APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING BEAMFORMING BY USING ANTENNA ARRAY IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20160365900A1
• Filed: 06/14/2016
• Published: 12/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: OH, Jongho, CHOI, Sung Tae, HAN, Jung Il, HUR, Sooyoung, KIM, Jaewon, YU, Hyunkyu, PARK, Jeongho, CHEUN, Kyungwhoon
• Granted Patent: US 10,050,681 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0408 using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0469 taking special antenna structures, e.g. cross polarized antennas into account
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0691 using subgroups of transmit antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0695 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/088 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/10 Polarisation diversity; Directional diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a pre-5^th-generation (5G) or 5G communication system to be provided for supporting higher data rates beyond 4^th-generation (4G) communication system such as long term evolution (LTE). An apparatus and a method for performing beamforming by using an antenna array in a wireless communication system are provided. The apparatus includes at least one antenna array comprising antenna elements, a control unit configured to determine a number of beams to be formed through the at least one antenna array, and a communication unit configured to adjust paths associated with the antenna elements in order to configure as many antenna subsets as the number of the beams, and to form at least one beam through at least one antenna subset configured from the at least one antenna array.

Claims

1. An apparatus for performing beamforming, the apparatus comprising:

at least one antenna array comprising antenna elements;

a control unit configured to determine a number of beams to be formed through the at least one antenna array; and

a communication unit configured to;

configure paths associated with the antenna elements in order to configure as many antenna subsets as the number of the beams, and

form at least one beam through at least one antenna subset configured from the at least one antenna array.

2. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the at least one antenna array comprises a first antenna array and a second antenna array,

wherein the communication unit is further configured to form a single beam by using the first antenna array and the second antenna array, if the number of the beams is equal to 1, and

wherein the communication unit is further configured to:

form a beam by using the first antenna array, and

form another beam by using the second antenna array, if the number of the beams is equal to 2.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the antenna elements comprises multiple subunits configured to generate a radio wave having different polarization characteristics.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication unit is further configured to form multiple beams having different polarization characteristics.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one antenna subset comprises antenna elements that are arranged with a distance corresponding to a carrier frequency.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to determine at least one of a polarization characteristic, a beamwidth, and the number of the beams which are to be used for beam search associated with another device.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the control unit is further configured to:

sweep one-half of beam directions through a beam having one polarization characteristic, and

sweep the remaining one-half of the beam directions through a beam having another polarization characteristic.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the control unit is further configured to:

sweep all beam directions through a beam having a first polarization characteristic, and

sweep all of the beam directions through a beam having a second polarization characteristic.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the communication unit is further configured to transmit or receive a data signal through the beam having the first polarization characteristic and the beam having the second polarization characteristic, if a channel quality difference between the beam having the first polarization characteristic and the beam having the second polarization characteristic is less than or equal to a threshold.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the communication unit is further configured to transmit or receive a data signal through at least one beam having a polarization characteristic corresponding to better channel quality among the first polarization characteristic and the second polarization characteristic, if a channel quality difference between the beam having the first polarization characteristic and the beam having the second polarization characteristic is greater than a threshold.

11. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the control unit is further configured to sweep all beam directions through a beam having multiple polarization characteristics.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to:

determine an optimal beam direction and optimal channel quality for another device, and

determine at least one of a polarization characteristic, a beamwidth, the number of the beams, and a number of times of transmission of the feedback information for transmitting feedback information including the channel quality, based on the channel quality.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein, if a second beamwidth for transmitting the feedback information is narrower than a first beamwidth used during the determination of the channel quality, the control unit is further configured to sweep a range of the first beamwidth through a transmission beam having the second beamwidth.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the control unit is further configured to transmit the feedback information during a resource period determined based on the channel quality.

15. A method for operating a device for performing beamforming, the method comprising:

determining a number of beams to be formed through at least one antenna array;

configuring paths associated with antenna elements in order to configure as many antenna subsets as the number of the beams; and

forming at least one beam through at least one antenna subset configured from the at least one antenna array.

16. The method of claim 15,

wherein the at least one antenna array comprises a first antenna array and a second antenna array, and

wherein the forming of the at least one beam comprises:

forming one beam by using the first antenna array and the second antenna array, if the number of the beams is equal to 1; and

forming one beam by using the first antenna array and forming another beam by using the second antenna array, if the number of the beams is equal to 2.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein each of the antenna elements comprises multiple subunits configured to generate a radio wave having different polarization characteristics.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the forming of the at least one beam comprises forming multiple beams having different polarization characteristics.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the configuring of the paths comprises configuring the at least one antenna subset comprising antenna elements that are arranged with a distance corresponding to a carrier frequency.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining at least one of a polarization characteristic, a beamwidth, and the number of the beams which are to be used for beam search associated with another device.