Test Methodology for Integrated Access and Backhaul

Abstract

The present subject matter relates to a method for operating a node of a communication system, the node being configured to support wireless backhauling in the communication system and to support wireless access to user equipment of the communication system, the method including using at least one test configuration to test data transmissions on a backhaul link and an access link of the node in parallel.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] Various example embodiments relate to telecommunications systems and, more particularly, to testing methods for integrated access and backhaul nodes. [Background technology]

[0002] 5G refers to a new generation of wireless systems and network architectures. 5G is expected to provide higher bit rates and coverage compared to current long term evolution (LTE) systems. Integrated access and backhaul (IAB) is one of the key work items for 5G. However, there is a need to improve the operation of IAB nodes. Summary of the Invention

[0003] An example embodiment provides a method for operating a node of a communications system, the node being configured to support wireless backhauling in the communications system and to support wireless access to user equipment of the communications system, the method including using at least one test configuration to test data transmissions on a backhaul link and an access link of the node in parallel.

[0004] An example embodiment provides a method for operating an IAB node, the method including using at least one test configuration to test data transmissions on a backhaul link and an access link of the IAB node in parallel.

[0005] An example embodiment provides a method for operating an IAB node, the method including using at least one test configuration to test backhaul and access functions of the IAB node in parallel.

[0006] An example embodiment provides a method for operating an IAB node, the method including using at least one test configuration to test in parallel functionality of a distribution unit (DU) of the IAB node and functionality of a mobile termination (MT) of the IAB node.

[0007] An example embodiment provides a computer program comprising instructions for invoking an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node to at least: use at least one test configuration to test data transmissions on a backhaul link and an access link of the IAB node in parallel;

[0008] Example embodiments provide a node configured to use at least one test configuration to test data transmissions on a backhaul link and an access link of the node in parallel. The node may be, for example, a 5G IAB node.

[0009] Note that the words "first" and "second" are used here and elsewhere for labeling purposes only and are not intended to indicate any particular spatial or temporal ordering. Moreover, the labeling of a "first" element does not imply the presence of a "second" element.

[0010] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the examples, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of an exemplary radio access network. [Diagram 2] 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system. [Diagram 3] 1 is a flowchart of a method for operating an IAB node according to an example of the present subject matter. [Figure 4]1 is a diagram illustrating a test configuration for data transmission by an IAB node according to an example of the present subject matter. [Diagram 5] 1 is a diagram illustrating a test configuration for data transmission by an IAB node according to an example of the present subject matter. [Figure 6] 4 is a table illustrating a timeslot configuration according to an example of the present subject matter. [Figure 7] 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an apparatus according to an example of the present subject matter. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particular architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of the examples. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosed subject matter may be practiced in other illustrative examples that depart from these specific details. In some instances, detailed descriptions of well-known devices and / or methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description with unnecessary detail.

[0013] The term "node" as used herein may refer to a base station. The communication system may be configured to use, for example, a time division duplex (TDD) technique for data transmission. The communication system may support one or more radio access technologies (RATs). One of the radio access technologies may be, for example, but not limited to, an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) or a 5G New Radio (NR). Because a person skilled in the art may apply the subject matter to other communication systems with the required characteristics.

[0014] The communication system comprises an IAB donor and an IAB node. The IAB donor may be defined as a node having a wired backhaul link, providing an interface of user equipment to a core network of the communication system and wireless backhauling functionality to the IAB node. The IAB donor may be equipped with, for example, a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The IAB node may be a node that supports wireless access to user equipment and wirelessly backhauls access traffic. The IAB node may be equipped with a distributed unit (DU) and a mobile termination (MT) unit. The DU and MT of an IAB node may be referred to as an IAB-DU and an IAB-MT, respectively. The IAB node may provide backhauling and access functionality using the IAB-DU and IAB-MT. An IAB node may operate as a parent node when its IAB-DU is connected to an MT of another IAB node, and as a child node when its IAB-MT is connected to a DU of another IAB node. The IAB-DU of a given IAB node may be configured to exchange data over an access link with user equipment, and the IAB-MT of a given IAB node may be configured to exchange data over a backhaul link with a DU of an IAB donor or with an IAB-DU of another IAB node.

[0015] However, one of the major issues for operating an IAB node may be the definition of the test methodology used in conformance testing for the IAB. Conformance testing may be a very time consuming process, especially due to the extremely wide frequency ranges tested for spurious emissions and out-of-band blocking requirements. For example, the required test time may be doubled if conformance testing for IAB-DU and IAB-MT is performed separately. The present subject matter may reduce the required test time using an IAB test methodology specified such that conformance testing for IAB-DU and IAB-MT may be performed in parallel or simultaneously. Parallel transmissions on the backhaul link and the access link may be performed, for example, in the same time slot or different time slots of a predefined test period.

