Communication control method and system for aircraft, storage medium, and program product

Abstract

The embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of communications, and provide a communication control method and system for an aircraft, a storage medium, and a program product. The method comprises: acquiring a coordinated cell set corresponding to various altitude ranges (S110); by means of mutual negotiation between network devices corresponding to coordinated cells in the coordinated cell set, determining an SSB corresponding to each coordinated cell (S120), wherein the SSB of each coordinated cell within the same coordinated cell set is identical; according to cell information of a cell with which an aircraft can establish a communication connection, determining a plurality of target access serving cells from a coordinated cell set corresponding to an SSB matching an altitude of the aircraft (S130); and according to the plurality of target access serving cells, obtaining a virtual merged cell for communication with the aircraft on the basis of the matched SSB (S140).

Description

Communication control method, system, storage medium and program product of aircraft

[0001] Cross-reference to related applications

[0002] The present application is based on the Chinese patent application No. 202411018848.7, filed on July 26, 2024, and claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202411018848.7, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments of the present application relate to, but are not limited to, the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication control method, system, storage medium and program product of an aircraft. BACKGROUND

[0004] An aircraft, especially a low-altitude aircraft, can be widely used in low-altitude area inspection, agricultural detection, logistics, security, forest fire monitoring, environmental monitoring, safety and border monitoring, and other application scenarios. In order to realize the unmanned driving of the aircraft, the aircraft meets the communication demand through a ground base station. However, the network signal optimization of the network equipment deployed on the traditional ground base station is usually for the network optimization of the ground coverage such as roads and buildings. Therefore, the existing network system cannot meet the communication demand of the aircraft which has a higher flight height. Therefore, how to realize the network optimization of the aircraft based on the existing network system is a technical problem to be solved. SUMMARY

[0005] The following is a summary of the subject matter described in detail herein. This summary is not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

[0006] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication control method, system, storage medium and program product of an aircraft.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication control method of an aircraft. The method is applied to a network device, and includes: obtaining a set of cooperating cells corresponding to each preset height interval; determining a synchronization signal and a physical broadcast channel block (SSB) corresponding to each cooperating cell in the set of cooperating cells through mutual negotiation of network devices corresponding to each cooperating cell in the set of cooperating cells; wherein each cooperating cell in each set of cooperating cells uses the same SSB; obtaining an SSB matched with a flight height of an aircraft; determining a plurality of target access service cells from the set of cooperating cells corresponding to the matched SSB according to cell information of cells in which the aircraft can establish a communication connection; and obtaining a virtual merged cell in which the aircraft communicates based on the matched SSB according to the plurality of target access service cells.

[0008] In a second aspect, a communication control method of an aircraft is provided according to embodiments of the present application. The method is applied to an aircraft, and includes: obtaining an SSB matched to a current flight height of the aircraft according to the flight height; and communicating with a network device based on a virtual merged cell corresponding to the SSB, wherein the virtual merged cell is determined from a plurality of target access service cells obtained by the network device according to cell information of cells in which the aircraft can establish a communication connection, and the plurality of target access service cells are obtained from a set of cooperating cells corresponding to the SSB.

[0009] In a third aspect, a communication system is provided according to embodiments of the present application. The communication system includes an aircraft and at least one network device. The aircraft is configured to perform the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of the second aspect. Each network device is configured to perform the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of the first aspect.

[0010] In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided according to embodiments of the present application. The computer-readable storage medium stores computer executable instructions for implementing the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of the first aspect or the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of the second aspect when executed by a processor.

[0011] In a fifth aspect, a computer program product is provided according to embodiments of the present application. The computer program product includes a computer program or computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium. A processor of a communication device reads the computer program or the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium. The processor executes the computer program or the computer instructions, so that the communication device performs the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of the first aspect or the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0012] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of interaction between an aircraft and a network device in some cases;

[0013] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of system components of an embodiment of a communication system provided by the present application;

[0014] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of interaction between an aircraft and a network device in a communication system provided by the present application;

[0015] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication control method of an aircraft on a network device side provided by the present application;

[0016] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication control method of an aircraft on an aircraft side provided by the present application;

[0017] FIG. 6a is a schematic diagram of vertical beam scanning of an aircraft in a communication control method of an aircraft provided by the present application;

[0018] Fig. 6b is a schematic diagram of the cooperation of network devices in different height intervals in the communication control method of the aircraft provided by the present application;

[0019] Fig. 6c is a schematic diagram of the virtual merged cell of network devices in different height intervals in the communication control method of the aircraft provided by the present application;

[0020] Fig. 6d is a schematic diagram of the horizontal beam scanning of the aircraft in the communication control method of the aircraft provided by the present application;

[0021] Fig. 6e is a schematic diagram of the switching in the flight phase of the aircraft in the communication control method of the aircraft provided by the present application;

[0022] Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of the device corresponding to the device management method provided by the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] In order to make the purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the present application clearer, the present application will be further described in detail below in combination with the drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present application and do not limit the present application.

[0024] It should be noted that although the functional modules are divided in the device schematic diagram, and the logical order is shown in the flowchart, in some cases, the steps shown or described can be executed in a manner different from the module division in the device or the order in the flowchart. The terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims and the above-described drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and do not necessarily describe a specific order or sequence.

