US-12627534-B2 - Channel sounding method and apparatus

US12627534B2US 12627534 B2US12627534 B2US 12627534B2US-12627534-B2

Abstract

This application provides a channel sounding method and apparatus. The method includes: A first communication device sends a first frame to a second communication device, where the first frame is used to indicate the second communication device to perform channel sounding on a part of antennas of the first communication device. The first communication device sends a second frame to the second communication device, where the second frame is used by the second communication device to perform channel sounding on the part of antennas. The first communication device receives a third frame from the second communication device, where the third frame is used to indicate a result of performing channel sounding on the part of antennas.

Inventors

Zhongjiang Yan
Mao YANG
Dandan LIANG
Jian Yu
Yunbo Li
Ming Gan

Assignees

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220831
Priority Date: 20200302

Claims (20)

1 . A channel sounding method, comprising: sending, by a first communication device, a first frame to a second communication device, wherein the first frame indicates the second communication device to perform channel sounding on a part of antennas of the first communication device; sending, by the first communication device to the second communication device, a second frame to be used by the second communication device to perform channel sounding on the part of the antennas; and receiving, by the first communication device, a third frame from the second communication device, wherein the third frame indicates a result of channel sounding performed on the part of the antennas, wherein in said sending the first frame to the second communication device, the first frame is sent on a portion, not an entirety, of the part of the antennas, and in said sending the second frame to the second communication device, the second frame is sent on the entirety of the part of the antennas.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein, before the receiving the third frame from the second communication device, the method further comprises: sending, by the first communication device, a fourth frame to the second communication device, wherein the fourth frame indicates the second communication device to send the third frame to the first communication device.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein, before the sending the first frame to the second communication device, the method further comprises: sending, by the first communication device to the second communication device, a training frame to be used by the second communication device to perform channel sounding on all the antennas of the first communication device; receiving, by the first communication device, a feedback frame from the second communication device, the feedback frame responsive to the training frame; and determining, by the first communication device, the part of the antennas based on the feedback frame.
4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein, before the sending the training frame to the second communication device, the method further comprises: sending, by the first communication device, a pre-training frame to the second communication device, wherein the pre-training frame indicates the second communication device to perform channel sounding on all the antennas of the first communication device.
5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein, before the receiving the feedback frame from the second communication device, the method further comprises: sending, by the first communication device, a trigger frame to the second communication device, wherein the trigger frame indicates the second communication device to send the feedback frame to the first communication device.
6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first frame comprises a first field, and the first field indicates a part of panels of the first communication device, and the part of the antennas comprises an antenna corresponding to the part of panels, or the first field carries an antenna index, and the antenna index indicates the part of the antennas.
7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: sending the first frame to a further communication device, wherein the first frame indicates the further communication device to perform channel sounding on a further part of the antennas of the first communication device, and the further part of the antennas does not overlap the part of the antennas on which channel sounding is to be performed by the second communication device; sending the second frame to the further communication device to be used by the further communication device to perform channel sounding on the further part of the antennas; and receiving a further third frame from the further communication device, wherein the further third frame indicates a result of channel sounding performed on the further part of the antennas.
8 . The method according to 7 , wherein in said sending the first frame to the second communication device and to the further communication device, the first frame is sent jointly on the portion, not the entirety, of the part of the antennas, to the second communication device, and on a portion, not an entirety, of the further part of the antennas, to the further communication device, and in said sending the second frame to the second communication device and to the further communication device, the second frame is sent jointly on the entirety of the part of the antennas and on the entirety of the further part of the antennas.
9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first frame comprises a first field and a second field, and the second field indicates that: the first field indicates a part of panels of the first communication device, wherein the part of the antennas comprises an antenna corresponding to the part of panels, or the first field carries an antenna index, wherein the antenna index indicates the part of the antennas.
10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first frame is a null data packet announcement (NDPA) frame, the first frame comprises a third field in a sounding dialog token field, and the third field comprises two bits; a value 00 of the two bits indicates that the first frame is a frame of a very high throughput (VHT) variant; a value 01 of the two bits indicates that the first frame is a frame of a high efficiency (HE) variant; a value 10 of the two bits indicates that the first frame is a frame of a ranging variant; or a value 11of the two bits indicates that the first frame is a frame of an extremely high throughput (EHT) variant.
