Over-the-air test method and apparatus, and device, medium and computer program product

Abstract

The present application belongs to the technical field of communications. Disclosed are an over-the-air test method and apparatus, and a device, a medium and a computer program product. The over-the-air test method in the embodiments of the present application comprises: a test device acquiring first information, wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following: related information of a test antenna, related information of a receive beam required for testing, or path loss information between the test antenna and a device under test; and on the basis of the first information, the test device sending a first test signal to the device under test.

Description

Air interface testing methods, apparatus, equipment, media and computer program products

[0001] Cross-reference of related applications

[0002] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411928558.6, filed in China on December 25, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] This application belongs to the field of communication technology, specifically relating to an air interface testing method, apparatus, equipment, medium, and computer program product. Background Technology

[0004] Currently, traditional over-the-air (OTA) testing systems for wireless communication networks are generally used for testing the active and passive performance of antennas or the overall performance of terminals and network-side equipment in anechoic chambers or non-reflective environments. Through over-the-air transmission, gain, demodulation performance, and other indicators can be tested at specific distances.

[0005] However, current air interface system performance testing systems are typically used to verify the performance of the device under test (DUT) after beam pairing has been completed. Therefore, they cannot reflect the true performance of the DUT under beam scanning scenarios. Consequently, the testing results of air interface testing systems are poor. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application provides an air interface testing method, apparatus, device, medium, and computer program product, which can improve the testing effect of the air interface testing system.

[0007] In a first aspect, an over-the-air testing method is provided, executed by a test device, the method comprising: the test device acquiring first information, the first information including at least one of the following: relevant information of a test antenna, relevant information of a received beam required for testing, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test; and the test device sending a first test signal to the device under test based on the first information.

[0008] Secondly, an over-the-air testing method is provided, executed by a device under test (DUT). The method includes: the DUT receiving a first test signal from a test device; the DUT performing test-related operations based on the first test signal; wherein the first test signal is obtained based on first information, the first information including at least one of the following: relevant information of the test antenna, relevant information of the received beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the DUT.

[0009] Thirdly, an air interface testing method is provided, which is executed by a test device and a device under test (DUT). The method includes: the test device acquiring first information, the first information including at least one of the following: relevant information of the test antenna, relevant information of the received beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the DUT; the test device sending a first test signal to the DUT based on the first information; and the DUT performing test-related operations based on the first test signal.

[0010] Fourthly, an air interface testing apparatus is provided, comprising: a processing module and a transmitting module; the processing module is configured to acquire first information, the first information including at least one of the following: relevant information of a test antenna, relevant information of a receiving beam required for testing, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test; the transmitting module is configured to transmit a first test signal to the device under test based on the first information obtained by the processing module.

[0011] Fifthly, an air interface testing apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising: a receiving module and a processing module; the receiving module is configured to receive a first test signal from a testing device; the processing module is configured to perform test-related operations based on the first test signal received by the receiving module; wherein the first test signal is obtained based on first information, the first information including at least one of the following: relevant information of the test antenna, relevant information of the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the air interface testing apparatus.

[0012] In a sixth aspect, an air interface testing apparatus is provided, the apparatus being configured to perform the steps of the method described in the first aspect, or to implement the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0013] In a seventh aspect, a network-side device is provided, the network-side device including a processor and a memory, the memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implementing the steps of the method as described in the first aspect.

[0014] Eighthly, a network-side device is provided, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the processor is used to acquire first information, and the communication interface is used to send a first test signal to a device under test based on the first information.

[0015] In a ninth aspect, a terminal is provided, the terminal including a processor and a memory, the memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implementing the steps of the method as described in the second aspect.

[0016] In a tenth aspect, a terminal is provided, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used to receive a first test signal from a test device, and the processor is used to perform test-related operations based on the first test signal.

[0017] Eleventhly, a readable storage medium is provided, on which a program or instructions are stored, which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect, or the steps of the method described in the second aspect, or the steps of the method described in the third aspect.

[0018] In a twelfth aspect, a wireless communication system is provided, comprising: a network-side device and a terminal, wherein the network-side device is configured to perform the steps of the method described in the first aspect, and the terminal is configured to perform the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0019] In a thirteenth aspect, a chip is provided, the chip including a processor and a communication interface coupled to the processor, the processor being configured to run a program or instructions to implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect, or the steps of the method described in the second aspect, or the steps of the method described in the third aspect.

[0020] In a fourteenth aspect, a computer program / program product is provided, the computer program / program product being stored in a storage medium, the computer program / program product being executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the method as described in the first aspect, or the steps of the method as described in the second aspect, or the steps of the method as described in the third aspect.

[0021] In this embodiment, the test device acquires first information, which includes at least one of the following: relevant information about the test antenna, relevant information about the received beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test (DUT). Based on the first information, the test device sends a first test signal to the DUT. Based on the first test signal, the DUT performs test-related operations. Through this scheme, since the test device can obtain the relevant information required for the test, such as relevant information about the test antenna, relevant information about the received beam required for the test, or path loss information between the test antenna and the DUT, the test device can obtain the test signal based on this relevant information. Thus, the test device and the DUT can perform high-frequency multi-beam over-the-air testing to verify the beam management performance of the multi-beam device when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled, improving the testing effect of the over-the-air test system. Attached Figure Description

[0022] Figure 1 is a possible structural diagram of the communication system involved in an embodiment of this application;

[0023] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the air interface testing system in related technologies;

[0024] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating one of the air interface testing methods provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0025] Figure 4 is a second schematic flowchart of an air interface testing method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0026] Figure 5 is a flowchart of the third embodiment of an air interface testing method provided in this application;

[0027] Figure 6A is one of the schematic diagrams of an AI-based beam management process provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0028] Figure 6B is a second schematic diagram of an AI-based beam management process provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0029] Figure 6C is a schematic diagram of the third AI-based beam management process provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0030] Figure 7 is a fourth flowchart illustrating an air interface testing method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0031] Figure 8 is one of the implementation methods of an air interface testing method provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0032] Figure 9 is a second implementation of an air interface testing method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0033] Figure 10A shows a third implementation of an air interface testing method provided in this application.

[0034] Figure 10B is a fourth implementation of an air interface testing method provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0035] Figure 11 illustrates a fifth implementation of an air interface testing method provided in this application.

[0036] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of an air interface testing device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0037] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of an air interface testing device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0038] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0039] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a terminal provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0040] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a network-side device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0041] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this application are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0042] The terms "first," "second," etc., used in this application are used to distinguish similar objects and not to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such terms can be used interchangeably where appropriate so that embodiments of this application can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" are generally of the same class, not limited in number; for example, the first object can be one or more. Furthermore, "or" in this application indicates at least one of the connected objects. For example, the scope of protection for "A or B" covers at least three scenarios: Scenario 1: including A but not B; Scenario 2: including B but not A; Scenario 3: including both A and B. In addition, the terms "A and / or B," "at least one of A and B," and "at least one of A or B" also cover at least the above three scenarios. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0043] The term "instruction" in this application can be either a direct instruction (or explicit instruction) or an indirect instruction (or implicit instruction). A direct instruction can be understood as the sender explicitly informing the receiver of specific information, the required operation, or the requested result in the instruction sent. An indirect instruction can be understood as the receiver determining the corresponding information based on the instruction sent by the sender, or making a judgment and determining the required operation or requested result based on the judgment result.

[0044] It is worth noting that the technologies described in this application are not limited to Long Term Evolution (LTE) / LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, but can also be used in other wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), or other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in this application are often used interchangeably, and the described technologies can be used in the systems and radio technologies mentioned above, as well as in other systems and radio technologies. The following description describes New Radio (NR) systems for illustrative purposes, and the term NR is used in most of the following description; however, these technologies can also be applied to systems other than NR systems, such as 6th Generation (6G) communication systems.

[0045] Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to an embodiment of this application. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11 and a network-side device 12. The terminal 11 can also be referred to as User Equipment (UE), and can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, notebook computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld computer, netbook, ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), mobile internet device (MID), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) device, robot, wearable device, flight vehicle, vehicle user equipment (VUE), shipboard equipment, pedestrian user equipment (PUE), smart home (home devices with wireless communication capabilities, such as refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, or furniture), game console, personal computer (PC), ATM, or self-service machine, etc. Wearable devices include: smartwatches, smart bracelets, smart headphones, smart glasses, smart jewelry (smart bracelets, smart chains, smart rings, smart necklaces, smart anklets, smart anklets, etc.), smart wristbands, smart clothing, etc. Among these, in-vehicle devices can also be referred to as in-vehicle terminals, in-vehicle controllers, in-vehicle modules, in-vehicle components, in-vehicle chips, or in-vehicle units, etc. It should be noted that the specific type of terminal 11 is not limited in this application embodiment. Network-side equipment 12 may include access network equipment or core network equipment, wherein access network equipment may also be referred to as Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment, radio access network function, or radio access network unit. Access network equipment may include base stations, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access points (APs), or Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) nodes, etc.Among them, base stations can be referred to as Node B (NB), Evolved Node B (eNB), Next Generation Node B (gNB), New Radio Node B (NR Node B), Access Point, Relay Base Station (RBS), Serving Base Station (SBS), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Radio Base Station, Radio Transceiver, Basic Service Set (BSS), Extended Service Set (ESS), Home Node B (HNB), Home Evolved Node B, Transmit / Receive Point (TRP), Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) equipment (such as satellite or high altitude platform stations). The term "base station" can be any suitable term in the field, such as "station" or any other appropriate term in the relevant field, as long as the same technical effect is achieved. The term "base station" is not limited to any specific technical term. It should be noted that the embodiments of this application only use the base station in the NR system as an example for introduction, and do not limit the specific type of base station.

[0046] Core network equipment, also known as core network nodes, core network functions, or core network elements, includes, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: Mobility Management Entity (MME), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), User Plane Function (UPF), Policy Control Function (PCF), Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), Edge Application Server Discovery Function (EASDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Unified Data Repository (UDR), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Centralized network configuration (CNC), Network Repository Function (NRF), Network Exposure Function (NEF), Local NEF (L-NEF), and Binding Support. Functions include BSF, Application Function (AF), Location Management Function (LMF), Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC), Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF), and Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) equipment (such as satellite or high altitude platform station).It should be noted that the embodiments of this application only use the core network equipment in the NR system as an example for introduction, and do not limit the specific type of core network equipment. If the name of the core network equipment mentioned in the embodiments of this application changes in subsequent protocol versions (e.g., 6G), it is also within the scope of protection of this application.

[0047] Optionally, the core network equipment can be implemented by one or more functional modules in a single device, or by multiple devices working together; this application does not specifically limit this. It is understood that the aforementioned functional modules can be network elements in hardware devices, software functional modules running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functional modules instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform).

[0048] In the research, development, production, and acceptance of mobile communication equipment, testing technology is an indispensable part, encompassing base station equipment, terminals, chips, and other communication devices. Mobile communication equipment testing can be divided into three stages based on its different lifecycles and testing objectives: certification testing, R&D testing, and production testing. Certification testing must be conducted by qualified certification bodies. Generally, certification testing specifications are based on test cases and minimum requirements established by organizations such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and the Global Certification Forum (GCF). This type of testing typically focuses on conformance testing. R&D testing focuses more on whether certain problems arise during the product development process and does not necessarily require verification according to standard test cases. Production testing is automated testing conducted during mass production, with a greater emphasis on testing efficiency.

[0049] Therefore, for wireless communication devices in wireless communication systems, testing systems are often costly, complex, and involve stringent pass / fail requirements and test cases, making it one of the most crucial steps before a product enters the market. Developing a standardized testing process that conforms to regulations is also a goal that many standards organizations are currently striving to achieve. Currently, a series of test specifications have been established for related technologies, including RF conducted signal testing, RF over-the-air (OTA) testing, and corresponding performance testing. The indicators they focus on include RF metrics such as total radiated power, equivalent isotropic sensitivity (EIS), error vector magnitude (EVM), adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR), and throughput. Test methods include the compact antenna test range (CATR), reverberation chamber method (RC), radiated two-stage method (RTS), multi-probe anechoic chamber method (MPAC), etc. In addition, standards and specifications for baseband-related radio resource management (RRM) testing and demodulation testing have been established. It is understandable that different use cases may correspond to many different RRM metrics that need to be tested. For example, in a positioning scenario, the terminal needs to pass test cases under certain conditions and meet the specified minimum time requirements for Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD), Terminal Receive-Transmit Time Difference (Rx-Tx time difference), and Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) / Path PRSR (RSRPPP) minimum power requirements for a certain path in multipath scenarios. For beam prediction use cases, the RRM measurement requirements for Layer 1 (L1) RSRP are specified.

[0050] Over-the-air (OTA) testing is a method for testing terminal performance. Specifically, OTA testing may include establishing a reflection-free free space using an anechoic chamber and testing the terminal's radio frequency (RF) performance and overall antenna performance within this free space. It can be understood that for multi-antenna terminals, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) OTA testing can be used to obtain the terminal's performance.

[0051] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the architecture of an air interface test system in related technologies. This air interface test system includes a test antenna 22, a device under test (DUT) 23, and a test device 24, all housed in an anechoic chamber 21. The test antenna 22 can be connected to the test device 24, which can be a network-side device simulator, such as a base station simulator, and its corresponding channel simulator. The DUT 23 can be a terminal; it is understood that this terminal can be a terminal supporting multi-beam technology.

