Radio base station, radio management system and methods therein for determination of antenna array orientation

Abstract

A method performed by a radio base station to determine the physical orientation of an antenna array, in a wireless communications network. The radio base station is equipped with the antenna array and capable of dynamically shaping the radiation pattern of the antenna array. The method comprises receiving (401) communication reference signals from known devices with known locations. Estimated (402) directions to respective device are obtained using the received communication reference signals. A determined (403) absolute orientation of the antenna array is obtained, based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices. The method comprises performing remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation and / or to shape (404) the radiation pattern of the antenna array (11) based on the determined orientation.

Description

[0001] RADIO BASE STATION, RADIO MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHODS THEREIN FOR DETERMINATION OF ANTENNA ARRAY ORIENTATION

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments herein relate to method performed by a radio base station to determine a physical orientation of an antenna array, in a wireless communications network, where the radio base station is equipped with the antenna array and where the base station is capable of dynamically shaping the radiation pattern of the antenna array. Embodiments herein also relates to method performed by a radio network managing system in a wireless communications network. Embodiments herein also relates to a radio base station, and a radio managing system, and a first and second computer program and a carrier comprising the computer program.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and / or User Equipment (UE), communicate via a Wide Area Network or a Local Area Network such as a Wi-Fi network or a cellular network comprising a Radio Access Network (RAN) part and a Core Network (CN) part. The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group, with each service area or cell area being served by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point, a Base Station (BS) or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a Base Station (BS), a NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), or gNodeB (gNB) as denoted in Fifth Generation (5G) telecommunications. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on a radio frequency with the wireless devices within the range of the radio network node.

[0006] 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is the standardization body for specifying the standards for the cellular system evolution, e.g., including 3G, 4G, 5G and the future evolutions. Specifications for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E- UTRA) and Evolved Packet System (EPS) have been completed within the 3GPP. In 4G also called a Fourth Generation (4G) network, EPS is core network and E-UTRA is radio access network. In 5G, 5G Core (5GC) is core network, NR is radio access network. As a continued network evolution, the new release of 3GPP specifies a 5G network also referred to as 5G New Radio (NR) and 5GC.

[0007] Frequency bands for 5G NR are being separated into two different frequency ranges, Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and Frequency Range 2 (FR2). FR1 comprises sub-6 GHz frequency bands. Some of these bands are bands traditionally used by legacy standards but have been extended to cover potential new spectrum offerings from 410 MHz to 7125 MHz. FR2 comprises frequency bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. Bands in this millimeter wave range have shorter range but higher available bandwidth than bands in the FR1.

[0008] Multi-antenna techniques may significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. For a wireless connection between a single user, such as UE, and a base station (BS), the performance is in particular improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication channel. This may be referred to as Single-User (SU)-MIMO. In the scenario where MIMO techniques is used for the wireless connection between multiple users and the base station, MIMO enables the users to communicate with the base station simultaneously using the same time-frequency resources by spatially separating the users, which increases further the cell capacity. This may be referred to as Multi-User (MU)-MIMO. Note that MU-MIMO may benefit when each UE only has one antenna. The cell capacity can be increased linearly with respect to the number of antennas at the BS side. Due to that, more and more antennas are employed in BS. Such systems and / or related techniques are commonly referred to as massive MIMO.

[0009] Massive MIMO are capable of dynamically shaping their radiation pattern to form beams for both reception and transmission in relation to users, or to suppress interference in unwanted directions, for example, where there are users served by other cells or where there may be regulatory constraints on the amount of co-channel or adjacent channel interference that the Massive MIMO product is allowed to cause.

[0010] The most common way that these radiation patterns are shaped are with the use of channel state information (CSI) either as measured by the Massive MIMO antenna on e.g. the uplink, or as measured by UEs and reported using standardized feedback mechanisms. It is also possible that the radiation patterns need to comply with certain limitations defined using absolute directions. For instance, for coexistence with certain satellites using the same or neighboring spectrum bands, the radiation in certain elevation angles is regulated and may not exceed some threshold. To ensure that the Massive MIMO product is compliant with such regulations, the orientation and tilt angle of the antenna array needs to be controlled.

[0011] Communication between base stations is also possible in a wireless communication system. One example in the NR standard is Integrated Access and Backhaul (I AB), though the standard also allows proprietary communication to be used. Such communication may involve the transmission of reference signals, such as IAB- synchronization signal block (SSB), to assist channel estimation.

[0012] SUMMARY

[0013] As part of developing embodiments herein, some problems are identified that first will be described.

[0014] A deployed Massive MIMO product may have a different orientation than intended, e.g. due to physical tolerances or human error during installation, or factors such as wind, gravity, metallic elongation due to temperature, damage caused by unauthorized persons, etc. This can lead to non-conformance with radio frequency, RF, regulations and also performance degradation. There is therefore a need for a solution to measure and continuously monitor the physical orientation of the antenna array.

[0015] Misoriented antenna arrays may result in reduced beamforming gain and / or increased interference resulting in worse link performance. This may need to be compensated with increased radio resource usage, i.e. power, bandwidth, time, which will consume additional energy.

[0016] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.

[0017] Thus, an object of embodiments herein is to provide a mechanism that handles antenna positioning and enables the maintenance of a correct physical orientation of an antenna array and thereby the conformance with radio frequency (RF) regulations and performance requirements.

[0018] The object is achieved by providing a method performed by a radio base station for the physical orientation of an antenna array in a wireless communications network. The radio base station is equipped with the antenna array which base station is capable of dynamically shaping the radiation pattern of the antenna array.

[0019] The method comprises receiving communication reference signals from known devices with known locations. The received communication reference signals are used to obtain estimated directions to respective device. A determined absolute orientation of the antenna array is obtained based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices.

[0020] The determined orientation is then used to trigger remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, and / or to shape the radiation pattern of the antenna array based on the determined orientation.

[0021] The object is also achieved by providing a method performed by a radio network managing system in a wireless communications network, where the radio network managing system is adapted to serve a radio base station for the determination of the physical orientation of an antenna array in a wireless communications network, where the radio base station is equipped with the antenna array. The base station is capable of dynamically shaping the radiation pattern of the antenna array.

