Methods and apparatus for beamforming
View Patent ↗Systems and techniques for beamforming are disclosed. Codebook antenna ports, such as ports defined by the 8 transmit antenna LTE codebook, are mapped to sub-elements of an antenna array arranged to form a plurality of elevation and azimuth ports, such as 4 elevation and 2 azimuth ports or 2 elevation and 4 azimuth ports. The mapping is chosen so as to optimize performance. Phasing values may also be applied to signal components provided as inputs to the sub-elements, with the values chosen to maximize performance, such as rank 1 gain or rank 2 or higher performance.
1. A method comprising:
creating a set of associations between codebook antenna ports and physical sub-elements of an antenna array, wherein each of the set of associations associates an antenna port specified by a codebook accessible to a base station with one of a set of physical sub-elements of an antenna array of the base station, wherein the physical sub-elements are arranged in cross-polarized pairs, and wherein the pairs are arranged at least in according to elevation;
interpreting feedback information from a user device to select from the codebook an entry comprising a vector of weighting values, wherein each of the weighting values defines a relative weighting for a signal component to be input to an antenna port specified by an entry of the codebook;
applying the vector of weighting values to a signal configured for transmission to a user device to form a signal vector comprising a vector of weighted signal components; and
mapping each component of the vector of weighted signal components to a physical sub-element of the antenna array according to the set of associations.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the code book is a long term evolution 8 transmit antenna codebook.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the cross-polarized pairs are arranged to form an array of 8 sub elements consisting of four elevation by two azimuth sub elements.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the set of associations maps the first four antenna ports defined by the codebook respectively to sub-elements of the antenna array at a first azimuth position, in descending order of elevation, and maps the last four antenna ports defined by the codebook to sub-elements of the antenna array at a second azimuth position, greater than the first azimuth position, in order of elevation.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the order of elevation is ascending order of elevation.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the order of elevation is descending order of elevation.
7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the cross-polarized pairs are arranged to form an array of 8 sub elements consisting of two elevation by four azimuth sub elements.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the set of associations respectively maps the first four antenna ports defined by the codebook to sub-elements forming two elevation sub elements in descending order on a first azimuth dimension and next the two elevation sub elements in descending order on a second azimuth dimension, and respectively maps the last four antenna ports defined by the codebook to sub elements forming two elevation sub elements in descending order on a third azimuth dimension and next two elevation sub elements in descending order on the fourth azimuth dimension.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the set of associations respectively maps the first four antenna ports defined by the codebook to columns of sub-elements forming two azimuth sub elements in ascending order for a first elevation dimension on a first polarization and next two azimuth sub elements in ascending order for a second elevation dimension on the same polarization and maps the last four antenna ports defined by the codebook to sub elements forming two azimuth sub elements in ascending order for the first elevation dimension on a second polarization and next two azimuth sub elements in ascending order for a second elevation dimension on a second polarization.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a phasing value to each of the weighted signal components, wherein the phasing values are determined based on the particular RF beams used in the elevation dimension.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the phasing values are determined based at least in part on maximization of rank 1 gain.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the phasing values are determined based at least in part on maximization of rank 2 performance.
13. A method comprising:
determining a phasing value for each of a vector of signal components to be provided as inputs to an antenna array comprising a plurality of elevation ports, wherein the phasing values are determined based on the particular RF beams used in the elevation dimension; and
applying the phasing values to signal components corresponding to antenna ports defined by a codebook accessible to a base station.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the codebook ports are mapped to physical sub-elements of an antenna array organized according to elevation and azimuth.
15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the phasing values are determined based at least in part on maximization of rank 1 gain.
16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the phasing values are determined based at least in part on maximization of rank 2 performance.
17. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor;
memory storing computer program code;
wherein the memory storing the computer program code is configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
create a set of associations between codebook antenna ports and physical sub-elements of an antenna array, wherein each of the set of associations associates an antenna port specified by a codebook accessible to a base station with one of a set of physical sub-elements of an antenna array of the base station, wherein the wherein the physical sub-elements are arranged in cross-polarized pairs, and wherein the pairs are arranged at least in part by elevation;
interpret feedback information from a user device to select from a codebook an entry comprising a vector of weighting values, wherein each of the weighting values defines a relative weighting for a signal component to be input to an antenna port specified by entry of the codebook;
apply the vector of weighting values to a signal configured for transmission to a user device to form a signal vector comprising a vector of weighted signal components; and
map each component of the vector of weighted signal components to a physical sub-element of the antenna array according to the set of associations.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the code book is a long term evolution 8 transmit antenna codebook.
19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the cross-polarized pairs are arranged to form an array of 8 sub elements consisting of four elevation by two azimuth sub elements.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the set of associations maps the first four antenna ports defined by the codebook respectively to sub-elements of the antenna array at a first azimuth position, in descending order of elevation, and maps the last four antenna ports defined by the codebook to sub-elements of the antenna array at a second azimuth position, greater than the first azimuth position, in descending order of elevation.
21. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the cross-polarized pairs are arranged to form an array of 8 sub elements consisting of two elevation by four azimuth sub elements.