[0052] The aforementioned anechoic chamber 21 uses absorbing materials to eliminate electromagnetic wave reflections, simulating an open-field testing environment, and a shielded chamber to eliminate interference from external electromagnetic signals. During testing, a vertical ring with multiple probes distributed within the anechoic chamber 21 can effectively improve testing efficiency. A traditional multi-probe anechoic chamber mainly consists of three parts: absorbing materials, a vertical ring, and a turntable. The absorbing materials are installed on the walls of the anechoic chamber 21 or other locations that may generate irrelevant reflections to reduce electromagnetic wave reflections during testing, creating an open-field testing environment. The vertical ring can be vertically installed in the center of the anechoic chamber 21, with N test antennas 22 (probes) evenly distributed on it. Typically, N can be equal to 23 (i.e., the angular interval between probes is 15°). The turntable is used to place the device under test (DUT) 23 during testing. By controlling the turntable and the vertical ring to coordinate sampling, the required sampling points on the spherical surface surrounding the entire DUT 23 can be obtained.

[0053] During the test, the device under test (DUT) 23 is placed on a turntable and connected to a base station simulator. The base station simulator controls the antenna of DUT 23 to operate at maximum power throughout the test. Then, the test antenna 22 (probe) on the vertical loop is controlled to sequentially measure the electric field in the two polarization directions at corresponding positions. Next, the turntable is rotated by a set angle (typically 15°), and the vertical loop sampling process is repeated at the new turntable position. This process is repeated until all sampling points on the sphere are obtained. In the most common test system with one vertical loop, rotating the turntable 180° is sufficient to sample the entire sphere. Finally, the equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) corresponding to each sampling point is calculated using the sampling data, and the total radiated power of DUT 23 is obtained by averaging all the data, thus measuring the terminal's signal transmission capability.

[0054] Currently, the available frequency bands in mobile communication networks are decreasing, and there is a growing trend towards higher frequencies. For example, 5G New Radio (NR) promotes millimeter wave (mmWave), and 6G promotes terahertz (THz) frequencies, both of which have abundant available resources. However, higher frequencies mean greater transmission loss; therefore, beam management technology is used in NR.

[0055] In mobile communication networks, both network-side devices and terminals may use beamforming to form beams with narrow beamwidths. The purpose of beam management (BM) is to acquire and maintain a set of network-side device-terminal beam pairs that can be used for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmission / reception to improve link performance. Beam management can include: beam scanning, beam measurement, beam reporting, beam indication, and beam failure recovery.

[0056] Current air interface test systems generally do not involve a large number of transmit and receive beams. They primarily verify the performance of the device under beam pairing, meaning the test system can only verify the performance of the device under test when using a single fixed receive beam. Therefore, there is no clear test method to verify the beam management and performance of multi-beam devices when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled.

[0057] Furthermore, when verifying the beam management and performance of multi-beam devices with adaptive beamforming and beam scanning enabled, two issues arise. First, to simulate the complex channel characteristics of different beam transmission and reception, the air interface test system may require a large number of test antennas (probes), significantly increasing the complexity and cost, which is unacceptable for manufacturers. Second, because the terminal employs spatial adaptive beamforming and beam scanning, the beam on the terminal side will have different effects under different use cases. Therefore, how to consider the terminal's adaptive beamforming and beam scanning in this air interface test system remains an unresolved problem.

[0058] In related technologies, the MPAC method and RTS method can be used to verify the performance of multi-beam devices by considering multiplexing.

[0059] The basic testing principle of the MPAC method involves arranging a specific number and location of probe antennas in a fully anechoic chamber. The probes are connected to a channel simulator port outside the anechoic chamber via RF cables. Channel modeling and probe selection algorithms are used to load a dedicated OTA channel model for the multi-probe anechoic chamber into the channel simulator and map it onto the probes, thus synthesizing the required wireless channel environment for testing within a quiet zone at the center of the anechoic chamber. By placing the device under test (DUT) at the center of the quiet zone turntable and using a base station or terminal simulator to simulate signal transmission, the air interface performance indicators of the wireless device are measured. However, the MPAC method is extremely costly and complex. Current MPAC testing methods can only perform throughput testing with a single transmit and receive beam pair. Extending it to beam management of hundreds of beam pairs would result in a massive increase in cost and complexity.

[0060] The RTS method mainly consists of two stages. The first stage requires obtaining the radiation pattern information of the device under test (DUT). This stage involves using a turntable and vector network analyzer in a fully anechoic chamber to obtain the amplitude and phase values ​​corresponding to various angles of the DUT. This is typically achieved by testing the S21 parameters or the relative phase of the RSRP and the reference signal antenna (RSARP). The second stage involves loading the radiation pattern obtained in the first stage into a channel simulator and convolving it with the channel model. The resulting fading signal is mapped onto an OTA probe and received by the DUT in the anechoic chamber, where each DUT antenna corresponds to one OTA probe. In this step, the transfer matrix between the OTA probe and the DUT receiving antenna needs to be measured beforehand. The inverse of this matrix is ​​calculated and superimposed on the test signal to achieve the effect of conducted signal testing. However, this method is only suitable for performance testing of DUTs using fixed beams and cannot be extended to beam management testing of DUTs using beam scanning. Furthermore, the number of OTA probes in the RTS method must equal the number of DUT antennas; this method becomes difficult to implement when there are many antenna elements. In addition, obtaining phase information is required to acquire radiation pattern information of the device under test in the first stage, which is generally obtained through RSARP. However, RSARP reporting is not mandatory. If the device does not support RSARP reporting, the test method will fail.

[0061] The air interface testing method provided in this application allows the testing equipment to obtain test signals based on relevant information required for testing, such as information about the test antenna, information about the received beam required for testing, or path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test. This enables the testing equipment and the device under test to perform high-frequency multi-beam air interface testing to verify the beam management performance of the multi-beam device when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled, thus improving the testing effectiveness of the air interface testing system.

[0062] The following description, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, details the air interface testing methods, apparatus, devices, media, and computer program products provided in this application through some embodiments and application scenarios.

[0063] The air interface testing method, apparatus, equipment, medium, and computer program products provided in this application can be applied to scenarios of air interface testing of multi-beam devices, especially scenarios of verifying the beam management performance of multi-beam devices when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled.

[0064] Figure 3 shows a flowchart of an air interface testing method provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 3, the communication method may include the following steps 301 and 302.

[0065] Step 301: The test equipment acquires the first information.

[0066] The first information may include at least one of the following: relevant information about the test antenna, relevant information about the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test.

[0067] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned Test Equipment (TE) may include a network-side device simulator.

[0068] For example, the aforementioned test equipment may include a base station simulator.

[0069] For example, the test equipment described above may also include a channel simulator.

[0070] In some embodiments of this application, during the air interface testing process, the test equipment can be included as a component of the test system to perform air interface testing on the device under test. That is, the entity performing the air interface testing can be understood as the test system, which may include both the test equipment and the device under test.

[0071] It is understandable that the above-mentioned test system may include not only test equipment and device under test, but also other equipment such as test antennas used for air interface testing.

[0072] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned test equipment may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: a vector network analyzer (VNA), a radio frequency test instrument, and an anechoic chamber.

[0073] In some embodiments of this application, the VNA described above can be used to measure radio frequency parameters, such as gain and loss.

[0074] In some embodiments of this application, the above-described radio frequency test instrument can be used to simulate wireless signal transmission in order to evaluate the performance of the device under test.

[0075] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned anechoic chamber can be used to simulate the transmission of wireless signals in the air in order to reduce reflections and external interference.

[0076] In some embodiments of this application, the device under test (DUT) may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: mobile phone, tablet, smart wearable product, Internet of Things product.

[0077] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the test antenna may include at least one of the following: the number of test antennas; the transmission gain of each test antenna in at least one direction.

[0078] In some embodiments of this application, the test antenna described above can be the test antenna required for the test.

[0079] In some embodiments of this application, since the antenna's ability to radiate or receive signals in space is not omnidirectional but rather directional, the antenna can radiate or receive signals more effectively in certain specific directions.

[0080] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned at least one direction may be certain specific directions in which the corresponding test antenna has better performance.

[0081] In some embodiments of this application, the transmit gain of the test antenna can refer to the ratio of the radiated power flux density of the test antenna in a certain direction to the maximum radiated power flux density of the reference antenna at the same input power.

[0082] It is understood that the transmit gain of the test antenna in at least one direction refers to the radiation capability of the test antenna relative to the reference antenna in a specific direction.

[0083] In some embodiments of this application, the reference antenna may be an omnidirectional antenna, an isotropic radiator, or a half-wave dipole antenna.

[0084] Understandably, the higher the transmit gain, the more concentrated the radiated energy of the test antenna is in a specific direction, and the narrower the beam, thus allowing the radio waves to propagate over a longer distance, i.e., covering a longer distance.

[0085] It should be noted that the above-mentioned "at least one direction" can also be referred to as "at least one angle." The two terms have the same meaning and can be used interchangeably in this text. That is, the direction of the test antenna can also be referred to as the angle of the test antenna.

[0086] In some embodiments of this application, when at least one of the above directions is a single direction, the above transmission gain can be a single value.

[0087] In some embodiments of this application, when the at least one direction is multiple directions, the transmission gain can be a combination or vector of multiple values.

[0088] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned emission gain may include at least one emission gain in a polarization direction.

[0089] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned polarization direction can refer to the orientation and variation of the electric field vector in space when the antenna radiates a signal (i.e., electromagnetic wave). In other words, the polarization direction is the electric field direction of the electromagnetic wave, which describes the trajectory of the electric field vector at a certain location in space, viewed along the propagation direction of the electromagnetic field, as the orientation of the electric field vector changes over time.

[0090] It is understandable that the signal transmission efficiency between the two antennas is highest when the polarization directions of the test antenna and the receiving antenna of the device under test are aligned.

[0091] In this way, the radiation and reception characteristics of the antenna can be better determined by the polarization direction, thus allowing for a more accurate acquisition of the transmit gain of the test antenna.

[0092] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the test antenna can be obtained through at least one of the following: measured by the test equipment; provided by the test antenna manufacturer; or the transmission coefficient between the input port and the output port of the signal in the device under test.

[0093] In some embodiments of this application, when the test antenna manufacturer provides relevant information about the test antenna, the test antenna manufacturer can provide amplitude or power information of the test antenna so that the test equipment can obtain relevant information about the test antenna.

[0094] In some embodiments of this application, the test device may also obtain relevant information about the test antenna by using the transmission coefficient between the input port and the output port of the signal in the device under test as the transmission gain of the test antenna in at least one direction.

[0095] It is understandable that the transmission coefficient between the input port and the output port of the signal in the above-mentioned device under test can represent the gain of power transmitted from the input port (port 1) to the output port (port 2).

[0096] In some embodiments of this application, the transmission coefficient between the input port and the output port of the signal in the device under test can be parameter S21.

[0097] It should be noted that the S21 parameter mentioned above can also be called the forward transmission coefficient. The two terms have the same meaning and can be used interchangeably in this text.

[0098] For example, the test equipment measures parameter S21 and records its amplitude and phase values. The amplitude of parameter S21 represents the gain of signal power transmission, and the phase value of parameter S21 represents the delay or phase difference of the signal.

[0099] In this way, the testing equipment can obtain relevant information about the test antenna in multiple ways, improving the flexibility of obtaining relevant information about the test antenna.

[0100] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the received beams required for the above test may include at least one of the following: the number of received beams required for the test; the received gain of each received beam required for the test in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna.

[0101] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned receiving gain may include at least a receiving gain in one polarization direction.

[0102] For example, taking the relevant information of the required receiving beams, including the receiving gain of each required receiving beam in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna, as an example, the test device can obtain the receiving gain of the k-th receiving beam in the direction corresponding to the s-th test antenna. Here, the k-th receiving beam can be any one of the required receiving beams, and the s-th test antenna can be any one of the required test antennas.

[0103] In some embodiments of this application, when the direction corresponding to the at least one test antenna is the same as the direction corresponding to a single test antenna, the transmit gain can be a single value.

[0104] In some embodiments of this application, when the direction corresponding to the at least one test antenna is at least one direction corresponding to multiple test antennas, the transmission gain can be a combination or vector of multiple values.

[0105] It should be noted that further descriptions regarding receiver gain and at least one direction can be found in the detailed descriptions of receiver gain and at least one direction above. To avoid repetition, they will not be repeated here.

[0106] In this way, the radiation and reception characteristics of the antenna can be better determined by the polarization direction, thereby obtaining the reception gain of the test beam more accurately.

[0107] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the received beam required for the above-mentioned test can be obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; reported by the device under test; or provided by the manufacturer of the device under test.

[0108] In some embodiments of this application, the device under test (DUT) can report the relevant information of the received beam required for the test to the test equipment after measuring and obtaining the relevant information of the received beam required for the test.

[0109] In some embodiments of this application, when the relevant information of the received beam required for the above-mentioned test is provided by the manufacturer of the device under test, the test equipment can determine the relevant information of the received beam required for the test through the beam power information provided by the manufacturer of the device under test.

