Use of physical broadcast channel demodulation reference signal to speed up neighbor cell measurement

Abstract

In a wireless communication system, a user equipment (UE) may measure synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) to evaluate neighbor cells. A UE configured with multiple potential receive beams may conventionally measure one receive beam per SSB. A UE may improve the speed of receive beam measurements by performing measurements using demodulation reference signals (DMRS) of physical broadcast channel (PBCH) symbols, which occur twice per SSB. The UE may perform a cell search for neighbor cells available to the UE in a synchronized network to determine a number of the neighbor cells and timing information for each of the neighbor cells. The UE may measure one or more receive beams using the DMRs of the PBCHs of SSBs received from the neighbor cells. Each receive beam may be measured during a beam switch time unit including a PBCH symbol from each of the neighbor cells according to the timing information.