US-20260128510-A1 - FINE TUNING FOR COLLIMATOR ANTENNA DEVICES

US20260128510A1US 20260128510 A1US20260128510 A1US 20260128510A1US-20260128510-A1

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A wireless device may support a collimator (e.g., a reflector antenna or lens) with an aperture large enough to support multiple beams (e.g., instead of a single beam). The wireless device may perform electronic measurements (e.g., may dither across multiple beams using the phased antenna array supported by the large aperture) and fine tuning of the beam. For example, the wireless device may receive reference signals during one or more measurement opportunities via multiple beams. The wireless device may determine a preferred (e.g., different) beam based on the measurements, without yet having actually changed a physical orientation of the wireless device. Having identified a preferred beam, the wireless device may mechanically adjust its orientation towards the preferred beam (e.g., and the preferred beam may in fact support improved or more reliable wireless communications as indicated by the electronic measurements).

Inventors

Rahul Malik
Yu-Chin Ou
Jun Zhu
Raghu Narayan Challa

Assignees

QUALCOMM INCORPORATED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241105

Claims (20)

1 . A device, comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code; and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the device to: receive one or more reference signals using a collimator at the device having an aperture size sufficient to support simultaneous reception via a first beam corresponding to a first direction and at least a second beam corresponding to a second direction; electronically perform one or more measurements for the one or more reference signals via the first beam and at least the second beam based at least in part on the aperture size of the collimator; and mechanically adjust an orientation of the collimator toward the second direction corresponding to the second beam based at least in part on the one or more measurements.
2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein, to mechanically adjust the orientation of the collimator, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the device to: actuate a multi-axis rotating platform to rotate from a first position directed towards the first beam to a second position directed towards the second beam.
3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein, to receive the one or more reference signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the device to: dither an illuminating beam across the first beam and at least the second beam during a measurement opportunity corresponding to the one or more reference signals based at least in part on the aperture size of the collimator.
4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein, to electronically perform one or more measurements, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the device to: change a direction of an illuminating beam to correspond to the first beam and at least the second beam over time during one or more measurement opportunities corresponding to the one or more reference signals; and determine a gradient of measurement improvement from the first direction to the second direction based at least in part on the one or more measurements, wherein mechanically adjusting the orientation of the device is based at least in part on the gradient of measurement improvement.
5 . The device of claim 4 , wherein: the one or more measurements comprise reference signal receive power measurements.
6 . The device of claim 4 , wherein the gradient of measurement improvement comprises a set of measurement values, corresponding to respective beams of a plurality of beams, corresponding to the device resulting from the one or more measurements, and the set of measurement values improve when ordered from measurements corresponding to the first beam to measurements corresponding to the second beam.
7 . The device of claim 4 , wherein, to change the direction of the illuminating beam, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the device to: steer the illuminating beam via one or more subsets of antenna elements an antenna array at the device.
8 . The device of claim 1 , wherein: the one or more reference signals comprise one or more synchronization signal blocks, or one or more channel state information reference signals.
9 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the device to: receive one or more additional reference signals while the collimator is oriented toward the second direction; electronically perform one or more additional measurements for the one or more additional reference signals via the second beam and at least a third beam corresponding to a third direction based at least in part on the collimator; and refrain from mechanically adjusting the orientation of the collimator toward the third direction corresponding to the third beam based at least in part on the one or more additional measurements.
10 . A method for wireless communications at a device, comprising: receiving one or more reference signals using a collimator at the device having an aperture size sufficient to support simultaneous reception via a first beam corresponding to a first direction and at least a second beam corresponding to a second direction; electronically performing one or more measurements for the one or more reference signals via the first beam and at least the second beam based at least in part on the aperture size of the collimator; and mechanically adjusting an orientation of the collimator toward the second direction corresponding to the second beam based at least in part on the one or more measurements.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein mechanically adjusting the orientation of the collimator comprises: actuating a multi-axis rotating platform to rotate from a first position directed towards the first beam to a second position directed towards the second beam.
12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein receiving the one or more reference signals comprises: dithering an illuminating beam across the first beam and at least the second beam during a measurement opportunity corresponding to the one or more reference signals based at least in part on the aperture size of the collimator.
13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein electronically performing one or more measurements comprises: changing a direction of an illuminating beam to correspond to the first beam and at least the second beam over time during one or more measurement opportunities corresponding to the one or more reference signals; and determining a gradient of measurement improvement from the first direction to the second direction based at least in part on the one or more measurements, wherein mechanically adjusting the orientation of the device is based at least in part on the gradient of measurement improvement.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more measurements comprise reference signal receive power measurements.
15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the gradient of measurement improvement comprises a set of measurement values, corresponding to respective beams of a plurality of beams, corresponding to the device resulting from the one or more measurements, and the set of measurement values improve when ordered from measurements corresponding to the first beam to measurements corresponding to the second beam.
16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein changing the direction of the illuminating beam comprises: steering the illuminating beam via one or more subsets of antenna elements an antenna array at the device.
17 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more reference signals comprise one or more synchronization signal blocks, or one or more channel state information reference signals.
18 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising: receiving one or more additional reference signals while the collimator is oriented toward the second direction; electronically performing one or more additional measurements for the one or more additional reference signals via the second beam and at least a third beam corresponding to a third direction based at least in part on the collimator; and refraining from mechanically adjusting the orientation of the collimator toward the third direction corresponding to the third beam based at least in part on the one or more additional measurements.
19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications, the code comprising instructions executable by one or more processors at a wireless device to: receive one or more reference signals using a collimator at the device having an aperture size sufficient to support simultaneous reception via a first beam corresponding to a first direction and at least a second beam corresponding to a second direction; electronically perform one or more measurements for the one or more reference signals via the first beam and at least the second beam based at least in part on the aperture size of the collimator; and mechanically adjust an orientation of the collimator toward the second direction corresponding to the second beam based at least in part on the one or more measurements.
20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the instructions to mechanically adjust the orientation of the collimator are executable by the one or more processors to: actuate a multi-axis rotating platform to rotate from a first position directed towards the first beam to a second position directed towards the second beam.

