Communications using dual polarized antenna arrays

Abstract

An arrangement is provided for communication in a radio access network using a dual-polarized antenna array. The antenna array includes antenna elements of a first polarization and antenna elements of a second polarization. The method includes transmitting a first signal in a transmit beam via a transmit antenna port on a first link of the radio access network. The transmit antenna port is connected to antenna elements of both the first polarization and the second polarization. The method includes receiving a second signal on a second link of the radio access network via a first receive antenna port on a first receive beam and via a second receive antenna port on a second receive beam. The first receive antenna port is connected to antenna elements of the first polarization, and the second receive antenna port is connected to antenna elements of the second polarization. The receive beam and the transmit beam satisfy an overlap criterion for their total power patterns.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The embodiments presented herein relate to a method, an antenna array control unit, a computer program, and a computer program product for communication in a radio access network using a dual polarized antenna array. [Background technology]

[0002] In a communication network, there can be challenges to obtain good performance and capacity for a given communication protocol, its parameters, and the physical environment in which the communication network is located.

[0003] For example, for future generation mobile communication networks, frequency bands at many different carrier frequencies may be required. For example, lower such frequency bands may be required to achieve sufficient network coverage for wireless devices, and higher frequency bands (e.g., at millimeter wavelengths (mmW), i.e., near and above 30 GHz) may be required to reach the required network capacity. Roughly speaking, at higher frequencies, the propagation characteristics of the wireless channel are more troublesome, and beamforming may be required at both the access nodes on the network side and the user nodes on the user side to reach sufficient link budgets.

[0004] At mmW frequencies, the beams generated from panel antennas can be very narrow, thus forming so-called pencil beams. This may be required for sufficient data transmission / reception (Tx / Rx) performance. However, transmitting cell-defined reference signals, such as synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), with such narrow beams can lead to significant delays in initial network access, mobility, and beam management procedures. This is because multiple narrow beams are required to cover the cell. Therefore, finding the best narrow beam can take a long time. Therefore, wider beams are used, at least sometimes, for transmitting cell-defined reference signals.

[0005] However, there can be difficulties in generating such a wide beam, as well as other beams, that are suitable for both transmitting and receiving signals. Summary of the Invention

[0006] An objective of the embodiments herein is to provide techniques for the efficient generation of wide beams, as well as other beams, that are suitable for both transmitting and receiving signals.

[0007] According to a first aspect, a method for communication in a radio access network using a dual-polarized antenna array is presented. The antenna array includes antenna elements of a first polarization and antenna elements of a second polarization. The method includes transmitting a first signal through a transmit antenna port in a transmit beam on a first link of the radio access network. The transmit antenna port is connected to antenna elements of both the first polarization and the second polarization. The method includes receiving a second signal through a first receive antenna port in a first receive beam and a second receive antenna port in a second receive beam on a second link of the radio access network. The first receive antenna port is connected to antenna elements of the first polarization, and the second receive antenna port is connected to antenna elements of the second polarization. The receive beam and the transmit beam 150a satisfy an overlap criterion for their total power patterns.

[0008] According to a second aspect, an antenna array control unit for communication in a radio access network using a dual-polarized antenna array is presented. The antenna array includes antenna elements of a first polarization and antenna elements of a second polarization. The antenna array control unit includes a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to cause the antenna array control unit to transmit a first signal via a transmit antenna port in a transmit beam on a first link of the radio access network. The transmit antenna port is connected to antenna elements of both the first polarization and the second polarization. The processing circuit is configured to cause the antenna array control unit to receive a second signal via a first receive antenna port in a first receive beam and a second receive antenna port in a second receive beam on a second link of the radio access network. The first receive antenna port is connected to antenna elements of the first polarization, and the second receive antenna port is connected to antenna elements of the second polarization. The receive beam and the transmit beam satisfy an overlap criterion for their total power patterns.

[0009] According to a third aspect, an antenna array control unit for communication in a radio access network using a dual-polarized antenna array is presented. The antenna array comprises antenna elements of a first polarization and antenna elements of a second polarization. The antenna array control unit comprises a transmitter module configured to transmit a first signal via a transmitter antenna port in a transmit beam on a first link of the radio access network. The transmitter antenna port is connected to antenna elements of both the first and second polarizations. The antenna array control unit comprises a receiver module configured to receive a second signal via a first receiver antenna port in a first receive beam and via a second receiver antenna port in a second receive beam on a second link of the radio access network. The first receiver antenna port is connected to antenna elements of the first polarization, and the second receiver antenna port is connected to antenna elements of the second polarization. The receiver and transmitter beams satisfy an overlap criterion for their total power patterns.

[0010] According to a fourth aspect, there is presented a computer program for communication in a radio access network using a dual polarised antenna array, the computer program comprising computer program code that, when run on an antenna array control unit, causes the antenna array control unit to perform the method according to the first aspect.

[0011] According to a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising the computer program according to the fourth aspect and a computer-readable storage medium on which the computer program is stored. The computer-readable storage medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

[0012] Advantageously, these aspects simplify the creation of wide beams, as well as other beams, that are suitable for both transmitting and receiving signals.

