Beamforming training reference signal design
In one example, an apparatus of an e-NodeB (eNB) capable to establish a communication connection with a user equipment (UE) in a communication network, the eNB comprising processing circuitry to transmit a downlink (DL) beamforming training reference signal (BF-TRS) to a user equipment (UE) using transmit beamforming weights that are the same. Other examples are also disclosed and claimed.
1. An apparatus of an e-NodeB (eNB) capable to establish a communication connection with a user equipment (UE) in a 5G communication network, the eNB comprising processing circuitry to:
generate a physical downlink control channel xPDCCH (5G Physical Downlink Control Channel) comprising a bit indicator which indicates to transmit a beamforming training reference signal (BF-TRS) to a user equipment (UE);
in response to the xPDCCH, to calculate a subframe gap to be inserted between the xPDCCH and transmission of the BF-TRS; and
transmit, after the subframe gap, a downlink (DL) beamforming training reference signal (BF-TRS) to the user equipment (UE) using transmit beamforming weights that are the same, wherein an interleaved FDMA (IFDMA) signal structure is used to generate the DL BF-TRS in which the DL BF-TRS symbols are mapped into every two (2) subcarriers in the frequency domain, while remaining subcarriers are set to zero.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DL BF-TRS is transmitted in one subframe or in a plurality of subframes.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DL BF-TRS is transmitted in X symbols, where X is predefined or configured by higher layers via a 5G master information block (xMIB), a 5G system information block (xSIB), or a UE specific RRC signaling.
4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the communication system has a bandwidth which is divided into a number (L) sub-bands, and wherein:
each sub-band is used for one Tx beamformed BF-TRS transmission for a single UE;
the number (L) of sub-bands is predefined or configured by one or more higher protocol layers via an extended management information block (xMIB), an extended system in formation block (xSIB) or UE-specific dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling from a serving eNB; and
a resource allocation configuration for the UE is signaled in dedicated RRC signaling or indicated in DCI format for DL assignment.
5. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein DL BF-TRS is transmitted in a physical resource block (PRB) which is also used for the transmission of a physical downlink shared channel (xPDSCH) in the event that the BF-TRS is triggered by an xPDCCH.
6. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein:
BF-TRS patterns are transmitted using at least one of a distributed transmission procedure or a localized transmission procedure;
a number (K) subcarriers are used to define a gap between adjacent BF-TRS symbols; and
K is predefined or configured by one or more higher protocol layers via an extended management information block (xMIB), an extended system in formation block (xSIB) or UE-specific dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling from a serving eNB.
7. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the DL BF-TRS sequence is defined by:
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where n s can be a number of a slot or a subframe within a radio frame and l is an OFDM symbol number within the slot or the subframe.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the DL BF-TRS sequence is generated in a pseudo-random sequence generator initialized as a function of at least one of n s , a physical cell ID, a virtual physical cell ID, an indication of a normal cyclic prefix (CP) and extended CP.
9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DL BF-TRS is triggered in an aperiodic manner by a physical downlink control channel (xPDCCH).
10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein:
a predetermined subframe gap is inserted between the xPDCCH and the transmission of DL and/or UL BF-TRS; and
the gap is predefined or configured by one or more higher protocol layers via an extended management information block (xMIB), an extended system in formation block (xSIB) or UE-specific dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling from a serving eNB.
11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein:
the DL BF-TRS is transmitted a number K′ subframes after ACK or NACK feedback from a UE; and
the number K′ is predefined or configured by one or more higher protocol layers via an extended management information block (xMIB), an extended system in formation block (xSIB) or UE-specific dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling from a serving eNB.
12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein:
the DL BF-TRS is enabled for a first Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process and is disabled for a second HARQ process; and
the first HARQ process and the second HARQ process is predefined or configured by one or more higher protocol layers via an extended management information block (xMIB), an extended system in formation block (xSIB) or UE-specific dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling from a serving eNB.
13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DL BF-TRS is transmitted in a periodic manner.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the DL BF-TRS is transmitted in one or more subframes which are defined as downlink in a time-division duplex (TDD) system satisfying the condition:
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-
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OFFSET
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mod
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PERIODICITY
=
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where n f is a radio frame number, n s is a slot number; N OFFSET,TRS is the frame offset and TRS PERIODICITY is the periodicity of the BF-TRS transmission.
15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein N OFFSET,TRS and TRS PERIODICITY are defined by a parameter l TRS , which is predefined or configured by one or more higher protocol layers via an extended management information block (xMIB), an extended system in formation block (xSIB) or UE-specific dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling from a serving eNB.
16. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) capable to establish a communication connection with an eNB, the UE comprising processing circuitry to:
detect a physical downlink control channel xPDCCH (5G Physical Downlink Control Channel) comprising a bit indicator which indicates to transmit a beamforming training reference signal (BF-TRS) to an eNB;
in response to the xPDCCH, to calculate a subframe gap to be inserted between the xPDCCH and transmission of the BF-TRS; and
transmit, after the subframe gap, an uplink (UL) beamforming training reference signal (BF-TRS) to the eNB using transmit beamforming weights that are different, wherein an interleaved FDMA (IFDMA) signal structure is used to generate the UL BF-TRS in which the UL BF-TRS symbols are mapped into every two (2) subcarriers in the frequency domain, while remaining subcarriers are set to zero.
17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the UL BF-TRS is transmitted in a number (X) symbols within one subframe or transmitted in one or a plurality of subframes.
18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the UL BF-TRS is transmitted in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) manner for multiple UEs.
19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the UE performs a transmit beamforming sweep on a number (N) BF-TRS repetition blocks based on an IFDMA structure.
20. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the UL BF-TRS is transmitted in a physical resource block (PRB) which is also used for the transmission of a physical uplink control channel (xPUCCH) for the UE.
21. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the UL BF-TRS sequence is defined by:
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l
,
n
s
(
m
)
=
1
2
(
1
-
2
·
c
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2
m
)
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+
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1
2
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2
·
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m
=
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,
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,
N
Max
-
1
where n s can be a number of a slot or a subframe within a radio frame and l is an OFDM symbol number within the slot or the subframe.
22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein:
the UL BF-TRS sequence is generated in a pseudo-random sequence generator initialized as a function of at least one of n s , a physical cell ID, a virtual physical cell ID, an indication of a normal cyclic prefix (CP) and extended CP; and
the pseudo-random sequence generator may be defined as a function of a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) and/or a Demodulation reference symbol (DM-RS) index used for the transmission of a physical uplink shared control channel (xPUSCH).