Proactive beamforming while in motion

A device that implements proactive beamforming while in motion may include at least one processor configured to establish communication with a first base station via a first beam. The at least one processor may be configured to monitor motion of at least one of: the device, the first base station, or a second base station. The at least one processor may be configured to determine that the device is approaching a second base station based at least in part on the monitored motion. The at least one processor may be configured to form a second beam in a direction of the second base station. The at least one processor may be configured to establish communication with the second base station via the second beam and terminate the first beam with the first base station upon establishing communication with the second base station via the second beam.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present description relates generally to beamforming, including proactive beamforming while in motion.

BACKGROUND

Millimeter wavelength (mmWave) applications in consumer electronics typically benefit from lower power and cost in exchange for lower performance (e.g., shorter range). On the other end of the spectrum, backhaul mmWave applications may have high performance requirements in terms of range and coverage but can tolerate higher power consumption and cost. For example, backhaul mmWave applications may require a large number of antenna elements, such as fifty or more antenna elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Beamforming may be used by a user device to steer receive and transmit beams in the direction of a base station. For example, beamforming may allow focusing/steering of transmitted and/or received beams in a desired direction to overcome unfavorable path loss (e.g., avoid path(s) associated with higher loss). Beamforming may also be referred as beam steering or simply steering. For transmitting signals, transmit beamforming may be utilized to increase signal directivity. The increased signal directivity may allow, for example, an increase in propagation distance of a beamformed signal (e.g., relative to a signal transmitted without beamforming) and/or a reduction in signal interference with users other than an intended recipient of the beamformed signal. For receiving signals, receive beamforming may increase reception sensitivity of signals from a specific direction and reduce interfering signals by focusing signal reception in the specific direction and/or blocking signals from other directions. Different beam settings may involve, by way of non-limiting example, beams in different directions (e.g., different rotations), beams at different power levels (e.g., different amplitudes), beams using different groups of antenna elements, etc.

When the user device is in motion, the user device may need to reactively steer the beams in the direction of the base station as the user device moves. The reactive nature of the beam steering may result in suboptimal beamforming while the user device is in motion. The beamforming may be further complicated/impacted when the base station is in motion, e.g. in lieu of and/or in addition to the user device being in motion. Furthermore, as the user device moves out of the range and/or service area of the base station, the user device may be handed off to another base station. However, this reactionary handoff may result in suboptimal connectivity, e.g., while the user device is between base stations.

In the subject system, when a user device and/or base station are in motion, the user device and/or base station proactively steer, or adjust, their beams (e.g., adjust the beam setting and/or transition to another beam setting) in the direction of the expected movement of the base station and/or user device, e.g. based on one or more motion parameters associated with the movement, in order to maintain substantially optimal beams while either or both of the devices are in motion. The subject system may also be used to facilitate a handoff when the base stations and/or user device are in motion where the user device transmits a wide beam in the direction of an expected location of a target base station for handoff and progressively narrows the beam as communication with the target base station is established. Thus, the subject system may improve, for example, beamforming performance when devices are in motion by steering beams in the direction where a link partner is expected to be (e.g. rather than the last known location of the link partner), in addition to widening or narrowing the beams depending on a determined certainty (or probability) associated with the expected location of the link partner.

The example network environment100includes one or more base stations102A-E and one or more user devices104A-C, such as electronic devices. One or more of the base stations102A-E, such as the base station102B, may be coupled to a network, such as the Internet, via a transmission media106, such as a fiber optic transmission media. In one or more implementations, the transmission media106may be shared by tens, hundreds, thousands, or any number of base stations102A-E and/or nodes.

The base stations102A-E utilize one or more wireless communication technologies, such as mmWave technologies, to communicate with one another, e.g. via backhaul communications. For example, the base stations102A,C-E may utilize backhaul communications to access/share the network connection of the base station102B, e.g. via the transmission media106. The base stations102A-E may be arranged in a star topology, a ring topology, a mesh topology, or generally any network topology through which backhaul communications may be implemented. One or more of the base stations102A-E and/or the user devices104A-C may include all or part of the system discussed below with respect toFIG. 8.

