Calibration for Wireless Communication Networks Background of the Invention

Abstract

An antenna circuit for a wireless node is disclosed, the antenna circuit being connected or connectable to and / or included in an antenna arrangement comprising a plurality of antenna sub-arrays, the antenna circuit being adapted to connect each of a plurality of digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and / or analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to a different one of the plurality of antenna sub-arrays for transmission of signals, the antenna circuit comprising a calibration network, the calibration network being adapted to provide signaling from one or more of the DACs to one or more of the ADCs. The present disclosure also relates to related devices and methods.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to wireless communication techniques, especially for high frequencies. [Background technology]

[0002] For high frequency communications, large antenna arrays having many subarrays and / or many individual antenna elements (eg, 1024 or more) are important.

[0003] For example, different configurations of subarrays may be used depending on the use case (eg, SU-MIMO or MU-MIMO). Summary of the Invention

[0004] The object of the present disclosure is to provide an improved approach to handle wireless communication, especially with respect to the calibration of antenna circuits. The described approach is particularly suitable for millimeter wave communication, especially for radio carrier frequencies around and / or above 24 GHz and / or 52.6 GHz, which are considered to be high radio frequency (high frequency) and / or millimeter wave. The carrier frequency(es) may be between 24 GHz (or) 52.6 GHz and 140 GHz, for example with lower borders at 24 GHz, 52.6 GHz, 55 GHz, 60 GHz, 71 GHz, and / or with higher borders at 71 GHz, 72 GHz, 90 GHz, 114 GHz, 140 GHz or higher, especially between 55 GHz and 90 GHz or between 60 GHz and 72 GHz, but with higher side frequencies especially considered to be 71 GHz or 72 GHz or higher, and / or 100 GHz or higher, and / or 140 GHz or higher. The carrier frequency may especially refer to the center frequency or highest frequency of the carrier. The wireless nodes and / or networks described herein may operate in a wideband, e.g., with a carrier bandwidth of 1 GHz or more, or 2 GHz or more, or even higher, e.g., up to 6.2 GHz, or up to 8 GHz, and the scheduled or assigned bandwidth may be the carrier bandwidth or may be smaller, e.g., depending on the channel and / or procedure. In some cases, operation may be based on OFDM waveforms or SC-FDM waveforms (e.g., downlink and / or uplink), in particular FDF-SC-FDM based waveforms. However, operation based on single carrier waveforms, e.g., SC-FDE (e.g., may be pulse shaped or frequency domain filtered based on modulation scheme and / or MGS), may be considered for downlink and / or uplink. In general, different waveforms may be used for different communication directions.Communicating using or utilizing a carrier and / or beam may correspond to using or utilizing a carrier and / or beam and / or may include transmitting on the carrier and / or beam and / or receiving on the carrier and / or beam. The operations may be based on and / or associated with a numerology that may indicate a subcarrier spacing and / or duration of an allocation unit and / or its equivalent, for example, compared to an OFDM-based system. The subcarrier spacing or equivalent frequency spacing may correspond, for example, to 960 kHz or more, or 1920 kHz or more, and may represent, for example, a subcarrier or equivalent bandwidth.

[0005] The approaches are particularly advantageously implemented in future sixth generation (6G) telecommunications networks or 6G radio access technologies or networks (RAT / RAN), particularly according to 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project, a standards body). Any RAN may be, in particular, a NR-based RAN, e.g., Release 18 or later, or LTE Evolution. However, these approaches may also be used with other RATs, e.g., future 5.5G systems or IEEE-based systems.

[0006] The approaches described herein may provide cost savings, for example, due to not needing additional switches and power combiners / splitters to switch between different ADC / DAC combinations in different modes, facilitating quick switching between operating modes (number of subarrays with different signaling and / or targets).

[0007] An antenna circuit for a wireless node is disclosed. The antenna circuit is connected or connectable to and / or included in an antenna arrangement comprising a plurality of antenna subarrays. The antenna circuit is adapted to connect each of a plurality of digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and / or analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to a different one of the plurality of antenna subarrays for transmitting a signal. The antenna circuit comprises a calibration network, the calibration network adapted to provide signaling from one or more of the DACs to one or more of the ADCs.

[0008] The calibration network may comprise one or more combining units or combiners adapted to provide and / or combine signaling from connections between the DACs and the subarrays or the ADCs and the subarrays (the combining units or combiners may provide and / or feed signaling to the ADCs and / or associated receive lines) and / or may be connected or connectable to one or more combining units or combiners. The number of DACs may be an even integer, e.g., 4 or 8. The number of ADCs may be an even integer, e.g., 4 or 8. The number of DACs may be the same as the number of ADCs. The DACs may provide analog signals based on digital signals (e.g., from digital processing) for transmission by the associated subarray. The ADCs may provide digital signals based on the analog signals for reception and / or for digital processing. The signaling provided from one or more of the DACs to one or more of the ADCs may be provided internally to the antenna circuit, e.g., via one or more combining units and / or one or more conductive lines or connections. The calibration network may include one or more combiners, which may be controllable to combine signaling from one or more feeds. For example, the combiner(s) may combine signaling from one or more transmit feeds and / or may combine one or more receive feeds, for example, to receive signaling from one or more transmit feeds.

[0009] The calibration network may include one or more feeds that may provide externally coupled signaling via one or more combining units. The signaling may be calibration signaling and / or an IF (Intermediate Frequency) representation of the signaling, for example before conversion to the RF domain. The combining units or combiners may operate on the IF and / or the IF signaling representation.

[0010] The calibration network may be controllable by circuits that are part of the calibration network, and / or by processing circuits and / or antenna circuits, and / or by the radio node. In general, signaling provided using and / or provided by and / or through the calibration network may be coupled (e.g., using a combining unit or combiner) from one or more transmission lines, e.g., may represent a copy of the signaling on the transmission line, and / or may be induced by the signaling. Signaling provided using and / or through the calibration network may be coupled and / or fed (e.g., using a combining unit / or coupler / ) to one or more receive lines. Signaling may be transmitted by the sub-array, e.g., as an RF representation after IF to RF conversion.

[0011] The connection between the DAC and the subarray may be represented by a transmission line for transmission of signaling by the subarray utilizing an antenna circuit (also referred to as a TX IF path) and / or the connection between the ADC and the subarray may be represented by a reception line for reception of signaling by the subarray utilizing an antenna circuit (also referred to as a RX IF path). The transmission line may comprise a diode that blocks signaling to the DAC and / or the LPF. The reception line may include a diode that blocks signaling from the ADC and / or the LPF. The transmission line and / or the reception line may include one or more filters and / or one or more electronic processing components, for example for IF processing.

[0012] The calibration network can be considered to be controllable to provide signaling from one DAC to multiple ADCs, e.g., all ADCs and / or an even number of ADCs, e.g., in a first calibration mode. The signaling may be provided in the (first) calibration mode, which may be controlled and / or switched on by the antenna circuitry and / or the processing circuitry and / or the radio node.

[0013] In a variant, the calibration network may be controllable to provide signaling from multiple DACs to one ADC, e.g. from all DACs and / or from an even number of DACs, e.g. in a second calibration mode. The signaling may be provided in the (second) calibration mode, which may be controlled and / or switched on by the antenna circuitry and / or the processing circuitry and / or the radio node.

[0014] The antenna circuit and / or the radio node and / or the calibration unit may be considered to be adapted to perform the calibration by utilizing the calibration network. Performing the calibration may generally include compensating for phase deviations and / or time delay deviations and / or amplitude deviations (of the ADCs and / or DACs and / or of the connections between the ADCs and / or DACs and the subarrays) determined by utilizing the calibration network. This may allow for improved signal quality.

[0015] The antenna circuit may be adapted to perform the calibration based on a reference calibration, which may for example indicate characteristics of the TX IF path and / or the RX IF path and / or the ADC and / or the DAC under controlled conditions, in particular a controlled and / or fixed temperature.

[0016] The antenna circuitry may be considered to be adapted to perform the calibration based on calibration signaling transmitted by means of the antenna circuitry, the calibration signaling being transmitted via one or more transmission lines.

[0017] In some variations, the antenna circuitry may provide intermediate frequency (IF) signal processing, particularly with the transmit line(s) and / or receive line(s), such that IF distortion on received and transmitted signaling (during operation and / or for communication) may be improved.

[0018] In general, the ADC / DAC may be part of the antenna circuitry, e.g., on one and the same substrate, or may represent a different circuit, e.g., on a different substrate, such that it is connected or connectable to the antenna circuitry.

[0019] Each DAC may be associated with a different one of the subarrays, and / or each ADC may be associated with a different one of the subarrays. A subarray may include one or more sub-subarrays, e.g., two sub-subarrays for different polarizations for wireless signaling. The ADC and / or DAC may be adjustable and / or controllable, e.g., to compensate for deviations and / or to be calibrated. In some cases, performing the calibration may include adapting processing to compensate, e.g., in the digital domain and / or analog domain, e.g., in a processing circuit and / or antenna circuit and / or wireless node.

[0020] The antenna circuit and / or the calibration network and / or the wireless node may be adapted to perform the calibration based on a schedule and / or a temperature drift and / or a temperature measurement. Thus, a suitable calibration may be performed.

[0021] A radio node for a wireless communication network is considered, the radio node comprising an antenna circuit as described herein. The radio node may be a signaling radio node or network node, or a feedback radio node or device.

[0022] A method of operating a wireless node is also proposed. The wireless node is a wireless node as described herein. The method comprises performing a calibration using a calibration network. In general, an antenna circuit may comprise multiple calibration networks connected or connectable to different antenna arrangements or arrays, and / or different groups of subarrays, and / or different groups of DACs and / or ADCs, and / or different antenna panels. The number of ADCs and / or DACs may correspond to the number of (smallest) subarrays of the antenna arrangement.

[0023] The calibration signaling may cover one or multiple allocation units and / or may be based on OFDM or SC-FDM or another waveform. In some cases, the calibration signaling transmitted by a transmit sub-array (or sub-sub-array) may cover one symbol time interval and / or allocation unit, which may enable quick calibration. The calibration signaling may cover a frequency domain bandwidth, e.g., narrower than the system bandwidth or carrier bandwidth, and / or cover several subcarriers and / or PRBs, which may not be larger than the system bandwidth or carrier bandwidth divided by the number of LOs and / or the number of subarrays.

[0024] The antenna arrangement may include one or more panels, in particular one panel on which all the sub-arrays and / or sub-sub-arrays may be arranged. Different sub-arrays and / or sub-sub-arrays may be associated with different ADCs and / or DACs and / or LOs, and paired sub-sub-arrays may be considered to be associated with the same ADCs and / or DACs and / or LOs (local oscillators), e.g. (sub)sub-arrays of different polarizations may be paired.

[0025] Each DAC and / or ADC may be connected or connectable to two subarrays (or sub-subarrays), which may be associated with signaling of different polarizations. The use of different polarizations facilitates multi-layer transmission. In general, each subarray may be associated with an ADC and a DAC, which may be considered to be paired and / or associated with each other.

[0026] The reference calibration may be, for example, a factory calibration and / or may be temperature controlled. Information representative of the reference calibration may be used to perform the calibration.

[0027] Performing the calibration may comprise transmitting calibration signaling by different sub-arrays and / or sub-sub-arrays, and it may be considered that different calibration signaling may be transmitted by different sub-arrays and / or sub-sub-arrays. Different transmissions of (sub)sub-arrays may therefore be used. The different calibration signaling may differ with respect to at least one signaling characteristic, e.g., resource and / or shift and / or sequence and / or OCC and / or polarization. The different signaling may be transmitted at different times (e.g., over different symbols, e.g., several adjacent symbols) or simultaneously. It should be noted that the same sequence may be transmitted at different times as the different calibration signaling when transmitted by different sub-arrays and / or sub-sub-arrays. Each calibration signaling may be received by a different ADC and / or receiver n-chain (e.g., one of the two receive sub-arrays or sub-sub-arrays may be a transmit sub-array or sub-sub-array). The DACs may be considered part of and / or represent a transmitter chain, and the ADCs may be considered part of and / or represent a receiver chain, with different ADCs being part of and / or representing different separate receiver chains, and / or different DACs being part of and / or representing different separate transmitter chains.

[0028] It may be considered that the calibration signaling may be and / or correspond to a reference signaling, in particular a reference signaling defined for communication. Such a reference signaling may thus be reused, avoiding introducing new signaling. In particular, it may correspond to DM-RS or synchronization signaling, and / or beam or user-specific signaling, e.g. CSI-RS. The calibration signaling may be beamformed or transmitted omnidirectionally.

[0029] One or each subarray (and / or sub-subarray) may be capable of duplex operation, e.g., capable of transmitting and receiving simultaneously, e.g., by having independently operable transmitter and receiver chains.

[0030] The LO may generally provide timing and / or phase and / or frequency for the associated sub-array and / or sub-sub-array and / or circuitry or components. The LO may have associated and / or connected DACs and / or ADCs and / or transmitter chains and / or receiver chains. Different DACs and / or ADCs and / or transmitter chains and / or receiver chains may be associated and / or connected to different LOs. The wireless node may be adapted to communicate based on the calibration and / or to switch between SU-MIMO and / or MU-MIMO and / or to operate based on various sub-array configurations and / or combinations. Each sub-array and / or sub-sub-array and / or associated circuitry, e.g., BFIC, may be adapted for beamforming, in particular analog beamforming. The calibration may include synchronizing the LO and / or performing phase correction for one or more LOs, e.g., based on a reference calibration. The antenna arrangement (antenna device) may represent an antenna array and / or may be adapted for SDM and / or FDM of different sub-arrays.

