Patent ID: 11503649

Abstract:
The User Equipment (UE) initiates initial access by transmitting an uplink reference signal on at least one UE beam. Each Base Station (BS) carries out a spatial search of detected uplink reference signals, estimates the Angle of Arrival (AoA) of the uplink reference signals, forms a dedicated downlink beam toward the UE at the estimated AoA, and sends an acknowledgement for the uplink reference signal on the dedicated downlink beam. The UE carries out a spatial search of the received acknowledgement, and identifies the UE beam angular pointing position, from which receives the acknowledgement with the highest signal quality, as the UE beam boresight toward the BS. The UE sends a connection setup request message to the BS on the identified UE beam boresight. The uplink reference signals and acknowledgements comprise a single preamble, effectively carrying one bit of information, or carry a small payload.