The base stations102A-E also communicate with one or more of the user devices104A-C using one or more wireless communication technologies, such as Wi-Fi (802.11ac, 802.11ad, etc.), cellular (3G, 4G, 5G, etc.). For example, the base stations102A,C may communicate with one or more of the user devices104A-C using 802.11ac communications, while the base station102D may communicate with one or more of the user devices104A-C using 5G cellular communications. In one or more implementations, the base stations102A-E may have a small form factor, such as five inches by five inches by five inches (height by width by depth), and may be mounted, for example, on telephone poles and/or other municipal infrastructure. Thus, the base stations102A-E may be used to provide low-cost municipal Wi-Fi, e.g. nodes utilizing 802.11ac technology and/or communicating over unlicensed bands, for providing 4G/5G small cell backhauling, and/or for providing broadband and fiber to homes and/or dwelling units, e.g. to cover the last mile through multiple hops to provide, e.g. gigabit speeds to homes and/or dwelling units.

In one or more implementations, the base stations102A-E may be attached to, and/or included in, an airborne object, such as a hot air balloon, a drone airplane, a satellite, and the like. For example, there may be one or more satellites108A-C, such as hundreds of satellites, in orbit over the earth that each has a base station attached, and/or included. One or more base stations of one or more of the satellites108A-C may communicate utilizing backhaul communications, e.g. via mmWave, and one or more base stations of one or more satellite108A-C may also communicate with one or more user devices, such as receiver devices, on earth, such as via spot beams. In one or more implementations, one or more of the base stations of one or more of the satellites108A-C may communicate with one or more of the base stations102A-E on earth, such as using spot beams.

Thus, one or more of the base stations102A-E may be in motion, such as constant or near-constant motion. Furthermore, in the case of one or more base stations102A-E included in or attached to one or more of the satellites108A-C in orbit, the motion may be consistent in the sense that an expected location of the base stations102A-E at any given time can be accurately predicted. Similarly, when one or more of the base stations102A-E are included in or attached to a drone airplane, the movement of the one or more base stations102A-E may be consistent in the sense that the flight plan of the drone airplane may be pre-established and generally fixed. One or more of the base stations102A-E and/or the user devices104A-C may include all or part of the system discussed below with respect toFIG. 10.

In one or more implementations, the smaller wavelengths associated with mmWave frequencies may facilitate use of a large number of antenna elements in a small form factor to generate highly directional beams. The large number of antenna elements may facilitate focusing of signals (e.g., for transmitting or receiving) in different directions through different subsets of the antenna elements. In one or more implementations, one or more transmissions and/or one or more receptions may occur simultaneously when the transmission(s) and/or reception(s) do not utilize overlapping antenna element(s).

In order to provide high throughput backhaul communications, e.g. using mmWave communications, the base stations102A-E may include a large number of antenna elements, such as tens, hundreds, thousands, or any number of antenna elements, to implement directional beamforming. Since the user devices104A-C may not provide high throughput backhaul communications, the user devices104A-C may utilize a lesser number of antenna elements than the base stations102A-E. In one or more implementations, the user devices104A-C may be, and/or may include, satellite receiver devices, and may include and/or be communicatively coupled to a large number of antenna elements.

In one or more implementations, beam training may be utilized by a transmitter and a receiver to find one or more beams (e.g., one or more beam settings) for use in communications between the transmitter and the receiver, e.g. while one or both of the transmitter and receiver are in motion. The base stations102A-E and/or the user devices104A-C may each be operable as the transmitter and/or the receiver. In some cases, the base stations102A-E and/or the user devices104A-C may concurrently transmit signals while receiving signals (e.g., operate concurrently as a transmitter and a receiver). The beam settings may include settings for the phase shifters, settings for the amplifiers, and/or settings for which antenna elements to use for receiving or transmitting, etc., to produce the beams that allow high quality communication between the transmitter (e.g., the base station102A) and the receiver (e.g., the user device104A). High quality communication may be associated with, for example, higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

The beam training may include performing, by the transmitter and/or the receiver, a channel estimation operation(s) to estimate a communication channel (e.g., a wireless communication channel) between the transmitter and the receiver. In some cases, the beam training may take into consideration the base stations and/or the user devices that may be concurrently supported by the transmitter and the receiver. For example, the beam setting utilized by the transmitter to form and transmit a beam to the receiver may be different when the transmitter transmits a beam only to the receiver compared to when the transmitter simultaneously transmits a beam to the receiver and one or more beams to one or more other receivers. Furthermore, the beam training may implement the subject system when the transmitter and/or receiver are in motion.