[0031] The antenna circuitry may include one or more transmitter and / or receiver chains, and / or one or more components such as ADCs, and / or DACs, and / or LOs, and / or BFICs, and / or filters, and / or mixers, and / or power amplifiers, and / or PGAs, and / or phase shifters.

[0032] A signaling characteristic of a message or signaling may represent and / or include one or more parameters or characteristics associated with the signaling and / or message.

[0033] Examples include message format, time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources and / or sequence and / or content and / or power level and / or duration and / or size (e.g., in bits or resources, e.g., resource elements) and / or encoding and / or modulation and / or scrambling. It may be considered that the reference signaling may represent one or more signaling sequences. The sequence may be spread, for example, over one or more symbol time intervals and / or allocation units. Different sequences (e.g., shifted but based on the same sequence root and / or based on different roots) may be used, or one sequence may be repeated multiple times, and different sequences may have the same length or different lengths.

[0034] Thus, flexible reference signaling with optimized orthogonalization may be provided.

[0035] Each piece of signaling may be associated with one instance or occurrence of the sequence.

[0036] The reference signaling may cover one or more symbol time intervals or allocation units. The time domain location may be before or after the random access message, e.g., before or after a scheduled data channel transmission, e.g., PDSCH.

[0037] In general, the reference signaling may be repetitive and / or may include multiple instances of the same or different reference signals or signaling sequences. The number of instances may be represented by the number of repetitions (0 may indicate only one instance or transmission, N may indicate N+l total instances or transmissions). In some cases, a different counting scheme may be used, e.g., N indicates the total number of instances or transmissions. The number of instances may be 2, or 4, or 6, or 9, or 16, and / or may correspond to several parts of the reference signaling, and / or to the number of available receive beams (e.g., according to the WD capabilities), and / or to several different transmit beams. In some cases, e.g., for optimized reception, two or more instances may be associated with the same transmit beam and / or receive beam.

[0038] The reference signaling may be target-specific signaling (e.g., associated with a beam carrying synchronization signaling) and / or beam-specific signaling. In particular, the reference signaling may represent and / or carry a CSI-RS, or a beam tracking RS, or synchronization signaling, e.g., according to a sequence or modulation symbol or waveform used.

[0039] The parameters and / or signaling characteristics of the reference signaling may include instances (e.g., number of RSs and / or repetitions or instances) and / or sequences. In general, a reference signaling configuration may indicate and / or represent one or more of such parameters or signaling characteristics. The configuration may be based on cell ID and / or (broadcast signaling, e.g., system information in SIB1) and / or may be UE-specific configured or indicated. Measurement reports or feedback may be transmitted as UCI or SCI. In general, the calibration signaling and / or reference signaling may be scheduled and / or transmitted in a TDD DL period, e.g., at or before the end of a CORESET or control region (e.g., CORESET 0), and / or may be dynamically scheduled by a control information message, e.g., before or after a data channel signaling.

[0040] A wireless device and / or feedback wireless node (a wireless device may be considered an example of a feedback wireless node) may generally comprise and / or be adapted to utilize processing circuits and / or radio circuits, in particular a transmitter and / or a transceiver and / or a receiver, to process (e.g., trigger and / or schedule) and / or transmit and / or receive signaling, such as data signaling and / or control signaling and / or reference signaling, and / or perform beam switching. A feedback wireless node may be adapted to monitor multiple search spaces and / or may be configured or configurable with multiple search spaces. A wireless device or feedback wireless node may be implemented as a terminal or UE, but in some cases may also be implemented as a network node, such as a base station or relay node or IAB node, in particular for providing a mobile termination (MT) function for such. In general, a radio device of a feedback radio node may comprise and / or be adapted for and / or be connectable to transmit or receive diversity, and / or comprise antenna circuitry, and / or two or more independently operable or controllable antenna arrays or arrangements, and / or transmitter circuitry and / or antenna circuitry, and / or use multiple antenna ports (e.g., simultaneously), e.g., control transmission or reception using an antenna array, and / or utilize and / or operate and / or control and / or be connectable to two or more transmission sources. A feedback radio node may comprise (and / or be connected or connectable to) multiple components and / or transmitters and / or transmission sources and / or TRPs and / or be adapted to control transmission and / or reception from such components.As described herein, any combination of units and / or devices capable of controlling transmission over the air interface and / or over the air may be considered a transmitting radio node. The radio device may be adapted to perform calibration based on received control signaling.

[0041] The signaling radio node and / or the network node (a network node may be considered as an example of a signaling radio node) may comprise and / or be adapted to utilize processing circuits and / or radio circuits, in particular receivers and / or transmitters and / or transceivers, for transmitting and / or processing and / or receiving (e.g., receiving and / or demodulating and / or decoding and / or performing and / or scheduling or triggering) data signaling and / or control signaling and / or reference signaling, in particular in the first signaling and the second signaling. In some cases, the signaling radio node may be a network node or a base station or a TRP, or may be an IAB node or a relay node, and may provide, for example, control level functions, such as, for example, DU and / or CU functions. In some cases, for example in a sidelink scenario, the signaling radio node may be implemented as a wireless device or a terminal or a UE. The signaling radio node or network node may comprise one or more independently operable or controllable receiving circuits and / or antenna circuits, and / or may utilize and / or be configured to operate to receive simultaneously and / or separately (in the time domain) from one or more transmission sources, and / or may be configured to operate (e.g., receive) using two or more antenna ports simultaneously, and / or may be connectable and / or configured with multiple independently operable or controllable antennas or antenna arrays or sub-arrays. The signaling radio node may be adapted to transmit control signaling to indicate calibration to the wireless device to perform the calibration.

[0042] The receiving may include, for example, scanning a frequency range (e.g., carrier) for reference signaling and / or control signaling at a specific location in the time / frequency domain (e.g., predefined and / or configured), which may depend on the carrier and / or system bandwidth. Such location(s) may correspond to one or more locations or resource allocations that are configured, indicated, scheduled, or assigned to the feedback wireless node, e.g., dynamically scheduled or configured, e.g., with DCI and / or RRC signaling, for transmission or reception on resources assigned for data signaling or reference signaling or control signaling. The measuring may include sampling one or more reference signaling and / or symbols thereof and / or monitoring resources or resource elements associated with the reference signaling and / or determining a measurement result, e.g., based on the sampling and / or measuring. The measurements may relate to and / or include determining one or more parameters (e.g., represented by measurement results), e.g., signaling strength (especially RSRP or received energy) and / or signal quality. The measurements in a set of measurements and / or measurement results may relate to (e.g., the same or equivalent) beams or beam pairs or QCL identifiers, and the measurement report may relate to one or more beams or beam pairs or QCL identifiers, e.g., represent a selection of multiple (best) beams or combinations. For calibration, the calibration network may provide signaling from one or more transmit lines to one or more receive lines without receiving RF signaling internally (of the antenna circuit).

[0043] An allocation unit may be considered to be associated with a type of signaling, such as reference signaling or control signaling or data signaling, if it carries at least one component of the associated signaling, e.g., reference signaling or control signaling or data signaling (e.g., if a component of the control signaling is transmitted on the allocation unit). In particular, an allocation unit may be considered to be associated with a control channel or a data channel, if the control channel or the data channel carries one or more bits of the channel and / or an associated error code and / or such is transmitted in the allocation unit. An allocation unit may in particular represent a time interval, e.g., a block symbol or duration of SC-FDM symbols, or OFDM symbols or equivalent, and / or may be based on a numerology used for synchronization signaling, and / or may represent a predefined time interval. The duration (in the time domain) of an allocation unit may be associated with a bandwidth in the frequency domain, e.g., a subcarrier spacing or equivalent, e.g., a minimum available bandwidth and / or a bandwidth allocation unit. Signaling across an allocation unit can be thought of as corresponding to the signaling being transmitted (or received) at the allocation unit and / or the allocation unit (time interval) carrying the signaling. The transmission of signaling and the reception of signaling may be related in time by the path travel delay required for the signaling to travel from the transmitter to the receiver (the general placement in time may be assumed to be constant and the path delay / multipath effects have a limited effect on the general placement of the signaling in the time domain).Allocation units associated with different control signaling, e.g., a first control signaling and a second control signaling, may be considered to be associated with and / or correspond to each other if they correspond to the same number of allocation units within a control transmission time interval and / or if they are synchronized with each other and / or are simultaneous, e.g., in two simultaneous transmissions. Similar reasoning may relate to the control transmission time interval, where the same interval for two signalings may be an interval having the same number and / or relative position within a frame or timing structure associated with each signaling.

[0044] The local oscillator (LO) may include and / or be represented by, for example, a PLL, or a VCO (voltage controlled oscillator). Receiving calibration signaling (e.g., by a sub-array or sub-sub-array) may include, for example, monitoring a particular signaling based on a sequence and / or a time / frequency resource and / or a shift and / or an OCC associated with the calibration signaling. Different calibration signaling may be orthogonal or quasi-orthogonal. The signaling may have a waveform based on OFDM, or SC-FDM, or another scheme, for example a single carrier.

[0045] A DFT-s-OFDM based waveform may be, for example, a waveform constructed by performing a DFT spreading operation on modulation symbols mapped to frequency intervals (e.g., subcarriers) to provide a time-varying signal. A DFT-s-OFDM based waveform may also be referred to as an SC-FDM waveform. It may be considered to provide good PAPR characteristics and enable optimized operation of power amplifiers, especially for high frequencies. In general, the approaches described herein may also be applicable to single-carrier based waveforms, e.g., FDE-based waveforms. For example, communications on the data channel(s) and / or control channel(s) may be based on and / or utilize a DFT-s-OFDM based waveform, or a single-carrier based waveform.

[0046] Also described are program products including instructions for causing a processing circuit and / or antenna circuit to control and / or perform the methods described herein. Additionally, carrier media devices carrying and / or storing the program products described herein are contemplated. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0047] The drawings are provided to illustrate the concepts and approaches described herein and are not intended to limit the scope thereof.

[0048] [Figure 1] (a)-(d) show example scenarios for using MIMO and / or AAS.

[0049] [Diagram 2] illustrates an exemplary calibration scenario.

[0050] [Figure 3a] 3 illustrates an exemplary calibration method as a flow chart. [Figure 3b] 3 illustrates an exemplary calibration method as a flow chart.

[0051] [Figure 4a] 3 illustrates an exemplary calibration method as a flow chart. [Figure 4b] 3 illustrates an exemplary calibration method as a flow chart. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0052] One approach to improve system performance of wireless communication systems is to use advanced antenna systems (AAS). Phased (and / or time-delay) controlled antenna arrays allow beamforming of transmitted and received signaling (RF signals), which may be used to increase reliability, provide low latency, and / or improve capacity and / or coverage. An AAS radio node (utilizing and / or including and / or connected to an AAS) may comprise essentially equal or similar receiver and transmitter chains "N" (N1). To control the relative phase between RF signals in the array, several different techniques are available. These may include, for example, analog beamforming, where the RF or LO signals (used for up / down conversion of the desired signal) may be delayed / phase shifted, digital beamforming, where the desired signal (example of an OFDM modulated signal) may be digitally phase shifted in the time or frequency domain, and hybrid beamforming, which may represent a mix of analog and digital beamforming.

[0053] Analog beamforming may be used for higher frequency systems (e.g., 24 GHz). To obtain support for V-polarized and H-polarized antennas (vertical and horizontal, other combinations may be considered) in MU-MIMO, two layers may be used to provide, and if more are required, the antenna array may be split into smaller (sub)arrays. Typically, two subarrays can be used to transmit / receive four layers, and four subarrays can be used to transmit / receive eight layers (also known as SDM). Another reason for splitting the antenna array into subarrays may be to split the frequency spectrum to multiple users (also known as FDM). When splitting the antenna array into subarrays in MU-MIMO mode (an example of a subarray), individual DACs and ADCs can be used for each subarray. In SU-MIMO mode (only two layers), the full array (the entirety of the antenna array) is assigned to one user (assuming here that the user does 2x2 MIMO). In this mode, two ADCs / DACs may be used for the full array. A switch network and power splitter / combiner may be utilized that determines which DAC / ADC are used in MU-MIMO and SU-MIMO modes. By using only the same DACs and ADCs in SU-MIMO, it is easy to generate coherent signals on all antenna elements. There is no coherency requirement between these converters.

[0054] The IF switch network and power splitters increase costs and may attenuate the IF signal. Also, switching between SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO modes takes time. When using only one ADC and DAC in SU-MIMO, the signal strength (e.g., 6 dB DR) may suffer a loss compared to using all ADC(s) and DAC(s).

[0055] In addition to using one dedicated DAC and / or ADC per subarray, the antenna array may also be split into one array for horizontal polarization and one array for vertical polarization.