[0025] The flowchart shown in the drawings is only an exemplary illustration, and does not necessarily include all the contents and operations / steps, nor does it necessarily execute in the order described. For example, some operations / steps can be further divided, and some operations / steps can be combined or partially combined, so the actual execution order may be changed according to the actual situation.

[0026] The following is an explanation of the terms involved in the embodiments of the present application:

[0027] UAV, i.e. uncrewed aerial vehicle; Chinese interpretation: unmanned aerial vehicle.

[0028] SSB: synchronization Signal and PBCH block, which is composed of three parts of primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS) and PBCH.

[0029] PCI, full name Physical Cell Identifier, through which the wireless signals of different cells can be distinguished.

[0030] The aircraft, especially the low-altitude aircraft, can be widely used in low-altitude area inspection, agricultural detection, logistics, security, forest fire monitoring, environmental monitoring, safety and border monitoring and other application scenarios. In order to realize the unmanned driving of the aircraft, the aircraft meets the communication demand through the ground base station, and the network signal optimization of the network equipment deployed on the traditional ground base station is often for the network optimization of the ground coverage such as roads and buildings. Therefore, the existing network system cannot meet the communication demand of the aircraft which is a device with higher flight height. And with the increase of the signal coverage height of the network equipment, the problem of cell overlap and co-frequency interference in the network equipment becomes more serious, which leads to the enhancement of the communication interference between the aircraft and the network equipment. Especially for the aircraft using omnidirectional antenna, the higher the aircraft, the worse the communication quality between the aircraft and the network equipment. If the traditional cell merging or super cell scheme is adopted, the experience of the ground public network users will be affected. As shown in FIG. 1, taking the aircraft using omnidirectional antenna as an example, it is assumed that the flight trajectory of the aircraft is in the signal coverage range of network equipment CellA, CellB, CellC and CellD; as shown in FIG. 1, at the same time, multiple network equipment in network equipment CellA, CellB, CellC and CellD can establish communication link with the aircraft, and the interference condition between the aircraft and the network equipment is more complex. Therefore, how to realize the network optimization of the aircraft based on the existing network system is a technical problem to be solved. Based on this, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication control method, system, storage medium and program product of the aircraft, which can realize the network optimization of the aircraft based on the existing network system.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 2, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, the communication network system comprising an aircraft and at least one network device. The network device is configured to obtain a set of cooperating cells corresponding to each preset height interval; determine a synchronization signal and a physical broadcast channel block (SSB) corresponding to each cooperating cell in the set of cooperating cells through mutual negotiation of the network devices corresponding to each cooperating cell; each cooperating cell in the set of cooperating cells uses the same SSB; obtain an SSB matching the flight height of the aircraft; determine a plurality of target access service cells from the set of cooperating cells corresponding to the matching SSB according to the cell information of the cells capable of establishing a communication connection with the aircraft; obtain a virtual merged cell for the aircraft to communicate based on the matching SSB according to the plurality of target access service cells; and the aircraft is configured to obtain the SSB matching the current flight height of the aircraft according to the current flight height of the aircraft; and communicate with the network device based on the virtual merged cell corresponding to the SSB.

[0032] The aircraft can be a drone or an unmanned device capable of flying at a low altitude, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the type of aircraft. The network device is a device whose beam signal range covers the flight trajectory of the aircraft.

[0033] The height range of each height interval can be different or the same, and the number of height intervals can be selectively set according to actual conditions. For example, the number of height intervals can be determined according to the beam quality of the network device whose beam signal range covers the flight trajectory of the aircraft, or the number of height intervals can be determined according to the total number of SSBs that can be configured by the network device.

[0034] Each set of cooperating cells comprises a plurality of cooperating cells in the same frequency domain, and each cooperating cell can establish a communication connection with the aircraft in the corresponding height interval. The set of cooperating cells can be determined in real time before the take-off stage of each aircraft, or can be a historical set of cooperating cells collected in the same cell beam signal range. The embodiment of the present application does not limit this, and a person skilled in the art can selectively set it according to actual needs. For example, if the aircraft 1 determines the set of cooperating cells in the cell beam signal range, the aircraft 2 can directly use the set of cooperating cells determined by the aircraft 1 when flying in the cell beam signal range, or can measure in real time. At this time, for the aircraft 2, the aircraft 1 is equivalent to a sample aircraft of the aircraft 2.

[0035] It can be understood that one network device can be deployed in one base station, or multiple network devices can be deployed in one base station, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this. The present application does not limit the number of beams deployed in one network device.

[0036] In some embodiments, the network device is provided with an aircraft identification module, a beam management module, a dynamic cluster module, an inter-site interaction module, a virtual SSB module, and a movement control module, so that communication control with the aircraft can be realized through the above-mentioned modules.

[0037] Among them, the aircraft identification module can identify the aircraft through the information element identifier delivered by the core network, or can be identified through the aircraft characteristics. In the case of identifying the aircraft, access to the corresponding SSB of the cooperative cell set is allowed.

[0038] Among them, the beam management module dynamically adjusts the antenna beam direction according to the position and motion state of the aircraft to ensure signal quality. For example, the beam cooperation relationship group information is established based on the height. Based on the aircraft behavior and the height position detection information, the multi-cell joint transceiver function is jointly established to realize the dynamic adjustment of the antenna beam direction.

