Communication method and related device

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and a related device. In the communication method provided by the present application, a non-geostationary orbit satellite receives historical configuration information transmitted by an adjacent satellite in a same orbit, and when the satellite operates to a new area covered by a synchronization signal block beam, historical information strongly related to the new coverage area is used to configure random access resources for the new coverage area.

Description

Communication method and related device Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and related devices. Background Art

[0002] As a non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication system, the satellite communication system has the advantages of wide coverage, long-distance transmission, and no geographical restrictions. By integrating the satellite communication system with the terrestrial communication system (such as the 5G communication system), a three-dimensional, all-round, and all-weather information network covering the world can be built.

[0003] When user equipment (UE) randomly accesses a satellite communication system, the communication satellite uses a synchronization signal block (SSB) beam to scan the coverage area and configures the mapping relationship between the SSB and the random access channel occasion (RO) according to the load conditions of the area. When the SSB beam covers the UE, the UE sends a random access preamble through the RO corresponding to the SSB to achieve random access.

[0004] However, when a non-geostationary satellite is moving, a problem may occur where a UE in a coverage area fails to randomly access the non-geostationary satellite.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and related devices, which aim to improve the random access success rate of terminal devices in the coverage area of ​​non-geostationary orbit satellites and reduce access delay.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, applied to a first non-terrestrial network device, the method comprising:

[0008] Receive first information, where the first information is used to indicate a random access timing RO of a synchronization signal block SSB of a second non-terrestrial network device within a first coverage area; and configure an RO for the SSB of the first non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage area based on the first information.

[0009] The first non-ground network device can quickly configure random access resources corresponding to each wave position within the first coverage area based on the historical configuration information transmitted by the second ground network device, thereby improving the random access success rate of UEs in the non-geostationary orbit satellite coverage area and reducing UE access delay.

[0010] In some implementations, the first information includes wave position information of the SSB of the second non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage area and RO configuration information of the synchronization signal block SSB of the second non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage area.

[0011] In some implementations, the wave position information includes a wave position identifier or location information of a wave position reference point.

[0012] In some implementations, the location information of the wave position reference point includes the geographical location of the wave position center point.

[0013] The wave position information within the first coverage range can accurately describe the specific location area occupied by the first coverage range.

[0014] In some implementations, the RO configuration information includes at least two pieces of information including the starting position, ending position, and length of the RO in the configuration period of the physical random access channel; or, the RO configuration information includes the number of ROs corresponding to each SSB and / or the number of preamble codes corresponding to each RO.

[0015] The RO configuration information corresponding to the wavelet in the first coverage range can configure RO resources that meet access requirements for UEs in each wavelet in the first coverage range, and the appropriate number of preamble codes corresponding to each RO can further improve the random access success rate of the UE.

[0016] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, applied to a first non-terrestrial network device, the method comprising:

[0017] Receive first information, where the first information is used to indicate load information of the SSB of the second non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage range; and configure a scanning mode for the SSB of the first non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage range based on the first information.

[0018] Based on the historical access information transmitted by the second terrestrial network device, the first non-terrestrial network device can quickly configure the scanning mode corresponding to each wave position within the first coverage area, thereby improving the random access success rate of UEs in the non-geostationary orbit satellite coverage area and reducing the UE access delay.

[0019] In some implementations, the wave position information includes a wave position identifier or location information of a wave position reference point.

[0020] In some implementations, the location information of the wave position reference point includes the geographical location of the wave position center point.

[0021] In some implementations, the load information includes the number of access users or the load status.

[0022] The load information can indicate the load condition corresponding to the wave position within the first coverage range, and provide a basis for configuring a scanning mode for the first non-terrestrial network device.

[0023] In some implementations, the method further includes:

[0024] Second information is received, where the second information includes at least one of the following information of the SSB of the second non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage area: access success rate, access delay, and collision probability.

[0025] The second information can indirectly reflect the load situation corresponding to the wave position within the first coverage area, and provide a reference for the first non-terrestrial network device to specifically adjust the RO configuration of each wave position.

[0026] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication device, wherein the fault location device includes various functional modules for implementing any query method mentioned in the above implementations. In some implementations, each module can be implemented by software and / or hardware.

[0027] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device comprising: a processor, and a memory communicatively connected to the processor; the memory storing computer-executable instructions. The processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to implement the operations performed by the communication device in the first or second aspect.

