阅读说明：本技术 使用宽带信号的第一层毫米波中继器的波束管理 (Beam management for first tier millimeter wave repeaters using broadband signals ) 是由 N.阿贝迪尼 R.霍米斯 J.李 J.塞尚 O.科伊曼 于 2020-02-20 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明的各个方面一般涉及无线通信。在一些方面,中继器可以经由第一接口发送与中继器在第二接口上提供宽带信号的能力相关联的信息。中继器可以经由第一接口接收用于在第二接口上发送宽带信号的配置,并且可以至少部分地基于该配置在第二接口上发送宽带信号。本发明提供了许多其他方面。(Various aspects of the present invention generally relate to wireless communications. In some aspects, the repeater may transmit, via the first interface, information associated with the ability of the repeater to provide wideband signals on the second interface. The repeater may receive, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting broadband signals on the second interface, and may transmit broadband signals on the second interface based at least in part on the configuration. The present invention provides a number of other aspects.)

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a repeater, comprising:

transmitting, via a first interface, information associated with a capability of the repeater to provide broadband signals on a second interface;

receiving, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting the broadband signal on the second interface; and

transmitting the wideband signal over the second interface based at least in part on the configuration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second interface is different from the first interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration comprises information associated with a transmit beamforming configuration associated with transmitting the wideband signal.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the wideband signal based at least in part on the configuration.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first interface is a low frequency interface and the second interface is a millimeter wave interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first interface is a control interface and the second interface is an interface for relaying signals by the repeater.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the wideband signal is:

periodically transmitted based at least in part on the configuration;

semi-persistently transmitted in a configured set of time domain resources based at least in part on the configuration;

dynamically configured based at least in part on the configuration; or

Is event triggered based at least in part on the configuration.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration comprises information associated with a transmit beam power setting associated with transmitting the wideband signal.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration comprises information identifying a set of time domain resources on which the wideband signal is to be transmitted.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for the information associated with the ability of the repeater to provide the broadband signal on the second interface, the information associated with the ability of the repeater to provide the broadband signal on the second interface being sent in response to the request.

11. A method of wireless communication performed by a base station, comprising:

receiving, via the first interface, information associated with a capability of the repeater to provide broadband signals for transmission via the second interface;

determining a configuration for transmitting the broadband signal on the second interface based at least in part on the information associated with the capability of the repeater; and

transmitting, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting the broadband signal on the second interface.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration comprises information associated with a transmit beamforming configuration associated with transmitting the wideband signal.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first interface is a low frequency interface and the second interface is a millimeter wave interface.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first interface is a control interface and the second interface is an interface for relaying signals by the repeater.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending a request to the repeater for the information associated with the repeater's ability to provide the wideband signal for transmission over the second interface.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration indicates that the wideband signal is:

is transmitted periodically;

is transmitted semi-persistently in a configured set of time domain resources;

dynamically configured based at least in part on the configuration; or

Is event triggered based at least in part on the configuration.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration comprises information associated with a transmit beam power setting associated with transmitting the wideband signal.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration comprises information identifying a set of time domain resources on which the wideband signal is to be transmitted.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

measuring a power metric on a resource, wherein the repeater transmits the wideband signal over the second interface on the resource.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining whether a connection can be established between the base station and the relay via the second interface based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

identifying a beamforming configuration associated with establishing a connection between the base station and the relay via the second interface based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric.

22. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a resource in which the relay is to transmit the wideband signal on the second interface to a wireless node.

23. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing a reporting configuration associated with reporting measurements of power metrics on resources in which the relay is to transmit the broadband signal on the second interface to a wireless node.

24. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a report from a wireless node comprising information associated with a result of measuring a power metric on a resource in which the relay is to transmit the wideband signal on the second interface; and

determining an association of the relay and the associated beamforming configuration based at least in part on the report.

25. A method of wireless communication performed by a wireless node, comprising:

receiving a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a relay;

measuring a power metric on the set of resources associated with the wideband signal transmitted by the relay based at least in part on the measurement configuration; and

communicating with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring a power metric on the set of resources.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the measurement is:

periodic measurements based at least in part on the measurement configuration;

a semi-persistent measurement configured based at least in part on the measurement; or

A dynamically configured measurement based at least in part on the measurement configuration.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein communicating with the other wireless node comprises:

receiving a reporting configuration associated with reporting a result of measuring the power metric; and

providing a report including information associated with a result of measuring the power metric based at least in part on the reporting configuration.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the report is:

periodic reporting based at least in part on the reporting configuration;

dynamically configured based at least in part on the reporting configuration; or

Is event triggered based at least in part on the reporting configuration.

29. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving a communication configuration associated with communicating with the repeater; and

communicate with the relay based at least in part on the communication configuration.

30. A repeater for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to:

transmitting, via a first interface, information associated with a capability of the repeater to provide broadband signals on a second interface;

receiving, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting the broadband signal on the second interface; and

transmitting the wideband signal over the second interface based at least in part on the configuration.

Technical Field

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to beam management for millimeter wave repeaters.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasting. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access techniques capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple-access techniques include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, and Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE/LTE-advanced is an enhanced set of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standards promulgated by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP).

A wireless communication network may include a plurality of Base Stations (BSs) capable of supporting communication for a plurality of User Equipments (UEs). A User Equipment (UE) may communicate with a Base Station (BS) via a downlink and an uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the BS to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the BS. As will be described in greater detail herein, the BSs may be referred to as nodes B, gNB, Access Points (APs), radio heads, Transmit Receive Points (TRPs), New Radio (NR) BSs, 5G node BS, and so on.

The above-described multiple access techniques have been adopted in various telecommunications standards to provide a common protocol that enables different user equipment to communicate on a city, country, region, or even global level. New Radios (NR), which may also be referred to as 5G, are an enhanced set of LTE mobile standards promulgated by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP). NR is designed to better support mobile broadband internet access by using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with Cyclic Prefix (CP) (CP-OFDM) on the Downlink (DL), CP-OFDM and/or SC-FDM (e.g., also known as discrete fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM)) on the Uplink (UL) to improve spectral efficiency, reduce cost, improve services, take advantage of new spectrum, and better integrate with other open standards, as well as support beamforming, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna techniques, and carrier aggregation. However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, there is a need to further improve LTE and NR technologies. Preferably, these improvements may be applicable to other multiple access techniques and telecommunications standards employing these techniques.

Disclosure of Invention

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication performed by a repeater may include transmitting, via a first interface, information associated with a capability of the repeater to provide broadband signals on a second interface; receiving, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting a broadband signal on the second interface; and transmitting a broadband signal over the second interface based at least in part on the configuration.

In some aspects, a repeater for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to transmit, via the first interface, information associated with a capability of the repeater to provide a wideband signal on the second interface; receiving, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting a broadband signal on the second interface; and transmitting a broadband signal over the second interface based at least in part on the configuration.

In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. When executed by one or more processors of a relay, the one or more instructions may cause the one or more processors to: transmitting, via the first interface, information associated with a capability of the repeater to provide broadband signals on the second interface; receiving, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting a broadband signal on the second interface; and transmitting a broadband signal over the second interface based at least in part on the configuration.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may include means for transmitting, via a first interface, information associated with an ability of the apparatus to provide broadband signals on a second interface; means for receiving, via a first interface, a configuration for transmitting a broadband signal on a second interface; and means for transmitting a broadband signal over the second interface based at least in part on the configuration.

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication performed by a base station may comprise: receiving, via the first interface, information associated with a capability of the repeater to provide broadband signals for transmission via the second interface; determining a configuration for transmitting broadband signals on the second interface based at least in part on information associated with capabilities of the repeater; and transmitting, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting the broadband signal on the second interface.