[0039] Among them, the dynamic cluster module flexibly adjusts the cooperation relationship between network devices by real-time analysis of network topology and user distribution. For example, based on the flight dynamic information of the aircraft, the flight trajectory of the aircraft is predicted, and a list of suitable service cells (i.e. target access service cells) is selected from the cooperative cell set, and a super cell (i.e. a virtual merged cell) is merged or formed. At this time, the network device can dynamically form a cell cluster based on the joint transceiver of the aircraft based on the cooperative cell group and according to the flight position and trajectory.

[0040] Among them, the inter-site interaction module is responsible for coordinating information sharing and resource scheduling between multiple network devices to ensure seamless switching of the aircraft between different network devices. For example, the network device can establish and maintain the trajectory+height cell list information based on the measurement report message reported by the aircraft. At the same time, the virtual merged cell formed by the dynamic cluster needs to deliver the cooperation information of the merged cell / super cell through site interaction, including SSB, frequency, power, and beam information.

[0041] Among them, the virtual SSB module uses a virtual synchronization signal block to enhance signal coverage and positioning accuracy and reduce interference, especially in the case of rapid movement of the aircraft. For example, in addition to the public network SSB1, a virtual SSB module is newly added in the same frequency band according to the business needs, and an SSB list is established based on the height.

[0042] The mobile control module is used to realize continuous tracking and management of the aircraft, and guarantee the stability and reliability of the communication. After the network device identifies the takeoff of the aircraft and predicts the path trajectory, the network device can trigger the establishment of a virtual SSB cell, and multiple cells are configured with the same SSB and PCI information. Meanwhile, the aircraft is triggered to switch from the SSB1 cell of the public network to the newly added virtual cell SSB. In the flight process of the aircraft, the same height interval shares the service of the same virtual merged cell. In the height change scenario, the aircraft moves between the virtual merged cells based on the height. In the process of landing of the aircraft, the aircraft is switched from the virtual merged cell to the cell corresponding to the SSB1 of the public network.

[0043] It can be understood that the aircraft is configured with a phased antenna and a driving member, and the driving member is used to drive the phased antenna to rotate horizontally along a preset plane, so that the phased antenna performs omnidirectional scanning.

[0044] The phased antenna can be built-in or external to the aircraft, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. The phased antenna can provide a narrow beam, and the beam signal is stronger, so compared with the omnidirectional antenna, the interference between the aircraft and the network device is lower, and the communication quality is higher.

[0045] Therefore, by setting the phased antenna, the phase of each radiation unit in the antenna array is changed in an electronic control manner, so that the rapid scanning and direction adjustment of the beam are realized. The aircraft realizes narrow beam scanning on the aircraft side through the built-in or external carrying phased array antenna technology, and covers a wider coverage area. And through the driving member, the cost can be reduced and the structure can be simplified, at this time the driving member can drive the phased antenna to mechanically rotate in one dimension and control the beam scanning in another dimension using the phased method.

[0046] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3, the phased antenna is integrated on the aircraft, and the phased antenna can realize narrow beam scanning through the phased array device. Compared with the omnidirectional antenna shown in FIG. 1, the number of cells accessed by the aircraft shown in FIG. 3 is less than the number of cells shown in FIG. 1 at the same time, so the communication interference between the network devices can be reduced during flight. At the same time, based on the narrow beam scanning of the aircraft, the cooperative cell set of different height intervals can be quickly determined, as shown in FIG. 2, the cooperative cell set of each height interval from height interval 1 to height interval n can be determined, and after the SSBs of each cooperative cell set are determined, when there is an aircraft flying in the same flight area, the cooperative cell set of the height interval matched based on the flight height can be dynamically clustered, so as to form a virtual merged cell for communication with the aircraft in the corresponding height interval.

[0047] It can be understood that the phased antenna is configured to support multiple transmission powers to configure different transmission powers in different height intervals.

[0048] The higher the transmission power, the larger the uplink coverage of the aircraft. Therefore, by configuring to support multiple different transmission powers, the flight coverage can be expanded while maintaining high efficiency and appropriate bandwidth. Different transmission powers are used in different height intervals, and compared with the way of using high power, the power consumption of the aircraft of the application is lower. At the same time, when the aircraft is not flying, the cell information of the cooperative cells that can establish a communication connection in each different height interval can be collected by adjusting the transmission power, so as to determine the cooperative cell set.

[0049] It can be understood that, referring to FIG. 4, the embodiment of the application provides a communication control method of an aircraft, applied to a network device, the method comprising:

[0050] Step S110, obtaining a cooperative cell set corresponding to each preset height interval;

[0051] Step S120, determining a synchronization signal and a physical broadcast channel block (SSB) corresponding to each cooperative cell in the cooperative cell set by mutual negotiation of network devices corresponding to each cooperative cell in the cooperative cell set; wherein each cooperative cell in each cooperative cell set uses the same SSB;

[0052] Step S130, obtaining an SSB matching the flight height of the aircraft, and determining a plurality of target access service cells from the cooperative cell set corresponding to the matched SSB according to the cell information of the cells that the aircraft can establish a communication connection;

[0053] Step S140, obtaining a virtual merged cell for the aircraft to communicate based on the matched SSB according to the plurality of target access service cells.

