KR102482875B1 - Method and apparatus for wireless communication using atenna array - Google Patents

Abstract

A wireless communication method using a plurality of antennas according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes obtaining target transmit power and beamforming information, and selecting an inactive antenna from among the plurality of antennas based on the target transmit power and beamforming information. and controlling a plurality of antennas so that transmission through an inactive antenna is blocked.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION USING ATENNA ARRAY

The technical idea of the present disclosure relates to wireless communication, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for wireless communication using an antenna array.

Beamforming may refer to a method of transmitting directional signals using an antenna array including a plurality of antennas. Such beamforming may be used when overcoming high path loss is required, such as in millimeter wave communication. A wireless communication device, such as a base station or a terminal (or user device), may transmit a signal with a transmit power sufficient to obtain information from a received signal at a counterpart, that is, a receiver. However, an increase in transmit power may result in interference with transmissions between other wireless communication devices, and may increase power consumption of the wireless communication device, for example, the wireless communication device. The wireless communication device may have a target transmission power required to transmit a signal to a receiving side, and accordingly, it may be required to maintain a direction of a beam by beamforming while satisfying the target transmission power.

The technical spirit of the present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for efficiently meeting a target transmission power in wireless communication employing beamforming.

In order to achieve the above object, in one aspect of the technical idea of the present disclosure, a wireless communication method using a plurality of antennas includes the steps of acquiring target transmission power and beamforming information, the target transmission power and beamforming information Based on the method, determining an inactive antenna among a plurality of antennas, and controlling the plurality of antennas to block transmission through the inactive antenna.

According to one aspect of the technical idea of the present disclosure, an apparatus for controlling a plurality of antennas is configured to generate a phase control signal for controlling phases of transmission signals output through a plurality of antennas in order to transmit a beam in a first direction. and a power controller configured to generate a power control signal for controlling transmit powers of transmit signals, wherein the power controller selectively disables each of the plurality of antennas based on target transmit power and phases. can do.

A wireless communication device according to one aspect of the technical idea of the present disclosure includes an antenna array including a plurality of antennas, a plurality of phase shifters configured to adjust phases of transmission signals output through the plurality of antennas, and transmission power of transmission signals. may include a plurality of power amplifiers configured to adjust the plurality of power amplifiers, and a plurality of phase shifters and a controller configured to control the plurality of power amplifiers, wherein the controller controls each of the plurality of antennas based on the target transmission power and the beamforming information. A plurality of power amplifiers may be controlled to be selectively deactivated.

According to the method and apparatus according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, it is possible to satisfy a target transmission power while maintaining a direction of a beam by beamforming.

In addition, according to the method and apparatus according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, interference with other transmissions may be reduced and power consumption may be reduced by reducing a margin of transmission power from a target transmission power.

Effects obtainable in the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned are common knowledge in the art to which exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure belong from the following description. can be clearly derived and understood by those who have That is, unintended effects according to the implementation of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may also be derived by those skilled in the art from the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a wireless communication method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of step S20 of FIG. 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of step S40 of FIG. 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
5 is a graph showing a result of calculating a beam error according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
6 is a flow chart illustrating an example of step S40 of FIG. 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
7A and 7B are diagrams illustrating patterns of an inactive antenna and a beam by them according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.
8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of step S40 of FIG. 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
9, 10 and 11 are diagrams illustrating examples in which an inactive antenna is determined according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.
12 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
13 is a flowchart illustrating a wireless communication method performed in the wireless communication device of FIG. 12 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
14 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The wireless communication device 100 may communicate with a counterpart wireless communication device in a wireless communication system using the antenna array 150 including a plurality of antennas.

A wireless communication system in which the wireless communication device 100 communicates with a counterpart wireless communication device includes, as non-limiting examples, a 5th generation wireless (5G) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, an LTE-Advanced system, and a Code Division Multiplex (CDMA) system. Access) system, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) system, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system, or any other wireless communication system. Hereinafter, a wireless communication system will be described with reference primarily to a 5G system and/or LTE system, but it will be understood that exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto.

A wireless communication network of a wireless communication system can support multiple users communicating by sharing available network resources. For example, in a wireless communication network, code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDMA) Access), OFDM-FDMA, OFDM-TDMA, OFDM-CDMA, etc., information can be transmitted through various multiple access schemes.

In some embodiments, the wireless communication device 100 may be a base station (BS) or user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system. A base station may generally refer to a fixed station that communicates with user equipment and/or other base stations, and may exchange data and control information by communicating with user equipment and/or other base stations. For example, a base station includes a Node B, an evolved-Node B (eNB), a sector, a site, a base transceiver system (BTS), an access pint (AP), a relay node, and a remote node (RRH). It may also be referred to as a radio head, a radio unit (RU), a small cell, and the like. In the present specification, a base station or cell may be interpreted as a comprehensive meaning indicating some area or function covered by a Base Station Controller (BSC) in CDMA, Node-B in WCDMA, eNB or sector (site) in LTE, etc. and can cover various coverage areas such as megacells, macrocells, microcells, picocells, femtocells, relay nodes, RRHs, RUs, and small cell communication ranges.

