PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-11967770-B2
Application Number: US-202217581738-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic devices with polarization management capabilities

Abstract:
An electronic device may include wireless circuitry with a phased antenna array that conveys radio-frequency signals using signal beams of first and second orthogonal polarizations. The array may sweep over a set of signal beam pairs, each including a respective combination of signal beams of the first and second polarizations. The wireless circuitry may gather performance metric values for each of the polarizations and signal beam pairs. The circuitry may generate a filtered set of signal beam pairs by removing signal beam pairs having performance metric values that differ from a maximum of the wireless performance metric values by more than a threshold. The circuitry may select a signal beam pair from the filtered set having a minimum polarization imbalance. The array may concurrently convey first and second wireless data streams using the selected signal beam pair. Minimizing polarization imbalance may maximize overall data throughput for the device.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device configured to communicate with a wireless base station, the electronic device comprising:
 antennas configured to receive downlink signals from the wireless base station using a first polarization and a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization; and 
 one or more processors configured to
 select a first signal beam of the first polarization and a second signal beam of the second polarization based on a polarization imbalance between the first polarization and the second polarization in the downlink signals received from the wireless base station, and 
 use the antennas to convey a first stream of wireless data over the first signal beam while concurrently conveying a second stream of wireless data over the second signal beam. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device of  claim 1 , the one or more processors being further configured to:
 sweep the antennas over a set of signal beam pairs while receiving the downlink signals, each signal beam pair in the set of signal beam pairs comprising a respective combination of signal beams of the first and second polarizations. 
 
     
     
       3. The electronic device of  claim 2 , wherein the first signal beam and the second signal beam form a signal beam pair from the set of signal beam pairs having a smallest polarization imbalance of the set of signal beam pairs. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device of  claim 2 , the one or more processors being further configured to:
 measure wireless performance metric values for each of the signal beam pairs in the set of signal beam pairs; and 
 select the first and second signal beams based at least in part on the wireless performance metric values. 
 
     
     
       5. The electronic device of  claim 4 , the one or more processors being further configured to:
 generate a filtered set of signal beam pairs by filtering the set of signal beam pairs based at least in part on the wireless performance metric values, wherein the first signal beam and the second signal beam comprise a signal beam pair from the filtered set of signal beam pairs. 
 
     
     
       6. The electronic device of  claim 5 , wherein the first signal beam and the second signal beam exhibit a minimum polarization imbalance of the filtered set of signal beam pairs. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device of  claim 6 , wherein the wireless performance metric values comprise reference signal receive power (RSRP) values. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the antennas are arranged in a phased antenna array and the downlink signals are received at a frequency greater than 10 GHz. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the first polarization comprises a first linear polarization and the second polarization comprises a second linear polarization. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the downlink signals comprise synchronization signals. 
     
     
       11. A method of operating a user equipment device to communicate with a wireless base station, the method comprising:
 with one or more phased antenna arrays, receiving downlink signals from the wireless base station using a first polarization and using a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization; 
 selecting a first signal beam of the first polarization and a second signal beam of the second polarization based at least in part on a polarization imbalance between the first polarization and the second polarization in the received downlink signals; and 
 conveying a first stream of wireless data with the wireless base station over the first signal beam while concurrently conveying a second stream of wireless data with the wireless base station over the second signal beam. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 receiving the downlink signals over a set of signal beam pairs, each signal beam pair in the set of signal beam pairs comprising a respective combination of signal beams of the first and second polarizations, wherein the first signal beam and the second signal beam form a signal beam pair from the set of signal beam pairs that exhibits a minimum polarization imbalance of the set of signal beam pairs. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 sweeping through a set of signal beam pairs while receiving the downlink signals, each signal beam pair including a respective combination of signal beams of the first and second polarizations; and 
 for each signal beam pair in the set of signal beam pairs, measuring a respective wireless performance metric value for the first polarization and a respective wireless performance metric value for the second polarization. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 generating a filtered set of signal beam pairs by filtering out signal beam pairs from the set of signal beam pairs having a wireless performance metric value that differs from a maximum of the wireless performance metric values by more than a threshold value. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 selecting, as the first and second signal beams, a signal beam pair from the filtered set of signal beam pairs having a minimum polarization imbalance of the filtered set of signal beam pairs. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the first signal beam has a wireless performance metric value that is lower in magnitude than the maximum of the wireless performance metric values. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 16 , wherein the wireless performance metric values comprise reference signal receive power (RSRP) values. 