[0054] Therefore, by dividing the cooperative cells based on different height intervals, obtaining the cooperative cell set corresponding to each height interval, and configuring the same SSB for each cooperative cell in each cooperative cell set to form a virtual cell. When the aircraft is flying, the cell information of the cells that the aircraft can establish a communication connection according to different flight heights can be obtained, so as to determine a plurality of target access service cells corresponding to the SSB matching the flight height, and obtain a virtual merged cell according to the plurality of target access service cells, thereby reducing the communication interference between the network device and the aircraft. In each height interval, the SSB between the aircraft and the network device can remain unchanged, but the virtual merged cell associated with the SSB can dynamically change with the change of the cooperative cell in the cell information, thereby ensuring the communication quality between the aircraft and the network device. Therefore, compared with related technologies, the embodiment of the application realizes network optimization for the aircraft based on the existing network system, can realize continuous tracking and management of the aircraft, and guarantees the stability and reliability of communication.

[0055] The cooperative cells in the same cooperative cell set can establish a communication connection with the corresponding high-altitude range aircraft. The cooperative cell set includes at least one cooperative cell, and the cooperative cells in the same cooperative cell set have the same frequency domain, so that the target access service cells in the same high-altitude range can form a virtual merged cell after the target access service cells are determined. Whether the network devices to which the cooperative cells in the same cooperative cell set belong are the same is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0056] The virtual merged cell can be obtained by using a cell merging technology or a super cell technology, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. By forming a virtual merged cell, the interference between cells can be reduced, and the transmission capacity of the aircraft and the network device can be improved.

[0057] The SSB in S120 is only used for communication of the aircraft, and each SSB corresponds to one PCI. In actual application, when the terminal device in the public network communicates with the network device, the communication is often based on the same SSB or a limited number of SSBs, so that after the SSBs are allocated to the cooperative cell set, the service signals of the aircraft and the terminal device in the public network can be isolated in the time domain, thereby reducing the communication interference between the aircraft and the network device.

[0058] The mutual negotiation in step S120 can be mutual negotiation of parameters of SSBs set in each high-altitude range, so as to reduce the probability of SSB conflict. In other embodiments, the configuration relationship between the high-altitude range and the SSB is fixed, and the mutual negotiation in step S120 can also be mutual notification of the SSBs to be configured. The purpose of the mutual negotiation in step S120 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0059] The cell information can be periodically reported by the aircraft, or can be determined by the network device based on the aircraft altitude and the detected aircraft information, and the determination of the cell information is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0060] It can be understood that the SSB negotiated in step S120 can only allow the aircraft to access, and does not allow the terminal device in the public network to access.

[0061] It can be understood that the cell information of the cell in which the aircraft can establish a communication connection will change with the flight trajectory of the aircraft, and therefore the target access service cell will also change, so that the virtual merged cell based on the matched SSB communication with the aircraft can be dynamically generated without changing the SSB.

[0062] It can be understood that the virtual merged cell based on the matched SSB communication with the aircraft is obtained according to the plurality of target access service cells, and includes:

[0063] Obtaining cell configuration parameters of each target access service cell;

[0064] According to the cell configuration parameters of each cell, the network device corresponding to each target access service cell is used to perform cell merging negotiation;

[0065] The cells obtained through the merging negotiation are associated with the matched SSBs to obtain a virtual merged cell for communication with the aircraft.

[0066] The cell configuration parameters are parameters required for cell merging negotiation. In some embodiments, the cell configuration parameters include information such as SSB, frequency point, power, and beam.

[0067] The cell merging negotiation can be to build a merged cell or a super cell.

[0068] In some embodiments, for example, the target access service cells are A1, B2, C3, and C4, wherein the network device to which A1 belongs is A, the network device to which B2 belongs is B, and the network device to which C3 and C4 belong is C. Then, A, B, and C perform cell merging negotiation based on the cell configuration parameters of A1, B2, C3, and C4 to obtain a virtual merged cell.

[0069] It can be understood that the cooperating cell set is obtained in at least one of the following ways:

[0070] Through communication quality data collection of the aircraft at a preset position on a plurality of preset height intervals;

[0071] Based on the cooperating cell set configuration determined by the sampling aircraft.

[0072] The sampling aircraft is a device that can transmit a beam to a network device and collect beam information of the network device. In the case where the network deployment based on the ground terminal device of the network device has not changed, the signal coverage of the network device at the same height is the same. Therefore, when there is a sampling aircraft that has collected the cooperating cell set, the cooperating cell set can be provided to subsequent aircrafts in the same area.

[0073] It can be understood that after obtaining the virtual merged cell for communication with the aircraft, the method further comprises:

[0074] Updating the cell information according to the flight trajectory of the aircraft, and updating the virtual merged cell according to the updated cell information;

[0075] Sending the SSB matched with the flight height of the aircraft to the aircraft through the updated virtual merged cell, so as to communicate with the aircraft based on the matched SSB and the updated virtual merged cell.

[0076] It can be understood that updating the cell information can be updating the cell information at the current moment or updating the cell information at the next moment, so that the virtual merging cell can be negotiated in advance. Among them, for the updating of the cell information at the next moment, since the flight trajectory of the aircraft is fixed, the cell information of the aircraft establishing a communication connection with the network device at the next moment can be predicted based on the flight trajectory, so as to update the cell information.

[0077] By continuously updating the cell information of the current flight position in the flight process of the aircraft, the communication quality between the aircraft and the network device can be further improved.

[0078] It can be understood that referring to FIG. 5, the application embodiment further provides a communication control method of an aircraft, applied to the aircraft, and the method comprises:

[0079] In step S210, the SSB matched with the flight height is obtained according to the current flight height of the aircraft.