[0110] For example, the test equipment can determine the relevant information of the receiving beam required for the test by using the RSRP provided by the manufacturer of the device under test.

[0111] In this way, the test equipment can obtain relevant information about the receiving beam required for the test in multiple ways, which improves the flexibility of obtaining relevant information about the receiving beam required for the test.

[0112] In some embodiments of this application, the path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test can be obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; provided by the manufacturer of the test equipment; measured by the test equipment; or determined autonomously by the test equipment.

[0113] In some embodiments of this application, when the test equipment autonomously determines the path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test, the test equipment can calculate the path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test on its own.

[0114] For example, the test equipment can calculate the path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test based on parameters such as the signal transmission distance and signal frequency between the test antenna and the device under test.

[0115] In this way, the testing equipment can obtain relevant information about the test antenna in multiple ways, improving the flexibility of obtaining relevant information about the test antenna.

[0116] In some embodiments of this application, the first test signal can be obtained based on at least one of the following: a calibration factor; the transmitter characteristics corresponding to the test equipment; the receiver characteristics corresponding to the device under test; a first channel characteristic; the speed characteristics of the device under test; or the original test signal generated by the test equipment.

[0117] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned calibration factor can be used to ensure measurement accuracy by adjusting and compensating for various non-ideal factors in the test equipment and environment, such as the gain, time delay, and phase of the test equipment.

[0118] It is understandable that calibration factors can ensure measurement accuracy by eliminating non-ideal components within the test equipment (such as obtaining the gain, time delay, and phase of the non-ideal channel (RX, TX) through calibration and eliminating the non-ideal components through weighting of the baseband part), handling path loss, and reducing communication error rate.

[0119] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned calibration factor can be obtained based on the first information.

[0120] In some embodiments of this application, the test equipment can calculate the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test, and then calculate the calibration factor based on the total link gain.

[0121] In some embodiments of this application, the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test can refer to the total gain of the entire link from the transmitter corresponding to the test equipment to the receiver corresponding to the device under test. It is understood that the total link gain can include multiple components such as antenna gain, propagation loss, and system loss.

[0122] In some embodiments of this application, when the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a single value, the above calibration factor can be obtained based on the reciprocal of the total link gain.

[0123] In some embodiments of this application, the total link gain described above can be obtained based on the first information.

[0124] In some embodiments of this application, the total link gain is at least related to the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna, the receiving gain of each received beam required for the test in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna, and the path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test.

[0125] For example, the total link gain mentioned above can be expressed as G total,s,k =G rx,k (Ω s,k )PL s G tx,s (ξ s ), of which G rx,k (Ω s,k ) can represent the direction Ω corresponding to the k-th receiving beam at the s-th test antenna. s,k Receiver gain; PL s It can represent path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test; G tx,s (ξ s ) can represent the s-th test antenna in direction ξ s transmit gain G tx,s (ξ s ).

[0126] For example, the total link gain described above can also be expressed as G total,s,k dB=G rx,k (Ω s,k )dB+PL s dB+G tx,s (ξ s dB. Here, dB can represent the unit of gain, decibel.

[0127] In some embodiments of this application, the total link gain G is calculated. total,s,k Afterwards, the testing equipment can be used in this G total,s,k When the value is a single value, G is calculated using the following formula (1). total,s,k The reciprocal of the given value yields the calibration factor A. s,k .

[0128] A s,k =1 / G total,s,k Formula (1)

[0129] In some embodiments of this application, when the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a matrix, the above calibration factor can be obtained based on the inverse matrix or pseudo-inverse matrix of the total link gain.

[0130] In some embodiments of this application, in the G total,s,k When the value is a matrix, the test equipment can calculate the G using the following formula (2). total,s,k The inverse or pseudo-inverse matrix is ​​used to obtain the calibration factor A. s,k .

[0131] In this way, the accuracy of measurements can be ensured by using a calibration factor, thereby improving the accuracy of air interface testing.

[0132] In some embodiments of this application, the transmitter characteristics corresponding to the above-mentioned test equipment can refer to the performance parameters of the test equipment when transmitting signals, which can affect the transmission quality and efficiency of the signal.

[0133] In some embodiments of this application, the transmitter characteristics corresponding to the above-mentioned test equipment may include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: output power, position and orientation characteristics of the transmitter antenna or antenna array, radiation characteristics of the position and orientation characteristics of the transmitter antenna or antenna array, power control, frequency index, spectrum template, frequency offset template of the transmitted signal, spectrum flatness, total radiated power (TRP), equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP), and directional EVM.

[0134] In some embodiments of this application, the output power may include peak power and average power. It is understood that peak power can be used to represent the maximum instantaneous power of the signal when observed in the time domain; average power can be used to represent the average power output over a period of time.

[0135] In some embodiments of this application, the power control described above can be inner-loop power control, which can be used to describe the ability of the device under test to adjust its transmit power according to the transmit power control (TPC) command received from the downlink.

[0136] In some embodiments of this application, the frequency indicators mentioned above may include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: operating band, channel bandwidth, and frequency error. The operating band can be used to represent a specified operating frequency range; the channel bandwidth can be used to represent the frequency range of each channel; and the frequency error can be used to represent the difference between the modulated carrier frequency and the ideal carrier frequency.

[0137] In some embodiments of this application, the above-described spectrum template can be used to describe the quality of the transmitted signal and its ability to suppress interference from adjacent channels.

[0138] In some embodiments of this application, the frequency offset template of the transmitted signal described above can be used to describe the quality of the measurable transmitted signal and its ability to suppress interference from adjacent channels.

[0139] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned spectral flatness can be used to characterize the degree of power flatness of the transmitted signal within its channel.

[0140] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned total radiated power can be used to measure the total radiated power of the test equipment in all directions.

[0141] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned equivalent omnidirectional radiant power can be used to represent the radiant power measured in a certain direction, which is the basic unit of total radiant power.

[0142] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned directional EVM can represent the magnitude of a vector error with directionality.

[0143] In some embodiments of this application, the receiver characteristics corresponding to the device under test can refer to the performance parameters of the device under test, which can determine the performance of the receiver in the wireless communication link.

[0144] In some embodiments of this application, the receiver characteristics corresponding to the device under test may include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: position and orientation characteristics of the receiver antenna or antenna array, radiation characteristics of the position and orientation characteristics of the receiver antenna or antenna array, effective isotropic sensitivity (EIS), total isotropic sensitivity (TIS), effective radiated power (EiRP), and total radiated power.

[0145] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned effective sensitivity can be an indicator used to measure the minimum signal level that the receiver can detect under specific conditions.

[0146] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned total omnidirectional sensitivity can be an indicator used to measure the receiver's ability to receive signals in all directions.

[0147] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned effective radiated power can be used to describe the equivalent radiated power of the receiver on the signal.

[0148] In some embodiments of this application, the total radiated power described above can be used to evaluate the overall performance of the receiver when receiving signals.

[0149] In some embodiments of this application, the first channel characteristic described above may be a channel characteristic that does not consider the characteristics of the receiver and the transmitter.

[0150] In some embodiments of this application, the channel characteristics that do not consider the characteristics of the receiver and the transmitter can be understood as pure channel characteristics. These channel characteristics are only related to the propagation process of the signal in the propagation medium and do not involve the specific performance parameters of the transmitter and receiver.

[0151] In some embodiments of this application, the first channel characteristic described above may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: path loss, multipath propagation, fading, shadowing, and channel capacity.

[0152] In some embodiments of this application, the path loss described above can be used to describe the total power attenuation of a signal during propagation due to factors such as distance and obstacles.

[0153] In some embodiments of this application, the multipath propagation described above can be used to describe phenomena such as reflection, refraction, and scattering encountered by a signal during propagation, resulting in the signal reaching the receiving end along multiple paths, thus forming a multipath effect. The multipath effect can be represented as a signal propagating in a propagation medium, passing through a certain number of clusters, each of which can be divided into a certain number of paths.

[0154] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned fading can be used to describe the phenomenon that the signal strength at the receiving end varies with time and space due to multipath propagation. It is understood that fading can be divided into fast fading and slow fading, where fast fading is typically caused by phase differences in multipath components, while slow fading is caused by receiver movement.

[0155] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned shadow effect can be used to describe the effect of signal strength reduction when a signal encounters a large obstacle (such as a building) during propagation, resulting in a shadow area behind the obstacle.

[0156] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned channel capacity can be used to describe the maximum data transmission rate that the channel can support under specific channel conditions.

[0157] In some embodiments of this application, the speed characteristics of the device under test can be used to describe the performance of the device under test in dynamic scenarios.

[0158] In some embodiments of this application, the speed characteristics of the device under test may include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: motion speed and trajectory, Doppler frequency change, direction change, power change, time delay change, and channel parameter change.

[0159] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned motion speed and trajectory can be used to represent the motion speed and trajectory of the device under test within a specific time period that needs to be determined in dynamic scene channel modeling.

[0160] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned Doppler frequency change can represent the Doppler frequency shift of the received signal caused by the movement of the device under test.

[0161] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned directional change can be used to represent the directional change of the received signal caused by the movement of the device under test. In air interface testing, the signal reception performance under different directions can be tested using a three-dimensional turntable inside an anechoic chamber.

[0162] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned power change may refer to the change in received signal power as the position of the device under test changes. In air interface testing, this can be simulated by adjusting the probe position and power weight.

[0163] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned time delay change may refer to the change in signal propagation time delay caused by the movement of the device under test.

[0164] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned channel parameter changes may include changes in channel parameters such as angle, power, delay, and Doppler frequency.

[0165] In some embodiments of this application, the raw test signal generated by the aforementioned test equipment can refer to an electromagnetic waveform generated by the test equipment to simulate signals in a real wireless communication environment. This raw test signal can be used to evaluate the performance of the device under test (e.g., a terminal), including its receiving and transmitting characteristics.

[0166] Thus, by generating a test signal based on at least one of the calibration factor, the characteristics of the transmitter corresponding to the test equipment, the characteristics of the receiver corresponding to the device under test, the characteristics of the first channel, the speed characteristics of the device under test, and the original test signal generated by the test equipment, the communication performance of the device under test can be tested relatively accurately.

[0167] In some embodiments of this application, the testing equipment can synthesize the first test signal based on the first information in the testing instrument.

[0168] For example, without requiring the device under test to perform actual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning at the receiver, the first test signal for the s-th test antenna and the k-th receiving beam can be expressed as Y. s,k =A s,k H k X. Among them, A s,k H can be the correction factor for the k-th receiving beam in the direction corresponding to the s-th test antenna; k H can be the channel characteristics from the transmitter to the receiver for the k-th receiving beam; X can be the original test signal generated by the test. k =F tx H k,0 F rx,k D, Ftx can be transmitter characteristics, H k,0 F can be the channel characteristic corresponding to the k-th receiving beam, without considering the characteristics of the receiver and transmitter. rx,k D can be the receiver characteristics of the k-th receiving beam, and D can be the speed characteristics of the device under test.

[0169] For example, assuming the device under test (DUT) is allowed to perform actual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning at the receiver, and assuming the number of test antennas is S and the number of receiving beams required for the test is K, then the first test signal Y' = (Y'1,1, Y'1,2, ..., Y'1,K)(Y'2,1, Y'2,2, ..., Y'2,K)...(Y'S,1, Y'S,2, ..., Y'S,K) can be expressed as Y' = A'H'X. Here, H' can be the channel characteristics from the transmitter to the receiver corresponding to the 1st to Kth receiving beams, and H' can be expressed as H' = F tx H0D, where H0 can be the channel characteristics corresponding to the 1st to Kth receiving beams without considering the characteristics of the receiver and transmitter, Ftx can be the transmitter characteristics, D can be the speed characteristics of the device under test, and X is the original test signal generated by the test device.

[0170] Step 302: The test equipment sends a first test signal to the device under test based on the first information.

[0171] In some embodiments of this application, after obtaining the first test signal, the test device can send the first test signal to the device under test, so that the device under test can perform the measurement of the first test signal and report the obtained test indicators to obtain the beam management test results when the device under test uses the receiving beam.

[0172] It is understandable that the transmission location of the first test signal can be its corresponding test antenna.

[0173] It should be noted that a detailed description of how to obtain beam management test results when the device under test uses different receiving beams can be found in the following description of other embodiments of the air interface test method. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0174] The air interface testing method provided in this application allows the testing equipment to obtain test signals based on relevant information required for testing, such as information about the test antenna, information about the received beam required for testing, or path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test. This enables the testing equipment and the device under test to perform high-frequency multi-beam air interface testing to verify the beam management performance of the multi-beam device when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled, thus improving the testing effectiveness of the air interface testing system.

[0175] In some embodiments of this application, after step 301 above, the air interface testing method provided in the embodiments of this application may further include step 303 below.

[0176] Step 303: The test equipment activates at least one test antenna.

[0177] In some embodiments of this application, the at least one test antenna may be some or all of the test antennas required for the test.

[0178] It is understandable that the test equipment can send a first test signal to the device under test through at least one test antenna.

[0179] In some embodiments of this application, when at least one test antenna is enabled on the test equipment, the device under test can perform test-related operations through the following two possible implementation methods.

[0180] One possible implementation: The device under test enables a fixed receiving beam.