11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second frame comprises an extremely high throughput (EHT) signal field, an EHT short training field, and an EHT long training field, the part of the antennas corresponds to at least two antenna panels of the first communication device, the second frame comprises at least two second subframes, and the EHT long training field in one of the second subframes comprises a long training field of an antenna corresponding to one of the at least two antenna panels.
12 . A channel sounding apparatus, the channel sounding apparatus being a first communication device and comprising: antennas; a memory, configured to store computer instructions; and a processor, configured to execute the computer instructions stored in the memory, to enable the channel sounding apparatus to perform: sending a first frame to a second communication device, wherein the first frame indicates the second communication device to perform channel sounding on a first part of the antennas of the channel sounding apparatus; sending, to the second communication device, a second frame to be used by the second communication device and the further communication device to perform channel sounding-on the first part of the antennas; and receiving a third frame from the second communication device, wherein the third frame from the second communication device indicates a result of channel sounding performed on the first part of the antennas, wherein in said sending the first frame to the second communication device, the first frame is sent on a portion, not an entirety, of the first part of the antennas, and in said sending the second frame to the second communication device, the second frame is sent on the entirety of the first part of the antennas.
13 . The channel sounding apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the channel sounding apparatus is further enabled to perform, after said sending the second frame: sending a fourth frame to the second communication device, wherein the fourth frame indicates the second communication device to send the third frame to the channel sounding apparatus.
14 . The channel sounding apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the channel sounding apparatus is further enabled to perform, before said sending the first frame: sending, to the second communication device, a training frame to be used by the second communication device to perform channel sounding on all the antennas of the channel sounding apparatus; receiving a feedback frame from each of the second communication device, the feedback frame responsive to the training frame; and determining the first part of the antennas based on the feedback frame.
15 . The channel sounding apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the channel sounding apparatus is further enabled to perform, before said sending the training frame: sending a pre-training frame to the second communication device, wherein the pre-training frame indicates the second communication device to perform channel sounding on all the antennas of the channel sounding apparatus.
16 . The channel sounding apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the channel sounding apparatus is further enabled to perform, after said sending the training frame: sending a trigger frame to the second communication device, wherein the trigger frame indicates the second communication device to send the feedback frame to the channel sounding apparatus.
17 . The channel sounding apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the first frame comprises a first field, and the first field indicates a first part of panels of the channel sounding apparatus, and the first part of the antennas comprises an antenna corresponding to the first part of panels, or the first field carries an antenna index, and the antenna index indicates the first part of the antennas.
18 . The channel sounding apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the channel sounding apparatus is further enabled to perform sending the first frame to a further communication device, wherein the first frame indicates the further communication device to perform channel sounding on a second part of the antennas of the channel sounding apparatus, and the second part of the antennas does not overlap the first part of the antennas on which channel sounding is to be performed by the second communication device; sending the second frame to the further communication device to be used by the further communication device to perform channel sounding on the second part of the antennas; and receiving a further third frame from the further communication device, wherein the further third frame indicates a result of channel sounding performed on the second part of the antennas, wherein in said sending the first frame to the second communication device and to the further communication device, the first frame is sent jointly on the portion, not the entirety, of the first part of the antennas, to the second communication device, and on a portion, not an entirety, of the second part of the antennas, to the further communication device, and in said sending the second frame to the second communication device and to the further communication device, the second frame is sent jointly on the entirety of the first part of the antennas and on the entirety of the second part of the antennas.
19 . The channel sounding apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the first frame comprises a first field and a second field, and the second field indicates that: the first field indicates a first part of panels of the channel sounding apparatus, wherein the first part of the antennas comprises an antenna corresponding to the first part of panels, or the first field carries an antenna index, wherein the antenna index indicates the first part of the antennas.
20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, configured to store computer instructions, executable by a computer at a first communication device to enable the first communication device to perform: sending a first frame to a second communication device, wherein the first frame indicates the second communication device to perform channel sounding on a part of antennas of the first communication device belongs; sending to the second communication device a second frame to be used by the second communication device to perform channel sounding on the part of the antennas; and receiving a third frame from the second communication device, wherein the third frame indicates a result of channel sounding performed on the part of the antennas, wherein in said sending the first frame to the second communication device, the first frame is sent on a portion, not an entirety, of the part of the antennas, and in said sending the second frame to the second communication device, the second frame is sent on the entirety of the part of the antennas.