[0056] In general, a calibration or action or parameter (e.g., phase difference) referring to a sub-array and / or sub-sub-array and / or ADC or DAC may be considered to refer to any of them, and / or the transmitter chain and / or the receiver chain and / or the transceiver chain, and / or the LO associated therewith. Each LO or PLL may be considered to be associated with a particular ADC and / or DAC, and different LOs or PLLs may be associated with different DACs and / or different ADCs, or vice versa. Calibration and / or compensation between sub-arrays may refer to calibration and / or compensation between circuits and / or components associated with and / or connected or connectable to the sub-arrays, particularly the ADCs and / or DACs.

[0057] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary scenario in which one antenna arrangement 10, representing an antenna array and / or AAS, may be used in different configurations to communicate with different numbers of user equipments 100 using different beams B. In this example, analog beamforming is used to generate beams B, each beam being generated or associated with one subarray of the antenna arrangement 10. FIG. 1(a)-(d) illustrate different operation modes of the antenna array, between which it is possible to dynamically switch. In a), the entire antenna array 10 is used as one subarray to generate one beam (SU-MIMO case). b)-d) illustrate another MU-MiMO scenario in which different configurations are used for the subarrays of the antenna array. There may be configurations of minimum subarrays (e.g., d), each subarray being a minimum separately controllable subarray, e.g., associated with a transmitter and / or receiver and / or transceiver chain, and / or PLL, and / or ADC / DAC, and / or local oscillator such as a power amplifier (PA). In general, a (smallest) sub-array may include antenna elements that are connected or connectable to and / or controlled and / or controllable by the same ADC and / or DAC and / or power amplifier and / or LO or PLL.

[0058] In particular, Fig. 1 illustrates dynamic switching between SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO for a 4-subarray AAS analog beamforming radio, where the beam may be dual polarized, for example, by using sub-subarrays of different polarization. Fig. 1a) illustrates how a full array 10 is used to serve one UE 100, while Figs. 1b)-d) illustrate the case where 2, 3, and 4 UEs 100 are served simultaneously by splitting the array 10 into different subarray configurations. Transmission and / or communication may be based, among other things, on using SDM and / or FDM between the different subarrays.

[0059] In general, a subarray may comprise and / or consist of two sub-subarrays, one for each of two different polarizations, e.g., H and V. In general, a subarray may be associated with (e.g., associated with and / or represented by) a LO or PLL, and / or a BFIC and / or a DAC and / or an ADC, and / or a transmitter chain and / or a receiver chain. A BFIC may include an LNA, and / or a PA, and / or a phase shifter, and / or a PGA, and / or a combiner / splitter, and / or may include an ADC and / or a DAC, and / or may be associated with an ADC and / or a DAC. In general, a DAC may be associated with a transmit function and / or a transmitter chain, and / or an ADC may be associated with a receive function and / or a receiver chain.

[0060] To perform multiplexing between information layers, it may be considered to perform signal multiplexing in the digital domain. Mode switching may now be implemented in the digital domain, which allows for time-precise switching. For example, if the signal MUX is implemented in the digital domain, approaches are discussed for determining and / or controlling the phase, amplitude, and time synchronization of the DAC / ADC(s) in SU-MIMO mode. This may be necessary, for example, when temperature changes may change, for example, the anti-aliasing filter group delay. In general, the antenna circuit may be considered to comprise and / or provide a direct connection between the ADC(s) / DAC(s) and the corresponding subarray, for example, one ADC and / or DAC per subarray or pair of sub-subarrays.

[0061] It is proposed to use a calibration network that leaks signals from all DACs to one ADC and from one DAC to all ADCs. If, for example, an over-the-air calibration at RF indicates that the beams between the subarrays are coherent, it may be considered to calibrate the calibration network by recording the measured phase, amplitude, and delay.

[0062] The approach described herein provides the possibility to switch array sizes within a short timescale, e.g., in the cyclic prefix between two symbols (when using a waveform with a cyclic prefix). Thus, even when switching between modes (as shown in FIG. 1), all symbols may be used for communication. The calibration network can be compensated and / or corrected during run-time and / or can eliminate adverse effects due to temperature drift. The calibration network does not need to be designed to be perfectly symmetrical, since it is calibrated at a reference calibration, such as a factory calibration, e.g., by observing the RF signal over the air.

[0063] FIG. 2 shows an exemplary antenna circuit for IF processing, as an example. A coupling or calibration network is provided between the four DACs and the four ADCs, looping the IF signal from one DAC to the four ADC(s) and from the four DAC(s) to one ADC. Other numbers are possible. In particular, FIG. 2 shows an exemplary antenna circuit 200 with a calibration network. Lines 210, 220 may be connected to the RF ADC and DAC (the ADC(s) and DAC(s) for RF are together referred to as 260) and to the subarray 202, also referred to as PAAM 1. Line 210 represents a receive (RX) line, and line 220 represents a transmit (TX) line, which are represented according to the LPFs and diodes shown within the lines. The signaling on line 210 may be coupled to feed RXcal1 by a combining unit (or combiner) and output, and the signaling on line 220 may be coupled to feed TXcal1 by a combining unit and output. Similarly, lines 212, 222 are arranged to different DACs and ADCs and subarray 204, as are lines 214, 224 to subarray 206 and lines 216, 226 to subarray 208. RX feeds RXcal2, ..., RXcal4 and transmit feeds TXcal2, ..., TXcal4 to the calibration network are also provided. Calibration network 250 includes a combining stage that can combine transmit feeds TXcal1, TXcal2, TXcal3, and TXcal4 and receive feeds RXcal1, RXcal2, RXcal3, and RXcal4. The combining stage may be adapted or controllable to combine one or more of the transmit feeds and / or one or more of the receive feeds, for example, to provide signaling from one DAC or one transmit line to multiple (e.g., four) ADCs and / or to provide signaling from multiple DACs or transmit lines (e.g., four) to one ADC.

[0064] The antenna array may include a first (left) array component and a second (right) array component. Each subarray of the array component may be connected to a different PLL or LO and / or ADC and DAC, and each DAC and / or DAC may be considered to be associated with one subarray of each array component. In particular, subarrays associated with the same ADC and / or DAC may be for orthogonal polarizations (e.g., H and V, respectively) and may be considered as sub-subarrays of the associated subarray.

[0065] In general, calibration signaling may be transmitted such that each transmitter (e.g., subarray) transmits unique signaling, e.g., a unique OFDM signal per transmitting element, representing a different subarray, each transmitting different (calibration) signaling. The left and right array components may be physically separated, so that noise from the PA(s) in one array component cannot reach the other, or can reach only at a small level.

[0066] In general, the MUX may be placed between the DAC / LPF (or BPF) (for the IF signal) and the upconversion from IF to RF, which facilitates scaling between the number of simultaneous information layers and the EIRP / EIS (i.e., maximum cell size). Alternative locations for multiplexing between information layers may be considered. The beamforming may be analog beamforming (e.g., a phase shifter before the PA), but the same principles apply to hybrid and digital beamforming. The digital mux (digital multiplexer) may be placed both before and after the IFFT block, or in different parts within the DFE. The mux may be placed, for example, between the DFE and the DAC, or between the "modulation" and IFFT functions.

[0067] During the execution of a reference calibration, e.g., a factory calibration, the temperature of the DUT may be kept constant. By measuring the delay, phase, and amplitude of the IF coupling network, a reference delay, phase, and amplitude may be obtained, assuming that all subarrays are time, phase, and amplitude aligned (e.g., determined by OTA measurements). During run-time (operation of the radio node), different DACs / ADCs may change and / or have different temperatures. By making scheduled or periodic measurements of the delay, phase, and amplitude for the IF coupling network and comparing them with values ​​obtained during factory calibration (e.g., reference values ​​for the TX IF and RX IF paths), phase, delay, or amplitude drift may be detected and then compensation may be performed. Run-time measurements or calibrations of the IF network may be triggered by temperature changes or may be performed periodically. In general, the stored and / or saved data or information may be stored in the DUT and / or transferred to the operational radio node.

[0068] The methods described herein may be performed for or by the antenna circuitry and / or the radio node and / or the calibration network and may be adapted accordingly, for example using suitable circuitry providing the required control functionality.

[0069] FIG. 3 shows an approach to calibration using a calibration network. FIG. 3a) shows an example of a reference calibration, e.g., a factory calibration. After the start-up initialization "start,X=0" is performed, a counter X may be incremented by "X=X+1" in action A10. A calibration of the subarray X may be performed, e.g., based on OTA measurements, by performing "calibrate phase and amplitude of each antenna in subarray X" in action A12. Corresponding information may be stored and / or saved in the beam table by performing "store in BFIC beam table (phase and gain)" in action A14. It may be determined whether all subarrays have been calibrated by performing "last subarray?" in action A16. If not, it may loop back to A10. If so, it may branch to action A18. Other forms of looping on the subarrays, and / or parallel processing may be considered. Calibration and / or compensation between subarrays may be performed by performing "calibrate time delay, phase and amplitude between subarrays" in action A18. By "save DFE / DAC / ADC compensation values ​​(delay, phase and gain)" in action A20, the corresponding compensation values ​​(e.g., representing differences between DACs / ADCs and / or associated subarrays) may be saved and / or stored. By performing "send calibration signaling on all DACs using an IF calibration network to measure time delay, phase and amplitude for a single ADC" in action A22, calibration signaling may be sent using all DACs and / or subarrays connected to and / or by the calibration network to measure time delay, phase and amplitude for a single ADC, which may be repeated for all ADCs.By performing action A24 "save data as reference data for TX IF path", corresponding information may be stored and / or saved and associated with TX for reference calibration. By performing action A26 "send calibration signaling on one DAC and measure time delay, phase and amplitude for all ADCs using IF calibration network", calibration signaling may be sent using one DAC and time delay, phase and amplitude may be measured. This may be performed for all DACs. By performing action A28 "save data as reference data for RX IF path", corresponding information may be stored and / or saved and associated with RX for reference calibration.

[0070] FIG. 3b) shows an example of run-time calibration using an IF calibration network. After starting, by executing action B10 “using IF calibration network to send calibration signaling on all DACs and measure time delay, phase, and amplitude for single ADC”, calibration signaling may be sent using all DACs and / or all subarrays to measure time delay, phase, and amplitude for single ADC. This may be performed for all ADCs. By executing action B12 “compare delay, phase, and amplitude”, the delay phase and amplitude of ADC(s) may be compared using data stored as reference calibration data for TX, for example, based on B14 “save data as reference data for TX IF path”. This data may be provided from a reference calibration, for example, as shown in FIG. 3a. If a deviation (e.g., relative to one or more thresholds) is determined by executing action B16 “deviation”, the deviation may be compensated, for example, by updating the corresponding values, by executing action B18 “update DFE / DAC compensation values ​​(delay, phase, and gain)”. If no deviation is determined, B18 may branch to B20, as may B16 to B20. By performing action B20 "using an IF calibration network to transmit calibration signaling on one DAC and measure time delay, phase, and amplitude for all ADCs", one DAC and / or subarray may be used to transmit calibration signaling and measure time delay, phase, and amplitude for all ADCs.Based on the measurement, the delay, phase and amplitude may be compared using data based on performing "Compare delay, phase and amplitude" in action B22, e.g., data submitted as reference calibration data for RX, provided from a reference calibration as shown in FIG. 3a) or 4a), based on performing "Save data as reference data for RX IF path" in B24. If a deviation is determined (e.g. according to a threshold value) by performing "Deviation" based on action B22 in action B26, "Update DFE / ADC compensation values ​​(delay, phase and gain)" may be performed in action B28. Different execution orders may be considered for B10 to B16 / 18 and B20 to B26 / 28, and each action may be performed for each ADC or DAC, respectively.

[0071] FIG. 4 shows an alternative method for calibration. In one alternative option, DAC and ADC measurements may be performed simultaneously. This is done by using orthogonal OFDM signals (or other orthogonal waveforms) for each DAC. FIG. 4a) shows an exemplary reference calibration, e.g., a factory calibration. After starting with an initialization of X=0 by "start;X=0", a counter X may be incremented by "X=X+1" in action C10.

[0072] Calibration of subarray X may be performed, for example, using OTA, by action C12 "calibrate phase and amplitude of each antenna in subarray X". Corresponding information may be stored and / or saved in a beam table by action C14 "save BFIC beam table (phase and gain)". Action C16 "last subarray?" may determine whether all subarrays have been calibrated. If not, loop back to C10. If so, branch to action C18. Other forms of looping on subarrays and / or parallel processing may be considered. Calibration between subarrays may be performed by action C18 "calibrate time delay, phase and amplitude between subarrays". Corresponding information may be stored or saved based on action C18 by action C20 "save DFE / DAC / ADC compensation values ​​(delay, phase and gain)". By performing action C22 "using an IF calibration network to transmit calibration signaling on all DACs with a unique OFDM pattern per DAC and measure time delay, phase and amplitude for all DACs and ADCs", a unique calibration signaling (in the example, one based on OFDM is utilized, but other waveforms may be utilized) may be transmitted using each DAC and measurements for all DACs and ADCs may be performed to measure time delay, phase and amplitude. Based on action C22, corresponding information may be stored and / or saved as reference calibration data by performing action C24 "save data as reference data for TX IF & RX IF paths".

