Apparatus and method for configuring a communication link

Abstract

An apparatus and method are provided for configuring a communication link. Wherein the apparatus has a plurality of antenna elements to support RF communication using a plurality of frequency channels, a plurality of RF processing circuits, and configuration circuitry to apply a selected configuration from a plurality of different configurations, where each configuration identifies which RF processing circuit each antenna element coupled to, and which channel allocated to each RF processing circuit. The configuration circuitry arranged to a reinforcement learning process in order to dynamically alter which of the plurality of different configurations to apply a currently selected configuration. The reinforcement learning process maintaining a future rewards record having a plurality of entries, where each entry maintains, for an associated combination of link state and configuration, an estimated future rewards indication determined using a discounted rewards mechanism. A selection policy is to select a configuration for a current link state, and a new reward is observed is dependent on how the selected configuration alters a chosen performance metric for the communication link. The estimated future rewards indication in the associated entry is then updated in dependence on the new reward.