User equipment may be fixed or mobile, and may refer to various devices capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or control information by communicating with a base station. For example, a user device may include terminal equipment, a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), a user terminal (UT), a subscribe station (SS), a wireless device, and a handheld device. ) and the like. In the following, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described mainly with reference to user equipment, but it will be understood that exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 100 includes a data processor 110, a transmission circuit 120, a shifter block 130, an amplifier block 140, an antenna array 150, and a controller 160. can include The transmission circuit 120, the shifter block 130, and the amplifier block 140, which process the transmit input signal TX_IN output from the data processor 110 and provide the processed signal to the antenna array 150, are a transmitter. ) can be referred to as In some embodiments, controller 160 may be included in data processor 110, and data processor 110 may be referred to as a modem. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 100 may include components for processing signals received through the antenna array 150, such as a low noise amplifier (LNA) and a receiving circuit. and a signal output from the receiving circuit may be provided to the data processor 110 . Components that process signals received through the antenna array 150 and provide the processed signals to the data processor 110 may be referred to as receivers. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device 100 may include a transceiver including a transmitter and a receiver, and may include a plurality of transceivers.

The data processor 110 may generate a transmission input signal TX_IN including information to be transmitted to a counterpart wireless communication device. For example, the data processor 110 may perform encoding, demodulation, and the like of data including information to be transmitted according to regulations of a wireless communication system. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device 100 may include a plurality of antenna arrays, and the data processor 110 may precode data (or digital) for Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO). ), it is possible to provide a plurality of transmission input signals to a plurality of transmission circuits. The data processor 110, in some embodiments, may include one or more cores and a memory that stores instructions executed by the cores, and in some embodiments the data processor 110 is a logic circuit designed through logic synthesis. can include

The transmit circuit 120 may provide a plurality of signals to the shifter block 130 by processing the transmit input signal TX_IN received from the data processor 110 . For example, the transmission circuit 120 may include a filter, switch, and the like, as well as a mixer for moving a baseband signal to an RF band.

The shifter block 130 may include a plurality of phase shifters (S1, S2, ..., Sn), each of the plurality of phase shifters (S1, S2, ..., Sn) the controller 160 The phase of the signal received from the transmission circuit 120 may be shifted according to the phase control signal C_PS provided from . The plurality of phase shifters (S1, S2, ..., Sn) included in the shifter block 130 emit a beam (or antenna beam) in a direction toward the counterpart wireless communication device, that is, in the first direction D1. , transmit beam) 10 can be controlled by the phase control signal C_PS. For example, the beam 10 may be formed by increasing the overall antenna gain in the first direction D1 or suppressing certain major interferences, and in this way, the directional beam 10 in the wireless communication device 100 Forming may be referred to as beam forming.

The amplifier block 140 may include a plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An, and each of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An is a controller 160 Signals provided from the shift block 130 may be amplified according to the power control signal C_PA provided from . Transmission power of a signal (or beam 10) output through the antenna array 150 may be determined by a plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An of the amplifier block 140.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the amplifier block 140 may include a plurality of power amplifiers A1 , A2 , ..., An respectively corresponding to the plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150 . The plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An may be designed in consideration of manufacturing cost, area, power consumption, and the like, and thus may have a relatively narrow operating region, that is, a linear region. The wireless communication device 100 may be required to transmit a signal with a transmission power of sufficient magnitude for the other wireless communication device to obtain information from the received signal, while interference with transmissions between other wireless communication devices. And transmission power may be limited according to power consumption of the wireless communication device 100 . Accordingly, the wireless communication device 100 may have a target transmission power. The wireless communication device 100 may acquire the target transmission power in various ways, as will be described later with reference to FIG. 3 . A target transmit power may be achieved by controlling the plurality of power amplifiers A1 , A2 , ..., An by the controller 160 (or the power controller 164 ).

The antenna array 150 may include a plurality of antennas, and the plurality of antennas may receive signals from each of the plurality of power amplifiers A1 , A2 , ..., An of the amplifier block 140 . As shown in FIG. 1, the beam 10 output from the antenna array 150 may be output in a first direction D1, and the first direction D1 has a first direction relative to the antenna array 150. It may have an angle θ ₁ . A plurality of antennas included in the antenna array 150 may be arranged in a line as described later with reference to FIG. 7A, or arranged on a two-dimensional plane according to a plurality of rows and columns as described later with reference to FIG. 10. may be In this specification, the space where the beam 10 is output from the antenna array 150 will be referred to as a beam space whose origin is the point where the antenna array 150 and the beam 10 form an angle (eg, θ ₁ ). can The beam space may correspond to a two-dimensional plane when a plurality of antennas are arranged in a line, while it may correspond to a three-dimensional space when a plurality of antennas are arranged on a two-dimensional plane. In some embodiments, as described below with reference to FIG. 4 , the beam spacing may be used to calculate the beam error used to determine the inactive antenna.

The controller 160 may include a phase controller 162 and a power controller 164 . The phase controller 162 may obtain information about a direction toward the counterpart wireless communication device, that is, a first direction D1, and based on the first direction D1, through a plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150. Phases of output signals may be determined. The phase controller 162 may generate a phase control signal C_PS based on the determined phases and provide the phase control signal C_PS to the shifter block 130 .