The beam training may be utilized to find multiple candidate beams, such that when a beam utilized for communication and originally associated with a highest quality decreases in quality, the transmitter may transition to another beam and utilize the other beam for communication. The quality of communication associated with a beam may change when the receiver has moved and/or the channel has changed (e.g., an obstruction has been introduced in the channel between the transmitter and the receiver). In some cases, the receiver may be listening for beams in an omni-directional manner, such that beams of different beam settings (e.g., from the transmitter) may be sensed. After receiving the beams, the receiver may provide feedback to the transmitter indicating which of the beam settings are associated with higher quality beams. The beam settings of the candidate beams may be stored by the transmitter and/or the receiver.

In the subject system, when a base station102A and/or a user device104A are in motion, the base station102A and/or the user device104A proactively steers, or adjusts, their beams (e.g., adjust the beam setting and/or transition to another beam setting) in the direction of the expected movement of the base station102A and/or the user device104A, e.g. based on one or more motion parameters associated with the movement, in order to maintain substantially optimal beams in the direction of the base station while in motion. The motion parameters may include the location (e.g., start and/or end location), velocity, direction, orientation, and/or acceleration associated with the movement.

The base station102A and/or the user device104A may include a location module that provides information regarding the location and/or movement (e.g., velocity, acceleration) of the base station102A or the user device104A, respectively, and/or an orientation module that provides information regarding the orientation of the base station102A or the user device104A. The orientation may include, by way of non-limiting example, orientation (e.g., angular orientation) of one or more antennas of the user device104A relative to the base station102A, and/or vice-versa, and rate of angular change in the orientation. The user device104A may also include, and/or have access to, location and/or orientation information corresponding to the base station102A and one or more proximal base stations102B-E. For instance, the location and/or orientation information may be transmitted from the base station102A and one or more proximal base stations102B-E to the user device104A, and/or the user device104A may obtain location information and/or expected location information, such as for a satellite or a drone airplane, from a server.

Accordingly, based on the location and/or movement information provided by, e.g., the location module of the user device104A and/or the location information for the base station102A, the user device104A can proactively steer its beams towards the base station102A while the user device104A is in motion. Alternatively, and/or in addition, the user device104A may provide its location and/or movement information to the base station102A and/or another device, such as a server, and the base station102A, and/or other device, may signal control information, e.g. weights, that can be used by the user device104A to proactively steer and/or adjust its beams in the direction of the base station102A while either or both of the base station102A and the user device104A are in motion.

In the instance where one or more of the base stations102A-E are in motion, the base stations102A-E may also track their own location and/or movement (including velocity, acceleration, direction, orientation, etc.), such as in addition to tracking (and/or receiving) location and/or movement information for the user device104A. The base station102A may then determine, e.g. based on its own location and/or movement, and the location and/or movement, of the user device104A and/or other base stations102B-E (e.g. for backhaul), optimal control information for continuously steering the beams of the user device104A (and/or its own beams) in the direction of the base station102A while one or both are in motion. The base stations102A-E and the user devices104A-C may communicate location information, movement information, and/or control information via an in-band and/or out of band control channel. For example, in a 5G implementation, the devices may utilize one or more 4G channels as a control channel.

FIG. 2illustrates an example network environment200in which proactive beamforming while in motion may be implemented in accordance with one or more implementations. Not all of the depicted components may be required, however, and one or more implementations may include additional components not shown in the figure. Variations in the arrangement and type of the components may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims as set forth herein. Additional components, different components, or fewer components may be provided.

For explanatory purposes, the example network environment200includes the base stations102A-B and user device104A ofFIG. 1. However, alternatively or in addition, the network environment200may include other base stations and/or user devices. In some cases, the number of user devices in the network environment200may be larger than the number of base stations.