[0022] Directions to known devices with known locations can be estimated using received communication reference signals from the known devices, and an absolute orientation of an antenna array can be determined based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices.

[0023] According to one aspect of the method, the radio network managing system performs and provides the estimation of directions and / or the determination of absolute orientation.

[0024] The object is also achieved by providing a radio base station equipped with an antenna array in a wireless communications network, the radio base station being adapted to dynamically shape the radiation pattern of the antenna array.

[0025] It is proposed that the radio base station is adapted to receive communication reference signals from known devices with known locations, obtain estimated directions to respective device using the received communication reference signals, obtain a determined absolute orientation of the antenna array based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices, and to trigger remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, and / or to shape the radiation pattern of the antenna array based on the determined orientation.

[0026] The object is also achieved by providing a radio network managing system in a wireless communications network. The radio network managing system is adapted to serve a radio base station in the determination of the physical orientation of an antenna array in a wireless communications network, where the radio base station is equipped with the antenna array. The base station is adapted to dynamically shape the radiation pattern of the antenna array. Directions from the radio base station to known devices with known locations can be estimated using received communication reference signals from the known devices, and an absolute orientation of an antenna array can be determined based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices.

[0027] According to one aspect, the radio network managing system is adapted to perform the estimation of directions and / or the determination of absolute orientation.

[0028] The object is also achieved by providing a first computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor belonging to a radio base station, causes the processor to perform actions of a radio base station as described above.

[0029] The object is also achieved by providing a second computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor, belonging to a radio network managing system, causes the processor to perform actions of a radio network managing system as described above.

[0030] The object is also achieved by providing a carrier comprising at least the first or second computer program, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0031] Embodiments herein may provide one or more of the following advantages:

[0032] The embodiments provide the possibility to determine the orientation of the antenna array using existing signaling, e.g. standardized or proprietary reference signals transmitted from other bases stations or sounding reference signals (SRS) or demodulation reference signals (DM RS) transmitted from Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) terminals, together with location information that is known to the network operator and could easily be made available to each base station.

[0033] No external or third-party sensors, e.g. accelerometers, compass, etc., are needed. In fact, no new hardware is required at all, so the invention could retroactively be implemented and used in all deployed 4G and 5G Massive MIMO products.

[0034] Undesired orientation changes months or years after initial deployment can easily be detected without costly site visits.

[0035] Due to the frequent transmissions, undesired orientation changes can quickly be detected, and radiation patterns may almost instantly be adjusted to maintain compliance to radio regulations. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] Examples of embodiments herein are described in more detail with reference to attached drawings in which:

[0037] Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments of a communications network,

[0038] Figure 2 is a generalized flowchart of embodiments of a method,

[0039] Figure 3 is an illustration of three rotation angles specifying an antenna array orientation,

[0040] Figure 4 is a generalized flowchart of embodiments of a method, Figure 5 is a generalized flowchart of embodiments of a method, Figure 6 is a generalized flowchart of embodiments of a method, Figure 7 is a generalized flowchart of embodiments of a method, Figure 8 is a generalized flowchart of embodiments of a method, Figure 9 is a generalized flowchart of embodiments of a method, Figure 10 is a generalized flowchart of embodiments of a method, Figure 11 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a radio base station, Figure 12 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a radio network managing system,

[0041] Figure 13 schematically illustrates embodiments of a communication system.

[0042] Figure 14 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a UE.

[0043] Figure 15 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a network node.

[0044] Figure 16 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a host.

[0045] Figure 17 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a virtualization environment.

[0046] Figure 18 is a generalized block diagram of embodiments of a communication diagram of a host.

[0047] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] Different aspects of embodiments herein will now be described with reference to Figure 1 , which depicts a wireless communications network 100 with a CN with a network managing system 20, a RAN with a radio base station 10 with its antenna array 11, through which a UE 30 can communicate. In the network 100 there are known devices 10a with known locations, such as other radio base stations. The radio network managing system 20 or the base station 10 is capable of performing direction of arrival measurements using radio signals received from other transmitters in the radio network that have known locations. These transmitters could for example be other base stations, or they could be FWA terminals, and the transmissions could be BS-BS or any uplink transmission, for instance sounding reference signals, SRS, or demodulation reference symbols, DMRS. The direction measurements can be performed using a Massive l MO base station 10.

[0049] An aspect of the method is also illustrated in the following steps, as illustrated in the flowchart of Figure 2.

[0050] Step 201 : Receive signals from one or more transmitters using multiple antennas in an antenna array 11. One example of such transmitters and signals are other base stations 10a in the same radio network. Another example is FWA terminals using SRS or D RS transmissions on the uplink.

[0051] Step 202: Estimate directions of arrival of these signals using multi-antenna signal processing methods known in the art, such as Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) or Estimation of signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Technique (ESPRIT). Such methods provide estimated directions relative to the orientation of the antenna array.

[0052] Step 203: Determine reference directions of arrival. These reference directions could either be supplied directly by another node, e.g. in a radio network managing system 20, or they could be derived from positional information supplied from such a node. Alternatively, the reference directions of arrival could be encoded in the base station 10 at the time of production or deployment. The reference directions of arrival can be related to some earth-fixed coordinate system, e.g. azimuth and elevation, or some spherical coordinate system, e.g. azimuth and zenith angle.

[0053] Step 204: Determine the orientation of the antenna array 11. This step can be performed by calculating a set of rotations of the antenna array such that the differences between the reference directions of arrival and the estimated directions of arrival are minimized. These rotations then specify the orientation of the antenna array 11 with respect to the desired coordinate system, for instance specified as a bearing, a tilt, and a roll angle as shown in Fig. 3. Other rotations can also be defined, such as the three angles introduced by Leonhard Euler to describe the orientation of a rigid body with respect to a fixed coordinate system, the Euler angles. Methods for calculating these rotations are known in the literature, see e.g. Wahba’s problem.