[0181] In some embodiments of this application, when the device under test (DUT) uses a fixed receiving beam, the DUT does not need to perform actual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning at the receiving end; instead, this is implemented in the test equipment. Therefore, the DUT can perform beam management performance testing based on virtual receiver-side adaptive beamforming or beam scanning.

[0182] It is understandable that this possible implementation may be applicable when the test use case only needs to verify the beam management performance of the device under test that does not require adaptive beamforming or beam scanning based on the actual receiver.

[0183] Another possible implementation: The device under test performs adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of at least one received beam.

[0184] In some embodiments of this application, when the device under test (DUT) actually performs adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of at least one received beam, the DUT may be allowed to perform the actual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning at the receiving end. Thus, the DUT can perform beam management performance testing based on the actual receiver-side adaptive beamforming or beam scanning.

[0185] It is understandable that this alternative implementation may be applicable when test use cases require verification of the beam management and performance of the device under test based on actual receiver adaptive beamforming or beam scanning.

[0186] In this way, the test equipment can ensure the successful transmission of the test signal by activating at least one test antenna.

[0187] In some embodiments of this application, after step 301 above, the air interface testing method provided in the embodiments of this application may further include step 304 below.

[0188] Step 304: The test equipment controls the device under test to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of at least one receiving beam.

[0189] In some embodiments of this application, in another possible implementation, the test equipment can control the device under test to perform at least one adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of a received beam.

[0190] In some embodiments of this application, the test equipment can control the device under test to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of at least one received beam using air interface test software.

[0191] It should be noted that step 304 can be executed after step 303, before step 303, or simultaneously with step 303. This application does not impose specific limitations on this.

[0192] In this way, the test equipment can control the device under test to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of at least one received beam to verify the beam management performance of the multi-beam device when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled.

[0193] In some embodiments of this application, after step 301 above, the air interface testing method provided in the embodiments of this application may further include step 305 below.

[0194] Step 305: Based on the first information, the test equipment performs at least one of the following:

[0195] Change the transmitter characteristics of the test equipment; change the receiver characteristics of the device under test; change the calibration factor corresponding to the receiver beam scan performed by the device under test; change the first channel characteristics; change the speed characteristics of the device under test; generate the original test signal; change the activated test antenna.

[0196] The first channel characteristic mentioned above can be a channel characteristic that does not consider the characteristics of the receiver and the transmitter.

[0197] In some embodiments of this application, after the test equipment changes at least one of the transmitter characteristics corresponding to the test equipment, the receiver characteristics corresponding to the device under test, the calibration factor corresponding to the receiver beam scan performed by the device under test, the first channel characteristics, and the speed characteristics of the device under test, a new test signal can be obtained based on the generated original test signal and the changed characteristics or parameters, and the new test signal can be sent to the device under test to obtain the measurement results obtained by the device under test based on the new test signal.

[0198] It should be noted that when the test equipment changes the characteristics of the receiver corresponding to the device under test, the calibration factor corresponding to that receiver characteristic will also change accordingly.

[0199] In some embodiments of this application, when the test equipment enables at least one test antenna and the device under test (DUT) enables a fixed receiving beam, that is, when the DUT does not need to perform actual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning at the receiving end, the test equipment can perform at least one of the following based on the first information: change the transmitting end characteristics corresponding to the test equipment; change the receiving end characteristics corresponding to the DUT; change the first channel characteristics; change the speed characteristics of the DUT; and generate the original test signal.

[0200] In some embodiments of this application, when the test equipment enables at least one test antenna and controls the device under test (DUT) to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of at least one received beam, that is, when the DUT is allowed to perform actual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning at the receiving end, the test equipment may, based on the first information, perform at least one of the following: change the transmitter characteristics corresponding to the test equipment; change the calibration factor corresponding to the DUT performing the receiving end beam scanning; change the first channel characteristics; change the speed characteristics of the DUT; and generate the original test signal.

[0201] In some embodiments of this application, if the device under test changes the enabled receiving beam, the test device can also change the enabled test antenna to ensure successful reception and transmission of the test signal.

[0202] Thus, the test equipment can obtain beam management test results when the device under test uses a fixed receiving beam by performing at least one of the following actions: changing the transmitter characteristics of the test equipment, changing the receiver characteristics of the device under test, changing the calibration factor corresponding to the receiver beam scan performed by the device under test, changing the first channel characteristics, changing the speed characteristics of the device under test, generating an original test signal, and changing the enabled test antenna.

[0203] Figure 4 shows a flowchart of an air interface testing method provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 4, the air interface testing method may include the following steps 401 and 402.

[0204] Step 401: The device under test receives the first test signal from the test device.

[0205] The first test signal can be obtained based on first information, which may include at least one of the following: relevant information of the test antenna, relevant information of the received beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test.

[0206] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the test antenna may include at least one of the following: the number of test antennas; the transmission gain of each test antenna in at least one direction.

[0207] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned emission gain may include at least one emission gain in a polarization direction.

[0208] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the test antenna can be obtained through at least one of the following: measured by the test equipment; provided by the test antenna manufacturer; or the transmission coefficient between the input port and the output port of the signal in the device under test.

[0209] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the received beams required for the above-mentioned test includes at least one of the following: the number of received beams required for the test; the received gain of each received beam required for the test in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna.

[0210] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned receiving gain may include at least a receiving gain in one polarization direction.

[0211] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the received beam required for the above-mentioned test can be obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; reported by the device under test; or provided by the manufacturer of the device under test.

[0212] In some embodiments of this application, the path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test is obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; provided by the manufacturer of the test equipment; measured by the test equipment; or determined autonomously by the test equipment.

[0213] Step 402: The device under test performs test-related operations based on the first test signal.

[0214] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned test-related operations may include at least one of the following: keeping the enabled receiving beam unchanged; beam scanning of at least one receiving beam; measurement of test signals; and reporting of test indicators.

[0215] In some embodiments of this application, the measurement of the test signal may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: signal strength test, transmit power test, receiver measurement, radio frequency power measurement, digital modulation quality parameter measurement, occupied bandwidth and adjacent channel power ratio measurement, and spectrum transmission template measurement.

[0216] In some embodiments of this application, the signal strength test may include edge field strength testing and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) testing. Edge field strength can indicate the field strength coverage within the test area; the SNR test can perform a point-by-point test within the test area and display the comprehensive SNR test results.

[0217] In some embodiments of this application, the above-described transmit power test can be used to test the transmit power of the device under test in an area centered on a wireless access point (AP).

[0218] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned receiver measurement may include tests for narrowband blocking and broadband blocking to ensure the performance of the device under test in the presence of interference signals.

[0219] In some embodiments of this application, the above-described radio frequency power measurement can be used to measure the radio frequency output power of the device under test to ensure that it complies with technical specifications.

[0220] In some embodiments of this application, the above-described digital modulation quality parameter measurement can be used to measure the error vector amplitude in order to evaluate the quality of the modulated signal.

[0221] In some embodiments of this application, the above-described occupied bandwidth and adjacent channel power ratio measurements can be used to measure the occupied bandwidth and adjacent channel power ratio to evaluate the spectral characteristics of the signal.

[0222] In some embodiments of this application, the above-described spectrum emission template measurement can be used to measure the spectrum emission template to ensure that the spectral characteristics of the signal meet the standard.

[0223] In some embodiments of this application, after the test signal measurement is completed, the device under test can report the obtained measurement indicators to the test device.

[0224] It should be noted that for further descriptions of steps 401 and 402 above, please refer to the detailed descriptions of steps 301 to 305 above. To avoid repetition, they will not be repeated here.

[0225] The air interface testing method provided in this application allows the testing equipment to obtain test signals based on relevant information required for testing, such as information about the test antenna, information about the received beam required for testing, or path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test. This enables the testing equipment and the device under test to perform high-frequency multi-beam air interface testing to verify the beam management performance of the multi-beam device when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled, thus improving the testing effectiveness of the air interface testing system.

[0226] In some embodiments of this application, before step 401 above, the air interface testing method provided in the embodiments of this application may also include the following steps 403 or 404.

[0227] Step 403: The device under test performs adaptive beamforming or beam scanning on K receiving beams.

[0228] Where K is a positive integer.

[0229] Step 404: The device under test enables a fixed receiving beam.

[0230] It should be noted that for further descriptions of steps 403 and 404 above, please refer to the detailed descriptions of steps 301 to 305 above. To avoid repetition, they will not be repeated here.

[0231] In this way, the device under test can perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of K receiving beams or enable a fixed receiving beam, thereby enabling beam management and performance testing of virtual or actual receiver adaptive beamforming or beam scanning, improving the testing effect of the air interface test system.

[0232] In some embodiments of this application, after step 401 above, the air interface testing method provided in the embodiments of this application may further include step 405 below.

[0233] Step 405: The device under test changes the enabled receiving beam.

[0234] In some embodiments of this application, when the device under test (DUT) uses a fixed receiving beam, the DUT can change the enabled receiving beam and retest with the test equipment to obtain beam management test results when the DUT uses different fixed target receiving beams.

[0235] In some embodiments of this application, the difference between the beam direction after the enabled receiving beam is changed and the beam direction before the enabled receiving beam is changed is less than or equal to a first threshold.

[0236] In some embodiments of this application, after the device under test (DUT) changes its enabled receiving beam, the test equipment can continue to use the currently enabled test antenna. In this case, the DUT needs to be rotated to a suitable position so that the difference between the beam direction after the enabled receiving beam change and the beam direction before the enabled receiving beam change is less than or equal to a first threshold, to ensure successful signal reception and transmission.

[0237] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned first threshold can be a default value for the device under test, a default value for the testing device, or a preset value. This application does not impose specific limitations on these embodiments.

[0238] It should be noted that after the device under test changes the enabled receiving beam, the test equipment can also directly replace the enabled test antenna to ensure successful signal reception and transmission.

[0239] In this way, by changing the enabled receiving beam, the beam management test results of the device under test when using different fixed target receiving beams can be obtained, thus improving the test effect of the air interface test system.

[0240] In some embodiments of this application, the receiving beam enabled by the device under test satisfies a first condition.

[0241] The first condition may include at least one of the following: the beam direction of the receiving beam is within a first direction range; the signal quality received by the receiving beam meets a threshold condition; and the sequence number of the receiving beam is within a first sequence range.

[0242] In some embodiments of this application, when the first condition includes the beam direction of the received beam being within a first direction range, only the beam pointing to the received beam within the first direction range is the received beam applicable to the test antenna enabled by the test equipment.

[0243] In some embodiments of this application, when the first condition includes the signal quality received by the received beam meeting a threshold condition, the threshold condition may include at least one of the following: RSRP value, Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) value, Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) value, and Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) value. It can be understood that the aforementioned signal quality received by the received beam meeting the threshold condition may include the signal quality received by the received beam being greater than the threshold corresponding to the threshold condition.

[0244] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned RSRP may refer to the average signal power received on all resource elements carrying a reference signal within a certain symbol, which may reflect the strength of useful signals in the cell.

[0245] In some embodiments of this application, the RSRQ described above can reflect the combined effect of signal strength and interference, and is an indication of the signal-to-noise ratio and interference level of the current channel quality.

[0246] In some embodiments of this application, the SINR mentioned above may refer to the ratio of the strength of the received useful signal to the strength of the received interference signal (noise and interference), which can reflect the link quality of the current channel.

[0247] In some embodiments of this application, the RSSI mentioned above may refer to the total received broadband power measured over the entire bandwidth, which can reflect the link strength of the current channel.

[0248] In some embodiments of this application, when the first condition includes the receiving beam number being within a first sequence range, only the beams whose receiving beam numbers are within the first sequence range are the receiving beams applicable to the test antenna enabled by the test equipment.

[0249] Thus, by using the first condition, a receiving beam suitable for the test antenna enabled by the test equipment can be selected, thereby improving the test performance of the air interface test system.

[0250] Figure 5 shows a flowchart of an air interface testing method performed by an air interface testing system according to an embodiment of this application. This method may include at least a testing device and a device under test. As shown in Figure 5, the air interface testing method may include steps 501 to 503 as described below.

[0251] Step 501: The test device acquires the first information.

[0252] The first information may include at least one of the following: relevant information about the test antenna, relevant information about the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test.

[0253] Step 502: The test equipment sends a first test signal to the device under test based on the first information.

[0254] Step 503: The device under test performs test-related operations based on the first test signal.

[0255] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the test antenna may include at least one of the following: the number of test antennas; the transmission gain of each test antenna in at least one direction.

[0256] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned emission gain may include at least one emission gain in a polarization direction.

[0257] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the test antenna can be obtained through at least one of the following: measured by the test equipment; provided by the test antenna manufacturer; or the transmission coefficient between the input port and the output port of the signal in the device under test.

[0258] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the received beams required for the above test may include at least one of the following: the number of received beams required for the test; the received gain of each received beam required for the test in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna.

[0259] In some embodiments of this application, the aforementioned receiving gain may include at least a receiving gain in one polarization direction.

[0260] In some embodiments of this application, the relevant information of the received beam required for the above-mentioned test can be obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; reported by the device under test; or provided by the manufacturer of the device under test.

[0261] In some embodiments of this application, the path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test can be obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; provided by the manufacturer of the test equipment; measured by the test equipment; or determined autonomously by the test equipment.

