Channel identification in a MIMO telecommunications system

• US 10,396,956 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2016
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommScope Technologies, LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CommScope Technologies, LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Li, Zhao
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamza, Faruk
• Assistant Examiner(s): Haque, Abusayeed M
• Application Number:
  US15/549,057
• Publication Number:
  US 20180026760A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,309 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/0079 Acquisition of downlink reference signals, e.g. detection of cell-ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/26 Systems using multi-frequency codes H04L27/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2613 Structure of the reference signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/26136 Pilot sequence conveying additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2655 Synchronisation arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2692 with preamble design, i.e. with negotiation of the synchronisation sequence with transmitter or sequence linked to the algorithm used at the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/005 of common pilots, i.e. pilots destined for multiple users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

A channel identification system and method are provided to automatically identify ports of a base station (e.g., an eNodeB) to route downlink signals to appropriate access points in a telecommunication system. Primary and secondary synchronization signals may be identified in the downlink signals transmitted by the base station. A broadcast channel may be decoded for a downlink signal including the primary and secondary synchronization signals. Signal information may be used to extract a first cell-specific reference signal and generate a second cell-specific reference signal corresponding to one or more ports of the base station. The first and second cell-specific reference signals may be correlated to verify the identity of the channel corresponding to the ports of the base station.

Claims

1. A channel identification system for a MIMO telecommunication system wirelessly communicating with terminal devices, comprising:

an interface device communicatively couplable to a first port and a second port of a base station for receiving downlink signals on channels corresponding to the first port and the second port; and

a processing device disposed in the MIMO telecommunication system, wherein the processing device is couplable to the interface device and has instructions that are executable by the processing device and are configured to cause the processing device to;

decode a broadcast channel for a signal of the downlink signals having an embedded synchronization signal;

extract a first cell-specific reference signal from one of;

(a) a first downlink signal of the downlink signals that does not include the embedded synchronization signal or (b) a second downlink signal of the downlink signals that includes the embedded synchronization signal and is associated with a secondary channel of the channels;

generate a second cell-specific reference signal using signal information from at least one of the downlink signals; and

determine a channel identification corresponding to at least one channel of the channels by correlating the first cell-specific reference signal and the second cell-specific reference signal.

2. The channel identification system of claim 1, wherein the processing device includes a memory device having instructions executable by the processing device for causing the processing device to extract the first cell-specific reference signal using a cell identifier, a cyclic prefix, a slot number, a symbol number, or a port number corresponding to a sample of the first downlink signal or the second downlink signal.

3. The channel identification system of claim 1, further including a memory device for storing digital samples of the downlink signals useable by the processing device to generate the second cell-specific reference signal.

4. The channel identification system of claim 1, wherein the processing device includes a memory device having instructions executable by the processing device for causing the processing device to generate the second cell-specific reference signal using a cell identifier, a cyclic prefix, a slot number, a symbol number, or a port number corresponding to a stored sample of at least one of the downlink signals.

5. The channel identification system of claim 1, wherein the processing device includes at least a field-programmable gate array communicatively coupled to the interface device and configured to synchronously capture samples of the downlink signals received from the base station.

6. The channel identification system of claim 1, wherein the processing device includes at least a measurement receiver positionable to receive samples of the downlink signals received from the base station and configured to identify a primary synchronization signal and a secondary synchronization signal embedded in at least one of the downlink signals.

7. The channel identification system of claim 1, wherein the processing device is disposed in a head-end unit of the MIMO telecommunication system.

8. A multiple-input, multiple output telecommunication system, comprising:

a head-end unit communicatively couplable to a first port and a second port of a base station for receiving downlink signals via channels corresponding to the first port and the second port, the head-end unit being configured to;

identify a synchronization signal embedded in at least one of the downlink signals;

decode a broadcast channel for the at least one of the downlink signals having an embedded synchronization signal to determine a total number of ports transmitting the downlink signals;

extract a first cell-specific reference signal from one of (a) a first downlink signal of the downlink signals that does not include the embedded synchronization signal or (b) a second downlink signal of the downlink signals that includes the embedded synchronization signal and is associated with a secondary channel of the channels;

generate a second cell-specific reference signal using signal information from the at least one of the downlink signals; and

determine a channel identification for each of the channels by correlating the first cell-specific reference signal and the second cell-specific reference signal; and

one or more access points communicatively couplable to the head-end unit to receive the downlink signals and channel properties of the base station corresponding to the channel identification.

9. The multiple-input, multiple output telecommunication system of claim 8, wherein the head-end unit includes two ports positionable in the multiple-input, multiple output telecommunication system to receive the downlink signals from two base station ports.

10. The multiple-input, multiple output telecommunication system of claim 8, wherein the head-end unit includes four ports positionable in the multiple-input, multiple output telecommunication system to receive the downlink signals from four base station ports.

11. The multiple-input, multiple output telecommunication system of claim 8, wherein the head-end unit includes:

a processing device; and

a memory device having instructions executable by the processing device for causing the processing device to extract the first cell-specific reference signal using a cell identifier, a cyclic prefix, a slot number, a symbol number, or a port number corresponding to a sample of the first downlink signal or the second downlink signal.

12. The multiple-input, multiple output telecommunication system of claim 8, wherein the head-end unit includes:

a processing device; and

a memory device having instructions executable by the processing device for causing the processing device to generate the second cell-specific reference signal using the signal information, the signal information including one or more of a cell identifier, a cyclic prefix, a slot number, a symbol number, or a port number.

13. The multiple-input, multiple output telecommunication system of claim 8, wherein the head-end unit includes an interface device configured to receive the downlink signals and generate digital samples of the downlink signals.

14. The multiple-input, multiple output telecommunication system of claim 13, wherein the head-end unit includes:

a processing device for which instructions executable by the processing device are configured to cause the processing device to synchronously capture the digital samples of the downlink signals; and

a memory device for storing the digital samples of the downlink signals.

15. A method, wherein the method is performed by a MIMO telecommunication system wirelessly communicating with terminal devices, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of signals from ports of a base station, the ports corresponding to at least a primary channel and a secondary channel;

synchronously capturing digital samples of the plurality of signals; and

decoding a broadcast channel based on a location of an embedded synchronization signal;

extracting a first cell-specific reference signal from a signal of the plurality of signals, the signal including one of (a) a first signal having the embedded synchronization signal and received via the secondary channel or (b) a second signal that does not have the embedded synchronization signal;

generating a second cell-specific reference signal using signal information from at least one of the plurality of signals; and

determining a channel identification corresponding to a port of the base station by correlating the first cell-specific reference signal and the second cell-specific reference signal.

16. The method of claim 15, further including:

identifying one or more primary or secondary synchronization signals subsequent to down-sampling the plurality of signals; and

re-identifying the one or more primary or secondary synchronization signals in a stored sample of the first signal or the second signal at a full sampling rate.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein generating the second cell-specific reference signal includes using a cell identifier, a cyclic prefix, a slot number, a symbol number, or a port number corresponding to a stored sample of the one of the plurality of signals.