TW201911773A - Wireless communication method, apparatuses for controlling antennas and wireless communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

A wireless communication method using a plurality of antennas performed by a controller, the wireless communication method including obtaining a target transmission power level and beam forming information, determining at least one inactive antenna from among the plurality of antennas, based on the target transmission power level and the beam forming information, and controlling transmission signals provided to the plurality of antennas such that transmission via the at least one inactive antenna does not occur.

Description

Wireless communication method, device for controlling antenna, and wireless communication equipment

Some exemplary embodiments are related to wireless communication and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for wireless communication using an antenna array.

Beam forming may refer to a method of transmitting a signal having directivity by using an antenna array including a plurality of antennas. Like millimeter wave communication, this beamforming can be used to overcome high path losses. The wireless communication device (e.g., the base station or terminal (or user equipment)) may be of a magnitude sufficient to cause the other party (i.e., the receiving side) to transmit a signal from the transmission power of the received signal. However, an increase in transmission power can interfere with transmissions between several other wireless communication devices and can increase the power consumption of wireless communication devices (eg, wireless communication devices). The wireless communication equipment may have a target transmission power sufficient to transmit the signal to the receiving side, and thus, it may be desirable to maintain the direction of the beam resulting from beamforming while satisfying the target transmission power.

Some example embodiments provide methods and apparatus for efficiently meeting a target transmission power in wireless communication employing beamforming.

According to some exemplary embodiments, a wireless communication method performed by a controller using a plurality of antennas is provided. The wireless communication method includes obtaining a target transmission power level and beamforming information. The wireless communication method further includes determining at least one inactive antenna from the plurality of antennas based on the target transmission power level and the beamforming information. The wireless communication method further includes controlling a transmission signal provided to the plurality of antennas such that transmission does not occur via the at least one inactive antenna.

According to some exemplary embodiments, an apparatus for controlling a plurality of antennas is provided. The device includes a phase controller configured to generate a phase control signal for controlling a plurality of transmission signals outputted through the plurality of antennas for transmitting a beam in a first direction The corresponding phase. The device further includes a power controller, the power controller configured to: generate a power control signal, the power control signal is used to control a corresponding transmission power of the plurality of transmission signals; and based on a target transmission power level The respective phases selectively disable one or more of the plurality of antennas.

According to some exemplary embodiments, a wireless communication device is provided. The wireless communication device includes an antenna array, the antenna array including a plurality of antennas. The wireless communication device further includes: a plurality of phase shifters configured to adjust respective phases of the plurality of transmission signals outputted through the plurality of antennas; a plurality of power amplifiers configured to adjust the plurality of transmission signals Corresponding transmission power. The wireless communication device further includes a controller configured to: control the plurality of phase shifters; and control the plurality of power amplifiers such that one or more of the plurality of antennas are based on The target transmission power level and beamforming information are selectively disabled.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication device 100 in accordance with some example embodiments. The wireless communication device 100 can communicate with other wireless communication devices in a wireless communication system by using an antenna array 150 that includes multiple antennas.

As a non-limiting example, the wireless communication system in which the wireless communication equipment 100 communicates with other wireless communication equipment may be a 5th generation wireless (5G) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or a high level. Long Term Evolution (LTE-Advanced) system, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) system, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) ) System, or another arbitrary wireless communication system. Hereinafter, the wireless communication system will be described as a 5th generation wireless system and/or a long term evolution system, however, one or more exemplary embodiments are not limited thereto.

The wireless communication network of the wireless communication system can be used to support communication between users by enabling available network resources. For example, via a wireless communication network, information can be transmitted by various multiple access methods such as: code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access. (Time Division Multiple Access, TDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) frequency division multiple access (OFDM-FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing time division multiple access (OFDM-TDMA), or orthogonal frequency division multiple division code multiple access (OFDM) -CDMA).

According to some exemplary embodiments, the wireless communication device 100 may be a base station (BS) or a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system. In general, a base station may refer to a fixed station that communicates with user equipment and/or other base stations, and may be equipped with user equipment and/or other by communicating with user equipment and/or other base stations. The base station exchanges data and control information. For example, a base station may be referred to as a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a sector, a site, a Base Transceiver System (BTS), Access Point (AP), relay node, Remote Radio Head (RRH), Radio Unit (RU), or small cell. In the present invention, a base station or a cell may refer to a function or area covered by a base station controller (BSC) in code division multiple access, and Wideband CDMA (WCDMA). Node B, evolving Node B or sector (station) in long-term evolution, and may include a mega cell, a macro cell, a micro cell, and a pico cell. , femtocells, and/or various coverage areas (eg, coverage of relay nodes, remote radio heads, radio units, or small cells).

The user equipment may be located at a fixed location, or may be portable and may represent capable of receiving data and/or control information from the base station and transmitting data and/or control information to the base station by communicating with the base station. Various devices. For example, user equipment can refer to terminal equipment, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), user terminal (UT), subscriber station (Subscriber Station, SS), wireless device, or handheld device. In the following, some exemplary embodiments will be explained primarily with reference to user equipment, however one or more exemplary embodiments are not limited thereto.

Referring to FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 100 can include a data processor 110, a transmission circuit 120, a shifter block 130, an amplifier block 140, an antenna array 150, and a controller 160. Processing the transmit input signal TX_IN output by the data processor 110 and providing the processed signal to the transmit circuit 120, shifter block 130, and amplifier block 140 of the antenna array 150 may be referred to as a transmitter. According to some exemplary embodiments, the controller 160 may be included in the material processor 110, and the data processor 110 may be referred to as a data machine. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 100 may include components for processing signals received via the antenna array 150, such as a low noise amplifier (LNA) and a receiving circuit, and output by the receiving circuit. The signal can be provided to the data processor 110. The components that process the signals received via antenna array 150 and provide the processed signals to data processor 110 may be referred to as receivers. According to some example embodiments, wireless communication equipment 100 may include a transceiver including a transmitter and a receiver, and may include a plurality of transceivers. According to some example embodiments, the execution of any or all of transmit circuitry 120, shifter block 130, amplifier block 140, low noise amplifier, and receive circuitry as set forth herein may be performed by circuitry . For example, the circuitry may include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

The data processor 110 can generate a transmission input signal TX_IN containing information to be transmitted to other wireless communication equipment. For example, the data processor 110 may perform encoding, modulation, and the like on the data containing the information to be transmitted according to the regulations of the wireless communication system. According to some exemplary embodiments, the wireless communication device 100 may include multiple antenna arrays, and the data processor 110 may perform data (or digital) precoding by performing multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) processing. And a plurality of transmission input signals are provided to a plurality of transmission circuits. According to some example embodiments, data processor 110 may include at least one core and memory that stores instructions executed by the core. According to some exemplary embodiments, data processor 110 may include logic circuits designed by logic synthesis.

