User equipment antenna diversity reporting in lower layer measurements

Abstract

A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for configuring beam pairing between a base station and user equipment (UE). In the context of a method, the method includes (i) receiving, at a first (RE) and a second RE of a UE, a base station beam of a plurality of base station beams from a base station; (ii) determining the first RE is available in response to determining that a first receiving power of the first RE meets a minimum receiving power threshold; (iii) determining the second RE is available in response to a second receiving power of the second RE being within a threshold range of the first receiving power; (iv) generating a channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of the availability of the first RE and second RE; and (v) providing the CSI indication to the base station to cause the base station to (i) configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE, receiving from the UE, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE using the at least one base station beam, or (ii) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE respective to the at least one base station beam.

Description

USER EQUIPMENT ANTENNA DIVERSITY REPORTING IN LOWER LAYER MEASUREMENTSTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] An example embodiment relates generally to antenna diversity techniques for use in configuring transmissions modes for a user equipment (UE).BACKGROUND

[0002] In legacy communication systems, beam activation for transmitting to user equipment (UE) typically relies on a singular beam pair approach in which a single radiating element (e.g., antenna or antenna array) of a user equipment is determined as a sole and ideal candidate for receiving transmission from a beam of a base station. Such approaches may result in limited spherical coverage at a user equipment. For example, narrow beams are typically associated with high spatial filtering. Due to analog UE radiating element architectures, multiple UE antennas / panels are typically required to enhance spherical coverage, hence enhance beam / cell discovery, which increases resource utilization and costs. As another example, such approaches typically require resource-heavy beam refine procedures that limit data scheduling opportunities, particularly when UEs are moving within the base station coverage. Additionally, existing approaches may experience high sensitivity to transmission blockage at the UE as a natural consequence of high spatial filtering at each end of the beam pair link (e.g., downlink (DL) to transmit beam and receive beam pair at the base station, and uplink (UL) to transmit beam and receive beam pair at the UE). As a result, performance of beam failure recovery (BFR) procedures is commonly required. In handheld UE, transmission blockage may be caused by covering of antennae and / or antennae panels, which may cause failures with narrow aligned UE beams. Rotation of a handheld UE may also cause failures due to high spatial filtering. High misalignment sensitivity may also be introduced by patterns of radiating elements at a UE, which present multiple side lobes that potentially cause nulls in one or more angular directions, causing large drops in receive power for UE dynamic channels. Therefore, there exists a need for improved beam configuration solutions to overcome deficiencies of previous approaches that result in lack of beam pair robustness and reliability.BRIEF SUMMARY

[0003] A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided in accordance with an example embodiment in order to indicate radiating element (e.g., antenna or antenna array) availability at a user equipment (UE) to improve reliability and robustness of beam transmission between the UE and a base station. In various embodiments, the present method, apparatus, and computer program product provide improved solutions for determining and indicating when multiple antenna array of a UE may be targeted by a base station beam.

[0004] In some embodiments, the present method, apparatus, and computer program product generate and introduce a metric to UE beam reporting that represents the UE radiating element diversity for each base station beam of a base station or a subset of base station beams, such as a set of best-ranked beams in layer-one (LI) reporting (e.g., beams associated with greatest magnitudes of receiving power at radiating elements of the UE). In some embodiments, the techniques described herein characterize the reliability and robustness of a transmission link by how many UE radiating elements are able to receive a given base station beam within a certain threshold (e.g., which may be configurable by the base station or defined in the specification of the UE). In some embodiments, the one or more metrics that indicate available UE antennae quantity or available antenna array quantity for a base station beam is reported by the UE to a base station as part of physical layer measurement reporting, such as in LI - Reference Signal Received Power (Ll-RSRP) or LI -Signal to Interference & Noise Ratio (Ll-SINR) measurement reporting. In various embodiments, the present method, apparatus, and computer program product provide enhanced reporting of UE antennae / antenna array availability that enables the base station to identify or determine the links available at a UE for a given transmission configuration indication (TCI) state. As described herein, UE antennae diversity reporting techniques may be utilized to improve robustness and reliability of transmission links between the UE and base station. In some embodiments, the UE antennae diversity reporting techniques enable beam enable beam selection by base stations to focus on robustness of the link, in addition with legacy RSRP / SINR metrics. In some embodiments, the present techniques increase efficiency of beam selection by base station and / or or associated telecommunication network (e.g., for existing and future physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) repetition transmission schemes.

[0005] In at least one embodiment, a method is provided that includes (i) receiving, at a first radiating element and a second radiating element of a user equipment (UE), at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams from a base station; (ii) determining the first radiating element is available in response to determining that a first receiving power of the first radiating element meets a minimum receiving power threshold; (iii) determining the second radiating element is available in response to determining that a second receiving power of the second radiating element is within a threshold range of the first receiving power of the first radiating element; (iv) generating at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of the availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element; and (v) providing the at least one CSI indication to the base station, wherein the at least one CSI indication causes the base station to (a) configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE, receiving from the UE, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE using the at least one base station beam, or (b) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE respective to the at least one base station beam.

[0006] In some embodiments, the at least one CSI indication indicates: the first receiving power of the first radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and the second receiving power of the second radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams. In some embodiments, the at least one CSI indication indicates at least one diversity order and a greatest measured receiving power for the at least one base station beam based on the first receiving power of the first available radiating element and the second receiving power of the second available radiating antenna. In some embodiments, the at least one diversity order comprises: a first diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for downlink (DL); and a second diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for uplink (UL). In some embodiments, the at least one CSI indication indicates a diversity order indicative of at least one of the following: (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element, (ii) the first radiating element, the second radiating element, and one or more additional radiating elements for the UE, or (iii) an availability of less than two radiating elements for the UE. In some embodiments, the at least one base station beam comprises: a joint and / or downlink CSI beam; and an uplink CSI beam. In some embodiments, the first available radiating element is a first antenna of the UE and the second available radiating element is a secondantenna of the UE. In some embodiments, the first available radiating element is a first antenna array of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna array of the UE.

[0007] As further described below, in some embodiments, one or more operations of the abovedescribed methods are performed by an apparatus including at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the one or more operations. For example, an apparatus may include at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to (i) receive, at a first radiating element and a second radiating element of a user equipment (UE), at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams from a base station; (ii) determine the first radiating element is available in response to determining that a first receiving power of the first radiating element meets a minimum receiving power threshold; (iii) determine the second radiating element is available in response to determining that a second receiving power of the second radiating element is within a threshold range of the first receiving power of the first radiating element; (iv) generate at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of the availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element; and (v) provide the at least one CSI indication to the base station, wherein the at least one CSI indication causes the base station to (a) configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE, receiving from the UE, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE using the at least one base station beam, or (b) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE respective to the at least one base station beam. In the same example, the apparatus may also be configured to perform additional operations and / or embody additional aspects of the above-described methods.

[0008] In various embodiments, as further described below, provided herein is a computer program product including at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions including program code instructions configured for performing one or more operations and / or embody additional aspects of the above-described methods. For example, a computer program product may include at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computerexecutable program code instructions including program code instructions configured to (i) receive, at a first radiating element and a second radiating element of a user equipment (UE), atleast one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams from a base station; (ii) determine the first radiating element is available in response to determining that a first receiving power of the first radiating element meets a minimum receiving power threshold; (iii) determine the second radiating element is available in response to determining that a second receiving power of the second radiating element is within a threshold range of the first receiving power of the first radiating element; (iv) generate at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of the availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element; and (v) provide the at least one CSI indication to the base station, wherein the at least one CSI indication causes the base station to (a) configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE, receiving from the UE, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE using the at least one base station beam, or (b) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE respective to the at least one base station beam. In the same example, the apparatus may also be configured to perform additional operations and / or embody additional aspects of the above-described methods. In the same example, the program code instructions may also be configured to perform additional operations and / or embody additional aspects of the above-described methods.

