一种面向B5G初始接入过程的增强型波束管理机制设计

An Enhanced Beam Management Mechanism for B5G Initial Access

波束管理是毫米波通信的重要研究内容,5G NR(New Radio)协议中已完整设计了用户在初始接入和连接状态下与基站确定最佳通信波束的流程,然而B5G(Beyond Fifth Generation)场景将使用52.6 GHz以上甚至更高的通信频率,需要更大规模的天线单元对抗路损,导致波束管理在初始接入过程中的信令开销和时延急剧增加。为此,在5G NR协议现有框架的基础上,针对52.6 GHz以上的高频段重新设计了一种专用于波束扫描的信号块(Beam Sweeping Block,BSB),并提出一种两阶段增强型波束管理机制,用于在初始接入过程中快速确定用户和基站的最佳通信波束,进而完成同步和小区搜索。仿真结果表明,相对于NR中现有的波束管理机制,所提出的增强型波束管理方案可在保证接入性能的前提下,大幅降低初始接入时延。

Beam management is an important research content of millimeter wave(mmWave)communication.The procedures for user equipment(UE)to determine the optimal communication beam with base station(BS)at initial access and connection state have been designed in 5G NR(New Radio)protocol.However,higher communication frequencies beyond 52.6 GHz will be applied in beyond fifth generation(B5G)scenario,which requires larger-scale antenna to combat the path loss.As a result,the signaling overhead and latency of beam management in initial access process will be sharply increased.Therefore,with the basis of existing framework in 5G NR protocol,a new block dedicated to beam sweeping(BSB)is defined for high frequency beyond 52.6 GHz.After that,a two-stage enhanced beam management mechanism is proposed to quickly determine the optimal communication beam pair between UE and BS,and further complete synchronization and cell search.Simulation results show that the proposed mechanism can significantly reduce the latency at initial access with a little deterioration in performance.