[0080] In step S220, the network device is communicated based on the virtual merging cell corresponding to the SSB, wherein the virtual merging cell is obtained according to a plurality of target access service cells determined from the SSB corresponding cooperation cell set and the plurality of target access service cells obtained according to the cell information of the cell capable of establishing a communication connection with the aircraft.

[0081] Therefore, by dividing the cooperation cell based on different height intervals, the cooperation cell set corresponding to each height interval is obtained, and the virtual cell is formed by configuring the same SSB for the cooperation cells in each cooperation cell set. When the aircraft is flying, the cell information of the cell capable of establishing a communication connection with the aircraft according to different flight heights of the aircraft is obtained, so that a plurality of target access service cells corresponding to the SSB matched with the flight height are determined, and the virtual merging cell is obtained according to the plurality of target access service cells, so as to reduce the communication interference between the network device and the aircraft. In each height interval, the SSB between the aircraft and the network device can remain unchanged, but the virtual merging cell associated with the SSB can dynamically change with the change of the cooperation cell in the cell information, thereby ensuring the communication quality between the aircraft and the network device. Therefore, the application embodiment realizes the network optimization of the aircraft based on the existing network system, can realize the continuous tracking and management of the aircraft, and guarantees the stability and reliability of the communication.

[0082] The aircraft can determine its flight height based on GPS or other positioning methods, and the application embodiment does not limit this.

[0083] The aerial vehicle can send the flight height to the network device, obtain the SSB matching the flight height from the network device, or store a mapping relationship between height intervals and SSBs by the aerial vehicle itself, so as to determine the SSB by table lookup or the like. The stored mapping relationship can be configured or sent by the network device when the aerial vehicle accesses the network device, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0084] It can be understood that the aerial vehicle is provided with a phased antenna, and before obtaining the SSB matching the flight height, the method further comprises:

[0085] According to the preset plurality of height intervals, respectively adjusting the antenna parameters of the phased antenna at preset positions to enable the beam formed by the phased antenna to cover the corresponding height interval;

[0086] In each height interval, respectively collecting communication quality data of the network device capable of establishing a communication connection based on the beam of the phased antenna;

[0087] According to each communication quality data, obtaining a cooperation cell set corresponding to each height interval, and determining the SSB of each cooperation cell in the cooperation cell set by the network device according to each cooperation cell set.

[0088] The antenna parameters are used to enable the beam of the aerial vehicle to cover the corresponding height interval. The preset positions can be selectively set according to actual needs. For example, the area with the strongest network device signal strength can be set. The embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations on the preset positions.

[0089] The communication quality data is used to represent the signal quality when the network device communicates with the aerial vehicle, which can include the uplink loss and the strongest beam / azimuth information based on the aerial vehicle, or the cell and beam configuration information of the network device in the downlink direction, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application, and can be selectively set according to actual needs by those skilled in the art.

[0090] It can be understood that for each height interval, the cells with communication quality data meeting the preset quality condition can be selected as cooperation cells to form a cooperation cell set. For each height interval, the number of allowed selected cells can be set, so that each cooperation cell in the cooperation cell set is the cell with the highest communication quality in the same height interval with the aerial vehicle, further improving the stability and communication quality of the communication.

[0091] It can be understood that the communication quality data includes cell beam information and aerial vehicle beam information, and according to each communication quality data, a cooperation cell set corresponding to each height interval is obtained, which includes:

[0092] For each height interval, according to the cell configuration parameters in the cell beam information, determine the candidate cooperation cells of each network device;

[0093] According to the beam capability information in the cell beam information and the aircraft beam information, determine the communication quality of each candidate cooperation cell;

[0094] According to the communication quality of each candidate cooperation cell, determine the cooperation cell set corresponding to the height interval.

[0095] The beam capability information reflects the strength and quality of the corresponding cell beam. The aircraft beam information reflects the strength and quality of the aircraft beam. The aircraft beam information can be determined based on the uplink loss and the strongest beam, the strongest azimuth information recorded by the network device in reverse. The beam capability information can be determined based on the beam configuration information.

[0096] It can be understood that, before communicating with the network device through the virtual merged cell corresponding to the SSB, the method further comprises:

[0097] Periodically acquire cell information of cells capable of establishing communication connection with the aircraft;

[0098] Send the cell information to the network device where the cell is located, so that the network device determines the virtual merged cell of the SSB matching the current flight height of the aircraft according to the cell information.

[0099] The cell information is periodically sent to the network device by the aircraft, so that the network device can track the access state of the aircraft in real time, and the control process is simpler.