[0028] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable medium storing program code for execution by a device, the program code including instructions for executing the operations performed by the communication device in the first aspect or the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present application.

[0030] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a terrestrial network communication system;

[0031] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a non-terrestrial network communication system;

[0032] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a 5G satellite communication system integrated with an NTN network system;

[0033] FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of satellite operation coverage;

[0035] FIG6 is a flow chart of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0036] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] FIG8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in another embodiment of the present application.

[0038] The above drawings illustrate specific embodiments of the present application, which will be described in more detail below. These drawings and the textual description are not intended to limit the scope of the present application in any way, but rather to illustrate the concepts of the present application to those skilled in the art by reference to specific embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail herein, with examples illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following description, when referring to the drawings, identical numerals in different figures represent identical or similar elements, unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments are not intended to represent all embodiments consistent with the present application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present application, as detailed in the appended claims.

[0040] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a possible terrestrial network communication system. As shown in Figure 1 , the communication system 100 may include at least one wireless access network device (e.g., 110a and 110b ) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120h ). The terminal is wirelessly connected to the wireless access network device. Terminals and wireless access network devices may be interconnected via wired or wireless connections.

[0041] A wireless access network (RAN) device may be a device with wireless transceiver functions. In the embodiment of the present application, the wireless access network device may be a device that provides wireless communication function services, typically located on the network side, including but not limited to: a next-generation base station (gNodeB, gNB) in a fifth-generation (5G) communication system, a next-generation base station in a sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system, etc., an evolved node B (eNB) in a long-term evolution (LTE) system, a radio network controller (RNC), a node B (NB), a base station controller (BSC), a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), a transmission reception point (TRP), a transmitting point (TP), a base transceiver station (BTS), etc. In a network structure, the access network device may include a centralized unit (CU) node, a distributed unit (DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node, or a control plane CU node and a user plane CU node, and a RAN device of a DU node. The access network device provides services for a cell, and a terminal device communicates with a base station through the transmission resources used by the cell (e.g., frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources). The cell may be a cell corresponding to a base station (e.g., a base station), and the cell may belong to a macro base station or a base station corresponding to a small cell. The small cells here may include: metro cells, micro cells, pico cells, femto cells, etc. These small cells have the characteristics of small coverage and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.The wireless access network device can be a macro base station (such as 110a in Figure 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in Figure 1), a relay node or a donor node, a device that provides wireless communication services to terminal devices in a V2X communication system, a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, a relay station, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and a network device in a future evolution network. The access network device in this embodiment can also be an open radio access network (O-RAN) device, which can include an open distributed unit (O-DU) and an open centralized unit (O-CU). In an embodiment of the present application, the function of the base station can be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem that includes the base station function. The control subsystem that includes the base station function here can be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the wireless access network device. For the convenience of description, the following description uses a base station as an example of the wireless access network device.

[0042] The terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), etc. It can be an entity on the user side for receiving or transmitting signals, such as a mobile phone. Terminal devices include handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, or computing devices with wireless communication functions. Exemplarily, the UE can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a computer with wireless transceiver functions. The terminal device can also be a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in telemedicine, a wireless terminal in smart grids, a wireless terminal in smart cities, a wireless terminal in smart homes, and the like. The terminal can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. In the embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal may be a terminal; or it may be a device that can support the terminal to realize the function, such as a chip system, or a communication module, or a modem, etc., which can be installed in the terminal. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0043] Based on the description of the terrestrial network communication architecture shown in Figure 1, integrating the NTN communication system with the terrestrial network communication system can build a three-dimensional, all-encompassing, and all-weather information network with global coverage. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the NTN communication system architecture. As shown in Figure 2, the NTN communication system includes satellites 201 and terminals 202. Satellites 201 scan multiple areas using signaling beams. Each area scanned by the beam corresponds to a beam position. Each beam position can contain multiple terminals 202. Terminals 202 can refer to the description of terminal devices 120a-120h in Figure 1. Satellites 201 can be referred to as high-altitude platforms, high-altitude aircraft, or satellite base stations. In relation to the NTN communication system and the terrestrial network communication system, satellites 201 can be considered as one or more radio access network devices in the terrestrial network communication system architecture. Satellites 201 provide communication services to terminal devices and can also connect to core network equipment. The communication method between satellites 201 and terminals 202 can also be referred to as described in Figure 1 and will not be further described here.