[0009] In various embodiments, as further described below, one or more operations of the abovedescribed methods are performed by an apparatus having means for performing the one or more operations. For example, an apparatus may include includes (i) means for receiving, at a first radiating element and a second radiating element of a user equipment (UE), at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams from a base station; (ii) means for determining the first radiating element is available in response to determining that a first receiving power of the first radiating element meets a minimum receiving power threshold; (iii) means for determining the second radiating element is available in response to determining that a second receiving power of the second radiating element is within a threshold range of the first receiving power of the first radiating element; (iv) means for generating at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of the availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element; and (v) means for providing the at least one CSI indication to the base station, wherein the at least one CSI indication causes the base station to (a) configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE, receiving from the UE, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE using the at least one base station beam, or (b) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE respective to the at least one base station beam. In the same example, the apparatus mayembody additional aspects and / or include additional means for performing additional operations of the above-described methods.

[0010] In at least one embodiment, a method is provided that includes (i) receiving, from a user equipment (UE), at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of a first available radiating element and a second available radiating element of the UE, wherein: a second receiving power of the second available radiating element for at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams is within a threshold range of a first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and (ii) in response to the receiving of the at least one CSI indication, (a) activating a set of base station beams for transmitting to the UE, for receiving from the UE, or receiving from and transmitting to the UE, or (b) performing a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action respective to the set of base station beams, wherein the set of base station beams comprises the at least one base station beam.

[0011] In some embodiments, the first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and the second receiving power of the second available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams. In some embodiments, the at least one CSI indication indicates at least one diversity order and a greatest measured receiving power for the at least one base station beam based on the first receiving power of the first available radiating element and the second receiving power of the second available radiating antenna. In some embodiments, the at least one diversity order comprises: a first diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for downlink (DL); and a second diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for uplink (UL). In some embodiments, the at least one CSI indication indicates a diversity order indicative of at least one of the following: (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element, (ii) the first radiating element, the second radiating element, and one or more additional radiating elements for the UE, or (iii) an availability of less than two radiating elements for the UE. In some embodiments, the at least one base station beam comprises: a joint and / or downlink CSI beam; and an uplink CSI beam. In some embodiments, the first available radiating element is a first antenna of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna of the UE. Insome embodiments, the first available radiating element is a first antenna array of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna array of the UE.

[0012] As further described below, in some embodiments, one or more operations of the abovedescribed methods are performed by an apparatus including at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the one or more operations. For example, an apparatus may include at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to (i) receive, from a user equipment (UE), at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of a first available radiating element and a second available radiating element of the UE, wherein: a second receiving power of the second available radiating element for at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams is within a threshold range of a first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and (ii) in response to the receiving of the at least one CSI indication, (a) activate a set of base station beams for transmitting to the UE, for receiving from the UE, or receiving from and transmitting to the UE, or (b) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action respective to the set of base station beams, wherein the set of base station beams comprises the at least one base station beam. In the same example, the apparatus may also be configured to perform additional operations and / or embody additional aspects of the above-described methods.

[0013] In various embodiments, as further described below, provided herein is a computer program product including at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions including program code instructions configured for performing one or more operations and / or embody additional aspects of the above-described methods. For example, a computer program product may include at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computerexecutable program code instructions including program code instructions configured to (i) receive, from a user equipment (UE), at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of a first available radiating element and a second available radiating element of the UE, wherein: a second receiving power of the second available radiating element for at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams is within a threshold range of a first receivingpower of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and (ii) in response to the receiving of the at least one CSI indication, (a) activate a set of base station beams for transmitting to the UE, for receiving from the UE, or receiving from and transmitting to the UE, or (b) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action respective to the set of base station beams, wherein the set of base station beams comprises the at least one base station beam. In the same example, the program code instructions may also be configured to perform additional operations and / or embody additional aspects of the above-described methods.

[0014] In various embodiments, as further described below, one or more operations of the abovedescribed methods are performed by an apparatus having means for performing the one or more operations. For example, an apparatus may include includes (i) means for receiving, from a user equipment (UE), at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of a first available radiating element and a second available radiating element of the UE, wherein: a second receiving power of the second available radiating element for at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams is within a threshold range of a first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and (ii) means for, in response to the receiving of the at least one CSI indication, (a) activating a set of base station beams for transmitting to the UE, for receiving from the UE, or receiving from and transmitting to the UE, or (b) performing a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action respective to the set of base station beams, wherein the set of base station beams comprises the at least one base station beam. In the same example, the apparatus may embody additional aspects and / or include additional means for performing additional operations of the above-described methods.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Having thus described certain example embodiments of the present disclosure in general terms, reference will hereinafter be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication system in which an example embodiment of the present disclosure may be implemented;

[0017] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus that may be configured in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0018] FIG. 3 shows a diagram of example user equipment (UE) configurations and antennae in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 4 shows an example schema 400 for beam alignment management in intra-cell for layer-one (LI) reporting according to previous approaches;

[0020] FIG. 5 shows an example beam refinement schema 500 according to previous approaches;

[0021] FIG. 6 shows an example beam pairing schema 600 in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0022] FIGS. 7 and 8 show an example beam pairing schema in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG. 9 shows a signal diagram for beam pairing in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 10 is an example flowchart of a beam pairing process for a user equipment (UE) in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0025] FIG. 11 is an example flowchart of a beam pairing process for a base station in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] FIG. 12 shows an example script for configuring a user equipment in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Some embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all, embodiments are shown. Indeed, various embodiments 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 so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. As used herein, the terms “data,” “content,” “information,” and similar terms may be used interchangeably to refer to data capable of being transmitted, received and / or stored in accordance with the described embodiments. Thus, use of any such terms should not be taken to limit the spirit and scope of the embodiments.

[0028] Additionally, as used herein, the term ‘circuitry’ refers to (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (e.g., implementations in analog circuitry and / or digital circuitry); (b) combinations of circuits and computer program product(s) comprising software and / or firmware instructions stored on one or more computer readable memories that work together to cause an apparatus to perform one or more functions described herein; and (c) circuits, such as, for example, a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that require software or firmware for operation even if the software or firmware is not physically present. This definition of ‘circuitry’ applies to all uses of this term herein, including in any claims. As a further example, as used herein, the term ‘circuitry’ also includes an implementation comprising one or more processors and / or portion(s) thereof and accompanying software and / or firmware. As another example, the term ‘circuitry’ as used herein also includes, for example, a baseband integrated circuit or applications processor integrated circuit for a mobile phone or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, other network device (such as a core network apparatus), field programmable gate array, and / or other computing device.

[0029] The term “comprising” means including but not limited to and should be interpreted in the manner it is typically used in the patent context. Use of broader terms such as comprises, includes, and having should be understood to provide support for narrower terms such as consisting of, consisting essentially of, and comprised substantially of. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes” and “including,” and variants thereof are used in either the detailed description or the claims, these terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising.”

[0030] The phrases “in one embodiment,” “according to one embodiment,” “in some embodiments,” “in various embodiments”, and the like generally refer to the fact that the particular feature, structure, or characteristic following the phrase may be included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, but not necessarily all embodiments of the present disclosure. Thus, the particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in more than one embodiment of the present disclosure such that these phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment.

[0031] As used herein, the terms “example,” “exemplary,” and the like are used to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation, aspect, or design described herein as “example” or “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous overother implementations, aspects, or designs. Rather, use of the terms “example,” “exemplary,” and the like are intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion.

[0032] If the specification states a component or feature “may,” “can,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “preferably,” “possibly,” “typically,” “optionally,” “for example,” “often,” or “might” (or other such language) be included or have a characteristic, that particular component or feature is not required to be included or to have the characteristic. Such component or feature may be optionally included in some embodiments, or it may be excluded.

[0033] As used herein, the term “computer-readable medium” refers to signal, non-transitory computer-readable medium and the like. The term ‘non-transitory computer-readable medium’ refers to non-transitory storage hardware, non-transitory storage device or non-transitory computer system memory that may be accessed by a controller, a microcontroller, a computational system or a module of a computational system to encode thereon computer-executable instructions or software programs. A non-transitory “computer-readable medium” may be accessed by a computational system or a module of a computational system to retrieve and / or execute the computer-executable instructions or software programs encoded on the medium. Examples of non- transitory computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, one or more types of hardware memory, non-transitory tangible media (for example, one or more magnetic storage disks, one or more optical disks, one or more USB flash drives), computer system memory or random-access memory (such as, DRAM, SRAM, EDO RAM), and the like.