[0073] FIG. 4b) illustrates an exemplary alternative method of runtime calibration. After “start”, in action D10, a unique calibration signaling (in the example, one based on OFDM is utilized, but other waveforms can be utilized) can be transmitted using each DAC, and measurements of all DACs and ADCs can be performed to measure time delay, phase, and amplitude, by performing “transmit calibration signaling on all DACs with unique OFDM pattern per DAC, and use IF calibration network to measure time delay, phase, and amplitude” in action D10. A comparison of delay, phase, and amplitude can be performed based on “save data as reference data for RX IF & TX IF paths” in action D14, and using the data stored as reference calibration data (e.g., based on reference calibration as shown in FIG. 3a) or FIG. 4a). By performing “deviation” based on action D16 in action D12, deviations of phase, delay, and / or amplitude can be determined (e.g., based on one or more thresholds). If a deviation is determined, the deviation may be compensated for by performing action D18 "update DFE / DAC / ADC compensation values ​​(delay, phase and gain)".

[0074] In general, a block symbol may represent and / or correspond to an extension in the time domain, e.g., a time interval. The block symbol duration (length of the time interval) may correspond to the duration of an OFDM symbol or a corresponding duration, and / or may be defined based on the subcarrier spacing or equivalent used (e.g., based on numerology), and / or may correspond to the duration of a modulation symbol (e.g., for OFDM or similar frequency domain multiplexing type signaling). A block symbol may be considered to include multiple modulation symbols, for example, based on the subcarrier spacing and / or numerology or equivalent, in particular for single carrier based signaling, e.g., time domain multiplexing type (on the symbol level for a single transmitter) of signaling, such as SC-FDE or SC-FDMA (especially FDF-SC-FDMA or pulse shaped SC-FDMA). The number of symbols may be based on the number of subcarriers to be DFTS spread (for SC-FDMA) and / or defined and / or based on the number of FFT samples, e.g. for spreading and / or mapping and / or equivalent thereto, and / or predefined and / or configured or configurable. A block symbol in this context may include and / or contain a number of individual modulation symbols, which may be, e.g., 1000 or more, or 3000 or more, or 3300 or more. The number of modulation symbols in a block symbol may be based on and / or dependent on a bandwidth scheduled for the transmission of signaling in the block symbol. The block symbol and / or the number of block symbols (an integer number smaller than 20, e.g., 14 or 7 or 4 or 2 or less or a flexible number) may be a unit (e.g., an allocation unit) used for scheduling and / or allocation of resources, especially in the time domain.A block symbol (e.g., scheduled or assigned) and / or a block symbol group and / or an allocation unit may be associated with a frequency range and / or a frequency domain allocation and / or a bandwidth assigned for transmission.

[0075] An allocation unit and / or a block symbol may be associated with a particular (e.g., physical) channel and / or a particular type of signaling, e.g., reference signaling. In some cases, there may be a block symbol associated with a channel that is also associated with a form of reference signaling and / or pilot signaling and / or tracking signaling associated with the channel, e.g., for timing and / or decoding purposes (such signaling may include a small number of modulation symbols and / or resource elements in the block symbol, e.g., less than 10% or less than 5% or less than 1% of the modulation symbols and / or resource elements in the block symbol). A block symbol may have associated resource elements, which may be expressed in the time / frequency domain, e.g., in terms of the smallest frequency unit (e.g., subcarrier) it carries or is mapped to in the frequency domain, and in terms of the duration of a modulation symbol in the time domain. A block symbol may include and / or be associated with a structure that may enable and / or include certain modulation symbols, and / or association to one or more channels, and / or reference signaling (e.g., as described above), and / or one or more guard periods and / or transition periods, and / or one or more affixes (e.g., prefixes and / or suffixes and / or one or more infixes (inserted inside the block symbol), in particular cyclic prefixes and / or suffixes and / or infixes (and / or the structure depends on the channel with which the block symbol is associated and / or assigned or used).A cyclic affix may represent a repetition of the signaling and / or modulation symbols used for a block symbol, with slight modifications to the signaling structure of the affix to provide a smooth and / or continuous and / or distinguishable connection between the affix signaling and the signaling of the modulation symbols related to the content of the block symbol (e.g., channel and / or reference signaling structure). In some cases, particularly in some OFDM-based waveforms, the affix may be included in the modulation symbol. In other cases, for example, in some single carrier-based waveforms, the affix may be represented by a sequence of modulation symbols within the block symbol. In some cases, it may be considered that the block symbol is defined and / or used in the context of an associated structure.

[0076] The communication may include transmission or reception. The communication, like the transmission of the signaling, may be considered to be based on an SC-FDM based waveform and / or to correspond to a frequency domain filtered (FDF) DFTS-OFDM waveform. However, these approaches may also be applied to single carrier based waveforms, e.g., SC-FDM or SC-FDE waveforms that may be pulse shaped / FDF based. It should be noted that SC-FDM may be considered as DFT spread OFDM, such that SC-FDM and DFTS-OFDM may be used interchangeably. Alternatively or additionally, the signaling (e.g., the first signaling and / or the second signaling) and / or the beam(s) (particularly the first receiving beam and / or the second receiving beam) may be based on a waveform with a CP or equivalent guard time.

[0077] The receive beams and transmit beams in the first beam pair may have the same (or similar) or different angles and / or spatial extensions, and the receive beams and transmit beams in the second beam pair may have the same (or similar) or different angles and / or spatial extensions. The receive beams and / or transmit beams in the first and / or second beam pair may have an angular extension of 20 degrees or less, or 15 degrees or less, or 10 degrees or 5 degrees or less, at least in one or both horizontal and vertical directions, and different beams may be considered to have different angular extensions. The extended guard period or switching protection interval may have a duration that essentially corresponds to or at least N CP (cyclic prefix) durations or equivalent durations, where N may be 2, or 3, or 4. The equivalent of the CP duration may represent the CP duration associated with signaling with CP for waveforms without CP (e.g., SC-FDM-based or OFDM-based), using the same or similar symbol duration as the signaling with CP.

[0078] For example, pulse shaping (and / or performing FDF) for modulation symbols and / or signaling associated with a first subcarrier or bandwidth may include mapping the modulation symbols (and / or samples associated therewith after FFT) to a portion of an associated second subcarrier or bandwidth, and / or applying a shaping operation on the power and / or amplitude and / or phase of the modulation symbols on the first subcarrier and the second subcarrier, where the shaping operation may follow a shaping function.

[0079] The pulse shaping signaling may include pulse shaping one or more symbols, and the pulse shaping signaling may generally include at least one pulse shaping symbol. The pulse shaping may be performed based on a Nyquist filter. The pulse shaping may be performed based on periodically extending a frequency distribution of the modulation symbols (and / or associated samples after FFT) over a first number of subcarriers to a larger second number of subcarriers, where a subset of the first number of subcarriers from one end of the frequency distribution may be considered to be added to the other end of the first number of subcarriers.

[0080] In some variants, the communication may be based on a numerology (e.g., may be represented by and / or correspond to and / or indicate by subcarrier spacing and / or symbol time length) and / or on an SC-FDM-based waveform (including an FDF-DFTS-FDM-based waveform), or on a single carrier-based waveform. Whether to use pulse shaping or FDF on an SC-FDM or SC-based waveform may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., MCS) used. Such waveforms may utilize cyclic prefixes and / or may benefit, among other things, from the described approach. The communication may include and / or be based on beamforming, e.g., transmit beamforming and / or receive beamforming, respectively. The beams may be considered to be generated by performing analog beamforming to provide beams, such as, for example, beams corresponding to a reference beam. Thus, the signaling may be adapted, for example, based on the movement of the communication partners. The beams may be generated by performing analog beamforming to provide beams, such as, for example, beams corresponding to a reference beam. This allows for efficient post-processing of digitally formed beams without requiring modifications to the digital beamforming chain and / or without requiring modifications to the standard that defines the beamforming precoder. In general, the beams may be generated by hybrid beamforming and / or by digital beamforming, e.g., based on a precoder. This facilitates easy processing of the beams and / or limits the number of power amplifiers / ADCs / DACs required for the antenna arrangement. The beams may be considered to be generated by hybrid beamforming, e.g., analog beamforming performed on a beam representation, or beams formed based on digital beamforming. Monitoring and / or performing cell search may be based on receive beamforming, e.g., analog or digital or hybrid receive beamforming.

[0081] The numerology may determine the length of the symbol time interval and / or the duration of the cyclic prefix. The approach described herein is particularly suitable for SC-FDM and ensures orthogonality, particularly subcarrier orthogonality, in corresponding systems, but may be used for other waveforms. The communicating may include utilizing a waveform with a cyclic prefix. The cyclic prefix may be based on the numerology and may help keep the signaling orthogonal. The communicating may include and / or be based on, for example, performing a cell search for the wireless device or terminal, or may include transmitting signaling to identify a cell and / or a selection indication, based thereon, a wireless node receiving the selection indication may select one signaling bandwidth from a set of signaling bandwidths for performing the cell search.

[0082] A beam or beam pair may generally target one wireless node, or a group of wireless nodes, and / or an area including one or more wireless nodes. In many cases, the beam or beam pair may be receiver specific (e.g., UE specific) such that only one wireless node is served per beam / beam pair. The beam pair switch or the receive beam switch (e.g., by using a different receive beam) and / or the transmit beam switch may be performed at the borders of the transmit timing structure, e.g., at slot borders, or within slots, e.g., between symbols. For example, some tuning of the radio circuitry for receiving and / or transmitting may be performed. Beam pair switching may include switching from a second receive beam to a first receive beam and / or from a second transmit beam to a first transmit beam. The switching may include inserting a guard period to cover retuning time, but the circuitry may be adapted to switch quickly enough to be essentially instantaneous, which may be especially the case when digital receive beamforming is used to switch receive beams to switch received beams.

[0083] A reference beam (or reference signaling beam) may be a beam including a reference signaling based on which, for example, beam signaling characteristics may be determined, for example, measured and / or estimated. A signaling beam may include signaling such as control signaling and / or data signaling and / or reference signaling. A reference beam may be transmitted by an originating or transmitting wireless node, in which case one or more beam signaling characteristics may be reported to it by a receiver, for example, a wireless device. However, in some cases, it may be received by a wireless node from another wireless node or wireless device. In this case, one or more beam signaling characteristics may be determined by the wireless node. A signaling beam may be a transmitting beam or a receiving beam. The set of signaling characteristics may include multiple subsets of beam signaling characteristics, each subset relating to a different reference beam.

[0084] Therefore, the reference beams may be associated with different beam signaling characteristics.

[0085] The beam signaling characteristics may each represent a set of such characteristics and / or may indicate the signal strength and / or signal quality and / or delay characteristics of the beam and / or be associated with received and / or measured signaling carried on the beam.

[0086] The beam signaling characteristics and / or delay characteristics may relate to and / or indicate, among other things, the best (e.g., smallest average delay and / or smallest dispersion / range) timing or delay dispersion, and / or the strongest and / or best quality beams, e.g., the number and / or list and / or order of beams having associated delay dispersion. The beam signaling characteristics may be based on measurement(s) performed on a reference signaling carried on a reference beam to which it is associated. The measurement may be performed by the wireless node, or by another node or wireless device. The use of the reference signaling allows for accuracy of the measurement and / or improvement of the measurement. In some cases, the beam and / or beam pair may be represented by a beam identifier indication, e.g., a beam or beam pair number. Such an indication may be represented by one or more signaling sequences (e.g., a particular reference signaling sequence or sequences) that may be transmitted on the beam and / or beam pair, and / or by signaling characteristics and / or resources (e.g., time / frequency and / or code) used and / or a particular RNTI (e.g., used to scramble a CRC for certain messages or transmissions), and / or by information provided in signaling, e.g., control signaling and / or system signaling, on the beam and / or beam pair, e.g., encoded and / or provided in an information field, such as, for example, DCI and / or MAC and / or RRC signaling, or as an information element in a message of some form of signaling.

[0087] The reference beam may generally be one of a set of reference beams, and a second set of reference beams is associated with a set of signaling beams. The associated set may refer to at least one beam of the first set being associated with and / or corresponding to the second set (or vice versa), e.g., by having the same analog or digital beamforming parameters and / or precoder and / or the same shape before analog beamforming, and / or by being in a modified form thereof, e.g., by performing additional analog beamforming. The set of signaling beams may be referred to as the first set of beams, and the corresponding set of reference beams may be referred to as the second set of beams.

[0088] In some variations, the reference beam and / or the multiple reference beams and / or the reference signaling may correspond to and / or carry random access signaling, such as, for example, a random access preamble. Such a reference beam or signaling may be transmitted by another wireless node. The signaling may indicate which beam is used for transmission. Alternatively, the reference beam may be the beam that receives the random access signaling. The random access signaling may be used for initial connection and / or for reconnection to the wireless node and / or a cell served by the wireless node. Utilizing the random access signaling facilitates fast and early beam selection.

[0089] The random access signaling may be on the random access channel, for example, using synchronization signaling (e.g., SSB blocks and / or related thereto), for example, based on broadcast information provided by a radio node (the radio node performing the beam selection). The reference signaling may correspond to the synchronization signaling, for example, transmitted by the radio node in multiple beams. The characteristics may be reported by the node receiving the synchronization signaling in a random access procedure for contention resolution, for example, msg3, which may be transmitted on the physical uplink shared channel, for example, based on a resource allocation provided by the radio node.