[0016] As such, the present subject matter may provide a method (hereinafter named a test method) for operating an IAB node, the test method including using at least one test configuration to test data transmissions on a backhaul link and an access link of the IAB node in parallel.

[0017] A backhaul link may refer to a communication link for transmitting and / or receiving data between an IAB node and another IAB node or an IAB donor node, and an access link may refer to a communication link for transmitting and / or receiving data between an IAB node and a user equipment or another IAB node, for example.

[0018] By transmitting data on the backhaul link and the access link, the backhauling and access functions of the IAB node may be tested, respectively. This may allow the IAB-DU and IAB-MT functions of the IAB node to be tested simultaneously. For example, conformance tests for the IAB-DU and IAB-MT of the IAB node may be performed in parallel.

[0019] In one example, the at least one test configuration (TC) includes one test configuration, i.e., the test method uses the same test configuration to test data transmissions on the backhaul link and the access link of the IAB node in parallel. In another example, the at least one test configuration includes two or more test configurations.

[0020] In one example, testing data transmissions on the backhaul link and on the access link of the IAB node includes performing data transmissions on the backhaul link and on the access link of the IAB node. Testing data transmissions in parallel on the backhaul link and on the access link of the IAB node includes performing data transmissions in parallel on the backhaul link and on the access link of the IAB node. Testing data transmissions may further include performing at least one measurement, in another example, and determining whether a result of the at least one measurement meets a predefined test requirement. The measurement may include, for example, a measurement of throughput, a measurement of output power, or other type of measurement that may be used to test the IAB node. The test requirement may require, for example, that throughput is higher than x%, such as 90%, etc. For example, the test method may be performed for an IAB node having a given hardware and / or software configuration. The configuration may enable performing one or more types of measurements and tests using transmissions performed on the backhaul link and the access link. The configuration of an IAB node may, for example, be changed and the test methodology may be run again on the IAB node having the changed configuration to perform different types of measurements and tests.

[0021] The test configuration may be, for example, a carrier or frequency configuration that may be used to allocate frequency resources to perform parallel data transmission on the backhaul link and the access link. Thus, the at least one test configuration may, for example, define at least one first frequency range for backhaul functionality testing and at least one second frequency range for access functionality testing. The first frequency range may, for example, cover / comprise one or more physical resource blocks (PRBs), and the first frequency range may thus be referred to as a "UL PRB" since it is related to the backhaul link (e.g., used by the node for UL transmission). The second frequency range may, for example, cover one or more PRBs, and the second frequency range may thus be referred to as a "DL PRB" since it is related to the access link (e.g., used by the node for DL ​​transmission). The first frequency range may be located within a channel bandwidth that may be termed an IAB-MT channel bandwidth. The second frequency range may be located within a channel bandwidth that may be termed an IAB-DU channel bandwidth.

[0022] In one example, testing data transmission on the backhaul link and on the access link of the IAB node includes transmitting data on the backhaul link using at least one first frequency range and transmitting data on the access link using at least one second frequency range in parallel or simultaneously. The transmission may be performed in, for example, a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) transmission mode, a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) transmission mode, or a Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) transmission mode.

[0023] In one first example test configuration, the at least one first frequency range includes two first frequency ranges (e.g.,

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[0024] In one second example test configuration, the at least one first frequency range is one first frequency range (e.g.,

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[0025] In one third example test configuration, the at least one first frequency range is one first frequency range (e.g.,

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[0026] In one fourth example test configuration, the at least one first frequency range includes three first frequency ranges (e.g.,

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[0027] In one fifth example test configuration, the at least one first frequency range includes two first frequency ranges (e.g.,

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[0028] In one sixth example test configuration, the at least one first frequency range is one first frequency range (e.g.,

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[0029] In one seventh example test configuration, the at least one first frequency range is one first frequency range (e.g.,

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[0030] In one further example test configuration, each of the at least one first frequency range is equal to a respective second frequency range of the at least one second frequency range.

[0031] The IAB node may comprise a multi-antenna system. The multi-antenna system may comprise one or more arrays of antenna elements. The array may be a collection of multiple antenna elements arranged in a matrix of rows and columns or some other pattern. The multi-antenna system may be used to implement beamforming. Beamforming may be a signal processing technique that may be used in the IAB node to add together the radiation patterns of each of the antenna elements in the array such that the radiation patterns focus energy into a narrow beam or lobe. Beamforming may be achieved by combining signals communicated by the antenna elements of the antenna array, such that some of the signals experience constructive interference while other signals experience destructive interference. To generate the desired constructive / destructive interference, the IAB node may apply amplitude and / or phase offsets to the signals transmitted from each of the antenna elements of the antenna array. Thus, the IAB node may be configured in accordance with the present subject matter to use beamforming techniques that generate a set of one or more beams for data to be transmitted in the set of beams.