[0013] Advantageously, using dual polarization beamforming for transmission allows for high power efficiency and low antenna gain ripple.

[0014] Advantageously, using single polarization beamforming for reception allows for polarization diversity.

[0015] Advantageously, these aspects allow the benefits of using dual polarization beamforming for transmission to be combined with the benefits of using single polarization beamforming for reception.

[0016] Advantageously, these aspects allow the full output power to be used for transmitting the reference signal while maintaining alignment between the beam shapes used for transmitting and receiving.

[0017] Advantageously, these aspects allow two receive antenna ports with orthogonal polarizations to be used for diversity reception without the requirement that one receive antenna port be connected to antenna elements of both polarizations.

[0018] Advantageously, these aspects allow the cell-defined reference signal to be transmitted in a wide beam, thus resulting in increased cell coverage.

[0019] Other objectives, features, and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed disclosure, from the attached dependent claims, and from the drawings.

[0020] In general, all terms used in the claims should be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the art unless expressly defined otherwise herein. All references to "a / an / the element, apparatus, component, means, module, step, etc." should be openly interpreted as referring to at least one instance of that element, apparatus, component, means, module, step, etc., unless expressly stated otherwise. The steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless expressly stated.

[0021] The inventive concept will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0022] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a radio access network according to an embodiment; [Figure 2] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a dual polarized antenna array according to one embodiment. [Figure 3] 1 is a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a total power pattern according to one embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating functional units of an antenna array control unit according to one embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating functional modules of an antenna array control unit according to one embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium according to one embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication network connected to a host computer through an intermediate network, according to some embodiments. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a host computer communicating with a terminal device via a wireless base station over a partially wireless connection, according to some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] The inventive concepts will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which several embodiments of the inventive concepts are shown. However, the inventive concepts may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided as examples so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the inventive concepts to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description. Any step or feature indicated by a dashed line should be considered optional.

[0024] Embodiments disclosed herein relate to mechanisms for communication in a radio access network using dual polarized antenna arrays. To obtain such mechanisms, there are provided an antenna array control unit, a method performed by the antenna array control unit, and a computer program product, e.g., in the form of a computer program, comprising code that, when run on the antenna array control unit, causes the antenna array control unit to perform the method.

[0025] 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a radio access network 100 to which the embodiments presented herein may be applied. The radio access network 100 may be a third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), fifth-generation (5G) communication network, or any evolution thereof, and may support any 3GPP communication standard, where applicable.

[0026] The radio access network 100 comprises a (wireless) access node 140 configured to provide network access to a user node, represented by user node 160, in a (wireless) access network 110. The access network 110 is operatively connected to a core network 120. The core network 120 is operatively connected to a service network 130, such as the Internet. The user node 160 is thereby enabled to access services of the service network 130 and exchange data with the service network 130 via the access node 140. The access node 140 and the user node 160 are configured to communicate with each other in beams 150a, 150b, and 150c.

[0027] Examples of access nodes 140 are radio base stations, base transceiver stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), gNBs, access points, access nodes, and integrated radio access-backhaul transmission nodes. Examples of user nodes 160 are wireless devices, terminal devices, mobile stations, mobile phones, handsets, wireless local loop telephones, user equipment (UE), smartphones, laptop computers, tablet computers, network-equipped sensors, network-equipped vehicles, wearable electronic devices, and so-called Internet of Things devices.

[0028] In this regard, a typical antenna architecture of an access node 140 for mmWave consists of several antenna arrays oriented in different directions. Some antenna arrays have antenna elements with orthogonal polarizations, enabling the use of dual-polarization beamforming. The access node 140 can then be configured to switch between different antenna arrays and / or within each antenna array when analog beamforming is implemented. However, in practical use, such an access node 140 may not use full power when transmitting in a wide beam. This may be because some PAs are switched off or because a single polarization with amplitude tapering is used. According to embodiments disclosed herein, the access node 140 can transmit in a wide beam while using full output power, thereby increasing coverage compared to using amplitude tapering or transmitting on only a subset of its antenna elements.

[0029] 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a dual-polarized antenna array 170 that may be part of, for example, a (wireless) access node 140 or a user node 160. The dual-polarized antenna array 170 of FIG. 2 comprises a first-polarized antenna element 172a and a second-polarized antenna element 172b. The dual-polarized antenna array 170 is accessed by a transceiver 180 via a first panel port 182 and a second panel port 184. The first panel port 182 is connected to the first-polarized antenna element 1720 via a feed network 174, while the second panel port 184 is connected to the second-polarized antenna element 172b via the feed network 174. Beamforming may be enabled by applying beamforming weights in the feed network 174, where the beamforming weights are applied by changing the gain values ​​of an amplifier 176 and a phase shifter 178. In some examples, each antenna element 172 a, 172 b has its own amplifier 176 and phase shifter 178, which allows beamforming weights to be applied to each individual antenna element 172 a, 172 b. The beamforming weights, and therefore the gain and phase values, are controlled by an antenna array control unit 200 connected to the feed network 174 via a control interface 190.