[0054] Step 205: Perform an action using the determined orientation. Step 206: Optionally repeat steps 201-205 one or more times at different time instants.

[0055] The steps may be performed a single time, in response to a triggering command, e.g. sent by a network management function, or periodically or aperiodically as configured internally or by some network management function.

[0056] In one aspect, step 205 includes using the determined orientation of the antenna 11 from step 204 when determining beamforming weights, i.e. the dynamic radiation pattern used for transmissions from the antenna array 11 towards receivers such as UEs 30 with which the base station 10 communicates.

[0057] In one aspect, step 205 additionally includes calculating the beamforming weights such that interference towards one or more directions or direction intervals, specified in an absolute sense, is suppressed or minimized. An example of such directions is elevation angles above the horizon, for use when minimizing interference towards satellites at such elevation angles.

[0058] In one aspect, step 205 includes signaling the estimated orientation to a radio network management function 20.

[0059] In one aspect, the signaling is initiated if the estimated orientation differs from a nominal orientation by some value exceeding a threshold. An example is if the tilt angle differs by more than 3 degrees from a nominal value. Another example is if the bearing angle differs by more than 10 degrees from a nominal value.

[0060] In one aspect, the estimated orientation is compared to a nominal orientation and step 205 is triggered if a deviation exceeds some threshold. The action in step 205 can be an alarm, a signaling procedure involving a radio network management function, or a reconfiguration of the base station, such as reducing power or shutting down, etc.

[0061] In one aspect, step 204 involves detection of whether a certain transmitter is in line of sight, LOS, or in non-line of sight, NLOS, and subsequently utilizing this information to make a more robust estimate of the antenna array orientation. The detection may utilize a range estimation via e.g. a round trip time, RTT, measurement and a comparison of this range to the nominal range. Alternatively, or additionally, the determination can be based on an estimation of the polarization state of the signal as it reaches the antenna array. Massive IMO base stations are typically dual-polarized, so such a determination is possible to make. If the transmission is from a transmitter in LOS, then the estimated polarization should equal the transmitted polarization, which could be known a priori, while if the signal undergoes reflections then the polarization can change. In one aspect, the transmitters to be used in step 201 and 202 are selected based on their suitability for robust orientation estimation, i.e. preferably spanning multiple directions and being in LOS or having good signal strength.

[0062] In one aspect, step 203 includes determining the reference directions from geographic locations of the transmitters. The positions can be specified by, for instance, latitude, longitude, and height, or could be relative to the position of the base station, e.g. 200 m west, 384 m south, 4.5 m higher.

[0063] Due to multipath propagation, there may be more than one direction of arrival for signals received from a specific transmitter. In LOS conditions there is typically one strong multipath component and several weaker. In NLOS conditions there can be many different multipath components with different directions of arrival and different times of flight. In one embodiment, step 204 uses only directions of arrival associated with the first arriving multipath component.

[0064] Once the orientation of the antenna array has been established, any estimated direction of arrival may be converted to the same coordinate system as the reference directions of arrival. This is true also for directions of arrival of multipath components, including those not used in the determination of orientation in step 204. In one embodiment, subsequent applications of steps 201-205 may include one or more of these directions of arrival among the reference directions of arrival. To elaborate, if the antenna array is rotated inadvertently, not only the LOS multipath components but all multipath components will appear to have their directions of arrival shifted. Including more reference directions may lead to better robustness in the rotation estimation.

[0065] In some cases the signal transmissions to be used in step 201 can occur too seldom or may not include transmissions from suitable transmitters with preferably LOS conditions. This could happen due to low traffic demand, e.g. at nighttime. In one embodiment, signal transmissions are scheduled specifically for the purpose of determination of the antenna array orientation. For instance, the base station 10 could schedule a FWA terminal with favorable conditions for orientation determination to transmit SRS or DMRS even if this terminal has no pending data that needs to be transmitted. Such scheduling may be performed by the base station 10, e.g. in case of SRS or DMRS where only a single base station is involved, or it might require some network management function, e.g. in the case where multiple base stations are involved. In the latter case, a base station can signal to the scheduler that there is a need for a transmission to be scheduled for orientation estimation. Step 203 can be described as a determination of the nominal (reference) directions, and step 204 can be described as a determination of absolute orientation. The different steps of the invention could all be performed in a single entity, i.e. the base station. Alternatively, some of the steps, such as step 203, or the estimation of nominal (reference) directions, and / or step 204, or the determination of absolute orientation, and / or step 205, could be performed in different network nodes based on information that is passed from or to the base station. E.g. step 202, the step of estimating directions to certain transmitters, could be performed in a Massive MIMO base station 10, which subsequently signals these directions to some network management node 20 that performs step 203 and 204. Finally, the network management node 20 could trigger an action that is to be performed in the Massive MIMO base station 10 in step 205, e.g. “please use beam shapes that suppress interference in directions X and Y in your local coordinate system when transmitting”.

[0066] The invention may be implemented proprietarily using existing standards. However, in a multi-vendor RAN there might be a need to standardize the signaling related to sharing base station locations and determined orientations or related alarms.

[0067] A number of embodiments will now be described, some of which may be seen as alternatives, while some may be used in combination.

[0068] An example embodiment of the method is performed by the radio base station 10. The method is to determine the physical orientation of an antenna array 11 , such as a Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output, MIMO, antenna array, in a wireless communications network 100.

[0069] The radio base station 10 is equipped with the antenna array 11 and it is capable of dynamically shaping the radiation pattern of the antenna array 11 , e.g., to form beams for both reception and transmission in relation to users, or to suppress interference in unwanted directions, such as where there are users served by other cells or where there may be regulatory constraints on the amount of co-channel or adjacent channel interference that the Massive MIMO product is allowed to cause.

[0070] The method comprises a number of steps that will be described with reference to Figure 4.

[0071] These steps comprise receiving 401 communication reference signals, such as DM RS, SRS, or proprietary reference signals, from known devices 10a with known locations. This can be done by using existing radio transmissions from other devices with known locations such as base stations or FWA terminals in the radio network 100. The method further comprises obtaining estimated 402 directions to respective device using the received communication reference signals,

[0072] A determined 403 absolute orientation of the antenna array 11 may be obtained using the known locations and the estimated directions to the known devices 10a.