[0090] The delay characteristic (which may correspond to delay dispersion information) and / or the measurement report may represent and / or indicate at least one of the following: average delay, and / or delay dispersion, and / or delay distribution, and / or delay dispersion distribution, and / or delay dispersion range, and / or relative delay dispersion, and / or energy (or power) distribution, and / or impulse response to received signaling, and / or power-delay profile of the received signal, and / or parameters related to the power-delay profile of the received signal. The average delay may represent an average and / or averaged value of the delay dispersion, which may be weighted or unweighted. The distribution may be, for example, the distribution over time / delay of the received power and / or energy of the signal. The range may indicate an interval of the delay dispersion distribution over time / delay, which may cover a predefined percentage of the respective received energy or power, for example, 50% or more, 75% or more, 90% or more, or 100% of the delay dispersion. The relative delay dispersion may indicate, for example, the relationship of the average delay to a threshold delay, and / or a shift with respect to an expected and / or configured timing, e.g., the expected timing of signaling based on scheduling, and / or the relationship with respect to a cyclic prefix duration (which may be taken into account in the form of a threshold value).

[0091] The energy or power distribution may relate to the energy or power received over a time interval of the delay spread. The power delay profile may relate to a representation of the received signal, or the energy / power of the received signal, over time / delay. The power delay profile related parameters may relate to an index calculated from the power delay profile. Different values ​​and forms of delay spread information and / or reports may be used, allowing a wide range of capabilities. The type of information represented by the measurement report may be predefined or configurable, for example, with the measurement configuration and / or with the reference signaling configuration, in particular with higher layer signaling such as RRC or MAC signaling, and / or with physical layer signaling such as DCI signaling.

[0092] In general, different beam pairs differ in at least one beam, e.g., a beam pair using a first receive beam and a first transmit beam may be considered different from a second beam pair using a first receive beam and a second transmit beam. A transmit beam that does not use precoding and / or beamforming, e.g., using a natural antenna profile, may be considered a special form of a transmit beam in a transmit beam pair. The beam may be indicated to the wireless node by the transmitter using a beam indication and / or configuration, which may indicate, e.g., beam parameters and / or time / frequency resources associated with the beam, and / or a transmit mode and / or an antenna profile and / or an antenna port and / or a precoder associated with the beam. Different beams are provided with different content, e.g., different receive beams may carry different signaling, although cases may be considered where different beams carry the same signaling, e.g., the same data signaling and / or reference signaling. The beams may be transmitted by the same node and / or transmission point and / or antenna arrangement (apparatus) or by different nodes and / or transmission points and / or antenna arrangements.

[0093] Communicating utilizing a beam pair or beam may include receiving signaling on a receive beam (which may be a beam of the beam pair) and / or transmitting signaling on a beam, e.g., a beam of the beam pair. The following terms should be interpreted from the perspective of the referenced wireless node: a receive beam may be a beam carrying signaling received by the wireless node (for reception, the wireless node may use a receive beam, e.g., directed to the receive beam or non-beamformed). A transmit beam may be a beam used by the wireless node to transmit signaling. A beam pair may be composed of a receive beam and a transmit beam. The transmit beam and receive beam in a beam pair may be associated with each other and / or correspond to each other, e.g., such that the signaling on the receive beam and the signaling on the transmit beam travel essentially the same path (in opposite directions), e.g., at least stationary or nearly stationary. It should be noted that the terms "first" and "second" do not necessarily indicate a time order, and the second signaling may be received and / or transmitted before the first signaling, or possibly simultaneously therewith, or vice versa. The receive beam and the transmit beam in a beam pair may be on the same carrier or frequency range or bandwidth part, e.g., in TDD operation, although variations with FDD may be considered as well. Different beam pairs may operate on the same frequency range or carrier or bandwidth part (e.g., such that the transmit beam operates on the same frequency range or carrier or bandwidth part and the receive beam operates on the same frequency range or carrier or bandwidth part) (the transmit beam and the receive beam may be on the same range or carrier or BWP). Communication utilizing the first beam pair and / or the first beam may be based on and / or include switching from the second beam pair or second beam to the first beam pair or first beam for communication.

[0094] The switch may be controlled by the network, e.g., a network node (which may be or may be associated with the transmission source or transmitter of the receiving beam of the first beam pair and / or the second beam pair, e.g., an associated transmission point or node in dual connectivity). Such control may include transmitting control signaling, e.g., physical layer signaling and / or higher layer signaling. In some cases, the switch may be performed by the radio node without additional control signaling, e.g., based on measurements of signal quality and / or signal strength of the beam pairs (e.g., of the first and second receiving beams), in particular the first beam pair and / or the second beam pair.

[0095] For example, if the signal quality or signal strength measured on the second beam pair (or the second beam) is deemed insufficient and / or is deemed worse than the corresponding measurement on the first beam pair, a switch may be made to the first beam pair (or the first beam). The measurements performed on the beam pair (or beam) may include, among other things, measurements performed on the receiving beam of the beam pair. It may be considered that the timing indication may be determined before switching from the second beam pair to the first beam pair for communication. Thus, synchronization may be performed in place when commencing communication utilizing the first beam pair or the first beam, and / or the timing indication may be available to obtain synchronization. However, in some cases, the timing indication may be determined after switching to the first beam pair or the first beam. This may be particularly useful when the first signaling is expected to be received only after switching, for example, based on the periodicity or scheduled timing of suitable reference signaling on the first beam pair, e.g., the first receiving beam. In general, a receive beam of a node may be associated with and / or correspond to a transmit beam of the node, e.g., such that the (spatial) receive angle of the receive beam and the (spatial) transmit angle of the transmit beam at least partially, essentially, or completely overlap and / or coincide, particularly for TDD operation and / or independent of frequency.The spatial correspondence between beams may, for example, be such that a beam pair (e.g., a transmit beam of a transmitting node and a receive beam of a receiving node) may in some cases be considered to include corresponding beams (e.g., a receive beam is suitable and / or is the best beam to receive a signal transmitted on the transmit beam, e.g., based on a threshold signal quality and / or signal strength and / or measurements), and for each such beam there may be an associated or corresponding complementary beam of the respective node (e.g., to a transmit beam of a beam pair the receive beam of the transmitting node may be associated, and / or to a receive beam of a beam pair the transmit beam of the receiving node may be associated, and where the beams overlap (e.g., at least essentially or substantially) (e.g., in spatial angle), in some cases the beam pair may be considered to represent four beams (or actually two beam pairs).

[0096] In some variants, the reference signaling may be and / or include a CSI-RS transmitted, for example, by a network node. In other variants, the reference signaling may be transmitted by the UE, for example to a network node or to another UE, in which case it may include and / or be the sounding reference signaling itself. Other, for example, new forms of reference signaling may be considered and / or used. In general, the modulation symbols of the reference signaling may associate each of the resource elements carrying it with a cyclic prefix.

[0097] Data signaling may be carried on a data channel, eg, a PDSCH or a PSSCH, or on a dedicated data channel, eg, a URLLC channel, for low latency and / or high reliability.

[0098] The control signaling may be carried on a control channel, for example, a common control channel or a PDCCH or a PSCCH, and / or may include one or more DCI or SCI messages.

[0099] The reference signaling may be associated with control signaling and / or data signaling, for example, a DM-RS and / or a PT-RS.

[0100] The reference signaling may include, for example, DM-RS and / or pilot signaling and / or discovery signaling and / or synchronization signaling and / or sounding signaling and / or phase tracking signaling and / or cell-specific reference signaling and / or user-specific signaling, in particular CSI-RS. The reference signaling may generally be signaling with one or more signaling characteristics, in particular a transmission power and / or a sequence of modulation symbols and / or a resource distribution and / or a phase distribution, known to the receiver. The receiver may thus use the reference signaling as a reference and / or for training and / or for compensation. The receiver may be informed of the reference signaling by, for example, a transmitter configured and / or signaled using control signaling, in particular physical layer signaling and / or higher layer signaling (e.g., DCI and / or RRC signaling), and / or may determine the corresponding information itself, e.g., a network node that configures the UE to transmit the reference signaling. The reference signaling may be a signaling including one or more reference symbols and / or structures. The reference signaling may be adapted to measure and / or estimate and / or represent transmission conditions, e.g., channel conditions and / or transmission path conditions and / or channel (or signal or transmission) quality. The transmission characteristics of the reference signaling (e.g., signal strength and / or signal shaping and / or modulation and / or timing) may be considered to be available to both the transmitter and receiver of the signaling (e.g., because they are predefined and / or configurable and / or communicable).For example, different types of reference signaling may be considered, for example, for the uplink, downlink or sidelink; cell-specific (in particular cell-wide, e.g., CRS) or device or user-specific (addressed to a particular target or user equipment, e.g., CSI-RS); demodulation-related (e.g., DMRS) and / or signal strength-related, e.g., power-related or energy-related or amplitude-related (e.g., SRS or pilot signaling) and / or phase-related, etc.

[0101] Reference to a particular resource structure such as an allocation unit and / or block symbols and / or block symbol groups and / or transmission timing structures and / or symbols and / or slots and / or minislots and / or subcarriers and / or carriers refers to a particular numerology that may be predefined and / or configured or configurable. A transmission timing structure may represent a time interval that may cover one or more symbols. Some examples of transmission timing structures are transmission time intervals (TTIs), subframes, slots, and minislots. A slot may include a predefined, e.g., predefined and / or configured or configurable, number of symbols, e.g., 6 or 7, or 12 or 14. A minislot may include a number of symbols less than the number of symbols in a slot, in particular 1, 2, 3, or 4 or more symbols, e.g., a number of symbols less than the symbols in a slot (which may be configurable or configured in particular). A transmission timing structure may cover a time interval of a particular length, which may depend on the symbol time length and / or cyclic prefix used. A transmit timing structure may, for example, relate to and / or cover a particular time interval in a time stream synchronized for communication. A timing structure used and / or scheduled for transmission, for example, slots and / or minislots, may be scheduled relative to and / or synchronized to a timing structure provided and / or defined by another transmit timing structure. Such a transmit timing structure may, for example, define a timing grid, with a symbol time interval within each structure representing the smallest timing unit. Such a timing grid may, for example, be defined by slots or subframes (in some cases, a subframe may be considered as a particular variant of a slot). A transmit timing structure may, in some cases, have a duration (length of time) determined based on the duration of its symbols in addition to the cyclic prefix(es) used.The symbols of the transmit timing structure may have the same duration or, in some variants, different durations. The number of symbols in the transmit timing structure may be predefined and / or configurable and / or numerology dependent. The timing of the minislots may be configured or configurable in general, in particular by the network and / or network nodes. The timing may be configurable to start and / or end at any symbol of the transmit timing structure, in particular one or more slots.

[0102] In particular, program products having instructions adapted to, when executed on processing and / or control circuitry, cause the processing and / or control circuitry to perform and / or control any of the methods described herein are generally contemplated, as are carrier medium arrangements carrying and / or storing the program products described herein.

[0103] A carrier medium arrangement may include one or more carrier media. In general, a carrier medium may be accessible and / or readable and / or receivable by a processing or control circuit. Storing data and / or program products and / or code may be considered as part of carrying data and / or program products and / or code. A carrier medium may generally include a guide / transport medium and / or a storage medium. A guide / transport medium may be adapted to carry and / or convey and / or store signals, in particular electromagnetic signals and / or electrical signals and / or magnetic signals and / or optical signals. A carrier medium, in particular a guide / carrying medium, may be adapted to guide such signals in order to convey them. A carrier medium, in particular a guide / transport medium, may include electromagnetic waves, e.g. radio waves or microwaves, and / or light-transmitting materials, e.g. glass fibers, and / or cables. A storage medium may include at least one of a memory, which may be volatile or non-volatile, a buffer, a cache memory, an optical disk, a magnetic memory, a flash memory, etc.

[0104] A system is described comprising one or more radio nodes as described herein, in particular a network node, and a user equipment. The system may be a wireless communication system and / or provide and / or represent a radio access network.

[0105] A signaling sequence may correspond to a sequence of modulation symbols (e.g., in the time domain or in the frequency domain for OFDM systems). The signaling sequence may be predefined or may be configured or configurable, for example, for a wireless device. In the case of OFDM or SC-FDM, each element of the signaling sequence may be mapped to a subcarrier, and in general, in the case of SC-based signaling, a corresponding mapping in the time domain may be utilized (e.g., such that each element may essentially use the full synchronous bandwidth). The signaling sequence may include (ordered) modulation symbols, each of which represents a value of the sequence on which it is based, e.g., based on the modulation scheme used and / or in a phase or constellation diagram; for some sequences, such as Zadoff-Chu sequences, there may be a mapping between non-integer sequence elements and a transmit waveform, which may not be represented in the context of a modulation scheme such as BPSK or QPSK or higher. The signaling sequence may be a physical layer signaling or signal that may lack higher layer information. The signaling sequence may be based on a sequence, e.g., a bit sequence or a symbol sequence, and / or, e.g., a modulation performed on the sequence. The elements of the signaling sequence may be mapped to the frequency domain (e.g., to subcarriers, in particular in a comb-like pattern or in an interlaced manner) and / or to the time domain, e.g., to one or more allocation units or symbol time intervals. A DFT-s-OFDM based waveform may be, for example, a waveform constructed by performing a DFT spreading operation on modulation symbols mapped to frequency intervals (e.g., subcarriers) to provide a time-varying signal. DFT-s-OFDM based waveforms, also called SC-FDM waveforms, may be considered to provide good PAPR characteristics and enable optimized operation of power amplifiers, especially for high frequencies.In general, the approaches described herein may also be applicable to single-carrier based waveforms, e.g., FDE-based waveforms. For example, communications on a data channel and / or a control channel may be based on and / or utilize a DFT-s-OFDM based waveform or a single-carrier based waveform.

