Sidelink beam management
Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A device may be configured to support multi-beam, or multi-panel operations, or both which may allow multiple sidelink transmissions to occur simultaneously. In some cases, flexible beam-management for the beamformed sidelink communications is implemented to manage the beams. A transmitting UE may indicate transmission beam information to the base station that the base station may use to schedule sidelink transmissions as part of a beam management procedure. The beam management procedure may allow a transmitting UE to update transmission beam information based on the mobility of the sidelink UEs and other environmental factors. In some cases, beam management includes a beam training procedure that may be implemented to refine the sidelink beams, where support for multi-panel and multi-beam operation may allow for multiple beams to be trained simultaneously.
1. An apparatus for wireless communications at a first user equipment (UE), comprising:
a processor;
memory coupled with the processor; and
instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
establish a sidelink communications link with a second UE;
receive, from a network device, transmission beam information for a sidelink message to be transmitted from the first UE to the second UE, the transmission beam information comprising an indication of one or more beam identifiers, wherein each beam identifier of the one or more beam identifiers corresponds to a respective transmission beam for transmission of the sidelink message; and
transmit the sidelink message to the second UE using the respective transmission beams based at least in part on the one or more beam identifiers indicated in the transmission beam information.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit, to the network device, a set of beam parameters for a set of transmission beams for sidelink communications between the first UE and the second UE, the set of transmission beams comprising the respective transmission beams.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the instructions to transmit the set of beam parameters are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit beam shape information for the set of transmission beams.
4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the instructions to transmit the set of beam parameters are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit panel orientation for one or more antenna panels associated with the set of transmission beams.
5. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the instructions to transmit the set of beam parameters are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit geometric location of one or more antenna panels associated with the set of transmission beams.
6. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the instructions to transmit the set of beam parameters are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit a relative location of one or more antenna panels associated with the set of transmission beams with respect to the first UE.
7. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the instructions to transmit the set of beam parameters are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit beam identifiers for the set of transmission beams.
8. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the instructions to transmit the set of beam parameters are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit codebook information for the set of transmission beams.
9. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the instructions to transmit the set of beam parameters are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit beam shape information specific to a beam identifier for each antenna panel of the first UE.
10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit, to the network device, a set of beam pairs for a set of transmission beams for sidelink communications between the first UE and the second UE, wherein each of the set of beam pairs corresponds to a spatially separated pair of transmission beams at the first UE.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the instructions to transmit the set of beam pairs are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit respective transmission beam identifiers for each pair of transmission beams of the set of beam pairs.
12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit, to the network device, measurement information associated with sidelink communications between the first UE and the second UE, wherein the transmission beam information is based at least in part on the measurement information.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the instructions to transmit the measurement information are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
transmit a beam report that indicates one or more measurement parameters for a pair of transmission beams at the first UE.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more measurement parameters comprise a rank indicator, a signal to interference plus noise ratio, a spectral efficiency, a cross-beam interference metric, or any combination thereof.
15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to receive the transmission beam information are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
receive the transmission beam information via downlink control information (DCI), radio resource control (RRC) signaling, or a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE).
16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transmission beam information a time-frequency resource configuration for each of the respective transmission beams.
17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first UE and the second UE are configured for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications via the sidelink communications link.
18. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the network device comprises a cellular base station or a controlling UE.
19. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions to receive the transmission beam information are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
receive a sidelink resource grant, the sidelink resource grant comprising the transmission beam information, time resources, and frequency resources, the time resources and the frequency resources for transmission of the sidelink message.
20. A method for wireless communications at a first user equipment (UE), comprising:
establishing a sidelink communications link with a second UE;
receiving, from a network device, transmission beam information for a sidelink message to be transmitted from the first UE to the second UE, the transmission beam information comprising an indication of one or more beam identifiers, wherein each beam identifier of the one or more beam identifiers corresponds to a respective transmission beam for transmission of the sidelink message; and
transmitting the sidelink message to the second UE using the respective transmission beams based at least in part on the one or more beam identifiers indicated in the transmission beam information.
21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:
transmitting, to the network device, a set of beam parameters for a set of transmission beams for sidelink communications between the first UE and the second UE, the set of transmission beams comprising the respective transmission beams.
22. The method of claim 21 , wherein transmitting the set of beam parameters comprises:
transmitting beam shape information for the set of transmission beams.
23. The method of claim 21 , wherein transmitting the set of beam parameters comprises:
transmitting panel orientation for one or more antenna panels associated with the set of transmission beams.
24. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:
transmitting, to the network device, a set of beam pairs for a set of transmission beams for sidelink communications between the first UE and the second UE, wherein each of the set of beam pairs corresponds to a spatially separated pair of transmission beams at the first UE.
25. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:
transmitting, to the network device, measurement information associated with sidelink communications between the first UE and the second UE, wherein the transmission beam information is based at least in part on the measurement information.
26. The method of claim 20 , wherein receiving the transmission beam information comprises:
receiving the transmission beam information via downlink control information (DCI), radio resource control (RRC) signaling, or a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE).
27. The method of claim 20 , wherein the transmission beam information a time-frequency resource configuration for each of the respective transmission beams.
28. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first UE and the second UE are configured for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications via the sidelink communications link.
29. The method of claim 20 , wherein the network device comprises a cellular base station or a controlling UE.
30. The method of claim 20 , wherein receiving the transmission beam information comprises:
receiving a sidelink resource grant, the sidelink resource grant comprising the transmission beam information, time resources, and frequency resources, the time resources and the frequency resources for transmission of the sidelink message.