Adapting Wireless Communications Upon Channel Unreliability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Wireless communication systems face challenges in maintaining reliable connections while minimizing power consumption, as using multiple antennas for improved reliability increases hardware requirements and processing demands, leading to higher power consumption and shorter battery life.
Innovation Solution
User equipment (UEs) are enabled to adapt wireless communications by switching to different antenna configurations and bandwidth parts upon identifying channel unreliability events, allowing for improved reliability while reducing power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If higher quantities of Tx and Rx antennas are used to improve transmission reliability, then the reliability of uplink and downlink transmissions is improved, but power consumption increases and battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic antenna configuration switching where the UE adapts between different antenna configurations (e.g., 2Tx4Rx, 4Tx4Rx, 8Tx8Rx) based on real-time channel conditions. When channel quality is good, the UE uses lower-power configurations; when channel quality degrades, the UE switches to higher-power configurations to maintain reliability. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction by making antenna usage flexible rather than static.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of antenna configuration (number of transmit and receive antennas) based on channel quality indicators. The network configures multiple antenna configurations with different power consumption characteristics, and the UE switches between them by changing the activation state of specific antenna groups. This parameter change allows the system to optimize the trade-off between transmission reliability and power consumption.
2Reliability
If higher quantities of Tx and Rx antennas are used to improve transmission reliability, then the reliability of uplink and downlink transmissions is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic switching between different antenna configurations, allowing the UE to activate only the necessary number of antennas based on current channel conditions. Instead of permanently deploying high-complexity 8Tx8Rx hardware, the system dynamically activates subsets of antennas (e.g., switching from 8Tx8Rx to 2Tx4Rx when channel quality is good), thereby reducing the effective hardware complexity while maintaining the capability to achieve high reliability when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the antenna array into multiple configurable groups that can be independently activated or deactivated. The UE is configured with multiple antenna configurations, each representing a different segmentation pattern of the total antenna resources. By switching between these segmented configurations, the system can reduce device complexity by activating only the minimal necessary antenna subsets for current communication requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A user equipment (UE) may be configured to communicating a first message with a base station in accordance with a first antenna configuration, a first set of resources, or both. The UE may transmit capability signaling indicating a capability of the UE to adjust the first antenna configuration, the first set of resources, or both, for channel reliability management. The UE may receive, based on the capability signaling, control signaling indicating one or more parameters for channel unreliability event detection associated with a downlink channel between the base station and the UE. The UE may then communicate a second message with the base station in accordance with a second antenna configuration, a second set of resources, or both, based at least in part on a channel unreliability event detected in accordance with the one or more parameters.