[0032] Thus, according to an example, data transmission on the backhaul link and data transmission on the access link may be performed on the same time slot using beams with respective different beam directions in the spatial domain of the communication system. The beam directions of the data transmission on the backhaul link and the data transmission on the access link may be configured or specified as close as possible, for example, by requiring that the difference (e.g., angular difference) between the beam directions does not exceed a maximum difference. In practice, it is expected that when DL and UL transmissions for IAB-DU and IAB-MT are performed in SDM mode (i.e., using different directional beams), directing the directional beams closer to each other may present a more severe TC, since the directional beams may start to interfere with each other. This example allows directing the DL and UL directional beams as close as possible within the DL and UL beam direction ranges supported by IAB-DU and IAB-MT, when DL and UL transmissions for IAB-DU and IAB-MT are performed in SDM mode.

[0033] With respect to the time domain of data transmission, the present subject matter can provide efficient sharing of time slots to enable parallel or simultaneous data transmission on the backhaul link and the access link of an IAB node.

[0034] In one example, data transmission on the backhaul link is performed in a first time slot, and data transmission on the access link is performed in a second time slot, the first time slot and the second time slot being different. For example, the sharing of the time slots may be performed such that a difference between the number of the first time slots and the number of the second time slots is less than a threshold. In another example, the sharing of the time slots may be performed such that a ratio of the number of the first time slots by the number of the second time slots is equal to or substantially equal to 1.

[0035] The first time slot may be further used for data reception on the access link, and the second time slot may be further used for data reception on the backhaul link. The first time slot may be referred to as an uplink (UL) slot, and the second time slot may be referred to as a downlink (DL) slot, where the uplink slot and the downlink slot are defined according to a DL-UL pattern having a predefined periodicity. The periodicity of the DL-UL pattern may be defined, for example, in floating point / integer milliseconds. The periodicity of the DL-UL pattern may be, for example, the value of the information element dl-UL-TransmissionPeriodicity. The first and second time slots may be defined, for example, as described with the table of FIG. 6.

[0036] 1 shows an example of a simplified system architecture showing several elements and functional entities, all of which are logical units, whose implementation may differ from that shown. The connections shown in FIG. 1 are logical connections; the actual physical connections may differ. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that a system will typically include functions and structures other than those shown in FIG. 1.

[0037] The embodiments are however not limited to the system given as an example, as a person skilled in the art can apply the solution to other communication systems equipped with the required characteristics.

[0038] The example of FIG. 1 shows a portion of an exemplary radio access network. FIG. 1 shows devices 10 and 12. The devices 10 and 12 may be, for example, user devices. The devices 10 and 12 are configured to be in wireless connection over one or more communication channels with a node 14. The node 14 is further connected to a core network 20. In one example, the node 14 may be an access node (such as an (e / g)NodeB) 14 that provides or serves devices in a cell. In one example, the node 14 may be a non-3GPP access node. A physical link from a device to an (e / g)NodeB is referred to as an uplink or reverse link, and a physical link from an (e / g)NodeB to a device is referred to as a downlink or forward link. It should be appreciated that the (e / g)NodeB or their functions may be implemented by using any node, host, server, or access point, or other entity suitable for such use. The node 14 may be an IAB node, in one example, comprising an IAB-DU and an IAB-MT.

[0039] A communication system typically comprises two or more (e / g)NodeBs, where the (e / g)NodeBs may be similarly configured to communicate with each other through wired or wireless, links designed for that purpose. These links may be used for signaling. The (e / g)NodeB is a computing device configured to control the radio resources of the communication system to which it is coupled. The NodeB may be called a base station, an access point, or any other type of interfacing device including a relay station capable of operating in a wireless environment. The (e / g)NodeB includes or is coupled to a transceiver. A connection is provided from the transceiver of the (e / g)NodeB to an antenna unit that establishes a bidirectional radio link to the device. The antenna unit may comprise multiple antennas or antenna elements. The (e / g)NodeB is further connected to a core network 20 (CN or Next Generation Core NGC). For example, (e / g)NodeB can be connected to an access and mobility management function (AMF) and a user plane function (UPF) in the control plane and user plane, respectively. Depending on the system, the counterpart on the CN side may be a serving gateway (S-GW, which routes and forwards user data packets), a packet data network gateway (P-GW), etc., to provide connectivity of the device (UE) to an external packet data network or a mobile management entity (MME), etc.