The transmitting circuit 120 can provide a plurality of signals to the shifter block 130 by processing the transmission input signal TX_IN received from the data processor 110. For example, the transmission circuit 120 may include not only a mixer that shifts the fundamental frequency signal to a radio frequency (RF) band, but also a filter, a switch, and the like.

The shifter block 130 can include a plurality of phase shifters S1, S2, ..., and Sn. Each of the plurality of phase shifters S1, S2, ..., and Sn may shift the phase of the signal received from the transmitting circuit 120 in accordance with the phase control signal C_PS provided by the controller 160. The plurality of phase shifters S1, S2, ..., and Sn included in the shifter block 130 may be controlled by the phase control signal C_PS so as to be in the direction toward the counterpart wireless communication equipment (ie, at the first A beam 10 (eg, an antenna beam or a transmission beam) is formed in direction D1. For example, the beam 10 can be formed by increasing the overall antenna gain pointing in the first direction D1 or suppressing certain dominant interferences, and such formation of the directional beam 10 in the wireless communication device 100 can be referred to as beamforming. .

Amplifier block 140 can include a plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An. Power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An can amplify the signals provided by shifter block 130 based on power control signal C_PA provided by controller 160, respectively. The transmission power of the signal (e.g., beam 10) output via antenna array 150 may be determined by the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An of amplifier block 140.

Referring to FIG. 1, the amplifier block 140 may include the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An corresponding to the plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150, respectively. The plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An can be designed in consideration of manufacturing cost, area, power consumption, and the like, and thus can have a relatively narrow dynamic range, that is, a linear range. It will be desirable to have the wireless communication device 100 transmit signals at a transmission power of sufficient magnitude to enable the other party's wireless communication equipment to obtain information from the received signals, and the transmission power may be based on interference with transmissions between other wireless communication devices and the wireless communication device 100. The power consumption is limited. Thus, the wireless communication device 100 can have a target transmission power level (also referred to herein as "target transmission power"). As will be explained later with reference to FIG. 3, the wireless communication device 100 can obtain the target transmission power according to various methods. Since the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An are controlled by the controller 160 (or the power controller 164), the target transmission power can be achieved.

The antenna array 150 can include a plurality of antennas that can receive signals from the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An of the amplifier block 140, respectively. Referring to FIG. 1, the beam 10 output by the antenna array 150 may be output in a first direction D1, and the first direction D1 has a first included angle θ ₁ with respect to the antenna array 150. The plurality of antennas included in the antenna array 150 may be arranged in a column as will be explained later with reference to FIG. 7A, or may be arranged in a matrix form in two-dimensional (2D) as will be explained later with reference to FIG. )on flat surface. In the present invention, the space in which the antenna array 150 outputs the beam 10 may be referred to as beam space, the starting point of the beam space being that the antenna array 150 forms an angle with the beam 10 (eg, θ ₁ ) point. When the plurality of antennas are arranged in a row, the beam space may correspond to a two-dimensional plane, and when the plurality of antennas are arranged on a two-dimensional plane, the beam space may correspond to a three-dimensional (3D) space. According to some exemplary embodiments, as will be explained later with reference to FIG. 4, beam space may be used to calculate a beam error for determining an inoperative antenna.

Controller 160 can include a phase controller 162 and a power controller 164. The phase controller 162 can obtain information about the direction toward the counterpart wireless communication equipment (ie, the first direction D1), and can determine the phase of the signal output via the plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150 based on the first direction D1. The phase controller 162 can generate the phase control signal C_PS based on the determined phase, and can provide the phase control signal C_PS to the shifter block 130.

Power controller 164 can provide power control signal C_PA to amplifier block 140 to control the transmit power. As described above, due to the limited dynamic range of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An, signals having a high peak-to-average power ratio (PARR) (especially as orthogonal In the case of a frequency division multiplexing signal, it may be difficult to individually control the operating points of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An to control the transmission power according to the target transmission power. As will be explained later with reference to the drawings, the power controller 164 can maintain the target transmission power and the first direction D1 of the beam 10 while considering the limitations of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An. Enabled or deactivated (also referred to herein as "inactivated") by the power control signal C_PA, among the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An Each. Therefore, the target transmission power can be satisfied, and the power consumption of the wireless communication equipment 100 and the interference to other transmissions can be reduced or prevented due to the decrease in the difference between the transmission power and the target transmission power.

The power controller 164 can control the enabled power amplifiers of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An at the same power or different powers. According to some exemplary embodiments, the power controller 164 may generate the power control signal C_PA based on beamforming, and for example, the direction and intensity of the beam 10 may depend not only on the phase determined by the shifter block 130, but also on the phase. The transmission power determined by the amplifier block 140 for the signal. Accordingly, the power controller 164 can control the power of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An included in the amplifier block 140 based on the first direction D1.

According to some example embodiments, the controller 160 may include at least one core and a memory storing instructions executed by the core, and at least a portion of the phase controller 162 and/or the power controller 164 may be stored in a memory Software block. According to some example embodiments, controller 160 may include logic designed by logic synthesis, and at least a portion of phase controller 162 and/or power controller 164 may include hardware blocks implemented as logic circuits.

