Two-Stage Beamforming for Inter-Panel Interference Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional technologies face challenges in accommodating Multi-User (MU) MIMO systems, particularly due to high implementation complexity and excessive CSI feedback overhead, as existing solutions are not designed for large array systems or panel-based architectures, leading to inefficient precoding and interference management.
Innovation Solution
The method involves dividing the base station's antenna array into panels, each serving multiple users, and performing two-stage beamforming to suppress inter-panel interference, with the UE measuring and feeding back status information to enable per-panel precoding, reducing complex calibration and feedback overhead.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the antenna array is divided into multiple panels for per-panel precoding, then the implementation complexity is reduced and feedback overhead is decreased, but inter-panel interference suppression becomes more challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The antenna array is divided into multiple independent panels, each panel processing signals separately with its own precoding operations. This segmentation reduces the overall computational complexity from O(N^3) for a full array to O(k*N^3) where k<1, while maintaining effective interference suppression through coordinated beamforming across panels.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediate coordination mechanism is introduced between panels to manage inter-panel interference. The base station collects channel state information from all panels and performs coordinated precoding design, acting as an intermediary that balances the independence of individual panels with the need for global interference management.
2Ease of operation
If conventional two-stage precoding is used for MU MIMO, then per-user processing is simplified, but it cannot accommodate large array systems or panel-based architectures effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The precoding architecture is made dynamic by allowing flexible configuration of panel structures and adaptive selection of precoding modes. The system can dynamically adjust between centralized and decentralized precoding based on channel conditions, user distribution, and hardware capabilities, enabling effective adaptation to various panel-based architectures while maintaining operational simplicity.
3Reliability
If UE-transparent CSI acquisition is used with multiple CSI-RS, then the UE can feedback multiple CSI for precoding design, but the CSI feedback overhead becomes excessively large for massive antenna arrays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential CSI components needed for panel-level precoding from the complete channel state information. Instead of feeding back full channel matrices for all antennas, the UE provides compressed CSI representations specific to each panel, extracting the most relevant information while discarding redundant data, thereby significantly reducing feedback overhead while maintaining precoding accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for performing precoding. A method disclosed comprises steps of: transmitting a CSI reference signal to a UE to request the UE to report status-related information of respective panels; acquiring, based on first feedback information from the UE, the status-related information of the respective panels whose status-related information has been measured by the UE and a serving panel selected by the UE; and performing, based on the status-related information of the respective panels and the serving panel selected by the UE, two-stage beamforming separately to the respective panels, so as to first perform decoupling to suppress inter-panel interference and then perform per-panel precoding. The disclosure offers the following advantages: effectively eliminating the inter-panel and intra-panel interference, avoiding complex inter-panel calibration, and reducing implementation complexity and CSI feedback overhead.