[0034] As illustrated in FIG. 1, a communication network 100 is provided in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the communication network 100 is in communication with a plurality of user equipment (UE) 110. By way of example, the network 100 may be deployed within a radio access architecture based on long term evolution advanced (LTE Advanced, LTE-A) and / or new radio (NR, 5G). However, the system may be deployed in other network architectures including within other communication networks including, for example, other communication networks developed in the future, e.g., sixth generation (6G) networks, as well as any of a number of existing networks including a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) radio access network (UTRAN, E-UTRAN or NG- RAN), wireless local area network (WLAN or WiFi), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), Bluetooth®, personal communications services (PCS), ZigBee®, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), systems using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology,sensor networks, mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) and Internet Protocol multimedia subsystems (IMS) or any combination thereof.

[0035] The UE 110 may be any type of user terminal, terminal device, etc. to which resources on the air interface are allocated and assigned. For example, the UE may be a portable computing device such as a wireless mobile communication device including, but not limited to, the following types of devices: a mobile station (mobile phone), smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), handset, device using a wireless modem (alarm or measurement device, etc.), laptop and / or touch screen computer, tablet, game console, notebook, and multimedia device. The user equipment may also be called a subscriber unit, mobile station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal or user equipment (UE) just to mention but a few names or apparatuses.

[0036] The UE 110 may be configured (e.g., by a base station and / or installed specifications) to perform various operations and carry out various functions described herein. For example, the UE 110 may receive, from a base station, a base station beam at a first radiating element, a second radiating element, and potentially additional radiating elements. The UE 110 may generate or determine measurements respective to the receipt of the base station at each radiating element, such as a receiving power (e.g., Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP)) or Signal to Interference & Noise Ratio (SINR). The UE 110 may generate a channel state information (CSI) indication (also referred to as a CSI report) based on the measurements. For example, the UE 110 may determine the first radiating element is available for receiving or transmitting and receiving using the base station beam by determining the receiving power of the first radiating element meets a minimum receiving power threshold. The UE 110 may determine the second radiating element (e.g., and potentially additional radiating elements of the UE 11) is also available for receiving or transmitting and receiving using the base station beam by determining the receiving power of the second radiating element a) meets the minimum receiving power threshold, and b) is within a threshold range of the receiving power of the first radiating element for the base station beam). The UE 110 may generate a CSI indication that indicates the availability of the first and second radiating elements for receiving and / or transmitting and receiving using the base station beam. For example, the CSI indication may indicate the receiving powers of the first and second radiating elements, and may further indicate whether the availability of the first and second radiating elements applies to receiving, transmitting, or both receiving and transmitting using the base station beam. In another example, the CSI indication includes a greatest measured receiving powerfor the base station beam based on the measured receiving powers of the first and second radiating elements for the base station beam. The CSI indication may also include a diversity order that indicates the availability of the first and second radiating elements (e.g., or lack of radiating element diversity). The diversity order may also indicate whether the availability of the first and second radiating elements applies to receiving, transmitting, or both receiving and transmitting using the base station beam. The UE 110 may provide the CSI indication to the base station, which may cause the base station to (i) configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE 110, receiving from the UE 110, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE 110 using the base station beam, and / or (ii) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE 110 respective to the base station beam.

[0037] The network 100 may include a plurality of network devices, such as a variety of base stations 120. In one example, the base station 120 may be a gNB node that provides network connectivity to the UE. In various embodiments, as further shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the base station 120 is configured to perform beam pairing with one or more antennae or antennae panels of the UE to facilitate data transmission (e.g., uplink (UL) and downlink (DL)). In some embodiments, the base station 120 activates one or more beams for transmitting to the UE 110, which may receive signal from the beam via one or more antennae or antennae panels, potentially at varying magnitudes of receiving power. In some embodiments, the base station 120 receives and processes a channel state information (CSI) indication to a) determine one or more base station beams to activate for transmitting to and / or receiving from the UE 110 (e.g., such as via activating a beam switch), and / or b) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action respective to the one or more base station beams. For example, the base station 120 may receive, from the UE 110, a channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of a first available radiating element and a second available radiating element for the UE. The base station 120 may be configured to activate one or more of a plurality of base station beams based on the CSI indication. For example, the CSI indication may be generated by the UE 110 based on the UE 110 determining that a second receiving power of the second available radiating element for a base station beam of the base station 120 is within a threshold range of a first receiving power of a first radiating element for base station beam. The base station 120 may, in response to the receiving of the at least one CSI indication, activate a subset of a plurality of base station beams for transmittingto the UE, where the subset of beams comprises the base station beam received by the first and second radiating elements.

[0038] FIG. 2 shows an example apparatus 200 according to one embodiment. The apparatus 200 may be an embodiment of a network device or may be embodied by or otherwise associated with a network device. For example, the apparatus may be embodied by or otherwise associated with the application function (AF), the multicast and broadcast session management function (MB- SMF), and / or the multicast and broadcast user plane function (MB-UPF).

[0039] Regardless of the device that embodies the apparatus 200, the apparatus may include processor 202, memory 204, and network interface 206. The apparatus 200 may be configured to execute the operations described herein. Although these components are described with respect to the performance of various functions, it should be understood that the particular implementations necessarily include the use of particular hardware. It should also be understood that certain of these components may include similar or common hardware. For example, two sets of circuitries may both leverage use of the same processor, network interface, storage medium, or the like to perform their associated functions, such that duplicate hardware is not required for each set of circuitries.

[0040] In some embodiments, the processor 202 (and / or co-processor or any other processing circuitry assisting or otherwise associated with the processor) may be in communication with the memory 204 via a bus for passing information among components of the apparatus. The memory 204 is non-transitory and may include, for example, one or more volatile and / or non-volatile memories. In other words, for example, the memory 204 may be an electronic storage device (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium). The memory 204 may be configured to store information, data, content, applications, instructions, or the like for enabling the apparatus to carry out various functions in accordance with an example embodiment disclosed herein.

[0041] The processor 202 may be embodied in a number of different ways and may, for example, include one or more processing devices configured to perform independently. In some non-limiting embodiments, the processor 202 may include one or more processors configured in tandem via a bus to enable independent execution of instructions, pipelining, and / or multithreading. The use of the term “processor” may be understood to include a single core processor, a multi-core processor, multiple processors internal to the apparatus, and / or remote or “cloud” processors.

[0042] In some embodiments, the processor 202 may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 204 and / or circuitry otherwise accessible to the processor 202. In someembodiments, the processor 202 may be configured to execute hard-coded functionalities. As such, whether configured by hardware or software methods, or by a combination thereof, the processor 202 may represent an entity (e.g., physically embodied in circuitry) capable of performing operations according to an embodiment disclosed herein while configured accordingly. Alternatively, as another example, when the processor 202 is embodied as an executor of software instructions, the instructions may specifically configure the processor 202 to perform the algorithms and / or operations described herein when the instructions are executed. In various embodiments, the processor 202 is configured to generate measurements of received base station beam power, where the base station beam is received at one or more radiating elements of the UE 110 (e.g., one or more antennae or antenna arrays). For example, the UE 110 may include a first radiating element and a second radiating element that each receive a signal from a base station beam of the base station 120. The processor 202 may generate or determine a respective receiving power of the base station beam for the first radiating element and the second radiating element. The processor 202 may compare receiving power measurements to thresholds, such as minimum power thresholds. In some embodiments, the processor 202 compares receiving power measurements of multiple radiating elements (e.g., multiple antennae or antenna arrays) to determine a delta or other difference value. For example, the process 202 may determine a delta between a first receiving power of a first radiating element and a second receiving power of a radiating element.

[0043] In some embodiments, the apparatus 200 may optionally include input / output circuitry that may, in turn, be in communication with processor 202 to provide output to a user and / or other entity and, in some embodiments, to receive an indication of an input. The input / output circuitry may comprise a user interface and may include a display, and may comprise a web user interface, a mobile application, a query-initiating computing device, a kiosk, or the like. In some embodiments, the input / output circuitry may also include a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a touch screen, touch areas, soft keys, a microphone, a speaker, or other input / output mechanisms. The processor and / or user interface circuitry comprising the processor may be configured to control one or more functions of one or more user interface elements through computer program instructions (e.g., software and / or firmware) stored on a memory accessible to the processor (e.g., memory 204, and / or the like).