2 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication, in accordance with some example embodiments. In detail, FIG. 2 illustrates a wireless communication method using an antenna array including a plurality of antennas. According to some exemplary embodiments, the wireless communication method illustrated in FIG. 2 may be performed by the controller 160 or the power controller 164 illustrated in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2 will now be described with reference to FIG. 1.

In operation S20, target transmission power and beamforming information can be obtained. As will be explained later, the target transmission power and beamforming information can be used by controller 160 to determine an inactive antenna of the plurality of antennas of antenna array 150. The target transmission power may refer to transmission power sufficient to cause signals output via the plurality of antennas to be received by other wireless communication equipment, and may be obtained in various manners as will be described later with reference to FIG. The beamforming information is information for forming a beam pointing to the counterpart wireless communication equipment, and may include, for example, about the plurality of phase shifters S1, S2, ..., and included in the shifter block 130. Information about the phase shift provided by Sn. According to some example embodiments, beamforming information may include information regarding the power of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An included in the amplifier block 140. The explanation of operation S20 will be explained later with reference to FIG.

In operation S40, the inoperative antenna can be determined. For example, the controller 160 may determine an inactive antenna of the plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150 based on the obtained target transmission power and the obtained beamforming information. In the present specification, the inoperative antenna may refer to an antenna that does not output a signal for forming the beam 10, and the working antenna may refer to an antenna that outputs a signal for forming the beam 10. In addition, in the present specification, when the antenna is activated, the antenna may be referred to as a working antenna; when the antenna is deactivated, the antenna may be referred to as a non-working antenna. As described above with reference to FIG. 1, the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2 may not be easily accessible due to characteristics of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An corresponding to the plurality of antennas, respectively. The operating points of each of , ..., and An are controlled, and thus, the controller 160 can selectively disable each of the plurality of antennas based on the target transmission power and beamforming information. To achieve the target transmission power.

When the transmission powers P1, P2, ..., and Pn of the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An are given, the target transmission power "P _target " can be calculated using [Equation 1]. [Equation 1]

As described above, when each of the plurality of antennas is enabled or disabled by the controller 160, the coefficients "a _i " of the transmission powers P ₁ , P ₂ , ..., and P _n may have values "1" or "0". In other words, when "a _i = 1", this means that the ith antenna (or the antenna with index i) has been enabled, and when "a _i = 0", this means that the ith antenna has been disabled. Therefore, it is determined that the inoperative antenna among the plurality of antennas may be similar or identical to the set "I" of the index including the inoperative antenna as determined in [Equation 2]. [Equation 2]

The description of operation S40 will be explained later with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, and 9.

In operation S60, the plurality of antennas may be controlled such that transmission does not occur via the inoperative antenna. For example, the controller 160 can control a power amplifier corresponding to the inactive antenna such that transmission does not occur via the inactive antenna. According to some exemplary embodiments, the controller 160 may block the power supplied to the power amplifier corresponding to the non-working antenna by the power control signal C_PA, and may de-energize the output of the power amplifier corresponding to the inoperative antenna. Therefore, when at least one inactive antenna is determined in operation S40, a signal may be output via an antenna other than the at least one inoperative antenna (ie, via a working antenna), and the output signal is outputted A beam 10 can be formed.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of operation S20', which is an illustration of operation S20 shown in FIG. 2, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. As described above with reference to FIG. 2, in operation S20' shown in FIG. 3, target transmission power and beamforming information can be obtained. In detail, FIG. 3 illustrates an example of obtaining a target transmission power. According to some exemplary embodiments, unlike FIG. 3, operation S20' may include only one of operations S22 and S24. Figure 3 will now be explained with reference to Figure 1.

In operation S22, information about the target transmission power may be received. In other words, the wireless communication device 100 can receive a signal containing information about the target transmission power from the counterpart wireless communication device via the antenna array 150, and can control the transmission power according to the received information. For example, when the wireless communication device 100 is a user equipment (UE), the base station (BS) as the counterpart wireless communication equipment can provide the uplink transmission power as the target transmission power information to the wireless communication device 100. When the wireless communication device 100 is a base station, the user equipment as the counterpart wireless communication equipment can request the downlink transmission power from the base station to properly process the signal received via the downlink, and the base station can request the The transmission power is used as the target transmission power information.

In operation S24, the target transmission power can be calculated based on the received signal. In other words, the wireless communication device 100 can determine the state of the wireless channel based on the signal received from the counterpart wireless communication device via the antenna array 150, and can calculate the target transmission power based on the determined state. For example, when the wireless communication device 100 is a user equipment, the user equipment can calculate the transmission power of the uplink based on the quality of the signal received via the downlink, and the calculated transmission power can be used as a target by the user equipment. Transmission power. When the wireless communication equipment 100 is a base station, the user equipment as the counterpart wireless communication equipment can request the downlink transmission power from the base station, and the base station can calculate the corresponding target transmission power for the user equipment based on the quality of the corresponding request. .

According to some exemplary embodiments, operations S22 and S24 may be combined and performed. For example, the wireless communication device 100 can receive the target transmission power from the counterpart wireless communication device and evaluate the quality of the signal received from the counterpart wireless communication device. The wireless communication device 100 can calculate the target transmission power based on the received target transmission power information and based on the quality of the received signal, that is, the transmission power of the signal to be transmitted to the counterpart wireless communication device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of operation S40a, which is an illustration of operation S40 shown in FIG. 2, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating an example of a calculation result of a beam error, according to some exemplary embodiments. In detail, FIG. 4 illustrates that when each of the plurality of antennas included in the antenna array 150 shown in FIG. 1 is controlled to output signals having similar transmission power or the same transmission power, operation S40 shown in FIG. An example. FIG. 5 shows calculation results of beam errors corresponding to all cases in which two antennas in an antenna array including 8 antennas are disabled. 4 and 5 will now be explained with reference to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 4, in operation S40a, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, the inoperative antenna may be determined based on the target transmission power and beamforming information. In detail, the inoperative antenna can be determined by calculating the beam error. Referring to FIG. 4, operation S40a may include operation S42a and operation S44a, and operation S44a may include operation S44a_2 and operation S44a_4.