[0030] As mentioned above, there can be difficulties in generating such wide beams, as well as other beams, that are suitable for both transmitting and receiving signals.

[0031] In this regard, wider beams can, for example, in principle be generated in two different ways: either using single polarization beamforming (SPBF) or using dual polarization beamforming (DPBF).

[0032] In the case of single-polarization beamforming, the beam is widened by applying amplitude, and possibly also phase, tapering across the antenna array of the panel antenna, with tapering being applied for each polarization. As recognized by the inventors, a drawback of this approach is that full power utilization for transmission may not be achieved because some antenna branches or elements must transmit with reduced power (or with attenuation if a common power amplifier (PA) is used) due to amplitude tapering. However, as also recognized by the inventors, amplitude tapering does not have the same negative impact on signal reception. Amplitude tapering implies a reduction in total transmit power because not all antenna elements transmit at full power. In general, it is difficult to generate wide beams with high PA utilization and low gain ripple. As recognized by the inventors, amplitude tapering therefore leads to a loss of total transmit power and reduced coverage of cell-defined reference signals. Gain ripple in the beam on which the cell-defined reference signal is transmitted may increase the risk of coverage holes in some directions and may also cause more handover ping-pong effect during user node mobility, causing unnecessary overhead signaling.

[0033] In dual-polarized beamforming, antenna elements of both polarizations are used to create a wide beam. An advantage of this approach is that the desired beam shape can often be obtained by phase-only tapering, which means that all PAs can transmit at full power (or no attenuation is required in the case of a common PA). As recognized by the inventors, a disadvantage of dual-polarized beamforming for panel architectures, where each antenna port is connected only to antenna elements of the same polarization, is that only a single beam port can be generated. However, as also recognized by the inventors, this is not an issue for cell-defined reference signals, such as SSB, which have only one port.

[0034] 3 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method for communication in a radio access network 100 using a dual polarized antenna array 170. The antenna array 170 comprises antenna elements 172a of a first polarization and antenna elements 172b of a second polarization. The method is advantageously performed by the antenna array control unit 200. The method is advantageously provided as a computer program 720.

[0035] The embodiments disclosed herein are based on using dual polarization beamforming to create a transmit beam 150a with one single beam port.

[0036] S104: A first signal is transmitted in a transmit beam 150a via a transmit antenna port on a first link of the radio access network 100. The transmit antenna port is connected to antenna elements 172a, 172b of both the first and second polarizations.

[0037] The embodiments disclosed herein are based on using single polarization beamforming to create a receive beam with two beam ports, one in each of the two polarizations.

[0038] S108: A second signal is received on a second link of the radio access network 100 via a first receive antenna port in a first receive beam 150b and via a second receive antenna port in a second receive beam 150c. The first receive antenna port is connected to the antenna element 172a of the first polarization, and the second receive antenna port is connected to the antenna element 172b of the second polarization. The receive beams 150b, 150c and the transmit beam 150a satisfy an overlap criterion regarding their total power patterns.

[0039] In some examples, the overlap criterion is that at least 75% of the total power of each of the receive beams 150b, 150c is within the same angular interval as at least 75% of the total power of the transmit beam 150a, the angular interval encompassing the main lobe of each of the receive beams 150b, 150c and the main lobe of the transmit beam 150a.

[0040] In some examples, the overlap criterion is that the variance of the difference between the gain of each of the receive beams 150b, 150c and the gain of the transmit beam 150a is less than 1 dB when calculated on a decibel (dB) scale.

[0041] Thus, two receive antenna ports with orthogonal polarizations are created by applying single-polarization beamforming across the eigenpolarizations of the dual-polarized antenna array 170, enabling receive diversity.

[0042] The term power as used herein can have two different meanings. In one aspect, there should be as much output power as possible from the power amplifier when generating transmit beam 150a. In another aspect, for transmit beam 150a, power is summed from two orthogonal polarizations.

[0043] Next, embodiments are disclosed relating to further details of communications in the radio access network 100 using the dual polarized antenna array 170, advantageously implemented by the antenna array control unit 200.

[0044] In some examples, the first signal is a first one-port signal and the second signal is a second one-port signal, however, in other examples, the second signal is a two-port signal (or even an any-port signal).

[0045] Next, beamforming aspects are disclosed.

[0046] As disclosed above, beamforming may be enabled by applying beamforming weights in the feed network 174. Thus, according to one embodiment, steps S102 and S106 are performed.

[0047] S102: A first set of beamforming weights for transmitting a first signal is configured on the antenna array 170. The first set of beamforming weights is adapted to provide a transmitting antenna port. The beamforming weights for the antenna elements 172a of the first polarization are different from the beamforming weights for the antenna elements 172b of the second polarization.

[0048] In this respect, the beamforming weights for the second polarized antenna elements 172b differ from the beamforming weights for the first polarized antenna elements 172a by more than a common phase shift (i.e., a phase shift that is common for all antenna elements 172b).

