Receive Beam Pre-Refinement Using Predicted Future Channel States
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communications systems face challenges with signal attenuation and blockage due to dynamic environments, leading to outdated receive beam refinement that can result in beam failures and reduced performance, particularly in extended reality scenarios with high throughput traffic.
Innovation Solution
Network assistance is provided to predict channel characteristics for future time occasions, allowing pre-processing of downlink reference signals to refine receive beams that are more suitable for later times, even with changing conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If receive beam refinement is performed using conventional methods at the current time, then the beam alignment is optimized for current channel conditions, but the beam becomes outdated and fails when channel conditions change in dynamic environments
Solution Approach 1:
The network entity performs channel characteristic prediction in advance for future time occasions, and applies pre-processing to reference signals before transmission. This preliminary action allows the UE to refine receive beams using predicted future channel characteristics, making the beam alignment valid for the future time when it is actually needed, rather than being outdated by the time of use
Solution Approach 2:
The network entity acts as an intermediary by predicting channel characteristics and applying pre-processing to reference signals. The predicted channel characteristics serve as an intermediary representation of future channel states, allowing the UE to prepare receive beams in advance without requiring real-time channel knowledge at the future time occasion
2Reliability
If beam refinement is performed frequently to maintain accuracy in dynamic environments, then beam performance improves, but system complexity and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The network entity serves as an intermediary that performs channel prediction and pre-processing, offloading the complexity from the UE. The UE simply measures pre-processed reference signals and applies receive characteristics, while the complex channel prediction and pre-processing operations are performed by the network entity with access to historical channel data and prediction algorithms
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the temporal parameter of channel characteristic acquisition from real-time (at the moment of use) to advance prediction (before the time of use). This parameter change allows beam refinement to be performed at the first time occasion for a second future time occasion, reducing the frequency of beam refinement operations while maintaining accuracy
Data Source
AI summary
Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for predictive receive beam pre-refinement with network assistance. An example method, performed by a network entity, may include predicting, prior to a first time occasion, channel characteristics for a second time occasion that occurs after the first time occasion, outputting, for transmission to a user equipment (UE) at the first time occasion, one or more channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) with pre-processing based on the channel characteristics predicted for the second time occasion, and outputting, for transmission to the UE, a downlink channel or reference signal at the second time occasion.