Multiple antenna panel uplink communication

1. A method of operating a wireless communication device in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

transmitting a control signal to a node of the wireless communication system, the control signal being indicative of a mapping between at least one antenna port and at least two antenna panels of the wireless communication device, wherein the mapping informs the node of which of the at least two antenna panels are coupled to which of one or more shared antenna ports, and the mapping is indicative of a number of antenna ports of the at least one antenna port per antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels, and

transmitting via each antenna port of the at least one antenna port a corresponding reference signal sequence to the node via a respective at least one antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels that is mapped to the respective antenna port.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from the node, a beam selection control signal which is indicative of at least one transmission beam to be used for further transmissions from the wireless communication device to the node, wherein the beam selection control signal is determined by the node based on the at least one reference signal sequence.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

deactivating transmission via at least one antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels based on the beam selection control signal.

4. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the node is an access node of a wireless communication network,

wherein the method further comprises:

registering the wireless communication device at the access node,

wherein the control signal is transmitted upon said registering.

5. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the mapping is further indicative of a set of identifiers identifying the at least one antenna port mapped to each antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels.

6. A method of operating a node of a wireless communication system, comprising:

receiving a control signal from a wireless communication device, the control signal being indicative of a mapping between at least one antenna port and at least two antenna panels of the wireless communication device, wherein the mapping informs the node of which of the at least two antenna panels are coupled to which of one or more shared antenna ports, and the mapping is indicative of a number of antenna ports of the at least one antenna port per antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels, and

receiving, from the wireless communication device, a plurality of reference signal sequences, each reference signal sequence being transmitted via an antenna port of the at least one antenna port and a respective at least one antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels that is mapped to the respective antenna port.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

determining a beam selection control signal which is indicative of at least one transmission beam to be used for further transmissions from the wireless communication device to the node, wherein the beam selection control signal is determined by the node based on the plurality of reference signal sequences, and

transmitting the beam selection control signal to the wireless communication device.

8. The method of claim 7 , comprising:

receiving payload and/or control data from the wireless communication device, the payload and/or control data being transmitted from the wireless communication device using the at least one transmission beam indicated by the beam selection control signal.

9. The method of claim 6 ,

wherein the mapping is further indicative of a set of identifiers identifying the at least one antenna port mapped to each antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels.

10. A wireless communication device of a wireless communication system, comprising:

at least two antenna panels, and

control circuitry configured to:

transmit a control signal to a node of the wireless communication system, the control signal being indicative of a mapping between at least one antenna port and the at least two antenna panels of the wireless communication device, wherein the mapping informs the node of which of the at least two antenna panels are coupled to which of one or more shared antenna ports, and the mapping is indicative of a number of antenna ports of the at least one antenna port per antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels, and

transmit via each antenna port of the at least one antenna port a corresponding reference signal sequence to the node via a respective at least one antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels that is mapped to the respective antenna port.

11. A node of a wireless communication system, the node comprising control circuitry configured to:

receive a control signal from a wireless communication device, the control signal being indicative of a mapping between at least one antenna port and at least two antenna panels of the wireless communication device, wherein the mapping informs the node of which of the at least two antenna panels are coupled to which of one or more shared antenna ports, and the mapping is indicative of a number of antenna ports of the at least one antenna port per antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels, and

receive, from the wireless communication device, a plurality of reference signal sequences, each reference signal sequence being transmitted via an antenna port of the at least one antenna port and a respective at least one antenna panel of the at least two antenna panels that is mapped to the respective antenna port.

12. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the control signal further includes baseband properties of the at least one antenna port.

13. The method of claim 6 ,

wherein the control signal further includes baseband properties of the at least one antenna port.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mapping between the at least one antenna port and the at least two antenna panels is dynamically configurable at the wireless communication device.

15. The method of claim 6 , wherein the mapping between the at least one antenna port and the at least two antenna panels is dynamically configurable at the wireless communication device.

16. The wireless communication device of claim 10 , wherein the mapping between the at least one antenna port and the at least two antenna panels is dynamically configurable at the wireless communication device.

17. The node of claim 11 , wherein the mapping between the at least one antenna port and the at least two antenna panels is dynamically configurable at the wireless communication device.

18. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the beam selection control signal includes the steps of:

selecting a first reference signal sequence of the plurality of reference signal sequences, wherein the first reference signal sequence is transmitted via a first antenna port coupled to a first antenna panel,

determining that a second reference signal sequence of the plurality of reference signal sequences has a first received strength, wherein the second reference signal sequence is transmitted via a second antenna port coupled to a second antenna panel,

determining that a third reference signal sequence of the plurality of reference signal sequences has a second received strength that is less than the first received strength, wherein the third reference signal sequence is transmitted via a third antenna port coupled to the first antenna panel, and

selecting the third reference signal sequence instead of the second reference signal sequence, based on the third reference signal sequence being transmitted via an antenna port coupled to the same antenna panel as the selected first antenna port.