[0049] S106: A second set and a third set of beamforming weights for receiving the second signal are configured in the antenna array 170. The second set of beamforming weights is adapted to provide a first receive antenna port. The third set of beamforming weights is adapted to provide a second receive antenna port. Because the first receive antenna port is connected to the antenna element 172a of the first polarization and the second receive antenna port is connected to the antenna element 172b of the second polarization, the second set of beamforming weights is applied only to the antenna element 172a of the first polarization and the third set of beamforming weights is applied only to the antenna element 172b of the second polarization.

[0050] There may be different ways to find the beamforming weights. In some aspects, multi-objective optimization is used to find the beamforming weights. Thus, in some embodiments, any of the first set, second set, or third set of beamforming weights is determined via multi-objective optimization involving at least two costs. In some examples, one of the costs is the maximum amount of mainlobe ripple, and another of the costs is the maximum sidelobe power level. Other techniques, possibly with other costs, may also be used to find the beamforming weights.

[0051] In some embodiments, the first set of beamforming weights all have equal amplitude, for example, all phase-only tapering may be used, where the first set of beamforming weights all have unit amplitude.

[0052] Next, aspects of receiving the second signal are disclosed.

[0053] In some aspects, a combination of received signals is formed to exploit receiver diversity. Thus, according to one embodiment, step S110 is performed.

[0054] S110: A second signal received via a first receive antenna port is combined with a second signal received via a second receive antenna port.

[0055] In some aspects, the combining is based on a received signal quality on the first receive antenna port relative to a received signal quality on the second receive antenna port.

[0056] There may be different ways in which the second signal received via the first receive antenna port is combined with the second signal received via the second receive antenna port. In some embodiments, the combining is maximum ratio combining (MRC). Thus, in the case of reception, the transceiver 180 may perform polarization alignment of the received signal, for example, by using MRC.

[0057] Next, embodiments are disclosed in which the antenna array 170 and the antenna array control unit 200 are part of the access node 140. In these embodiments, the first link is a downlink and the second link is an uplink. There may be different first signals transmitted in step S104. In some non-limiting examples, the first signal includes an SSB, a msg2 message, a contention resolution grant, or a data message. There may be different second signals received in step S108. In some non-limiting examples, the second signal includes an SSB report, a random access (RA) message, a msg3 message, a contention resolution message, or a data message.

[0058] Next, embodiments are disclosed in which the antenna array 170 and the antenna array control unit 200 are part of the user node 160. In these embodiments, the first link is an uplink and the second link is a downlink. There may be different first signals transmitted in step S104. In some non-limiting examples, the first signal is any of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) message, a one-port sounding reference signal (SRS), and a fixed rank-1 physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission. There may be different second signals received in step S108. In some non-limiting examples, the second signal includes any of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission (including a tracking reference signal (TRS)), a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) transmission, and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) transmission.

[0059] Figure 4 shows an example in which the total power pattern for a beam generated using single-polarization beamforming (SPBF) is compared with the total power pattern for a beam generated using dual-polarization beamforming (DPBF). Figure 4 shows the total power pattern in the azimuth dimension. The beams were designed to cover an angular sector. Only phase tapering was used for the beam generated using dual-polarization beamforming. The beamforming weights for the beam generated using dual-polarization beamforming were found via multi-objective optimization with two costs: ripple in the main beam direction and sidelobe levels that overshoot the desired level. The ripple can be further reduced by applying a higher cost to the ripple in the optimization. To account for the effect of amplitude tapering, the two total power patterns were directionally normalized to take into account the total transmit power. This means that the difference in power amplifier power, which is 3.6 dB lower for SPBF compared to DPBF, is not reflected in the figure. The shape of the main lobe of the beam generated using dual-polarization beamforming is similar to that of the beam generated using single-polarization beamforming. Therefore, there is good matching between the beams used for transmission and reception, respectively. The example in Figure 4 shows that it is indeed possible to generate beams using dual-polarization beamforming and single-polarization beamforming when the main lobes have the same shape.

[0060] 5 illustrates, in terms of several functional units, components of the antenna array control unit 200 according to one embodiment. The processing circuitry 210 is provided using any combination of one or more suitable central processing units (CPUs), multiprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., capable of executing software instructions stored, for example, in a computer program product 710 (as in FIG. 7) in the form of a storage medium 230. The processing circuitry 210 may further be provided as at least one application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or field programmable gate array (FPGA).

[0061] In particular, the processing circuitry 210 is configured to cause the antenna array control unit 200 to perform a set of operations or steps, as disclosed above. For example, the storage medium 230 may store the set of operations, and the processing circuitry 210 may be configured to retrieve the set of operations from the storage medium 230 to cause the antenna array control unit 200 to perform the set of operations. The set of operations may be provided as a set of executable instructions.

[0062] Thus, the processing circuit 210 is configured to perform the methods disclosed herein. The storage medium 230 may also comprise persistent storage, which may be, for example, any one or combination of magnetic memory, optical memory, solid-state memory, or even remotely mounted memory. The antenna array control unit 200 may further comprise a communication interface 220 configured for communication with at least other entities, functions, nodes, and devices, such as the dual-polarized antenna array 170. Accordingly, the communication interface 220 may comprise one or more transmitters and receivers comprising analog and digital components. The processing circuit 210 controls the overall operation of the antenna array control unit 200, for example, by sending data and control signals to the communication interface 220 and the storage medium 230, by receiving data and reports from the communication interface 220, and by retrieving data and instructions from the storage medium 230. Other components of the antenna array control unit 200 and related functions are omitted so as not to obscure the concepts presented herein.