     
     
       18. A method of operating an electronic device to communicate with a wireless base station, the method comprising:
 with a phased antenna array, concurrently receiving downlink signals over a first signal beam of a first linear polarization and a second signal beam of a second linear polarization orthogonal to the first linear polarization; 
 measuring a first wireless performance metric value from the downlink signals using the first signal beam and a second wireless performance metric value from the downlink signals using the second signal beam; 
 with the phased antenna array, concurrently receiving the downlink signals over a third signal beam of the first linear polarization and a fourth signal beam of the second linear polarization, the third signal beam being oriented at a different angle than the first signal beam; 
 measuring a third wireless performance metric value from the downlink signals using the third signal beam and a fourth wireless performance metric value from the downlink signals using the fourth signal beam; and 
 with the phased antenna array, concurrently conveying a first wireless data stream over the third signal beam and a second wireless data stream over the fourth signal beam, wherein the first wireless performance metric value differs from the second wireless performance metric value by a first amount, the third wireless performance metric value differs from the fourth wireless performance metric value by a second amount that is less than the first amount, and the first wireless performance metric value has a higher magnitude than the third wireless performance metric value and the fourth wireless performance metric value. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , wherein the first, second, third, and fourth wireless performance metric values comprise reference signal receive power (RSRP) values. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 18 , wherein the downlink signals comprise synchronization signals.

Description:
FIELD 
     This disclosure relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices with wireless circuitry. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Electronic devices are often provided with wireless capabilities. An electronic device with wireless capabilities has wireless circuitry that includes one or more antennas. The wireless circuitry is used to perform communications using radio-frequency signals conveyed by the antennas. In practice, it can be challenging to provide wireless circuitry that exhibits satisfactory wireless performance. For example, it can be challenging to provide wireless circuitry with satisfactory throughput. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may include wireless circuitry controlled by one or more processors. The wireless circuitry may include a phased antenna array that forms signal beams of radio-frequency signals. The phased antenna array may include antennas that convey radio-frequency signals using signal beams of first and second orthogonal polarizations. The phased antenna array may receive reference signals from a wireless base station using the first and second orthogonal polarizations. The phased antenna array may sweep over a set of signal beam pairs. Each signal beam pair may include a respective combination of signal beams of the first polarization and signal beams of the second polarization. One or more processors may gather wireless performance metric values for each of the polarizations and each of the signal beam pairs. 
     The one or more processors may generate a filtered set of signal beam pairs by filtering the set of signal beam pairs based on a threshold value. For example, the one or more processors may remove signal beam pairs having wireless performance metric values that differ from a maximum of the wireless performance metric values by more than the threshold value. The one or more processors may identify polarization imbalance values for each of the signal beam pairs in the filtered set of signal beam pairs. The one or more processors may select a signal beam pair from the filtered set of signal beam pairs having a minimum polarization imbalance to use for subsequent communications. The phased antenna array may then concurrently convey first and second wireless data streams using the selected signal beam pair. While the signal beams of the selected signal beam pair may not exhibit peak wireless performance metric values, minimizing polarization imbalance in this way may maximize overall data throughput for the device. 
     An aspect of the disclosure provides an electronic device. The electronic device may be configured to communicate with a wireless base station. The electronic device may include antennas configured to receive downlink signals from the wireless base station using a first polarization and a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization. The electronic device may include one or more processors. The one or more processors may be configured to select a first signal beam of the first polarization and a second signal beam of the second polarization based on a polarization imbalance between the first polarization and the second polarization in the downlink signals received from the wireless base station. The one or more processors may be configured to use the antennas to convey a first stream of wireless data over the first signal beam while concurrently conveying a second stream of wireless data over the second signal beam. 
     An aspect of the disclosure provides a method of operating a user equipment device to communicate with a wireless base station. The method can include with one or more phased antenna arrays, receiving downlink signals from the wireless base station using a first polarization and using a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization. The method can include selecting a first signal beam of the first polarization and a second signal beam of the second polarization based at least in part on a polarization imbalance between the first polarization and the second polarization in the received downlink signals. The method can include conveying a first stream of wireless data with the wireless base station over the first signal beam while concurrently conveying a second stream of wireless data with the wireless base station over the second signal beam. 
