Multi-Source Beam Selection for Faster Wireless Initial Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless network initial access methods involving exhaustive directional scans or iterative beam refinement are lengthy and inefficient, especially for multi-source antenna arrays serving multiple user devices.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing a multi-source antenna array with subsets of elementary antennas that iteratively refine beam width and direction, starting with wide beams and progressively narrowing them, guided by user equipment feedback to quickly establish optimal beam alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If an exhaustive directional scan is performed to test all possible beam directions, then beam alignment accuracy is improved, but the duration of the initial access phase increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The angular space is divided into multiple discrete directions, and the beam selection process is segmented into multiple stages. In each stage, only a subset of directions is scanned, progressively narrowing down to the optimal beam direction. This segmentation reduces the total number of beams that need to be tested compared to exhaustive scanning.
Solution Approach 2:
The method performs preliminary beam scanning in a reduced set of directions before finalizing beam selection. By pre-identifying candidate directions and narrowing the search space in advance, the system avoids performing exhaustive scans, thus reducing access time while maintaining alignment accuracy.
2Reliability
If iterative beam refinement is used to establish a strong link, then connection reliability is improved, but the initial access phase remains lengthy
Solution Approach 1:
The iterative refinement process is segmented into multiple stages, where each stage scans a progressively smaller set of beam directions. This staged approach maintains connection reliability by systematically refining beam selection while reducing the time spent in each iteration compared to traditional methods.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of performing complete iterative refinement for all possible beam directions, the method applies partial action by limiting the refinement process to a reduced set of candidate directions identified in previous stages. This partial refinement achieves sufficient connection reliability without the full time cost of exhaustive iterative scanning.
3Productivity
If multiple beams are transmitted simultaneously to serve multiple user devices, then system capacity is improved, but the beam selection complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The multi-user beam selection process is segmented into independent stage-based procedures for each user device. Each device undergoes the same staged beam selection process independently, allowing parallel processing while maintaining manageable complexity through the standardized stage structure.
Solution Approach 2:
For multiple user devices, the system applies partial beam scanning in each stage rather than exhaustive scanning. This reduces the computational complexity per device while maintaining system capacity, as the reduced search space can be efficiently processed for multiple users simultaneously.
Data Source
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AI summary
This description relates to a method for selecting beams from a base station (BS) to user equipment (UE1, UE2), the base station (BS) comprising a multi-source antenna array comprising subsets of elementary antennas, the method comprising the steps of emitting, by each subset of elementary antennas in successive stages, a beam, all beams having the same beamwidth, and, for each subset of elementary antennas, all beams emitted by said subset of elementary antennas pointing in directions different from each other and different from the directions of the first beams emitted by each other subset of elementary antennas;and reception by the base station (BS) of a signal emitted by each user equipment (UE1, UE2) indicating at which stage among the first stages the maximum power beam was received by said user equipment (UE1, UE2).