Antenna Beamforming FIFO Buffer for Cyclic-Prefix Beam Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
In fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) millimeter wave antenna arrays, changing the direction of the beam requires transmitting large amounts of data to the beamforming integrated circuit, making the process time-consuming due to the need for serial data transmission and GPIO control.
Innovation Solution
An antenna device with a beamforming circuit that includes a temporary storage circuit with a first-in-first-out region to store beam indices, allowing the processor to sequentially read and set the beam direction using a first processing interface, reducing the beam sweep time to be less than or equal to the cycle prefix time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the processor transmits beam direction data through the serial peripheral interface to the beamforming integrated circuit, then the beam direction can be set, but the process takes a lot of time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-storing beam index information in the first-in-first-out region of the beamforming circuit before actual beam switching is needed. This allows the beam direction data to be ready in advance, eliminating the need for time-consuming serial transmission during beam switching operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the necessary beam index information from the complete beam data and stores it in the FIFO region. This extracted minimal data set can be quickly read and applied, avoiding the need to transmit large amounts of beam direction data through the serial peripheral interface during beam switching.
2Productivity
If the complete beam index is transmitted through the serial peripheral interface and controlled through GPIO, then the beam switching can be achieved, but it requires a lot of time to complete the setting process
Solution Approach 1:
The beam indices are pre-loaded into the first-in-first-out region before beam switching operations. This preliminary action ensures that when beam switching is required, the beamforming circuit can immediately read the next beam index from the FIFO without waiting for serial data transmission, thus improving beam switching speed while reducing configuration time.
Solution Approach 2:
The first-in-first-out region acts as an intermediary buffer between the processor and the beamforming circuit. It stores beam indices locally, allowing the beamforming circuit to quickly access beam switching information without requiring continuous communication with the processor through the serial peripheral interface and GPIO, thereby accelerating beam switching operations.
Data Source
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AI summary
An antenna device is provided, which includes an antenna array, a beamforming circuit and a processor. The beamforming circuit is connected to the antenna array, where the beamforming circuit is used for controlling the antenna array to perform beamforming, where the beamforming circuit includes a temporary storage circuit, where the temporary storage circuit includes a first-in-first-out region, and the first-in-first-out region stores multiple beam indices. The processor is connected to the beamforming circuit, where the processor is used for controlling the beamforming circuit through a first processing interface to sequentially read the multiple beam indexes by a first-in-first-out method, and set a direction of a beam of the antenna array according to the read beam index, where the read beam index corresponds to the direction of the beam of the antenna array. In addition, a beam control method is also disclosed herein.