Wireless communication apparatus configured to perform beam sweeping operation and method of operating the same

A method of operating a wireless communication apparatus comprising a plurality of antenna arrays, the method comprising:

• performing a beam sweeping operation using a first antenna array including a plurality of sub-arrays, from among the antenna arrays,
• wherein the performing of the beam sweeping operation using the first antenna array comprises:
• controlling at least one of a phase and an amplitude of each of the sub-arrays of the first antenna array such that a receiving beam formed in the first antenna array has a plurality of receiving beam patterns at a respective plurality of beam sweeping positions;
• generating first channel matrix information including channel matrices corresponding to the receiving beam patterns for each of the sub-arrays, based on a signal received through the first antenna array;
• performing a digital beam sweeping operation on at least one group combination of selected ones of the sub-arrays, the group combination being determined by using the first channel matrix information, and generating first supplemental channel matrix information;
• performing a beam sweeping operation using a second antenna array including a plurality of sub-arrays, from among the antenna arrays, and generating second channel matrix information and second supplemental channel matrix information corresponding to the second antenna array;
• and
• selecting a receiving beam pattern of the wireless communication apparatus using the first channel matrix information, the first supplemental channel matrix information, the second channel matrix information, and the second supplemental channel matrix information.

A wireless communication apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of antenna arrays, each of which comprises a plurality of sub-arrays;
• a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) chains connected to the plurality of antenna arrays, respectively;
• and
• a controller configured to process signals received from the antenna arrays,
• wherein the controller controls at least one of phases and amplitudes of antenna elements of each of the sub-arrays, based on a beamforming matrix, and performs an analog beam sweeping operation, and the controller further performs a digital beam sweeping operation in consideration of receiving beam patterns that are formable by a sub-array group, using signals received in the analog beam sweeping operation, the sub-array group being a group combination of selected ones of the sub-arrays, and
• wherein the controller generates a plurality of pieces of channel matrix information indicating estimated values of channels corresponding to the signals received due to the analog beam sweeping operation, and selectively applies relative weight values, which are obtained due to the digital beam sweeping operation, to the plurality of pieces of channel matrix information and generates a plurality of pieces of supplemental channel matrix information.