[0044] Taking the 5G network as an example, Figure 3 shows the architecture of a 5G satellite communication system that integrates the NTN network system. As shown in Figure 3, 5G base stations are deployed on satellites and connected to the core network on the ground via wireless links. Terminals (UEs) access the network via the 5G New Radio (NR) interface. At the same time, wireless links exist between satellites to facilitate signaling exchanges and user data transmission between base stations. The devices and interfaces in Figure 3 are described as follows:

[0045] 5G core network: It is divided into two functional entities: 5G control plane and 5G data plane. Among them, the 5G control plane includes the access and mobility management function (AMF) unit and the session management function (SMF) unit. The AMF unit is responsible for user access management and security authentication, and the SMF unit is used to support customized mobility management solutions together with the AMF unit. The 5G data plane includes the user plane function (UPF) unit and the data network. The UPF unit is responsible for managing the transmission of user plane data, traffic statistics and other functions;

[0046] Ground station: responsible for forwarding signaling and service data between satellite base stations and 5G core network.

[0047] 5G New Air Interface: The wireless link between the terminal and the base station.

[0048] Xn interface: The interface between 5G base stations, mainly used for signaling interactions such as switching.

[0049] NG interface: The interface between the 5G base station and the 5G core network, mainly used for signaling such as the non-access stratum (NAS) of the interactive core network, as well as user business data.

[0050] To use the network services provided by a 5G satellite communication system, a terrestrial UE must first complete a random access process to synchronize with the network. The configuration rules for random access in a 5G satellite communication system are based on the NR system's communication protocol. The following briefly describes the NR system's random access scheme.

[0051] According to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) agreement, 5G networks primarily use the FR1 and FR2 frequency bands for communication. FR2, as a millimeter-wave frequency band, provides good communication efficiency for NR systems, but it suffers from high loss and weak interference resistance. Therefore, beamforming is required in NR systems to improve signal coverage.

[0052] However, while beamforming increases the range of wireless signals, it also narrows the coverage area. Therefore, in NR systems, base stations transmit different beams at multiple times, using beam scanning to ensure signal coverage across the entire cell. The base station configures different SSBs for each beam, with each SSB corresponding to a beam position in the cell covered by the base station.

[0053] For the UE, when the SSB beam scanning signal covers the UE, the UE sends a random access preamble to the base station so that the base station can confirm which beam's signal is received by the terminal device. Since the preamble is sent on the RO, to clearly determine the uplink resource to be used, the base station needs to establish a mapping relationship between the RO and the SSB, and transmit this mapping relationship between the RO and SSB to the terminal device via broadcast.

[0054] The random access resources configured by the base station can be clearly identified through the system broadcast information SIB1 of the base station. Table 1 shows the parameters related to random access configuration in SIB1.

[0055] Table 1

[0056] Among them, PRACH Configuration index is the index number of the RO configuration format. When the parameter value is 27, it can be seen from the index that the RO can be configured on each radio frame. Since the corresponding subframe number is 0 to 9, random access resources can be configured on each subframe.

[0057] ssb-perRACH-Occasion represents the mapping relationship between ROs and SSBs, that is, the number of SSBs corresponding to each RO. When ssb-perRACH-Occasion < 1, it indicates that one SSB corresponds to multiple ROs. For example, the value of 1 / 4 in Table 1 indicates that one SSB corresponds to four ROs. When ssb-perRACH-Occasion ≥ 1, it indicates that multiple SSBs correspond to one RO. If the value is 4, it means that four SSBs correspond to one RO.

[0058] Msg1-FDM is the frequency domain multiplexing factor, which indicates the number of ROs that can be configured in the frequency domain in the same time domain. For example, the value 2 in Table 1 indicates that two ROs can be configured in the frequency domain in the same time domain.

[0059] The number of SSBs is the number of SSB beams configured by the base station. The PRACH Configuration period is the configuration period of the physical random access channel. Each SSB must establish a mapping relationship with the RO. The Association period is the association period, which indicates the number of PRACH configuration cycles required after all SSBs are mapped to the RO.