[0073] The determined absolute orientation may be used to trigger 405 remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array 11 differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, e.g. by a value exceeding a predefined threshold.

[0074] This obtained determined absolute orientation may also be used by the Massive MIMO base station itself when dynamically shaping 404 the radiation pattern.

[0075] According to one aspect of the method, the radio base station 10 performs the determination of absolute orientation, wherein the remedial network management procedure comprises communicating the determined orientation of the antenna array 11 to a radio network managing system 20, e.g., triggering a site visit by a technician to assess or remedy a problem, to reduce output power of the antenna array, or to shut of the antenna array 11.

[0076] As previously mentioned, the steps may be performed a single time, in response to a triggering command, e.g. sent by a network management function, or periodically or aperiodically 406 as configured internally or by some network management function.

[0077] The estimation of directions and the determination of absolute orientations can be performed by either the radio base station 10 or a radio network managing system 20.

[0078] According to one proposed aspect, the radio base station 10 may perform both the estimation of directions and the determination of absolute orientation.

[0079] According to another aspect, as illustrated in Figure 5, the radio network managing system 20 may perform the estimation of directions and the determination of absolute orientation 502, 503, in which case the method performed by the radio base station 10 comprises sending 501 the received communication reference signals to the radio network managing system 20, or estimating received communication reference signals into condensed channel state information, CSI, e.g. channel coefficients for different subcarriers and antenna ports, containing sufficient information for direction estimation 502, and sending the condensed CSI to the radio network managing system 20, and receiving 503 the determined orientation of the antenna array 11 from the network managing system 20.

[0080] According to another aspect, as illustrated in Figure 6, the radio base station 10 may perform the estimation of directions and the radio network managing system 20 performs the determination of absolute orientation, in which case the method performed by the radio base station 10 comprises sending 601 the estimated directions to the radio network managing system 20, where the network managing system 20 performs the determination of absolute orientation of determining 602 the orientation of the antenna array 11 , and receiving 603 from the network managing system 20 the determined orientation of the antenna array 11.

[0081] According to another aspect, as illustrated in Figure 7, the radio network managing system 20 may perform the estimation of directions and the radio base station 10 performs the determination of absolute orientation, in which case the method performed by the radio base station 10 comprises sending 701 the received communication reference signals to the radio network managing system 20, or estimating received communication reference signals into condensed CSI containing sufficient information for direction estimation and sending the condensed CSI to the radio network managing system 20, where the network managing system 20 performs the estimation 702 of directions, and receiving 703 from the network managing system 20 the estimated directions to respective device.

[0082] With renewed reference to figure 1, an aspect relating to a method performed by a radio network managing system 20 in a wireless communications network 100 will be described. The network managing system 20 is serving at least one radio base station 10 for the determination of the physical orientation of an antenna array 11 in a wireless communications network 100.

[0083] The radio base station 10 is equipped with the antenna array 11 and is capable of dynamically shaping the radiation pattern of the antenna array 11 .

[0084] Directions to known devices 10a with known locations can be estimated using received communication reference signals from the known devices 10a, and an absolute orientation of the antenna array 11 can be determined based on the known locations of the known devices 10a and the estimated directions to the known devices.

[0085] According to one aspect of the method, as illustrated in Figure 8, the radio network managing system 20 may perform the estimation of directions and the determination of absolute orientation, in which case the method performed by the radio network managing system 20 comprises receiving 801 , from the radio base station 10, communication reference signals from known devices with known locations received by the radio base station 10, or condensed channel state information, CSI, containing sufficient information for direction estimation estimated and condensed by the radio base station from communication reference signals from known devices with known locations as received by the radio base station 10, estimating 802 directions from the base station 10 to respective device using the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI, determining 803 the absolute orientation of the antenna array 11 based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices, sending 804 the determined orientation of the antenna array 11 to the radio base station 10, and triggering 805 remedial network management procedures e.g., triggering a site visit by a technician to assess or remedy a problem, to reduce output power of the antenna array, or to shut of the antenna array, when the determined orientation of the antenna array 11 differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, e.g. by a value exceeding a predefined threshold.

[0086] According to another aspect of the method, as illustrated in Figure 9, the radio base station 10 may perform the estimation of directions and the radio network managing system 20 may perform the determination of absolute orientation, in which case the method performed by the radio network managing system 20 comprises receiving 901 , from the radio base station 10, estimated directions to respective device, determining 902 the absolute orientation of the antenna array 11 based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices, sending 903 the determined orientation of the antenna array 11 to the radio base station 10, and triggering 904 remedial network management procedures e.g., triggering a site visit by a technician to assess or remedy a problem, to reduce output power of the antenna array, or to shut of the antenna array, when the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, e.g. by a value exceeding a predefined threshold.

[0087] According to another aspect of the method, as illustrated in Figure 10, the radio network managing system 20 may perform the estimation of directions and the radio base station 10 may perform the determination of absolute orientation, in which case the method performed by the radio network managing system 20 comprises receiving 1001 the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI from the radio base station 10, estimating 1002 directions from the base station 10 to respective device using the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI, and sending 1003 to the radio base station 10 the estimated directions to respective device.

[0088] With renewed reference to figure 1, an aspect relating to a radio base station 10 equipped with an antenna array 11, e.g. a Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output, MIMO, antenna array, in a wireless communications network 100 will now be described. The radio base station 10 is adapted to dynamically shape the radiation pattern of the antenna array 11 , e.g., to form beams towards users, or to suppress interference in unwanted directions, for example, where there are users served by other cells or where there may be regulatory constraints on the amount of co-channel or adjacent channel interference that the Massive l MO product is allowed to cause.

