RANDOM PERTURBATION-BASED BEAMFORMING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20140184446A1
• Filed: 12/27/2013
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Seol, Jiyun, Park, Jeongho, Lee, Yonghoon, Kim, Minhyun, Kim, Sungjin, Hwang, Uitae
• Granted Patent: US 9,577,343 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/367
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 15/14 Reflecting surfaces; Equivalent structures electromagnetic shields H01Q1/526
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 25/00 Antennas or antenna systems providing at least two radiating patterns arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern H01Q3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/42 using two or more imbricated arrays H01Q5/49 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus configures a beamforming coefficient based on the signal strength information without collecting channel information by adjusting the phase of the antennas through random perturbation. An antenna control method of a base station in a wireless communication system using a beamforming technique includes measuring n^th received signal strength at n^th phase of at least one receive antenna, measuring (n+1)^th received signal strength at (n+1)^th phase shifted randomly from the n^th phase in one of forward and backward directions, and configuring a beamforming coefficient with the phase at which the received signal strength is greatest through comparison of received signal strengths. The random perturbation-based beamforming method and apparatus of the present disclosure is capable of configuring the beamforming coefficient appropriate for the normal cellular environment using a plurality analog array antenna without channel estimation overhead.

Claims

1. An antenna control method of a base station in a wireless communication system using a beamforming technique, the method comprising:

measuring n^th received signal strength at n^th phase of at least one receive antenna;

measuring (n+1)^th received signal strength at (n+1)^th phase shifted randomly from the n^th phase in one of forward and backward directions; and

configuring a beamforming coefficient with the phase at which the received signal strength is greatest through comparison of received signal strengths.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring of the beamforming coefficient comprises:

shifting the phase of the antenna randomly in one of the forward and backward directions until the received signal strength increases no more; and

measuring the received signal strength at every shifted phase.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the shifting of the phase of the antenna comprises determining (n+2)^th phase by shifting the (n+1)^th phase of the antenna based on the comparison result between the n^th received signal strength and the (n+1)^th received signal strength.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the shifting of the phase of the antenna comprises determining, when the n^th received signal strength is greater than the (n+1)^th received signal strength, the (n+2)^th phase after compensating the (n+1)^th phase as much as the phase shifted from the n^th phase.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at last one receive antenna comprises a plurality of receive antennas.

6. An antenna control method of a terminal in a wireless communication system using a beamforming technique, the method comprising:

measuring n^th received signal strength at n^th phase of at least one receive antenna;

measuring (n+1)^th received signal strength at (n+1)^th phase shifted randomly from the n^th phase in one of forward and backward directions; and

configuring a beamforming coefficient with the phase at which the received signal strength is greatest through comparison of received signal strengths.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the configuring of the beamforming coefficient comprises:

shifting the phase of the antenna randomly in one of the forward and backward directions until the received signal strength increases no more; and

measuring the received signal strength at every shifted phase.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the shifting of the phase of the antenna comprises determining (n+2)^th phase by shifting the (n+1)^th phase of the antenna based on the comparison result between the n^th received signal strength and the (n+1)^th received signal strength.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the shifting of the phase of the antenna comprises determining, when the n^th received signal strength is greater than the (n+1)^th received signal strength, the (n+2)^th phase after compensating the (n+1)^th phase as much as the phase shifted from the n^th phase.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the at last one receive antenna comprises a plurality of receive antennas.

11. A base station controlling antennas in a wireless communication system using a beamforming technique, the base station comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a terminal; and

a controller configured to;

control to measure n^th received signal strength at n^th phase of at least one receive antenna,

control to measure (n+1)^th received signal strength at (n+1)^th phase shifted randomly from the n^th phase in one of forward and backward directions, and

configure a beamforming coefficient with the phase at which the received signal strength is greatest through comparison of received signal strengths.

12. The base station of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to shift the phase of the antenna randomly in one of the forward and backward directions until the received signal strength increases no more and measures the received signal strength at every shifted phase.

13. The base station of claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to determine (n+2)^th phase by shifting the (n+1)^th phase of the antenna based on the comparison result between the n^th received signal strength and the (n+1)^th received signal strength.

14. The base station of claim 13, wherein the controller is further configured to determine, when the n^th received signal strength is greater than the (n+1)^th received signal strength, the (n+2)^th phase after compensating the (n+1)^th phase as much as the phase shifted from the n^th phase.

15. The base station of claim 11, wherein the at last one receive antenna comprises a plurality of receive antennas.

16. A terminal controlling antennas in a wireless communication system using a beamforming technique, the terminal comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals to and from a base station; and

a controller configured to;

control to measure n^th received signal strength at n^th phase of at least one receive antenna,

measure (n+1)^th received signal strength at (n+1)^th phase shifted randomly from the n^th phase in one of forward and backward directions, and

configure a beamforming coefficient with the phase at which the received signal strength is greatest through comparison of received signal strengths.

17. The terminal of claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to shift the phase of the antenna randomly in one of the forward and backward directions until the received signal strength increases no more and measure the received signal strength at every shifted phase.

18. The terminal of claim 17, wherein the controller is further configured to determine (n+2)^th phase by shifting the (n+1)^th phase of the antenna based on the comparison result between the n^th received signal strength and the (n+1)^th received signal strength.

19. The terminal of claim 18, wherein the controller is further configured to determine, when the n^th received signal strength is greater than the (n+1)^th received signal strength, the (n+2)^th phase after compensating the (n+1)^th phase as much as the phase shifted from the n^th phase.

20. The terminal of claim 16, wherein the at last one receive antenna comprises a plurality of receive antennas