[0060] Based on the parameter values ​​in Table 1, a mapping relationship between ROs and SSBs can be established as shown in Table 2. As shown in Table 2, since the base station in Table 1 is configured with 8 SSBs, and each SSB corresponds to 4 ROs, the 8 SSBs need to be mapped to 32 ROs. A PRACH configuration period is 10 ms, or one radio frame. Since the data subcarrier spacing (sub-carrier space) in Table 1 is 15 kHz, 1 ms contains one time slot. According to the PRACH Configuration index number 27, one RO can be configured in the time domain corresponding to 1 ms in each subframe of each radio frame. Since the Msg1-FDM value is 2, two ROs can be configured in the frequency domain of each subframe. Therefore, 20 ROs can be configured in the 10 ms PRACH configuration period, requiring two association periods. Each RO in the time-frequency domain is numbered sequentially.

[0061] Table 2

[0062] It should be noted that the base station can also configure the parameter CB-preambles-per-SSB in the SIB1 information. The value of this parameter represents the number of competitive preamble codes CB-preamble corresponding to each RO. The number of CB-preambles affects the number of users who successfully access the RO.

[0063] For 5G satellite communication systems, within the coverage range of the satellite's signaling beam, the load imbalance phenomenon in different wave positions is more serious. For example, the area corresponding to wave position 1 is the city center, and the area corresponding to wave position 2 is the ocean. There are a large number of terminal devices in wave position 1 that need to be randomly accessed, while there are almost no terminal devices in wave position 2. In this case, the load of wave position 1 is much greater than that of wave position 2. There are a large number of collisions between UEs performing random access in wave position 1, resulting in a decrease in the UE access rate in wave position 1.

[0064] To address the imbalanced load between different beams, the satellite base station can classify beams into hotspots and non-hotspots based on their load status, allocating more access resources to hotspots. As an example, based on the relevant parameters in Table 1, by modifying the ssb-perRACH-Occasion parameter in the broadcast SIB1 information, the non-uniform mapping relationship shown in Table 3 can be established.

[0065] Table 3

[0066] As shown in Table 3, the wave positions corresponding to the four beams SSB1, SSB3, SSB4 and SSB6 are high-load hotspot areas, and the wave positions corresponding to the three beams SSB2, SSB5 and SSB7 are low-load non-hotspot areas. The satellite base station specifically modifies the mapping relationship between RO and SSB, for example, 8 corresponding ROs are configured for SSB3 and 2 corresponding ROs are configured for SSB2. Under the condition of certain overall access resources, the SSBs in the hotspot area can obtain more RO resources, reduce access collisions between UEs in the hotspot wave positions, improve the random access success rate of the hotspot wave positions, and reduce the access delay.

[0067] However, in the 5G satellite communication system, the satellite can be a non-geostationary orbit satellite or a geostationary orbit satellite. For non-geostationary orbit satellites, especially low-orbit satellites, low-orbit satellites move rapidly relative to the earth's surface, and the wave position covered by the signaling beam sent by the low-orbit satellite changes. The low-orbit satellite needs to update the corresponding random access resource configuration according to the load of the new coverage area. Since there is a certain lag in the update process, the UE in the new coverage area has the problem of failure in random access to the non-geostationary orbit satellite.

[0068] To solve the above problems, the present application provides a communication method and related devices, which aim to improve the random access success rate of terminal devices within the coverage area of ​​non-geostationary orbit satellites and reduce access delay.

[0069] The technical concept of this application is: before the wave position covered by the signaling beam changes, the non-geostationary orbit satellite receives the historical configuration information or historical access data information corresponding to the wave position transmitted by the same orbit satellite. As the satellite moves and covers the new wave position, the above historical information that is strongly related to the new covered wave position is used to configure new random access resources or scanning modes.

[0070] FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method proposed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG4 , the communication method proposed in the present application is applied to the first non-terrestrial network device in the 5G satellite communication system shown in FIG3 , and the method includes:

[0071] S401, receiving first information, where the first information is used to indicate a random access timing RO of a synchronization signal block SSB of a second non-terrestrial network device within a first coverage area.

[0072] In 5G satellite communication systems, non-terrestrial network devices are usually referred to as satellites. The first non-terrestrial network device is equivalent to the first satellite, and the second non-terrestrial network device is equivalent to the second satellite. For a satellite, during one operating cycle, the satellite revolves around the earth in a fixed orbit, and its signaling beam scans and covers a certain position. The first satellite and the second satellite are non-geostationary satellites in the same orbit. Therefore, during one operating cycle, the signaling beams of the two satellites scan and cover the same wave positions. In the operating orbit, the second satellite is located ahead of the first satellite, which means that the second satellite scans and covers the same area before the first satellite. In addition, since the first satellite and the second satellite are adjacent satellites, as the second satellite moves, the wave positions covered by its signaling beam change. After some wave positions exit the coverage range of the second satellite, they seamlessly become the coverage wave positions of the first satellite.