In operation S42a, the number of inoperative antennas may be determined. Since each working antenna is controlled to output a signal having similar transmission power or the same transmission power, the number of inoperative antennas (or the number of working antennas) can be calculated according to the target transmission power and the transmission power of the working antenna. The plurality of transmission powers P ₁ , P ₂ , . . . , and P _n can be the same, ie "P _uniform ", as in [Equation 3]. [Equation 3] P _uniform = P ₁ = P ₂ ... = P _n

[Equation 4] can be used to calculate the number "m" of inoperative antennas. [Equation 4]

When "m" is not an integer in [Equation 4], "m" may be rounded according to some exemplary embodiments. According to some exemplary embodiments, "m" may be rounded or rounded according to the type of information to be transmitted, the type of service, and the link budget. For example, when the information to be transmitted is control information, "m" can be rounded down to ensure sufficient transmission power. The value of "m" which becomes an integer may be similar to or the same as the number of elements of the set "I" of [Equation 2].

Next, in operation S44a, the inoperative antenna may be determined based on the beam error. The beam error can refer to a value calculated from the difference between the gains of the two beams. First, in operation S44a_2, the beam error can be calculated. The beam error may be calculated based on the first beam gain G1 based on beamforming information and the second beam gain G2 based on the number of inactive antennas that have been determined in operation S42a. As described above with respect to FIG. 2, the beamforming information may include information regarding phase shifts provided by the plurality of phase shifters S1, S2, ..., and Sn of the shifter block 130. The phase shift can be expressed as a beamforming coefficient, respectively. When the beamforming coefficient is defined as an n-dimensional vector "B", the beam gain "G(θ, B)" and the angle can be defined as in [Equation 5] below. The relationship of θ". [Equation 5]

In [Equation 5], Can be a response vector" Hermitian transpose, and when the structure of the antenna array 150 is a uniform linear array (ULA) in which the spacing between the antennas is half wavelength, it can be as follows [Equation 6] Express response vector "." [Equation 6]

Based on [Equation 5] and [Equation 6], the first beam gain "G ₁ (θ, B ₁ )" is derived from the first vector "B ₁ " based on the beamforming information and is based on being already in operation S42a When the second vector "B ₂ " of the number of inactive antennas is determined and the second beam gain "G ₂ (θ, B ₂ )" is derived, for example, when the plurality of antennas are arranged in a column, the following [Equation 7] is used. ] to calculate the gain G ₁ of the first beam and the beam error "E" _between the second beam gain G. [Equation 7]

As in the [Equation 7] can be carried out by integrating the difference between the first beam and the second beam gain G ₁ of the gain G ₂ is calculated in the beam space beam error E. According to some exemplary 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 defined space. For example, as in [Equation 8] below, in a beam space defined as being in a range between the second direction and the third direction and including the first direction D1 of the beam (ie, including the first The beam error E is calculated over the angle range ( φ ₁ to φ ₂ ) of the included angle (θ ₁ ). [Equation 8] ( φ ₁ ≤ θ ₁ ≤ φ ₂ )

According to some exemplary embodiments, the beam error E may be derived from a beam space configured with a quantized direction. For example, the following [Equation 9] can be used to calculate the basis based on the quantized direction. Beam error E. [Equation 9]

Referring to FIG. 5, the beam error E can be calculated from each of the 28 patterns in which two of the antenna arrays including the 8 antennas are deactivated. As shown in Figure 5, inactive antenna patterns with similar beam errors or the same beam error can be grouped.

Referring back to FIG. 4, according to some exemplary 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 based on the possible patterns of the number of inactive antennas that have been determined in operation S42a.

In operation S44a_4, the inoperative antenna may be determined based on the beam error. When the beam error E is calculated using [Equation 7], [Equation 8], and/or [Equation 9], determining the inoperative antenna may mean deriving the set "I" of the following [Equation 10]. [Equation 10] I = argmin E , satisfied

According to some exemplary embodiments, the controller 160 may calculate a plurality of beam errors according to a possible pattern of the number of inactive antennas that have been determined in operation S42a, and may provide the plurality of beam errors by detecting The set "I" of the lowest beam error is used to determine the inactive antenna. An example of the set "I" will be explained later with reference to FIG. 7A.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of operation S40b, which is an example of operation S40 shown in FIG. 2, according to some exemplary embodiments. 7A and 7B illustrate a non-working antenna pattern and a beam based on the pattern, in accordance with some example embodiments. In detail, FIG. 6 illustrates operation S40b, which is a diagram when the working antennas of the plurality of antennas included in the antenna array 150 shown in FIG. 1 are controlled to output signals having similar transmission power or the same transmission power. 2 shows an example of operation S40. FIG. 7A illustrates an antenna pattern providing the lowest beam error based on the number of inoperative antennas in an antenna array including 8 antennas, and FIG. 7B illustrates a beam obtained from a non-working antenna pattern. The description of FIG. 6 is the same as that given above with reference to FIG. 4 and will not be repeated herein, and FIG. 6, FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B will be explained with reference to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 6, in operation S40b, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, the inoperative antenna may be determined based on the target transmission power and beamforming information. In detail, the inoperative antenna can be determined by referring to the inactive antenna pattern. Referring to FIG. 6, operation S40b may include operation S42b and operation S44b, and operation S44b may include operation S44b_2 and operation S44b_4.

In operation S42b, the number of inactive antennas may be determined. For example, [Equation 4] can be used to calculate the number "m" of inactive antennas. Next, in operation S44b, the inoperative antenna can be determined by referring to the inoperative antenna pattern.

In operation S44b_2, the inoperative antenna pattern can be referred to. For example, the controller 160 may include a memory that stores information about a non-working antenna pattern, or may access the memory. According to some example embodiments, the inactive antenna pattern may be previously defined based on beam error. For example, as shown in FIG. 7A, the inactive antenna pattern that provides the lowest beam error may be previously defined according to the number of inactive antennas.