Description

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY The following relates to wireless communications, including fine tuning for collimator antenna devices. BACKGROUND Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include one or more base stations, each supporting wireless communication for communication devices, which may be known as user equipment (UE). SUMMARY The systems, methods, and devices of this disclosure each have several innovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for the desirable attributes disclosed herein. A method for wireless communications by a device is described. The method may include receiving one or more reference signals using a collimator at the device having an aperture size sufficient to support simultaneous reception via a first beam corresponding to a first direction and at least a second beam corresponding to a second direction, electronically performing one or more measurements for the one or more reference signals via the first beam and at least the second beam based on the aperture size of the collimator, and mechanically adjusting an orientation of the collimator toward the second direction corresponding to the second beam based on the one or more measurements. A device for wireless communications is described. The device may include one or more memories storing processor executable code, and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories. The one or more processors may individually or collectively be operable to execute the code to cause the device to receive one or more reference signals using a collimator at the device having an aperture size sufficient to support simultaneous reception via a first beam corresponding to a first direction and at least a second beam corresponding to a second direction, electronically perform one or more measurements for the one or more reference signals via the first beam and at least the second beam based on the aperture size of the collimator, and mechanically adjust an orientation of the collimator toward the second direction corresponding to the second beam based on the one or more measurements. Another device for wireless communications is described. The device may include means for receiving one or more reference signals using a collimator at the device having an aperture size sufficient to support simultaneous reception via a first beam corresponding to a first direction and at least a second beam corresponding to a second direction, means for electronically performing one or more measurements for the one or more reference signals via the first beam and at least the second beam based on the aperture size of the collimator, and means for mechanically adjusting an orientation of the collimator toward the second direction corresponding to the second beam based on the one or more measurements. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications is described. The code may include instructions executable by one or more processors to receive one or more reference signals using a collimator at the device having an aperture size sufficient to support simultaneous reception via a first beam corresponding to a first direction and at least a second beam corresponding to a second direction, electronically perform one or more measurements for the one or more reference signals via the first beam and at least the second beam based on the aperture size of the collimator, and mechanically adjust an orientation of the collimator toward the second direction corresponding to the second beam based on the one or more measurements. In some examples of the method, devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, mechanically adjusting the orientation of the collimator may include operations, features, means, or instructions for actuating a multi-axis rotating platform to rotate from a first position directed towards the first beam to a second position directed towards the second beam. In some examples of the method, devices, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving the one or more reference signals may include o