[0073] As an example, Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of satellite operation coverage. As shown in Figure 5, the first satellite and the second satellite are adjacent satellites. The two satellites are on the same orbit and move from the left to the right in the figure. Each physical cell identifier (PCI) represents a wave position in the satellite coverage area. As shown in Figure 5 (A), at time T0, the ground cells covered by the second satellite are PCI 3 (including PCI 3-0 to PCI 3-5) and PCI 4 (including PCI 4-0 to PCI 4-5), and the ground cells covered by the first satellite are PCI 1 (including PCI 1-0 to PCI 1-5) and PCI 2 (including PCI 2-0 to PCI 2-5). As the satellites move, as shown in Figure 5 (B), at time T1, PCI 3-0 to PCI 3-2 exit the coverage of the second satellite and enter the coverage of the first satellite.

[0074] Based on the aforementioned association between the first and second satellites, the second satellite transmits the first information to the first satellite via an intersatellite link. The first information indicates the RO resources corresponding to the SSB beams of the second satellite within the first coverage area. Since each SSB corresponds to a beam position, configuring the second satellite with a corresponding RO resource for each SSB is equivalent to configuring a corresponding RO resource for each beam position in the first coverage area. For example, in Figure 5, the first coverage area corresponds to the three beam positions PCI 3-0 through PCI 3-2 in Figure 5.

[0075] In some implementations, the first information includes the wave position information of the SSB of the second satellite within the first coverage area and the RO configuration information of the synchronization signal block SSB of the second satellite within the first coverage area.

[0076] Considering that the coverage area of ​​a non-geostationary satellite on the Earth's surface is fixed, each covered beam can be numbered, and each beam obtains a unique beam identity document (ID). Each beam ID corresponds to an area on the Earth's surface. Therefore, in some implementations, the beam information of the SSB within the first coverage area is the beam ID of each beam in the first coverage area. Accordingly, the RO resource information configured by the second satellite for each beam is shown in Table 4:

[0077] Table 4

[0078] As shown in Table 4, the second satellite transmits the information in Table 4 as the first information to the first satellite. The first information includes the wave ID within the first coverage range. The RO information corresponding to the wave within the first coverage range is the corresponding RO number. The RO configuration information corresponding to the wave within the first coverage range in the table may also include the number of preamble codes corresponding to each RO.

[0079] For example, the RO resource information corresponding to the wave position with the wave position ID of 0 is 1 / 4n8, indicating that the SSB beam used by the second satellite to scan the wave position 0 corresponds to 4 ROs, and the number of CB-preambles for each RO is 8. The RO resource information corresponding to the wave position with the wave position ID of 1 is 1 / 2n16, indicating that the SSB beam used by the second satellite to scan the wave position 1 corresponds to 2 ROs, and the number of CB-preambles for each RO is 16.

[0080] In some implementations, the beam position information of the SSB within the first coverage range is the location information of the beam position reference point. As an example, the location information of the beam position reference point is the physical location of the beam position center point, typically described in the form of latitude, longitude, and altitude. Accordingly, the RO resource information configured by the second satellite for each beam position is shown in Table 5. The RO configuration information corresponding to the beam positions within the first coverage range in Table 5 includes the number of ROs corresponding to each beam position and the number of preambles corresponding to each RO.

[0081] Table 5

[0082] As shown in Table 5, in (Lat_0, Long_0, Alt_0), Lat_0 indicates the latitude corresponding to the center of the wave position, Long_0 indicates the longitude corresponding to the center of the wave position, and Alt_0 indicates the altitude corresponding to the center of the wave position. The RO resource information corresponding to the wave position indicates that the SSB beam used by the second satellite to scan the wave position (Lat_0, Long_0, Alt_0) corresponds to 4 ROs, and the number of CB-preambles for each RO is 8.