[0040] A device (also referred to as a user device, UE, user equipment, user terminal, terminal device, etc.) refers to one type of equipment to which resources over the air interface are allocated and assigned, and therefore any features described herein for a device may be implemented using a corresponding apparatus, such as a relay node. An example of such a relay node is a Layer 3 relay (self-backhauling relay) towards a base station.

[0041] The device typically refers to a device (e.g., a portable or non-portable computing device) including a wireless mobile communication device that operates with or without a subscriber identification module (SIM), including, but not limited to, the following types of devices: mobile station (mobile phone), smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), handset, device using wireless modem (such as alarm or measuring device), laptop and / or touch screen computer, tablet, game console, notebook, and multimedia device. It should be recognized that the device may be almost exclusively an uplink only device, an example of which is a camera or camcorder that loads images or video clips to the network. The device may also be a device with the capability to operate in an Internet of Things (IoT) network, which is a scenario in which objects have the ability to transfer data through a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction, for example, to be used in smart power grids and connected vehicles. The device may also utilize the cloud. In some applications, the device may comprise a user portable device (e.g., a watch, earphones, or glasses) with a radio portion, and the computations are performed in the cloud. The device (or in some embodiments, a Layer 3 relay node) is configured to perform one or more of the functions of a user equipment. The device may also be called a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, or user equipment (UE), to name just a few names or devices.

[0042] The various techniques described herein may also be applied to cyber-physical systems (CPS), systems of cooperating computational elements that control physical entities. CPS may enable the execution and utilization of vast amounts of interconnected ICT devices (sensors, actuators, processors, microcontrollers, etc.) embedded in physical objects in different locations. Mobile cyber-physical systems, where the physical system in question has inherent mobility, are a subcategory of cyber-physical systems. Examples of mobile physical systems include mobile robotics and electronics transported by people or animals.

[0043] Furthermore, although the apparatus is shown as a single entity, it may be implemented with different units, processors and / or memory units (not all of which are shown in FIG. 1).

[0044] 5G allows the use of many more base stations or nodes than in existing LTE systems, including multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) antennas, macro sites working in cooperation with smaller stations (the so-called small cell concept), and the adoption of different radio technologies depending on the service needs, use cases, and / or available spectrum. 5G mobile communications will support a wide range of use cases and related applications, including video streaming, augmented reality, different ways of data sharing, and different forms of machine-type applications (e.g. (massive) machine-type communications (mMTC) including vehicle safety, different sensors, and real-time control). 5G is expected to have multiple air interfaces, i.e. sub-6 GHz, cm-wave, and mm-wave, as well as be integrable with existing legacy radio access technologies such as LTE. The integration with LTE may be carried out as a system in which, at least in the initial phase, macro coverage is provided by LTE and 5G air interface access comes from small cells by aggregation to LTE. In other words, 5G is planned to support both inter-RAT interoperability (such as LTE-5G) and inter-RI interoperability (interoperability between air interfaces, e.g., sub-6 GHz-cm wave, sub-6 GHz-cm wave-mm wave).One concept expected to be used in 5G networks is network slicing, where multiple independent and dedicated virtual sub-networks (network instances) can be created within the same infrastructure to carry services with different requirements for latency, reliability, throughput, and mobility.

[0045] The current architecture in LTE networks is fully distributed in the radio and fully centralized in the core network. Low latency applications and services in 5G require content to be closer to the radio, which leads to local breakout and multi-access edge computing (MEC). 5G allows analytics and knowledge generation to occur at the source of the data. This approach requires leveraging resources that may not be continuously connected to the network, such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, and sensors. MEC provides a distributed computing environment for application and service hosting. MEC also has the ability to store and process content very close to the cellular subscriber for faster response times. Edge Computing covers a wide range of technologies such as wireless sensor networks, mobile data acquisition, mobile signature analysis, collaborative distributed peer-to-peer ad-hoc networking and processing which can also be categorized as local cloud / fog computing and grid / mesh computing, due computing, mobile edge computing, cloudlets, distributed data storage and retrieval, autonomous self-healing networks, remote cloud services, augmented and virtual reality, data caching, Internet of Things (large scale connectivity and / or latency are critical), critical communications (autonomous vehicles, road safety, real-time analytics, time-critical control, healthcare applications).

[0046] The communication system may also communicate with or use services provided by other networks, such as the public switched telephone network or the Internet, as indicated by the component referenced by reference numeral 22. The communication network may also be capable of supporting the usage of cloud services, e.g. at least part of the core network operations may be implemented as cloud services (this is indicated in Figure 1 by "cloud" 24). The communication system may also comprise a centralized control entity, or the like, that provides a facility for networks of different operators to cooperate, for example in spectrum sharing.