     An aspect of the disclosure provides a method of operating an electronic device to communicate with a wireless base station. The method can include with a phased antenna array, concurrently receiving downlink signals over a first signal beam of a first linear polarization and a second signal beam of a second linear polarization orthogonal to the first linear polarization. The method can include measuring a first wireless performance metric value from the downlink signals using the first signal beam and a second wireless performance metric value from the downlink signals using the second signal beam. The method can include with the phased antenna array, concurrently receiving the downlink signals over a third signal beam of the first linear polarization and a fourth signal beam of the second linear polarization, the third signal beam being oriented at a different angle than the first signal beam. The method can include measuring a third wireless performance metric value from the downlink signals using the third signal beam and a fourth wireless performance metric value from the downlink signals using the fourth signal beam. The method can include with the phased antenna array, concurrently conveying a first wireless data stream over the third signal beam and a second wireless data stream over the fourth signal beam, wherein the first wireless performance metric value differs from the second wireless performance metric value by a first amount, the third wireless performance metric value differs from the fourth wireless performance metric value by a second amount that is less than the first amount, and the first wireless performance metric value has a higher magnitude than the third wireless performance metric value and the fourth wireless performance metric value. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a functional block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device having wireless circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG.  2    is a perspective view of an illustrative antenna that may convey radio-frequency signals using horizontal and vertical polarizations in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG.  3    is a diagram of an illustrative phased antenna array that may be controlled using a codebook to form different radio-frequency signal beams in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG.  4    is a diagram of an illustrative codebook that includes phases and amplitudes for generating different vertically polarized signal beams and for generating different horizontally polarized signal beams in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG.  5    is a diagram of an illustrative communications network having a user equipment device and a wireless base station that concurrently communicate using a vertically polarized signal beam and a horizontally polarized signal beam in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG.  6    is a plot showing how polarization imbalance between horizontally polarized and vertically polarized signal beams can limit throughput in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG.  7    is a diagram of illustrative wireless circuitry that maximizes throughput by selecting horizontally polarized and vertically polarized signal beams based on polarization imbalance between the signal beams in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG.  8    is a flow chart of illustrative operations that may be performed by wireless circuitry to select horizontally polarized and vertically polarized signal beams based on polarization imbalance in accordance with some embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An electronic device such as user equipment (UE) device  10  of  FIG.  1    may be a computing device such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a computer monitor containing an embedded computer, a tablet computer, a cellular telephone, a media player, or other handheld or portable electronic device, a smaller device such as a wristwatch device, a pendant device, a headphone or earpiece device, a device embedded in eyeglasses or other equipment worn on a user&#39;s head, or other wearable or miniature device, a television, a computer display that does not contain an embedded computer, a gaming device, a navigation device, an embedded system such as a system in which electronic equipment with a display is mounted in a kiosk or automobile, a wireless internet-connected voice-controlled speaker, a home entertainment device, a remote control device, a gaming controller, a peripheral user input device, a wireless base station or access point, equipment that implements the functionality of two or more of these devices, or other electronic equipment. User equipment device  10  may sometimes be referred to herein as electronic device  10  or simply as device  10 . 
     As shown in the functional block diagram of  FIG.  1   , device  10  may include components located on or within an electronic device housing such as housing  12 . Housing  12 , which may sometimes be referred to as a case, may be formed of plastic, glass, ceramics, fiber composites, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, metal alloys, etc.), other suitable materials, or a combination of these materials. In some situations, parts or all of housing  12  may be formed from dielectric or other low-conductivity material (e.g., glass, ceramic, plastic, sapphire, etc.). In other situations, housing  12  or at least some of the structures that make up housing  12  may be formed from metal elements. 
     Device  10  may include control circuitry  14 . Control circuitry  14  may include storage such as storage circuitry  16 . Storage circuitry  16  may include hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solid-state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Storage circuitry  16  may include storage that is integrated within device  10  and/or removable storage media. 
     Control circuitry  14  may include processing circuitry such as processing circuitry  18 . Processing circuitry  18  may be used to control the operation of device  10 . Processing circuitry  18  may include on one or more processors, microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, host processors, baseband processor integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits, central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), etc. Control circuitry  14  may be configured to perform operations in device  10  using hardware (e.g., dedicated hardware or circuitry), firmware, and/or software. Software code for performing operations in device  10  may be stored on storage circuitry  16  (e.g., storage circuitry  16  may include non-transitory (tangible) computer readable storage media that stores the software code). The software code may sometimes be referred to as program instructions, software, data, instructions, or code. Software code stored on storage circuitry  16  may be executed by processing circuitry  18 . 
     Control circuitry  14  may be used to run software on device  10  such as satellite navigation applications, internet browsing applications, voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) telephone call applications, email applications, media playback applications, operating system functions, etc. To support interactions with external equipment, control circuitry  14  may be used in implementing communications protocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented using control circuitry  14  include internet protocols, wireless local area network (WLAN) protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11 protocols—sometimes referred to as Wi-Fi®), protocols for other short-range wireless communications links such as the Bluetooth® protocol or other wireless personal area network (WPAN) protocols, IEEE 802.11ad protocols (e.g., ultra-wideband protocols), cellular telephone protocols (e.g., 3G protocols, 4G (LTE) protocols, 3GPP Fifth Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) protocols, etc.), antenna diversity protocols, satellite navigation system protocols (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) protocols, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) protocols, etc.), antenna-based spatial ranging protocols, or any other desired communications protocols. Each communications protocol may be associated with a corresponding radio access technology (RAT) that specifies the physical connection methodology used in implementing the protocol. 