In some aspects, a base station for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to receive, via the first interface, information associated with a capability of the repeater to provide broadband signals for transmission via the second interface; determining a configuration for transmitting broadband signals on the second interface based at least in part on information associated with capabilities of the repeater; and transmitting, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting the broadband signal on the second interface.

In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. The one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors of the base station, may cause the one or more processors to: receiving, via the first interface, information associated with a capability of the repeater to provide broadband signals for transmission via the second interface; determining a configuration for transmitting broadband signals on the second interface based at least in part on information associated with capabilities of the repeater; and transmitting, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting the broadband signal on the second interface.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may include means for receiving, via a first interface, information associated with a capability of a repeater to provide broadband signals for transmission via a second interface; means for determining a configuration for transmitting broadband signals on the second interface based at least in part on information associated with capabilities of the repeater; and means for transmitting, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting the broadband signal on the second interface.

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication performed by a wireless node may include receiving a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a relay; measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a repeater based at least in part on the measurement configuration; and communicate with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric on the set of resources.

In some aspects, a wireless node for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to receive a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a repeater; measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a repeater based at least in part on the measurement configuration; and communicate with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric on the set of resources.

In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. The one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors of the wireless node, may cause the one or more processors to: receiving a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a repeater; measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a repeater based at least in part on the measurement configuration; and communicate with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric on the set of resources.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may include means for receiving a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a relay; means for measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a repeater based at least in part on the measurement configuration; and means for communicating with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric on the set of resources.

Aspects generally include methods, apparatuses, systems, computer program products, non-transitory computer-readable media, user devices, base stations, wireless communication devices, and processing systems as generally described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying figures and description.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of an example in accordance with the present disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conception and specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. The nature of the concepts disclosed herein, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with the associated advantages, will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the claims.

Drawings

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a wireless communication network in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a base station in a wireless communication network communicating with a UE, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a radio access network in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of communicating using a millimeter wave repeater in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating example millimeter wave repeaters in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 and 7 are diagrams illustrating examples associated with beam management of millimeter wave repeaters using broadband signals, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8-10 are diagrams illustrating example processing associated with beam management of millimeter wave repeaters using broadband signals, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

A mmW repeater may include components capable of receiving a signal on an RX antenna associated with a High Frequency (HF) interface (e.g., a mmW interface), amplifying power of the signal using a gain component, and transmitting the amplified signal on a TX antenna associated with the HF interface. These operations may be coordinated and/or controlled by a controller. In some aspects, a mmW repeater may include a communication component that enables communication via a Low Frequency (LF) interface (e.g., an interface using frequencies below 6 gigahertz (GHz)) to transmit or receive information related to such control signals (e.g., to or from one or more base stations).

The mmW repeater has the capability to receive and forward signals only over the HF interface of the mmW repeater. These mmW repeaters are not able to generate and transmit signals over the HF interface or process signals received over the HF interface. However, the access procedure and the beam management procedure may be complicated by the use of mmW repeaters. For example, in the case of beam management between a base station and a mmW repeater, the mmW repeater may not be able to process or measure downlink reference signals (e.g., synchronization signal blocks, channel state information reference signals, etc.) associated with identifying suitable beam pair links for a connection between the base station and the mmW repeater. As another example, in the case of beam management between a base station and a mmW repeater, the mmW repeater may not be able to provide (e.g., generate and transmit) uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals) associated with a suitable beam pair link that allows the base station to identify a connection between the base station and the mmW repeater.

As another example, in the case of beam management between a mmW relay and a UE, the mmW relay may be able to receive a signal (e.g., on the uplink or downlink) and forward the signal, but may not be able to identify a suitable beam pair link for connection with the UE. Thus, overhead at the transmitter may increase (e.g., because the appropriate beam pair link may not be in use). Similarly, finding a suitable beam pair link for connection with a base station (when there are multiple relays and/or multiple base stations), or finding a suitable beam pair link for connection with a UE (when there are multiple relays), may be complex due to the limited capabilities of mmW relays.

However, if the mmW repeater has the capability of generating a wideband analog signal (referred to herein as a wideband signal) and transmitting the wideband signal via the HF interface, the above-described problems can be avoided. For example, in the case of mmW repeaters having the capability to generate and transmit wideband signals via an HF interface, access procedures and/or beam management procedures may be simplified (e.g., as compared to using mmW repeaters).

For example, a mmW relay may be instructed to transmit one or more wideband signals (e.g., with one or more different TX beamforming configurations) on a given set of time domain resources. One or more wireless nodes (e.g., one or more base stations and/or UEs) may measure received power (e.g., Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)) on respective time domain resources. Then, based at least in part on the received powers, the given wireless node may determine a suitable TX beamforming configuration and/or a suitable RX beamforming configuration for the beam pair link with the mmW relay (e.g., based at least in part on a comparison of the received powers to each other, or a comparison of the received powers to a threshold).

Further, based at least in part on the received power, the wireless node may then select an appropriate node pair candidate by, for example, combining measurements from multiple nodes (e.g., when reporting measurements between wireless nodes). As a particular example, the base station may identify an appropriate set of one or more mmW repeaters (when multiple mmW repeaters are present) with which to communicate. As another particular example, a suitable base station may be selected for a given mmW repeater (when multiple base stations are present). As another particular example, a suitable set of one or more mmW relays (when multiple mmW relays are present) may be selected for a given UE.

As used herein, the term "suitable" is defined as having a characteristic that meets quality requirements. The quality requirements may include, for example, thresholds (e.g., threshold reliability, threshold signal strength, threshold latency, thresholds, etc.). The term "suitable" may be used interchangeably with the terms "acceptable", "satisfactory", "sufficient", or other similar terms.

However, in order to support such functionality associated with simplifying the access procedure and/or the beam management procedure, it is necessary to coordinate the generation and transmission of broadband signals and the reporting of measurements of the broadband signals. Some aspects described herein provide techniques and apparatus associated with generating and transmitting broadband signals by mmW repeaters.

Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings herein one skilled in the art should appreciate that the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the present disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of or in combination with any other aspect of the present disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. Moreover, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method as practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than the various aspects of the present disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

Several aspects of a telecommunications system will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and techniques. These devices and techniques are described in the following detailed description and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, modules, components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

It should be noted that although aspects may be described herein using terms generally associated with 3G and/or 4G wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be applied in other generation-based communication systems, such as 5G and progeny, including NR technologies.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless network 100 in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced. The wireless network 100 may be an LTE network, a 5G or NR network, etc. Wireless network 100 may include a plurality of BSs 110 (shown as BS 110a, BS 110b, BS 110c, and BS 110d) and other network entities. A BS is an entity that communicates with User Equipment (UE) and may also be referred to as a base station, NR BS, node B, gNB, 5G node b (nb), access point, Transmission Reception Point (TRP), etc. Each BS may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to a coverage area of a BS and/or a BS subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A BS may provide communication coverage for a macrocell, picocell, femtocell, and/or other type of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow limited access by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG)). The BSs of the macro cell may be referred to as macro BSs. The BSs of the pico cell may be referred to as pico BSs. The BS of the femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in fig. 1, BS 110a may be a macro BS of macro cell 102a, BS 110b may be a pico BS of pico cell 102b, and BS 110c may be a femto BS of femto cell 102 c. A BS may support one or more (e.g., three) cells. The terms "eNB", "base station", "NR BS", "gNB", "TRP", "AP", "node B", "5G NB", and "cell" may be used interchangeably herein.

In some examples, the cell is not necessarily fixed, and the geographic area of the cell may move according to the location of the mobile BS. In some examples, the BSs may be interconnected to each other and/or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in wireless network 100 by various types of backhaul interfaces, such as a direct physical connection, a virtual network, and/or the like using any suitable transport network.