In operation S44b_4, the inoperative antenna may be determined according to a pattern corresponding to the number of inactive antennas. The controller 160 may search for a pattern corresponding to the number of inoperative antennas determined in operation S42b from among the inactive antenna patterns. For example, when the number of inoperative antennas determined in operation S42b is 2, three patterns in which the antenna index pairs (1, 2), (1, 8), and (7, 8) are disabled may be found, A pattern of similar beam errors or the same beam error in the three patterns can be selected. For example, as will be explained later with reference to FIG. 13, the controller 160 may select one of the three patterns based on the shading information about the plurality of antennas.

Referring to Figure 7A, a non-working antenna pattern having a given number of inactive antennas may correspond to one or more defined rules. For example, some rules may include determining at least one of the 8 antennas as an inactive antenna and continuously determining the inactive antenna from the at least one outermost antenna. In other words, at least one consecutive inactive antenna may comprise an outermost antenna. According to the rules of the inactive antenna pattern, in some exemplary embodiments, the controller 160 may determine not by applying a condition to one or more rules derived from the pattern instead of referring to the inactive antenna pattern stored in the memory. Working antenna. Referring to FIG. 7B, the experimental results show that when the antenna with the index 1 from the antenna as the outermost antenna to the antenna with the index 5 is sequentially disabled, the transmission power of the formed beam is reduced, but the direction of the formed beam is maintained. .

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of operation S40c, which is an example of operation S40 shown in FIG. 2, according to some exemplary embodiments. 9, 10 and 11 illustrate an example in which a determination is made to an inactive antenna, in accordance with some example embodiments. In detail, FIG. 8 illustrates an example of operation S40 shown in FIG. 2 when the plurality of antennas included in the antenna array 150 shown in FIG. 1 are controlled to output signals having different transmission powers. 9 and 10 illustrate an example of a process in which the inoperative antennas are sequentially determined, and FIG. 11 illustrates changes in transmission power when the two antennas are disabled. Figure 8 will now be explained with reference to Figure 1.

Referring to FIG. 8, in operation S40c, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, a non-working antenna may be determined based on target transmission power and beamforming information, and to perform beamforming, beamforming information may include not only a shifter block The phase shifts provided by the plurality of phase shifters S1, S2, ..., and Sn of 130 and including the transmissions provided by the plurality of power amplifiers A1, A2, ..., and An of the amplifier block 140 power. 8 to 11 will now be explained with reference to FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 8, in operation S40c, as described above with reference to FIG. 2, the inoperative antenna may be determined based on the target transmission power and the beamforming information, and the position of the inoperative antenna and the target transmission power may be considered. For example, the controller 160 may sequentially determine the inactive antenna until the target transmission power is achieved. Referring to FIG. 8, operation S40c may include operations S42c and S44c.

In operation S42c, at least one antenna including the outermost antenna in the working antenna may be selected. As described above with reference to FIG. 7A, when the number of inactive antennas is given, the inoperative antenna pattern providing the lowest beam error may include the outermost antenna as the inoperative antenna. Therefore, although the inactive antennas are sequentially determined, at least one of the remaining working antennas including the outermost antenna may be selected as the inoperative antenna. According to some exemplary embodiments, when the plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150 are arranged in a column, the working antenna may include two outermost antennas. On the other hand, when the plurality of antennas are arranged on a two-dimensional plane, the working antenna may include a plurality of outermost antennas on each of the upper side, the lower side, the left side, and the right side, as shown in FIG. .

The controller 160 may select at least one antenna including the outermost antenna based on the target transmission power. According to some example embodiments, the controller 160 may select at least one outermost antenna that provides transmission power (ie, remaining transmission power) that is closest to the target transmission power during disabling from among the plurality of outermost antennas. For example, as will be explained later with reference to FIG. 9, the controller 160 may select one of the working antennas to provide an outermost antenna that provides the transmission power closest to the target transmission power during the disabling.

According to some exemplary embodiments, the controller 160 may consider the combination of the outermost antenna and the antenna close to the outermost antenna, and an antenna that provides the transmission power closest to the target transmission power may be selected. For example, when eight antennas arranged in a row as shown in FIG. 7A select an inactive antenna, the indication includes not only the first antenna and the eighth antenna (ie, the first antenna first) but also two inactive antennas. The inactive antenna pairs (1, 2), (1, 8), and (7, 8) of the pattern can be considered, and therefore, the controller 160 can provide the transmission closest to the target transmission power based on the three patterns. At least one inactive antenna is selected for the pattern of power.

In operation S44c, the remaining transmission power can be compared with the target transmission power. The remaining transmission power may refer to the transmission power based on the working antenna when the antenna that is repeatedly determined to be the inoperative antenna is repeatedly disabled in operation S42c. According to some exemplary embodiments, it may be determined whether the difference between the remaining transmission power and the target transmission power is within the determined difference. When the difference between the remaining transmission power and the target transmission power is within the determined difference, operation S40c may be terminated. Otherwise, operation S42c may be performed. According to some exemplary embodiments, it may be determined whether the remaining transmission power is equal to or greater than a target transmission power. When the remaining transmission power is equal to or greater than the target transmission power, operation S42c may be performed. Otherwise, operation S40c may be terminated. According to some exemplary embodiments, when it is determined in operation S44c that the remaining transmission power is lower than the target transmission power, the at least one antenna selected in operation S42c may be determined again as a working antenna before terminating operation S40c, such that The transmission power is maintained equal to or greater than the target transmission power.

Referring to FIG. 9, in an antenna array including eight antennas arranged in a line, target transmission power and beamforming can be considered to sequentially determine the inoperative antenna. As shown in FIG. 9, a first antenna that provides transmission power closer to the target transmission power during the disabling may be selected from the first antenna and the second antenna of the outermost antenna. Next, the second antenna that is the outermost antenna may be selected from the second antenna to the eighth antenna of the remaining working antenna. Similarly, the eighth antenna, the third antenna, and the seventh antenna may be selected in sequence.