[0106] A sequence may generally be considered to be based on a root sequence if it may be constructed from (or directly represent) the root sequence, e.g., by shifting in phase and / or frequency and / or time domain, and / or performing cyclic shifts and / or cyclic extensions, and / or processing with copies / repeats and / or codes, and / or performing interleaving or reordering of the elements of the sequence, and / or extending or shortening the root sequence. Cyclic extension of a sequence may involve taking a part of the sequence (especially a border part such as the tail or beginning) and appending it to the sequence, e.g., at the beginning or end part in the time or frequency domain.

[0107] Thus, a cyclic extension sequence may represent a (root) sequence and at least a partial repetition of the (root) sequence. The described operations may be combined in any order, in particular shifts and cyclic extensions. A cyclic shift in an area means that the total number of sequence elements is constant, and if the border of the interval is considered continuous, such that the sequence is shifted as if it represents a ring (e.g., starting from the same sequence element that may appear at different positions in the interval), the order of the elements will be the same, so that leaving one end of the interval will enter the interval at the other end. Processing and / or operating with a code may correspond to constructing a sequence from copies of the root sequence, each copy being multiplied with and / or operated on an element of the code. The multiplication with an element of the code may represent and / or correspond to a shift (e.g., constant or linear or cyclic) in the phase and / or frequency and / or time domain, depending on the representation. In the context of the present disclosure, the underlying and / or constructed and / or processed sequence may be any sequence that would result from such construction or processing, even if the sequence is only read from a memory. Any isomorphic or equivalent or corresponding ways to arrive at a sequence are considered to be encompassed by such terms, and thus construction may be considered to define sequences and / or properties of sequences, not necessarily specific ways to construct them, since there may be multiple equivalent ways that are mathematically equivalent. Thus, a sequence "based on" or "constructed from" or similar terms may be considered to correspond to a sequence "represented by" or "may be represented by" or "may be represented as."

[0108] The root sequence of a signaling sequence associated with one allocation unit may be the basis for the construction of a larger sequence, in which case the larger sequence and / or the root sequence base for the construction may be considered as the root sequence for the signaling sequences associated with other allocation units.

[0109] In the case of OFDM or SC-FDM or communications based thereon, each element of the signaling sequence may be mapped to a subcarrier, and in general, in the case of SC-based signaling, a corresponding mapping in the time domain may be utilized (so that each element may essentially use the full synchronous bandwidth). The signaling sequence may include (ordered) modulation symbols, each of which represents a value of the sequence on which it is based, e.g., based on the modulation scheme used and / or in a phase or constellation diagram; for some sequences, such as Zadoff-Chu sequences, there may be a mapping between non-integer sequence elements and the transmitted waveform, which may not be expressed in the context of the modulation scheme, such as BPSK or QPSK or higher.

[0110] The signaling sequence of the allocation unit may be based on a sequence root, e.g., a root sequence. The sequence root may generally represent or indicate a base for deriving or determining the signaling sequence, and the root may be associated with the sequence and / or directly represent the sequence and / or may indicate or represent a base sequence and / or a seed. Examples of sequence roots may include a Zadoff-Chu root sequence, a sequence seed, e.g., a seed of a Gold sequence, or a Golay complementary sequence. The signaling sequence may be derived or derivable from the sequence root and / or may be based on the sequence root, e.g., based on a code that may represent a shift or operation or processing on the root sequence or sequence indicated by the sequence root to provide the signaling sequence, and the signaling sequence may be operated on such shifted or processed or root sequence. The code may particularly represent (e.g., an amount for) a cyclic shift and / or a phase shift and / or a phase ramp. The code may allocate one operation or shift per allocation unit.

[0111] In general, a signaling sequence associated with an allocation unit (and / or multiple allocation units) associated with a control signaling (and / or reference signaling) may be based on a root sequence, which may be an M sequence or a Zadoff-Chu sequence, or a Gold or Golay sequence, or another sequence with suitable properties regarding correlation and / or interference (e.g., self-interference and / or interference with other transmitters or neighboring transmitters). Different sequences may be used as root sequences for different signaling sequences, or the same sequence may be used. If different sequences are used, they may be of the same type (e.g., Gold, Golay, M or Zadoff-Chu). The (signaling and / or root) sequence may correspond to or be a time domain sequence, e.g., a time domain Zadoff-Chu and / or a time domain M sequence. In some cases, the object to be shifted, such as a signaling, signal, sequence, or information, may be shifted, for example, relative to a preceding one (e.g., one is the object of the shift and the shifted version is used) or to another one (e.g., one signaling, or one associated with the allocation unit, may be shifted to another associated with a second signaling, or both may be used). One possible way to shift is to operate on the code, for example, multiplying each element of the object to be shifted by a coefficient. Ramping (e.g., multiplying by a monotonically increasing or periodic factor) may be considered as an example of a shift. Another is a circular shift in a region or interval.A circular shift (or cyclic shift) may correspond to a rearrangement of elements in the shift object, corresponding to moving the last element or elements to a first position, while shifting all other entries to the next position or by performing an inverse operation (so that the resulting shifted object has the same elements as the shifted object, shifted but in a similar order). The shift may generally be specific to an interval in a domain, e.g., an allocation unit in the time domain, or a bandwidth in the frequency domain. For example, it can be considered that the signal or modulation symbols in the allocation unit are shifted such that the order of the modulation symbols is shifted in the allocation unit. In another example, the allocation unit may be shifted, for example, by a larger time interval, which may leave the signals in the allocation unit unshifted with reference to the individual allocation units, but may change the order of the allocation units. The domain (domain) for the shift may be, for example, the time domain and / or the phase domain and / or the frequency domain. Multiple shifts in the same domain or different domains, and / or the same interval or different intervals (e.g., intervals of different sizes) may be performed. The reference signaling may have a type. The types of reference signaling may include synchronization signaling, and / or DM-RS (used to facilitate demodulation of associated data and / or control signaling), and / or PT-RS (used to facilitate phase tracking of associated data and / or control signaling, e.g., within a time interval or symbol or allocation unit carrying such signaling), and / or CSI-RS (e.g., used for channel estimation and / or reporting). PT-RS can be considered to be inserted into a bit sequence or modulation symbol sequence that may represent data. For example, PT-RS may be mapped to subcarriers of symbols that also carry data symbols. Thus, PT-RS insertion may be optimized for hardware implementation.In some cases, the PT-RS may be modulated differently and / or independently from the modulation symbols representing the data (or data bits). In general, the numerology and / or subcarrier spacing may indicate the bandwidth (in the frequency domain) of the subcarriers of a carrier, and / or the number of subcarriers in the carrier, and / or the numbering of the subcarriers in the carrier, and / or the symbol time length. Different numerologies may differ, among other things, in the bandwidth of the subcarriers.

[0112] In some variants, all subcarriers within a carrier have the same bandwidth associated with them. The numerology and / or subcarrier spacing may vary between carriers, particularly with respect to subcarrier bandwidth. The symbol time length and / or time duration of the timing structure related to the carrier may depend on the carrier frequency and / or the subcarrier spacing and / or the numerology. In particular, different numerologies may have different symbol time lengths, even on the same carrier.

[0113] Signaling may generally include one or more (e.g., modulated) symbols and / or signals and / or messages. A signal may include or represent one or more bits. An indication may represent signaling and / or may be implemented as a signal or as multiple signals. One or more signals may be included in and / or represented by a message, signaling, in particular control signaling, may include multiple signals and / or messages, may be transmitted on different carriers, and / or may be associated with different signaling processes, e.g., may represent and / or relate to one or more such processes and / or corresponding information. The indication may include signaling and / or may include and / or be contained in multiple signals and / or messages, which may be transmitted on different carriers and / or associated with different acknowledgment signaling processes, e.g., representing and / or relating to one or more such processes, and signaling associated with a channel may be transmitted to represent signaling and / or information for that channel and / or such that the signaling is interpreted by the transmitter and / or receiver as belonging to that channel. Such signaling may generally follow transmission parameters and / or formats for the channel.

[0114] An antenna arrangement may comprise one or more antenna elements (radiating elements) and may be combined into an antenna array. An antenna array or sub-array may include one antenna element or multiple antenna elements that may be arranged, for example, in two dimensions (e.g., a panel) or three dimensions. Each antenna array or sub-array or element may be separately controllable, and different antenna arrays may be considered to be separately controllable from each other. A single antenna element / radiator may be considered as a minimum example of a sub-array. Examples of antenna arrays include one or more multi-antenna panels or one or more individually controllable antenna elements. An antenna device may comprise multiple antenna arrays. An antenna arrangement may be considered to relate to a (unique and / or single) radio node, for example, configuring or informing or scheduling a radio node to be controlled or controllable by the radio node. An antenna arrangement associated with a UE or terminal may be smaller (e.g., the size and / or number of antenna elements or arrays may be smaller) than an antenna arrangement associated with a network node. Antenna elements of an antenna arrangement may be configurable into different arrays, for example to change beamforming characteristics. In particular, the antenna array may be formed by combining one or more independently or separately controllable antenna elements or subarrays. The beam may be provided by analog beamforming, or in some variants by digital beamforming, or by hybrid beamforming combing analog and digital beamforming. The notifying radio node may be configured with the manner of beam transmission, for example by transmitting a corresponding index or indication, for example as a beam identification indication. However, cases may be considered where the notifying radio node is not configured with such information and / or operates transparently, without knowing the method of beamforming used.The antenna arrangement may be considered separately controllable with respect to the phase and / or amplitude and / or gain of the signals for sending the signals for transmission, and / or the separately controllable antenna arrangement may include independent or separate transmitting and / or receiving units and / or ADCs (Analog-to-Digital-Converters, alternatively ADC chains) or DACs (Digital-to-Analog-Converters, or DAC chains) to convert digital control information to an analog antenna feed for the entire antenna arrangement (the ADC / DAC may be considered as part of the antenna circuitry and / or connected or connectable to the antenna circuitry), or vice versa. Scenarios in which the ADCs or DACs are directly controlled for beamforming may be considered analog beamforming scenarios, and such control may be performed after encoding / decoding and / or after the modulation symbols are mapped to resource elements. This may be at the level of antenna arrangements using the same ADC / DAC, e.g., one antenna element or a group of antenna elements associated with the same ADC / DAC. Digital beamforming may correspond to scenarios where processing for beamforming is provided by, for example, using one or more precoder(s) before feeding signaling to the ADC / DAC and / or by precoding information, for example, before and / or during mapping modulation symbols to resource elements. Such precoders for beamforming may provide weights for, for example, amplitude and / or phase and / or may be based on, for example, a (precoder) codebook, selected from, for example. A precoder may be associated with one or more beams, for example defining one or more beams. The codebook may be configured or configurable and / or may be predefined. DFT beamforming may be considered as a form of digital beamforming, where a DFT procedure is used to form one or more beams. Hybrid forms of beamforming may also be considered.

[0115] A beam may be defined by the spatial and / or angular and / or spatial angular distribution of the radiation waves, and / or the spatial angles (also called solid angles) or spatial (solid) angular distributions of the radiation waves, from which they are transmitted (for transmit beamforming) or received (for receive beamforming). Receive beamforming may include receiving only signals coming from the receive beam (e.g., using analog beamforming to not receive external receive beams) and / or sorting signals that do not fall into the receive beam, for example, in digital post-processing, e.g., digital beamforming. The beam may have a solid angle less than or equal to 4*pi sr (4*pi corresponds to a beam that covers all directions), in particular less than 2*pi, or pi, or pi / 2, or pi / 4, or pi / 8, or pi / 16. In particular, for higher frequencies, smaller beams can be used. Different beams may have different directions and / or sizes (e.g., solid angles and / or reach). A beam may have a main direction that may be defined by a main lobe (e.g., center of the main lobe in terms of signal strength and / or solid angle, which may be averaged and / or weighted to determine the direction) and may have one or more side lobes. A lobe may generally be defined to have a continuous or continuous distribution of transmitted and / or received energy and / or power, for example bounded by one or more continuous or continuous regions of zero energy (or virtually zero energy). The main lobe may include the lobe with the greatest signal strength and / or energy and / or power content. However, side lobes usually appear due to limitations of beamforming, some of which may carry signals with significant strength and may cause multipath effects. Side lobes may generally have a different direction than the main lobe and / or other side lobes, but due to reflections, the side lobes may still contribute to the transmitted and / or received energy or power.A beam may be swept and / or switched over time, for example, such that its (main) direction is changed but its shape (angular / solid angle distribution) around the main direction is not changed, for example, from the transmitter's view for the transmit beam or the receiver's view for the receive beam, respectively. Sweeping may correspond to a continuous or nearly continuous change of the main direction (for example, such that after each change, the main lobe from before the change at least partially covers the main lobe after the change, for example, by at least 50 percent or 75 percent or 90 percent). Switching may correspond to a non-continuous direction switch, for example, such that after each switch, the main lobe from before the switch does not cover the main lobe after the switch, for example, by at most 50% or 25% or 10%.