Wireless network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is an entity capable of receiving a transmission of data from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and transmitting a transmission of data to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or a BS). The relay station may also be a UE capable of relaying transmissions to other UEs. In the example shown in fig. 1, relay station 110d may communicate with macro BS 110a and UE120 d to facilitate communication between BS 110a and UE120 d. The relay station may also be referred to as a relay BS, a relay base station, a relay, etc.

The wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs (e.g., macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relay BSs, etc.). These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different effects on interference in wireless network 100. For example, the macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 5 to 40 watts), while the pico BS, femto BS, and relay BS may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 0.1 to 2 watts).

Network controller 130 may be coupled to a set of BSs and may provide coordination and control for these BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs via a backhaul. BSs may also communicate with one another (e.g., directly or indirectly via a wireless or wired backhaul).

UEs 120 (e.g., 120a, 120b, 120c, 120d, 120e, 120f, etc.) may be dispersed throughout wireless network 100, and each UE may be fixed or mobile. A UE may also be called an access terminal, mobile station, subscriber unit, station, etc. A UE may be a cellular phone (e.g., a smartphone), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop, a cordless phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smart book, an ultrabook, a medical device or equipment, a biosensor/device, a wearable device (smartwatch, smartclothing, smartglasses, smartwristband, smartjewelry (e.g., smartring, smartbracelet)), an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or a satellite radio), a vehicle component or sensor, a smartmeter/sensor, an industrial manufacturing device, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

Some UEs may be considered Machine Type Communication (MTC) or evolved or enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) UEs. For example, MTC and eMTC UEs include robots, drones, remote devices (such as sensors, meters, monitors, location tags), etc., that may communicate with a base station, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. For example, a wireless node may provide connectivity to or for a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered internet of things (IoT) devices and/or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband internet of things) devices. Some UEs may be considered Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). UE120 may be included within a housing that houses components of UE120, such as a processor component, a memory component, and the like.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular RAT and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, air interface, etc. Frequencies may also be referred to as carriers, channels, etc. In a given geographic area, each frequency may support a single RAT in order to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

In some aspects, two or more UEs 120 (e.g., shown as UE120 a and UE120 e) may communicate directly (e.g., without using base station 110 as an intermediary to communicate with each other) using one or more sidelink channels. For example, the UE120 may communicate using peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X) protocol (e.g., which may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocol, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocol, etc.), mesh network, and/or the like. In this case, UE120 may perform scheduling operations, resource selection operations, and/or other operations described elsewhere herein as being performed by base station 110.

In some aspects, a millimeter wave (mmW) repeater 140 (sometimes referred to herein as repeater 140) may receive an analog millimeter wave signal from base station 110, may amplify the analog millimeter wave signal, and may transmit the amplified millimeter wave signal to one or more UEs 120 (e.g., shown as UE120 f). In some aspects, the mmW repeater 140 may be an analog mmW repeater, sometimes also referred to as a first tier mmW repeater. Additionally or alternatively, the mmW repeater 140 may be a wireless Transmit Receive Point (TRP) acting as a distributed unit (e.g., of a 5G access node) that wirelessly communicates with the base station 110 acting as a central unit or access node controller (e.g., of a 5G access node). The mmW repeater may receive, amplify, and transmit the analog mmW signal without performing analog-to-digital conversion on the analog mmW signal and/or any digital signal processing on the mmW signal. In this way, latency may be reduced and the cost of producing the mmW repeater 140 may be reduced. Additional details regarding the mmW repeater 140 are provided elsewhere herein.

As shown in fig. 1, the base station 110 may include a communication manager 115. As described in more detail elsewhere herein, the communication manager 115 may include means for receiving, via a first interface (e.g., LF interface) of the mmW repeater 140, information associated with the mmW repeater 140's ability to provide a broadband signal for transmission via a second interface (e.g., HF interface) of the mmW repeater 140; means for determining a configuration for transmitting a wideband signal on the second interface based at least in part on information associated with the capabilities of the mmW repeater 140; means for transmitting, via the first interface, a configuration for transmitting a broadband signal on the second interface. Additionally or alternatively, the communication manager 115 may perform one or more other operations described herein. Additionally or alternatively, as described in more detail elsewhere herein, the communication manager 115 may include means for receiving a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with the wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140; means for measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140 based at least in part on the measurement configuration; and means for communicating with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric on the set of resources.

As shown in fig. 1, UE120 may include a communications manager 125. As described in more detail elsewhere herein, the communication manager 125 may include means for receiving a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with the wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140; means for measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140 based at least in part on the measurement configuration; and means for communicating with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric on the set of resources. Additionally or alternatively, the communication manager 125 may perform one or more other operations described herein.

As noted above, fig. 1 is provided as an example only. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to fig. 1.

Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a design 200 of base station 110 and UE120, where base station 110 and UE120 may be one of the base stations and one of the UEs in fig. 1. The base station 110 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234T and the UE120 may be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252R, where T ≧ 1 and R ≧ 1.

At base station 110, transmit processor 220 may receive data for one or more UEs from a data source 212, select one or more Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCSs) for each UE based at least in part on Channel Quality Indicators (CQIs) received from the UEs, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based at least in part on the MCS(s) selected for the UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. Transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-Static Resource Partitioning Information (SRPI), etc.) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, etc.), and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. Transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS)) and synchronization signals (e.g., Primary Synchronization Signals (PSS) and Secondary Synchronization Signals (SSS)). A Transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T Modulators (MODs) 232a through 232T. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. T downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232T may be transmitted via T antennas 234a through 234T, respectively. According to various aspects described in more detail below, a synchronization signal may be generated with location coding to convey additional information.

At UE120, antennas 252a through 252r may receive downlink signals from base station 110 and/or other base stations and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may also process input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all R demodulators 254a through 254R, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols (if applicable), and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information and system information to a controller/processor 280. The channel processor may determine Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), and the like. In some aspects, one or more components of UE120 may be included in a housing.

On the uplink, at UE120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 and control information from a controller/processor 280 (e.g., for reports including RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, etc.). Transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, etc.), and transmitted to base station 110. At base station 110, the uplink signals from UE120 and other UEs may be received by antennas 234, processed by demodulators 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 (if applicable), and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by UE 120. Receive processor 238 may provide decoded data to a data sink 239 and decoded control information to controller/processor 240. The base station 110 may include a communication unit 244 and communicate with the network controller 130 via the communication unit 244. Network controller 130 may include a communication unit 294, a controller/processor 290, and a memory 292.

As described in more detail elsewhere herein, the controller/processor 240 of the base station 110 and/or any other component(s) of fig. 2 may perform one or more techniques associated with beam management of the mmW repeater 140 using broadband signals. For example, controller/processor 240 of base station 110 and/or any other component(s) of fig. 2 may perform or direct operations such as process 800 of fig. 8, process 900 of fig. 9, process 1000 of fig. 10, and/or other processes described herein. Memory 242 may store data and program codes, respectively, for base station 110. A scheduler 246 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

In some aspects, the base station 110 may include means for receiving, via a first interface of the mmW repeater 140, information associated with a capability of the mmW repeater 140 to provide wideband signals for transmission via a second interface of the mmW repeater 140; means for determining a configuration for transmitting a wideband signal on the second interface based at least in part on information associated with the capabilities of the mmW repeater 140; means for transmitting a configuration for transmitting a broadband signal over the second interface via the first interface, and the like. In some aspects, the base station 110 may include means for receiving a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140; means for measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140 based at least in part on the measurement configuration; and means for communicating with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring a power metric on the set of resources, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, base station 110 may include means for performing one or more other operations described herein. In some aspects, such components may include a communications manager 115. In some aspects, such components may include one or more components of base station 110 described in conjunction with fig. 2.