[0044] The network interface 206 may be any means such as a device or circuitry embodied in either hardware or a combination of hardware and software that is configured to receive and / or transmit data from / to a network and / or any other device, circuitry, or module in communication with the apparatus 200. In this regard, the network interface 206 may include, for example, a network interface for enabling communications with a wired or wireless communication network, such as the application function (AF), multicast and broadcast service function (MBSF), multicast and broadcast user plane function (MB-UPF), and / or multicast and broadcast session management function (MB-SMF). For example, the network interface 206 may include one or more network interface cards, antennae, buses, switches, routers, modems, and supporting hardware and / or software, or any other device suitable for enabling communications via a network. Additionally, or alternatively, the network interface 206 may include the circuitry for interacting with the antenna / antennae to cause transmission of signals via the antenna / antennae or to handle receipt of signals received via the antenna / antennae. In various embodiments, the network interface 206 includes a plurality of radiating elements, such as antennae, which may be arranged on the UE 110 into antenna arrays (also referred to as panels). For example, an antenna array may include four antennae. The antennae of the UE 110 may be configured to receive and / or transmit data from and to the base station 120. For example, the antennae may receive signal from one or more base station beams of the base station 120. In some embodiments, the processor 202 determines a received power of a base station beam received at a radiating element (e.g., at an antenna or antenna array).

[0045] FIG. 3 shows a diagram of an example user equipment (UE) configurations 300 A, 300B and radiating elements (e.g., antennae) in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. In various embodiments, the techniques for UE antenna diversity reporting described in the present disclosure target multi-antenna UEs, such as multi-panel UEs in carrier frequency ranges (e.g., mmW FR2, sub-THz and beyond) where the UE is operating with multiple antenna arrays (also referred to as antenna panels). The present techniques may also target a new frequency band targeted for Sixth-generation (6G) telecommunication (e.g., 7-24 GHz, or a portion thereof,) where UEs are operating with the multi antenna and / or array architecture. In some embodiments, with antenna arrays, the UE beamwidth and beam gain depend on the number of active antenna elements, as represented in FIG. 3. In some embodiments, in a first UE configuration 300A, the UE is equipped with a 1x4 array 301, where a single active radiating element 302 (e.g., antenna) yields a broad beam (e.g., 90 degrees half-power beam width (HPBW) and 5 decibels relative toisotropic (dBi) directivity). In some embodiments, in a second UE configuration 300B, all radiating elements 301, 302, 303, 304 of the UE are active, which yields a narrow beam (e.g., 22 degrees half-power beamwidth and 11 dBi directivity).

[0046] FIG. 4 shows an example schema 400 for beam alignment management in intra-cell for layer-one (LI) reporting. In some embodiments, user equipment (UE) beam alignment is defined in three phases Phase#l (Pl), Phase#2 (P2) and Phase#3 (P3). For example, in downlink (DL) beam management, the schema 400 may include phases P1-P3. In some embodiments, Pl is used to enable is used to enable UE measurement on different transmission-reception-point (TRP) transmit (Tx) beams to support selection of one or more TRP Tx beams and / or one or more UE receive (Rx) beam. In some embodiments, for beamforming at TRP (e.g., base station 120), Pl includes an intra / inter-TRP Tx beam sweep from a set of different beams. In some embodiments, for beamforming at the UE (e.g., UE 110), Pl includes a UE Rx beam sweep from a set of different beams. In some embodiments, the UE may scan its radiating elements (e.g., antennae and / or antenna arrays) sequentially for each synchronization signal (SS) burst and average over a number of samples (e.g., 3 samples or any suitable number).

[0047] In some embodiments, P2 is used to enable UE measurement on different TRP Tx beams to possibly change one or more inter / intra-TRP Tx beams. For example, P2 may enable UE measurement on a possible smaller set of beams for beam refinement than in Pl. In some embodiments, P2 may be a special case or subprocess of Pl. In some embodiments, in P2, comparisons between narrower CSI beams to synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) (SSB) block beams. In some embodiments, P3 is used to enable UE measurement on the same TRP Tx beam to change UE Rx beam in instances where the UE uses beamforming. In some embodiments, P3 uses aperiodic CSI-RS with a ‘repetition’ flag ‘on’ and UE Ll- RSRP / SINR reporting disabled. In some embodiments, at the end of P3, alignment between base station Tx beam and UE Rx beam is obtained for maximized directional gain (e.g., beam alignment and beam refinement procedures with aim of optimizing the link budget, finding the single best beam pair, and enhancing throughput). As described herein, existing approaches that determine a singular best beam pair may result in limited UE spherical coverage, resource-heavy beam refinement procedures, and high sensitivity to blockage, rotation, and misalignment. In some embodiments, the present techniques overcome such challenges by enabling UE antenna diversity reporting to increase robustness and reliability of links between the UE and base station.

[0048] FIG. 5 shows an example beam refinement schema 500 according to previous approaches. In various embodiments, the beam refinement schema 500 shown demonstrates a “best beam pair” approach in which a singular beam pair between a base station beam of the base station 120 and an antenna array Al, A2, or A3 of the user equipment (UE) 501 is determined. For example, in the schema 500, antenna array A3 may be determine as the best radiating element for the beam pair and, as a result, may be used as the singular antenna array for receiving a base station beam from the base station 120. As a result, the schema 500 may introduce issues related to optimizing the beam pair (e.g., beam failures). The best radiating element to be used by the UE 501 can change with UE rotation, or a blocker 502 (e.g., hand and / or the like) may disrupt the beam from the base station 501 to UE 110. For example, when operating at higher carrier frequencies such as 7-24 GHz and 24-70 GHz, the available principle for operation may be that the beam pair link between the base station 120 and UE 501 is aimed to be refined to achieve as good link as possible in terms of link budget. The principle may direct the use of as high antenna gains as possible at both ends of the beam pair link meaning correspondingly narrow beams, which may result in vulnerabilities to sudden blockages when the UE 501 moves and rotates and, thereby, limit link robustness and reliability. In some embodiments, the present techniques overcome such challenges by enabling UE antenna diversity reporting to increase robustness and reliability of links between the UE and base station, such as by activating a base station beam that may be received at a sufficient receiving power by multiple radiating elements of a UE and / or performing a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action respective to the base station beam.

[0049] FIG. 6 shows an example beam pairing schema 600 in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the schema 600 introduces a metric to UE beam reporting that represents the UE radiating element diversity for each base station beam of a base station or a subset of base station beams, such as a set of best-ranked beams in layer-one (LI) reporting (e.g., beams associated with greatest magnitudes of receiving power at radiating elements of the UE, such as antennae or antenna arrays). For example, the schema 600 may include characterizing the reliability and robustness of a transmission link by how many UE antennae or antenna arrays are able to receive a given base station beam within a certain threshold receiving power (e.g., which may be configurable by the base station or defined in the specification of the UE). In some embodiments, the one or more metrics that indicate available UE radiating element quantity for a base station beam is reported by the UE to a base station as part of physical layermeasurement reporting, such as in Ll-RSRP or Ll-SINR measurement reporting. In various embodiments, “availability” of radiating elements of a UE refers to instances in which the UE measures reference signal received power (RSRP) of the same CSI beam from multiple radiating elements of the UE and the respective measured RSRP of the multiple radiating elements is within a threshold range, which may be configured by the network 100 or provided in specifications of the UE. For example, a first radiating element and a second radiating element may be determined to have availability for a CSI beam in response to the UE 110 determining that, for the same CSI beam, a first receiving power for the first radiating element and a second receiving power for the second radiating element are within 3 dBi (e.g., or any other suitable threshold range). In some embodiments, the availability of radiating elements may also be dependent upon a determination that the respective receiving power of the radiating elements for the same CSI beam meet a predetermined threshold for minimum receiving power (e.g., 90 dBi or another suitable value).

