Rapid, automatic directional beam alignment in 5g/6g networks

Abstract

Beam alignment is a critical requirement in 5G-Advanced and 6G due to the high density of user devices anticipated in the coming years. However, prior-art beam alignment procedures are slow and costly in terms of resource usage. Therefore, disclosed herein are methods enabling a user device to determine the direction toward the base station rapidly at very low cost. The base station emits a tailored pulse with an angle-dependent phase, varying from a first phase at a first angle, to a second phase at a second angle, followed by a uniform-phase calibrator pulse. The user device can measure the as-received phase of the tailored pulse relative to the calibrator pulse, and thereby determine the user's direction relative to the base station. The user device can then inform the base station of the received phase, which is proportional to the angle. Both user and base station thereby obtain instant beam alignment.