[0089] As illustrated in Figure 4, the base station 10 is adapted to receive 401 communication reference signals from known devices 10a with known locations, e.g. by using existing radio transmissions from other devices with known locations such as base stations or FWA in the radio network, obtain estimated 402 directions to respective device using the received communication reference signals, obtain a determined 403 absolute orientation of the antenna array 11 based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices, and to trigger 405 remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array 11 differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, e.g. by a value exceeding a predefined threshold.

[0090] According to one aspect of the radio base station 10, as illustrated in Figure 4, the radio base station may be adapted to shape 404 the radiation pattern of the antenna array 11 based on the determined orientation, e.g. to beamform the radiation pattern.

[0091] According to one aspect of the radio base station 10, as illustrated in Figure 4, the radio base station may be adapted to perform the determination of absolute orientation, wherein the triggered 405 remedial network management procedure comprises that the radio base station 10 communicates the determined orientation of antenna array 11 to a radio network managing system 20, and thereby adapted to trigger a site visit by a technician to assess or remedy a problem.

[0092] According to one aspect of the radio base station 10, as illustrated in Figure 5, a radio network managing system 20 may be adapted to perform the estimation of directions and the determination of absolute orientation, in which case the radio base station 10 is adapted to send 501 the received communication reference signals to the radio network managing system 20, or to estimate received communication reference signals into condensed CSI and to send 501 the condensed CSI to the radio network managing system 20, and receive 503 from the network managing system 20 the determined 502 orientation of the antenna array 11.

[0093] According to another aspect of the radio base station 10, as illustrated in Figure 6, the radio base station 10 may be adapted to perform the estimation of directions and the radio network managing system 20 is adapted to perform the determination of absolute orientation, in which case the radio base station 10 is adapted to send 601 the estimated directions to the radio network managing system 20, and receive 603 from the network managing system 20 the determined 602 orientation of the antenna array 11.

[0094] According to another aspect of the radio base station 10, as illustrated in Figure 7, the radio network managing system 20 is adapted to perform the estimation of directions and the radio base station 10 is adapted to perform the determination of absolute orientation, in which case the radio base station 10 is adapted to send 701 the received communication reference signals to the radio network managing system 20, or estimate received communication reference signals into condensed CSI containing sufficient information for direction estimation and sending 701 the condensed CSI to the radio network managing system 20, and receive 703 from the network managing system 20 the estimated 702 directions to respective device.

[0095] With renewed reference to figure 1, an aspect relating to a radio network managing system 20 in a wireless communications network 100, adapted to serve at least one radio base station 10 in the determination of the physical orientation of an antenna array 11 in a wireless communications network 100 will now be described.

[0096] The radio base station 10 is equipped with the antenna array 11 and adapted to dynamically shape the radiation pattern of the antenna array 11.

[0097] Directions to known devices with known locations are estimated using received communication reference signals from the known devices 10a, and an absolute orientation of an antenna array 11 is determined based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices.

[0098] According to one aspect of the radio network managing system 20, and as illustrated in Figure 8, the radio network managing system 20 can be adapted to perform the estimation of locations and determination of absolute orientation, in which case the network managing system is adapted to receive 801 , from a radio base station 10, communication reference signals from known devices with known locations received by the radio base station 10, or condensed CSI containing sufficient information for direction estimation estimated and condensed by the radio base station from communication reference signals from known devices with known locations as received by the radio base station 10, estimate 802 directions from the base station 10 to respective device using the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI, determine 803 the absolute orientation of the antenna array 11 based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices, send 804 the determined orientation of the antenna array 11 to the base station 10, and trigger 805 remedial network management procedures.

[0099] To trigger 805 remedial network management functions can be triggering a site visit by a technician to assess or remedy a problem, to reduce output power of the antenna array, or to shut of the antenna array, when the determined orientation of the antenna array 11 differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, e.g. by a value exceeding a predefined threshold.

[0100] According to another aspect of the radio network managing system 20, as illustrated in Figure 9, the radio base station 10 can be adapted to perform the estimation of directions and the radio network managing system 20 can be adapted to perform the determination of absolute orientation, in which case the network managing system is adapted to receive, 901 from the radio base station 10, estimated directions to respective device, determine 902 the absolute orientation of the antenna array 11 based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices, send 903 the determined orientation of the antenna array 11 to the radio base station 10, and trigger 904 remedial network management procedures.

[0101] According to another aspect of the radio network managing system 20, as illustrated in Figure 10, the radio network managing system 20 can perform the estimation of directions and the radio base station (10) can perform the determination of absolute orientation, in which case the network managing system can be adapted to receive 1001 the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI from the radio base station 10, estimate 1002 directions from the base station 10 to respective device using the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI, and send 1003 to the radio base station 10 the estimated directions to respective device.

[0102] In this way by using the methods above, the base station can assess its absolute orientation with respect to a global coordinate system, which in turn will allow it to beamform, i.e. dynamically shape its radiation pattern, in such a way that radiated power or interference is suppressed in particular directions in this global coordinate system. Alternatively, by using the methods above, the network management system can ascertain that the orientation of a base station has changed from its nominal orientation to the degree that remedial procedures can be triggered. Such procedures could e.g. involve a reconfiguration of the output power, or initiating a site visit by a technician to restore the orientation to nominal. Embodiments herein such as the embodiments mentioned above will now be further described and exemplified. The text below is applicable to and may be combined with any suitable embodiment described above.

[0103] Embodiments herein may be implemented through a respective processor or one or more processors, such as the respective processor 12 of a processing circuitry in the radio base station 10 depicted in Figure 8, and processor 22 of a processing circuitry in the radio network managing system 20 depicted in Figure 9 together with respective computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein.

[0104] Figure 11 illustrates a first computer program 150 where the first computer program comprises computer program code or instructions, which when executed by a processor 12 belonging to a radio base station 10, causes the processor 12 to perform actions of a radio base station as described above.

[0105] Figure 12 illustrates a second computer program where the second computer program comprises computer program code or instructions, which when executed by a processor 22, belonging to a radio network managing system 20, causes the processor 22 to perform actions of a radio network managing system as described above.