The power controller 164 may provide a power control signal C_PA to the amplifier block 140 to control transmit power. As described above, due to the limited operating range of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An, especially in the case of a signal having a high PARR (Peak to Average Power Ratio) such as an OFDM signal, the target It may not be easy to individually adjust operating points of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An to control the transmission power according to the transmission power. As described below with reference to the drawings, in consideration of the limitations of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An, the power controller 164 determines the target transmission power and the first transmission power of the beam 10. Each of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An may be activated or deactivated through the power control signal C_PA while maintaining the direction D1. Accordingly, the target transmit power can be satisfied, and the margin between the target transmit power and the transmit power decreases, thereby reducing interference with other transmissions as well as power consumption of the wireless communication device 100.

The power controller 164 may control activated power amplifiers among the plurality of power amplifiers A1 , A2 , ..., An with the same power or with different powers. In some embodiments, the power controller 164 may generate the power control signal C_PA based on beamforming, eg, the direction and intensity of the beam 10 may determine the phase of the signals by the shifter block 130. as well as the transmission powers of the signals by the amplifier block 140. Accordingly, the power controller 164 may control powers of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An included in the amplifier block 140 based on the first direction D1.

In some embodiments, controller 160 may include one or more cores and a memory that stores instructions executed by the cores, and at least a portion of phase controller 162 and/or power controller 164 resides in memory. May contain stored software blocks. In some embodiments, the controller 160 may include a logic circuit designed through logic synthesis, and at least a portion of the phase controller 162 and/or the power controller 164 includes a hardware block implemented as a logic circuit. can do.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a wireless communication method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically, FIG. 2 shows a wireless communication method using an antenna array including a plurality of antennas. In some embodiments, the method of FIG. 2 may be performed by controller 160 or power controller 164 of FIG. 1 , and FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 below.

In step S20, an operation of acquiring target transmit power and beamforming information may be performed. As described below, the target transmit power and beamforming information may be used by the controller 160 to determine an inactive antenna among a plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150 . The target transmit power may refer to transmit power required for signals output through a plurality of antennas, and may be variously obtained as will be described later with reference to FIG. 3 . Beamforming information is information necessary for forming a beam toward a counterpart wireless communication device, and is, for example, a phase provided by a plurality of phase shifters (S1, S2, ..., Sn) included in the shifter block 130. It may contain information about shifts. Also, in some embodiments, the beamforming information may include information about powers of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An included in the amplifier block 140. An example of step S20 will be described later with reference to FIG. 3 .

In step S40, an operation of determining an inactive antenna may be performed. For example, the controller 160 may determine an inactive antenna among a plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150 based on the obtained target transmit power and beamforming information. In this specification, an inactive antenna may refer to an antenna that does not output a signal forming the beam 10, while an active antenna may refer to an antenna that outputs a signal forming the beam 10. As described above with reference to FIG. 1, due to the characteristics of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An corresponding to each of the plurality of antennas, the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An) It may not be easy to adjust each operating point, and accordingly, the controller 160 selectively deactivates each of the plurality of antennas based on the target transmit power and beamforming information to target transmit power. can be achieved.

_{[ _ _ _} It can be expressed as in Equation 1].

As described above, the coefficient "a _i " of the transmit powers (P ₁ , P ₂ ,..., P _n ) is "1" when each of the plurality of antennas is activated or deactivated by the controller 160. Or it may have a value of "0". That is, when "a _i = 1", it may mean that the ith antenna (or the antenna having index i) is activated, while when "a _i = 0", it may mean that the ith antenna is deactivated. Accordingly, determining an inactive antenna among a plurality of antennas may be the same as determining a set “I” including indices of inactive antennas as shown in [Equation 2] below.

Examples of step S40 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 9.

In step S60, an operation of controlling a plurality of antennas may be performed to block transmission through an inactive antenna. For example, the controller 160 may control a power amplifier corresponding to an inactive antenna to block transmission through the inactive antenna. In some embodiments, the controller 160 may cut off power supplied to the power amplifier corresponding to the inactive antenna or disable the output of the power amplifier corresponding to the inactive antenna through the power control signal C_PA. there is. Accordingly, when at least one inactive antenna is determined in step S40, signals may be output through antennas other than at least one inactive antenna among a plurality of antennas, that is, active antennas, and the output signals may be transmitted through the beam 10 can form

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of step S20 of FIG. 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As described above with reference to FIG. 2 , in step S20′ of FIG. 3 , an operation of acquiring target transmission power and beamforming information may be performed. Specifically, FIG. 3 shows an example of obtaining a target transmit power. In some embodiments, different from that shown in FIG. 3 , step S20′ may include only one of steps S22 and S24. In the following, FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 .

In step S22, an operation of receiving information on target transmission power may be performed. That is, the wireless communication device 100 may receive a signal including information on target transmission power from a counterpart wireless communication device through the antenna array 150, and may control the transmission power according to the received information. . For example, when the wireless communication device 100 is a user device, a base station as a counterpart wireless communication device may provide transmission power for uplink to the wireless communication device 100 as a target transmission power. In addition, when the wireless communication device 100 is a base station, a user device as a counterpart wireless communication device may request transmission power for downlink from the base station for normal processing of a signal received through downlink, and the base station may have the requested transmit power as the target transmit power.