[0100] The communication control method of the aircraft in the present application will be described below in conjunction with FIGS. 6a-6e, wherein the terminal devices of the public network all access SSB1, there are three height intervals, the network devices are CellA, CellB, CellC and CellD, and no historical cooperation cell set is collected as an example. The communication control method of the aircraft refers to the following steps:

[0101] Step 1: Establishing a beam-based cell cooperation set according to the height dimension, wherein in the vertical dimension, due to high power and narrow beam advantages, the aircraft can collect cell group and beam group information in different height intervals, and the network device can record the uplink loss and the strongest beam / azimuth angle information of the aircraft in reverse. As the aircraft collects cell beam information (including cell configuration parameters and beam capability information) based on the downlink (network device -> aircraft), downlink measurement data is obtained. The network device obtains uplink measurement data based on the aircraft beam information of the uplink (aircraft -> network device). Based on the uplink measurement data and the downlink measurement data, beam group cooperation information based on the height interval can be calculated, that is, the cooperation cell set corresponding to each height interval. In some embodiments, referring to the vertical beam scanning diagram of the aircraft shown in FIG. 6a, the aircraft forms beams 1-7 based on different height intervals, and network devices CellA, CellB, CellC and CellD are each configured with 5 beams, and the 5 beams of each network device are beams 1-5. As shown in FIG. 6a, in different height intervals, the overlap of the aircraft beams and the network device beams is different. At this time, the following beam-related information can be obtained:

[0102] (1) In the uplink channel (aircraft -> network device), aircraft beam information based on the height interval on the aircraft side can be obtained, including strength / loss, etc. The beam strength ranking in different height intervals is as follows:

[0103] Height interval 1: aircraft / beam 1, aircraft / beam 3, aircraft / beam 5, …;

[0104] Height interval 2: aircraft / beam 2, aircraft / beam 4, aircraft / beam 6, …;

[0105] Height interval 3: aircraft / beam 3, aircraft / beam 4, aircraft / beam 5, …;

[0106] (2) In the downlink channel (aircraft <- network device), beam capability information of each cell based on the height interval can be obtained, including beam strength, direction angle DOA, etc. The beam strength ranking in different height intervals is as follows:

[0107] Height interval 1: CellA / beam 3, CellB / beam 2, CellC / beam 1, …;

[0108] Height interval 2: CellA / beam 4, CellB / beam 3, CellC / beam 2, …;

[0109] Height interval 3: CellB / beam 2, CellB / beam 4, CellB / beam 5, …;

[0110] At this time, the network device can establish a cooperation relationship between different network devices based on the strongest beams of different cells in the height interval, and form a cooperation cell set of each height interval in the strongest beam ID combination. For example, beam 2 of Cell B and beam 5 of Cell B are the strongest beams in height interval 3, and the cells corresponding to beam 2 and beam 5 form a cooperation cell set. At this time, as shown in FIG. 6b, the beams of different network devices in different height intervals fall within different dashed boxes, and the beams in each dashed box can determine a corresponding cooperation cell set.

[0111] Step 2: Establishing a low-altitude virtual SSB cell: For each network device, the cells under each Band frequency band can be configured with multiple SSBs, and each SSB has independent frequency point information. Different frequency points can be used for different types of users to access, such as distinguishing Toc users on the ground, and different access, mobility, and other strategies can be provided. After the cell set of the strongest beams in different height intervals is established based on the downlink measurement data and the uplink beam data in step 1, the network devices can negotiate with each other to establish the same frequency domain SSB physical cell in the same height interval (that is, the same SSB is configured for the cooperation cells in the same cooperation cell set). At this time, even if a virtual merged cell or a super cell is formed through cooperation technology, the network device can keep the physical cell PCI unchanged on the newly added SSB, and the aircraft does not need to switch the PCI during flight in the same height interval. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 6c, PCI-A, PCI-B, and PCI-C are respectively the cell identifiers of the cells in Cell A, Cell B, and Cell C configured to cover the ground, and the cells covering the ground share one SSB1 or multiple SSB frequency point information. The aircraft can also access the cells covering the ground during the takeoff and landing stages. After the SSB is added for the aircraft, as shown in FIG. 6c, Cell1’ / PCI1 corresponds to a virtual cell formed by the cooperation cell set established in height interval 1, and the cooperation cell set includes cellA1, cellB1, or more ground cell device resources. Cell2’ / PCI2 corresponds to a virtual cell formed by the cooperation cell set established in height interval 2, and includes cellA2, cellB1, or more ground cell device resources. Cell3’ / PCI3 corresponds to a virtual cell formed by the cooperation cell set established in height interval 2, and includes cellA1, cellB2, or more ground cell device resources. Among them, cellA1 and cellA2 are a cell of network device Cell A, and cellB1 and cellB2 are a cell of network device Cell B.

[0112] At this time, the network device can establish multiple cooperation cell sets according to different height intervals to perform virtual merging and super cell operation.

[0113] Step 3: Aircraft performs beam information collection and coordination, wherein the aircraft is equipped with a phased array antenna, and can use narrow beams and high power for global scanning to identify the signal coverage capabilities of different network devices. Through the flexibility and accuracy of the phased array antenna, a larger range and higher altitude can be covered. At this time, the ground cell signal strength and quality at different flight altitudes can be obtained through one flight. In some embodiments, taking flying to altitude interval 1 as an example, referring to the horizontal beam scanning schematic diagram shown in FIG. 6d, as shown in FIG. 6d, within the altitude interval 1, the aircraft performs horizontal scanning through the driving member and the phased antenna. At this time, when the beam of the aircraft overlaps with the beam of the network device CellA, the cell group and beam group information of CellA can be obtained, when the beam of the aircraft overlaps with the beam of the network device CellB, the cell group and beam group information of CellB can be obtained, and when the beam of the aircraft overlaps with the beam of the network device CellC, the cell group and beam group information of CellC can be obtained. Thus, the cell information can be obtained and notified to the network device for dynamic clustering.