[0116] Signal strength may be a representation of signal power and / or signal energy, for example, as seen by a transmitting or receiving node. A beam that is stronger in transmission than other beams (e.g., due to the beamforming used) may not necessarily have a stronger intensity at the receiver, and vice versa, for example, due to interference and / or jamming and / or scattering and / or absorption and / or reflection and / or attenuation or other effects affecting the beam or the signaling it carries. Signal quality may generally be a representation of how well a signal may be received through noise and / or interference. A beam that has better signal quality than other beams does not necessarily have a greater beam intensity than other beams. Signal quality may be represented, for example, by SIR, SNR, SINR, BER, BLER, energy per resource element over noise / interference, or another corresponding quality measure. The signal quality and / or signal strength may relate to and / or be measured with respect to a beam, and / or to a particular signaling carried by the beam, e.g., a reference signaling, and / or to a particular channel, e.g., a data channel or a control channel. The signal strength may be represented by a received signal strength and / or a relative signal strength, e.g., compared to a reference signal (strength).

[0117] The uplink or sidelink signaling may be OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) or SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) signaling.

[0118] The downlink signaling may be based on and / or represent, in particular, OFDM signaling and / or SC-FDM, but is not limited thereto (filter bank-based signaling and / or single carrier-based signaling, e.g., SC-FDE signaling, may be considered as alternatives).

[0119] A wireless node may generally be considered to be a device or node adapted for wireless and / or radio (and / or millimeter wave) frequency communication and / or for communication utilizing an air interface, e.g. in accordance with a communication standard.

[0120] The radio node may be a network node, or a user equipment or terminal. The network node may be any radio node of a wireless communication network, e.g., a base station and / or a gNodeB (gNB) and / or an eNodeB (eNB) and / or a relay node and / or a micro / nano / pico / femto node and / or a transmission point (TP) and / or an access point (AP) and / or other node, in particular for a RAN or other wireless communication network as described herein.

[0121] The terms user equipment (UE) and terminal may be considered interchangeable in the context of this disclosure. A wireless device, user equipment, or terminal may represent an end device for communication utilizing a wireless communication network and / or may be implemented as a user equipment according to a standard. Examples of user equipment may include phones such as smartphones, personal communication devices, mobile phones or terminals, computers, particularly laptops, sensors or machines with wireless capabilities (and / or adapted for an air interface), particularly MTC (machine type communication, sometimes also called machine-to-machine (M2M)), or vehicles adapted for wireless communication. A user equipment or terminal may be mobile or stationary. A wireless device may generally comprise and / or be implemented as a processing circuit and / or a radio circuit, which may include one or more chips or sets of chips.

[0122] The circuitry and / or circuits may be packaged, for example, in a chip housing and / or may have one or more physical interfaces for interacting with other circuits and / or for receiving power.

[0123] Such a wireless device may be intended for use in a user equipment or terminal.

[0124] A wireless node may generally include processing circuitry and / or radio circuitry. A wireless node, and in particular a network node, may optionally include wired circuitry and / or communication circuitry that may be connected or coupled to another wireless node and / or a core network.

[0125] The circuit may comprise an integrated circuit. The processing circuit may include one or more processors and / or controllers (e.g., microcontrollers), and / or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) and / or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), etc. A circuit such as a processing circuit may be considered to comprise and / or be (operably) connected or connectable to one or more memories or memory arrangements. The memory arrangement may include one or more memories. The memory may be adapted to store digital information. Examples of memories include volatile and non-volatile memories, and / or Random Access Memory (RAM), and / or Read Only Memory (ROM), and / or Magnetic and / or Optical Memory, and / or Flash Memory, and / or Hard Disk Memory, and / or EPROM or EEPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM or Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM).

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

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

[0128] Any one or all of the modules disclosed herein may be implemented in software and / or firmware and / or hardware. Different modules may be associated with different components of a wireless node, e.g., different circuits or different parts of a circuit. Modules may be considered to be distributed across various components and / or circuits. Program products described herein may include modules that are associated with (and execution may be performed on and / or controlled by) an apparatus (e.g., user equipment or network node) on which the program product is intended to be executed.

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

[0130] The wireless communication network may be and / or may include any kind of cellular and / or wireless radio network, which may be connected or connectable to a core network, a radio access network (RAN). The approach described herein is particularly suitable for 5G networks, e.g., LTE Evolution and / or NR (New Radio), respectively, successors. The RAN may include one or more network nodes, and / or one or more terminals, and / or one or more radio nodes. The network node may be a radio node adapted for wireless and / or wireless and / or cellular communication, in particular with one or more terminals. The terminal may be any device adapted for wireless and / or wireless and / or cellular communication with or within the RAN, e.g., a user equipment (UE), a mobile phone, a smartphone, a computing device, a vehicular communication device, or a device for machine type communication (MTC). The terminal may be mobile or, in some cases, fixed. The RAN or wireless communication network may include at least one network node, one UE, or at least two radio nodes. A wireless communication network or system, for example a RAN or RAN system, may be generally considered comprising at least one wireless node and / or at least one network node and at least one terminal.

[0131] A transmission on the downlink may relate to a transmission from a network or a network node to a terminal. A transmission on the uplink may relate to a transmission from a terminal to a network or a network node. A transmission on the sidelink may relate to a (direct) transmission from one terminal to another terminal. The uplink, downlink, and sidelink (e.g., sidelink transmission and reception) may be considered as communication directions. In some variants, the uplink and downlink may also be used to describe wireless communication between network nodes, e.g., wireless backhaul and / or relay communication, and / or (wireless) network communication, e.g., between base stations or similar network nodes, in particular communication terminating at such. The backhaul and / or relay communication and / or network communication may be considered to be implemented as sidelink or uplink communication or similar forms thereof.

[0132] For example, the signaling characteristics related to the control signaling may be based on the type or format of the scheduling grant and / or the scheduling assignment, and / or the type of assignment, and / or the timing of the acknowledgment signaling and / or the scheduling grant and / or the scheduling assignment, and / or the resources related to the acknowledgment signaling and / or the scheduling grant and / or the scheduling assignment. For example, if a specific format for the scheduling grant (scheduling or allocating the allocated resources) or the scheduling assignment (scheduling the signaling to be transmitted for the acknowledgment signaling) is used or detected, the first or second communication resource may be used. The type of assignment may relate to a dynamic assignment (e.g., using DCI / PDCCH) or a semi-static assignment (e.g., for configured grants). The timing of the acknowledgment signaling may relate to the slot and / or symbol in which the signaling is transmitted. The resources used for the acknowledgment signaling may relate to the assigned resources. The timing and / or resources associated with a scheduling grant or assignment may represent the search space or CORESET (the set of resources configured for reception of PDCCH transmissions) in which the grant or assignment is received. Thus, which transmission resources should be used can be based on implicit conditions, requiring less signaling over.

[0133] Scheduling may include indicating one or more scheduling opportunities of a configuration intended to carry data signaling or target signaling, for example, using control signaling, such as DCI or SCI signaling, and / or using control signaling on a control channel, such as a PDCCH or PSCCH.

[0134] The configuration may be represented by or representable by a table and / or may correspond to a table. The scheduling assignment may point to an opportunity of the receiving assignment configuration, e.g. indexing a table of scheduling opportunities. In some cases, the receiving assignment configuration may include 15 or 16 scheduling opportunities. The configuration may represent an assignment in particular in time. The receiving assignment configuration may be considered to relate to data signaling, in particular data signaling on a physical data channel such as PDSCH or PSSCH. In general, the receiving assignment configuration may relate to downlink signaling, or in some scenarios, sidelink signaling. Control signaling that schedules a transmission object, such as data signaling, may point to and / or index and / or refer to and / or indicate a scheduling opportunity of the receiving assignment configuration. The receiving assignment configuration may be considered to be configured or configurable with higher layer signaling, e.g. RRC or MAC layer signaling. The receive allocation configuration may be applied and / or applicable and / or valid for multiple transmit timing intervals, e.g., such that for each interval, one or more opportunities may be indicated or allocated for data signaling. These approaches allow for efficient and flexible scheduling that may be semi-persistent (semi-static), but may be updated or reconfigured on useful time scales in response to changing operating conditions.

[0135] Signaling may generally be considered to represent an electromagnetic wave structure (e.g., over a time and frequency interval) intended to convey information to at least one specific or general target (e.g., someone who may pick up the signaling). The process of signaling may include transmitting the signaling. Transmitting the signaling, particularly control signaling or communication signaling, which may include or represent acknowledgement signaling and / or resource request information, may include encoding and / or modulating. The encoding and / or modulation may include error detection coding and / or forward error correction coding and / or scrambling. Receiving the control signaling may include corresponding decoding and / or demodulation. The error detection coding may include and / or be based on a parity or checksum approach, e.g., CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check). The forward error correction coding may include and / or be based on, for example, turbo coding and / or Reed-Muller coding and / or polar coding and / or LDPC coding (Low Density Parity Check). The type of coding used may be based on the channel (e.g., physical channel) with which the coded signal is associated. The coding rate may represent the ratio of the number of information bits before coding to the number of coded bits after coding, taking into account that the coding adds coding bits for error detection coding and forward error correction. Coded bits may refer to information bits (also called systematic bits) plus coded bits.

[0136] A resource element may generally describe the smallest individually usable and / or encodable and / or decodable and / or modulatable and / or demodulatable time-frequency resource and / or may describe a time-frequency resource covering a symbol time length and a subcarrier in frequency. A signal may be assigned and / or may be assigned to a resource element. A subcarrier may be, for example, a subband of a carrier as defined by a standard. A carrier may define a frequency and / or a frequency band for transmission and / or reception. In some variants, a (jointly coded / modulated) signal may cover two or more resource elements. A resource element may generally be as defined by a corresponding standard, for example, NR or LTE. Since the symbol time length and / or subcarrier spacing (and / or numerology) may differ between different symbols and / or subcarriers, different resource elements may have different extensions (lengths / widths) in the time and / or frequency domain, in particular resource elements for different carriers.

[0137] A resource may generally represent a time-frequency and / or code resource over which signaling may be communicated, e.g., transmitted and / or received, and / or intended to be transmitted and / or received, e.g., according to a particular format.

[0138] A resource structure may generally represent a structure in the time and / or frequency domain, and in particular may represent a time interval and a frequency interval. A resource structure may comprise and / or consist of resource elements, and / or a time interval of the resource structure may comprise and / or consist of a symbol time interval(s), and / or a frequency interval of the resource structure may comprise and / or consist of a subcarrier(s). A resource element may be considered as an example of a resource structure, a slot or minislot, or a physical resource block (PRB), or some of them. A resource structure may be associated with a particular channel, e.g., PUSCH or PUCCH, in particular a resource structure smaller than a slot or PRB.

[0139] Examples of resource structures in the frequency domain include bandwidth or bandwidth parts, or bandwidth parts. A bandwidth part may be a portion of a bandwidth available to a wireless node for communication, for example due to a circuit and / or configuration and / or a regulation and / or a standard. A bandwidth part may be configured or configurable for a wireless node. In some variations, a bandwidth part may be a portion of a bandwidth used to communicate, for example to transmit and / or receive, by a wireless node. A bandwidth part may be smaller than a bandwidth (which may be a device bandwidth defined by a device's circuit / configuration and / or a system bandwidth available to a RAN, for example). A bandwidth part may be considered to include one or more resource blocks or resource block groups, in particular one or more PRBs or PRB groups. A bandwidth part may relate to and / or include one or more carriers.

[0140] A carrier may generally represent a frequency range or band and / or relate to a center frequency and an associated frequency interval. A carrier may be considered to include multiple subcarriers. A carrier may have assigned to it a center frequency or center frequency interval, for example, represented by one or more subcarriers (each subcarrier may generally be assigned a frequency bandwidth or interval). Different carriers may be non-overlapping and / or adjacent in the frequency domain.

[0141] It should be noted that the term "wireless" in this disclosure may generally relate to wireless communications and may specifically include wireless communications utilizing millimeter waves above one of the following thresholds: 10 GHz, 20 GHz, 24 GHz, 50 GHz, 52 GHz, 52.6 GHz, 60 GHz, 72 GHz, 100 GHz, or 114 GHz. Such communications may utilize one or more carriers, for example in FDD and / or carrier aggregation.

[0142] The upper frequency boundary may correspond to 300 GHz or 200 GHz or 120 GHz, or any threshold value greater than the threshold value representing the lower frequency boundary.

[0143] A wireless node, in particular a network node or terminal, may generally be any device adapted to transmit and / or receive radio and / or wireless signals and / or data, in particular communication data, in particular on at least one carrier. The at least one carrier may include a carrier accessed based on an LBT procedure (which may also be referred to as an LBT carrier), e.g. an unlicensed carrier. A carrier may be considered to be part of a carrier aggregation.

[0144] Receiving or transmitting on a cell or carrier may refer to receiving or transmitting using a frequency (band) or spectrum associated with the cell or carrier. A cell may generally include and / or be defined by or for one or more carriers, in particular at least one carrier for UL communication / transmission (referred to as a UL carrier) and at least one carrier for DL ​​communication / transmission (referred to as a DL carrier). A cell may be considered to comprise a different number of UL and DL carriers. Alternatively or additionally, a cell may include at least one carrier for UL and DL communication / transmission, e.g., in a TDD-based approach.