The user device104A includes a location module202that provides information regarding the location and/or movement (e.g., velocity, acceleration) of the user device104A and an orientation module204that provides information regarding the orientation of the user device104A, e.g. orientation of one or more antennas of the user device104A relative to the base stations102A-B. In some cases, the location module202and/or the orientation module204may provide information indicative an uncertainty associated with their respective information (e.g., location/movement for the location module202, orientation for orientation module204). For instance, when the user device104A is traveling at a certain speed, a coordinate x, y, z signifying a location of the user device104A may in actuality fall anywhere within the range x±10%, y±10%, z±10%, respectively.

The uncertainty may be a function of the movement (e.g., linear speed, angular speed, etc.). The uncertainty associated with the location, movement, and/or orientation information of the user device104A may be determined based on, for example, feedback (e.g., power measurements) from one or more of the base stations102A-B and/or knowledge of the limitations associated with components (e.g., gyros, accelerometers) in the location module202and/or the orientation module204of the user device104A. In some cases, the location module202and/or the orientation module204may generate a prediction (e.g., projection) of motion parameters (e.g., the location/movement and orientation information, respectively), e.g. 10 milliseconds or 1 microsecond in the future. The prediction may take into account the uncertainty associated with the motion parameters (e.g., the location/movement and orientation information).

The user device104A includes an adaptive beamforming module206that determines a beam setting (e.g., beam power, beam direction) to be utilized and a physical layer (PHY) transmitter208that generates a beam based on the beam setting. The beam setting may be determined based at least on information from the location module202and/or orientation module204(e.g., location information and associated uncertainty and prediction). The generated beam is transmitted to gain/phase blocks210that apply gain and/or phase shift to the beam. The gain applied to a signal may be an amplification of the signal or an attenuation of the signal (e.g., negative gain). The gain and/or phase shift applied to by one gain/phase block can be the same or can be different from the gain and/or phase shift applied by another gain/phase block, as appropriate to implement directional beamforming.

An output of each gain/phase block210is coupled to an antenna element214via a power amplifier (PA)212. An output of the antenna elements214form an output beam (e.g., a beamformed output signal) of the user device104A. A respective gain and/or phase shift applied by each gain/phase block210may be based on the beam setting. For instance, the adaptive beamforming module206may generate and transmit control signals to the gain/phase blocks210to facilitate generation of an output beam with the determined beam setting. AlthoughFIG. 2illustrates a transmit path of the user device104A, the user device104A may also include a receive path, as described below with respect toFIG. 3.

The base stations102A-B each includes a respective location module and a respective orientation module. The base stations102A-B may provide location and/or orientation information to the user device104A to cause adjustment of the beam setting by the user device104A. In such a case, the user device104A may adjust the beam setting to compensate for movement of the user device104A and/or one or more of the base stations102A-B. In some aspects, the base stations102A and/or102B may include an adaptive beamforming module to allow beamforming (e.g., transmit beamforming and/or receive beamforming) at the base stations102A and/or102B.

FIG. 3illustrates an example of a user device that may implement proactive beamforming while in motion in accordance with one or more implementations. Not all of the depicted components may be required, however, and one or more implementations may include additional components not shown in the figure. Variations in the arrangement and type of the components may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the claims as set forth herein. Additional components, different components, or fewer components may be provided. For explanatory purposes, the user device104A is illustrated inFIG. 3. However, one or more of the components illustrated inFIG. 3may also be used in the other user devices104B-C and/or the base stations102A-E.

In the transmit path, a signal (e.g., a radio frequency (RF) signal) is received from the PHY transmitter208, which is passed through a switch302. The signal is split and passed to the gain/phase blocks210(e.g., transmit phase shifters). The gain/phase blocks210may apply phase shift and/or gain to the signal, as appropriate to implement directional beamforming, and transmit the processed signal to the power amplifiers212. The power amplifiers212amplify the processed signal. The amplified processed signal is transmitted through transmit/receive switches312and, e.g. external to the user device104A, via the antenna elements214.

Similarly, in the receive path, signals (e.g., RF signals) received via the antenna elements214pass through the transmit/receive switches312, low noise amplifiers308, gain/phase blocks306(e.g., receive phase shifters), and are combined. The combined signal is transmitted through the switch302, e.g. for processing of the received signal via a PHY receiver314. The gain/phase blocks210and306may receive control signals from the adaptive beamforming module206. The PHY transmitter208and/or the PHY receiver314may receive control signals from the adaptive beamforming module206.