[0114] Step 4: Low-altitude cell coordination relationship establishment, wherein based on the coordinated cell set in step 1, the network device can interact the cell information in step 3. When the aircraft flies according to the set route, the cell information of the network device in the flight process is collected based on the trajectory in step 3, and based on the beam capability information (beam capability information includes intensity and direction of arrival (DOA)) recorded in different altitude intervals, the target access service cell at the current time and the next time is selected from the coordinated cell set, so that the cell is dynamically clustered, and a virtual merged cell is established in the cluster to realize joint reception and joint transmission.

[0115] Therefore, through the above steps 1-4, the low-altitude coverage super / merged virtual merged cell established based on the coordinated cell set can limit the access of ground users. For the take-off, flight and landing stages of the aircraft, the relevant handover strategy can be triggered based on the process of the flight trajectory, so that the aircraft is served by the virtual merged cell in the flight stage. In the take-off and landing stage, the aircraft accesses through the ground cell. Thus, multi-point coordination is provided to improve user experience. In some embodiments, as shown in the height interval-based mobile control schematic diagram shown in FIG. 6e, the aircraft communicates with the network device through SSB2 in the altitude interval 1, communicates with the network device through SSB3 in the altitude interval 2, communicates with the network device through SSB4 in the altitude interval 3, and communicates with the network device through SSB1 in the take-off and landing stages.

[0116] Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can enable the aircraft to obtain key cell and beam information at different height intervals through directional beam scanning technology, thereby ensuring the safety and stability of the unmanned aerial vehicle flight. At the same time, the aircraft establishes a cell based on the beam dimension at multiple height intervals, thereby optimizing the flight path of the aircraft and improving the efficiency of air traffic management. In addition, by sending coordination information to the coordinated network device, a super or merged cell based on the beam can be realized, further enhancing the coverage capability and performance of the network. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application not only improves the safety standard of the aircraft flight, but also provides technical support for the construction of the low-altitude flight service support system. The future fusion flight of unmanned aircraft and manned aircraft will be safer and more efficient.

[0117] It can be understood that the virtual merged cell can be cancelled in the stage without flight requirements of the aircraft, so as to reduce the power consumption of the base station.

[0118] It can be understood that the embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which comprises a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, and the processor implements the method as described above when executing the computer program.

[0119] The communication device can be the aircraft or the network device as described above.

[0120] It can be understood that, as shown in FIG. 7, the embodiment of the present application further provides a network device, which comprises:

[0121] at least one processor 701;

[0122] at least one memory 702 for storing at least one program, when the at least one program is executed by the at least one processor 701, the method as described above is realized.

[0123] The memory 702 as a kind of non-transient network system, it can be used to store non-transient software program and non-transient computer executable program.In addition, the memory 702 can include high-speed random access memory, and can also include non-transient memory, such as at least one magnetic disk storage device, flash memory device or other non-transient solid-state memory device.In some embodiments, the memory 702 can include memory 702 remotely arranged relative to the processor 701, and these remote memories 702 can be connected to the processor 701 through network.The above-mentioned network includes but is not limited to Internet, intranet, local area network, mobile communication network and combination thereof.

[0124] The memory 702 can be implemented in the form of a read-only memory (ROM), a static storage device, a dynamic storage device, or a random access memory (RAM), etc. The memory 702 can store an operating system and other application programs. When the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present specification are implemented by software or firmware, the related program codes are stored in the memory 702 and are invoked and executed by the processor 701 to implement the method of the embodiments of the present application.

[0125] The processor 701 can be implemented in the form of a general-purpose CPU (central processing unit), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits, etc., for executing related programs to implement the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0126] In some embodiments, the network device further comprises:

[0127] The input / output interface is configured to implement information input and output.

[0128] The communication interface is configured to implement communication interaction between the device and other devices. The communication can be implemented in a wired manner (for example, USB, network cable, etc.) or in a wireless manner (for example, mobile network, WIFI, Bluetooth, etc.).

[0129] The bus is configured to transmit information between various components (for example, the processor 701, the memory 702, the input / output interface, and the communication interface) of the device.

[0130] The processor 701, the memory 702, the input / output interface, and the communication interface can be connected to each other through the bus for internal communication within the device.

[0131] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions are used to execute the method described above.

[0132] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product including a computer program or computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium. The processor of the communication device reads the computer program or computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium. The processor executes the computer program or computer instructions to make the computer device execute the method described above.

[0133] The system architecture and application scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are used to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of system architecture and the appearance of new application scenarios, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0134] The above embodiments of the present application divide the cooperative cells based on different height intervals, obtain the cooperative cell set corresponding to each height interval, and configure the same SSB for the cooperative cells in each cooperative cell set to form a virtual cell. When the aircraft is flying, the cell information of the cells that can establish a communication connection according to the different flight heights of the aircraft can be obtained, so that a plurality of target access service cells corresponding to the SSB matching the flight height are determined, and a virtual merged cell is obtained according to the plurality of target access service cells, so as to reduce the communication interference between the network device and the aircraft. In each height interval, the SSB between the aircraft and the network device can be kept unchanged, but the virtual merged cell associated with the SSB can dynamically change with the change of the cooperative cells in the cell information, thereby ensuring the communication quality between the aircraft and the network device. Therefore, compared with the related art, the embodiments of the present application realize network optimization for the aircraft based on the existing network system, can realize continuous tracking and management of the aircraft, and guarantee the stability and reliability of communication.

