and the at least one second reference signal to obtain a first channel estimate after phase denoising; as well as Phase noise is estimated based on measurements associated with the at least one third reference signal and the first channel estimation. as well as Optionally, the channel phase can be further denoised based on the estimated phase noise to obtain the channel estimation result.

37. The terminal device (110) according to any one of claims 32 to 36, characterized in that, The at least one third reference signal is a phase tracking reference signal.

38. The terminal device (110) according to any one of claims 28 to 37, characterized in that, The at least one second reference signal includes one of the following: Demodulation reference signal; Channel state information reference signal; Detect reference signal.

39. The terminal device (110) according to any one of claims 25 to 38, characterized in that, Used for: A request is sent to the network device (100), wherein the request indicates that the one or more first resources (101) will be allocated for the at least one first reference signal.

40. A method performed by a network device (100), characterized in that, The method includes: Based on one or more second resources of at least one second reference signal, one or more first resources are determined for at least one first reference signal (101), wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising, and the at least one second reference signal is used for channel estimation; and Resource configuration information (102) is provided to the terminal device (110), wherein the resource configuration information (102) indicates one or more first resources (101) for sending or receiving the at least one first reference signal.

41. A method executed by a terminal device (110), characterized in that, The method includes: Receive resource configuration information (102) from network device (100), wherein the resource configuration information (102) indicates one or more first resources (101) for transmitting or receiving at least one first reference signal, wherein the at least one first reference signal is used for channel phase denoising.

42. A computer program product including program code, characterized in that, The program code is used to execute the method according to claim 40 or 41 when implemented on a processor.

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