     Device  10  may include input-output circuitry  20 . Input-output circuitry  20  may include input-output devices  22 . Input-output devices  22  may be used to allow data to be supplied to device  10  and to allow data to be provided from device  10  to external devices. Input-output devices  22  may include user interface devices, data port devices, and other input-output components. For example, input-output devices  22  may include touch sensors, displays (e.g., touch-sensitive and/or force-sensitive displays), light-emitting components such as displays without touch sensor capabilities, buttons (mechanical, capacitive, optical, etc.), scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads, keyboards, microphones, cameras, buttons, speakers, status indicators, audio jacks and other audio port components, digital data port devices, motion sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes, and/or compasses that detect motion), capacitance sensors, proximity sensors, magnetic sensors, force sensors (e.g., force sensors coupled to a display to detect pressure applied to the display), temperature sensors, etc. In some configurations, keyboards, headphones, displays, pointing devices such as trackpads, mice, and joysticks, and other input-output devices may be coupled to device  10  using wired or wireless connections (e.g., some of input-output devices  22  may be peripherals that are coupled to a main processing unit or other portion of device  10  via a wired or wireless link). 
     Input-output circuitry  20  may include wireless circuitry  24  to support wireless communications. Wireless circuitry  24  (sometimes referred to herein as wireless communications circuitry  24 ) may include two or more antennas  30 . Antennas  30  may be formed using any desired antenna structures for conveying radio-frequency signals. For example, antennas  30  may include antennas with resonating elements that are formed from loop antenna structures, patch antenna structures, inverted-F antenna structures, slot antenna structures, planar inverted-F antenna structures, helical antenna structures, monopole antennas, dipoles, hybrids of these designs, etc. Filter circuitry, switching circuitry, impedance matching circuitry, and/or other antenna tuning components may be adjusted to adjust the frequency response and wireless performance of antennas  30  over time. If desired, two or more of antennas  30  may be integrated into a phased antenna array (sometimes referred to herein as a phased array antenna) in which each of the antennas conveys radio-frequency signals with a respective phase and magnitude that is adjusted over time so the radio-frequency signals constructively and destructively interfere to produce a signal beam in a given pointing direction. 
     The term “convey radio-frequency signals” as used herein means the transmission and/or reception of the radio-frequency signals (e.g., for performing unidirectional and/or bidirectional wireless communications with external wireless communications equipment). Antennas  30  may transmit the radio-frequency signals by radiating the radio-frequency signals into free space (or to free space through intervening device structures such as a dielectric cover layer). Antennas  30  may additionally or alternatively receive the radio-frequency signals from free space (e.g., through intervening devices structures such as a dielectric cover layer). The transmission and reception of radio-frequency signals by antennas  30  each involve the excitation or resonance of antenna currents on an antenna resonating element in the antenna by the radio-frequency signals within the frequency band(s) of operation of the antenna. 
     Wireless circuitry  24  may include one or more radios  26 . Radio  26  may include circuitry that operates on signals at baseband frequencies (e.g., baseband circuitry) and radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as one or more radio-frequency transmitters  28  and one or more radio-frequency receivers  34 . Transmitter  28  may include signal generator circuitry, modulation circuitry, mixer circuitry for upconverting signals from baseband frequencies to intermediate frequencies and/or radio frequencies, amplifier circuitry such as one or more power amplifiers, digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, control paths, power supply paths, switching circuitry, filter circuitry, and/or any other circuitry for transmitting radio-frequency signals using antennas  30 . Receiver  34  may include demodulation circuitry, mixer circuitry for downconverting signals from intermediate frequencies and/or radio frequencies to baseband frequencies, amplifier circuitry (e.g., one or more low-noise amplifiers (LNAs)), analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuitry, control paths, power supply paths, signal paths, switching circuitry, filter circuitry, and/or any other circuitry for receiving radio-frequency signals using antennas  30 . The components of radio  26  may be mounted onto a single substrate or integrated into a single integrated circuit, chip, package, or system-on-chip (SOC) or may be distributed between multiple substrates, integrated circuits, chips, packages, or SOCs. 