In some aspects, the UE120 may include means for receiving a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140; means for measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140 based at least in part on the measurement configuration; and means for communicating with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring a power metric on the set of resources, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, UE120 may include means for performing one or more other operations described herein. In some aspects, such components may include a communications manager 125. In some aspects, such components may include one or more components of UE120 described in conjunction with fig. 2.

As noted above, fig. 2 is provided as an example only. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to fig. 2.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example 300 of a radio access network in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

As indicated by reference numeral 305, a conventional (e.g., 3G, 4G, LTE, etc.) radio access network may include a plurality of base stations 310 (e.g., access points (ANs)), where each base station 310 communicates with a core network via a wired backhaul link 315 (e.g., a fiber optic connection). The base station 310 may communicate with the UE 320 via an access link 325, which access link 325 may be a wireless link. In some aspects, the base station 310 shown in fig. 3 may correspond to the base station 110 shown in fig. 1. Similarly, UE 320 shown in fig. 3 may correspond to UE120 shown in fig. 1.

As indicated by reference numeral 330, the radio access network may include a wireless backhaul network, sometimes referred to as an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) network. In an IAB network, at least one base station is an anchor base station 335, which communicates with the core network over a wired backhaul link 340 (e.g., fiber optic connection). Anchor base station 335 may also be referred to as an IAB host (donor) (or IAB-host). The IAB network may include one or more non-anchor base stations 345, sometimes referred to as relay base stations or IAB nodes (or IAB-nodes). The non-anchor base station 345 may communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., via one or more non-anchor base stations 345) with the anchor base station 335 via one or more backhaul links 350 to form a backhaul path to the core network for carrying backhaul traffic. The backhaul link 350 may be a wireless link. Anchor base station(s) 335 and/or non-anchor base station(s) 345 may communicate with one or more UEs 355 via access link 360, which access link 360 may be a wireless link for carrying access traffic. In some aspects, the anchor base station 335 and/or the non-anchor base station 345 shown in fig. 3 may correspond to the base station 110 shown in fig. 1. Similarly, the UE355 shown in fig. 3 may correspond to the UE120 shown in fig. 1.

As indicated by reference numeral 365, in some aspects a radio access network including an IAB network can utilize millimeter wave technology and/or directional communication (e.g., beamforming, precoding, etc.) for communication between base stations and/or UEs (e.g., between two base stations, between two UEs, and/or between a base station and a UE). For example, wireless backhaul link 370 between base stations may use millimeter waves to carry information and/or may use beamforming, precoding, etc., to point to a target base station. Similarly, the wireless access link 375 between the UE and the base station may use millimeter waves and/or may be directed to a target wireless node (e.g., UE and/or base station). In this way, inter-link interference may be reduced.

In some aspects, the IAB network may support multi-hop wireless backhaul. Additionally or alternatively, the nodes of the IAB network may use the same radio access technology (e.g., 5G/NR). Additionally or alternatively, nodes of the IAB network may share resources, e.g., time resources, frequency resources, spatial resources, etc., for the access link and the backhaul link. In addition, various architectures of IAB nodes and/or IAB hosts may be supported.

The configuration of the base station and the UE in fig. 3 is shown as an example, and other examples are possible. For example, one or more of the base stations shown in fig. 3 may be replaced by one or more UEs communicating via a UE-to-UE access network (e.g., a peer-to-peer network, a device-to-device network, etc.). In this case, the anchor node may refer to a UE that communicates directly with a base station (e.g., an anchor base station or a non-anchor base station).

As mentioned above, fig. 3 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to fig. 3.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example 400 of communicating using an analog millimeter wave repeater in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Because millimeter-wave communication has a higher frequency and a shorter wavelength than other types of radio waves used for communication (e.g., communication below 6 GHz), millimeter-wave communication may have a shorter propagation distance and may be more easily blocked by obstacles than other types of radio waves. For example, wireless communications using radio waves below 6GHz may be able to penetrate walls or structures of a building to provide coverage to areas on opposite sides of the wall from base stations 110 communicating using radio waves below 6 GHz. However, millimeter waves may not penetrate the same wall (e.g., depending on the thickness of the wall, the material from which the wall is constructed, etc.). Some techniques and apparatus described herein use millimeter-wave relays 140 to increase the coverage area of base stations 110, to extend coverage to UEs 120 that do not have a line of sight (e.g., due to obstructions) to base stations 110, and so on. Further, the millimeter wave repeater 140 described herein may be a layer 1 or analog millimeter wave repeater, which is associated with lower cost, less processing, and lower latency than a layer 2 or layer 3 repeater.

As shown in fig. 4, millimeter wave relay 140 may perform directional communication by using beamforming to communicate with base station 110 via a first beam (e.g., a backhaul beam on a backhaul link with base station 110) and to communicate with UE120 via a second beam (e.g., an access beam on an access link with UE 120). To achieve long propagation distances and/or meet required link budgets, mmwave repeaters may use narrow beams (e.g., beam widths less than a threshold) for such communications.

However, using a narrower beam requires using more resources (e.g., processing resources, storage resources, power, battery power, etc.) and more network resources (e.g., time resources, frequency resources, space resources, etc.) of the millimeter wave repeater 140 to perform beam training (e.g., determine a suitable beam), beam maintenance (e.g., find a suitable beam when conditions change due to mobility, etc.), beam management, etc., as compared to a wider beam. This may waste resources of the millimeter wave repeater 140 and/or network resources compared to using a wider beam, and may result in increased production costs of the millimeter wave repeater 140, which may be widely deployed throughout the radio access network.

For example, millimeter-wave repeaters 140 may be deployed in fixed locations with limited or no mobility, similar to base stations 110. As shown in fig. 4, the millimeter wave repeater 140 may communicate with the base station 110 using a narrower beam without unnecessarily consuming network resources and/or resources of the millimeter wave repeater 140 because the need for beam training, beam maintenance, and/or beam management may be limited due to limited or no mobility of the base station 110 and the millimeter wave repeater 140 (and/or due to line-of-sight communication paths between the base station 110 and the millimeter wave repeater 140).

As further shown in fig. 4, millimeter wave repeater 140 may communicate with one or more UEs 120 using a wider beam (e.g., a pseudo-omni beam, etc.). The wider beams may provide wider beam coverage for the access link, thereby providing coverage for the mobile UE120 without requiring frequent beam training, beam maintenance, and/or beam management. In this way, network resources and/or resources of millimeter wave repeater 140 may be conserved. Further, if the millimeter-wave repeater 140 does not include digital signal processing capabilities, resources of the base station 110 (e.g., processing resources, memory resources, etc.) that would otherwise be used to perform such signal processing for the millimeter-wave repeater 140 may be conserved, and network resources that would otherwise be used to communicate inputs or outputs of such processing between the base station 110 and the millimeter-wave repeater 140 may be conserved.

In this manner, the millimeter wave repeater 140 may increase coverage, provide access around obstacles (as shown), and the like, while conserving resources of the base station 110, resources of the millimeter wave repeater 140, network resources, and the like. Additional details are described below.

As mentioned above, fig. 4 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to fig. 4.

Fig. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating examples of millimeter wave repeaters 500 in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In some aspects, millimeter-wave repeater 500 may correspond to millimeter-wave repeater 140 shown in fig. 1.

As shown in fig. 5A, in some aspects millimeter wave repeater 500 may include one or more phased array antennas 510-1 through 510-N (N > 1), gain component 520, controller 530, communication component 540, and Multiplexer (MUX) and/or Demultiplexer (DEMUX) (MUX/DEMUX) 550.

As shown in fig. 5B, in some aspects millimeter-wave repeater 500 may include one or more metamaterial antennas 510 '-1 through 510' -N, a gain component 520, a controller 530, a communication component 540, and one or more MUX/DEMUXs 550.