[0083] In Tables 4 and 5 above, the RO information corresponding to the wavelet within the first coverage area is the number of ROs corresponding to each wavelet. In some implementations, the RO information corresponding to the wavelet within the first coverage area may be the location information of the RO in the PRACH configuration period, where the location information includes at least two of the following: the RO start position, the RO end position, and the RO length. When the index number PRACH Configuration index of the RO configuration format is constant, the configuration location of the RO in the time domain is constant. Simultaneously, the ROs in the time-frequency domain are numbered sequentially in combination with the PRACH configuration period and the Msg1-FDM value. The RO location in the time-frequency domain can be determined by the RO number. It is understood that the location in the time-frequency domain of the RO resource configured by the second satellite for the wavelet within the first range can be determined based on any two of the following: the RO start position, the RO end position, and the RO length.

[0084] For example, Table 6 shows RO resource information configured by a second satellite for a wave position within a first range.

[0085] Table 6

[0086] As shown in Table 6, the RO resource information configured by the second satellite for the beam positions within the first coverage range includes the beam position IDs within the first coverage range and the RO starting position and RO length corresponding to each beam position ID in the PRACH configuration period. The RO starting position in Table 6 represents the starting RO number, and the RO length represents the number of ROs corresponding to the beam positions in sequence starting from the RO starting position.

[0087] For example, the RO starting position corresponding to wave position 0 is S_0, and the RO length is L_0. If S_0 is 4 and L_0 is 7, the second satellite is configured as follows in the signaling:

[0088] If the second satellite configures the RO format according to the index number, PRACH configuration period, and Msg1-FDM parameter in Table 1, the RO corresponding to the SSB beam used by the second satellite to scan the wave position 0 can correspond to RO4 to RO10 in Table 2 or Table 3, a total of 7 ROs.

[0089] It is understandable that the location information of the beam position within the first coverage range in Table 6 can also be described as the geographical location of the beam position center point of the beam position within the first coverage range. In the first information transmitted by the second satellite to the first satellite, the beam position information within the first coverage range and the RO information corresponding to the beam position within the first coverage range can be freely combined without interfering with each other.

[0090] The wave position information within the first coverage range can accurately describe the specific location area occupied by the first coverage range. The RO configuration information corresponding to the wave position within the first coverage range can configure RO resources that meet the access requirements for UEs in each wave position within the first coverage range. The appropriate amount of preamble codes corresponding to each random access opportunity can further improve the UE's random access success rate.

[0091] S402: Configure an RO for an SSB of a first non-terrestrial network device within a first coverage area based on the first information.

[0092] As the satellites operate, the first satellite moves above a first coverage area, the SSB beam emitted by the first satellite scans the first coverage area, and the SSB beam emitted by the second satellite leaves the first coverage area.

[0093] Because the second satellite has configured random access resources corresponding to each wavelength within the first coverage area, before the first satellite's SSB beam scans the first coverage area, the second satellite has optimized the random access resources corresponding to the wavelengths within the first coverage area to a degree sufficient to match the service needs of the UE in each wavelength. Therefore, the first satellite can directly use the RO resources corresponding to each wavelength within the first coverage area indicated in the first information to configure the corresponding RO resources for the SSB beam that scans each wavelength within the first coverage area. In addition, since the wavelengths corresponding to the SSB beams in each direction used for scanning by the first satellite have changed, the first satellite also needs to configure corresponding SSB beams and corresponding RO resources for the remaining changed coverage wavelengths.

[0094] For example, in Figure 5, the wavelengths within the first coverage area correspond to PCIs 3-0 to 3-2. The second satellite sends a first message to the first satellite. The first message includes the wavelength information for PCIs 3-0 to 3-2 and the corresponding RO configuration information. As the satellites operate, at time T1, the first satellite's SSB beam scans to wavelengths PCIs 3-0 to 3-2. PCIs 3-0 to 3-2 then exit the second satellite's SSB beam scanning range. Based on the first message, the first satellite can configure the corresponding RO resources for PCIs 3-0 to 3-2.

[0095] It should be noted that the first satellite configures the format of the RO resources according to the relevant parameters in Table 1. The RO resources in the time and frequency domains are limited. If the remaining RO resources configured by the first satellite cannot meet the RO resource requirements corresponding to the wave positions within the first coverage range, the first satellite needs to further coordinate the RO resource allocation between the wave positions within the first coverage range and the wave positions covered by the SSB beams of other first satellites.

[0096] In the above embodiment, the first information includes the wave position information within the first coverage range and the RO configuration information corresponding to each wave position. The following describes the case where the first information includes the wave position information within the first coverage range and the load information corresponding to each wave position.