     Each radio  26  may be coupled to one or more antennas  30  over one or more radio-frequency transmission lines  32 . Radio-frequency transmission lines  32  may include coaxial cables, microstrip transmission lines, stripline transmission lines, edge-coupled microstrip transmission lines, edge-coupled stripline transmission lines, transmission lines formed from combinations of transmission lines of these types, etc. Radio-frequency transmission lines  32  may be integrated into rigid and/or flexible printed circuit boards if desired. One or more radio-frequency tranmission lines  32  may be shared between multiple radios  26  if desired. Radio-frequency front end (RFFE) modules may be interposed on one or more radio-frequency transmission lines  32 . The radio-frequency front end modules may include substrates, integrated circuits, chips, or packages that are separate from radios  26  and may include filter circuitry, switching circuitry, amplifier circuitry, impedance matching circuitry, radio-frequency coupler circuitry, and/or any other desired radio-frequency circuitry for operating on the radio-frequency signals conveyed over radio-frequency transmission lines  32 . 
     Radio  26  may transmit and/or receive radio-frequency signals within corresponding frequency bands at radio frequencies (sometimes referred to herein as communications bands or simply as “bands”). The frequency bands handled by radio  26  may include wireless local area network (WLAN) frequency bands (e.g., Wi-Fi® (IEEE 802.11) or other WLAN communications bands) such as a 2.4 GHz WLAN band (e.g., from 2400 to 2480 MHz), a 5 GHz WLAN band (e.g., from 5180 to 5825 MHz), a Wi-Fi® 6E band (e.g., from 5925-7125 MHz), and/or other Wi-Fi® bands (e.g., from 1875-5160 MHz), wireless personal area network (WPAN) frequency bands such as the 2.4 GHz Bluetooth® band or other WPAN communications bands, cellular telephone frequency bands (e.g., bands from about 600 MHz to about 5 GHz, 3G bands, 4G LTE bands, 5G New Radio Frequency Range 1 (FR1) bands below GHz, 5G New Radio Frequency Range 2 (FR2) bands between 20 and 60 GHz, etc.), other centimeter or millimeter wave frequency bands between 10-300 GHz, near-field communications frequency bands (e.g., at 13.56 MHz), satellite navigation frequency bands (e.g., a GPS band from 1565 to 1610 MHz, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) band, a BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) band, etc.), ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency bands that operate under the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol and/or other ultra-wideband communications protocols, communications bands under the family of 3GPP wireless communications standards, communications bands under the IEEE 802.XX family of standards, and/or any other desired frequency bands of interest. 
     The example of  FIG.  1    is merely illustrative. While control circuitry  14  is shown separately from wireless circuitry  24  in the example of  FIG.  1    for the sake of clarity, wireless circuitry  24  may include processing circuitry (e.g., one or more processors) that forms a part of processing circuitry  18  and/or storage circuitry that forms a part of storage circuitry  16  of control circuitry  14  (e.g., portions of control circuitry  14  may be implemented on wireless circuitry  24 ). As an example, control circuitry  14  may include baseband circuitry (e.g., one or more baseband processors), digital control circuitry, analog control circuitry, and/or other control circuitry that forms part of radio  26 . The baseband circuitry may, for example, access a communication protocol stack on control circuitry  14  (e.g., storage circuitry  16 ) to: perform user plane functions at a PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, SDAP layer, and/or PDU layer, and/or to perform control plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, RRC, layer, and/or non-access stratum layer. If desired, the PHY layer operations may additionally or alternatively be performed by radio-frequency (RF) interface circuitry in wireless circuitry  24 . 
     Any desired antenna structures may be used to form antennas  30 . If desired, antennas  30  may each have multiple antenna feeds that allow the antennas to support multiple polarizations. Each antenna  30  may, for example, have a first antenna feed coupled to a corresponding radio-frequency transmission line  32 V for handling a first polarization and a second antenna feed coupled to a corresponding radio-frequency transmission line  32 H for handling a second polarization.  FIG.  2    is a perspective view showing one example in which an antenna  30  is formed using patch antenna structures for covering multiple polarizations. 
     As shown in  FIG.  2   , antenna  30  may have a patch antenna resonating element  42  that is separated from and parallel to a ground plane such as antenna ground  40 . Patch antenna resonating element  42  may lie within a plane such as the A-B plane of  FIG.  2    (e.g., the lateral surface area of element  42  may lie in the A-B plane). Patch antenna resonating element  42  may sometimes be referred to herein as patch  42 , patch element  42 , patch resonating element  42 , antenna resonating element  42 , or resonating element  42 . Antenna ground  40  may lie within a plane that is parallel to the plane of patch element  42 . Patch element  42  and antenna ground  40  may therefore lie in separate parallel planes that are separated by distance  49 . Patch element  42  and antenna ground  40  may be formed from conductive traces patterned on a dielectric substrate such as a rigid or flexible printed circuit board substrate or any other desired conductive structures. 
