PUCCH Coverage Enhancement via Multi-Port Transmission
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In the context of 5G wireless communication systems, the next generation wireless communication system (NR) faces challenges in maintaining adequate uplink coverage due to higher carrier frequencies, leading to path-loss issues, particularly with the short and long physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) formats, which affect the quality of service and require enhanced coverage techniques.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of multiple port transmissions for PUCCH, where different resources in code, frequency, and time domains are allocated across multiple antenna ports, along with interleaved mapping and the use of space-frequency block codes, to exploit transmit diversity and spatial diversity, improving coverage by optimizing resource allocation and sequence hopping for PUCCH formats 0 to 4.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If higher carrier frequencies are used in NR systems, then data transmission speed and capacity are improved, but path-loss increases leading to degraded uplink coverage
Solution Approach 1:
The PUCCH transmission is segmented across multiple antenna ports (port 0 and port 1) with different resource allocations. Format 3 PUCCH is transmitted on port 0 with interlaced mapping, while Format 4 PUCCH is transmitted on port 1 with non-interlaced mapping, allowing diversity in resource usage to combat frequency-specific path-loss
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces spatial dimension by utilizing multiple antenna ports for PUCCH transmission. Instead of relying solely on frequency resources, the system now exploits spatial diversity through multi-port transmission, where different PUCCH formats are mapped to different antenna ports to improve coverage reliability
2Reliability
If multiple antenna ports are used for PUCCH transmission, then coverage is enhanced through diversity, but resource allocation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Different PUCCH formats are assigned different mapping characteristics suited to their specific requirements. Format 3 uses interlaced mapping which provides frequency diversity, while Format 4 uses non-interlaced mapping for contiguous resource allocation. Each antenna port has optimized resource allocation patterns tailored to the specific PUCCH format being transmitted
Solution Approach 2:
The multiple antenna port configuration serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides transmit diversity for coverage enhancement, enables spatial multiplexing for increased capacity, and allows flexible resource allocation across different PUCCH formats. The same multi-port infrastructure supports both Format 3 and Format 4 transmissions with different mapping patterns
Data Source
AI summary
Among other things, some embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to coverage enhancement techniques for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). Specifically, the PUCCH may be transmitted from two or more antenna ports of a user equipment (UE) based on configuration information received from a base station. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or claimed.