Blockage Sensor Assisted Beam Management for Wireless UEs
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communication systems face challenges in efficiently managing beams due to blockages, which can lead to reduced communication quality and increased power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for a user equipment (UE) to monitor antennas, identify blockages using a blockage sensor, and perform a beam search with adjusted weights and tracking opportunities based on the identified blockages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the UE performs continuous beam monitoring and tracking opportunities on all antennas, then beam management accuracy is maintained, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The UE performs preliminary blockage detection using blockage sensors (e.g., proximity sensors, cameras) before conducting beam monitoring. When a blockage is detected in advance, the UE preemptively adjusts beam tracking opportunities, avoiding unnecessary power consumption while maintaining beam management accuracy for unblocked antennas.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the frequency and number of beam tracking opportunities based on real-time blockage detection results. When blockages are detected, the UE reduces tracking opportunities for affected antennas and reallocates resources to unblocked antennas, creating a dynamic balance between reliability and power consumption.
2Reliability
If the UE performs frequent beam searches to maintain communication quality, then communication reliability improves, but latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The blockage sensor performs preliminary detection of potential blockages before they significantly impact communication. This early warning allows the UE to prepare alternative beams or adjust tracking opportunities in advance, reducing the need for frequent emergency beam searches and thereby lowering latency while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
When a blockage is detected on certain antennas, the UE skips beam tracking opportunities for those blocked antennas and concentrates resources on unblocked antennas. This skipping approach avoids wasting time on futile measurements while maintaining communication reliability through alternative paths.
3Reliability
If the UE monitors all antennas equally, then beam management completeness is maintained, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The UE applies different monitoring strategies to different antennas based on local blockage conditions. Instead of uniform monitoring, the system identifies which antennas are blocked and which are not, then tailors beam tracking opportunities accordingly. This local differentiation maintains overall beam management completeness while reducing complexity by focusing resources where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The beam management system is segmented into blocked and unblocked antenna groups. The UE separately manages tracking opportunities for each group, applying simplified logic to blocked antennas (reduced or no tracking) and standard logic to unblocked antennas. This segmentation reduces overall system complexity by dividing the monitoring task into manageable subsets.
Data Source
AI summary
Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may transmit a monitoring signal associated with one or more antennas. The UE may identify, based at least in part on the monitoring signal, a blockage associated with the one or more antennas. The UE may perform a beam search using a decreased frequency of occurrence of tracking occasions for the one or more antennas based at least in part on the identification of the blockage associated with the one or more antennas. Numerous other aspects are provided.