Communication apparatus and automatic gain control

A communication apparatus comprising:

• a first communication unit configured to send and receive wireless communication using a first carrier frequency (f1) via an antenna;
• a second communication unit configured to send and receive wireless communication using a second carrier frequency (f2) via a plurality of antennas, wherein the second carrier frequency (f2) is more directive and suffers from a higher propagation loss than the first carrier frequency (f1);
• a second signal processing unit comprising a synchronization unit and an automatic gain control unit;
• a first signal processing unit configured to determine when a first request to send packet via the first carrier frequency (f1) has been received by the first communication unit and configured to output a first indicator to the synchronization unit in response to the first request, configured to determine when a first data packet has been received via the first carrier frequency (f1) via the first communication unit, and configured to output a second indicator to the synchronization unit,
• wherein the synchronization unit is configured to determine upon receipt of the first indicator a start position information of a second request to send to the second signal processing unit, wherein the second request comprising packet information and a plurality of transmission beam pattern information,
• wherein the synchronization unit is configured to determine upon receipt of the second indicator whether a second data packet has been received by the second signal processing unit using the previously determined start position information and is configured to output a third indicator to the automatic gain control unit to process automatic gain control values for the second data packet.

A method of performing automatic gain control comprising:

• determining a starting position of a first request to transmit at least one packet encoded in a first carrier frequency;
• determining a starting position of a second request to transmit at least one packet in a second carrier frequency, wherein the second carrier frequency is more directive and suffers from a higher propagation loss than the first carrier frequency;
• decoding a plurality of transmission beam pattern values encoded in the second request when the starting position of the first request and the starting position of the second request match;
• determining the starting position of a first data packet encoded in the first carrier frequency;
• determining the starting position of a second data packet encoded in the second carrier frequency;
• using the starting position of the second request to transmit a packet to determine the location of gain control values for each beam pattern of the plurality of beam patterns;
• adjusting automatic gain control for each beam pattern of the plurality of beam patterns based on respective automatic gain control values for corresponding to each beam of the plurality of beams based upon the gain control values decoded in the second data packet.