     The length of the sides of patch element  42  may be selected so that antenna  30  resonates (radiates) at a desired operating frequency. For example, the sides of patch element  42  may each have a length  46  that is approximately equal to half of the wavelength of the signals conveyed by antenna  30  (e.g., the effective wavelength given the dielectric properties of the materials surrounding patch element  42 ). In one suitable arrangement, length  46  may be between 0.8 mm and 1.2 mm (e.g., approximately 1.1 mm) for covering a millimeter wave frequency band between 57 GHz and 70 GHz or between 1.6 mm and 2.2 mm (e.g., approximately 1.85 mm) for covering a millimeter wave frequency band between 37 GHz and 41 GHz, as just two examples. 
     The example of  FIG.  2    is merely illustrative. Patch element  42  may have a square shape in which all of the sides of patch element  42  are the same length or may have a different rectangular shape. Patch element  42  may be formed in other shapes having any desired number of straight and/or curved edges. 
     To enhance the polarizations handled by antenna  30 , antenna  30  may be provided with multiple antenna feeds. As shown in  FIG.  2   , antenna  30  may have a first antenna feed at antenna port P 1  that is coupled to a corresponding radio-frequency transmission line  32 V. Antenna  30  may have a second antenna feed at antenna port P 2  that is coupled to a corresponding radio-frequency transmission line  32 H. The first antenna feed may have a first ground feed terminal coupled to antenna ground  40  (not shown in  FIG.  2    for the sake of clarity) and a first positive antenna feed terminal  38 V coupled to patch element  42 . The second antenna feed may have a second ground feed terminal coupled to antenna ground  40  (not shown in  FIG.  2    for the sake of clarity) and a second positive antenna feed terminal  3811  on patch element  42 . 
     Holes or openings such as openings  36  may be formed in antenna ground  40 . Radio-frequency transmission line  32 V may include a vertical conductor (e.g., a conductive through-via, conductive pin, metal pillar, solder bump, combinations of these, and/or other vertical conductive interconnect structures) that extends through opening  36  to positive antenna feed terminal  38 V on patch element  42 . Radio-frequency transmission line  32 H may include a vertical conductor that extends through opening  36  to positive antenna feed terminal  38 H on patch element  42 . This example is merely illustrative and, if desired, other transmission line structures may be used (e.g., coaxial cable structures, stripline transmission line structures, etc.). 
     When using the first antenna feed associated with port P 1 , antenna  30  may transmit and/or receive radio-frequency signals having a first polarization (e.g., the electric field E 1  of radio-frequency signals  48  associated with port P 1  may be oriented parallel to the B-axis in  FIG.  2   ). When using the antenna feed associated with port P 2 , antenna  30  may transmit and/or receive radio-frequency signals having a second polarization (e.g., the electric field E 2  of radio-frequency signals  48  associated with port P 2  may be oriented parallel to the A-axis of  FIG.  2    so that the polarizations associated with ports P 1  and P 2  are orthogonal to each other). 
     One of ports P 1  and P 2  may be used at a given time so that antenna  30  operates as a single-polarization antenna or both ports may be operated at the same time so antenna  30  operates as a dual-polarization antenna (e.g., where antenna  30  concurrently conveys horizontal and vertically polarized signals) or with other polarizations (e.g., as a circularly-polarized antenna, an elliptically-polarized antenna, etc.). 
     If desired, antenna  30  may include one or more additional patch elements  44  that are stacked over patch element  42 . Each patch element  44  may partially or completely overlap patch element  42 . The lower-most patch element  44  may be separated from patch element  42  by distance D, which is selected to provide antenna  30  with a desired bandwidth without occupying excessive volume within device  10 . Patch elements  44  may have sides with lengths other than length  46 , which configure patch elements  44  to radiate at different frequencies than patch element  42 , thereby extending the overall bandwidth of antenna  30 . Patch elements  44  may include directly-fed patch antenna resonating elements (e.g., patch elements with one or more positive antenna feed terminals directly coupled to transmission lines) and/or parasitic antenna resonating elements that are not directly fed by antenna feed terminals and transmission lines. The combined resonance of patch element  42  and each of patch elements  44  may configure antenna  30  to radiate with satisfactory antenna efficiency across the entirety of any desired frequency band. 
     The example of  FIG.  2    is merely illustrative. Patch elements  44  may be omitted if desired. Patch elements  44  may be rectangular, square, cross-shaped, or any other desired shape having any desired number of straight and/or curved edges. Patch elements  44  may be provided at any desired orientation relative to patch element  42 . Antenna  30  may have any desired number of feeds. Other antenna types may be used if desired (e.g., dipole antennas, monopole antennas, slot antennas, inverted-F antennas, planar inverted-F antennas, waveguide antennas, dielectric resonator antennas, etc.). If desired, device  10  may include different sets of antennas that each cover a respective polarization (e.g., a first set of antennas for covering the vertical polarization and a second set of antennas for covering the horizontal polarization). 