[0063] FIG. 6 schematically illustrates components of an antenna array control unit 200 according to one embodiment with respect to several functional modules. The antenna array control unit 200 of FIG. 6 includes several functional modules, namely, a transmitting module 210b configured to perform step S104 and a receiving module 210d configured to perform step S108. The antenna array control unit 200 of FIG. 6 may further include several optional functional modules, such as a setting module 210a configured to perform step S102, a setting module 210c configured to perform step S106, and a combining module 210e configured to perform step S110. Broadly speaking, each functional module 210a:210e may be implemented solely in hardware in one embodiment, or with the aid of software in another embodiment, i.e., the latter embodiment has computer program instructions stored on a storage medium 230 that, when run on a processing circuit, cause the antenna array control unit 200 to perform the corresponding steps described above in connection with FIG. 6. It should also be mentioned that while the modules correspond to portions of a computer program, they need not be separate modules therein, and the way in which they are implemented in software depends on the programming language used. Preferably, one or more or all of the functional modules 210a:210e may be implemented by the processing circuitry 210, possibly in cooperation with the communication interface 220 and / or the storage medium 230. The processing circuitry 210 is therefore configured to fetch instructions provided by the functional modules 210a:210e from the storage medium 230 and execute these instructions, thereby performing any steps disclosed herein.

[0064] The antenna array control unit 200 may be provided as a standalone device or as part of at least one additional device. For example, the antenna array control unit 200 may be provided in the (wireless) access node 140 or in the user node 160. Alternatively, the functionality of the antenna array control unit 200 may be distributed among at least two devices or nodes. A first portion of the instructions performed by the antenna array control unit 200 may be executed in a first device, and a second portion of the instructions performed by the antenna array control unit 200 may be executed in a second device, and the embodiments disclosed herein are not limited to any particular number of devices on which the instructions performed by the antenna array control unit 200 may be executed. Thus, methods according to embodiments disclosed herein are suitable for being performed by an antenna array control unit 200 residing in a cloud computing environment. Thus, although a single processing circuit 210 is shown in FIG. 5, the processing circuit 210 may be distributed among multiple devices or nodes. The same applies to the functional modules 210a:210e of FIG. 6 and the computer program 720 of FIG. 7.

[0065] 7 illustrates an example of a computer program product 710 comprising a computer-readable storage medium 730. On this computer-readable storage medium 730, a computer program 720 may be stored that causes processing circuit 210, and entities and devices operatively coupled to processing circuit 210, such as communications interface 220 and storage medium 230, to perform methods according to embodiments described herein. Thus, computer program 720 and / or computer program product 710 may provide means for performing any of the steps disclosed herein.

[0066] 7, computer program product 710 is shown as an optical disc, such as a CD (compact disc) or DVD (digital versatile disc), or a Blu-Ray disc. Computer program product 710 may also be embodied as memory, such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or more particularly as a non-volatile storage medium of the device in an external memory, such as a USB (universal serial bus) memory or a flash memory, such as a compact flash memory. Thus, although computer program 720 is shown here schematically as a track on the illustrated optical disc, computer program 720 may be stored in any manner suitable for computer program product 710.

[0067] 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a telecommunications network connected to a host computer 430 via an intermediate network 420, according to some embodiments. According to one embodiment, the communication system includes a communication network 410, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, comprising an access network 411, such as the (wireless) access network 110 in FIG. 1, and a core network 414, such as the core network 120 in FIG. 1. The access network 411 comprises a plurality of radio access network nodes 412a, 412b, 412c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs, or other types of wireless access points (each corresponding to the (wireless) access nodes 140 in FIG. 1), each defining a corresponding coverage area or cell 413a, 413b, 413c. Each radio access network node 412a, 412b, 412c can be connected to the core network 414 over a wired or wireless connection 415. A first UE 491 located in coverage area 413c wirelessly connects to corresponding network node 412c or is configured to be paged by corresponding network node 412c. A second UE 492 in coverage area 413a can wirelessly connect to corresponding network node 412a. While multiple UEs 491, 492 are shown in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to situations where only one UE is in a coverage area or where only one terminal device connects to corresponding network node 412. UEs 491, 492 correspond to wireless devices 160 of FIG. 1.

[0068] The communications network 410 is itself connected to a host computer 430, which may be embodied in hardware and / or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as a processing resource in a server farm. The host computer 430 may be owned or controlled by a service provider, or may be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. Connections 421 and 422 between the communications network 410 and the host computer 430 may extend directly from the core network 414 to the host computer 430 or may proceed through an optional intermediate network 420. The intermediate network 420 may be one of a public network, a private network, or a hosted network, or a combination of two or more of them; the intermediate network 420 may be a backbone network or the Internet, if any; in particular, the intermediate network 420 may comprise two or more subnetworks (not shown).