[0135] Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that all or some of the steps in the above disclosed method and system can be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, and appropriate combinations thereof. Some or all of the physical components can be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a central processing unit, a digital signal processor, or a microprocessor, or as hardware, or as an integrated circuit, such as an application specific integrated circuit. Such software can be distributed on a computer readable medium, which can include computer storage media (or non-transitory media) and communication media (or transitory media). As known to those of ordinary skill in the art, the term computer storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tapes, magnetic disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired information and can be accessed by a computer. Furthermore, as known to those of ordinary skill in the art, communication media typically includes computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in modulated data signals such as carrier waves or other transport mechanisms, and can include any information delivery medium.

[0136] The above describes some embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings, and does not limit the scope of the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement and improvement made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and essence of the present application shall be within the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for controlling communication of an aircraft, applied to a network device, the method comprising: obtaining a set of cooperating cells corresponding to each preset altitude interval; determining a synchronization signal and a physical broadcast channel block (SSB) corresponding to each cooperating cell in the set of cooperating cells through mutual negotiation between network devices corresponding to each cooperating cell in the set of cooperating cells, wherein each cooperating cell in each set of cooperating cells uses the same SSB; obtaining an SSB matching a flight altitude of the aircraft, and determining a plurality of target access service cells from the set of cooperating cells corresponding to the matching SSB according to cell information of cells capable of establishing a communication connection with the aircraft; obtaining a virtual merged cell for communication of the aircraft based on the matching SSB from the plurality of target access service cells.

2. The communication control method of an aircraft according to claim 1, wherein, The method for obtaining the virtual merged cell for communication of the aircraft based on the matching SSB from the plurality of target access service cells comprises: obtaining cell configuration parameters of each target access service cell; performing cell merging negotiation through network devices corresponding to each target access service cell according to the cell configuration parameters of each target access service cell; associating the cells obtained through the merging negotiation with the matching SSB to obtain the virtual merged cell for communication of the aircraft.

3. The communication control method of an aircraft according to claim 1, wherein The set of cooperating cells is obtained in at least one of the following ways: determined through communication quality data collection of a plurality of preset altitude intervals by the aircraft at a preset location; obtained based on a set of cooperating cells configured by a sampling aircraft.

4. The communication control method of an aircraft according to claim 1, wherein After obtaining the virtual merged cell for communication of the aircraft, the method further comprises: updating the cell information according to a flight trajectory of the aircraft, and updating the virtual merged cell according to the updated cell information; sending the SSB matching the flight altitude of the aircraft to the aircraft through the updated virtual merged cell to perform communication with the aircraft based on the matching SSB and the updated virtual merged cell. 5.A method for controlling communication of an aircraft, applied to the aircraft, the method comprising: obtaining an SSB matching a current flight altitude of the aircraft according to the flight altitude; performing communication with a network device based on a virtual merged cell corresponding to the SSB, wherein the virtual merged cell is obtained from a set of cooperating cells corresponding to the SSB according to cell information of cells capable of establishing a communication connection with the aircraft, and is obtained from a plurality of target access service cells according to the plurality of target access service cells.

6. The communication control method of an aircraft according to claim 5, wherein The aircraft is provided with a phased antenna, and before obtaining the SSB matching the flight altitude, the method further comprises: adjusting antenna parameters of the phased antenna at a preset location according to a plurality of preset altitude intervals to enable a beam formed by the phased antenna to cover a corresponding altitude interval; in each altitude interval, collecting communication quality data based on the beam of the phased antenna for network devices capable of establishing a communication connection. According to each of the communication quality data, a cooperative cell set corresponding to each of the height intervals is obtained, and the SSB of each cooperative cell in the cooperative cell set is determined by the network device according to each of the cooperative cell sets.

7. The communication control method of an aircraft according to claim 6, wherein The communication quality data includes cell beam information and aircraft beam information, and the obtaining of the cooperative cell set corresponding to each of the height intervals according to each of the communication quality data includes: For each of the height intervals, a candidate cooperative cell of each of the network devices is determined according to the cell configuration parameters in the cell beam information; The communication quality of each candidate cooperative cell is determined according to the beam capability information in the cell beam information and the aircraft beam information; The cooperative cell set corresponding to each height interval is determined according to the communication quality of each candidate cooperative cell.

8. The communication control method of an aircraft according to claim 5, wherein, Before the communication between the virtual merged cell corresponding to the SSB and the network device, the method further includes: Periodically obtaining cell information of a cell capable of establishing a communication connection with the aircraft; The cell information is sent to the network device where the cell is located, so that the network device determines the virtual merged cell of the SSB matching the current flight height of the aircraft according to the cell information.

9. A communication system, comprising: an aircraft configured to perform the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of claims 5 to 8; and at least one network device, each of which is configured to perform the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

10. The communication system of claim 9, wherein, The aircraft is configured with a phased antenna and a driving member, and the driving member is used to drive the phased antenna to rotate horizontally along a preset plane, so that the phased antenna performs omnidirectional scanning.

11. The communication system of claim 10, wherein, The phased antenna is configured to support multiple transmission powers to configure different transmission powers in different height intervals.

12. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions for implementing the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of claims 1 to 4 or the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of claims 5 to 8 when executed by a processor.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer program or computer instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium, wherein a processor of a communication device reads the computer program or the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer program or the computer instructions, so that the communication device performs the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of claims 1 to 4 or the communication control method of the aircraft according to any one of claims 5 to 8.

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