Referring to FIG. 10, the antenna array may include a plurality of antennas arranged on a two-dimensional plane, and an outermost one of the plurality of antennas may include antennas arranged in a column. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, among a plurality of antennas arranged along the X axis and the Y axis, a series of antennas arranged in parallel to the Y axis direction may be selected as the inoperative antenna, as in the first pattern P81. . Next, based on the target transmission power, a series of antennas arranged in parallel to the Y-axis direction may be selected as the inactive antenna, as in the second pattern P82, or a series of antennas arranged in parallel to the X-axis direction may be selected as not working. The antenna is as in the third pattern P83.

Referring to FIG. 11, in operation S40c shown in FIG. 8, the difference between the transmission power and the target transmission power can be reduced or eliminated by considering the position of the antenna (ie, the index of the antenna) and the target transmission power. As in the first case shown in FIG. 11, when the first to fourth antennas may have the first to fourth transmission powers P ₁ to P ₄ and the first to fourth transmission powers P ₁ to P ₄ And greater than the target transmission power _Ptarget , at least one antenna may be disabled. For example, as in the second scenario shown in FIG. 11, when only the position of the antenna is considered during the determination of the inactive antenna, the first antenna and the second antenna may be determined as inactive antennas, and based on The transmission power obtained by this determination is the sum of the third transmission power P ₃ and the fourth transmission power P ₄ of the third antenna and the fourth antenna as the working antennas and thus the difference from the target transmission power P _target can be relatively large. On the other hand, as in the third case shown in FIG. 11, when the position of the antenna and the target transmission power _Ptarget are taken into consideration during the determination of the inactive antenna, the first antenna and the fourth antenna may be determined to be inoperative. The antenna, and based on this, determines that the obtained transmission power is the sum of the second transmission power P ₂ and the third transmission power P ₃ of the second antenna and the third antenna as the working antenna and thus can approximate the target transmission power P _target . In other words, as described above with reference to FIG. 9, in the first case shown in FIG. 11, the antenna can naturally outermost first antenna and fourth transmission antenna selecting a first power P ₁ to the first antenna As the inactive antenna, to provide the remaining transmission power closer to the target transmission power P _target during the disable period, and then, the second transmission power P ₄ may be selected from the second antenna and the fourth antenna of the outermost antenna. The fourth antenna acts as a non-working antenna to provide a remaining transmission power that is closer to the target transmission power _Ptarget during disabling.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a wireless communication device 100', in accordance with some example embodiments. FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of a method of wireless communication performed by wireless communication equipment 100', in accordance with some example embodiments. Similar to the wireless communication device 100 of FIG. 1, the wireless communication device 100' can include a data processor 110', a transmission circuit 120', a shifter block 130', an amplifier block 140', an antenna array 150', and control 160'. The wireless communication device 100' may further include a shadow detector 170'. The description of FIGS. 12 and 13 is the same as that given above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and will not be repeated herein. According to some example embodiments, operations illustrated herein as being performed by the shadow detector 170' may be performed by at least one processor that executes a code containing instructions corresponding to the operations. Instructions can be stored in memory. The term "processor" as used in the present invention may, for example, refer to a hardware-implemented data processing device having circuitry that is physically structured to perform as needed. The operations, for example, include operations that are represented as code and/or instructions contained in the program. In at least some exemplary embodiments, the above-mentioned hardware-implemented data processing apparatus may include, but is not limited to, a microprocessor, a central processing unit (CPU), a processor core, and a multi-core. Processor, multiprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and field programmable gate array (FPGA).

According to some example embodiments, each of the plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150' may be selectively disabled based not only on the target transmission power and beamforming information but also based on the occlusion information. In other words, to achieve the target transmission power, it may be more advantageous to disable the antenna in which the shadowing has occurred in the plurality of antennas than to disable the antenna in which the shadowing has not occurred. 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 may be arranged adjacent to the outer surface of the wireless communication device 100', and the signal output by the antenna may be Weakened or blocked by obscuration. The shielding of the antenna can occur for a variety of reasons. For example, shielding of the antenna may occur due to an external object (eg, a human body or conductive material) that is external to the antenna array 150' outside of the wireless communication device 100'.

The shadow detector 170' can detect the shadowing produced in each of the plurality of antennas included in the antenna array 150'. According to some exemplary embodiments, the shadow detector 170' may output a test signal via the plurality of antennas, and may detect the shadow based on the response characteristics obtained according to the output. According to some exemplary embodiments, the shadow detector 170' may detect the shadow by measuring the impedance on the outer surface of the wireless communication device 100'. According to some exemplary embodiments, the shadow detector 170' may detect the shadow by detecting the state of the outer surface of the wireless communication device 100' (eg, the pressure and temperature of the outer surface). The occlusion detector 170' can generate the occlusion detection signal DET including the occlusion information based on the detected occlusion, and can provide the occlusion detection signal DET to the controller 160'. The controller 160' can generate the power control signal C_PA based not only on the target transmission power and beamforming information but also on the occlusion information contained in the occlusion detection signal DET received from the occlusion detector 170'.

Referring to Fig. 13, similar to operation S20 shown in Fig. 2, in operation S20", target transmission power and beamforming information can be obtained, and occlusion information can be obtained. In operation S40", the inoperative antenna can be determined. In operation S60", a plurality of antennas may be controlled such that transmission does not occur via the inoperative antenna. Referring to FIG. 13, operation S20" may include operation S26, and operation S40" may include operation S46.

In operation S26, occlusion information of the plurality of antennas may be obtained. For example, as described above with reference to FIG. 12, the occlusion detector 170' can generate the occlusion detection signal DET including the occlusion information by detecting the occlusion generated in the plurality of antennas of the antenna array 150'. And the controller 160' can obtain the occlusion information by receiving the occlusion detection signal DET.

