Generating downlink sector beams based on uplink channel estimates utilizing a base band unit pool for modular massive multiple-input multiple-output arrays

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12120052-B2
Application number	US-202217971480-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2022
Priority date	Jul 31, 2020
Publication date	Oct 15, 2024
Grant date	Oct 15, 2024

Abstract

A system includes a base band unit pooling component that determines, via a base band unit pool of base station devices, respective uplink channel estimates of an uplink channel wirelessly coupling, using frequency division duplexing via respective modular antenna elements, a user equipment to the base band unit pool. A downlink channel estimation component of the system derives, based on the respective uplink channel estimates, a downlink channel estimate of a downlink channel wirelessly coupling, using the frequency division duplexing via a portion of the respective modular antenna elements corresponding to a base station device of the base band unit pool, the base station device to the user equipment. In turn, the system generates, using the downlink channel estimate, a group of downlink sector beams to be transmitted to the user equipment using the downlink channel via the portion of the respective modular antenna elements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations by the processor, comprising:
determining, via a base band unit pool of base station devices, respective uplink channel estimates of an uplink channel wirelessly coupling, using frequency division duplexing via respective modular antenna elements of the base band unit pool, a user equipment to the base band unit pool, wherein determining the respective uplink channel estimates comprises determining the respective uplink channel estimates utilizing respective demodulation reference signals corresponding to data signals associated with the user equipment that have been received by at least one of the base station devices of the base band unit pool;
based on the respective uplink channel estimates, deriving a downlink channel estimate of a downlink channel wirelessly coupling, using the frequency division duplexing via at least one of the respective modular antenna elements corresponding to a base station device of the base band unit pool, the base station device to the user equipment; and
generating, using the downlink channel estimate, a group of downlink sector beams to be transmitted to the user equipment using the downlink channel via the at least one of the respective modular antenna elements corresponding to the base station device of the base band unit pool.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the respective uplink channel estimates further comprises:
determining the respective uplink channel estimates further utilizing the data signals, wherein the data signals have been received by the at least one of the base station devices utilizing a data channel wirelessly coupling the user equipment to the at least one of the base station devices.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the downlink channel estimate comprises a downlink frequency response of the downlink channel, and wherein deriving the downlink channel estimate comprises:
characterizing a channel delay spread of the uplink channel to obtain a characterization of the channel delay spread; and
based on the characterization of the channel delay spread, an uplink frequency response of an uplink signal that has been received on the uplink channel, and an angle of arrival of the uplink signal, deriving the downlink frequency response of the downlink channel.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein characterizing the channel delay spread comprises:
determining a statistical average of the uplink channel estimate
over a defined period of time that is based on a channel time coherence of the uplink channel, and
over a frequency span that is based on a frequency coherence bandwidth of the uplink signal.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the downlink channel estimate comprises a downlink angle of departure of a downlink sector beam of the group of downlink sector beams, and wherein deriving the downlink channel estimate comprises:
based on an uplink angle of arrival of an uplink signal that has been received on the uplink channel, deriving, via resampling based on a ratio of an uplink carrier frequency of the uplink channel to a downlink carrier frequency of the downlink channel, the downlink angle of departure of the downlink sector beam.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
transmitting, using the downlink channel via the at least one of the respective modular antenna elements corresponding to the base station device of the base band unit pool, the group of downlink sector beams to the user equipment, wherein the at least one of the respective modular antenna elements are positioned on an antenna tower or a rooftop of a building according to a group of available positions, wherein the group of available positions comprises an arbitrary position on the antenna tower or the rooftop, a horizontal position on the antenna tower or the rooftop, and a vertical position on the antenna tower or the rooftop, and wherein the at least one of the respective modular antenna elements are communicatively connected, via software corresponding to a baseband unit of the base band unit pool, to obtain a contiguous antenna comprising at least one of multi-panel or module connectivity to facilitate an enhancement of at least one of an aperture of the contiguous antenna or a performance of the contiguous antenna.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein transmitting the group of downlink sector beams comprises adapting, via the at least one of the respective modular antenna elements corresponding to the base station device of the base band unit pool, respective transmissions of the group of downlink sector beams to the user equipment, and wherein adapting the respective transmissions comprises modifying at least one of:
an uplink power control parameter,
a shape of a downlink sector beam of the group of downlink sector beams,
an azimuth of a transmission of the respective transmissions,
an elevation of the transmission,
a power of the transmission, or
a number of the downlink sector beams that are included in the group of downlink sector beams.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
assigning, via the respective modular antenna elements, additional capacity from the base band unit pool to obtain an increased aperture and increased orthogonal beams to facilitate increased concurrent mobile terminal communications over common time slots and common frequency slots.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
reducing an effect of passive intermodulation interference on uplink signals that have been received from the user equipment by transmitting, using the downlink channel via at least one modular antenna element of the respective modular antenna elements of the base band unit pool, at least one null directed to respective locations of a group of determined passive intermodulation interference sources.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
Avoiding transmission of data in at least one of a first direction associated with the determined passive intermodulation interference sources or a second direction towards a beam associated with the determined passive intermodulation interference sources.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
reducing an effect of passive intermodulation interference on uplink signals that have been received from the user equipment by
modifying, based on a received signal covariance function, a group of uplink weights to be applied to the uplink signals, and
applying, during uplink beamforming, the group of uplink weights to the uplink signals to emulate that at least one null has been directed to respective locations of a group of determined passive intermodulation interference sources.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data signals are first data signals, and wherein the operations further comprise:
determining respective determined locations of non-served cell user equipment using at least one of uplink pilot signals, sounding reference signals, or second data signals that have been received via the at least one of the respective modular antenna elements of the base band unit pool; and
reducing an effect of interference corresponding to transmissions of the non-serving cell user equipment on uplink signals that have been received from the user equipment by transmitting, using the downlink channel via the at least one of the respective modular antenna elements of the base band unit pool, at least one null directed to respective determined locations of the non-servin

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Tsui Ernest
• Gavin Brian
• Maxwell Paul
• Ye Weihua

Classifications

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W72/21

  in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network · CPC title

• H04L27/2613

  Structure of the reference signals · CPC title

• H04B1/1027 Primary

  assessing signal quality or detecting noise/interference for the received signal · CPC title

• H04L5/0023

  Time-frequency-space · CPC title