[0050] In various embodiments, the schema 600 enables the base station 120 to identify or determine the links available at the UE 110 for a given transmission configuration indication (TCI) state. As described herein, the schema 600 may be utilized to improve robustness and reliability of transmission links between the UE 110 and base station 120.

[0051] In some embodiments, the schema 600 includes configuring the UE 110 to report the same transmission channel information (TCI) index multiple times, such as one time per each radiating element (e.g., antenna or antenna array)of the UE 110. For example, in the schema 600, the UE 110 may report, to the base station 120, CSI#1 as CSI#1: Ll-RSRP = -90 dBm and CSI#1: Ll- RSRP = -93 dBm. The UE 110 may measure the receiving strength of a base station beam at array Al and array A3. The UE 110 may determine that the respective receiving strengths meet a predetermined threshold, such as -90 dBm. The UE 110 may compare the receiving strengths and determine that the receiving strengths are within a threshold range, such as -3 dBm. The base station 120 may receive the TCI index from the UE 110 (e.g., via a CSI report indicative of multiple of the same TCI index for each radiating element). The base station 120 may be configured to interpret the TCI index as indicating the UE 110 is able to receive the CSI#1 using two different (e.g., independent) receive filters (e.g., array Al and array A3). In some embodiments, as further shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the TCI index and / or other indication provided by the UE 110 to the base station 120 may be downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) specific. The TCI index may be DL or UL specific in a scenario in which not all of the antenna arrays of the UE 110 are equipped with Tx / RxRF chains. For example, the UE 110 may include four antenna arrays where all four antenna arrays are equipped with Rx chains (e.g., for receiving) but only two of the four antenna arrays are equipped with Rx and Tx chains (e.g., for receiving and transmitting, respectively). Without DL or UL specificity, the base station 120 may be unable to determine if available arrays (e.g., arrays Al and A3) are valid only for UL or if the arrays are valid for DL and UL. In some embodiments, the present techniques include the UE 110 determining and the base station 120 receiving indications of UL and DL ability of each antenna and / or antenna array of the UE 110.

[0052] In some embodiments, the schema 600 includes configuring the UE to generate and provide to the base station 120 a diversity order indicative of TCI state receipt at the UE. For example, the diversity order may be a bit value “0” when a TCI state is only received on one UE radiating element (e.g., at or above a threshold minimum receiving power) and a bit value “1” if a TCI state is received on multiple radiating elements (e.g., at or above the threshold receiving power and / or within a predetermined receiving power delta at each antennae / array). In one example, the UE 110 may report the CSI#1 as CSI#1 : Ll-RSRP = -90 dBm, div = “1,” where div stands for the diversity order. In some embodiments, the UE 110 may utilize a reference signal received power (RSRP) difference threshold that is the condition by which the UE 110 may report div > 0. In other words, the Ll-RSRP measurements from the same downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) using different receive filters (e.g., antennae or antenna arrays) may be within a certain RSRP delta, such as 3 or 6 dB, such that the UE 110 may indicate div > 1 where such criteria are met. In some embodiments, the UE 110 reports diversity order to indicate a particular number of available antennae or antenna arrays, such as by generating a diversity order including a corresponding integer value of 1, 2, 3, and / or the like. In either of the diversity order or multiple of same TCI index indicator approaches, the schema 600 may include the base station 120 configuring the UE 110 with a subset of TCIs for which detailed reporting is to be provided by the UE 110 to the base station 120.

[0053] FIGS. 7 and 8 show an example beam pairing schema 700A, 700B in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the beam pairing schema 700 A, 700B is a further embodiment of the schema 600 in which the UE 110 may be configured to indicate to the base station 120 whether an antenna or antenna array is equipped with Rx chains (low-noise amplifier (LNA)), Tx chains (power amplifier (PA)), or Tx and Rx chains (PA and LNA).

[0054] In some embodiments, a UE 110 may have different antenna / array capabilities for UL and for DL (e.g., some antennae being only equipped with Rx chains (LN A) and others being equipped with both Tx and Rx chains (PA and LNA). As shown in FIG. 7, the diversity of UE Rx spatial filters measured in DL for each reference signal (CSI or SSB) may not be applicable to UL. In some embodiments, the UE 110 is configured to perform antenna diversity reporting per channel, (e.g., UL or DL, as they are non-reciprocal). For example, the UE 110 may report CSI1 detected on two panels for DL (e.g., or a diversity / robustness bit equals to “1” in DL) but only one array can transmit to CSI1 (e.g., or a diversity / robustness bit equals to “0” in UL).

[0055] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, two or more arrays of the UE 110 may each include DL (Rx) and UL (Tx) capabilities (e.g., UE antenna / array diversity is the same in DL and in UL). In some embodiments, the base station 120 may use different Tx spatial filters (e.g., different antennae or antenna arrays having Tx capability), which may result in transmitting physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) with different beam widths. In such instances, the UE 110 may also measure different diversity order per channel (e.g., control channel (PDCCH) or shared channel (PDSCH) or for different purposes, such as for uplink control or uplink data transmissions).

[0056] FIG. 9 shows a signal diagram for beam pairing in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the base station 120 provides a signal 903 to the UE 110. In some embodiments, the signal 903 may be a radio resource control (RRC) connection signal. In some embodiments, at a step / operation 906, the UE 110 performs autonomous mapping and updating of an SSB index to UE spatial filter diversity. In some embodiments, at the step / operation 906, the base station 120 provides period broadcasts of SS burst to the UE 110 to facilitate the autonomous mapping and updating of the SSB index. In some embodiments, the UE 110 detects an SSB number on a radiating element (e.g., antenna or antenna array). In some embodiments, the UE 110 maps a number of received radiating elements per SSB index, within a threshold. In some embodiments, the base station 120 provides a signal 909 to the UE 110. The signal 909 may be an RRC configuration for CRI-RS reporting that includes a diversity threshold (e.g., 0.3 dB), such as a receiving power range, for configuration of beam pairing for UE radiating elements. In some embodiments, the base station 120 provides signals 912, 915, 918, 921, 924 to the UE 110. Each of the signals 912, 915, 918, 921, 924 may be a CSI received at a different pair of radiating elements of the UE 110. In some embodiments, sequentiallyor simultaneously, the UE 110 receives the signals 912, 915, 918, 921, 924 and determines a receiving power of the signal at each antenna. In some embodiments, at a step / operation 927, the UE 110 determines one or more best beams based on the signals 912, 915, 918, 921, 924 and determined receiving powers. In some embodiments, at step / operation 927, the UE 110 reports Ll-RSRP / SINR for the determined best beams to the base station 120. In one example, the UE 110 provides, to the base station 120, multiple reports of the same CSI (e.g., one per measured antenna or antennae panel within the diversity threshold). In another example, the UE 110 provides, to the base station 120, a single report for the CSI that includes a diversity bit indicative of the availability of the radiating elements at the UE 110 for receiving one or more beams from the base station 120. In some embodiments, at a step / operation 930, the base station 120 selects a joint and / or downlink (DL) CSI beam based on the measured receiving power and diversity metrics for beam reliability and / or rank (e.g., as determined by and received from the UE 110). In some embodiments, the base station 120 provides a signal 933 to the UE 110 for activation and / or scheduling of the CSI for PDSCH (e.g., based on the reporting of receipt of the CSI on multiple antennae or antenna arrays of the UE 110). In some embodiments, at a step / operation 936, the base station 120 selects a joint and / or uplink (UL) CSI beam based on the measured receiving power and diversity metrics for beam reliability and / or rank (e.g., as determined by and received from the UE 110). In some embodiments, the base station 120 provides a signal 939 to the UE 110 for activation and / or scheduling of the CSI for PUSCH (e.g., based on the reporting of receipt of the CSI on multiple antennae or antenna arrays of the UE 110).

[0057] Referring now to FIG 10., shown is an example flowchart of a beam pairing process 1000 for a user equipment (UE) in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The process 1000, or blocks / steps / operations thereof, may be performed by an apparatus, such as the apparatus 200 of FIG. 2 (e.g., which may comprise the user equipment (UE) 110 shown in FIG. 1) or by an apparatus that embodies the base station 120.