Description

STATEMENT OF JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT The subject matter and the claimed invention were made by or on the behalf of Northwestern Polytechnical University and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, P.R. China, under a joint research agreement titled “Research project on key technologies of next generation Wi-Fi MAC”. The joint research agreement was in effect on or before the claimed invention was made, and that the claimed invention was made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of the joint research agreement. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2021/077231, filed on Feb. 22, 2021, which priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010135651.7, filed on Mar. 2, 2020. The disclosures of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. TECHNICAL FIELD This application relates to the communication field, and more specifically, to a channel sounding method and apparatus. BACKGROUND The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ((institute of electrical and electronic engineers, IEEE) 802.11) standard discusses a next-generation extremely high throughput (extremely high throughput, EHT) working group for IEEE 802.11ax, and considers introducing larger bandwidth (for example, 320 MHz) and more streams (for example, 16 spatial streams) in a next-generation wireless local area network (wireless local area network, WLAN). For the EHT, a throughput is to be improved by increasing spatial streams. However, due to a limitation of a capability of a wireless device, a single access point (access point, AP) can hardly provide 16 spatial streams. To resolve the foregoing problems, a multi-panel multi-input multi-output (multi-panel multiple input multiple output, MP MIMO) technology emerges. MP MIMO means that a wireless device (for example, a base station in a cellular network, an AP in a WLAN, or a terminal device) is formed by interconnecting a plurality of panels. A series of transceiver antennas are mounted on each panel. That is, antenna resources of one wireless device are scattered on a plurality of panels that are close to or far away from each other. MP MIMO can reduce deployment costs and complexity of numerous antennas and improve scalability, a network coverage capability, and a multiple input multiple output (multiple input multiple output, MIMO) channel gain. MP MIMO provides a feasible solution to use of more streams or antenna resources for a next-generation WLAN. However, regardless of whether the antenna resources are centralized or located on a plurality of panels, a technical premise for using the MIMO technology in the WLAN is a channel sounding process. That is, the AP can serve one or more stations (station, STA) in a MIMO manner through a plurality of antennas only after a non-AP station (non-AP station, non-AP STA) completes channel sounding with the AP and feeds back a channel sounding result. More channel state feedback information is required if larger bandwidth and more spatial streams are introduced. This causes higher feedback overheads. Therefore, how to reduce channel state information feedback overheads becomes an urgent problem to be resolved. SUMMARY This application provides a channel sounding method and apparatus, to reduce channel state information feedback overheads. According to a first aspect, this application provides a channel sounding method. The method includes: A first communication device sends a first frame to a second communication device, where the first frame is used to indicate the second communication device to perform channel sounding on a part of antennas of the first communication device. The first communication device sends a second frame to the second communication device, where the second frame is used by the second communication device to perform channel sounding on the part of antennas. The first communication device receives a third frame from the second communication device, where the third frame is used to indicate a result of performing channel sounding on the part of antennas. Optionally, the part of antennas may be a predetermined antenna that can well communicate with the second communication device, for example, may be an antenna that is in predetermined antennas of the first communication device and that can well communicate with the second communication device. Optionally, the part of antennas may be an antenna predetermined for communicating with the second communication device. Correspondingly, there are many manners in which the first frame indicates the foregoing part of antennas. For example, the first frame indicates, based on one or more panel identifiers, the second communication device to perform channel sounding on an antenna corresponding to the one or more panel identifiers. For another example, the first frame indicates, based on one or more AP identifiers,