[0047] Edge cloud technology can be brought to radio access network (RAN) by utilizing network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN). Using edge cloud technology can mean that access node operations are implemented, at least in part, in a server, host, or node operatively coupled to a remote radio head or base station comprising a radio part. It is also possible that node operations will be distributed among multiple servers, nodes, or hosts. The application of cloud RAN architecture allows real-time functions of RAN to be implemented on the RAN side (in distributed units, DU 14) and non-real-time functions to be implemented centrally (in centralized units, CU 108).

[0048] It should also be understood that the distribution of labor between core network operations and base station operations may be different or even non-existent than in LTE. Some other technological advances that will likely be used are Big Data and all-IP, which can change the way networks are built and managed. 5G is designed to support multiple hierarchies where MEC servers may be located between the core and base stations or nodeBs (gNBs). It should be recognized that MEC may also be applied in 4G networks.

[0049] 5G can also utilize satellite communications to enhance or complement the coverage of 5G services, for example by providing backhauling. Possible use cases are to provide service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices or for passengers in vehicles, or to ensure service availability for critical communications and future rail / maritime / air communications. Satellite communications can utilize geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems, but also low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, especially large constellations (systems in which hundreds of (nano)satellites are deployed). Satellites 16 in large constellations can cover several satellite-enabled network entities creating ground cells. Ground cells can be created via terrestrial relay nodes 14 or by gNBs located on the ground or in the satellites.

[0050] It is understandable to those skilled in the art that the illustrated system is only a part of an example of a radio access system, and in reality the system may comprise multiple (e / g)NodeBs, a device may have access to multiple radio cells, and the system may also comprise other devices such as physical layer relay nodes or other network elements. One of the (e / g)NodeBs may be a home (e / g)NodeB. Furthermore, in a geographical area of ​​a wireless communication system, multiple different types of radio cells as well as multiple radio cells may be provided. The radio cells may be macrocells (or umbrella cells), which are large cells, usually having a diameter of up to several tens of kilometers, or smaller cells such as microcells, femtocells, or picocells. The (e / g)NodeB in FIG. 1 may provide these cells of any type. The cellular radio system may be implemented as a multi-layer network including several types of cells. Typically, in a multi-layer network, one access node provides one or more cells of one type, and therefore multiple (e / g)NodeBs are needed to provide such a network structure.

[0051] To meet the need for improving the deployment and performance of communication systems, the concept of "plug-and-play" (e / g) NodeB was introduced. Typically, a network that can use "plug-and-play" (e / g) NodeB includes a Home NodeB Gateway or HNB-GW (not shown in FIG. 1) in addition to a Home (e / g) NodeB (H(e / g)NodeB). The HNB Gateway (HNB-GW), typically installed in an operator's network, can aggregate traffic from multiple HNBs back to the core network.

[0052] 2 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system 200. The communication system 200 may be configured to use, for example, time division duplexing (TDD) for data transmission.

[0053] A communication system 200 is shown including a primary or IAB donor node 201 serving an IAB node 202 via a backhaul link, which then serves one or more UEs via an access link. The IAB donor 201 is equipped with a central unit (CU) 221 and a distributed unit (DU) 211A. The IAB node 202 is equipped with a DU 212A and a mobile terminal (MT) unit 212B. The DU 212A and the MT may be referred to as an IAB-DU 212A and an IAB-MT 212B, respectively. The IAB node 202 may also have a backhaul interface with an IAB-MT 213B of another IAB node 203. The IAB node 203 may serve one or more UEs via an access link. The IAB node 203 is further equipped with an IAB-DU 213A. Each of the backhaul link and the access link may be an air interface, such as an NR Uu interface. With this arrangement, data can flow, for example, in the downlink direction from IAB donor node 201 to IAB node 202 and then from IAB node 202 to a served UE and then to IAB node 203, etc., and data can similarly flow in the uplink direction from a served UE to IAB node 202 and then to the IAB donor node.

[0054] For simplicity, the communication system 200 is shown including one IAB donor node and two IAB nodes, but the communication system 200 is not limited thereto.

[0055] 3 is a flow chart of a method for operating a node according to an example of the present subject matter. For illustrative purposes, the method may be implemented in the systems shown in FIGS. 1-2 above, but is not limited to this implementation. The node may be, for example, any of node 14 of FIG. 1 and IAB nodes 202 and 203 of FIG. 2.

[0056] At least one test configuration may be provided in step 301. The at least one test configuration may be used to perform parallel testing of data transmission on a backhaul link of a node and on an access link of the node.

[0057] Data may be transmitted on the backhaul link using at least one first frequency range in step 303. Data may be transmitted on the backhaul link using at least one second frequency range in step 305. The first and second frequency ranges may be defined, for example, as described with reference to Figures 4 and 5, e.g., the at least one first frequency range includes two first frequency ranges that are UL PRBs 401A and 401B, respectively, and the second frequency range includes two second frequency ranges that are DL PRBs 403A and 403B, respectively.