Antenna 510/510' includes one or more antenna elements with capabilities configured for beamforming. In some aspects, as shown in fig. 5A, millimeter wave repeater 500 may include one or more phased array antennas 510, which may be referred to as a phased array because the phase values and/or phase offsets of the antenna elements may be configured to form beams, with different phase values and/or phase offsets being used for different beams (e.g., in different directions).

In some aspects, as shown in fig. 5B, millimeter-wave repeater 500 may include one or more metamaterial antennas 510'. In some aspects, the metamaterial antenna may include a composite material having a negative dielectric constant and/or magnetic permeability, which results in a negative refractive index. The metamaterial antenna may not be required for a phased array configuration due to the superior antenna gain and electromagnetic lens resulting therefrom. However, if in a phased array configuration, the antenna spacing may be less than the spacing lambda/2 that is commonly used, where lambda refers to the wavelength of the RF carrier signal. In some aspects, the metamaterial antenna may reduce leakage back to the RX antenna due to superior beamforming and may reduce the chance of instability in the RF chain. Thus, the use of a metamaterial antenna may reduce or eliminate the need for a feedback path.

In some aspects, antenna 510/510' may be a fixed Receive (RX) antenna with the capability to only receive communications and not transmit communications. In some aspects, antenna 510/510' may be a fixed Transmit (TX) antenna with the capability to only transmit communications and not receive communications. In some aspects, antenna 510/510' may have the capability to be configured to function as an RX antenna or a TX antenna (e.g., via a TX/RX switch, MUX/DEMUX, etc.). Antenna 510/510' may have the capability to communicate using millimeter waves.

Gain component 520 includes components having the ability to amplify an input signal and output an amplified signal. For example, gain component 520 may include a power amplifier, a variable gain component, and the like. In some aspects, the gain component 520 may have variable gain control. The gain component 520 may be connected to an RX antenna (e.g., the first antenna 510/510 '-1) and a TX antenna (e.g., the second antenna 510/510' -2) such that analog millimeter-wave signals received by the RX antenna may be amplified by the gain component 520 and output to the TX antenna for transmission. In some aspects, the amplification level of gain component 520 may be controlled by controller 530.

Controller 530 includes components having the ability to control one or more other components of millimeter-wave repeater 500. For example, the controller 530 may include a controller, a microcontroller, a processor, and the like. In some aspects, the controller 530 may control the gain component 520 by controlling the level of amplification or gain applied to the input signal by the gain component 520. Additionally or alternatively, controller 530 may control antenna 510/510' by: control a beamforming configuration of antenna 510/510 ' (e.g., one or more phase values of antenna 510/510 ', one or more phase offsets of antenna 510/510 ', one or more power parameters of antenna 510/510 ', one or more beamforming parameters of antenna 510/510 ', a TX beamforming configuration, an RX beamforming configuration, etc.), control whether antenna 510/510 ' functions as an RX antenna or a TX antenna (e.g., by configuring an interaction and/or connection between antenna 510/510 ' and MUX/DEMUX 550), and/or the like. Additionally or alternatively, controller 530 may turn on or off one or more components of millimeter wave relay 500 (e.g., when base station 110 does not need to use the millimeter wave relay to serve UE 120). In some aspects, controller 530 may control the timing of one or more of the above-described configurations. Additionally or alternatively, controller 530 may control the position of switch 580 to connect oscillator 560 to one or more antennas 510/510' (via gain component 570) associated with transmitting the wideband signal generated by millimeter-wave repeater 500, as described herein. In some aspects, the controller 530 may control the gain component 570 by controlling a level of amplification or gain applied by the gain component 570 to the signal provided by the oscillator 560.

Communications component 540 may include a component with the capability to wirelessly communicate with base station 110 using wireless technologies other than millimeter wave. For example, communications component 540 may communicate with base station 110 using Personal Area Network (PAN) technology (e.g., Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), etc.), 4G or LTE radio access technology, narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) technology, below 6GHz technology, visible light communications technology, and/or the like. In some aspects, communications component 540 may use a lower frequency communications technology, while antenna 510/510' may use a higher frequency communications technology (e.g., millimeter waves, etc.). In some aspects, antenna 510/510' may be used to transmit data between millimeter-wave repeater 500 and base station 110, and communications component 540 may be used to transmit control information (e.g., reports, configurations, instructions to turn one or more components on or off, etc.) between millimeter-wave repeater 500 and base station 110.

MUX/DEMUX 550 may be used to multiplex and/or demultiplex communications received from antenna 510/510 'and/or transmitted to antenna 510/510'. For example, MUX/DEMUX 550 may be used to switch RX antennas to TX antennas.

Oscillator 560 may be used to generate a wideband analog signal (referred to herein as a wideband signal) for millimeter-wave repeater 500 to transmit via antenna 510/510' of the HF interface of millimeter-wave repeater 500. In some aspects, the broadband signal may be used in association with beam management of millimeter-wave repeater 500, as described elsewhere herein. In some aspects, oscillator 560 may be a low cost oscillator (with poor phase noise) since the broadband signal is not used for heterodyning or associated with transmitting information. Accordingly, inclusion of oscillator 560 in millimeter-wave repeater 500 may not significantly impact the cost of millimeter-wave repeater 500.

The gain component 570 comprises a component having the capability of amplifying an input signal and outputting an amplified signal. For example, the gain component 570 may include a power amplifier, a variable gain component, and the like. In some aspects, the gain component 570 may have variable gain control. Gain component 570 may be connected to oscillator 560 and a TX antenna (e.g., antenna 510/510' -1) such that a wideband signal provided by oscillator 560 may be amplified by gain component 570 and output to the TX antenna for transmission. In some aspects, the amplification level of the gain component 570 may be controlled by the controller 530.

Switch 580 includes components having the ability to cause millimeter-wave repeater 500 to operate to repeat signals received via an RX antenna (e.g., antenna 510/510') or to transmit wideband signals generated by millimeter-wave repeater 500 (e.g., analog wideband signals generated by oscillator 560 and amplified by gain component 570). In some aspects, as shown in fig. SA and 5B, switch 580 may be a Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) switch. In some aspects, the position of switch 580 may be controlled by controller 530.

In some aspects, millimeter-wave repeater 500 does not include any components for digital signal processing. For example, millimeter-wave repeater 500 may not include a digital signal processor, a baseband processor, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and/or the like. In this way, the cost of producing millimeter wave repeater 500 may be reduced. Further, latency may be reduced by eliminating digital processing of the received millimeter wave signals prior to transmitting the corresponding amplified millimeter wave signals.

In some aspects, one or more antennas 510/510', gain component 520, controller 530, communications component 540, MUX/DEMUX 550, oscillator 560, gain component 570, switch 580, etc., may perform one or more operations associated with beam management of millimeter-wave repeater 500 using broadband signals, as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, one or more components of millimeter-wave repeater 500 may perform or direct operations such as process 800 of fig. 8, process 900 of fig. 9, process 1000 of fig. 10, and/or other processes described herein.

In some aspects, millimeter-wave repeater 500 may include means for transmitting, via a first interface (e.g., an LF interface), information associated with the ability of millimeter-wave repeater 500 to provide broadband signals on a second interface (e.g., an HF interface); means for receiving, via a first interface, a configuration for transmitting a broadband signal on a second interface; means for transmitting a broadband signal on a second interface based at least in part on the configuration; and/or the like. In some aspects, millimeter wave repeater 500 may include means for receiving a measurement configuration associated with measuring power metrics on a set of resources associated with wideband signals transmitted by mmW repeater 140; means for measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140 based at least in part on the measurement configuration; means for communicating with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring a power metric for the set of resources; and/or the like. In some aspects, such components may include one or more components of millimeter wave repeater 500 described in conjunction with fig. 5A and 5B.