[0069] The communication system of FIG. 8 as a whole enables connectivity between connected UEs 491, 492 and a host computer 430. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 450. The host computer 430 and connected UEs 491, 492 are configured to communicate data and / or signaling via the OTT connection 450, using the access network 411, the core network 414, any intermediate networks 420, and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection 450 may be transparent, in the sense that the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection 450 passes are unaware of the routing of the uplink and downlink communications. For example, the network node 412 may not, or need not, be informed about the past routing of incoming downlink communications involving data originating from the host computer 430 that is to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to the connected UE 491. Similarly, the network node 412 does not need to be aware of the future routing of outgoing uplink communications originating from the UE 491 and destined for the host computer 430 .

[0070] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a host computer communicating with a UE via a radio access network node over a partially wireless connection, according to some embodiments. An exemplary implementation of the UE, radio access network node, and host computer described in the previous paragraph, according to one embodiment, will now be described with reference to FIG. 9. In the communication system 500, the host computer 510 comprises hardware 515, including a communication interface 516 configured to set up and maintain wired or wireless connections with interfaces of different communication devices of the communication system 500. The host computer 510 further comprises processing circuitry 518, which may have storage and / or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuitry 518 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown), adapted to execute instructions. The host computer 510 further comprises software 511, which is stored on or accessible by the host computer 510 and executable by the processing circuitry 518. The software 511 includes a host application 512. The host application 512 may be operable to provide services to a remote user, such as a UE 530 connecting via an OTT connection 550 that terminates at the UE 530 and the host computer 510. The UE 530 corresponds to the user node 160 of Figure 1. In providing services to the remote user, the host application 512 may provide user data that is transmitted using the OTT connection 550.

[0071] The communications system 500 further includes a radio access network node 520 provided in the communications system, the radio access network node 520 comprising hardware 525 that enables the radio access network node 520 to communicate with the host computer 510 and the UE 530. The radio access network node 520 corresponds to the (wireless) access node 140 of FIG. 1. The hardware 525 may include a communications interface 526 for setting up and maintaining wired or wireless connections with interfaces of different communications devices of the communications system 500, as well as a radio interface 527 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 570 with a UE 530 located in a coverage area (not shown in FIG. 9) served by the radio access network node 520. The communications interface 526 may be configured to facilitate a connection 560 to the host computer 510. The connection 560 may be direct, or the connection 560 may pass through a core network of the communications system (not shown in FIG. 9) and / or one or more intermediate networks external to the communications system. In the illustrated embodiment, the hardware 525 of the radio access network node 520 further includes processing circuitry 528, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The radio access network node 520 further has software 521 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

[0072] The communication system 500 further includes the previously mentioned UE 530. The hardware 535 of the UE 530 may include a radio interface 537 configured to set up and maintain a radio connection 570 with a radio access network node serving the coverage area in which the UE 530 is currently located. The hardware 535 of the UE 530 further includes processing circuitry 538, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE 530 further includes software 531 stored on or accessible by the UE 530 and executable by the processing circuitry 538. The software 531 includes a client application 532. The client application 532 may be operable, with support from the host computer 510, to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 530. On the host computer 510, a running host application 512 may communicate with a running client application 532 via an OTT connection 550 that terminates at the UE 530 and the host computer 510. In providing services to a user, the client application 532 may receive request data from the host application 512 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 550 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 532 may interact with the user to generate the user data that the client application 532 provides.

[0073] It should be noted that the host computer 510, radio access network node 520, and UE 530 shown in Figure 9 may be similar to or equivalent to the host computer 430, one of the network nodes 412a, 412b, 412c, and one of the UEs 491, 492, respectively, of Figure 8. That is, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 9, and separately, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 8.

[0074] 9, the OTT connection 550 is depicted abstractly to show communication between the host computer 510 and the UE 530 via the network node 520, without explicit reference to intermediary devices and the exact routing of messages through those devices. The network infrastructure may determine the routing, and the network infrastructure may be configured to hide the routing from the UE 530, the service provider operating the host computer 510, or both. While the OTT connection 550 is active, the network infrastructure may also make decisions to dynamically change the routing (e.g., based on load balancing considerations or reconfiguration of the network).

[0075] The wireless connection 570 between the UE 530 and the radio access network node 520 follows the teachings of embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of the OTT service provided to the UE 530 using the OTT connection 550 of which the wireless connection 570 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may reduce interference through improved classification capabilities of airborne UEs that can generate significant interference.

[0076] Measurement procedures may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, latency, and other factors that one or more embodiments improve upon. There may further be optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 550 between the host computer 510 and the UE 530 in response to fluctuations in the measurement results. The measurement procedures and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 550 may be implemented in the software 511 and hardware 515 of the host computer 510 or in the software 531 and hardware 535 of the UE 530, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be located in or associated with communication devices through which the OTT connection 550 passes, and the sensors may participate in the measurement procedures by providing values ​​of the monitored quantities exemplified above or other physical quantities from which the software 511, 531 may calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 550 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc., and the reconfiguration need not affect the network node 520, and the reconfiguration may be unknown or imperceptible to the radio access network node 520. Such procedures and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates the host computer 510's measurements of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. The measurements may be implemented in software 511 and 531 causing messages, particularly empty or "dummy" messages, to be sent using the OTT connection 550 while the software 511 and 531 monitors propagation times, errors, etc.