[0058] In one example, steps 303 and 305 may be performed in parallel. In another example, steps 303 and 305 may be performed simultaneously. This may be made possible, for example, by using a first time slot for transmitting data on the backhaul link and a second time slot for transmitting data on the access link. The pattern of the first and second time slots may be provided, for example, as described with reference to FIG. 6.

[0059] One or more measurements may be performed in step 307 based on the data transmissions performed in steps 303 and 305. These measurement results may be provided to a user, for example, as an indication of the test result. In another example, it may be checked whether the measurement results meet predefined test requirements. For example, if the measurement results meet the test requirements, this may indicate that the node may be used in a real deployment. If the measurement results do not meet the test requirements, this may indicate that the node may not be used in a real deployment.

[0060] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a test configuration 400 for data transmission by an IAB node in accordance with an example of the present subject matter.

[0061] From a TC perspective, DL and UL transmissions for IAB-DU and IAB-MT may be performed using fully shared or fully separate radio hardware or integration between these two options. Placing DL and UL transmissions for IAB-DU and IAB-MT together in the same TC (whether both are transmitted simultaneously or not) may indicate a more stringent TC, if any, for the shared radio hardware to accommodate DL and UL transmissions. Thus, DL and UL transmissions for IAB-DU and IAB-MT are both placed in the same TC. This is in contrast to the NR BS test method where only DL transmissions are included in the TC and the NR UE test method where only UL transmissions are included in the TC for conformance testing in the TDD operating band.

[0062] Furthermore, the power spectral density (PSD) of the IAB-MT UL carriers may be higher than that of the IAB-DU DL carriers because fewer IAB-MT UL carriers may be supported by the IAB than the IAB-DU DL carriers, the channel bandwidth of the IAB-MT UL carriers may be narrower than that of the IAB-DU carriers, and there may be only single-RB transmission in the IAB-MT UL carriers while there may be full-RB transmission in the IAB-DU DL carriers. And the higher PSD carriers at the edges of the IAB RF bandwidth within the TC may indicate a more stringent TC for emission testing (e.g., undesired emissions of the operating band) because the RF transmission filter design may need to provide a steeper roll-off to meet the emission requirements adjacent to the RF bandwidth edges. Thus, the IAB TC may be defined with the IAB-MT UL carriers located as the outermost carriers at one or both edges of the IAB RF bandwidth edges.

[0063] An example TC is shown in Figure 4. At one edge of the IAB RF bandwidth 409, at least one IAB-MT UL PRB 401A is located within the IAB-MT channel bandwidth 405 and at least one IAB-DU DL PRB 403A is located within the IAB-DU channel bandwidth 407, while at the other edge of the IAB RF bandwidth 409, at least one IAB-MT UL PRB 401B is located within the IAB-MT channel bandwidth 405 and at least one IAB-DU DL PRB 403B is located within the IAB-DU channel bandwidth 407. DL and UL transmissions for IAB-DU and IAB-MT are performed using the same frequency ranges but in different time slots (i.e., TDM mode) and / or beams (SDM mode). When DL and UL transmissions for IAB-DU and IAB-MT are performed in SDM mode (i.e., using different directional beams), the DL and UL directional beams may be directed as closely as possible within the DL and UL beam direction ranges supported by the IAB-DU and IAB-MT, for example, by requiring that the difference (e.g., angular difference) between the beam directions does not exceed a maximum difference. Note that the IAB-MT channel bandwidth 405 and the IAB-DU channel bandwidth 407 may be the same or different, and if the IAB-MT only supports one carrier, there may be no UL PRB (401A or 401B) at one edge, and there may be an additional IAB-MT UL PRB and IAB-MT DL PRB in the middle of the IAB RF bandwidth 409.

[0064] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a test configuration 500 for data transmission by an IAB node in accordance with an example of the present subject matter.

[0065] 5, at least one IAB-MT UL PRB 501A is located in the IAB-MT channel bandwidth 505 at one edge of the IAB RF bandwidth 509, next to at least one IAB-DU DL PRB 503A in the IAB-DU channel bandwidth 507, while at least one IAB-MT UL PRB 501B is located in the IAB-MT channel bandwidth 505 at the other edge of the IAB RF bandwidth 509, next to at least one IAB-DU DL PRB 503B in the IAB-DU channel bandwidth 507. According to this example, DL and UL transmissions for IAB-DU and IAB-MT are performed using different frequency ranges (i.e., FDM mode). Note that the IAB-MT channel bandwidth 505 and the IAB-DU channel bandwidth 507 may be the same or different, and if only the IAB-MT supports one carrier, there may be no UL PRB (501A or 501B) at one edge, and there may be an additional IAB-MT UL PRB and IAB-MT DL PRB in the center of the IAB RF bandwidth 509.