     As software applications on user equipment devices such as device  10  have become more data intensive, there has been increasing demand for devices that support wireless communications at high data rates. In general, higher frequencies support higher data rates. The antennas  30  in device  10  may therefore convey radio-frequency signals at relatively high frequencies such as frequencies greater than 10 GHz (e.g., in 5G NR FR2 bands). While these frequencies support high data rates, radio-frequency signals at these frequencies can be subject to substantial attenuation during propagation. To counteract this attenuation, two or more antennas  30  in device  10  may be arranged in one or more phased antenna arrays. 
       FIG.  3    is a diagram showing how antennas  30  may be arranged in a phased antenna array. As shown in  FIG.  3   , phased antenna array  50  (sometimes referred to herein as array  50 , antenna array  50 , or array  50  of antennas  30 ) may be coupled to radio-frequency transmission lines  32 . For example, a first antenna  30 - 1  in phased antenna array  50  may be coupled to a first radio-frequency transmission line  32 - 1 , a second antenna  30 - 2  in phased antenna array  50  may be coupled to a second radio-frequency transmission line  32 - 2 , an Mth antenna  30 -M in phased antenna array  50  may be coupled to an Mth radio-frequency transmission line  32 -M, etc. While antennas  30  are described herein as forming a phased antenna array, the antennas  30  in phased antenna array  50  may sometimes also be referred to as collectively forming a single phased array antenna (e.g., where each antenna  30  in the phased array antenna forms an antenna element of the phased array antenna). Radio-frequency transmission lines  32  may each be coupled to one or more radios  26  ( FIG.  1   ). Each radio-frequency transmission line  32  of  FIG.  3    may include two radio-frequency transmission line paths for handling multiple polarizations (e.g., respective radio-frequency transmission lines  32 H and  32 V of  FIG.  2    may be coupled to each of the antennas  30  in phased antenna array  50 ). 
     The antennas  30  in phased antenna array  50  may be arranged in any desired number of rows and columns or in any other desired pattern (e.g., the antennas need not be arranged in a grid pattern having rows and columns). During signal transmission operations, radio-frequency transmission lines  32  may be used to supply signals (e.g., radio-frequency signals such as millimeter wave and/or centimeter wave signals) from radio  26  ( FIG.  1   ) to phased antenna array for wireless transmission. During signal reception operations, radio-frequency transmission lines  32  may be used to convey signals received at phased antenna array  50  to radio  26  ( FIG.  1   ). 
     The use of multiple antennas  30  in phased antenna array  50  allows radio-frequency beam forming arrangements (sometimes referred to herein as radio-frequency beam steering arrangements) to be implemented by controlling the relative phases and magnitudes (amplitudes) of the radio-frequency signals conveyed by the antennas. In the example of  FIG.  3   , the antennas in phased antenna array  50  each have a corresponding radio-frequency phase and magnitude controller  58  (e.g., a first phase and magnitude controller  58 - 1  interposed on radio-frequency transmission line  32 - 1  may control phase and magnitude for radio-frequency signals handled by antenna  30 - 1 , a second phase and magnitude controller  58 - 2  interposed on radio-frequency transmission line  32 - 2  may control phase and magnitude for radio-frequency signals handled by antenna  30 - 2 , an Mth phase and magnitude controller  58 -M interposed on radio-frequency transmission line  32 -M may control phase and magnitude for radio-frequency signals handled by antenna  30 -M, etc.). 
     Phase and magnitude controllers  58  may each include circuitry for adjusting the phase of the radio-frequency signals on radio-frequency transmission lines  32  (e.g., phase shifter circuits) and/or circuitry for adjusting the magnitude of the radio-frequency signals on radio-frequency transmission lines  32  (e.g., power amplifier and/or low noise amplifier circuits). Phase and magnitude controllers  58  may sometimes be referred to collectively herein as beam steering or beam forming circuitry (e.g., beam steering circuitry that steers the beam of radio-frequency signals transmitted and/or received by phased antenna array  50 ). 