[0097] FIG6 is a flow chart of a communication method proposed in another embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG6 , the communication method proposed in the present application is applied to the first non-terrestrial network device in the 5G satellite communication system shown in FIG3 , and the method includes:

[0098] S601, receiving first information, where the first information is used to indicate SSB load information of a second non-terrestrial network device within a first coverage range.

[0099] Step S601 is similar to step S401. The first information contains the SSB wave position information of the second non-terrestrial network device, that is, the second satellite in the first coverage range. The above wave position information is presented in the same form as step S401. The main difference is that in step S501, the wave position scanned by each SSB in the first coverage range corresponds to the load information rather than the RO configuration information.

[0100] As an example, the load information corresponding to the wave position within the first coverage range can be intuitively expressed as the number of access users corresponding to each wave position. The inter-satellite signaling format transmitted by the second satellite to the first non-ground network device, that is, the first satellite, is shown in Table 7. The wave position information within the first coverage range in Table 7 is described in the form of wave position ID.

[0101] Table 7

[0102] In some implementations, a load threshold is set in the 5G satellite communication system. The second satellite determines the load of each waveband according to the number of access users corresponding to each waveband within the first coverage area. When the number of access users corresponding to the waveband reaches the load threshold, the waveband is determined to be a hot waveband with high load. Otherwise, the waveband is a cold waveband with low load. Cold wavebands generally correspond to less populated areas such as oceans, lakes, and mountains. The inter-satellite signaling format transmitted by the second satellite to the first satellite is shown in Table 8:

[0103] Table 8

[0104] It can be understood that the wave position information within the first coverage range in Table 7 and Table 8 can be replaced by the wave position ID with the geographical location of the wave position center point. In the inter-satellite signaling format transmitted by the second satellite to the first satellite, the position information of the first wave position and the access data information corresponding to the first wave position can be freely combined, which will not be repeated here.

[0105] In some implementations, the first satellite may also receive second information from the second satellite, where the second information includes at least one of the following information of the SSB of the second satellite within the first coverage area: access success rate, access delay, and collision probability.

[0106] S602: Based on the first information, configure an SSB scanning mode for the first non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage area.

[0107] Similar to step 402, when the SSB beam of the first satellite scans into the first coverage area, the first satellite can adaptively adjust the SSB beam scanning pattern based on the number of access users or the load status corresponding to the beam positions within the first coverage area indicated in the first information. As an example, the first satellite can adjust the number of scans of different beam positions within a scanning cycle to achieve non-uniform scanning. For example, beam position 0 within the first coverage area is a hot beam position with a high load, and beam position 1 is a cold beam position with a low load. Based on the load status indicated by the first satellite, the SSB scanning cycle configured for the first satellite requires scanning 64 beam positions. Since beam position 1 is a cold beam position, the first satellite skips beam position 1 and does not scan it. After completing the sequential scans, beam position 0 is scanned once, which is equivalent to scanning beam position 0 twice within one SSB scanning cycle.

[0108] In some implementations, the first satellite may further configure the number of ROs corresponding to the wavelets within the first coverage range based on the number of access users or the load status in the wavelets within the first coverage range. For example, for wavelet 0 with high load among the wavelets within the first coverage range, the first satellite may configure more RO resources for the SSB beam scanning wavelet 0.

[0109] It is understandable that if the first satellite also receives the second information, the first satellite can configure RO resources corresponding to the beam position within the first coverage range based on the corresponding information. For example, if the access success rate of beam position 0 within the first coverage range is much lower than the expected access success rate, the first satellite can accordingly configure more RO resources for the SSB beam scanning beam position 0.

[0110] In the above embodiments, in response to changes in coverage wave position caused by satellite movement, the first satellite quickly configures new random access resources or scanning methods based on historical configuration information or historical access information transmitted by the second satellite, thereby improving the random access success rate of UEs in the non-geostationary orbit satellite coverage area and reducing UE access delay.

[0111] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in one embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG7 , the device 700 of this embodiment may include: a communication module 701 and a processing module 702. It should be understood that the device 700 is embodied in the form of a functional module. The term "module" may refer to a software module, or may refer to an application-specific integrated circuit, an electronic circuit, a processor (such as a shared processor, a dedicated processor, or a group processor, etc.) and memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, a combined logic circuit, and / or other suitable components that support the described functions.