[0077] The inventive concept has been described above primarily with reference to a few embodiments. However, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, other embodiments besides those disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the inventive concept as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. 1. A method for communication in a radio access network (100) using a dual polarized antenna array (170), the antenna array (170) comprising antenna elements of a first polarization and antenna elements of a second polarization, the method comprising: Transmitting (S104) a first signal in a transmit beam (150a) over a first link of the radio access network (100) via a transmit antenna port, the transmit antenna port being connected to the antenna elements (172a, 172b) of both the first polarization and the second polarization; receiving (S108) a second signal on a second link of the radio access network (100) via a first receive antenna port in a first receive beam (150b) and via a second receive antenna port in a second receive beam (150c), wherein the first receive antenna port is connected to the antenna element (172a) of the first polarization and the second receive antenna port is connected to the antenna element (172b) of the second polarization, and the receive beams (150b, 150c) and the transmit beam (150a) satisfy an overlap criterion regarding their total power patterns; Including, The overlap criteria are: At least 75% of the total power of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) is within the same angular interval as at least 75% of the total power of the transmit beam (150a), wherein the angular interval encompasses the main lobes of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) and the main lobe of the transmit beam (150a); the variance of the difference between the gain of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) and the gain of the transmit beam (150a) is less than 1 dB when calculated on a decibel (dB) scale; and The method comprises: configuring (S102) a first set of beamforming weights for transmission of the first signal on the antenna array (170), the first set of beamforming weights adapted to serve the transmit antenna ports, and the beamforming weights for the antenna elements (172 a) of the first polarization being different from the beamforming weights for the antenna elements (172 b) of the second polarization; after configuring the first set, configuring (S106) a second set and a third set of beamforming weights on the antenna array (170) for reception of the second signal, the second set of beamforming weights being adapted to serve the first receive antenna port and the third set of beamforming weights being adapted to serve the second receive antenna port; further comprising any of the first set, the second set, or the third set of beamforming weights is determined via multi-objective optimization involving at least two costs; A method wherein one of the costs is a maximum amount of main lobe ripple and another of the costs is a maximum side lobe power level.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of beamforming weights all have equal amplitude.

3. Combining the second signal received via the first receive antenna port with the second signal received via the second receive antenna port (S110).

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the combining is based on a received signal quality on the first receive antenna port relative to a received signal quality on the second receive antenna port.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the combining is a maximum ratio combining.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the method is performed by an antenna array control unit (200).

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the antenna array (170) and the antenna array control unit (200) are part of an access node (140).

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first link is a downlink and the second link is an uplink.

9. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first signal comprises one of an SSB, an msg2 message, a contention resolution grant, and a data message.

10. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second signal comprises one of an SSB report, an RA message, an msg3 message, a contention resolution message, and a data message.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the antenna array (170) and the antenna array control unit (200) are part of a user node (160).

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first link is an uplink and the second link is a downlink.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first signal is one of a PUCCH message, a one-port SRS, and a fixed rank 1 PUSCH transmission message.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the second signal is one of a PDCCH transmission, a PDSCH transmission, a CSI-RS transmission, a PTRS transmission, and a DMRS transmission.

15. 1. An antenna array control unit (200) for communication in a radio access network (100) using a dual polarized antenna array (170), the antenna array (170) comprising antenna elements of a first polarization and antenna elements of a second polarization, the antenna array control unit (200) comprising processing circuitry (210), the processing circuitry causing the antenna array control unit (200) to: Transmitting a first signal in a transmit beam (150a) over a first link of the radio access network (100) via a transmit antenna port, the transmit antenna port being connected to the antenna elements (172a, 172b) of both the first polarization and the second polarization; receiving a second signal on a second link of the radio access network (100) via a first receive antenna port in a first receive beam (150b) and via a second receive antenna port in a second receive beam (150c), the first receive antenna port being connected to the antenna element (172a) of the first polarization and the second receive antenna port being connected to the antenna element (172b) of the second polarization, and the receive beams (150b, 150c) and the transmit beam (150a) satisfying an overlap criterion regarding their total power patterns; is set to The overlap criteria are: At least 75% of the total power of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) is within the same angular interval as at least 75% of the total power of the transmit beam (150a), wherein the angular interval encompasses the main lobes of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) and the main lobe of the transmit beam (150a); the variance of the difference between the gain of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) and the gain of the transmit beam (150a) is less than 1 dB when calculated on a decibel (dB) scale; and The processing circuitry instructs the antenna array control unit (200) to: configuring the antenna array (170) with a first set of beamforming weights for transmission of the first signal, the first set of beamforming weights adapted to serve the transmit antenna ports, and the beamforming weights for the antenna elements (172 a) of the first polarization being different from the beamforming weights for the antenna elements (172 b) of the second polarization; configuring, after configuring the first set, a second and a third set of beamforming weights on the antenna array (170) for reception of the second signal, the second set of beamforming weights adapted to serve the first receive antenna port and the third set of beamforming weights adapted to serve the second receive antenna port; and is further configured to any of the first set, the second set, or the third set of beamforming weights is determined via multi-objective optimization involving at least two costs; An antenna array control unit (200) wherein one of the costs is a maximum amount of main lobe ripple and another of the costs is a maximum side lobe power level.