In the subject system, a user device (e.g., the user device104A) may use location and/or movement information to facilitate a handoff from a primary base station (e.g., the base station102A) to a secondary base station (e.g., the base station102B) using one or more secondary beams, e.g. while maintaining one or more primary beams in the direction of the primary base station. For example, the user device104A and/or the primary base station102A may store/track/access location and/or movement information for one or more adjacent/proximal secondary base stations102B. Accordingly, as the user device104A approaches a secondary base station102B, the user device104A may request and/or the primary base station102A may automatically provide, channel information for the secondary base station102B. For example, the primary base station102A may request the channel information from the secondary base station102B, such as over backhaul, as the user device104A approaches the secondary base station102B, and the primary base station102A may forward the channel information to the user device104A.

The user device104A may utilize the channel information to initiate one or more beams in the direction of the secondary base station102B. The secondary base station102B may concurrently initiate one or more beams in the direction of the user device104A that transmit the same information signal that is being transmitted by the primary base station102A to the user device104A. The user device104A may initially initiate wide beams in the direction of the secondary base station102B; however, as the user device104A establishes a connection with the secondary base station102B, the user device104A may progressively narrow the beams to focus on the beams of the secondary base station102B. In one or more implementations, the user device104A may use a phased array to establish one or more beams in the direction of the secondary base station102B concurrently with, and/or on the same frequency as, the one or more beams in the direction of the primary base station102A. The beams may be established such that the beams in the direction of the secondary base station102B steer nulls in the direction of the primary base station102A, and vice versa. Once the user device104A establishes a connection with the secondary base station102B, the user device104A may terminate the beams in the direction of the primary base station102A, thereby terminating the connection with the primary base station102A.

In one or more implementations, one or more of the switch302, the gain/phase blocks210and306, the power amplifiers212, the transmit/receive switches312, the low noise amplifiers308, and/or one or more portions thereof, may be implemented in software (e.g., subroutines and code), may be implemented in hardware (e.g., an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), a controller, a state machine, gated logic, discrete hardware components, or any other suitable devices) and/or a combination of both.

FIG. 4illustrates a flow diagram of an example process400for facilitating proactive beamforming while in motion in accordance with one or more implementations. For explanatory purposes, the example process400is primarily described herein with reference to the base stations102A-B and the user device104A in the network environment200ofFIG. 2. However, the example process400is not limited to the network environment200, and one or more blocks (or operations) of the example process400may be performed by one or more components of the base stations102A-B and/or the user device104A. Further for explanatory purposes, the blocks of the example process400are described herein as occurring in serial, or linearly. However, multiple blocks of the example process400may occur in parallel. In addition, the blocks of the example process400need not be performed in the order shown and/or one or more of the blocks of the example process400need not be performed.

In the process400, the user device104A establishes communication with the base station102A via a first beam (405). The first beam may be associated with a first beam setting (e.g., beam power, beam direction) utilized by the first beam to establish communication and, once communication is established, communicate with the base station102A. The first beam setting for use in communicating with the base station102A may be determined based on, for example, link requirements between the user device104A and the base station102A, location/movement of the user device104A relative to location/movement of the base station102A, required signal strength, and/or a combination thereof, among other criterion. In some cases, the first beam setting may be determined based on information from the location module and/or orientation module of one or both of the user device104A and the base station102A.

The user device104A monitors its motion (410). The user device104A may monitor its motion based at least on information from the location module202and/or orientation module204(e.g., of the user device104A, base stations102A-B, and/or other user devices and/or base stations). The user device104A determines that it is approaching the base station102B based at least in part on the monitored motion of the user device104A (415). In some cases, the user device104A and/or the base station102A may store/track location and/or movement information for one or more adjacent/proximal base stations, e.g. including the base station102B. As the user device104A approaches the base station102B, the user device104A may request and/or the base station102A may automatically provide, channel information for the base station102B. For example, the base station102A may request the channel information from the base station102B as the user device104A approaches the base station102B, and the base station102A may forward the channel information to the user device104A. The channel information may include, for example, a frequency, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), or generally any information that may be used to form a connection with the base station102B.