[0066] 6 is a table illustrating a time slot configuration according to an example of the present subject matter. Table 600 in FIG. 6 can provide a TDD configuration for the IAB test model for 5G Frequency Range 1 (FR1), and table 602 can provide a TDD configuration for the IAB test model for 5G FR2.

[0067] Tables 600 and 602 include example values ​​of parameters that may be used to define time slot patterns for parallel or simultaneous transmission of data on the backhaul and access links of an IAB node. The parameters may be, for example, the following information elements defined for 5G: referenceSubcarrierSpacing, dl-UL-TransmissionPeriodicity, nrofDownlinkSlots, nrofDownlinkSymbols, nrofUplinkSlots, and nrofUplinkSymbols. referenceSubcarrierSpacing may be the subcarrier spacing. dl-UL-TransmissionPeriodicity may be the periodicity of the DL-UL pattern. nrofDownlinkSlots may be the number of consecutive full DL slots at the start of each DL-UL pattern. nrofDownlinkSymbols may be the number of consecutive DL symbols at the start of the slot following the last full DL slot. nrofUplinkSlots may be the number of consecutive full DL slots at the end of each DL-UL pattern. nrofUplinkSymbols may be the number of consecutive UL symbols at the end of the slot preceding the first full UL slot.

[0068] The values ​​in tables 600 and 602, respectively, allow for a TDD uplink / downlink configuration with approximately 1 to 1 UL / DL ratio for IAB-DU and IAB-MT conformance testing, so that there may be a fair measurement timeslot reserved for IAB-DU and IAB-MT during testing. This is in contrast to other test models, such as in the FR1 TDD operating band, which uses a TDD uplink / downlink configuration with approximately 1 to 3 UL / DL ratio.

[0069] In FIG. 7, a block circuit diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus 1070 is shown, which is configured to execute at least a part of the present subject matter. It is noted that the apparatus 1070 shown in FIG. 7 may comprise some further elements or functions other than those described herein below, which are omitted herein for brevity, as they are not essential for understanding. Furthermore, the apparatus may be another device having similar functions, such as a chipset, chip, module, etc., which may be part of the apparatus or attached to the apparatus 1070 as a separate element or the like. The apparatus 1070 may comprise a processing function or processor 1071, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or the like, which executes instructions provided by a program or the like associated with the flow control mechanism. The processor 1071 may comprise one or more processing parts dedicated to a specific process, as described below, or the process may be implemented in a single processor. The parts for performing such specific processing may be arranged as discrete elements, for example in one physical processor like a CPU or in several physical entities, or similarly in one or several further processors or processing parts. Reference 1072 denotes a transceiver or an input / output (I / O) unit (interface) connected to the processor 1071. The I / O unit 1072 may be used to communicate with one or several network elements, entities, terminals or the like. The I / O unit 1072 may be a combined unit comprising communication equipment for several network elements or may comprise a distributed structure with several different interfaces for different network elements. Reference 1073 denotes a memory usable for example for storing data and programs executed by the processor 1071 and / or as working storage for the processor 1071.

[0070] The processor 1071 is configured to perform processing related to the subject matter described above. In particular, the device 1070 may be configured to perform at least a portion of the method described in relation to FIG.

[0071] For example, the processor 1071 is configured to use at least one test configuration for testing data transmissions on a backhaul link and an access link of an IAB node in parallel.

[0072] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as an apparatus, a method, a computer program, or a computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects, all of which may be referred to generally herein as a "circuit," "module," or "system." Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable mediums having computer executable code embodied thereon. A computer program includes computer executable code or "program instructions."

[0073] Any combination of one or more computer-readable media may be utilized. A computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable storage medium. As used herein, a "computer-readable storage medium" encompasses any tangible storage medium capable of storing instructions executed by a processor or computing device. A computer-readable storage medium may be referred to as a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium may be referred to as a tangible computer-readable medium. In some embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium may also be capable of storing data that can be accessed by a processor of a computing device.

[0074] "Computer memory" or "memory" is an example of a computer-readable storage medium. Computer memory is any memory that is directly accessible to a processor. "Computer storage" or "storage" is a further example of a computer-readable storage medium. Computer storage is any non-volatile computer-readable storage medium. In some embodiments, computer storage can also be computer memory, or vice versa.