In operation S46, a blockage-detected antenna may be determined as an inoperative antenna. According to some exemplary embodiments, as described above with reference to FIG. 4, the controller 160' may calculate a beam error, and may detect an antenna that is masked among a plurality of antennas that provide similar beam errors or the same beam error during disabling. Determined to be a non-working antenna. According to some exemplary embodiments, as described above with reference to FIG. 6, the controller 160' may refer to the inactive antenna pattern and may select from among a plurality of patterns that provide similar beam errors or the same beam error, including the detected masking. The pattern of the antenna acts as a non-working antenna. According to some exemplary embodiments, as described above with reference to FIG. 8, the controller 160' may select the inactive antennas in sequence, and may select from among the outermost antennas that provide transmission power similar to or the same as the target transmission power during the disable period. The shielded antenna is detected as a non-working antenna. Therefore, the target transmission power can be achieved, and the influence of shading on beamforming can be reduced or prevented.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a communication device 200 in accordance with some example embodiments. According to some exemplary embodiments, the communication device 200 may be included in the wireless communication device 100 shown in FIG. 1, and the operation of the controller 160 shown in FIG. 1 may be performed.

As shown in FIG. 14, the communication device 200 may include 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. At least two of the application-specific integrated circuit 210, the application-specific instruction set processor 230, and the main processor 270 can communicate with each other. At least two of the application-specific integrated circuit 210, the application-specific instruction set processor 230, the memory 250, the main processor 270, and the main memory 290 can be embedded in one wafer.

The application specific instruction set processor 230 can be an integrated circuit tailored for the application. The application specific instruction set processor 230 can support only the instruction set of an application and can execute the instructions contained in the instruction set. The memory 250 can be in communication with the application specific instruction set processor 230 and can store instructions executed by the application specific instruction set processor 230 as non-transitory storage. For example, as a non-limiting example, memory 250 can include any type of memory accessed by application-specific instruction set processor 230, such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory. Read Only Memory (ROM), magnetic tape, disk, optical disk, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and combinations thereof.

The main processor 270 can execute instructions, and thus can control the communication device 200. For example, main processor 270 can control application-specific integrated circuit 210 and application-specific instruction set processor 230, and can process data received via a wireless communication network or user input to communication device 200. Main memory 290 can be in communication with host processor 270 and can store instructions executed by host processor 270 as non-transitory storage. For example, as a non-limiting example, main memory 290 can include any type of memory accessed by host processor 270, such as random access memory, read only memory, magnetic tape, disk, optical disk, Volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and combinations thereof.

The above wireless communication method according to some exemplary embodiments may be performed by at least one of the components included in the communication device 200 shown in FIG. According to some exemplary embodiments, at least one of operation of the wireless communication method and operation of the controller 160 (or power controller 164) shown in FIG. 1 may be implemented as instructions stored in the memory 250. Accordingly, the application specific instruction set processor 230 can perform at least one of the operations of the wireless communication method, or the controller 160 (or the power controller 164) of FIG. 1 by executing instructions stored in the memory 250. At least some of the operations. According to some example embodiments, at least one of the operations of the wireless communication method, or at least some of the operations of the controller 160 (or power controller 164) shown in FIG. 1 may be a hardware region designed by logic synthesis The blocks are executed and the hardware blocks can be included in the application-specific integrated circuit 210. According to some exemplary embodiments, at least one of the operations of the wireless communication method, or at least some of the operations of the controller 160 (or power controller 164) shown in FIG. 1, may be used as instructions stored in the main memory 290. The main processor 270 can perform at least one of the operations of the wireless communication method or the controller 160 (or the power controller 164) shown in FIG. 1 by executing an instruction stored in the main memory 290. At least some of the operations.

While some of the exemplary embodiments have been shown and described in detail, it is understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be in the form of the spirit and scope defined by the scope of the following claims. Various changes are made to the described embodiments in detail.

10‧‧‧ Beam

100, 100'‧‧‧ wireless communication equipment

110, 110'‧‧‧ data processor

120, 120'‧‧‧ transmission circuit

130, 130'‧‧‧ shifter block

140, 140'‧‧‧Amplifier Blocks

150, 150'‧‧‧ antenna array

160, 160'‧‧‧ controller

162‧‧‧ phase controller

164‧‧‧Power Controller

170'‧‧‧ Shadow detector

200‧‧‧Communication device

210‧‧‧Application-specific integrated circuit

230‧‧‧Application-specific instruction set processor

250‧‧‧ memory

270‧‧‧Main processor

290‧‧‧ main memory

A1, A2, ..., An‧‧‧ power amplifier

C_PA‧‧‧ power control signal

C_PS‧‧‧ phase control signal

D1‧‧‧ first direction

DET‧‧·shadow detection signal

E‧‧‧beam error

P ₁ ‧‧‧first transmission power

P ₂ ‧‧‧second transmission power

P ₃ ‧‧‧3rd transmission power

P ₄ ‧‧‧fourth transmission power

P81‧‧‧ first pattern

P82‧‧‧ second pattern

P83‧‧‧ third pattern

S1, S2, ..., Sn‧‧ phase shifter

S20, S20', S20", S22, S24, S26, S40, S40", S40a, S40b, S40c, S42a, S42b, S42c, S44a, S44a_2, S44a_4, S44b, S44b_2, S44b_4, S44c, S46, S60, S60 "‧‧‧operating

TX_IN‧‧‧Transfer input signal

θ ₁ ‧‧‧first angle

Some example embodiments will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description of the drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication device in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. 2 is a flow diagram of a method of wireless communication performed by the wireless communication device of FIG. 1 in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example of operation S20 of FIG. 2, in accordance with some example embodiments. 4 is a flow diagram of an example of operation S40 of FIG. 2 for determining an inactive antenna by deriving set I, in accordance with some example embodiments. FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating a calculation result of a beam error according to some exemplary embodiments. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an example of operation S40 of FIG. 2 for determining an inactive antenna from a pattern of inactive antenna, in accordance with some example embodiments. 7A and 7B illustrate a non-working antenna pattern and a beam based on the pattern, in accordance with some example embodiments. 8 is a flow diagram of an example of operation S40 of FIG. 2 when each antenna outputs a signal having a different transmission power, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. 9, 10 and 11 illustrate an example in which a determination is made to an inactive antenna, in accordance with some example embodiments. 12 is a block diagram of wireless communication equipment including a shadow detector, in accordance with some example embodiments. 13 is a flow diagram of a method of wireless communication performed by the wireless communication device of FIG. 12, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. 14 is a block diagram of a communication device in accordance with some example embodiments.