[0106] Figure 11 and 12 also illustrates an aspect relating to carrier15, 25 comprising the first and of second computer programi 50, 250, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0107] The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the respective radio base station 10 and radio network managing system 20. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the respective radio base station 10 and radio network managing system 20.

[0108] The radio base station 10 and radio network managing system 20 may further comprise a respective memory 13 and memory 23 comprising one or more memory units. The respective memory 13 and memory 23 comprises instructions executable by the processor in the respective radio base station 10 and radio network managing system 20. The respective memory 13 and memory 23 are arranged to be used to store e.g., media functions, indications, tags, information, data, configurations, communication data, and applications to perform the methods herein when being executed in the respective radio base station 10 and radio network managing system 20.

[0109] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that units in the respective radio base station 10 and radio network managing system 20 described above may refer to a combination of analog and digital circuits, and / or one or more processors configured with software and / or firmware, e.g. stored in the respective radio base station 10 and radio network managing system 20, that when executed by the respective one or more processors such as the processors described above. One or more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuitry ASIC, or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a System-on-a- Chip (SoC).

[0110] ADDITIONAL EXPLANATION

[0111] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0112] Figure 13 shows an example of a communication system QQ100 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0113] In the example, the communication system QQ100 includes a telecommunication network QQ102 that includes an access network QQ104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network QQ106, which includes one or more core network nodes QQ108. The access network QQ104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes QQ110a and QQ110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes QQ110), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network QQ102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network QQ102 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network QQ102, including one or more network nodes QQ110 and / or core network nodes QQ108. Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1 , F1, W1, E1 , E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes QQ110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 121 , QQ112a, QQ112b, QQ112c, and QQ112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs QQ112) to the core network QQ106 over one or more wireless connections.

[0114] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system QQ100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system QQ100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0115] The UEs QQ112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes QQ110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes QQ110 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs QQ112 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network QQ102 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network QQ102.

[0116] In the depicted example, the core network QQ106 connects the network nodes QQ110 to one or more hosts, such as host QQ116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network QQ106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node QQ108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node QQ108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier Deconcealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0117] The host QQ116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network QQ104 and / or the telecommunication network QQ102, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host QQ116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0118] As a whole, the communication system QQ100 of Figure 13 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0119] In some examples, the telecommunication network QQ102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network QQ102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network QQ102. For example, the telecommunications network QQ102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0120] In some examples, the UEs QQ112 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network QQ104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network QQ104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi- RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0121] In the example, the hub QQ114 communicates with the access network QQ104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or QQ112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node QQ110b). In some examples, the hub QQ114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub QQ114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network QQ106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes QQ110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub QQ114. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub QQ114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub QQ114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub QQ114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0122] The hub QQ114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node QQ110b. The hub QQ114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub qQ114 and UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or QQ112d), and between the hub QQ114 and the core network QQ106. In other examples, the hub QQ114 is connected to the core network QQ106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub QQ114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network QQ104 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes QQ110 while still connected via the hub QQ114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node QQ110b. In other embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node QQ110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0123] Figure 14 shows a UE QQ200 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop- embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0124] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0125] The UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ202 that is operatively coupled via a bus QQ204 to an input / output interface QQ206, a power source QQ208, a memory QQ210, a communication interface QQ212, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 14. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0126] The processing circuitry QQ202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory QQ210. The processing circuitry QQ202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry QQ202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0127] In the example, the input / output interface QQ206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE QQ200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0128] In some embodiments, the power source QQ208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source QQ208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source QQ208 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE QQ200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source QQ208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source QQ208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE QQ200 to which power is supplied.

[0129] The memory QQ210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory QQ210 includes one or more application programs QQ214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data QQ216. The memory QQ210 may store, for use by the UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0130] The memory QQ210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUlCC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory QQ210 may allow the UE QQ200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory QQ210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0131] The processing circuitry QQ202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface QQ212. The communication interface QQ212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna QQ222. The communication interface QQ212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter QQ218 and / or a receiver QQ220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter QQ218 and receiver QQ220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna QQ222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0132] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface QQ212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11 , Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0133] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface QQ212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient). As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0134] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE QQ200 shown in Figure 14.

[0135] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-loT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0136] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0137] Figure 15 shows a network node QQ300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O- RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0138] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0139] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi- cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0140] The network node QQ300 includes a processing circuitry QQ302, a memory QQ304, a communication interface QQ306, and a power source QQ308. The network node QQ300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node QQ300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node QQ300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory QQ304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna QQ310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node QQ300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node QQ300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node QQ300.

[0141] The processing circuitry QQ302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node QQ300 components, such as the memory QQ304, to provide network node QQ300 functionality.

[0142] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and the baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0143] The memory QQ304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device- readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry QQ302. The memory QQ304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry QQ302 and utilized by the network node QQ300. The memory QQ304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry QQ302 and / or any data received via the communication interface QQ306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 and memory QQ304 is integrated.

[0144] The communication interface QQ306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface QQ306 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) QQ316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface QQ306 also includes radio front-end circuitry QQ318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna QQ310. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 comprises filters QQ320 and amplifiers QQ322. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may be connected to an antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ320 and / or amplifiers QQ322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna QQ310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna QQ310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry QQ318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry QQ302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0145] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node QQ300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry QQ318, instead, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna QQ310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 is part of the communication interface QQ306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface QQ306 includes one or more ports or terminals QQ316, the radio front-end circuitry QQ318, and the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface QQ306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry QQ314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0146] The antenna QQ310, 11 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna QQ310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry QQ318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna QQ310, 11 is separate from the network node QQ300 and connectable to the network node QQ300 through an interface or port.

[0147] The antenna QQ310, communication interface QQ306, and / or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna QQ310, the communication interface QQ306, and / or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0148] The power source QQ308 provides power to the various components of network node QQ300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source QQ308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node QQ300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may be connectable to an external power source (e g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source QQ308. As a further example, the power source QQ308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0149] Embodiments of the network node QQ300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 15 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node QQ300 and to allow output of information from the network node QQ300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node QQ300.