The user device104A forms a second beam in a direction of an expected location of the base station102B, such as based on the movement information (420). In some cases, the user device104A may utilize the channel information to determine a beam setting to use for communication with the base station102B and form the second beam based on the determined beam setting. The second beam may be a transmit beam and/or a receive beam.

The user device104A establishes communication with the base station102B via the second beam (425). In some cases, the user device104A may initially form wide beams in the direction of the base station102B. As the user device104A establishes a connection with the base station102B, the user device104A may narrow the beam to focus on the base station102B. The initial, wide (transmit and/or receive) beams may be utilized to facilitate detection of the beams from the user device104A by the base station102B and elicit feedback from the base station102B (e.g., power measurements, etc.). In this regard, the wider beams cover a larger range (e.g., than narrower beams) and, thus, better account for uncertainties associated with the motion parameters (e.g., location, velocity, acceleration, etc.). The narrow beams may be utilized to increase directivity of the beams and allow for higher quality communications (e.g., higher SNR) between the user device104A and the base station102B. The user device104A may steer one or more nulls in the direction of the base station102A, and/or vice versa.

Once the user device104A establishes a connection with the base station102B, the user device104A terminates the first beam in the direction of the base station102A (430), thereby terminating the connection with the base station102B and completing handoff from the base station102A to the base station102B.

In traditional beamforming, beams may be narrowly focused subsequent to training. With adaptive beamforming, beamforming may be based on location, movement, and/or orientation of at least one of a transmitter or a receiver. The beamforming may also be based on the uncertainty associated with these properties. Thus, the width of the beams may change over when there is fluctuation and/or unpredictability of the motion of the user device104A and a communicatively coupled base station, such as the base station102A. For explanatory purposes, in the description ofFIGS. 5 and 6, the user device104A is the initial transmitter and the base station102A is the initial receiver. In other cases, the initial transmitter and the initial receiver may both be base stations or may both be user devices.

FIG. 5illustrates an example of adapting the beamforming based on device characteristics in accordance with one or more implementations. At the time t=t0, the base station102A is static (e.g. not moving) and the properties (e.g., location, movement, orientation) may be determined with high accuracy and low uncertainty. In such a case, the output beam of the user device104A may be narrowly focused and directed at the base station102A. At a time t=t1, the base station102A is in motion and the motion properties may be associated with higher uncertainty.

InFIG. 5, the base station102A is at location1at t=t0and at location2at t=t1. In addition to changing the direction of the output beam due to the movement of the base station102A, the user device104A may widen the output beam to cover more area and increase the probability of the output beam being received/detected by the base station102A. For instance, in a case where the base station102A is moving at a high velocity with high uncertainty and/or through environments with rapidly changing interference, the output beam may be widened to increase the probability of the output beam being received/detected by the base station102A. In some cases, modulation and coding rate may also be adjusted to facilitate successful reception of the output beam by the base station102A. For instance, the modulation scheme associated with the output beam may be changed from a 1024 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) scheme to a quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) scheme to facilitate successful reception/detection of the output beam by the base station102A.

FIG. 6illustrates another example of adapting the beamforming based on device characteristics in accordance with one or more implementations. In a case with accurate motion (e.g., location, velocity, orientation) prediction (e.g., low uncertainty), the user device104A may direct the output beam to the base station102A without widening the output beam and/or without changing the modulation and/or coding rate when the base station102A moves and/or the user device104A moves. For example, with regard to two satellite base stations in orbit connected by a wireless backhaul, the movement of the satellites108A-B may be fairly constant, such that there is a high degree of certainty as to the expected locations of the satellites108A-B at any given time.

The subject system may be used in a multi-user environment, such as to reuse frequencies for communication with different users. For example, multiple user devices may report their location and/or movement information to a base station, and the base station may calculate weights for each of the user devices based on the movement of the user devices and/or the movement of the base station (if any). The weights may be calculated such that the transmit and/or receive beams generated by the base station for each user device steers nulls in the direction of the other user devices, thereby allowing the same frequency to be used concurrently for transmissions to multiple devices.

