Millimeter-wave non-line of sight analysis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021126695-A1
Application number	US-202016945755-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 31, 2020
Priority date	Oct 24, 2019
Publication date	Apr 29, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Reducing the effects of path loss in millimeter wave (mmWave) directional communications by performing channel measurements estimating non-line of sight (NLOS) blockages, to determine angle-of-departure (AoD) and angle-of-arrival (AoA) and gain of identified paths so that directional antennas can be reconfigured to overcome unfavorable propagation conditions and reduce path losses.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus for wireless communication in a network, the apparatus comprising:
(a) a wireless communication circuit configured for wirelessly communicating using a directional antenna with at least one other wireless communication circuit; (b) a processor coupled to said wireless communication circuit within a station configured for operating on a wireless network; (c) a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable by the processor; and (d) wherein said instructions, when executed by the processor, perform one or more steps comprising:
(i) deriving omni-directional power delay profiles (omni-PDPs) from directional PDP measurements;
(ii) inferring multipath characteristics from the directional PDP measurements and inferring angle-of-departure (AoD), angle-of-arrival (AoA) and ray path information from measured channel data to map ray paths toward optimal directions; and
(iii) altering antenna configurations in response to measured channel measurements toward reducing path losses.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor further perform one or more steps for deriving omni-PDP comprising:
(a) finding PDP samples across a range of antenna pattern combinations, among measured power delay profiles (PDPs); (b) aligning the PDP samples with line of sight (LOS) PDP samples and identifying additional signal propagation time (LOS PDP gap) of an NLOS path for that PDP sample compared with the signal propagation time of the LOS path, since sampling time is deterministic wherein the number of PDP samples between a PDP sample and LOS PDP samples represents additional propagation time over an NLOS path for that PDP sample compared with the signal propagation time over an LOS path; and (c) determining an omni-PDP value based on the PDP samples on the same propagation path.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor further perform one or more steps for inferring multipath characteristics comprising determining angle of departure (θ AoD ) and angle of arrival (θ AoA ) for ray paths.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor further perform one or more steps for determining angle of departure (θ AoD ) and angle of arrival (θ AoA ) for ray paths, comprising:
(a) determining each possible combination of θ AoD and θ AoA with antenna gains being calculated;
(b) comparing antenna gains based on received power measurement across all antenna pattern combinations on each ray path; and
(c) selecting an antenna pattern combination which has a minimum difference between ray path and gain as θ AoD and θ AoA .

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor further perform one or more steps comprising selecting the antenna pattern combination from a set of representative antenna directions pairs each indicating a specific rotation angle, either positive or negative, at both the transmitter and receiver.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor further perform one or more steps comprising storing measured PDP data as a 4D-tensor with dimensions N×Nrx×Ntx×Nscans where N is the number of PDP samples, Nrx and Ntx are the number of TX and RX antenna patterns, and Nscan is the number of repetitive measurements.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor perform one or more steps comprising altering antenna configurations in response to measured channel measurements toward reducing path losses based on human blocker situations.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said wireless communication circuit is configured for operating at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies in the range from 30 GHz to 300 GHz.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said apparatus estimates non-line of sight (NLOS) propagation in various mm-Wave, Wi-Fi, and wireless networking scenarios, and is configured for finding practical alternatives to a line of sight (LOS) path in the event of a communications blockage.

10 . An apparatus for wireless communication in a network, the apparatus comprising:
(a) a wireless communication circuit configured for wirelessly communicating using a directional antenna with at least one other wireless communication circuit; (b) a processor coupled to said wireless communication circuit within a station configured for operating on a wireless network; (c) a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable by the processor; and (d) wherein said instructions, when executed by the processor, perform one or more steps comprising:
(i) deriving omni-directional power delay profiles (omni-PDPs) from directional PDP measurements, by:
(A) finding PDP samples across a range of antenna pattern combinations, among measured power delay profiles (PDPs);
(B) aligning the PDP samples with line of sight (LOS) PDP samples and identifying additional signal propagation time (LOS PDP gap) of an NLOS path for that PDP sample compared with the signal propagation time of the LOS path, since sampling time is deterministic wherein the number of PDP samples between a PDP sample and LOS PDP samples represents additional propagation time over an NLOS path for that PDP sample compared with the signal propagation time over an LOS path; and
(C) determining an omni-PDP value based on the PDP samples on the same propagation path;

(ii) inferring multipath characteristics from the directional PDP measurements and inferring angle-of-departure (AoD), angle-of-arrival (AoA) and ray path information from measured channel data to map ray paths toward optimal directions; and
(iii) altering antenna configurations in response to measured channel measurements toward reducing path losses.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor further perform one or more steps for inferring multipath characteristics comprising determining angle of departure (θ AoD ) and angle of arrival (θ AoA ) for ray paths.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor further perform one or more steps for determining angle of departure (θ AoD ) and angle of arrival (θ AoA ) for ray paths, comprising:
(a) determining each possible combination of θ AoD and θ AoA with antenna gains being calculated;
(b) comparing antenna gains based on received power measurement across all antenna pattern combinations on each ray path; and
(c) selecting an antenna pattern combination which has a minimum difference between ray path and gain as θ AoD and θ AoA .

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor further perform one or more steps comprising selecting the antenna pattern combination from a set of representative antenna directions pairs each indicating a specific rotation angle, either positive or negative, at both the transmitter and receiver.

14 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor further perform one or more steps comprising storing measured PDP data as a 4D-tensor with dimensions N×Nrx×Ntx×Nscans where N is the number of PDP samples, Nrx and Ntx are the number of TX and RX antenna patterns, and Nscan is the number of repetitive measurements.

15 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said instructions when executed by the processor perform one or more steps comprising altering antenna configurations in response to measured channel measurements toward reducing path losses based on human

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Xin Liangxiao
• Balakrishnan Sarankumar

Classifications

• H04B7/0828

  with delay elements in antenna paths · CPC title

• H04B7/086 Primary

  using weights depending on external parameters, e.g. direction of arrival [DOA], predetermined weights or beamforming · CPC title

• H01Q1/22

  by structural association with other equipment or articles · CPC title

• H04B7/0617 Primary

  for beam forming · CPC title

• H04B17/102

  Power radiated at antenna · CPC title