[0112] The apparatus 700 has the function of implementing each process and / or step implemented by the first non-terrestrial network device in any of the aforementioned method embodiments. The aforementioned functions may be implemented by software or by hardware executing the corresponding software. The hardware or software may include one or more modules corresponding to the aforementioned functions.

[0113] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided by another embodiment of the present application. The device 800 shown in Figure 8 can be used to execute any of the aforementioned methods performed by the first terminal device, the third terminal device, or the fourth terminal device.

[0114] As shown in Figure 8 , the apparatus 800 of this embodiment includes a memory 801, a processor 802, a communication interface 803, and a bus 804. The memory 801, the processor 802, and the communication interface 803 are connected to each other via the bus 804.

[0115] The memory 801 may be a read-only memory (ROM), a static storage device, a dynamic storage device, or a random access memory (RAM). The memory 801 may store a program. When the program stored in the memory 801 is executed by the processor 802, the processor 802 is configured to execute any of the aforementioned methods.

[0116] The processor 802 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit, or one or more integrated circuits for executing related programs.

[0117] The processor 802 may also be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, the various related steps in the embodiment of the present application may be completed by hardware integrated logic circuits in the processor 802 or software instructions.

[0118] The processor 802 may also be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. The processor 802 may implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0119] The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application can be directly implemented as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or can be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art, such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. The storage medium is located in memory 801, and processor 802 reads the information in memory 801 and, in combination with its hardware, completes the functions required to be performed by the units included in the device of the present application.

[0120] The communication interface 803 may use, but is not limited to, a transceiver or other transceiver device to implement communication between the apparatus 800 and other devices or apparatuses.

[0121] The bus 804 may include a path for transmitting information between various components of the device 800 (eg, the memory 801 , the processor 802 , and the communication interface 803 ).

[0122] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer instructions are stored. When a processor executes the computer instructions, each step of the method in the above embodiment is implemented.

[0123] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, including computer instructions, which, when executed by a processor, implement the various steps of the method in the above embodiment.

[0124] It should be noted that the modules or components shown in the above embodiments may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as one or more application-specific integrated circuits, or one or more microprocessors, or one or more field programmable gate arrays. For another example, when a module is implemented by a processing element calling program code, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit or other processor that can call program code, such as a controller. For another example, these modules may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

[0125] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, software modules or any combination thereof. When software is used for implementation, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function according to the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from a website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrations. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid-state drive (SSD)).

[0126] Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate other embodiments of the present application after considering the specification and practicing the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present application that follow the general principles of the present application and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The description and examples are to be considered as exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of the present application are indicated by the following claims.

[0127] It should be understood that the present application is not limited to the exact structure described above and shown in the drawings, and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present application is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method is applied to a first non-terrestrial network device, and the method comprises: receiving first information, where the first information is used to indicate a random access opportunity RO of a synchronization signal block SSB of a second non-terrestrial network device within a first coverage area; An RO is configured for the SSB of the first non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage area based on the first information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first information includes the wave position information of the SSB of the second non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage range and the RO configuration information of the synchronization signal block SSB of the second non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage range.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The wave position information includes the wave position identifier or the location information of the wave position reference point.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The location information of the wave position reference point includes the geographical location of the wave position center point.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that The RO configuration information includes at least two pieces of information of a starting position, an ending position and a length of the RO in a configuration period of a physical random access channel; or, The RO configuration information includes the number of ROs corresponding to each SSB and / or the number of preamble codes corresponding to each RO.

6. A communication method, characterized in that: The method is applied to a first non-terrestrial network device, and the method comprises: receiving first information, where the first information is used to indicate SSB load information of a second non-terrestrial network device within a first coverage area; Based on the first information, a SSB configuration scanning mode is configured for the first non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage range.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The first information includes the wave position information of the SSB of the second non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage range and the load information of the synchronization signal block SSB of the second non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage range.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The wave position information includes the wave position identifier or the location information of the wave position reference point.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The location information of the wave position reference point includes the geographical location of the wave position center point.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that The load information includes the number of access users or the load status.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive second information, where the second information includes at least one of the following information of the SSB of the second non-terrestrial network device within the first coverage area: access success rate, access delay, and collision probability.

12. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device comprises a functional module for implementing the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. A communication device, characterized in that: include: Processor and memory; The memory stores computer-executable instructions; The processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, so that the communication device performs the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

14. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and when the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, they are used to implement the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

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