Enhanced base station downlink
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorsAditya Chopra, Andrew Thornburg, Saeed Ghassemzadeh
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Abstract
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a base station that includes a phased array antenna system and a MIMO antenna system. The MIMO antenna system may receive sounding signals sent by user equipment (UE) and determine angular location information for each UE. The angular location information may be used by the phased array antenna system to create antenna beams. The angular location information may also be used to schedule communications with multiple UEs in common beams. Other embodiments are disclosed.
Claims20
A device, comprising:
- a first antenna array;
- an analog beamformer coupled to the first antenna array;
- a second antenna array;
- a digital beamformer coupled to the second antenna array;
- a processing system coupled to the analog beamformer and the digital beamformer, the processing system including a processor;
- and
- a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
- forming a first beam with the analog beamformer coupled to the first antenna array;
- transmitting, in the first beam, a signal requesting a plurality of user equipment (UEs) to transmit sounding signals at a first time and a first frequency;
- receiving the sounding signals at the second antenna array;
- processing the sounding signals using the digital beamformer coupled to the second antenna array to determine an angular direction information for at least a portion of the plurality of UEs;
- responsive to the angular direction information, determining a first plurality of beams to be formed with the analog beamformer, wherein each of the first plurality of beams has a narrower beamwidth than the first beam;
- and
- transmitting, in the first plurality of beams, downlink communications to the at least the portion of the plurality of UEs.
A non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
- forming a first beam with an analog beamformer coupled to a first antenna array;
- transmitting, in the first beam, a signal requesting a plurality of user equipment (UEs) to transmit sounding signals at a first time and a first frequency;
- receiving the sounding signals at a second antenna array;
- processing the sounding signals using a digital beamformer coupled to the second antenna array to determine an angular direction information for at least a portion of the plurality of UEs;
- responsive to the angular direction information, determining a first plurality of beams to be formed with the analog beamformer, wherein each of the first plurality of beams has a narrower beamwidth than the first beam;
- and
- transmitting, in the first plurality of beams, downlink communications to the at least the portion of plurality of UEs.
A method comprising:
- determining, by a processing system including a processor, a first plurality of gain and phase values to form a first beam with an analog beamformer coupled to a first antenna array;
- transmitting by the processing system, in the first beam, a signal requesting a plurality of user equipment (UEs) to transmit sounding signals at a first time and a first frequency;
- receiving, by the processing system, the sounding signals at a second antenna array;
- processing, by the processing system, the sounding signals using a digital beamformer coupled to the second antenna array to determine angular direction information for at least a portion of the plurality of UEs;
- responsive to the angular direction information, determining, by the processing system, a first plurality of beams to be formed with the analog beamformer, wherein each of the first plurality of beams has a narrower beamwidth than the first beam;
- and
- transmitting by the processing system, in the first plurality of beams, downlink communications to the at least the portion of the plurality of UEs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.