Claims (25)

A wireless communication method performed by a controller using a plurality of antennas, the wireless communication method comprising: obtaining a target transmission power level and beamforming information; and based on the target transmission power level and the beamforming information Determining at least one inactive antenna among the plurality of antennas; and controlling transmission signals provided to the plurality of antennas such that transmission does not occur via the at least one inactive antenna. The wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining comprises calculating the target transmission power level based on a signal received via at least one of the plurality of antennas. The wireless communication method according to claim 1, wherein the beamforming information includes a corresponding phase of a plurality of transmission signals to be transmitted through a corresponding one of the plurality of antennas for transmitting a beam in a first direction. . The wireless communication method of claim 3, further comprising: controlling each of the plurality of working antennas to output a corresponding transmission signal having a first transmission power, wherein The at least one inactive antenna includes determining a number of inactive antennas based on the target transmission power level and the first transmission power. The wireless communication method of claim 4, wherein determining the at least one inactive antenna further comprises: calculating a beam error according to the first beam gain and the second beam gain, where the first beam gain is based on Beamforming information, and the second beam gain is based on the number of inactive antennas; and determining the at least one inactive antenna based on the beam error. The wireless communication method of claim 5, wherein the beamforming information further comprises a respective transmission power of the plurality of transmission signals to be used for transmitting the beam in the first direction. The wireless communication method of claim 6, wherein the determining the at least one inactive antenna comprises sequentially determining the at least one not according to the defined rule and the corresponding transmission power of the plurality of transmission signals A working antenna, and the defined rule specifies that at least one of the plurality of working antennas of the plurality of antennas is disabled. The wireless communication method of claim 7, wherein the determining the at least one inactive antenna comprises: determining the at least one inactive antenna to include a plurality of outermost antennas among the plurality of working antennas Specific outermost antenna such that the remaining transmission power when the particular outermost antenna is not operating is closest to the target transmission power level; and determining whether based on the remaining transmission power and the target transmission power level Terminating determining the at least one inactive antenna. The wireless communication method of claim 5, wherein calculating the beam error comprises integrating a difference between the first beam gain and the second beam gain in beam space. The wireless communication method of claim 9, wherein the beam space is configured with a quantized direction, and the beam error is a sum of a difference between the first beam gain and the second beam gain, The differences correspond to the quantized directions, respectively. The wireless communication method of claim 9, wherein the beam space is defined as a range between the second direction and the third direction and including the first direction. The wireless communication method of claim 4, wherein the determining the at least one inactive antenna further comprises: referencing one or more inactive antenna patterns defined according to the number of inactive antennas; The at least one inactive antenna is determined by one or more inactive antenna patterns. The wireless communication method of claim 12, wherein each of the one or more inactive antenna patterns defines at least one of the plurality of antennas as inactive. The wireless communication method of claim 13, wherein the one or more inactive antenna patterns comprise at least one antenna that is arranged as a second outermost antenna with respect to the at least one outermost antenna as Not working pattern. The wireless communication method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining occlusion information of the plurality of antennas, wherein determining the at least one inactive antenna comprises determining the at least one not based on the occlusion information Working antenna. An apparatus for controlling a plurality of antennas, the apparatus comprising: a phase controller configured to generate a phase control signal, the phase control signal for controlling to transmit a beam in a first direction via the plurality of antennas And outputting a corresponding phase of the plurality of transmission signals; and the power controller configured to generate a power control signal, the power control signal for controlling a corresponding transmission power of the plurality of transmission signals, and based on the target transmission power level and The respective phases selectively disable one or more of the plurality of antennas. The device of claim 16, wherein the power controller is configured to: control each of the respective transmission powers to be equal to the first transmission power, and based on the target transmission power level And determining the number of the one or more antennas to be selectively disabled, the first transmission power. The device of claim 17, wherein the power controller is configured to: calculate a beam error based on the first beam gain and the second beam gain, the first beam gain being based on the corresponding phase, And the second beam gain is based on the number of the one or more antennas to be selectively disabled, and selectively disabling the one or more antennas based on the beam error. The device of claim 17, wherein the power controller is configured to: reference one or more not defined according to the number of the one or more antennas to be selectively disabled Working the antenna pattern and selectively disabling the one or more antennas based on the one or more inactive antenna patterns. The device of claim 16, wherein the power controller is configured to generate the power control signal based on the first direction. The device of claim 20, wherein the power controller is configured to selectively disable the one or more antennas by sequentially disabling the ones and the plurality of antennas according to the defined rules and the respective transmission powers. One or more antennas are described, and the defined rule specifies that at least one of the plurality of working antennas of the plurality of antennas is disabled. A wireless communication device comprising: an antenna array comprising a plurality of antennas; a plurality of phase shifters configured to adjust respective phases of a plurality of transmission signals outputted via the plurality of antennas; a plurality of power amplifiers configured to be adjusted Corresponding transmission power of the plurality of transmission signals; and a controller configured to control the plurality of phase shifters and control the plurality of power amplifiers such that one or more of the plurality of antennas are based on The target transmission power level and beamforming information are selectively disabled. The wireless communication device of claim 22, wherein the controller is configured to: receive the target transmission power level via at least one of the plurality of antennas, or based on the plurality of The signal received by at least one of the antennas calculates the target transmission power level. The wireless communication device of claim 22, wherein the controller is configured to: determine the respective phases of the plurality of transmission signals for transmitting beams in a first direction, and according to the determined The respective phases control the plurality of phase shifters. The wireless communication device of claim 22, further comprising: a shadow detector configured to generate an occlusion detection signal by detecting occlusion of at least one of the plurality of antennas, wherein The controller is configured to control the plurality of power amplifiers such that the one or more antennas are selectively disabled based further on the occlusion detection signal.