[0150] Figure 16 is a block diagram of a host QQ400, which may be an embodiment of the host QQ116 of Figure 13, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host QQ400 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and / or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host QQ400 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0151] The host QQ400 includes processing circuitry QQ402 that is operatively coupled via a bus QQ404 to an input / output interface QQ406, a network interface QQ408, a power source QQ410, and a memory QQ412. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures QQ2 and QQ3, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host QQ400.

[0152] The memory QQ412 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs QQ414 and data QQ416, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host QQ400 or data generated by the host QQ400 for a UE. Embodiments of the host QQ400 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs QQ414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (WC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs QQ414 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host QQ400 may select and / or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs QQ414 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc. Figure 17 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments QQ500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment QQ500 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O- Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface.

[0153] Applications QQ502 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0154] Hardware QQ504 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers QQ506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs QQ508a and QQ508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs QQ508), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer QQ506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs QQ508.

[0155] The VMs QQ508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ506. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance QQ502 may be implemented on one or more of VMs QQ508, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0156] In the context of NFV, a VM QQ508 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs QQ508, and that part of hardware QQ504 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs QQ508 on top of the hardware QQ504 and corresponds to the application QQ502.

[0157] Hardware QQ504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware QQ504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ504 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration QQ510, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ502. In some embodiments, hardware QQ504 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system QQ512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0158] Figure 18 shows a communication diagram of a host QQ602 communicating via a network node QQ604 with a UE QQ606 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE QQ112a of Figure 13 and / or UE QQ200 of Figure 14), network node (such as network node QQ110a of Figure 13 and / or network node QQ300 of Figure 15), and host (such as host QQ116 of Figure 13 and / or host QQ400 of Figure 16) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 18. Like host QQ400, embodiments of host QQ602 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host QQ602 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host QQ602 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE QQ606 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection QQ650 extending between the UE QQ606 and host QQ602. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection QQ650.

[0159] The network node QQ604 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host QQ602 and UE QQ606. The connection QQ660 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network QQ106 of Figure 13) and / or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0160] The UE QQ606 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE QQ606 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE QQ606 with the support of the host QQ602. In the host QQ602, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection QQ650 terminating at the UE QQ606 and host QQ602. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection QQ650 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection QQ650.

[0161] The OTT connection QQ650 may extend via a connection QQ660 between the host QQ602 and the network node QQ604 and via a wireless connection QQ670 between the network node QQ604 and the UE QQ606 to provide the connection between the host QQ602 and the UE QQ606. The connection QQ660 and wireless connection QQ670, over which the OTT connection QQ650 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host QQ602 and the UE QQ606 via the network node QQ604, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0162] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection QQ650, in step QQ608, the host QQ602 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE QQ606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE QQ606 that shares data with the host QQ602 without explicit human interaction. In step QQ610, the host QQ602 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE QQ606. The host QQ602 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE QQ606. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE QQ606 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE QQ606. The transmission may pass via the network node QQ604, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step QQ612, the network node QQ604 transmits to the UE QQ606 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host QQ602 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step QQ614, the UE QQ606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE QQ606 associated with the host application executed by the host QQ602.

[0163] In some examples, the UE QQ606 executes a client application which provides user data to the host QQ602. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host QQ602. Accordingly, in step QQ616, the UE QQ606 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input / output interface of the UE QQ606. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE QQ606 initiates, in step QQ618, transmission of the user data towards the host QQ602 via the network node QQ604. In step QQ620, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node QQ604 receives user data from the UE QQ606 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host QQ602. In step QQ622, the host QQ602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE QQ606.

[0164] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE QQ606 using the OTT connection QQ650, in which the wireless connection QQ670 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the latency and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time.

[0165] In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host QQ602. As another example, the host QQ602 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host QQ602 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host QQ602 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host QQ602 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host QQ602 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and / or transmitting data.

[0166] In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection QQ650 between the host QQ602 and UE QQ606, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host QQ602 and / or UE QQ606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection QQ650 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection QQ650 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node QQ604. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host QQ602. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection QQ650 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

[0167] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0168] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0169] When using the word "comprise" or “comprising’’ it shall be interpreted as nonlimiting, i.e. meaning "consist at least of".

[0170] The embodiments herein are not limited to the preferred embodiments described above. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method performed by a radio base station (10) to determine the physical orientation of an antenna array (11), in a wireless communications network (100), where the radio base station (10) is equipped with the antenna array (11) which base station (10) is capable of dynamically shaping the radiation pattern of the antenna array (11), the method comprising:- receiving (401) communication reference signals from known devices with known locations,- obtaining (402) estimated directions to respective device using the received communication reference signals,- obtaining (403) a determined absolute orientation of the antenna array (11) based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices, and- triggering (405) remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, and / or- shaping (404) the radiation pattern of the antenna array (11) based on the determined orientation.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the remedial network management procedure comprises communicating the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) to a radio network managing system (20).

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, where the radio base station (10) performs the estimation of directions and determination of absolute orientation, or, where a radio network managing system (20) performs the estimation of directions and determination of absolute orientation, the method comprising:- sending (501) the received communication reference signals to the radio network managing system (20), or- estimating received communication reference signals into condensed channel state information, CSI , containing sufficient information for direction estimation, and sending (501) the condensed CSI to the radio network managing system (20), and- receiving (503) from the network managing system (20) the determined orientation of the antenna array (11),or, where the radio base station (10) performs the estimation of directions and the radio network managing system (20) performs the determination of absolute orientation, the method comprising:- sending (601) the estimated directions to the radio network managing system (20), and- receiving (603) from the network managing system (20) the determined orientation of the antenna array (11), or, where the radio network managing system (20) performs the estimation of directions and the radio base station (10) performs the determination of absolute orientation, the method comprising:- sending (701) the received communication reference signals to the radio network managing system (20), or- estimating received communication reference signals into condensed CSI containing sufficient information for direction estimation and sending (701) the condensed CSI to the radio network managing system (20), and- receiving (703) from the network managing system (20) the estimated directions to respective device.