[0145] In general, a symbol may represent and / or be associated with a symbol time length, which may depend on the carrier and / or subcarrier spacing and / or numerology of the associated carrier. Thus, a symbol may be considered to indicate a time interval having a symbol time length with respect to the frequency domain. The symbol time length may depend on or be associated with the carrier frequency and / or bandwidth and / or numerology and / or subcarrier spacing of the symbol. Thus, different symbols may have different symbol time lengths. In particular, numerologies with different subcarrier spacing may have different symbol time lengths. In general, the symbol time length may be based on and / or include a guard time interval or a cyclic extension, e.g., a prefix or postfix.

[0146] A transmission may generally relate to a particular channel and / or a particular resource, in particular involving a start symbol and an end symbol and covering the time interval therebetween. A scheduled transmission may be a scheduled and / or expected and / or resource scheduled or provided or reserved transmission. However, not all scheduled transmissions need to be realized. For example, a scheduled downlink transmission may not be received or a scheduled uplink transmission may not be transmitted due to power limitations or other influences (e.g., a channel on an unlicensed carrier is occupied). A transmission may be scheduled for a transmission timing sub-structure within a transmission timing structure such as a slot (e.g., a minislot and / or covering only a portion of the transmission timing structure). A border symbol may indicate the symbol in the transmission timing structure at which a transmission starts or ends.

[0147] A control region of the transmission timing structure may be an interval in the time and / or frequency domain for intended or scheduled or reserved control signaling, in particular for downlink control signaling and / or for a particular control channel, e.g., a physical downlink control channel such as a PDCCH. The interval may include and / or consist of a number of symbols in the time direction, which may be configured or configurable, for example, by a (UE-specific) dedicated signaling (e.g., which may be single-cast, addressed or targetable to a particular UE), e.g., a PDCCH, or an RRC signaling, or a multicast or broadcast channel.

[0148] In general, the transmission timing structure may include a control region covering a configurable number of symbols. In general, it can be considered that a boundary symbol is configured to be after the control region in time. The control region may be represented and / or associated with one or more specific UEs and / or CORESET and / or search space, e.g., via configuration and / or determination, PDCCH and / or DCI and / or identifier, e.g., UE identifier and / or RNTI or carrier / cell identifier format, and / or, e.g., UE identifier and / or RNTI or carrier / cell identifier format, and / or, e.g., CORESET and / or search space ...

[0149] The duration of a symbol (symbol time length or interval) of the transmission timing structure may generally depend on the numerology and / or carrier, where the numerology and / or carrier may be configurable. The numerology may be the numerology used for the scheduled transmission.

[0150] A transmission timing structure may include multiple symbols and / or may define intervals that include several symbols (each with its associated time interval). It should be noted that in the context of the present disclosure, reference to a symbol for ease of reference may be interpreted as referring to the time domain projection or time interval or time component or duration or time length of that symbol, unless it is clear from the context that the frequency domain components must also be considered. Examples of transmission timing structures include slots, subframes, minislots (which may be considered as a substructure of a slot), slot aggregations (which may comprise multiple slots and may be considered as a superstructure of slots), and their respective time domain components. A transmission timing structure generally includes multiple symbols that define a time domain extension (e.g., an interval or length or duration) of the transmission timing structure and may be arranged adjacent to each other in a numbered sequence. A timing structure (which may also be considered or implemented as a synchronization structure) may be defined by a succession of such transmission timing structures, which may, for example, define a timing grid with a symbol representing the smallest grid structure. A transmission timing structure and / or boundary symbols or scheduled transmissions may be determined or scheduled relative to such a timing grid. The receive transmission timing structure may be the transmission timing structure, for example with respect to a timing grid, in which the scheduling control signaling is received. The transmit timing structure may in particular be a slot or a subframe, or possibly a minislot.

[0151] Signaling utilizing and / or on and / or associated with a resource or resource structure may be signaling covering the resource or structure, on the associated frequency(es) and / or within the associated time interval(s). A signaling resource structure may be considered to include and / or encompass one or more sub-structures that may be associated with one or more different channels and / or types of signaling and / or include one or more holes (resource element(s) not scheduled for transmission or reception of transmission). A resource sub-structure, e.g., a feedback resource structure, may generally be contiguous in time and / or frequency within an associated interval. A sub-structure, particularly a feedback resource structure, may be considered to represent a rectangle filled with one or more resource elements in a time / frequency space. However, in some cases, a resource structure or sub-structure, particularly a frequency resource range, may represent a non-contiguous pattern of resources in one or more regions, e.g., time and / or frequency. Resource elements of a sub-structure may be scheduled for associated signaling.

[0152] Exemplary types of signaling include signaling of a particular communication direction, in particular uplink signaling, downlink signaling, sidelink signaling, as well as reference signaling (e.g., SRS or CRS or CSI-RS), communication signaling, control signaling, and / or signaling related to a particular channel, such as PUSCH, PDSCH, PUCCH, PDCCH, PSCCH, PSSCH, etc.

[0153] In the context of this disclosure, a distinction can be made between dynamically scheduled or aperiodic transmissions and / or configurations and semi-static or semi-persistent or periodic transmissions and / or configurations. "Dynamic" or similar terms are generally terms relating to configurations / transmissions that are valid and / or scheduled and / or configured in a (relatively) short timescale and / or (e.g., predefined and / or configured and / or limited and / or well-defined) times and / or transmission timing structures, e.g., one or more transmission timing structures such as slots or slot aggregation, and / or one or more (e.g., specific numbers of) transmissions / times. Dynamic configurations may be based on low-level signaling, e.g., control signaling on the physical layer and / or MAC layer, especially in the form of DCI or SCI. Periodic / semi-static may relate to longer timescales, e.g., several slots and / or more than one frame, and / or occurrences of undefined times, e.g., until the dynamic configuration is inconsistent or until a new periodic configuration arrives. The periodic or semi-static configuration may be based on and / or configured using higher layer signaling, such as in particular RCL layer signaling and / or RRC signaling and / or MAC signaling.

[0154] In this disclosure, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth (such as particular network functions, processes, and signaling steps) to provide a thorough understanding of the techniques presented herein. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the concepts and aspects may be implemented in other variations and modifications that depart from these specific details.

[0155] For example, although the concepts and variations are described in part in the context of Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) or new wireless mobile or wireless communication technologies, this does not preclude use of the concepts and aspects in connection with additional or alternative mobile communication technologies, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or IEEE standards such as IEEE 802.11ad or IEEE 802.11ay. Although the variations described may relate to certain Technical Specifications (TS) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), it will be understood that the techniques, concepts, and aspects may be implemented in connection with various Performance Management (PM) specifications.

[0156] Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the services, functions, and steps described herein may be implemented using software operating in conjunction with a programmed microprocessor, or using an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or a general purpose computer. Although the variations described herein are described in the context of methods and apparatus, it will also be understood that the concepts and aspects presented herein may be embodied in program products as well as systems comprising control circuitry, e.g., a computer processor and a memory coupled to the processor, where the memory is encoded with one or more programs or program products that perform the services, functions, and steps disclosed herein.

[0157] The advantages of the embodiments and variations presented herein will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction, and arrangement of the exemplary embodiments thereof without departing from the scope of the concepts and embodiments described herein or sacrificing all of their advantageous effects. The embodiments presented herein can be modified in many ways.

[0158] Some useful abbreviations include the following:

[0159] Explanation of Abbreviations AAS: Advanced Antenna Array ACK / NACK: Acknowledgement (positive response) / negative response ADC: Analog / Digital Converter ARQ: Automatic Repeat Request BER: Bit Error Rate BFIC: Beamforming Integrated Circuit BLER: Block Error Rate BPSK: Binary Phase Shift Keying BWP: Bandwidth Part CAZAC: Constant Amplitude Zero Cross Correlation CB: Code Blocks CBB: Code Block Bundle CBG: Code Block Group CDM: code division multiplexing CM: Cubic Metric CORESET: Control resource set CQI: Channel Quality Information CRC: Cyclic Redundancy Check CRS: Common Reference Signal CSI: Channel State Information CSI-RS: Channel State Information Reference Signal DAI: Downlink Allocation Indicator DAC: Digital to Analog Converter DCI: Downlink control information DFE: Digital Front End DFT: Discrete Fourier Transform DFTS-FDM: DFT-spread FDM DM(-)RS: Demodulation reference signal (signaling) DUT: Device Under Test eMBB: Enhanced Mobile Broadband FDD: Frequency Division Duplex FDE: Frequency domain equalization FDF: Frequency domain filtering FDM: Frequency division multiplexing HARQ: Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request IAB: Integrated Access and Backhaul IF: Intermediate Frequency IFFT: Inverse Fast Fourier Transform Im: imaginary part, for example, pi / 2*BPSK modulation IR: Impulse Response ISI: Inter-symbol interference LNA: Low Noise Amplifier LO: Local oscillator LPF: Linearly polarized feed section MBB: Mobile Broadband MCS: Modulation and Coding Scheme MIMO: Multiple input, multiple output MRC: Maximum ratio synthesis MRT: Maximum ratio transmission MU-MIMO: Multi-user multiple input multiple output OCC: Orthogonal Cover Code OFDM / A: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing / Multiple Access PA: Power amplifier PAPR: Peak to Average Power Ratio PDCCH: Physical Downlink Control Channel PDSCH: Physical Downlink Shared Channel PGA: Programmable Gain Amplifier PLL: Phase-locked loop PRACH: Physical Random Access Channel PRB: Physical Resource Block PUCCH: Physical uplink control channel PUSCH: Physical uplink shared channel (P)SCCH: (Physical) Sidelink Control Channel PSS: Primary Synchronization Signal (Signaling) PT-RS: Phase Tracking Reference Signaling (P)SSCH: (Physical) Sidelink Shared Channel QAM: Quadrature Amplitude Modulation QPSK: Quadrature Phase Shift Keying PAAM: Phased Array Antenna Module PSD: Power Spectral Density RAN: Radio Access Network RAT: Radio Access Technology RB: Resource Block RE: Resource Element Re: Real part (e.g. pi / 2*BPSK, etc.) modulation RF: Radio frequency (e.g. 200MHz or higher) RNTI: Radio Network Temporary Identifier RRC: Radio Resource Control RS: Reference signal RX: receiver, receiving, receiving related / receiving side SA: Scheduling Allocation SC-FDE: Single-carrier frequency domain equalization SC-FDM / A: Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing / Multiple Access SCI: Sidelink control information SDM: Spatial Domain Multiplexing SINR: Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio SIR: Signal to Interference Ratio SNR: Signal to Noise Ratio SR: Scheduling Request SRS: Sounding Reference Signal (Signaling) SSS: Secondary Synchronization Signal (Signaling) SU-MIMO: Single-user multiple-input multiple-output SVD: Singular Value Decomposition TB: Transport block TDD: Time Division Duplex TDM: Time division multiplexing T-RS: Tracking Reference Signaling or Timing Reference Signaling TX: Transmitter, transmission, transmission-related / sender UCI: Uplink Control Information UE: User Equipment URLLC: Ultra-low latency and highly reliable communication VL-MIMO: Large-scale multiple-input multiple-output WD: Wireless Devices ZF: Zero Forcing ZP: Zero power, e.g. muted CSiRS symbol

[0160] Where applicable, abbreviations may be considered to follow 3GPP usage.

Claims

1. 1. An antenna circuit for a wireless node, the antenna circuit being connected or connectable to and / or included in an antenna arrangement comprising a plurality of antenna sub-arrays, the antenna circuit being adapted to connect each of a plurality of digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and / or analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to a different one of the plurality of antenna sub-arrays for transmission of signals, the antenna circuit comprising a calibration network, the calibration network being adapted to provide signaling from one or more of the plurality of DACs to one or more of the plurality of ADCs.

2. 2. An antenna circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connection between the DAC and a subarray is represented by a transmission line for transmission of signalling by said subarray using said antenna circuit and / or the connection between the ADC and said subarray is represented by a reception line for reception of signalling by said subarray using said antenna circuit.

3. 3. An antenna circuit as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the calibration network is controllable to provide signalling from one DAC to multiple ADCs.

4. 4. An antenna circuit as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the calibration network is controllable to provide signalling from a plurality of DACs to one ADC.

5. 5. An antenna circuit as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the antenna circuit is adapted to perform a calibration using the calibration network.

6. 6. An antenna circuit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the antenna circuit is adapted to perform a calibration based on a reference calibration.

7. 7. An antenna circuit as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the antenna circuit is adapted to perform a calibration based on calibration signalling transmitted by means of the antenna circuit.

8. 8. An antenna circuit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the antenna circuit provides intermediate frequency (IF) signal processing.

9. 9. An antenna circuit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each DAC is associated with a different one of the plurality of sub-arrays and / or each ADC is associated with a different one of the sub-arrays.

10. 10. An antenna circuit according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the antenna circuit is adapted to perform a calibration based on a schedule and / or a temperature drift and / or a temperature measurement.

11. A radio node for a wireless communication network, comprising an antenna circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. 12. The wireless node of claim 11, wherein the wireless node is a network node or a wireless device.

13. 13. A method of operating a wireless node, the wireless node being a wireless node according to claim 11 or 12, the method comprising performing a calibration for the ADC and / or the DAC.

14. A program comprising instructions for causing a circuit, such as a processing circuit and / or an antenna circuit, to control and / or perform the method according to claim 13.

15. A carrier medium arrangement for carrying and / or storing a program according to claim 14.

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