Apparatus and method for beam failure recovery

1. A method for identifying a user equipment beam index in a base station, comprising:

assigning, by the base station, one or more resources to the user equipment within a beam failure random access channel (BRACH) resource, wherein the BRACH resource comprises one or more BRACH preamble indexes associated with one or more synchronization signal (SS) beams, and one or more channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources;

transmitting, by the base station a CSI-RS beam for beam failure detection on at least part of the one or more CSI-RS resources;

receiving, by the base station from the user equipment and in response to the transmission of the CSI-RS beam, a BRACH preamble corresponding to an assigned BRACH preamble index from the one or more BRACH preamble indexes, the assigned BRACH preamble index being associated with a SS beam that is quasi-colocated (QCLed) with the CSI-RS beam; and

identifying, by the base station, a beam index of the user equipment based on information in the BRACH resource and the BRACH preamble.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a number of the SS signal block resources is less than a number of the one or more resources assigned to the user equipment within the BRACH resource.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

setting a direction of a receive beam for each of one or more receive RF-chains in a different direction at the BRACH resource.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

calculating a received signal quality from each of the one or more receive RF-chain;

identifying, in accordance with the received signal quality, a receive direction of a receive RF chain that has the highest received signal quality; and

identifying a user equipment direction based on the receive beam direction of the receive RF-chain that has the highest received signal quality.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

identifying the beam index based on information of the BRACH resource, the user equipment direction and the BRACH preamble.

6. A device for identifying a user equipment beam index in a base station, comprising:

a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions; and

one or more processors in communication with the memory, wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to:

assigning one or more resources to the user equipment within a beam failure random access channel (BRACH) resource, wherein the BRACH resource comprises one or more BRACH preamble indexes associated with one or more synchronization signal (SS) beams, and one or more channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources;

transmit a CSI-RS beam for beam failure detection on at least part of the one or more CSI-RS resources;

receive, from the user equipment and in response to the transmission of the CSI-RS beam, a BRACH preamble corresponding to an assigned BRACH preamble index from the one or more BRACH preamble indexes, the assigned BRACH preamble index being associated with a SS beam that is quasi-colocated (QCLed) with the CSI-RS beam; and

identify a beam index of the user equipment based on information in the BRACH resource and the BRACH preamble.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein a number of the SS signal block resources is less than a number of the one or more resources assigned to the user equipment within the BRACH resource.

8. The device of claim 6 , wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to set a direction of a receive beam for each of one or more receive RF-chains in a different direction at the BRACH resource.

9. The device of claim 8 , the one or more processors further execute the instructions to:

calculate a received signal quality from each of the one or more receive RF-chain;

identify, in accordance with the received signal quality, a receive direction of a receive RF chain that has the highest received signal quality; and

identify a user equipment direction based on the receive beam direction of the receive RF-chain that has the highest received signal quality.

10. The device of claim 9 , the one or more processors further execute the instructions to identify the beam index based on information of the BRACH resource, the user equipment direction and the BRACH preamble.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer instructions for identifying a user equipment beam index in a base station, that when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

assigning one or more resources to the user equipment within a beam failure random access channel (BRACH) resource, wherein the BRACH resource comprises one or more BRACH preamble indexes associated with one or more synchronization signal (SS) beams, and one or more channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources;

transmitting a CSI-RS beam for beam failure detection on at least part of the one or more CSI-RS resources;

receiving, in response to the transmission of the CSI-RS beam, a BRACH preamble from the user equipment, the BRACH preamble corresponding to an assigned BRACH preamble index from the one or more BRACH preamble indexes, the assigned BRACH preamble index being associated with a SS beam that is quasi-colocated (QCLed) with the CSI-RS beam; and

identifying a beam index of the user equipment based on information in the BRACH resource and the BRACH preamble.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising:

setting a direction of a receive beam for each of one or more receive RF-chains in a different direction at the BRACH resource.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , the one or more processors further perform the steps of:

calculating a received signal strength from each of the one or more receive RF-chain; and

identifying, in accordance with the received signal quality, a receive direction of a receive RF chain that has the highest received signal quality; and

identifying a user equipment direction based on the receive beam direction of the receive RF-chain that has the highest received signal quality.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending, by the base station, assignment information of the one or more resources to the user equipment, the assignment information indicating the at least one first BRACH preamble index associated with the one or more synchronization signal (SS) beams, and the one or more CSI-RS resources.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the assignment information indicates at least one of a time resource of the one or more BRACH preamble indexes, a frequency resource of the one or more BRACH preamble indexes, or a combination of the time resource and the frequency resource.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the BRACH resource comprises multiple different time slots that the one more BRACH preamble indexes are assigned or multiple different frequency resources that the one or more BRACH preamble indexes are assigned.

17. The device of claim 6 , wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to send assignment information of the one or more resources to the user equipment, the assignment information indicating the at least one first BRACH preamble index associated with the one or more synchronization signal (SS) beams, and the one or more CSI-RS resources.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the assignment information indicates at least one of a time resource of the one or more BRACH preamble indexes, a frequency resource of the one or more BRACH preamble indexes, or a combination of the time resource and the frequency resource.

19. The device of claim 6 , wherein the BRACH resource comprises multiple different time slots that the one more BRACH preamble indexes are assigned or multiple different frequency resources that the one or more BRACH preamble indexes are assigned.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors further perform the steps of:

sending assignment information of the one or more resources to the user equipment, the assignment information indicating the at least one first BRACH preamble index associated with the one or more synchronization signal (SS) beams, and the one or more CSI-RS resources.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the assignment information indicating at least one of a time resource of the one or more BRACH preamble indexes, a frequency resource of the one or more BRACH preamble indexes, or a combination of the time resource and the frequency resource.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the BRACH resource comprises multiple different time slots that the one more BRACH preamble indexes are assigned or multiple different frequency resources that the one or more BRACH preamble indexes are assigned.