[0262] In some embodiments of this application, the air interface testing method provided in this application may further include the following steps 504 or 505.

[0263] Step 504: The test equipment enables at least one test antenna and controls the device under test to perform at least one adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of the receiving beam.

[0264] Step 505: The test equipment activates at least one test antenna, and the device under test activates a fixed receiving beam.

[0265] In some embodiments of this application, the first test signal can be obtained based on at least one of the following: a calibration factor; the transmitter characteristics corresponding to the test equipment; the receiver characteristics corresponding to the device under test; a first channel characteristic; the speed characteristics of the device under test; or the original test signal generated by the test equipment.

[0266] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned calibration factor can be obtained from the first information.

[0267] In some embodiments of this application, the first channel characteristic described above may be a channel characteristic that does not consider the characteristics of the receiver and the transmitter.

[0268] In some embodiments of this application, when the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a single value, the calibration factor can be obtained based on the reciprocal of the total link gain.

[0269] In some embodiments of this application, when the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a matrix, the calibration factor can be obtained based on the inverse matrix or pseudo-inverse matrix of the total link gain.

[0270] The total link gain mentioned above can be obtained based on the first information.

[0271] In some embodiments of this application, the air interface testing method provided in this application may further include the following step 506.

[0272] Step 506: Based on the first information, the test equipment performs at least one of the following:

[0273] Change the transmitter characteristics of the test equipment; change the receiver characteristics of the device under test; change the calibration factor corresponding to the receiver beam scan performed by the device under test; change the first channel characteristics; change the speed characteristics of the device under test; generate the original test signal; change the activated test antenna.

[0274] In some embodiments of this application, the above-mentioned test-related operations may include at least one of the following: keeping the enabled receiving beam unchanged; beam scanning of at least one receiving beam; measurement of test signals; and reporting of test indicators.

[0275] In some embodiments of this application, the air interface testing method provided in this application may further include the following step 507.

[0276] Step 507: The device under test changes the enabled receiving beam.

[0277] In some embodiments of this application, the difference between the beam direction after the enabled receiving beam is changed and the beam direction before the enabled receiving beam is changed is less than or equal to a first threshold.

[0278] In some embodiments of this application, the receiving beam enabled by the device under test satisfies a first condition.

[0279] The first condition may include at least one of the following: the beam direction of the receiving beam is within a first direction range; the signal quality received by the receiving beam meets a threshold condition; and the sequence number of the receiving beam is within a first sequence range.

[0280] It should be noted that for a detailed description of steps 501 to 507 above, please refer to the detailed descriptions of steps 301 to 305 above, the detailed descriptions of steps 401 to 405 above, and the relevant description of the test system shown in Figure 2 above. To avoid repetition, they will not be repeated here.

[0281] In some embodiments of this application, the device under test (DUT) can perform beam management and performance testing based on virtual receiver-side adaptive beamforming or beam scanning without requiring the DUT to perform actual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning at the receiving end.

[0282] In this configuration, the device under test (DUT) can activate a fixed receiving beam, and the test equipment can activate at least one test antenna. The test equipment can synthesize a first test signal in the test instrument based on a calibration factor, the transmitter characteristics corresponding to the test equipment, the receiver characteristics corresponding to the DUT, channel characteristics without considering receiver and transmitter characteristics, the speed characteristics of the DUT, and the original test signal generated by the test equipment.

[0283] Then, the test equipment can perform at least one of the following: change the transmitter characteristics; change the receiver characteristics (i.e., change the calibration factor corresponding to the receiver characteristics); change the channel characteristics without considering the receiver and transmitter characteristics; change the speed characteristics of the device under test; or generate the original test signal.

[0284] The device under test can perform at least one of the following: keep the receiving beam constant; perform measurement of the first test signal; and report the test parameters.

[0285] The device under test (DUT) can obtain beam management test results when using different fixed receiving beams by changing the fixed receiving beam and repeating the above steps with the test equipment.

[0286] It should be noted that when the device under test (DUT) changes to a fixed receiving beam, the test equipment can replace the activated test antenna, or the test equipment can continue to use the current test antenna, but the DUT needs to be rotated to a suitable position to ensure that the direction of the receiving beam after replacement is the same as or differs from the direction of the receiving beam before replacement within a certain range (i.e., the difference is less than or equal to the first threshold).

[0287] In some embodiments of this application, the device under test (DUT) can perform beam management and performance testing based on actual receiver-side adaptive beamforming or beam scanning, provided that the DUT is allowed to perform actual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning at the receiving end.

[0288] In this configuration, the test equipment can activate at least one test antenna and control the device under test (DUT) to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of K receiver beams. The test equipment can synthesize a first test signal in the test instrument based on calibration factors, transmitter characteristics, channel characteristics without considering receiver and transmitter characteristics, the speed characteristics of the DUT, and the original test signal generated by the test equipment.

[0289] Then, the test equipment can perform at least one of the following: change the transmitter characteristics; change the calibration factor corresponding to the actual receiver beam scan performed by the device under test; change the channel characteristics without considering the receiver and transmitter characteristics; change the speed characteristics of the device under test; or generate the original test signal.

[0290] The device under test can perform at least one of the following: actually perform beam scanning of K received beams; perform measurement of the first test signal; or report the target test parameters.

[0291] It should be noted that when the device under test performs beam management based on artificial intelligence (AI), virtual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning can be implemented in the test equipment to verify the performance of AI.

[0292] As can be understood, as shown in Figure 6A, when the device under test (DUT) performs AI-based beam management, the L1-RSRP of some beam pairs can be used as input, and the output of the AI ​​model is the L1-RSRP result of all or the target beam pairs. Here, a beam pair can consist of a transmit beam and a receive beam. The number of inputs to the AI ​​model is the number of some beam pairs, and the number of outputs is the number of all or the target beam pairs.

[0293] As can be understood, as shown in Figure 6B, when the device under test (DUT) performs AI-based beam management, the L1-RSRP of a portion of the beams can be used as input, and the output of the AI ​​model is the L1-RSRP result of all or the target beams. Here, "beam" refers to the transmit beam, the number of inputs to the AI ​​model is the number of partial beams, and the number of outputs is the number of all or the target beams.

[0294] As can be understood, as shown in Figure 6C, when the device under test (DUT) performs AI-based beam management, the indexes of some beams or beam pairs can be used as input, such as the beam identifiers (identity, ID) of some beams or beam pairs. The output of the AI ​​model is the index result of all or target beams or beam pairs. Here, a beam refers to a transmit beam, the number of inputs to the AI ​​model is the number of some beams, and the number of outputs is the number of all or target beams. Alternatively, a beam pair can consist of a transmit beam and a receive beam; the number of inputs to the AI ​​model is the number of some beam pairs, and the number of outputs is the number of all or target beam pairs.

[0295] The air interface testing method provided in this application allows the testing equipment to obtain test signals based on relevant information required for testing, such as information about the test antenna, information about the received beam required for testing, or path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test. This enables the testing equipment and the device under test to perform high-frequency multi-beam air interface testing to verify the beam management performance of the multi-beam device when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled, thus improving the testing effectiveness of the air interface testing system.

[0296] The following specific examples illustrate the air interface testing method provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0297] Example 1: Taking a test device including TE1 and TE2, the number of test antennas being S=1, the number of receiving beams of the device under test being K=5, and the device under test performing RSRP measurement for each received beam as an example. As shown in Figure 7, the air interface test method provided in this application embodiment may include the following steps S101 to S103.

[0298] Step S101: The test device acquires the first information.

[0299] The first information may include at least one of the following: relevant information about the test antenna, relevant information about the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test.

[0300] With the device under test (DUT) as the reference point, the horizontal angles of its five receiving beams are [-67.5°, -22.5°, 0°, 22.5°, 67.5°], and the vertical angles are all 45°. A test antenna (i.e., S=1) is set, with the first angle ξ1 set to 0° horizontally and 45° vertically with the DUT as the reference point.

[0301] The single test antenna can be placed at a first angle ξ1 (this first angle can refer to the horizontal angle, not the vertical angle), with a gain of G. tx,1 (ξ1); The first directional range Rs applicable to the receiving beam is: applicable when the pointing range of the receiving beam of the device under test is -80° to 80°. That is, all 5 receiving beams are effectively applicable.

[0302] The angles Ω1, Ω2, Ω3, Ω4, and Ω5 of the five receiving beams are all set to 0° horizontally and 45° vertically with the test equipment as the reference point. k =ξ1,k=1,2,3,4,5. The gain of the receiving beam can be obtained by measuring the RSRP of the beam in advance, and the gain of the receiving beam can be expressed as G. rx,1 (ξ1), G rx,2 (ξ1), G rx,3 (ξ1), G rx,4 (ξ1), G rx,5 (ξ1); The path loss PL1 between the test antenna and the receiving unit of the device under test can be calculated.

[0303] In one possible embodiment, the device under test (DUT) does not need to perform actual receive beam adaptive beamforming or beam scanning. Instead, the DUT can permanently enable a third receive beam, the gain of which at a first angle is obtained by pre-measuring the RSRP of that beam, which is G. rx,3 (ξ1).

[0304] With a total link gain of a single value G total,1,3 =G rx,3 (ξ1)PL1G tx,1 In the case of (ξ1), the calibration factor A 1,3 =1 / G total,1,3 .

[0305] When the test antenna is dual-polarized, the total link gain can be represented by the matrix shown in formula (3) below.

[0306] The calibration factor can then be the inverse matrix of Gtotal,1,3.

[0307] Step S102: The test equipment synthesizes and sends test signals Y1,3 to the device under test.

[0308] Where Y1,3=A1,3H3X.

[0309] Where X can be the test signal corresponding to the 64 transmit beams (test antennas), and H3 is the channel characteristic from the transmitter to the receiver when the receive beam is the 3rd beam, which can be expressed as H3 = F tx H 3,0 F rx,3 D. Based on the characteristics of the transmitter, receiver, speed characteristics of the device under test, calibration factor, and channel characteristics, beam management tests can be performed with 64 transmit beams and 5 receive beams when the actual receive beam of device under test (No. 3) is fixed.

[0310] Step S103: The device under test performs L1-RSRP measurement of the transmit beam corresponding to the test antenna in the current test environment and reports the corresponding measurement results.

[0311] It should be noted that the corresponding use case here is to test and verify whether the basic functions of the internal AI model of the device under test (DUT) can meet the requirements when performing AI-based beam management. In other words, the DUT does not need to actually perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning; only the model input needs to be a suitable beam L1-RSRP value. In this case, the performance of the AI ​​can be verified by implementing virtual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning in the test equipment.

[0312] In this scenario, the test equipment can use the highest L1-RSRP value of each transmit beam or transmit-receive beam pair after measuring five virtual receive beams as the true value. Then, it can measure a subset of each transmit beam or transmit-receive beam pair as model input. The device under test (DUT) performs AI model inference on the measurement information of the model input and reports the inferred transmit beam or transmit beam pair beam information to the test equipment for comparison with the true value, thereby verifying whether the AI ​​beam management meets the requirements.

[0313] As shown in Figure 8, TE1 can be a base station simulator used to transmit the original test signal X, which represents information from 64 transmit beams. TE2 can be a channel simulator used to simulate calibration factors, channel environment, and scanning of 5 receive beams. The test antenna shown in Figure 8 can be a dual-polarized antenna in the H and V directions, and the test signal is Y1,3 based on test antenna 1 and receive beam 3. The test antenna shown in Figure 8 is placed at the first angle ξ1 = 0°, where the antenna gain is G. tx,1 (ξ1); At this time, the fixed receiving beam activated by the device under test is beam 3, with a beam pointing at 0°. Ω3 = ξ1, and the receiving gain of receiving beam 3 is G. rx,3 (ξ1), at this time the path loss between the test antenna and the device under test (i.e., DUT) is PL1; the device under test can report the test results through the air interface or the USB connection line.

[0314] In another possible embodiment, the device under test (DUT) is allowed to perform actual receive beam adaptive beamforming or beam scanning. For the first receive beam of the DUT, its gain at a first angle can be obtained by pre-measuring the RSRP, which is G. rx,1 (ξ1).

[0315] With a total link gain of a single value G total,1,1 =G rx,1 (ξ1)PL1G tx,1 In the case of (ξ1), the calibration factor A 1,1 =1 / G total,1,1 When the test antenna is dual-polarized, i.e., the total link gain is the matrix shown in formula (4) below,

[0316] The calibration factor can be the inverse matrix of Gtotal,1,1.

[0317] Understandably, in this case, the above steps can be performed on the remaining beams of the device under test to obtain five calibration factors, namely A1,1=1 / Gtotal,1,1, A1,2=1 / Gtotal,1,2, A1,3=1 / Gtotal,1,3, A1,4=1 / Gtotal,1,4, and A1,5=1 / Gtotal,1,5.

[0318] Step 102 above may include: the test equipment synthesizing 5 sets of test signals Y1,1, Y1,2, Y1,3, Y1,4, Y1,5.

[0319] Where, Y1,1=A1,1H1X, Y1,2=A1,2H2X, Y1,3=A1,3H3X, Y1,4=A1,4H4X, Y1,5=A1,5H5X.