As described above, fig. 5A and 5B are provided as examples. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to fig. 5A and 5B. For example, millimeter-wave repeater 500 may include additional components, fewer components, different components, or a different arrangement of components than those shown in fig. 5A and 5B. Further, two or more of the components shown in fig. 5A and 5B may be implemented within a single component, or a single component shown in fig. 5A and 5B may be implemented as multiple components. Additionally or alternatively, a set of components (e.g., one or more components) of millimeter-wave repeater 500 may perform one or more functions described as being performed by another set of components of millimeter-wave repeater 500.

The mmW repeater has the capability to receive and forward signals only over the HF interface of the mmW repeater. These mmW repeaters are not able to generate and transmit signals over the HF interface or process signals received over the HF interface. This lack of capability may complicate the access and beam management processes associated with mmW repeaters. For example, in the case of beam management between the base station 110 and the mmW repeater, the mmW repeater cannot process or measure downlink reference signals (e.g., synchronization signal blocks, channel state information reference signals, etc.) associated with identifying the appropriate beam pair link for the connection between the base station 110 and the mmW repeater. As another example, in the case of beam management between the base station 110 and the mmW repeater, the mmW repeater cannot provide uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals) associated with appropriate beam pair links that allow the base station to identify connections for the base station 110 and the mmW repeater.

As another example, in the case of beam management between a mmW relay and the UE120, the mmW relay may only be able to receive a signal (e.g., on the uplink or downlink) and forward the signal, but may not be able to identify a suitable beam pair link for connection with the UE 120. Thus, overhead at the transmitter may increase (e.g., because the appropriate beam pair link may not be in use). Similarly, finding a suitable beam pair link for a connection with a base station 110 (when there are multiple relays and/or multiple base stations 110), or finding a suitable beam pair link for a connection with a UE120 (when there are multiple relays), may become complicated due to the limited capabilities of mmW relays.

However, if the mmW repeater has the capability of generating a wideband analog signal (referred to herein as a wideband signal) and transmitting the wideband signal via the HF interface, the above-described problems may be avoided. For example, in the case of mmW repeaters having the capability of generating and transmitting broadband signals over the HF interface, the access procedure and/or the beam management procedure may be simplified. For example, the mmW relay 140 may be instructed to transmit one or more wideband signals (e.g., with one or more different TX beamforming configurations) on a given set of time domain resources. Here, one or more wireless nodes (e.g., one or more base stations 110 and/or UEs 120) may measure received power (e.g., Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)) on respective time domain resources. Here, based at least in part on the received power, a given wireless node may determine a suitable TX beamforming configuration and/or a suitable RX beamforming configuration for the beam pair link with the mmW relay 140 (e.g., based at least in part on comparing the received powers to each other, or comparing the received power to a threshold).

Further, based at least in part on the received power, the wireless node may then select an appropriate candidate node pair by, for example, combining measurements from multiple nodes (e.g., when reporting measurements between wireless nodes). As a particular example, the base station 110 may identify an appropriate set of one or more mmW repeaters 140 with which to communicate (when there are multiple mmW repeaters 140). As another particular example, a suitable base station 110 may be selected for a given mmW repeater 140 (when multiple base stations 110 are present). As another particular example, an appropriate set of one or more mmW relays 140 may be selected for a given UE120 (when multiple mmW relays 140 are present).

However, in order to support such functionality associated with simplifying the access procedure and/or the beam management procedure, it is necessary to coordinate the generation and transmission of broadband signals and the reporting of measurements of the broadband signals. Some aspects described herein provide techniques and apparatus associated with generating and transmitting broadband signals by the mmW repeater 140.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example 600 associated with generating and transmitting a wideband signal by the mmW repeater 140 in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 6, and by reference numeral 605, the mmW repeater 140 may transmit information associated with the ability of the mmW repeater 140 to provide (e.g., generate and transmit) a wideband signal on the HF interface of the mmW repeater 140. Such information is referred to herein as broadband capability information. In some aspects, the mmW repeater 140 may transmit the wideband capability information via the LF interface of the mmW repeater 140.

In some aspects, the mmW repeater 140 may transmit the wideband capability information based at least in part on the request transmitted by the base station 110. For example, the base station 110 may send a request to the mmW repeater 140 for wideband capability information associated with the mmW repeater 140 via the LF interface of the base station 110. Here, the mmW repeater 140 may receive the request via the LF interface of the mmW repeater 140 and may transmit the broadband capability information based at least in part on the received request.

In some aspects, the wideband capability information associated with the mmW repeater 140 includes an indication of whether the mmW repeater 140 has the capability to generate and transmit wideband signals. In other words, the wideband capability information may include an indication of whether the mmW repeater 140 has an HF architecture capable of generating and transmitting wideband signals. In some aspects, when the mmW repeater 140 has the capability to generate and transmit a wideband signal via the HF interface, the wideband capability information may include information indicating whether the mmW repeater 140 has the capability to perform beam scanning with the wideband signal, an indication of a power level or range of power levels of the wideband signal, and/or another type of information related to the capability of the mmW repeater 140 in generating or transmitting the wideband signal.

As further shown in fig. 6, the base station 110 may receive the wideband capability information and, as indicated by reference numeral 610, may determine a configuration for transmitting wideband signals over the HF interface. In some aspects, the base station 110 may determine the configuration based at least in part on the wideband capability information associated with the mmW repeater 140.

In some aspects, the configuration may include information indicating the manner in which the mmW repeater 140 generates or transmits the wideband signal. For example, the configuration may include information associated with a TX beamforming configuration (e.g., information indicating which TX beam and/or antenna 510/510' is to be used for transmission of the wideband signal, information indicating whether the wideband is to be scanned, etc.), wherein the TX beamforming configuration is associated with transmitting the wideband signal. As another example, the configuration may include information associated with TX beam power settings associated with transmitting wideband signals. As another example, the configuration can include information identifying a set of time domain resources over which the wideband signal is to be transmitted.

In some aspects, the configuration may instruct the mmW repeater 140 to periodically transmit the wideband signal. Additionally or alternatively, the configuration may indicate that the mmW repeater 140 is to transmit the wideband signal semi-persistently (e.g., in a configured set of time domain resources).

In some aspects, the configuration may instruct the mmW repeater 140 to transmit the broadband signal in response to the occurrence of the event (i.e., such that the transmission of the broadband signal is event-triggered). For example, the configuration may indicate that the mmW relay 140 is to transmit a wideband signal on the configured set of time domain resources when a particular event occurs. The triggering event may include, for example, a power measurement received by the mmW repeater 140 that satisfies a threshold, a timer expiration, and/or another type of detectable event.

In some aspects, the configuration may be used to dynamically configure the transmission of the wideband signals (e.g., such that the generation and transmission of the wideband signals may be dynamically configured by the base station 110).

As further shown in fig. 6, and by reference numeral 615, the base station 110 may send a configuration to the mmW repeater 140 for transmitting a wideband signal over the HF interface. In some aspects, the base station 110 may send the configuration via the LF interface. In some aspects, the base station 110 may send the configuration to the mmW repeater 140 in a control command over the LF interface of the base station 110 and the mmW repeater 140. In some aspects, the control command may include other information, such as information associated with the configuration of the HF interface for the mmW repeater 140.

As shown in fig. 6, the mmW repeater 140 may receive the configuration and generate a wideband signal based at least in part on the configuration, as indicated by reference numeral 620. As indicated by reference numeral 625, the mmW repeater 140 may transmit the broadband signal via the HF interface of the mmW repeater 140 based at least in part on the configuration.

In some aspects, the base station 110 may measure a power metric of a resource on which the mmW repeater 140 transmits a wideband signal over the HF interface. For example, the mmW repeater 140 may provide the wideband signal in the configured set of time domain resources according to the configuration, and the base station 110 may measure the received power in the time domain resources.