[0058] In some embodiments, at block 1003, the apparatus performing the process 1000 includes means, such as the processor 202, the memory 204, the network interface 206, or the like, for receiving, at a first radiating element (e.g., antenna or antenna array) and a second radiating element (e.g., and potentially additional radiating elements) a base station beam from a base station. For example, a first antenna array and a second array of a user equipment (UE) 110 may receive from a base station 120, one or more base station beams from a plurality of base stationbeams of the base station 120. In some embodiments, the base station beam includes a joint and / or downline channel state indication (CSI) beam and an uplink CSI beam.

[0059] In some embodiments, at block 1006, the apparatus performing the process 1000 includes means, such as the processor 202, the memory 204, the network interface 206, or the like, for determining radiating element availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element based on respective receiving power. For example, the UE 110 may determine that a receiving power of the first radiating element meets a minimum receiving power threshold and, in response, determine that the first radiating element is available to receive the base station beam. As another example, the UE 110 may determine that a receiving power of the second radiating element is within a threshold range of the first receiving power of the first radiating element and, in response, determine that the second radiating element is available to receive the base station beam. To determine availability of the second radiating element, the UE 110 may also confirm that the receiving power of the second radiating element meets the minimum receiving power threshold. In some embodiments, the UE 110 determines whether the availability of the first, second, or additional radiating elements applies to only receiving (e.g., downlink (DL) only), only transmitting (e.g., uplink (UL) only, or receiving and transmitting (e.g., DL and UL) using the base station beam.

[0060] In some embodiments, at block 1009, the apparatus performing the process 1000 includes means, such as the processor 202, the memory 204, the network interface 206, or the like, for generating one or more channel state information (CSI) indications. In some embodiments, the CSI indication reports the same TCI index multiple times, where each report of the same transmission configuration indication (TCI) index is for the same TCI state received at each radiating element of the UE 110, or at each radiating element of the UE 110 for which a measured receiving power meets a minimum receiving power threshold and / or is within a threshold range of measured receiving power of another radiating element. For example, a CSI indication for the UE 110 of the schema 600 depicted in FIG. 6 may include “CSI#1: Ll-RSRP = -90 dBm and CSI#1: Ll-RSRP = -93 dBm.” The base station 120 may interpret the example CSI indication as indicating that the UE 110 may receive the CSI#1 using two different (e.g., independent) receive filters (e.g., a first radiative element, Al, and a second radiative element, A3, as shown in FIG. 6). In some embodiments, the CSI indication includes a minimum receiving power of the radiating elements determined to have availability for the base station beam.

[0061] In some embodiments, the CSI indication includes a diversity order for the radiating elements of the UE 110. In some embodiments, the diversity order includes a bit value (e.g., 0 or 1) that indicates whether a base station beam (e.g., TCI state) is (i) only received on one radiating element of the UE (e.g., a receiving power of the one radiating element determined by the UE 110 to meet a minimum receiving power threshold), or (ii) is received on multiple radiating elements of the UE 110 (e.g., the receiving powers of the multiple radiating elements being determined by the UE 110 to be within a threshold range of the receiving power for other radiating elements for which a receiving power meets a minimum receiving power threshold). In some embodiments, the CSI indication reports a greatest (e.g., best) measured receiving power of the radiating elements associated with the diversity order. For example, a CSI indication for the UE 110 of the schema 600 depicted in FIG. 6 may include “CSI#1 : Ll-RSRP = -90 dBm, div = “1,” where div stands for the diversity order. In some embodiments, the CSI indication may only indicate a diversity order of 1 when receiving powers of the radiating elements are within a threshold range of each other. For example, a threshold range of 3 dBm may be utilized by the UE 110 of the schema 600. The diversity order for said UE 110 may be “div = ‘1’” in response to the UE 110 determining the availability of radiating elements Al and A3 based on their respective receiving powers, -93 dBm and -90 dBm, being within the threshold range.

[0062] In some embodiments, the diversity order includes an integer value that indicates availability of multiple radiating elements to receive the base station beam (e.g., TCI state) and a quantity of the multiple radiating elements. For example, the diversity order may be “0” in an instance where only a single radiating element demonstrates at least a threshold measured receiving power for the base station beam. In another example, the diversity order may be “1” in an instance where two radiating elements demonstrate at least a threshold receiving power for the base station beam and where the measured receiving powers of the two radiating elements are within a threshold range of each other. In another example, the diversity order may be “2” in an instance where three radiating elements demonstrate at least a threshold receiving power for the base station beam and where the measured receiving powers of the three radiating elements are within a threshold range of each other. In additional examples, for each additional available radiating element (e.g., having a measured receiving power that meets a minimum receiving power threshold and / or lies with a threshold range of a receiving power of another radiating element) the diversity order may be incremented by 1.

[0063] In some embodiments, the CSI indication includes a UE radiating element diversity indication of whether the diversity indication (e.g., multiple reported TCI index or diversity order) is applicable for uplink (UL) (e.g., transmitting signal), downlink (DL) (e.g., receiving signal), or both UL and DL (e.g., transmitting and receiving signal). For example, the UE 110 may determine availability of a first radiating element and a second radiating element. In response, the UE 110 may generate a diversity order of “div = 1.” The UE 110 may determine that (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element are available for receiving the base station beam (e.g., DL), (ii) the first radiating element is also available for transmitting the base station beam, and (iii) the second radiating element is not available for transmitting the base station beam. The CSI indication generated by the UE 110 may indicate the availability of the first and second radiating elements in DL by providing a DL-specific diversity order of “div=0” and the availability of only the first radiating element in UL by providing a UL-specific diversity order of “div=l.”

[0064] In some embodiments, at block 1012, the apparatus performing the process 1000 includes means, such as the processor 202, the memory 204, the network interface 206, or the like, for providing the CSI indication to the base station from which the base station beam was received. For example, the UE 110 transmits the CSI indication (e.g., a CSI report) to the base station 120. In some embodiments, the CSI indication, when received by the base station 120, causes the base station 120 to configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE, receiving from the UE, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE using the corresponding base station beam (e.g., or set of base station beams including the base station beam received at block 1003 and for which availability was determined). In some embodiments, the CSI indication causes the base station 120 to perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE 110 respective to the base station beam for which availability was determined.

[0065] Referring now to FIG 11., shown is an example flowchart of a beam pairing process 1100 for a base station in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The process 11000, or blocks / steps / operations thereof, may be performed by an apparatus that embodies a base station, such as the base station 120 shown in FIG. 1 and described herein.

[0066] In some embodiments, at block 1103, the apparatus embodying the base station includes means for receiving a CSI indication from a UE. For example, the base station 120 receives the CSI indication from the UE 110 in response to transmitting to the UE 110 using one or more base station beams (e.g., each of which may be received and evaluated by the UE 110 for beam pairingbased on measured receive power and potentially other measures, such as signal to interference & noise ratio). In some embodiments, the CSI indication indicates a first available radiating element and a second available radiating element of the UE 110 for receiving a particular base station beam. In some embodiments, the CSI indication reports the same TCI index multiple times, where each report of the same transmission configuration indication (TCI) index is for the same TCI state received at each available radiating element of the UE 110 (e.g., for which a measured receiving power meets a minimum receiving power threshold and / or is within a threshold range of measured receiving power of another available radiating element). In some embodiments, the CSI indication indicates a measured receiving power of each available radiating element using the base station beam. In some embodiments, the CSI indication includes a minimum receiving power of the available radiating elements for receiving the base station beam. In some embodiments, the CSI indication indicates whether the availability of the first and second available radiating elements applies to receiving, transmitting, or both receiving and transmitting using the base station beam. For example, the CSI indication may indicate that a first radiating element and a second radiating element are available for receiving (e.g., downlink (DL)) using the base station beam. The CSI indication may also indicate that only a single radiating element (e.g., the first radiating element or the second radiating element) is available for both receiving and transmitting using the base station beam.