[0075] As used herein, a "processor" encompasses an electronic component capable of executing a program or machine-executable instructions or computer-executable code. References to a computing device with "a processor" should be interpreted as possibly including more than one processor or processing core. A processor may be, for example, a multi-core processor. A processor may also refer to a collection of processors within a single computer system or distributed among multiple computer systems. The term computing device should similarly be interpreted as possibly referring to a collection or network of computing devices, each of which comprises one or more processors. Computer-executable code may be executed by multiple processors, which may be within the same computing device or may be further distributed across multiple computing devices.

[0076] Computer executable code may include machine executable instructions or programs that cause a processor to perform aspects of the present invention. Computer executable code for performing operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as the "C" programming language or similar, and compiled into machine executable instructions. In some cases, the computer executable code may be in the form of a high-level language or in a pre-compiled form and used in conjunction with an interpreter that generates the machine executable instructions on the fly.

[0077] In general, program instructions may be executed on one processor as well as on several processors. In the case of multiple processors, the multiple processors may be distributed across several different entities. Each processor may execute a portion of the instructions intended for that entity. Thus, when referring to a system or process involving multiple entities, it is understood that the computer program or program instructions are adapted to be executed by a processor associated or associated with the respective entity.

Claims

1. 1. A method for operating a node of a communications system, the node being configured to support wireless backhauling in the communications system and to support wireless access to user equipment of the communications system, the method comprising: using at least one test configuration to test in parallel data transmissions on a backhaul link and an access link of the node; testing the data transmission on the backhaul link and the access link of the node includes, in parallel, transmitting data on the backhaul link using at least one first frequency range and transmitting data on the access link using at least one second frequency range, the first frequency range being a sub-range of the second frequency range; the at least one first frequency range includes one or two first frequency ranges, each frequency range of the at least one first frequency range being located at a respective different edge of a radio frequency (RF) bandwidth of the node; 13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the node applies an amplitude and / or phase offset to signals transmitted from each of the antenna elements of an antenna array, and the node is configured to use a beamforming technique to generate a set of one or more beams for transmitting the data in the set of beams.

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein testing the data transmission on the backhaul link and the access link of the node includes, in parallel, transmitting data on the backhaul link using at least one first frequency range and transmitting data on the access link using at least one second frequency range, the second frequency range separated from the first frequency range by a predefined offset.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the at least one second frequency range is equal to the at least one first frequency range, respectively.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the data transmission on the backhaul link and the data transmission on the access link are performed on the same time slot using beams having different beam directions in the spatial domain of the communication system.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the data transmission on the backhaul link is performed within a first time slot and the data transmission on the access link is performed within a second time slot, the first time slot and the second time slot being different.

6. The method of claim 4 or 5, wherein the beam directions of the data transmission on the backhaul link and the data transmission on the access link are configured such that a difference in the beam directions does not exceed a maximum difference.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the difference between the first number of time slots and the second number of time slots is less than a threshold value.

8. 8. The method of claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein a ratio of the number of said first time slots by the number of said second time slots is equal to or substantially equal to one.

9. 9. The method of claim 5, further comprising using the first time slot for data reception on the access link and using the second time slot for data reception on the backhaul link.

10. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 9, wherein the first time slot is an uplink (UL) slot and the second time slot is a downlink (DL) slot, and the uplink slot and the downlink slot are defined according to a DL-UL pattern having a predefined periodicity.

11. 11. The method of claim 1, wherein testing the data transmission comprises performing at least one measurement and determining whether a result of the measurement meets predefined test requirements.

12. an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node configured to use at least one test configuration to test data transmissions on a backhaul link and an access link of the IAB node in parallel; testing the data transmission on the backhaul link and the access link of the node includes, in parallel, transmitting data on the backhaul link using at least one first frequency range and transmitting data on the access link using at least one second frequency range, the first frequency range being a sub-range of the second frequency range; the at least one first frequency range includes one or two first frequency ranges, each frequency range of the at least one first frequency range being located at a respective different edge of a radio frequency (RF) bandwidth of the node; An IAB node, wherein the node applies an amplitude and / or phase offset to signals transmitted from each of the antenna elements of an antenna array, and the node is configured to use a beamforming technique to generate a set of one or more beams for the data to be transmitted in the set of beams.

13. 13. The IAB node of claim 12, wherein testing data transmission on the backhaul link and the access link of the node includes, in parallel, transmitting data on the backhaul link using at least one first frequency range and transmitting data on the access link using at least one second frequency range, the second frequency range separated from the first frequency range by a predefined offset.

14. 14. The IAB node of claim 12, wherein the at least one second frequency range is equal to the at least one first frequency range, respectively.

15. The IAB node of any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the data transmission on the backhaul link and the data transmission on the access link are performed on the same time slot using beams having respective different beam directions in a spatial domain of the communication system.

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