[0320] Where X can be the original test signals corresponding to the 64 transmit beams, and H can be the channel characteristics from the transmitter to the receiver, which can be expressed as H = F tx H0D performs beam management tests based on transmitter characteristics, device-under-test speed characteristics, calibration factors, and channel characteristics, conducting tests on 64 transmit beams and 5 receive beams.

[0321] Step 103 above may include: the test equipment can control the device under test to actually perform a receiving beam scan and send corresponding test signals. When the beam 1 is scanned, test signal Y1,1 is generated; when the beam 2 is scanned, test signal Y1,2 is generated; when the beam 3 is scanned, test signal Y1,3 is generated; when the beam 4 is scanned, test signal Y1,4 is generated; and when the beam 5 is scanned, test signal Y1,5 is generated.

[0322] Then, the device under test can perform L1-RSRP measurements of the transmit beam under the current test environment and report the corresponding measurement results.

[0323] It should be noted that the corresponding use case here is to test and verify whether the overall AI-based beam management function of the device under test can meet the requirements when performing AI-based beam management. In this case, the device under test needs to actually perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning. This can be verified by controlling the device under test to actually perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning in the test system.

[0324] In this scenario, the device under test (DUT) can use the highest L1-RSRP value of each transmit beam or transmit-receive beam pair after measuring five actual receive beams as the true value for reporting. Then, it can measure a subset of each transmit beam or transmit-receive beam pair as model input. The DUT performs AI model inference on the measurement information of the model input and reports the inferred transmit beam or transmit beam pair beam information to the test equipment for comparison with the true value, thereby verifying whether the AI ​​beam management meets the requirements.

[0325] As shown in Figure 9, TE1 can be a base station simulator used to transmit the original test signal X, which embodies information from 64 transmit beams. TE2 can be a channel simulator used to simulate calibration factors and channel environment. The test antenna shown in Figure 9 can be a dual-polarized antenna in the H and V directions. The test signal can be obtained based on Y1,k of test antenna 1 and the received beam k, where k = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The test antenna shown in Figure 9 can be placed at the first angle ξ1 = 0°, where the antenna gain is G. tx,1 (ξ1); At this time, the receiving beam of the device under test is beams 1-5, and Ω k =ξ1,k=1,2,3,4,5, the receiving gain of the receiving beam k is G rx,k (ξ1), at this time the path loss between the test antenna and the DUT is PL1; the DUT reports the test results through the air interface or the USB connection line.

[0326] Thus, since the test equipment can obtain relevant information required for the test, such as information about the test antenna, information about the received beam required for the test, or path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test, the test equipment can obtain the test signal based on this relevant information. In this way, the test equipment and the device under test can perform high-frequency multi-beam over-the-air testing to verify the beam management performance of the multi-beam device when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled, thereby improving the testing effect of the over-the-air test system.

[0327] Example 2: Taking a test device including TE1 and TE2, the number of test antennas as S=3, the number of receiving beams of the device under test as K=7, and the device under test performing RSRP measurement for each receiving beam as an example.

[0328] Using the device under test (DUT) as a reference point, the horizontal angles of the seven receiving beams are [-45°, -30°, -15°, 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°], and the vertical angle is 45°. Three test antennas (S=3) are set up with angles (this angle can refer to the horizontal angle, without considering the vertical angle) ξ1, ξ2, and ξ3 set to the horizontal angles of -45°, 0°, and 45°, and the vertical angle is 45°, respectively, with the test system placing the test antennas at angles ξ1, ξ2, and ξ3, with gains G respectively. tx,1 (ξ1), G tx,2 (ξ2), G tx,3(ξ3). For any test antenna, the applicable first directional range Rs of the receiving beam can be: applicable when the receiving beam of the device under test is within ±25° of the test antenna angle. Therefore, for test antenna 1, the effective range is -70° to -20°, applicable to beams 1 and 2; for test antenna 2, the effective range is -25° to 25°, applicable to beams 3, 4, and 5; and for test antenna 3, the effective range is 20° to 70°, applicable to beams 6 and 7.

[0329] For test antenna 1, the angles of beams 1 and 2 are Ω1,1 and Ω1,2, respectively, and are set to Ω. 1,k =ξ1,k=1,2; For test antenna 2, the target angles for beams 3, 4, 5 are Ω1,3,Ω1,4,Ω1,5, set to Ω 1,k =ξ2,k=3,4,5; For test antenna 3, the target angles corresponding to beams 6 and 7 are Ω1,6 and Ω1,7, respectively, set to Ω 1,k =ξ3,k=6,7; The gain of the target receiving beam needs to be obtained by measuring the RSRP of the beam in advance, denoted as G. rx,1 (ξ1), G rx,2 (ξ1), G rx,3 (ξ2), G rx,4 (ξ2), G rx,5 (ξ2), G rx,6 (ξ3), G rx,7 (ξ3).

[0330] The path loss between the test antenna and the receiving unit of the device under test can be calculated as PL1, PL2, and PL3.

[0331] In one possible embodiment, the device under test (DUT) does not need to perform actual receive beam adaptive beamforming or beam scanning. The test equipment can enable test antenna 1, fix beam 1 (or beam 2), repeat step S102 in one possible embodiment of embodiment 1 (i.e., the DUT does not need to perform actual receive beam adaptive beamforming or beam scanning), synthesize test signal Y1,1 (or Y1,2) in the test equipment, and perform beam management test with 64 transmit beams and 7 receive beams when the actual receive beam of the fixed DUT 1 (or 2) is fixed.

[0332] The test equipment can reactivate test antenna 2, fix beam 3 (or beam 4 or 5), repeat step S102 in one possible embodiment of embodiment 1, synthesize transmit signals Y1,3 (or Y1,4 or Y1,5) in the test equipment, and perform beam management test with 64 transmit beams and 7 receive beams when the actual receive beam of the fixed test device 3 (or 4 or 5) is fixed.

[0333] The test equipment can reactivate the test antenna 3, fix the beam 6 (or beam 7), repeat step S102 in one possible embodiment of embodiment 1, synthesize the transmitted signals Y1,6 (or Y1,7) in the test equipment, and perform beam management test when 64 transmitted beams and 7 received beams are actually received by the fixed test device 6 (or 7).

[0334] The device under test can perform L1-RSRP measurements of the transmitted beam under the current test environment and report the corresponding measurement results.

[0335] It should be noted that when the device under test (DUT) does not need to actually perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning, the corresponding use case here is to test and verify whether the basic functions of the internal AI model of the DUT can meet the requirements when performing AI-based beam management. That is, in this case, the DUT does not need to actually perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning, but only the model input needs to be a suitable beam L1-RSRP value. In this case, the performance of AI can be verified by implementing virtual adaptive beamforming or beam scanning in the test equipment.

[0336] In this scenario, the test equipment can use the highest L1-RSRP value of each transmit beam or transmit-receive beam pair after measuring the seven virtual receive beams as the true value. Then, it can measure a subset of each transmit beam or transmit-receive beam pair as model input. The device under test (DUT) performs AI model inference on the measurement information of the model input and reports the inferred transmit beam or transmit beam pair beam information to the test equipment for comparison with the true value, thereby verifying whether the AI ​​beam management meets the requirements.

[0337] As shown in Figures 10A and 10B, TE1 in Figures 10A and 10B can be a base station simulator used to transmit the original test signal X, which embodies the information of 64 transmit beams; TE2 in Figures 10A and 10B can be a channel simulator used to simulate calibration factors, channel environment, and scanning of 5 receive beams; the test antennas in Figures 10A and 10B can be dual-polarized antennas in the H and V directions.

[0338] In Figure 10A, test antenna 2 is used. Therefore, the simulated virtual receiving beams in TE2 are 3, 4, and 5, and the test signals are Y1,3, Y1,4, and Y1,5 based on test antenna 2 and receiving beams 3, 4, and 5. In Figure 10B, test antenna 3 is used. Therefore, the simulated virtual receiving beams in TE2 are 6 and 7, and the test signals are Y1,6, and Y1,7 based on test antenna 3 and receiving beams 6 and 7. It can be understood that for test antenna 1, please refer to the above descriptions of test antennas 2 and 3. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0339] In another possible embodiment, the device under test is allowed to perform actual receive beam adaptive beamforming or beam scanning. The steps in another possible embodiment of embodiment 1 can be performed on the above 7 receive beams and their corresponding test antennas to obtain a total of 7 calibration factors, namely A1,1=1 / Gtotal,1,1, A1,2=1 / Gtotal,1,2, A2,3=1 / Gtotal,2,3, A2,4=1 / Gtotal,2,4, A2,5=1 / Gtotal,2,5, A3,6=1 / Gtotal,3,6, A3,7=1 / Gtotal,3,7.

[0340] The testing equipment can synthesize 7 sets of test signals Y1,1,Y1,2,Y2,3,Y2,4,Y2,5,Y3,6,Y3,7.

[0341] Among them, Y1,1=A1,1H1X, Y1,2=A1,2H2X, Y2,3=A2,3H3X, Y2,4=A2,4H4X, Y2,5=A2,5H5X, Y3,6=A3,6H6X, Y3,7=A3,7H7X.

[0342] Where X represents the original test signals corresponding to the 64 transmitted beams, and H represents the channel characteristics from the transmitter to the receiver, expressed as H = F. tx H0D performs beam management tests based on transmitter characteristics, device-under-test speed characteristics, calibration factors, and channels. It can perform beam management tests on 64 transmit beams and 7 receive beams.

[0343] The test equipment can control the device under test to actually perform a receiving beam scan and control the test equipment to send corresponding test signals. When beam 1 is scanned, a transmit signal Y1,1 is generated, and only test antenna 1 is activated at this time. When beam 2 is scanned, a transmit signal Y1,2 is generated, and only test antenna 1 is activated at this time. When beam 3 is scanned, a transmit signal Y2,3 is generated, and only test antenna 2 is activated at this time. When beam 4 is scanned, a transmit signal Y2,4 is generated, and only test antenna 2 is activated at this time. When beam 5 is scanned, a transmit signal Y2,5 is generated, and only test antenna 2 is activated at this time. When beam 6 is scanned, a transmit signal Y3,5 is generated, and only test antenna 3 is activated at this time. When beam 7 is scanned, a transmit signal Y3,7 is generated, and only test antenna 3 is activated at this time.

[0344] The device under test performs L1-RSRP measurements of the transmit beam under the current test environment and reports the corresponding measurement results.

[0345] It should be noted that, in this case, the corresponding use case could be to test whether the overall AI-based beam management function of the device under test (DUT) can meet the requirements when performing AI-based beam management. In this case, the DUT needs to actually perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning. The performance of AI can be verified by controlling the DUT to actually perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning in the test system.

[0346] In this scenario, the device under test (DUT) can use the highest L1-RSRP value of each transmit beam or transmit-receive beam pair after measuring the seven actual receive beams as the true value for reporting. Then, it can measure a subset of each transmit beam or transmit-receive beam pair as model input. The DUT performs AI model inference on the measurement information of the model input and reports the inferred transmit beam or transmit beam pair beam information to the test equipment for comparison with the true value, thereby verifying whether the AI ​​beam management meets the requirements.

[0347] As shown in Figure 11, TE1 can be a base station simulator used to transmit the original test signal X, which embodies the information of 64 transmit beams; TE2 can be a channel simulator used to simulate calibration factors and channel environment; the test antenna shown in Figure 11 can be a dual-polarized antenna in the H and V directions, and the test signal is obtained based on Y1,k of test antenna 1 and receive beam k, where k = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

[0348] Thus, since the test equipment can obtain relevant information required for the test, such as information about the test antenna, information about the received beam required for the test, or path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test, the test equipment can obtain the test signal based on this relevant information. In this way, the test equipment and the device under test can perform high-frequency multi-beam over-the-air testing to verify the beam management performance of the multi-beam device when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled, thereby improving the testing effect of the over-the-air test system.

[0349] The air interface testing method provided in this application can be executed by an air interface testing device. This application uses an air interface testing device executing the air interface testing method as an example to illustrate the air interface testing device provided in this application.

[0350] This application provides an air interface testing device. As an example, the air interface testing device can be a communication device or a component within a communication device, such as a chip. The communication device can be a terminal, a network-side device, or a server, etc. Exemplarily, the terminal can be, but is not limited to, the type of terminal 11 listed above, and the network-side device can be, but is not limited to, the type of network-side device 12 listed above. This application does not impose specific limitations.

[0351] The air interface testing device includes a receiving module, a transmitting module, and a processing module. These modules can be implemented in software or hardware. When implemented in hardware, the processing module can be implemented by a processor. For example, the processor can include general-purpose processors, special-purpose processors, etc., such as central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), artificial intelligence (AI) processors, graphics processing units (GPUs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), network processors (NPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, gate circuits, transistors, discrete hardware components, etc. The receiving and transmitting modules can be implemented by a communication interface, which can include one or more of the following: transceivers, pins, circuits, buses, radio frequency units, etc.

[0352] Specifically, referring to Figure 12, when the air interface testing device is a network-side device or a component within a network-side device, the air interface testing device 1200 includes a processing module 1201 for acquiring first information, which includes at least one of the following: relevant information about the test antenna, relevant information about the received beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test; and a transmitting module 1202 for transmitting a first test signal to the device under test based on the first information obtained by the processing module 1201.