In step S24, an operation of calculating target transmission power according to the received signal may be performed. That is, the wireless communication device 100 may determine the state of a radio channel based on a signal received from the other wireless communication device through the antenna array 150, and calculate the target transmission power based on the determined state. . For example, when the wireless communication device 100 is a user device, the user device may calculate transmission power for uplink based on the quality of a signal received through downlink, and the calculated transmission power is calculated in the user device. It can be used as a target transmit power. In addition, when the wireless communication device 100 is a base station, user devices as counterpart wireless communication devices may request transmit powers for downlink from the base station, and the base station may request transmission powers for each of the user devices based on the requested transmit powers. Target transmit powers may be calculated.

In some embodiments, steps S22 and S24 may be performed in combination. For example, the wireless communication device 100 may receive a target transmission power from a counterpart wireless communication device and evaluate the quality of a signal received from the counterpart wireless communication device. The wireless communication device 100 may calculate target transmission power, which is the transmission power of a signal to be transmitted to the other wireless communication device, based on the quality of the received signal as well as the received target transmission power.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of step S40 in FIG. 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating an example of a result of calculating a beam error according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. to be. Specifically, FIG. 4 shows examples of step S40 of FIG. 2 when active antennas among a plurality of antennas included in the antenna array 150 of FIG. 1 are controlled to output signals of the same transmit power. 5 shows results of calculating beam errors corresponding to all cases in which two antennas are deactivated in an antenna array including eight antennas. In the following, FIGS. 4 and 5 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 .

Referring to FIG. 4, in step S40a, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, an operation of determining an inactive antenna based on the target transmit power and beamforming information may be performed. Specifically, the inactive antenna determines the beam error. can be determined by calculating As shown in FIG. 4 , step S40a may include step S42a and step S44a, and step S44a may include step S44a_2 and step S44a_4.

In step S42a, an operation of determining the number of inactive antennas may be performed. Since the active antennas are controlled to output signals of the same transmit power, the number of inactive antennas (or the number of active antennas) can be calculated from the target transmit power and the transmit power of the active antennas. When all of the plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150 are active antennas, the plurality of transmit powers P ₁ , P ₂ , ..., P by the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., An _n ) may be the same as “P _uniform ” as shown in [Equation 3] below.

The number “m” of inactive antennas can be calculated as in [Equation 4] below.

In [Equation 4], if "m" is not an integer, in some embodiments, "m" may be rounded, and in some embodiments, depending on the type of information to be transmitted, the type of service, and the link budget. "m" can be rounded up or down. For example, when the information to be transmitted is control information, "m" may be rounded down to ensure sufficient transmission power. The value of "m" converted to an integer may match the number of elements of the set "I" in [Equation 2].

Then, in step S44a, an operation of determining an inactive antenna based on the beam error may be performed. Beam error may refer to a value calculated from a difference between two beam gains. First, an operation of calculating a beam error may be performed in step S44a_2. The beam error may be calculated from a first beam gain (G ₁ ) according to the beamforming information and a second beam gain (G ₂ ) according to the number of inactive antennas determined in step S42a. As described above with reference to FIG. 2, the beamforming information may include information on phase shifts provided by the plurality of phase shifters S1, S2, ..., Sn of the shifter block 130. . Each of the phase shifts can be expressed as beamforming coefficients, and when defining the beamforming coefficients as an n-dimensional vector “B”, the beam gain “G(θ, B)” at angle “θ” is 5].

"는 응답벡터 "

"의 에르미트 전치(Hermitian transpose)일 수 있고, 안테나 어레이(150)의 구조가 안테나들 사이 간격이 반파장인 균일 선형 어레이(uniform linear array; ULA)인 경우, 응답벡터 "

"는 아래 [수학식 6]과 같이 나타낼 수 있다.In [Equation 5] "

" is the response vector "

It may be a Hermitian transpose of ", and if the structure of the antenna array 150 is a uniform linear array (ULA) in which the spacing between antennas is half a wavelength, the response vector "

" can be expressed as in [Equation 6] below.

Based on [Equation 5] and [Equation 6], the first beam gain “G ₁ (θ, B ₁ )” is derived from the first vector “B ₁ ” according to the beamforming information, and determined in step S42a. When the second beam gain “G ₂ (θ, B ₂ )” is derived from the second vector “B ₂ ” according to the number of inactive antennas, the first beam gain G ₁ and the second beam gain G ₂ ), the beam error “E” between the antennas may be calculated as shown in [Equation 7] below, for example, when a plurality of antennas are arranged in a line.

As shown in [Equation 7], the beam error E may be calculated by integrating the difference between the first beam gain G ₁ and the second beam gain G ₂ in the beam space. In some embodiments, the beam error (E) may be calculated by integrating the difference between the first beam gain (G ₁ ) and the second beam gain (G ₂ ) in a limited space. For example, as shown in [Equation 8] below, the beam error E is a beam space defined as between the second and third directions around the first direction D1 of the beam, that is, the first angle θ ₁ . It can be calculated in an angular range that includes

"에 따른 빔 오차(E)는 아래 [수학식 9]와 같이 계산될 수 있다.Also, in some embodiments, the beam error E may be derived in a beam space composed of quantized directions. For example, the quantized directions "

The beam error E according to " can be calculated as in [Equation 9] below.

Referring to FIG. 5 , a beam error E may be calculated for each of 28 patterns in which 2 antennas are inactivated in an antenna array including 8 antennas. As shown in FIG. 5, patterns of inactive antennas having the same beam error may be grouped.

