Apparatus and method for configuring a communication link

Abstract

Antenna elements support RF communication over a communication link using frequency channels, RF processing circuits, and configuration circuitry to apply a selected configuration. Each configuration identifies processing circuit to antenna element couplings, and which frequency channel is allocated to each RF processing circuit. A reinforcement learning process is applied to dynamically alter which configuration to apply as a currently selected configuration. The reinforcement learning process maintains a future rewards record having entries that maintain, for an associated combination of link state and configuration, an estimated future rewards indication determined using a discounted rewards mechanism. A selection policy selects a configuration for a current link state, and then a new reward is observed that is dependent on how the selected configuration alters a chosen performance metric for the communication link. The estimated future rewards indication is updated by storing in the associated entry a predicted estimated future rewards indication generated by assuming, when using the discounted rewards mechanism, that all rewards that will be used in future to update the estimated future rewards indication in the associated entry will have the same value as the new reward.