[0353] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the aforementioned test antenna includes at least one of the following: the number of test antennas; the transmission gain of each test antenna in at least one direction.

[0354] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned emission gain includes at least one emission gain in a polarization direction.

[0355] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the test antenna is obtained through at least one of the following: measured by an air interface test device; provided by the test antenna manufacturer; or the transmission coefficient between the input and output ports of the signal in the device under test.

[0356] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the received beams required for the above test includes at least one of the following: the number of received beams required for the test; the receive gain of each received beam required for the test in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna.

[0357] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned receiver gain includes at least one receiver gain in a polarization direction.

[0358] In one possible implementation, the relevant information about the received beam required for the above test is obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; reported by the device under test; or provided by the manufacturer of the device under test.

[0359] In one possible implementation, the path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test is obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; provided by the manufacturer of the air interface test device; measured by the air interface test device; or determined autonomously by the air interface test device.

[0360] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned processing module 1201 is also used to enable at least one test antenna.

[0361] In one possible implementation, the processing module 1201 is further configured to control the device under test to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of at least one received beam.

[0362] In one possible implementation, the first test signal is obtained based on at least one of the following: a calibration factor, which is obtained based on first information; the transmitter characteristics corresponding to the air interface test device; the receiver characteristics corresponding to the device under test; a first channel characteristic, which is a channel characteristic that does not consider the receiver characteristics and transmitter device characteristics; the speed characteristics of the device under test; and the original test signal generated by the air interface test device.

[0363] In one possible implementation, the above calibration factor is obtained based on the first information, including:

[0364] When the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a single value, the calibration factor is obtained based on the reciprocal of the total link gain;

[0365] When the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a matrix, the calibration factor is obtained based on the inverse matrix or pseudo-inverse matrix of the total link gain.

[0366] The total link gain is obtained based on the first information.

[0367] In one possible implementation, the processing module 1201 is further configured to perform at least one of the following based on the first information: change the transmitting end characteristics corresponding to the air interface test device; change the receiving end characteristics corresponding to the device under test; change the calibration factor corresponding to the receiving end beam scan performed by the device under test; change the first channel characteristics, wherein the first channel characteristics are channel characteristics that do not consider the characteristics of the receiving end and the transmitting end device; change the speed characteristics of the device under test; generate the original test signal; and change the enabled test antenna.

[0368] This application provides an air interface testing device. Because this device can acquire relevant information required for testing, such as information about the test antenna, information about the received beam required for testing, or path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test (DUT), the air interface testing device can obtain the test signal based on this information. Thus, the air interface testing device and the DUT can perform high-frequency multi-beam air interface testing to verify the beam management performance of the multi-beam device when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled, improving the testing effect of the air interface testing system.

[0369] Referring to Figure 13, when the air interface test device is a terminal or a component within a terminal, the air interface test device 1300 includes a receiving module 1301 for receiving a first test signal from a test device; and a processing module 1302 for performing test-related operations based on the first test signal received by the receiving module 1301. The first test signal is obtained based on first information, which includes at least one of the following: relevant information about the test antenna, relevant information about the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the air interface test device.

[0370] In one possible implementation, the above-mentioned test-related operations include at least one of the following: keeping the enabled receiving beam unchanged; beam scanning of at least one receiving beam; measuring the test signal; and reporting the test parameters.

[0371] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the aforementioned test antenna includes at least one of the following: the number of test antennas; the transmission gain of each test antenna in at least one direction.

[0372] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned emission gain includes at least one emission gain in a polarization direction.

[0373] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the test antenna is obtained through at least one of the following: measured by the test equipment; provided by the test antenna manufacturer; or the transmission coefficient between the input and output ports of the signal in the air interface test device.

[0374] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the received beams required for the above test includes at least one of the following: the number of received beams required for the test; the receive gain of each received beam required for the test in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna.

[0375] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned receiver gain includes at least one receiver gain in a polarization direction.

[0376] In one possible implementation, the relevant information about the received beam required for the above test is obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; reported by the air interface test device; or provided by the manufacturer of the air interface test device.

[0377] In one possible implementation, the path loss information between the aforementioned test antenna and the air interface test device is obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; provided by the manufacturer corresponding to the test equipment; measured by the test equipment; or determined autonomously by the test equipment.

[0378] In one possible implementation, the processing module 1302 described above is further configured to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of the K received beams; or,

[0379] The aforementioned processing module 1302 is also used to enable a fixed receiving beam;

[0380] Where K is a positive integer.

[0381] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned processing module 1302 is also used to change the enabled receiving beam.

[0382] In one possible implementation, the difference between the beam direction after the enabled receiving beam is changed and the beam direction before the enabled receiving beam is changed is less than or equal to a first threshold.

[0383] In one possible implementation, the receiving beam activated by the above-mentioned air interface test device satisfies the first condition;

[0384] The first condition includes at least one of the following: the beam direction of the receiving beam is within a first direction range; the signal quality received by the receiving beam meets a threshold condition; and the sequence number of the receiving beam is within a first sequence range.

[0385] This application provides an air interface testing apparatus. Since the testing equipment can acquire relevant information required for testing, such as information about the test antenna, information about the received beam required for testing, or path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test, the testing equipment can obtain the test signal based on this relevant information. Thus, the testing equipment and air interface testing apparatus can perform high-frequency multi-beam air interface testing to verify the beam management performance of multi-beam devices when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled, improving the testing effect of the air interface testing system.

[0386] The air interface testing device provided in this application embodiment can implement all the processes implemented in the above-described air interface testing method embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0387] As shown in Figure 14, this application embodiment also provides a communication device 1400, including a processor 1401 and a memory 1402. The memory 1402 stores a program or instructions that can run on the processor 1401. For example, when the communication device 1400 is a terminal, the program or instructions executed by the processor 1401 implement the various steps of the above-described air interface testing method embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. When the communication device 1400 is a network-side device, the program or instructions executed by the processor 1401 implement the various steps of the above-described air interface testing method embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, this will not be described again here.

[0388] This application embodiment also provides a terminal, which can be the device under test (DUT) in the above-described air interface testing method embodiment, including a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface and the processor are coupled, and the processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the steps as described in the above-described air interface testing method embodiment. This terminal embodiment corresponds to the above-described DUT-side method embodiment, and all implementation processes and methods of the above method embodiments can be applied to this terminal embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. The terminal can be the air interface testing device shown in FIG13. Specifically, FIG15 is a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a terminal implementing an embodiment of this application.

[0389] The terminal 1500 includes, but is not limited to, at least some of the following components: radio frequency unit 1501, network module 1502, audio output unit 1503, input unit 1504, sensor 1505, display unit 1506, user input unit 1507, interface unit 1508, memory 1509, and processor 1510.

[0390] Those skilled in the art will understand that terminal 1500 may also include a power supply (such as a battery) for powering various components. The power supply may be logically connected to processor 1510 through a power management system, thereby enabling functions such as charging, discharging, and power consumption management through the power management system. The terminal structure shown in Figure 15 does not constitute a limitation on the terminal. The terminal may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements, which will not be elaborated here.

[0391] It should be understood that, in this embodiment, the input unit 1504 may include a graphics processor 15041 and a microphone 15042. The graphics processor 15041 processes image data of still images or videos obtained by an image capture device (such as a camera) in video capture mode or image capture mode. The display unit 1506 may include a display panel 15061, which may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diode, or the like. The user input unit 1507 includes a touch panel 15071 and at least one of other input devices 15072. The touch panel 15071 is also called a touch screen. The touch panel 15071 may include a touch detection device and a touch controller. Other input devices 15072 may include, but are not limited to, physical keyboards, function keys (such as volume control buttons, power buttons, etc.), trackballs, mice, and joysticks, which will not be described in detail here.

[0392] In this embodiment, after receiving downlink data from the network-side device, the radio frequency unit 1501 can transmit it to the processor 1510 for processing; in addition, the radio frequency unit 1501 can send uplink data to the network-side device. Typically, the radio frequency unit 1501 includes, but is not limited to, antennas, amplifiers, transceivers, couplers, low-noise amplifiers, duplexers, etc.

[0393] The memory 1509 can be used to store software programs or instructions, as well as various data. The memory 1509 may primarily include a first storage area for storing programs or instructions and a second storage area for storing data. The first storage area may store the operating system, application programs or instructions required for at least one function (such as sound playback, image playback, etc.). Furthermore, the memory 1509 may include volatile memory or non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDRSDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DRRAM). The memory 1509 in this embodiment includes, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0394] Processor 1510 may include one or more processing units; optionally, processor 1510 integrates an application processor and a modem processor, wherein the application processor mainly handles operations involving the operating system, user interface, and applications, and the modem processor mainly handles wireless communication signals, such as a baseband processor. It is understood that the aforementioned modem processor may also not be integrated into processor 1510.

[0395] The radio frequency unit 1501 is used to receive a first test signal from the test equipment; the processor 1510 is used to perform test-related operations based on the first test signal received by the radio frequency unit 1501; wherein the first test signal is obtained based on first information, the first information including at least one of the following: relevant information of the test antenna, relevant information of the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the air interface test device.

[0396] In one possible implementation, the above-mentioned test-related operations include at least one of the following: keeping the enabled receiving beam unchanged; beam scanning of at least one receiving beam; measuring the test signal; and reporting the test parameters.

[0397] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the aforementioned test antenna includes at least one of the following: the number of test antennas; the transmission gain of each test antenna in at least one direction.

[0398] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned emission gain includes at least one emission gain in a polarization direction.

[0399] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the test antenna is obtained through at least one of the following: measured by the test equipment; provided by the test antenna manufacturer; or the transmission coefficient between the input and output ports of the signal in the air interface test device.

[0400] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the received beams required for the above test includes at least one of the following: the number of received beams required for the test; the receive gain of each received beam required for the test in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna.

[0401] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned receiver gain includes at least one receiver gain in a polarization direction.

[0402] In one possible implementation, the relevant information about the received beam required for the above test is obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; reported by the air interface test device; or provided by the manufacturer of the air interface test device.

[0403] In one possible implementation, the path loss information between the aforementioned test antenna and the air interface test device is obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; provided by the manufacturer corresponding to the test equipment; measured by the test equipment; or determined autonomously by the test equipment.

[0404] In one possible implementation, the processor 1510 is further configured to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of the K received beams; or,

[0405] The aforementioned processor 1510 is also used to enable a fixed receiving beam;

[0406] Where K is a positive integer.

[0407] In one possible implementation, the processor 1510 described above is also used to change the enabled receive beam.

[0408] In one possible implementation, the difference between the beam direction after the enabled receiving beam is changed and the beam direction before the enabled receiving beam is changed is less than or equal to a first threshold.

[0409] In one possible implementation, the receiving beam activated by the above-mentioned air interface test device satisfies the first condition;

[0410] The first condition includes at least one of the following: the beam direction of the receiving beam is within a first direction range; the signal quality received by the receiving beam meets a threshold condition; and the sequence number of the receiving beam is within a first sequence range.

[0411] This application provides a terminal that allows the test equipment to obtain test signals based on relevant information required for testing, such as information about the test antenna, information about the received beam required for testing, or path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test. Thus, the test equipment and terminal can perform high-frequency multi-beam over-the-air testing to verify the beam management performance of multi-beam devices when adaptive beamforming and beam scanning are enabled, thereby improving the testing effectiveness of the over-the-air test system.

[0412] It is understood that the implementation process of each implementation method mentioned in this embodiment can refer to the relevant description of the method embodiment and achieve the same or corresponding technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0413] This application also provides a network-side device, which can be the aforementioned test device, including a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface and the processor are coupled, and the processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the steps of the above-described air interface testing method embodiment. This network-side device embodiment corresponds to the above-described network-side device method embodiment. All implementation processes and methods of the above method embodiments can be applied to this network-side device embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect.

[0414] Specifically, this application embodiment also provides a network-side device, which can be the air interface testing device shown in FIG12. As shown in FIG16, the network-side device 1600 includes: an antenna 161, a radio frequency device 162, a baseband device 163, a processor 164, and a memory 165. The antenna 161 is connected to the radio frequency device 162. In the uplink direction, the radio frequency device 162 receives information through the antenna 161 and sends the received information to the baseband device 163 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 163 processes the information to be transmitted and sends it to the radio frequency device 162. The radio frequency device 162 processes the received information and transmits it through the antenna 161.

[0415] The method executed by the network-side device in the above embodiments can be implemented in the baseband device 163, which includes a baseband processor.

[0416] The baseband device 163 may include at least one baseband board, on which multiple chips are disposed, as shown in FIG16. One of the chips is, for example, a baseband processor, which is connected to the memory 165 via a bus interface to call the program or instructions in the memory 165 to execute the network-side device operation shown in the above method embodiment.

[0417] The network-side device may also include a network interface 166, such as a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI).

[0418] The processor 164 is used to acquire first information, which includes at least one of the following: relevant information of the test antenna, relevant information of the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test; the radio frequency device 162 is used to send a first test signal to the device under test based on the first information obtained by the processor 164.

[0419] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the aforementioned test antenna includes at least one of the following: the number of test antennas; the transmission gain of each test antenna in at least one direction.

[0420] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned emission gain includes at least one emission gain in a polarization direction.