Referring back to FIG. 4 , in some embodiments, the controller 160 may calculate the beam error E based on Equation 7, Equation 8, and/or Equation 9. For example, the controller 160 may calculate a plurality of beam errors according to each of the possible patterns of the number of inactive antennas determined in step S42a.

In step S44a_4, an operation of determining an inactive antenna based on a beam error may be performed. When the beam error E is calculated as in [Equation 7], [Equation 8] and/or [Equation 9], determining the inactive antenna derives the set "I" in [Equation 10] below can mean doing

In some embodiments, the controller 160 may calculate a plurality of beam errors according to each of the possible patterns of the number of inactive antennas determined in step S42a in the plurality of antennas, and determine a minimum beam error among the plurality of beam errors. An inactive antenna can be determined by detecting the set "I" provided. Examples of set “I” will be described later with reference to FIG. 7A.

6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of step S40 in FIG. 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIGS. 7A and 7B are patterns of inactive antennas and beams caused by them according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. are drawings that represent Specifically, FIG. 6 shows, similar to FIG. 4, when active antennas among a plurality of antennas included in the antenna array 150 of FIG. 1 are controlled to output signals of the same transmission power, step S40 of FIG. indicate an example. Also, FIG. 7A shows antenna patterns providing a minimum beam error according to the number of inactive antennas in an antenna array including 8 antennas, and FIG. 7B shows beams according to patterns of inactive antennas. Hereinafter, among descriptions of FIG. 6 , contents overlapping with those of FIG. 4 will be omitted, and FIGS. 6 , 7A and 7B will be described with reference to FIG. 1 .

Referring to FIG. 6, in step S40b, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, an operation of determining an inactive antenna based on the target transmit power and beamforming information may be performed. Specifically, the inactive antenna is the inactive antenna. It can be determined by referring to the patterns. As shown in FIG. 6 , step S40b may include steps S42b and step S44b, and step S44b may include steps S44b_2 and step S44b_4.

In step S42b, an operation of determining the number of inactive antennas may be performed. For example, the number “m” of inactive antennas may be calculated as shown in [Equation 4]. Then, in step S44b, an operation to determine the inactive antenna by referring to the patterns of the inactive antenna may be performed.

In step S44b_2, an operation of referring to patterns of inactive antennas may be performed. For example, controller 160 may include or access memory that stores information about patterns of inactive antennas. In some embodiments, the patterns of the inactive antenna may be predefined by the beam error. For example, as shown in FIG. 7A , patterns of inactive antennas providing a minimum beam error according to the number of inactive antennas may be predefined.

In step S44b_4, an operation of determining an inactive antenna according to a pattern corresponding to the number of inactive antennas may be performed. The controller 160 may search for patterns corresponding to the number of inactive antennas determined in step S42b among the patterns of inactive antennas. For example, if the number of inactive antennas determined in step S42b is 2, three patterns in which pairs of antenna indices (1, 2), (1, 8), and (7, 8) are deactivated, respectively, can be searched, , one of the three patterns providing the same beam error can be selected. For example, as described below with reference to FIG. 13 , the controller 160 may select one of three patterns based on interference information of a plurality of antennas.

Referring to FIG. 7A , patterns of inactive antennas in a given number of inactive antennas may have a rule. For example, at least one outermost antenna among the eight antennas may be determined as the inactive antenna, and inactive antennas may be successively determined from the at least one outermost antenna. That is, one or more consecutive inactive antennas may include an outermost antenna. In accordance with these rules of patterns of inactive antennas, in some embodiments, controller 160 determines the patterns of inactive antennas based on conditions according to the rule derived from the patterns, instead of referencing the patterns of inactive antennas stored in memory. can decide Referring to FIG. 7B , the experimental result shows that when the antennas of index 1 to the antenna of index 5 as the outermost antenna are sequentially deactivated, the transmission power of each formed beam decreases while the direction is maintained.

8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of step S40 in FIG. 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 illustrate examples in which an inactive antenna is determined according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. drawings that represent Specifically, FIG. 8 shows an example of step S40 of FIG. 2 when a plurality of antennas included in the antenna array 150 of FIG. 1 are controlled to output signals of unequal transmit powers. 9 and 10 show examples of processes in which inactive antennas are sequentially determined, and FIG. 11 shows changes in transmit power when two antennas are deactivated. In the following, FIG. 8 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 .

Referring to FIG. 8, in step S40c, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, an operation of determining an inactive antenna based on target transmit power and beamforming information may be performed, and the beamforming information is used for beamforming. The plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., of the amplifier block 140 as well as the phase shifts provided by the plurality of phase shifters S1, S2, ..., Sn of the shift block 130. An) may include transmission powers provided. In the following, FIGS. 8 to 11 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 .

Referring to FIG. 8, in step S40c, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, an operation of determining an inactive antenna based on the target transmit power and the beamforming information may be performed, and the position of the inactive antenna and the target transmit power can be considered simultaneously. For example, controller 160 may sequentially determine inactive antennas until a target transmit power is reached. As shown in FIG. 8 , step S40c may include step S42c and step S44c.

In step S42c, an operation of selecting at least one antenna including an outermost antenna among active antennas may be performed. As described above with reference to FIG. 7A, given the number of inactive antennas, patterns of inactive antennas that provide the minimum beam error may include the outermost antenna as the inactive antenna. Accordingly, in the process of sequentially determining inactive antennas, at least one antenna including an outermost antenna of the remaining active antennas may be selected as the inactive antenna. In some embodiments, the active antennas may include the two outermost antennas when the plurality of antennas of antenna array 150 are arranged in a row, while in some embodiments, the plurality of antennas are arranged in a two-dimensional plane. When arranged, as shown in FIG. 10 , the active antennas may include a plurality of outermost antennas on the top, bottom, left, and right sides respectively.