16. 1. An antenna array control unit (200) for communication in a radio access network (100) using a dual polarized antenna array (170), the antenna array (170) comprising antenna elements (172a, 172b) of a first polarization and antenna elements (172a, 172b) of a second polarization, the antenna array control unit (200) comprising: a transmitting module (210b) configured to transmit a first signal in a transmit beam (150a) over a first link of the radio access network (100) via a transmit antenna port, the transmit antenna port being connected to the antenna elements (172a, 172b) in both the first polarization and the second polarization; a receiving module (210d) configured to receive a second signal on a second link of the radio access network (100) via a first receiving antenna port in a first receiving beam (150b) and via a second receiving antenna port in a second receiving beam (150c), the first receiving antenna port being connected to the antenna element (172a) of the first polarization and the second receiving antenna port being connected to the antenna element (172b) of the second polarization, and the receiving beams (150b, 150c) and the transmitting beam (150a) satisfy an overlap criterion regarding their total power patterns; Equipped with The overlap criteria are: At least 75% of the total power of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) is within the same angular interval as at least 75% of the total power of the transmit beam (150a), wherein the angular interval encompasses the main lobes of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) and the main lobe of the transmit beam (150a); the variance of the difference between the gain of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) and the gain of the transmit beam (150a) is less than 1 dB when calculated on a decibel (dB) scale; and the transmitting module (210b) configures the antenna array (170) with a first set of beamforming weights for transmission of the first signal, the first set of beamforming weights adapted to serve the transmitting antenna ports, the beamforming weights for the antenna elements (172a) of the first polarization being different from the beamforming weights for the antenna elements (172b) of the second polarization; After configuring the first set, the receiver module (210d) configures the antenna array (170) with a second set and a third set of beamforming weights for receiving the second signal, the second set of beamforming weights being adapted to serve the first receive antenna port and the third set of beamforming weights being adapted to serve the second receive antenna port; any of the first set, the second set, or the third set of beamforming weights is determined via multi-objective optimization involving at least two costs; An antenna array control unit (200) wherein one of the costs is a maximum amount of main lobe ripple and another of the costs is a maximum side lobe power level.

17. An antenna array control unit (200) according to claim 15 or 16, further configured to perform a method according to any one of claims 2 to 14.

18. 1. A computer program (720) for communication in a radio access network (100) using a dual-polarized antenna array (170), the antenna array (170) comprising antenna elements (172a, 172b) of a first polarization and antenna elements (172a, 172b) of a second polarization, the computer program, when run on a processing circuit (210) of an antenna array control unit (200), causing the antenna array control unit (200) to: Transmitting (S104) a first signal in a transmit beam (150a) over a first link of the radio access network (100) via a transmit antenna port, the transmit antenna port being connected to the antenna elements (172a, 172b) of both the first polarization and the second polarization; receiving (S108) a second signal on a second link of the radio access network (100) via a first receive antenna port in a first receive beam (150b) and via a second receive antenna port in a second receive beam (150c), wherein the first receive antenna port is connected to the antenna element (172a) of the first polarization and the second receive antenna port is connected to the antenna element (172b) of the second polarization, and the receive beams (150b, 150c) and the transmit beam (150a) satisfy an overlap criterion regarding their total power patterns; a computer code for causing the The overlap criteria are: At least 75% of the total power of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) is within the same angular interval as at least 75% of the total power of the transmit beam (150a), wherein the angular interval encompasses the main lobes of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) and the main lobe of the transmit beam (150a); the variance of the difference between the gain of each of the first receive beam (150b) and the second receive beam (150c) and the gain of the transmit beam (150a) is less than 1 dB when calculated on a decibel (dB) scale; and The computer program (720), when run on the processing circuit (210) of the antenna array control unit (200), causes the antenna array control unit (200) to: configuring (S102) a first set of beamforming weights for transmission of the first signal on the antenna array (170), the first set of beamforming weights adapted to serve the transmit antenna ports, and the beamforming weights for the antenna elements (172 a) of the first polarization being different from the beamforming weights for the antenna elements (172 b) of the second polarization; after configuring the first set, configuring (S106) a second set and a third set of beamforming weights on the antenna array (170) for reception of the second signal, the second set of beamforming weights being adapted to serve the first receive antenna port and the third set of beamforming weights being adapted to serve the second receive antenna port; further comprising computer code to cause the any of the first set, the second set, or the third set of beamforming weights is determined via multi-objective optimization involving at least two costs; The computer program (720), wherein one of the costs is a maximum amount of main lobe ripple and another of the costs is a maximum side lobe power level.

19. A computer-readable storage medium (730) having stored thereon the computer program (720) according to claim 18.

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