Techniques for rate selection in millimeter-wave communication systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9312985-B2
Application number	US-201314145133-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 31, 2013
Priority date	Jan 2, 2013
Publication date	Apr 12, 2016
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016

Abstract

Disclosed is a device, a computer implemented method, and an apparatus for rate selection in a millimeter-wave communication system. The method includes performing antenna training on at least one antenna of the millimeter-wave communication system; conducting a rate search to select a modulation coding scheme (MCS) among a plurality of MCSs based upon an antenna configuration provided by the antenna training; engaging a rate lock on the selected MCS in response to determining that a reliable radio link has been found among the plurality of MCSs, wherein the selected MCS defines a constellation configuration and a code rate for transmitting millimeter-wave signals; and performing re-training of the antenna upon an event including any one of: failing to find a MCS which supports the reliable radio link, and determining a drop in reliability of the radio link.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising:
performing antenna training to obtain an antenna configuration;
searching for a reliable radio link using the antenna configuration;
selecting a modulation coding scheme (MCS) among a plurality of MCSs corresponding to the reliable radio link if the reliable radio link is found via the search;
engaging a rate lock on the selected MCS if the reliable radio link is found via the search; and
performing re-training of the antenna if the reliable radio link is not found via the search or if the reliable radio link is found via the search and then a reliability of the reliable radio link drops below a threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching for the reliable radio link comprises:
iterating through a list of MCSs of the plurality of MCSs, from a highest MCS to a lowest MCS, wherein the iterating through the list of MCSs comprises testing each MCS of the list of MCSs to determine if a corresponding radio link is reliable, wherein for each iteration, a lower MCS is tested as long as a reliability of the corresponding radio link is above the threshold.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching for the reliable radio link comprises:
iterating through a list of MCSs of the plurality of MCSs, from a lowest MCS to a highest MCS, wherein iterating through the list of MCSs comprises testing each MCS of the list of MCSs to determine if a corresponding radio link is reliable, wherein for each iteration, a higher MCS is tested as long as a reliability of the corresponding radio link is above the threshold.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein searching for the reliable radio link comprises:
iterating through a list of MCSs of the plurality of MCSs, wherein iterating through the list of MCSs comprises testing a first MCS located in a middle of the list of MCSs to find a reliable radio link;
if a reliable radio link is not found using the first MCS, testing a second MCS located between a highest MCS of the list of MCSs and the first MCS to find a reliable radio link;
if a reliable radio link is not found using the second MCS, testing a third MCS located between a lowest MCS and the first MCS to find a reliable radio link.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting a list of MCSs from the plurality of MCSs for testing during the search for the reliable MCS based upon information contained in one or more data packets or dedicated packets transmitted via an information element.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rate lock is discontinued if the reliability of the reliable radio link using the selected MCS drops below the threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MCSs are modulation and coding schemes defined in the IEEE 802.11ad standard.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reliable radio link is configured to operate over a 60 GHz Band in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ad standard.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a radio link is determined to be reliable if a number of ACKs received in response to signals transmitted using the selected MCS is over a preconfigured threshold.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by a medium access (MAC) layer module.

11. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory storing a computer program, wherein the at least one memory with the computer program is configured with the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to:
perform antenna training to obtain an antenna configuration;
search for a reliable radio link using the antenna configuration;
select a modulation coding scheme (MCS) among a plurality of MCSs corresponding to the reliable radio link if the reliable radio link is found via the search;
engage a rate lock on the selected MCS if the reliable radio link is found via the search; and
perform re-training of the antenna if the reliable radio link is not found via the search or if the reliable radio link is found via the search and then a reliability of the reliable radio link drops below a threshold.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein searching for the reliable radio link comprises:
iterating through a list of MCSs of the plurality of MCSs, from a highest MCS to a lowest MCS, wherein the iterating through the list of MCSs comprises testing each MCS of the list of MCSs to determine if a corresponding radio link is reliable, wherein for each iteration, a lower MCS is tested so long as a reliability of the corresponding radio link is above the threshold.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein searching for the reliable radio link comprises:
iterating through a list of MCSs of the plurality of MCSs, from a lowest MCS to a highest MCS, wherein iterating through the list of MCSs comprises testing each MCS of the list of MCSs to determine if a corresponding radio link is reliable, wherein for each iteration, a higher MCS is tested so long as a reliability of the corresponding radio link is above the threshold.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein searching for the reliable radio link comprises:
iterating through a list of MCSs of the plurality of MCSs, wherein iterating through the list of MCSs comprises testing a first MCS located in a middle of the list of MCSs to find a reliable radio link;
if a reliable radio link is not found using the first MCS, testing a second MCS located between a highest MCS of the list of MCSs and the first MCS to find a reliable radio link;
if a reliable radio link is not found using the second MCS, testing a third MCS located between a lowest MCS and the first MCS to find a reliable radio link.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a list of MCSs of the plurality of MCSs is selected for testing during the search for the reliable radio link based upon information contained in one or more data packets or dedicated packets transmitted via an information element.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the rate lock is discontinued if the reliability of the reliable radio link using the selected MCS drops below the threshold.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the MCSs are modulation and coding schemes defined in the IEEE 802.11ad standard.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the reliable radio link is configured to operate over a 60 GHz frequency band in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ad standard.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a radio link is determined to be reliable if a number of ACKs received in response to signals transmitted using the selected MCS is over a preconfigured threshold.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is a medium access (MAC) layer module.

21. A non-transitory program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine for causing performance of operations for wireless communication, the operations comprising:
performing antenna training to obtain an antenna configuration;
searching for a reliable radio link using the antenna configuration;
selecting a modulation coding scheme (MCS) among a plurality of MCSs corresponding to the reliable radio link if the reliable radio link is found via the search;
engaging a rate lock on the selected MCS if the reliable radio link is found via the search; and
performing re-training of the antenna if the reliable radio link is not found via the search or if the reliable radio link is found via the search and then a reliability of the reliable radio link drops below a thresh

Assignees

• Wilocity Ltd
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Sanderovich Amichai

Classifications

• H04L1/0033 Primary

  arrangements specific to the transmitter · CPC title

• H04L1/0015

  characterised by the adaptation strategy · CPC title