In some aspects, the base station 110 may determine whether a connection may be established between the base station 110 and the mmW repeater 140 via the HF interface based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric. Further, in some aspects, the base station 110 may identify a beamforming configuration associated with establishing a connection between the base station 110 and the mmW repeater 140 via the HF interface based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric. In this manner, the base station 110 may determine whether a connection may be established with the mmW repeater 140 over the HF interface and, if so, which TX and/or RX beamforming configuration to use for the connection.

As described above, fig. 6 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to fig. 6.

In some aspects, base station 110 may cause one or more other wireless nodes to measure broadband signals and (optionally) report information associated with the measurement of broadband signals.

Fig. 7 is a diagram of an example 700 associated with having another wireless node measure a wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140.

As shown in fig. 7, and by reference numeral 705, the base station 110 may provide a measurement configuration to the wireless node, the measurement configuration being associated with a power metric on a measurement resource in which the mmW repeater 140 will transmit a wideband signal over the HF interface. The measurement configuration may include, for example, information indicating the power received in a particular set of time domain resources (e.g., the time domain resources in which the mmW relay 140 will transmit wideband signals) that the wireless node will measure. In some aspects, the wireless node may be another base station 110 (e.g., base station 110x shown in fig. 7). In some aspects, the wireless node may be a UE 120. In some aspects, the other wireless node may be another mmW repeater 140.

In some aspects, the measurement configuration may indicate that the wireless node is to periodically measure the wideband signal. Additionally or alternatively, the measurement configuration may indicate that the wireless node is to measure the wideband signal semi-persistently (e.g., in a configured set of time domain resources). In some aspects, the measurement configuration may be used to dynamically configure measurements of the wideband signal (e.g., such that measurements of the wideband signal may be dynamically configured by the base station 110).

In some aspects, the base station 110 may provide the wireless node with a reporting configuration associated with reporting the power metric on the resource in which the mmW repeater 140 will transmit the wideband signal over the HF interface. The reporting configuration may include, for example, information indicating that the wireless node is to report measurements, information identifying a set of resources in which the wireless node is to report measurements, and so on.

As further shown in fig. 7, and by reference numeral 710, the mmW repeater 140 may transmit a wideband signal via an HF interface. In some aspects, as described above, the mmW repeater 140 may transmit the wideband signal according to the configuration received from the base station 110.

As indicated by reference numeral 715, the wireless node (e.g., base station 110x), after receiving the measurement configuration, may measure a power metric on a set of resources associated with the wideband signal transmitted by the mmW repeater 140 based at least in part on the measurement configuration.

In some aspects, the wireless node may determine whether a connection may be established between the wireless node and the mmW relay 140 via the HF interface based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric. Further, in some aspects, the wireless node may identify a beamforming configuration associated with establishing a connection between the wireless node and the mmW relay 140 via the HF interface based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric. In this way, the wireless node may determine whether a connection may be established with the mmW relay 140 via the HF interface and, if so, which TX and/or RX beamforming configuration to use for the connection.

In some aspects, a wireless node may communicate with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring a power metric on a set of resources. For example, in some aspects, the wireless node may receive a reporting configuration from the base station 110, as described above. In this case, the wireless node may provide a report including information associated with the result of measuring the power metric based at least in part on the reporting configuration. In some aspects, the reporting may be a periodic reporting based at least in part on the reporting configuration. In some aspects, the report may be dynamically configured based at least in part on the report configuration. In some aspects, the report may be event-triggered based at least in part on a reporting configuration (e.g., such that the wireless node provides the report when an event occurs, such as a received power meeting a threshold, expiration of a timer, etc.).

In some aspects, the base station 110 may receive a report from the wireless node including information associated with a result of measuring a power metric on a resource in which the mmW repeater 140 transmits a wideband signal over the HF interface. In some aspects, the base station 110 may receive reports from multiple wireless nodes (e.g., multiple other base stations 110). In some aspects, based at least in part on the one or more reports, the base station 110 may determine an association of the mmW relay 140 (e.g., the base station 110 may identify a wireless node with which the mmW relay 140 is to communicate) and a beamforming configuration (e.g., an RX beamforming configuration and/or a TX beamforming configuration) for the association. Thus, in some aspects, the base station 110 may determine the communication configuration based at least in part on the communication configuration that the wireless node may communicate with the mmW repeater 140.

In some aspects, the base station 110 may provide a communication configuration to the wireless node. Here, the wireless node may receive the communication configuration and may communicate with the mmW relay 140 based at least in part on the communication configuration.

As described above, fig. 7 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to fig. 7.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example process 800, e.g., performed by a relay, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Example process 800 is an example of a repeater (e.g., mmW repeater 140) performing operations associated with beam management of the repeater using wideband signals.

As shown in fig. 8, in some aspects, process 800 may include sending, via a first interface, information associated with a capability of a repeater to provide a wideband signal on a second interface (block 810). For example, as described above, the repeater (e.g., using the controller 530, the communication component 540, etc.) may transmit information associated with the ability of the repeater to provide broadband signals on the second interface via the first interface. In some aspects, the second interface may be different from the first interface. For example, in some aspects, the second interface may be an HF interface and the first interface may be an LF interface. In some aspects, the second interface and the first interface may be different interfaces, but may be the same in terms of frequency. For example, the second interface may be an interface for relaying signals, and the first interface may be a control interface, wherein the interface for relaying signals and the control interface operate in the same frequency band.

As further shown in fig. 8, in some aspects, process 800 may include receiving, via a first interface, a configuration for transmitting a broadband signal on a second interface (block 820). For example, as described above, a repeater (e.g., using controller 530, communication component 540, etc.) may receive a configuration via a first interface for transmitting a broadband signal over a second interface.

As further shown in fig. 8, in some aspects process 800 may include transmitting a broadband signal on the second interface based at least in part on the configuration (block 830). For example, as described above, the repeater (e.g., using controller 530, oscillator 560, gain component 570, switch 580, antenna 510/510', etc.) may transmit the wideband signal over the second interface based at least in part on the configuration.

Process 800 may include additional aspects, such as any single implementation or any combination of aspects described below and/or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, a repeater may generate a wideband signal based at least in part on a configuration.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the first interface is a low frequency interface and the second interface is a millimeter wave interface.

In a third aspect, the wideband signal is periodically transmitted based at least in part on the configuration, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first and second aspects.

In a fourth aspect, the wideband signal is transmitted semi-persistently in a set of configured time domain resources based at least in part on the configuration, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to third aspects.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to fourth aspects, the transmitting of the broadband signal is dynamically configured based at least in part on the configuration.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to fifth aspects, the sending of the broadband signal is event triggered based at least in part on the configuration.

In a seventh aspect, the configuration comprises information associated with a transmit beamforming configuration associated with transmitting a wideband signal, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to sixth aspects.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to seventh aspects, the configuration comprises information associated with a transmit beam power setting associated with transmitting the broadband signal.

In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to eighth aspects, the configuration comprises information identifying a set of time domain resources on which the wideband signal is to be transmitted.

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to ninth aspects, the repeater may receive a request for information associated with the capability of the repeater to provide broadband signals on the second interface, the information associated with the capability of the repeater to provide broadband signals on the second interface being transmitted in response to the request.

Although fig. 8 shows example blocks of process 800, in some aspects process 800 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or a different arrangement of blocks than depicted in fig. 8. Additionally or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 800 may be performed in parallel.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example process 900 performed, for example, by a base station, in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. Example process 900 is an example of a base station (e.g., base station 110) performing operations associated with beam management of a repeater (e.g., mmW repeater 140) using wideband signals.

As shown in fig. 9, in some aspects, process 900 may include receiving, via a first interface, information associated with a capability of a repeater to provide a wideband signal for transmission via a second interface (block 910). For example, as described above, the base station (e.g., using antenna 234, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, etc.) may receive, via the first interface, information associated with the ability of the repeater to provide wideband signals for transmission via the second interface.

