UE Analog Reception Precoding for Power Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing number of antennas in wireless devices, especially at higher frequency ranges like 20 GHz, leads to significant power consumption due to the processing of full digital chains.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a multi-antenna transmitting device and receiving device that employs joint Tx precoding and Rx antenna precoding/selection based on the knowledge of the full channel, reducing the number of analog Rx chains and thus lowering power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the number of antennas in wireless devices is increased to improve communication capacity, then communication capacity is improved, but power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the receive chains into analog processing and digital processing parts. Multiple antennas share common analog front-end components (LNA, filter, mixer) while maintaining separate digital baseband processing paths. This segmentation allows capacity scaling through antenna multiplication without proportionally increasing power-consuming digital chains.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple antenna signals through common analog processing components. Multiple receive signals from different antennas are combined in the analog domain using beamforming weights applied via phase shifters and attenuators, then processed together through shared LNAs, filters, and mixers, reducing the total number of discrete analog chains needed.
2Use of energy by moving object
If the number of analog Rx chains is reduced to lower power consumption, then power consumption is reduced, but capacity loss occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves processing from the analog domain to the digital domain by implementing beamforming and signal combining in the digital baseband. This allows maintaining full capacity benefits of multiple antennas while using fewer analog chains, as digital processing can handle signal combinations without requiring proportional analog hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediate digital processing stage that receives signals from reduced analog chains and performs the heavy lifting of multi-antenna signal processing. This digital intermediary reconstructs the full MIMO capacity that would otherwise require proportional analog hardware, bridging the gap between reduced analog chains and maintained capacity.
Data Source
AI summary
The apparatus may be a UE configured to obtain a configuration for an antenna identification associated with a plurality of antennas at the UE, output, for a network device and based on the configuration for the antenna identification, a set of antenna identification signals, and obtain, based on the set of antenna identification signals, analog reception combining information. The apparatus may also be configured to communicate with the network device based on the analog reception combining information. The apparatus may be a network device configured to output a configuration for an antenna identification associated with a plurality of antennas at a UE, obtain, from the UE and based on the configuration for the antenna identification, a set of antenna identification signals, and output, based on the set of antenna identification signals, analog reception combining information.