[0067] In some embodiments, the CSI indication includes a diversity order for the available radiating elements. In some embodiments, the diversity order includes a bit value (e.g., 0 or 1) that indicates whether a base station beam (e.g., TCI state) is (i) only received on one available radiating element of the UE 110 (e.g., a receiving power of the one radiating element having been determined to meet a minimum receiving power threshold), or (ii) is received on multiple available radiating elements of the UE 110 (e.g., the receiving powers of the multiple radiating elements being determined by the UE 110 to be within a threshold range of the receiving power for other radiating elements for which a receiving power meets a minimum receiving power threshold). In some embodiments, the CSI indication reports a greatest (e.g., best) measured receiving power of the radiating elements associated with the diversity order. In some embodiments, the diversity order includes an integer value that indicates availability of multiple radiating elements to receive the base station beam (e.g., TCI state) and a quantity of the multiple radiating elements. In some embodiments, the CSI indication includes a UE radiating element diversity indication of whetherthe diversity indication (e.g., multiple reported TCI index or diversity order) is applicable for uplink (UL) (e.g., transmitting signal), downlink (DL) (e.g., receiving signal), or both UL and DL (e.g., transmitting and receiving signal). In some embodiments, based on the CSI indication, the base station 120 selects a joint and / or downlink (DL) CSI beam for transmitting to the UE 110. In some embodiments, based on the CSI indication, the base station 120 selects a joint and / or uplink (UL) CSI beam for receiving from the UE 110.

[0068] In some embodiments, at block 1106, the apparatus embodying the base station includes means for, based on the CSI indication, indicating a set of base station beams (e.g., including the base station beam(s) of block 1103) for transmitting to, receiving from, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE. For example, based on the available radiating elements and other data indicated by the CSI indication, the base station 120 indicates a set of base station beams for transmitting to, receiving from, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE via the available radiating elements, where the set of base station beams includes the base station beam of block 1103 (e.g., the base station beam for which availability was indicated by the CSI indication). In some embodiments, the base station 110 indicates the set of base station beams by performing a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE 110, where the PDSCH scheduling action is associated with the base station beam (e.g., CSI) of block 1103. In some embodiments, the base station 110 indicates the set of base station beams by performing a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) scheduling action for the UE 110, where the PUSCH scheduling action is associated with the base station beam.

[0069] In some embodiments, at block 1109, the base station performing block 1018 of the process 1000 includes means for activating a set of base station beams for transmitting to the UE that received the base station beam of block 1003. For example, the base station 120 may activate a set of base station beams, and / or a beam switch associated with the set of base station beams, for transmitting to, receiving from, or receiving from and transmitting to the first available radiating element and the second available radiating element of the UE 110 (e.g., the set of base station beams including the base station beam of block 1103). In some embodiments, the base station 120 provides a signal to the UE 110 for activation of a set of base station beams (including the base station beam of block 1103) for PDSCH. In some embodiments, additionally, or alternatively, the base station 120 provides a signal to the UE 110 for activation of a set of beams (including the base station beam of block 1103) for PUSCH.

[0070] In various embodiments, the method, apparatus and computer program product of the present disclosure are provided for reporting user equipment (UE) radiating element diversity to base stations. The method, apparatus, and computer program product provide improved solutions for beam pairing between a UE and a base station, which may result in increased robustness and reliability of transmission links. In various embodiments, the method, apparatus, and computer program provide techniques for reporting availability of radiating elements (e.g., antennae and antenna arrays) for beam pairing via generation and transmission of a channel state information (CSI) indication that includes a) multiple of the same transmission configuration index (TCI) for indicating measured receiving powers of available receiving elements for a base station beam, or b) a greatest measured receiving power of the available receiving elements for the base station beam and a diversity order indicative of the presence and / or number of available receiving elements. In various embodiments, the method, apparatus, and computer program product improve telecommunication services by overcoming technical challenges associated with beam pairing, including, but not limited to, limited UE spherical coverage, resource-heavy beam refinement procedures, and high sensitivity to blockage, rotation, and / or misalignment, thereby improving robustness and reliability of transmission links between user equipment and base stations.

[0071] It will be understood that each block of the flowcharts and combination of blocks in the flowcharts show in the figures and described herein may be implemented by various means, such as hardware, firmware, processor, circuitry, and / or communication devices associated with execution of software including one or more program instructions. For example, one or more of the procedures or operations described above may be embodied by computer program instructions. In this regard, the computer program instructions which embody the procedures or operations described above may be stored by a memory 204 of an apparatus (e.g., user equipment (UE)) employing a disclosed embodiment and executed by a processor 202. As will be appreciated, any such computer program instructions may be loaded onto a computer or other programmable apparatus (for example, hardware) to produce a machine, such that the resulting computer or other programmable apparatus implements the functions specified in the flowchart blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that may direct a computer or other programmable apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture the execution of which implements the function specified the flowchart blocks. The computer programinstructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable apparatus to cause a series of operations to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide operations for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart blocks.

[0072] Many modifications and other embodiments of the present disclosure set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these embodiments pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, although the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings describe example embodiments in the context of certain example combinations of elements and / or functions, it should be appreciated that different combinations of elements and / or functions can be provided by alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In this regard, for example, different combinations of elements and / or functions than those explicitly described above are also contemplated as can be set forth in some of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method, the method comprising: receiving, at a first radiating element and a second radiating element of a user equipment (UE), at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams from a base station; determining the first radiating element is available in response to determining that a first receiving power of the first radiating element meets a minimum receiving power threshold; determining the second radiating element is available in response to determining that a second receiving power of the second radiating element is within a threshold range of the first receiving power of the first radiating element; generating at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of the availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element; and providing the at least one CSI indication to the base station, wherein the at least one CSI indication causes the base station to (i) configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE, receiving from the UE, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE using the at least one base station beam, or (ii) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE respective to the at least one base station beam.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one CSI indication indicates: the first receiving power of the first radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and the second receiving power of the second radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates at least one diversity order and a greatest measured receiving power for the at least one base station beam based on the first receiving power of the first available radiating element and the second receiving power of the second available radiating antenna.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one diversity order comprises: a first diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for downlink (DL); and a second diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for uplink (UL).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates a diversity order indicative of at least one of the following: (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element, (ii) the first radiating element, the second radiating element, and one or more additional radiating elements for the UE, or (iii) an availability of less than two radiating elements for the UE.

6. The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein the at least one base station beam comprises: a joint and / or downlink CSI beam; and an uplink CSI beam.

7. The method of any of claims 1 -6, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna of the UE.

8. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna array of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna array of the UE.

9. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: receive, at a first radiating element and a second radiating element of a user equipment (UE), at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams from a base station; determine the first radiating element is available in response to determining that a first receiving power of the first radiating element meets a minimum receiving power threshold;determine the second radiating element is available in response to determining that a second receiving power of the second radiating element is within a threshold range of the first receiving power of the first radiating element; generate at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of the availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element; and provide the at least one CSI indication to the base station, wherein the at least one CSI indication causes the base station to (i) configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE, receiving from the UE, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE using the at least one base station beam, or (ii) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE respective to the at least one base station beam.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one CSI indication indicates: the first receiving power of the first radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and the second receiving power of the second radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates at least one diversity order and a greatest measured receiving power for the at least one base station beam based on the first receiving power of the first available radiating element and the second receiving power of the second available radiating antenna.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one diversity order comprises: a first diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for downlink (DL); and a second diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for uplink (UL).

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein:the at least one CSI indication indicates a diversity order indicative of at least one of the following: (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element, (ii) the first radiating element, the second radiating element, and one or more additional radiating elements for the UE, or (iii) an availability of less than two radiating elements for the UE.

14. The apparatus of any of claims 9-13, wherein the at least one base station beam comprises: a joint and / or downlink CSI beam; and an uplink CSI beam.

15. The apparatus of any of claims 9-14, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna of the UE.

16. The apparatus of any of claims 9-14, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna array of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna array of the UE.

17. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions configured to: receive, at a first radiating element and a second radiating element of a user equipment (UE), at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams from a base station; determine the first radiating element is available in response to determining that a first receiving power of the first radiating element meets a minimum receiving power threshold; determine the second radiating element is available in response to determining that a second receiving power of the second radiating element is within a threshold range of the first receiving power of the first radiating element; generate at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of the availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element; andprovide the at least one CSI indication to the base station, wherein the at least one CSI indication causes the base station to (i) configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE, receiving from the UE, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE using the at least one base station beam, or (ii) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE respective to the at least one base station beam.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the at least one CSI indication indicates: the first receiving power of the first radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and the second receiving power of the second radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates at least one diversity order and a greatest measured receiving power for the at least one base station beam based on the first receiving power of the first available radiating element and the second receiving power of the second available radiating antenna.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the at least one diversity order comprises: a first diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for downlink (DL); and a second diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for uplink (UL).

21. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates a diversity order indicative of at least one of the following: (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element, (ii) the first radiating element, the second radiating element, and one or more additional radiating elements for the UE, or (iii) an availability of less than two radiating elements for the UE.

22. The computer program product of any of claims 17-21, wherein the at least one base station beam comprises: a joint and / or downlink CSI beam; and an uplink CSI beam.

23. The computer program product of any of claims 17-22, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna of the UE.

24. The computer program product of any of claims 17-22, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna array of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna array of the UE.

25. A apparatus, the apparatus comprising: means for receiving, at a first radiating element and a second radiating element of a user equipment (UE), at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams from a base station; means for determining the first radiating element is available in response to determining that a first receiving power of the first radiating element meets a minimum receiving power threshold; means for determining the second radiating element is available in response to determining that a second receiving power of the second radiating element is within a threshold range of the first receiving power of the first radiating element; means for generating at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of the availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element; and means for providing the at least one CSI indication to the base station, wherein the at least one CSI indication causes the base station to (i) configure a beam switch for transmitting to the UE, receiving from the UE, or transmitting to and receiving from the UE using the at least one base station beam, or (ii) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action for the UE respective to the at least one base station beam.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the at least one CSI indication indicates: the first receiving power of the first radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and the second receiving power of the second radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates at least one diversity order and a greatest measured receiving power for the at least one base station beam based on the first receiving power of the first available radiating element and the second receiving power of the second available radiating antenna.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the at least one diversity order comprises: a first diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for downlink (DL); and a second diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for uplink (UL).

29. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates a diversity order indicative of at least one of the following: (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element, (ii) the first radiating element, the second radiating element, and one or more additional radiating elements for the UE, or (iii) an availability of less than two radiating elements for the UE.

30. The apparatus of any of claims 25-29, wherein the at least one base station beam comprises: a joint and / or downlink CSI beam; and an uplink CSI beam.

31. The apparatus of any of claims 25-30, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna of the UE.

32. The apparatus of any of claims 25-30, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna array of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna array of the UE.

33. A method, the method comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of a first available radiating element and a second available radiating element of the UE, wherein: a second receiving power of the second available radiating element for at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams is within a threshold range of a first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and in response to the receiving of the at least one CSI indication, (i) activating a set of base station beams for transmitting to the UE, for receiving from the UE, or receiving from and transmitting to the UE, or (ii) performing a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action respective to the set of base station beams, wherein the set of base station beams comprises the at least one base station beam.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the at least one CSI indication indicates: the first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and the second receiving power of the second available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates at least one diversity order and a greatest measured receiving power for the at least one base station beam based on the first receivingpower of the first available radiating element and the second receiving power of the second available radiating antenna.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the at least one diversity order comprises: a first diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for downlink (DL); and a second diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for uplink (UL).

37. The method of claim 33, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates a diversity order indicative of at least one of the following: (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element, (ii) the first radiating element, the second radiating element, and one or more additional radiating elements for the UE, or (iii) an availability of less than two radiating elements for the UE.

38. The method of any of claims 33-37, wherein the at least one base station beam comprises: a joint and / or downlink CSI beam; and an uplink CSI beam.

39. The method of any of claims 33-38, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna of the UE.

40. The method of any of claims 33-38, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna array of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna array of the UE.

41. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: receive, from a user equipment (UE), at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of a first available radiating element and a second available radiating element of the UE, wherein:a second receiving power of the second available radiating element for at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams is within a threshold range of a first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and in response to the receiving of the at least one CSI indication, (i) activate a set of base station beams for transmitting to the UE, for receiving from the UE, or receiving from and transmitting to the UE, or (ii) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action respective to the set of base station beams, wherein the set of base station beams comprises the at least one base station beam.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the at least one CSI indication indicates: the first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and the second receiving power of the second available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams.

43. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates at least one diversity order and a greatest measured receiving power for the at least one base station beam based on the first receiving power of the first available radiating element and the second receiving power of the second available radiating antenna.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the at least one diversity order comprises: a first diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for downlink (DL); and a second diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for uplink (UL).

45. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates a diversity order indicative of at least one of the following: (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element, (ii) the first radiatingelement, the second radiating element, and one or more additional radiating elements for the UE, or (iii) an availability of less than two radiating elements for the UE.

46. The apparatus of any of claims 41-45, wherein the at least one base station beam comprises: a joint and / or downlink CSI beam; and an uplink CSI beam.

47. The apparatus of any of claims 41-46, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna of the UE.

48. The apparatus of any of claims 41-46, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna array of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna array of the UE.

49. A computer program product comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: receive, from a user equipment (UE), at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of a first available radiating element and a second available radiating element of the UE, wherein: a second receiving power of the second available radiating element for at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams is within a threshold range of a first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and in response to the receiving of the at least one CSI indication, (i) activate a set of base station beams for transmitting to the UE, for receiving from the UE, or receiving from and transmitting to the UE, or (ii) perform a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action respective to the set of base station beams, wherein the set of base station beams comprises the at least one base station beam.

50. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the at least one CSI indication indicates: the first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and the second receiving power of the second available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams.

51. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates at least one diversity order and a greatest measured receiving power for the at least one base station beam based on the first receiving power of the first available radiating element and the second receiving power of the second available radiating antenna.

52. The computer program product of claim 51, wherein the at least one diversity order comprises: a first diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for downlink (DL); and a second diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for uplink (UL).

53. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates a diversity order indicative of at least one of the following: (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element, (ii) the first radiating element, the second radiating element, and one or more additional radiating elements for the UE, or (iii) an availability of less than two radiating elements for the UE.

54. The computer program product of any of claims 49-53, wherein the at least one base station beam comprises: a joint and / or downlink CSI beam; and an uplink CSI beam.

55. The computer program product of any of claims 49-54, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna of the UE.

56. The computer program product of any of claims 49-54, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna array of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna array of the UE.

57. An apparatus, the apparatus comprising: means for receiving, from a user equipment (UE), at least one channel state information (CSI) indication indicative of a first available radiating element and a second available radiating element of the UE, wherein: a second receiving power of the second available radiating element for at least one base station beam of a plurality of base station beams is within a threshold range of a first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and means for, in response to the receiving of the at least one CSI indication, (i) activating a set of base station beams for transmitting to the UE, for receiving from the UE, or receiving from and transmitting to the UE, or (ii) performing a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling action respective to the set of base station beams, wherein the set of base station beams comprises the at least one base station beam.

58. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein the at least one CSI indication indicates: the first receiving power of the first available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams; and the second receiving power of the second available radiating element for the at least one base station beam of the plurality of base station beams.

59. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates at least one diversity order and a greatest measured receiving power for the at least one base station beam based on the first receivingpower of the first available radiating element and the second receiving power of the second available radiating antenna.

60. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the at least one diversity order comprises: a first diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for downlink (DL); and a second diversity order that indicates an availability of the first radiating element and the second radiating element for uplink (UL).

61. The apparatus of claim 57, wherein: the at least one CSI indication indicates a diversity order indicative of at least one of the following: (i) the first radiating element and the second radiating element, (ii) the first radiating element, the second radiating element, and one or more additional radiating elements for the UE, or (iii) an availability of less than two radiating elements for the UE.

62. The apparatus of any of claims 57-61, wherein the at least one base station beam comprises: a joint and / or downlink CSI beam; and an uplink CSI beam.

63. The apparatus of any of claims 57-62, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna of the UE.

64. The apparatus of any of claims 57-62, wherein the first available radiating element is a first antenna array of the UE and the second available radiating element is a second antenna array of the UE.

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