The controller 160 may select at least one antenna including an outermost antenna based on the target transmission power. In some embodiments, the controller 160 may select at least one outermost antenna providing transmission power closest to the target transmission power when inactive, ie, remaining transmission power, among the plurality of outermost antennas. For example, as will be described with reference to FIG. 9 , the controller 160 may select one outermost antenna providing a transmission power closest to a target transmission power when inactive among active antennas.

In some embodiments, the controller 160 may consider combinations of outermost antennas and antennas adjacent to the outermost antenna, and the antenna that provides a transmit power closest to the target transmit power may be selected. For example, when an inactive antenna is selected among 8 antennas arranged in a row as shown in FIG. Pairs of inactive antennas (1, 2), (1, 8) and (7, 8) may all be considered, so that the controller 160 selects the transmit power closest to the target transmit power among the five patterns. At least one inactive antenna may be selected according to the provided pattern.

In step S44c, an operation of comparing the remaining transmit power with the target transmit power may be performed. The remaining transmit power may refer to transmit power according to active antennas when the inactive antenna determined so far and the antenna selected in step S42c are deactivated. In some embodiments, it may be determined whether the remaining transmit power is within a predetermined error from the target transmit power. If the remaining transmit power is within a predetermined error from the target transmit power, step S40c may end, while otherwise step S42c may be performed subsequently. In some embodiments, it may be determined whether the remaining transmit power is equal to or greater than the target transmit power. If the remaining transmit power is equal to or greater than the target transmit power, step S42c may be performed subsequently, while step S40c may end otherwise. Further, in some embodiments, when it is determined in step S44c that the remaining transmit power is lower than the target transmit power, at least one antenna selected in step S42c is selected before terminating step S40c so that the transmit power is maintained at or above the target transmit power. Again, it may be determined as an active antenna.

Referring to FIG. 9 , inactive antennas may be sequentially determined in consideration of target transmit power and beam forming in an antenna array including eight antennas arranged in a row. As shown in FIG. 9 , among first and second antennas, which are outermost antennas, a first antenna that provides transmission power closer to a target transmission power when inactivated may be selected. Then, among the second to eighth antennas, which are the remaining active antennas, the second antenna, which is the outermost antenna, may be selected. In a similar manner, the eighth antenna, the third antenna, and the seventh antenna may be sequentially selected.

Referring to FIG. 10 , an antenna array may include a plurality of antennas arranged on a two-dimensional plane, and outermost antennas among the plurality of antennas may include antennas arranged in a line. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, among the plurality of antennas arranged along the X-axis and Y-axis, a series of antennas arranged parallel to the Y-axis direction, such as the first pattern P81, are selected as inactive antennas. It can be. Then, based on the target transmission power, a series of antennas arranged in parallel with the Y-axis direction as in the second pattern P82 may be selected as inactive antennas, and in the X-axis direction as in the third pattern P83. A series of antennas arranged parallel to may be selected as passive antennas.

Referring to FIG. 11 , in step S40c of FIG. 9 , the margin of transmit power from the target transmit power may be reduced by considering the position of the antenna, that is, the index of the antenna, and the target transmit power together. As in the first case of FIG. 11 , the first to fourth antennas have first to fourth transmit powers P ₁ to P ₄ , and the sum of the first to fourth transmit powers P ₁ to P ₄ is If greater than the target transmit power (P _target ), at least one antenna may be deactivated. For example, as in the second case of FIG. 11 , when only the position of the antenna is considered when determining the inactive antenna, the first and second antennas may be determined as inactive antennas, and the corresponding transmission power is the active antennas. The sum of the third and fourth transmit powers P ₃ and P ₄ of the third and fourth antennas may have a relatively large difference from the target transmit power P _target . On the other hand, as in the third case of FIG. 11, when the target transmit power is simultaneously considered together with the position of the inactive antenna when determining the inactive antenna, the first and fourth antennas may be determined as inactive antennas, and the transmit power accordingly is the sum of the second and third transmit powers P ₂ and P ₃ of the second and third antennas, which are active antennas, and may approximate the target transmit power P _target . That is, as described above with reference to FIG. 9, in the first case of FIG. 11, among the first and fourth antennas, which are the outermost antennas, it is possible to provide remaining transmit power closer to the target transmit power P _target when inactive. A first antenna having a first transmit power (P ₁ ) may be selected as an inactive antenna, and then, among the second and fourth antennas, which are the outermost antennas, the target transmit power (P _target ) is greater than the target transmit power (P target ) during inactivation. A fourth antenna having a fourth transmit power (P ₄ ) may be selected as an inactive antenna so as to provide close residual transmit power.

12 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device 100' according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device 100' of FIG. 12 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. It is a flow chart showing a wireless communication method. Similar to the wireless communication device 100 of FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 100' includes a data processor 110', a transmission circuit 120', a shifter block 130', an amplifier block 140', and an antenna array. 150' and a controller 160', and may additionally include a blockage detector 170'. In the following, descriptions of FIGS. 12 and 13 and overlapping descriptions of FIGS. 1 and 2 will be omitted.