In some aspects, the second interface may be different from the first interface. For example, in some aspects, the second interface may be an HF interface and the first interface may be an LF interface. In some aspects, the second interface and the first interface may be different interfaces, but may be the same in terms of frequency. For example, the second interface may be an interface for relaying signals, and the first interface may be a control interface, wherein the interface for relaying signals and the control interface operate in the same frequency band.

As further shown in fig. 9, in some aspects, process 900 may include determining a configuration for transmitting a broadband signal on the second interface based at least in part on information associated with the capability of the repeater (block 920). For example, the base station (e.g., using controller/processor 240, memory 242, etc.) may determine a configuration for transmitting the broadband signal on the second interface based at least in part on information associated with the capabilities of the repeater, as described above.

As further shown in fig. 9, in some aspects, process 900 may include sending, via the first interface, a configuration for sending broadband signals on the second interface (block 930). For example, the base station (e.g., using antenna 234, controller/processor 240, memory 242, etc.) may send a configuration over the first interface for sending wideband signals over the second interface, as described above.

Process 900 may include additional aspects, such as any single implementation or any combination of aspects described below and/or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, the first interface is a low frequency interface and the second interface is a millimeter wave interface.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the base station may send a request to the repeater for information associated with the repeater's ability to provide broadband signals for transmission over the second interface.

In a third aspect, the configuration indicates that the wideband signal is to be transmitted periodically, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first and second aspects.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to third aspects, the configuration indicates that the wideband signal is to be transmitted semi-persistently in a set of configured time domain resources.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to fourth aspects, the transmitting of the broadband signal is dynamically configured based at least in part on the configuration.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to fifth aspects, the sending of the broadband signal is event triggered based at least in part on the configuration.

In a seventh aspect, the configuration comprises information associated with a transmit beamforming configuration associated with transmitting a wideband signal, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to sixth aspects.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to seventh aspects, the configuration comprises information associated with a transmit beam power setting associated with transmitting the broadband signal.

In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to eighth aspects, the configuration comprises information identifying a set of time domain resources on which the wideband signal is to be transmitted.

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to ninth aspects, the base station may measure a power metric of a resource in which the repeater transmits the broadband signal over the second interface.

In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to tenth aspects, the base station may determine whether a connection may be established between the base station and the relay over the second interface based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric.

In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to eleventh aspects, the base station may identify a beamforming configuration associated with establishing a connection between the base station and the relay via the second interface based at least in part on a result of measuring the power metric.

In a thirteenth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to twelfth aspects, the base station may provide the wireless node (e.g., another base station 110, another mmW relay 140, UE 120) with a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a resource in which the relay transmits a wideband signal over the second interface.

In a fourteenth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to thirteenth aspects, the base station may provide a reporting configuration associated with reporting measurements of power metrics on resources in which the relay transmits the broadband signal over the second interface to the wireless node.

In a fifteenth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to fourteenth aspects, the base station may receive a report from the wireless node comprising information associated with a result of measuring the power metric, wherein the relay transmits the broadband signal over the second interface in the resource; and determining an association of the relay and a beamforming configuration of the association based at least in part on the report.

Although fig. 9 illustrates example blocks of the process 900, in some aspects the process 900 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or a different arrangement of blocks than depicted in fig. 9. Additionally or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 900 may be performed in parallel.

Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example process 1000, e.g., performed by a repeater, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Example process 1000 is an example of a wireless node (e.g., base station 110, UE120, mmW relay 140, etc.) performing operations associated with beam management of a relay (e.g., mmW relay 140) using a wideband signal.

As shown in fig. 10, in some aspects, process 1000 may include receiving a measurement configuration associated with measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a relay (block 1010). For example, the wireless node (e.g., using antenna 234, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, etc. when the wireless node is base station 110; using antenna 252, receive processor 258, controller/processor 280, etc. when the wireless node is UE 120; using controller 530, communication component 540, etc. when the wireless node is mmW relay 140) may receive a measurement configuration associated with a power metric on a set of measurement resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by the relay, as described above.

As further shown in fig. 10, in some aspects process 1000 may include measuring a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by a relay based at least in part on a measurement configuration (block 1020). For example, the wireless node (e.g., using antenna 234, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, etc. when the wireless node is base station 110; using antenna 252, receive processor 258, controller/processor 280, etc. when the wireless node is UE 120; using controller 530, communication component 540, etc. when the wireless node is mmW relay 140) may measure a power metric on a set of resources associated with a wideband signal transmitted by the relay based at least in part on the measurement configuration, as described above.

As further shown in fig. 10, in some aspects process 1000 may include communicating with another wireless node based at least in part on a result of measuring a power metric on a set of resources (block 1030). For example, a wireless node (e.g., using antenna 234, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, etc. when the wireless node is a base station 110, antenna 252, receive processor 258, controller/processor 280, etc. when the wireless node is a UE120, controller 530, communication component 540, etc. when the wireless node is a mmW relay 140) may communicate with another wireless node (e.g., UE120, base station 110, mmW relay 140) based at least in part on a result of measuring a power metric on a set of resources, as described above.

Process 1000 may include additional aspects, such as any single implementation or any combination of aspects described below and/or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, the measurement is a periodic measurement based at least in part on a measurement configuration.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the measurement is a semi-persistent measurement based at least in part on the measurement configuration.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first and second aspects, the measurement is a measurement based at least in part on a dynamic configuration of the measurement configuration.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to third aspects, the wireless node may receive a reporting configuration associated with reporting the result of measuring the power metric; and provide a report including information associated with the measurement of the power metric based at least in part on the reporting configuration.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to fourth aspects, the reporting is a periodic reporting based at least in part on a reporting configuration.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to fifth aspects, the report is dynamically configured based at least in part on the report configuration.

In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to sixth aspects, the reporting is event triggered based at least in part on the reporting configuration.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to seventh aspects, the wireless node may receive a communication configuration associated with communicating with the relay; and communicate with the repeater based at least in part on the communication configuration.

In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to eighth aspects, the wireless node is a user equipment (e.g., UE 120).

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with any one or more of the first to ninth aspects, the wireless node is a UE (e.g., UE 120), a base station (e.g., base station 110), or another relay (e.g., another mmW relay 140).

Although fig. 10 illustrates example blocks of the process 1000, in some aspects the process 1000 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or a different arrangement of blocks than depicted in fig. 10. Additionally or alternatively, two or more blocks in process 1000 may be performed in parallel.

The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit aspects to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of various aspects.

The term "component" as used herein is intended to be broadly interpreted as hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. As used herein, a processor is implemented in hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software.

Some aspects are described herein in connection with a threshold. As used herein, satisfying a threshold may refer to a value that is greater than the threshold, greater than or equal to the threshold, less than or equal to the threshold, not equal to the threshold, and the like.

It is to be understood that the systems and/or methods described herein may be implemented in various forms of hardware, firmware, or combinations of hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware or software code used to implement the systems and/or methods is not limited in these respects. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and/or methods were described herein without reference to the specific software code-it being understood that software and hardware may be designed to implement the systems and/or methods based, at least in part, on the description herein.

Although particular combinations of features are set forth in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of the various aspects. Indeed, various ones of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. Although each dependent claim listed below may be directly dependent on only one claim, the disclosure of the various aspects includes a combination of each dependent claim with every other claim in the claim set. A phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including a single member. By way of example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to encompass a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination of a plurality of the same element (e.g., a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c, or any other permutation of a, b, and c).

No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. In addition, the articles "a" and "an" as used herein are intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with "one or more". Further, the terms "set" and "group" as used herein are intended to include one or more items (e.g., related items, unrelated items, combinations of related and unrelated items, etc.) and may be used interchangeably with "one or more. Where only one item is intended, the phrase "only one" or similar language is used. Furthermore, as used herein, the terms "having", and the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase "based on" is intended to mean "based, at least in part, on" unless explicitly stated otherwise.