Method and apparatus for generating reference signal in analog/digital mixed BF system

• US 10,320,540 B2
• Filed: 12/24/2016
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Tae-Young, Han, Shuangfeng, Park, Jeong-Ho
• Primary Examiner(s): Han, Clemence S
• Application Number:
  US15/390,477
• Publication Number:
  US 20170111149A1
• Time in Patent Office: 899 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0634 Antenna weights or vector/matrix coefficients
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

A millimeter radio wave communication system. In a method for operating a base station (BS) in an analog/digital mixed BF system, an analog BF direction is determined. A digital BF precoder is determined for the determined analog BF direction. Digital BF precoding is performed using the digital BF precoder with respect to the determined analog BF direction. A DownLink Reference Signal (DL RS) is transmitted in the analog BF direction on which the digital BF precoding has been performed.

Claims

1. A base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising:

at least one processor configured to identify an analog beamforming (BF) direction;

a digital BF unit configured to generate precoded signals by precoding a plurality of downlink reference signals (DL RSs);

a plurality of radio frequency (RF) chains coupled to the digital BF unit, configured to apply the analog BF direction to the precoded signals; and

a plurality of antenna elements subsets respectively coupled to each of the plurality of RF chains, each of the plurality of antenna elements subsets is configured to transmit the precoded signals on a plurality of subcarriers in the analog BF direction.

2. The base station of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of RF chains comprises a phase shifter configured to apply the analog BF direction to the precoded signals by modifying phases of each of the precoded signals.

3. The base station of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

apply a power boost factor to each of the plurality of DL RSs; and

transmit information for the applied power boost factor.

4. The base station of claim 1, wherein the plurality of antenna elements subsets are further configured to receive, from a terminal, feedback information for channel estimation performed based on the transmitted precoded signals.

5. The base station of claim 1, wherein the precoded signals are generated by precoding the plurality of DL RSs based on a plurality of digital BF precoders.

6. The base station of claim 5, wherein the plurality of antenna elements subsets are further configured to:

receive information for indicating a digital BF precoder among the plurality of digital BF precoders; and

transmit data precoded by the digital BF unit based on the digital BF precoder.

7. A terminal in a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising:

a plurality of antenna elements subsets configured to receive a plurality of downlink reference signals (DL RSs);

a plurality of radio frequency (RF) chains respectively coupled to each of the plurality of antenna elements subsets, the plurality of RF chains are configured to apply an analog beamforming (BF) direction to the plurality of DL RSs; and

a digital BF unit coupled to the plurality of RF chains, the digital BF unit is configured to perform a post precoding for each of the plurality of DL RSs,

wherein the plurality of DL RSs are received on a plurality of subcarriers in an identified analog BF direction.

8. The terminal of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of RF chains comprises a phase shifter configured to apply the analog BF direction to the plurality of DL RSs by modifying phases of each of the plurality of DL RSs.

9. The terminal of claim 7, further comprising at least one processor configured to:

perform channel estimation based on the plurality of DL RSs; and

transmit feedback information for the channel estimation.

10. The terminal of claim 9, wherein the feedback information comprises at least one of an analog BF direction or a digital BF subcarrier index identified based on the performed channel estimation.

11. The terminal of claim 7, wherein the plurality of antenna elements subsets are further configured to receive, from a base station, information for a power boost factor applied to each of the plurality of DL RSs.

12. The terminal of claim 7, wherein the plurality of DL RSs are precoded based on a plurality of digital BF precoders.

13. The terminal of claim 12, further comprising at least one processor configured to:

identify a digital BF precoder among the plurality of digital BF precoders based on the plurality of DL RSs, and

transmit, to a base station, information comprising the identified digital BF precoder.