In some embodiments, each of the plurality of antennas of antenna array 150' may be selectively deactivated based on target transmit power and beamforming information as well as blockage information. That is, in order to achieve a target transmission power, it may be more advantageous to deactivate an antenna with interference than an antenna without interference among a plurality of antennas. In the wireless communication device 100', the plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150' may be exposed to the outside of the wireless communication device 100' or disposed adjacent to the outer surface of the wireless communication device 100', and are resistant to interference. As a result, the signal output from the antenna may be attenuated. Interference to an antenna may occur for a variety of reasons. For example, it may be caused by an external object that is close to the antenna array 150' outside the wireless communication device 100', such as a body or a conductive material.

The interference detector 170' may detect interferences generated from a plurality of antennas included in the antenna array 150'. In some embodiments, the blockage detector 170' may output a test signal through a plurality of antennas and detect blockages based on response characteristics thereof. In some embodiments, the blockage detector 170' may detect blockages by measuring the impedance of the exterior of the wireless communication device 100'. In some embodiments, blockage detector 170' may detect blockages by sensing conditions of the exterior of wireless communication device 100', such as pressure, temperature, and the like. The blockage detector 170' may generate a blockage detection signal (DET) including blockage information based on the detected blockages and provide it to the controller 160'. The controller 160' may generate the power control signal C_PA based on the target transmission power and beamforming information as well as the interference information included in the interference detection signal DET received from the interference detector 170'.

Referring to FIG. 13, similarly to step S20 of FIG. 2, an operation of acquiring target transmission power and beamforming information may be performed in step S20 of FIG. 13, and interference information may be additionally obtained. In addition, step In step S40", an operation of determining an inactive antenna may be performed, and in step S60", an operation of controlling a plurality of antennas may be performed so that transmission through the inactive antenna is blocked. As shown in FIG. 13, step S20" may include step S26, and step S40" may include step S46.

In step S26, an operation of obtaining interference information of a plurality of antennas may be performed. For example, as described above with reference to FIG. 12, the blockage detector 170' detects blockages generated by a plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150', thereby generating a blockage detection signal (DET) including blockage information. and the controller 16'" can obtain the blockage information by receiving the blockage detection signal DET.

In step S46, an operation of determining the antenna from which interference has been detected as a preferentially inactive antenna may be performed. In some embodiments, as described above with reference to FIG. 4 , the controller 160 ′ may calculate a beam error and, upon inactivation, detect a blockage among a plurality of antennas providing (approximately) the same beam error. can be preferentially determined as an inactive antenna. In some embodiments, as described above with reference to FIG. 6 , the controller 160 ′ can refer to patterns of an inactive antenna, and a blockage of a plurality of patterns that provides (approximately) the same beam error is A pattern including the detected antenna as an inactive antenna may be selected. Also, in some embodiments, as described above with reference to FIG. 8 , the controller !60 ′ can sequentially select inactive antennas, which, when inactive, are close to the target transmit power and are (approximately) equal to each other. Among the outermost antennas providing transmit power, an antenna in which interference is detected may be preferentially selected as an inactive antenna. Accordingly, while achieving a target transmit power, the influence of interference on beamforming may be reduced.

14 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a communication device 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the communication device 200 may be included in the wireless communication device 100 of FIG. 1 and may perform the operation of the controller 160 of FIG. 1 .

As shown in FIG. 14, the communication device 200 includes an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 210, an application specific instruction set processor (ASIP) 230, a memory 250, a main processor 270, and a main memory. (290). Two or more of ASIC 210, ASIP 230 and main processor 270 may communicate with each other. In addition, at least two or more of the ASIC 210, the ASIP 230, the memory 250, the main processor 270, and the main memory 290 may be embedded in one chip.

The ASIP 230 is an integrated circuit customized for a specific purpose, and may support a dedicated instruction set for a specific application and execute instructions included in the instruction set. The memory 250 may communicate with the ASIP 230 and may store a plurality of instructions executed by the ASIP 230 as a non-transitory storage device. For example, the memory 250 may include random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), tape, magnetic disk, optical disk, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and combinations thereof, as non-limiting examples. It may contain any type of memory accessible by ASIP 230.

The main processor 270 may control the communication device 200 by executing a plurality of instructions. For example, the main processor 270 may control the ASIC 210 and the ASIP 230, process data received through a wireless communication network, or process a user's input to the communication device 200. there is. The main memory 290 may communicate with the main processor 270 and may store a plurality of instructions executed by the main processor 270 as a non-temporary storage device. For example, the main memory 290 includes random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), tape, magnetic disk, optical disk, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and combinations thereof, as non-limiting examples. , can include any type of memory accessible by the main processor 270.

The wireless communication method according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure described above may be performed by at least one of components included in the wireless communication device of FIG. 14 . In some embodiments, at least one of the steps of the wireless communication method, operation of the controller 160 (or power controller 164) of FIG. 1 may be implemented as a plurality of instructions stored in the memory 250. . Accordingly, the ASIP 230 performs at least one of the steps of the wireless communication method or the operation of the controller 160 (or the power controller 164) of FIG. 1 by executing a plurality of instructions stored in the memory 250. At least part of it can be done. In some embodiments, at least one of the steps of the wireless communication method or at least a part of the operation of the controller 160 (or power controller 164) of FIG. 1 is performed by a hardware block designed through logic synthesis or the like. may be performed, and such a hardware block may be included in the ASIC 210. In addition, in some embodiments, at least one of the steps of the wireless communication method or at least a part of the operation of the controller 160 (or power controller 164) of FIG. 1 may be stored in the main memory 290. It can be implemented as instructions of, and the main processor 270 transmits a plurality of instructions stored in the main memory 290 to at least one of the steps of the wireless communication method or the controller 160 (or power controller 164 of FIG. 1). )) may perform at least part of the operation.