4. A method performed by a radio network managing system (20) in a wireless communications network (100), to serve at least one radio base station (10) for the determination of the physical orientation of an antenna array (11) in a wireless communications network (100), where the radio base station (10) is equipped with the antenna array (11) which base station (10) is capable of dynamically shaping the radiation pattern of the antenna array (11), where directions to known devices with known locations can be estimated (402) using received communication reference signals from the known devices, and an absolute orientation of an antenna array (11) can be determined (403) based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices, where the radio network managing system (20) performs and provides the estimation of directions and / or the determination of absolute orientation.

5. The method of claim 4, where the radio network managing system (20) performs the estimation of directions and determination of absolute orientation the method comprising:- receiving (801), from the radio base station (10), communication reference signals from known devices with known locations received by the radio base station (10), or condensed channel state information, CSI, containing sufficient information for direction estimation estimated and condensed by the radio base station from communication reference signals from known devices with known locations as received by the radio base station (10),- estimating (802) directions from the base station (10) to respective device using the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI,- determining (803) the absolute orientation of the antenna array (11) based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices,- sending (804) the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) to the radio base station (10), and- triggering (805) remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, or, where the radio base station (10) performs the estimation of directions and the radio network managing system (20) performs the determination of absolute orientation, the method comprising:- receiving (901), from the radio base station (10), estimated directions to respective device,- determining (902) the absolute orientation of the antenna array (11) based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices,- sending (903) the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) to the radio base station (10), and- triggering (904) remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, or, where the radio network managing system (20) performs the estimation of directions and the radio base station (10) performs the determination of absolute orientation, the method comprising:- receiving (1001) the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI from the radio base station (10),- estimating (1002) directions from the base station (10) to respective device using the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI, and- sending (1003) to the radio base station (10) the estimated directions to respective device.

6. A radio base station (10) equipped with an antenna array (11), in a wireless communications network (100), the radio base station (10) being adapted to dynamically shape the radiation pattern of the antenna array (11), the base station (10) being adapted to:- receive (401) communication reference signals from known devices with known locations,- obtain estimated (402) directions to respective device using the received communication reference signals,- obtain a determined (403) absolute orientation of the antenna array (11) based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices, and- trigger (405) remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, and / or- shape (404) the radiation pattern of the antenna array (11) based on the determined orientation.

7. The radio base station (10) according to claim 6, wherein the remedial network management procedure comprises that the radio base station (10) is adapted to communicate the determined orientation of antenna array (11) to a radio network managing system (20).

8. The radio base station (10) according to claim 6 or 7, where a radio network managing system (20) is adapted to perform the estimation of directions and determination of absolute orientation, the radio base station (10) being adapted to:- send (501) the received communication reference signals to the radio network managing system (20), or- estimate received communication reference signals into condensed channel state information, CSI, containing sufficient information for direction estimation,and to send (501) the condensed CSI to the radio network managing system (20), and- receive (503) from the network managing system (20) the determined orientation of the antenna array (11), or, where the radio base station (10) is adapted to perform the estimation of directions and the radio network managing system (20) is adapted to perform the determination of absolute orientation, the radio base station (10) being adapted to:- send (601) the estimated directions to the radio network managing system (20), and- receive (603) from the network managing system (20) the determined orientation of the antenna array (11), or, where the radio network managing system (20) is adapted to perform the estimation of directions and the radio base station (10) is adapted to perform the determination of absolute orientation, the radio base station being adapted to:- send (701) the received communication reference signals to the radio network managing system (20), or- estimate received communication reference signals into condensed CSI containing sufficient information for direction estimation and sending (701) the condensed CSI to the radio network managing system (20), and- receive (703) from the network managing system (20) the estimated directions to respective device.

9. A radio network managing system (20) in a wireless communications network (100), adapted to serve at least one radio base station (10) in the determination of the physical orientation of an antenna array (11) in a wireless communications network (100), where the radio base station (10) is equipped with the antenna array (11) which base station (10) adapted to dynamically shape the radiation pattern of the antenna array (11), where directions to known devices with known locations can be estimated (402) using received communication reference signals from the known devices, and the absolute orientation of an antenna array (11) can be determined (403) based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices, where the radio network managing system (20) is adapted to perform the estimation of directions and / or the determination of absolute orientation.

10. The radio network managing system (20) according to claim 9, the network managing system being adapted to perform the estimation of directions and the determination of absolute orientation, the network managing system being adapted to:- receive (801), from the radio base station (10), communication reference signals from known devices with known locations received by the radio base station (10), or condensed channel state information, CSI , containing sufficient information for direction estimation estimated and condensed by the radio base station from communication reference signals from known devices with known locations as received by the radio base station (10),- estimate (802) directions from the base station (10) to respective device using the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI,- determine (803) the absolute orientation of the antenna array (11) based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices,- send (804) the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) to the base station (10), and- trigger (805) remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation, or, where the radio base station (10) is adapted to perform the estimation of directions and the radio network managing system (20) is adapted to perform the determination of absolute orientation, the network managing system being adapted to: receive (901), from the radio base station (10), estimated directions to respective device, determine (902) the absolute orientation of the antenna array (11) based on the known locations of the known devices and the estimated directions to the known devices,- send (903) the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) to the radio base station (10), and- trigger (904) remedial network management procedures when the determined orientation of the antenna array (11) differs from a nominal value for the antenna orientation,or, where the radio network managing system (20) performs the estimation of directions and the radio base station (10) performs the determination of absolute orientation, the network managing system being adapted to:- receive (1001) the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI from the radio base station (10),- estimate (1002) directions from the base station (10) to respective device using the received communication reference signals or condensed CSI, and- send (1003) to the radio base station (10) the estimated directions to respective device.11 . A first computer program (150) comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor (12) belonging to a radio base station (10), causes the processor (12) to perform actions according to any of the claims 1 to 3.

12. A second computer program (250) comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor (22), belonging to a radio network managing system (20), causes the processor (22) to perform actions according to claim 4 or 5.

13. A carrier (15, 25) comprising the computer program of claim 11 or 12, wherein the carrier (15, 25) is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

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