[0421] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the test antenna is obtained through at least one of the following: measured by an air interface test device; provided by the test antenna manufacturer; or the transmission coefficient between the input and output ports of the signal in the device under test.

[0422] In one possible implementation, the relevant information of the received beams required for the above test includes at least one of the following: the number of received beams required for the test; the receive gain of each received beam required for the test in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna.

[0423] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned receiver gain includes at least one receiver gain in a polarization direction.

[0424] In one possible implementation, the relevant information about the received beam required for the above test is obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; reported by the device under test; or provided by the manufacturer of the device under test.

[0425] In one possible implementation, the path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test is obtained through at least one of the following: as specified in the protocol; provided by the manufacturer of the air interface test device; measured by the air interface test device; or determined autonomously by the air interface test device.

[0426] In one possible implementation, the aforementioned processor 164 is also used to enable at least one test antenna.

[0427] In one possible implementation, the processor 164 is also configured to control the device under test to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of at least one received beam.

[0428] In one possible implementation, the first test signal is obtained based on at least one of the following: a calibration factor, which is obtained based on first information; the transmitter characteristics corresponding to the air interface test device; the receiver characteristics corresponding to the device under test; a first channel characteristic, which is a channel characteristic that does not consider the receiver characteristics and transmitter device characteristics; the speed characteristics of the device under test; and the original test signal generated by the air interface test device.

[0429] In one possible implementation, the above calibration factor is obtained based on the first information, including:

[0430] When the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a single value, the calibration factor is obtained based on the reciprocal of the total link gain;

[0431] When the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a matrix, the calibration factor is obtained based on the inverse matrix or pseudo-inverse matrix of the total link gain.

[0432] The total link gain is obtained based on the first information.

[0433] In one possible implementation, the processor 164 is further configured to perform at least one of the following based on the first information: change the transmitter characteristics corresponding to the air interface test device; change the receiver characteristics corresponding to the device under test; change the calibration factor corresponding to the receiver beam scan performed by the device under test; change the first channel characteristics, wherein the first channel characteristics are channel characteristics that do not consider the receiver characteristics and transmitter characteristics; change the speed characteristics of the device under test; generate an original test signal; and change the enabled test antenna.

[0434] In addition, the network-side device 1600 of this application embodiment also includes: a program or instructions stored in a memory 165 and executable on a processor 164. The processor 164 calls the program or instructions in the memory 165 to execute the methods executed by each module shown in FIG12 and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described in detail here.

[0435] This application also provides a readable storage medium storing a program or instructions. When the program or instructions are executed by a processor, they implement the various processes of the above-described air interface testing method embodiments and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, they will not be described again here.

[0436] The processor mentioned above is either the processor in the terminal described in the above embodiments or the processor in the network-side device. The readable storage medium includes computer-readable storage media, such as computer read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk, or optical disk. In some examples, the readable storage medium may be a non-transient readable storage medium.

[0437] It is understandable that the aforementioned network-side devices can be network-side devices simulated by a network-side device simulator.

[0438] This application embodiment also provides a chip, which includes a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface is coupled to the processor. The processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the various processes of the above-described air interface testing method embodiments and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0439] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as a system-on-a-chip, system chip, chip system, or system-on-a-chip, etc.

[0440] This application also provides a computer program / program product, which is stored in a storage medium and executed by at least one processor to implement the various processes of the above-described air interface testing method embodiments, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0441] This application also provides a wireless communication system, which can be the above-described air interface test system, including: a terminal and a network-side device. The terminal can be used to perform the steps on the device under test side in the air interface test method described above, and the network-side device can be used to perform the steps on the test device side in the air interface test method described above.

[0442] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes that element. Furthermore, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatuses in the embodiments of this application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, but may also include performing functions substantially simultaneously or in the reverse order, depending on the functions involved. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Additionally, features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0443] From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods of the above embodiments can be implemented by means of computer software products plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms, and of course, they can also be implemented by hardware. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM, RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc.), and the computer software product includes several instructions to cause the terminal or network-side device to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of this application.

[0444] The embodiments of this application have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this application is not limited to the specific embodiments described above. The specific embodiments described above are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Those skilled in the art can make many other implementations under the guidance of this application without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims. All of these implementations are within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. An over-the-air testing method, comprising: The test equipment acquires first information, which includes at least one of the following: relevant information of the test antenna, relevant information of the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test; The testing equipment sends a first test signal to the device under test based on the first information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The relevant information of the test antenna includes at least one of the following: The number of test antennas; The transmit gain of each test antenna in at least one direction.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The emission gain includes emission gain in at least one polarization direction.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, The relevant information of the test antenna is obtained through at least one of the following: The test equipment measures; The test antenna was provided by the manufacturer. The transmission coefficient between the input port and the output port of the signal in the device under test.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, The relevant information for the received beam required for the test includes at least one of the following: The number of receiving beams required for the test; The required receive gain for each receive beam in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, The receiving gain includes at least one receiving gain in a polarization direction.

7. The method of any one of claims 1, 5, or 6, wherein, The relevant information about the received beam required for the test is obtained based on at least one of the following: The agreement stipulates; The device under test reports; The manufacturer of the device under test is responsible for providing the information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, The path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test is obtained through at least one of the following: The agreement stipulates; The testing equipment is provided by the corresponding manufacturer; The test equipment measures; The testing equipment is determined autonomously.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein, The method further includes: The test equipment enables at least one test antenna.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The method further includes: The test equipment controls the device under test to perform at least one adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of the receiving beam.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein, The first test signal is obtained based on at least one of the following: A calibration factor, which is obtained based on the first information; The characteristics of the transmitter corresponding to the test equipment; The characteristics of the receiving end of the device under test; The first channel characteristic is a channel characteristic that does not consider the characteristics of the receiver and the characteristics of the transmitter equipment. The speed characteristics of the device under test; The original test signal generated by the test equipment.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, The calibration factor is obtained based on the first information and includes: When the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a single value, the calibration factor is obtained based on the reciprocal of the total link gain; When the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a matrix, the calibration factor is obtained based on the inverse matrix or pseudo-inverse matrix of the total link gain. The total link gain is obtained based on the first information.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein, The method further includes: Based on the first information, the test equipment performs at least one of the following: Change the characteristics of the transmitter corresponding to the test equipment; Change the characteristics of the receiver corresponding to the device under test; Change the calibration factor corresponding to the receiving beam scan performed by the device under test; Change the first channel characteristic, which is a channel characteristic that does not consider the characteristics of the receiver and the characteristics of the transmitter equipment; Change the speed characteristics of the device under test; Generate the original test signal; Change the enabled test antenna.

14. An over-the-air testing method, comprising: The device under test receives the first test signal from the test equipment; The device under test performs test-related operations based on the first test signal; The first test signal is obtained based on first information, which includes at least one of the following: relevant information of the test antenna, relevant information of the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test. The test-related operations include at least one of the following: The fixed receiving beam remains unchanged; Beam scanning of at least one receiving beam; Measurement of test signals; Reporting of test metrics.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein, The relevant information of the test antenna includes at least one of the following: The number of test antennas; The transmit gain of each test antenna in at least one direction.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein, The relevant information of the test antenna is obtained through at least one of the following: The test equipment measured the following; The test antenna was provided by the manufacturer. The transmission coefficient between the input and output ports of the signal in the device under test.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein, The relevant information for the received beam required for the test includes at least one of the following: The number of receiving beams required for the test; The required receive gain for each receive beam in the direction corresponding to at least one test antenna.

18. The method of claim 14 or 17, wherein, The relevant information about the received beam required for the test is obtained through at least one of the following: The agreement stipulates; The device under test reports; The manufacturer of the device under test is responsible for providing the information.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein, The path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test is obtained through at least one of the following: The agreement stipulates; The testing equipment is provided by the corresponding manufacturer; The test equipment measured the following; The testing equipment is determined autonomously.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, wherein, The method further includes: The device under test performs adaptive beamforming or beam scanning on K received beams; or... The device under test uses a fixed receiving beam; Where K is a positive integer.

21. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, wherein, The method further includes: The device under test changes the activated receiving beam.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein, The difference between the beam direction after the enabled receiving beam is changed and the beam direction before the enabled receiving beam is changed is less than or equal to a first threshold.

23. The method of any one of claims 14 to 22, wherein, The receiving beam activated by the device under test meets the first condition; The first condition includes at least one of the following: The beam direction of the receiving beam is within the first direction range; The signal quality received by the receiving beam meets the threshold condition; The sequence number of the receiving beam is within the first sequence range.

24. An air interface testing method performed by an air interface testing system, the air interface testing system comprising at least a testing device and a device under test, the method comprising: The test equipment acquires first information, which includes at least one of the following: relevant information about the test antenna, relevant information about the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test. The testing equipment sends a first test signal to the device under test based on the first information; The device under test performs test-related operations based on the first test signal; The test-related operations include at least one of the following: The fixed receiving beam remains unchanged; Beam scanning of at least one receiving beam; Measurement of test signals; Reporting of test metrics.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein, The test equipment activates at least one test antenna and controls the device under test to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of at least one received beam; or, The test equipment enables at least one test antenna, and the device under test enables a fixed receiving beam.

26. The method according to claim 24 or 25, wherein, The first test signal is obtained based on at least one of the following: The calibration factor is obtained based on the first information; The characteristics of the transmitter corresponding to the test equipment; The characteristics of the receiving end of the device under test; The first channel characteristic is a channel characteristic that does not consider the characteristics of the receiver and the characteristics of the transmitter equipment. The speed characteristics of the device under test; The original test signal generated by the test equipment.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein, The calibration factor is obtained based on the first information and includes: When the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a single value, the calibration factor is obtained based on the reciprocal of the total link gain; When the total link gain between the test antenna and the receiving beam required for the test is a matrix, the calibration factor is obtained based on the inverse matrix or pseudo-inverse matrix of the total link gain. The total link gain is obtained based on the first information.

28. The method according to any one of claims 24 to 27, wherein, The method further includes: Based on the first information, the test equipment performs at least one of the following: Change the characteristics of the transmitter corresponding to the test equipment; Change the characteristics of the receiver corresponding to the device under test; Change the calibration factor corresponding to the receiving beam scan performed by the device under test; Change the first channel characteristic, which is a channel characteristic that does not consider the characteristics of the receiver and the characteristics of the transmitter equipment; Change the speed characteristics of the device under test; Generate the original test signal; Change the enabled test antenna.

29. The method of any one of claims 24 to 28, wherein, The method further includes: The device under test changes the activated receiving beam.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein, The difference between the beam direction after the enabled receiving beam is changed and the beam direction before the enabled receiving beam is changed is less than or equal to a first threshold.

31. The method according to any one of claims 24 to 30, wherein, The receiving beam activated by the device under test meets the first condition; The first condition includes at least one of the following: The beam direction of the receiving beam is within the first direction range; The signal quality received by the receiving beam meets the threshold condition; The receiving beam number is within the first sequence range.

32. An air interface testing device, comprising: Processing module and sending module; The processing module is configured to acquire first information, the first information including at least one of the following: relevant information of the test antenna, relevant information of the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the device under test; The sending module is used to send a first test signal to the device under test based on the first information obtained by the processing module.

33. The apparatus according to any one of claims 32, wherein, The processing module is also used to enable at least one test antenna.

34. The apparatus according to claim 32 or 33, wherein, The processing module is also used to control the device under test to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of at least one received beam.

35. The apparatus according to any one of claims 32 to 34, wherein, The processing module is further configured to perform at least one of the following based on the first information: Change the characteristics of the transmitter corresponding to the air interface test device; Change the characteristics of the receiver corresponding to the device under test; Change the calibration factor corresponding to the receiving beam scan performed by the device under test; Change the first channel characteristic, which is a channel characteristic that does not consider the characteristics of the receiver and the characteristics of the transmitter equipment; Change the speed characteristics of the device under test; Generate the original test signal; Change the enabled test antenna.

36. An air interface testing device, comprising: Receive module and processing module; The receiving module is used to receive a first test signal from the test equipment; The processing module is used to perform test-related operations based on the first test signal received by the receiving module; The first test signal is obtained based on first information, which includes at least one of the following: relevant information of the test antenna, relevant information of the receiving beam required for the test, and path loss information between the test antenna and the air interface test device. The test-related operations include at least one of the following: The fixed receiving beam remains unchanged; Beam scanning of at least one receiving beam; Measurement of test signals; Reporting of test metrics.

37. The apparatus according to claim 36, wherein, The processing module is also used to perform adaptive beamforming or beam scanning of the K received beams; or, The processing module is also used to enable a fixed receiving beam; Where K is a positive integer.

38. The apparatus according to claim 36 or 37, wherein, The processing module is also used to change the enabled receiving beam.

39. A network-side device, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implementing the steps of the air interface testing method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13.

40. A terminal comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing a program or instructions executable on the processor, the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implementing the steps of the air interface testing method as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 23.

41. A readable storage medium storing a program or instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement the air interface testing method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13, or the air interface testing method as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 23, or the steps of the air interface testing method as claimed in any one of claims 24 to 31.

42. A computer program product stored in a storage medium, the computer program product being executed by at least one processor to implement the air interface testing method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13, or to implement the air interface testing method as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 23, or to implement the steps of the air interface testing method as claimed in any one of claims 24 to 31.

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