As above, exemplary embodiments have been disclosed in the drawings and specifications. Although the embodiments have been described using specific terms in this specification, they are only used for the purpose of explaining the technical idea of the present disclosure, and are not used to limit the scope of the present disclosure described in the claims. . Therefore, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. Therefore, the true technical scope of protection of the present disclosure should be determined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

Claims (20)

A method performed by a device for controlling a plurality of antennas,
acquiring target transmit power and beamforming information;
determining an inactive antenna among the plurality of antennas based on the target transmit power and the beamforming information; and
Controlling the plurality of antennas to block transmission through the inactive antenna;
The target transmit power is a transmit power required for transmit signals output through the plurality of antennas,
The beamforming information is information necessary for forming a beam toward a counterpart wireless communication device receiving the transmission signals. The method of claim 1,
The acquiring of the target transmit power and the beamforming information comprises receiving information on the target transmit power through the plurality of antennas. The method of claim 1,
The step of obtaining the target transmit power and the beamforming information comprises calculating the target transmit power based on signals received through the plurality of antennas. The method of claim 1,
The beamforming information includes information on phases of transmission signals output through each of the plurality of antennas for transmitting a beam in a first direction. The method of claim 4,
Each of the active antennas among the plurality of antennas is controlled to output a transmission signal having a first transmission power,
Wherein the step of determining the inactive antennas comprises determining the number of inactive antennas based on the target transmit power and the first transmit power. The method of claim 5,
Determining the inactive antenna,
calculating a beam error from a first beam gain according to the beamforming information and a second beam gain according to the number of inactive antennas; and
based on the beam error, determining the inactive antenna. The method of claim 6,
In the step of calculating the beam error, the beam error is calculated by integrating a difference between the first beam gain and the second beam gain in a beam space. The method of claim 7,
the beam space consists of quantized directions;
The method of claim 1, wherein the beam error is a sum of differences between the first beam gain and the second beam gain corresponding to quantized directions. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the beam space is defined as between a second and a third direction centered on the first direction. The method of claim 5,
Determining the inactive antenna,
Referencing patterns of predefined inactive antennas according to the number of inactive antennas; and
and determining the inactive antenna based on the patterns of the inactive antenna. The method of claim 10,
Wherein each of the patterns of inactive antennas defines that at least one outermost antenna of the plurality of antennas is inactive. The method of claim 11,
The pattern of the inactive antennas comprises a pattern defining that at least one antenna continuously disposed from the at least one outermost antenna is deactivated. The method of claim 4,
The beamforming information may further include information on transmission powers of the transmission signals for transmitting a beam in the first direction. The method of claim 13,
The determining of the inactive antenna may include determining the inactive antenna according to transmission powers of the transmission signals for transmitting a beam in the first direction and a predefined rule;
The method of claim 1 , wherein the predefined rule defines sequentially deactivating at least one outermost antenna among active antennas. The method of claim 14,
The determining of the inactive antenna may include determining, as the inactive antenna, an outermost antenna having a remaining transmit power closest to the target transmit power upon inactivation, among outermost antennas of the active antennas; and
and determining whether the step of determining the inactive antenna is terminated by comparing the remaining transmit power and the target transmit power. The method of claim 1,
Further comprising obtaining blockage information of the plurality of antennas,
Wherein the step of determining the inactive antenna determines the inactive antenna further based on the blockage information. A device for controlling a plurality of antennas,
a phase controller configured to generate a phase control signal for controlling phases of transmission signals output through the plurality of antennas to transmit a beam in a first direction; and
a power controller configured to generate a power control signal for controlling transmit powers of the transmit signals;
the power controller is configured to selectively deactivate each of the plurality of antennas based on a target transmit power and the phases;
The target transmission power is a transmission power that the transmission signals are required to have,
The phases are included in beamforming information necessary for forming a beam toward a counterpart wireless communication device receiving the transmission signals. The method of claim 17
wherein the power controller is configured to equally control transmit powers corresponding to active antennas as first transmit power, and to determine the number of inactive antennas based on the target transmit power and the first transmit power. . The method of claim 17
wherein the power controller is configured to generate the power control signal further based on the transmit powers for transmitting a beam in the first direction. an antenna array including a plurality of antennas;
a plurality of phase shifters configured to adjust phases of transmission signals output through the plurality of antennas;
a plurality of power amplifiers configured to adjust transmit powers of the transmit signals; and
a controller configured to control the plurality of phase shifters and the plurality of power amplifiers;
The controller is configured to control the plurality of power amplifiers such that each of the plurality of antennas is selectively deactivated based on target transmit power and beamforming information;
The target transmission power is a transmission power that the transmission signals are required to have,
The beamforming information is information necessary for forming a beam toward a counterpart wireless communication device receiving the transmission signals.

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