FIG. 7illustrates an example of beamforming in multi-user multi-input multiple-output (MIMO) in accordance with one or more implementations. When the base stations102A-B are static, the user device104A may generate an output beam702A with a main lobe directed to the base station102A. The output beam702A may be formed to direct a null to the base station102B, as shown by the dotted line704. When the base station102A is static and the base station102B is moving, the user device104A may generate an output beam702B with a main lobe directed to the base station102A. As shown inFIG. 7, in some cases, the output beam702B may be narrower than the output beam702A. The output beam702B is thus associated with higher power in the main lobe as well as higher power in the side lobes. However, since the base station102B is moving away from the user device104A, projecting a null to the base station102B and/or the effect of the higher powered side lobes may be less important (e.g., due to attenuation of the output beam702B over distance). In some cases, the output beam702B may be formed such that a null may be projected to a predicted location and predicted orientation of the base station102B, such as based on measured or known movement information.

FIG. 8conceptually illustrates an electronic system800with which one or more implementations of the subject technology may be implemented. The electronic system800, for example, can be a wireless backhaul device, a user equipment, a computer, a server, a switch, a router, a base station (e.g., the base stations102A-E), a user device (e.g., the user devices104A-C), a phone, a femtocell, a macrocell, a picocell, a small cell, or generally any electronic device that transmits wireless signals. Such an electronic system includes various types of computer readable media and interfaces for various other types of computer readable media. The electronic system800includes a bus808, one or more processing unit(s)812, a system memory804(and/or buffer), a read-only memory (ROM)810, a permanent storage device802, an input device interface814, an output device interface806, and one or more network interfaces816, or subsets and variations thereof.

The bus808collectively represents all system, peripheral, and chipset buses that communicatively connect the numerous internal devices of the electronic system800. In one or more implementations, the bus808communicatively connects the one or more processing unit(s)812with the ROM810, the system memory804, and the permanent storage device802. From these various memory units, the one or more processing unit(s)812retrieves instructions to execute and data to process in order to execute the processes of the subject disclosure. The one or more processing unit(s)812can be a single processor or a multi-core processor in different implementations.

The ROM810stores static data and instructions that are needed by the one or more processing unit(s)812and other modules of the electronic system800. The permanent storage device802, on the other hand, may be a read-and-write memory device. The permanent storage device802may be a non-volatile memory unit that stores instructions and data even when the electronic system800is off. In one or more implementations, a mass-storage device (such as a magnetic or optical disk and its corresponding disk drive) may be used as the permanent storage device802.

In one or more implementations, a removable storage device (such as a floppy disk, flash drive, and its corresponding disk drive) may be used as the permanent storage device802. Like the permanent storage device802, the system memory804may be a read-and-write memory device. However, unlike the permanent storage device802, the system memory804may be a volatile read-and-write memory, such as random access memory. The system memory804may store any of the instructions and data that one or more processing unit(s)812may need at runtime. In one or more implementations, the processes of the subject disclosure are stored in the system memory804, the permanent storage device802, and/or the ROM810. From these various memory units, the one or more processing unit(s)812retrieves instructions to execute and data to process in order to execute the processes of one or more implementations.

The bus808also connects to the input and output device interfaces814and806. The input device interface814enables a user to communicate information and select commands to the electronic system800. Input devices that may be used with the input device interface814may include, for example, alphanumeric keyboards and pointing devices (also called “cursor control devices”). The output device interface806may enable, for example, the display of images generated by electronic system800. Output devices that may be used with the output device interface806may include, for example, printers and display devices, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, a flexible display, a flat panel display, a solid state display, a projector, or any other device for outputting information. One or more implementations may include devices that function as both input and output devices, such as a touchscreen. In these implementations, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, such as visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input from the user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

Finally, as shown inFIG. 8, the bus808also couples the electronic system800to a network (not shown) and/or to one or more devices through the one or more network interface(s)816, such as one or more wireless network interfaces (e.g. mmWave). In this manner, the electronic system800can be a part of a network of computers (such as a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), or an Intranet, or a network of networks, such as the Internet. Any or all components of the electronic system800can be used in conjunction with the subject disclosure.

While the above discussion primarily refers to microprocessor or multi-core processors that execute software, one or more implementations are performed by one or more integrated circuits, such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In one or more implementations, such integrated circuits execute instructions that are stored on the circuit itself.