     Phase and magnitude controllers  58  may adjust the relative phases and/or magnitudes of the transmitted signals that are provided to each of the antennas in phased antenna array  50  and may adjust the relative phases and/or magnitudes of the received signals that are received by phased antenna array  50 . Phase and magnitude controllers  58  may, if desired, include phase detection circuitry for detecting the phases of the received signals that are received by phased antenna array  50 . The term “beam,” “signal beam,” “radio-frequency beam,” or “radio-frequency signal beam” may be used herein to collectively refer to wireless signals that are transmitted and received by phased antenna array  50  in a particular direction. The signal beam may exhibit a peak gain that is oriented in a particular beam pointing direction at a corresponding beam pointing angle (e.g., based on constructive and destructive interference from the combination of signals from each antenna in the phased antenna array). The term “transmit beam” may sometimes be used herein to refer to radio-frequency signals that are transmitted in a particular direction whereas the term “receive beam” may sometimes be used herein to refer to radio-frequency signals that are received from a particular direction. 
     If, for example, phase and magnitude controllers  58  are adjusted to produce a first set of phases and/or magnitudes for transmitted radio-frequency signals, the transmitted signals will form a transmit beam as shown by beam B 1  of  FIG.  3    that is oriented in the direction of point A. If, however, phase and magnitude controllers  58  are adjusted to produce a second set of phases and/or magnitudes for the transmitted signals, the transmitted signals will form a transmit beam as shown by beam B 2  that is oriented in the direction of point B. Similarly, if phase and magnitude controllers  58  are adjusted to produce the first set of phases and/or magnitudes, radio-frequency signals (e.g., radio-frequency signals in a receive beam) may be received from the direction of point A, as shown by beam B 1 . If phase and magnitude controllers  58  are adjusted to produce the second set of phases and/or magnitudes, radio-frequency signals may be received from the direction of point B, as shown by beam B 2 . 
     Each phase and magnitude controller  58  may be controlled to produce a desired phase and/or magnitude based on a corresponding control signal Y received from control circuitry  14  over control paths  56  (e.g., the phase and/or magnitude provided by phase and magnitude controller  58 - 1  may be controlled using control signal Y 1  on control path  56 - 1 , the phase and/or magnitude provided by phase and magnitude controller  58 - 2  may be controlled using control signal Y 2  on control path  56 - 2 , the phase and/or magnitude provided by phase and magnitude controller  58 -M may be controlled using control signal YM on control path  56 -M, etc.). If desired, control circuitry  14  may actively adjust control signals Y in real time to steer the transmit or receive beam in different desired directions (e.g., to different desired beam pointing angles) over time. Phase and magnitude controllers  58  may provide information identifying the phase of received signals to control circuitry  14  if desired. 
     When performing wireless communications using radio-frequency signals at millimeter and centimeter wave frequencies, the radio-frequency signals are conveyed over a line-of-sight path between phased antenna array  50  and external wireless equipment (e.g., a wireless base station). If the external wireless equipment is located at point A of  FIG.  3   , phase and magnitude controllers  58  may be adjusted to steer the signal beam towards point A (e.g., to form a signal beam having a beam pointing angle directed towards point A). Phased antenna array  50  may then transmit and receive radio-frequency signals in the direction of point A. Similarly, if the external wireless equipment is located at point B, phase and magnitude controllers  58  may be adjusted to steer the signal beam towards point B (e.g., to form a signal beam having a beam pointing angle directed towards point B). Phased antenna array  50  may then transmit and receive radio-frequency signals in the direction of point B. In the example of  FIG.  3   , beam steering is shown as being performed over a single degree of freedom for the sake of simplicity (e.g., towards the left and right on the page of  FIG.  3   ). However, in practice, the beam may be steered over two or more degrees of freedom (e.g., in three dimensions, into and out of the page and to the left and right on the page of  FIG.  3   ). Phased antenna array  50  may have a corresponding field of view over which beam steering can be performed (e.g., in a hemisphere or a segment of a hemisphere over the phased antenna array). If desired, device  10  may include multiple phased antenna arrays that each face a different direction to provide coverage from multiple sides of the device. 
     Control circuitry  14  may identify a desired beam pointing angle for the signal beam of phased antenna array  50  and may adjust the control signals Y provided to phased antenna array  50  to configure phased antenna array  50  to form (steer) the signal beam at that beam pointing angle. Each possible beam pointing angle that can be used by phased antenna array  50  during wireless communications may be identified by a beam steering codebook such as codebook  54 . Codebook  54  may be stored at control circuitry  14 , elsewhere on device  10 , or may be located (offloaded) on external equipment and conveyed to device  10  over a wired or wireless communications link. 
     Codebook  54  may identify each possible beam pointing angle that may be used by phased antenna array  50 . Control circuitry  14  may store or identify phase and magnitude settings for phase and magnitude controllers  58  to use in implementing each of those beam pointing angles (e.g., control circuitry  14  or codebook  54  may include information that maps each beam pointing angle for phased antenna array  50  to a corresponding set of phase and magnitude values for phase and magnitude controllers  58 ). Codebook  54  may be hard-coded or soft-coded into control circuitry  14  or elsewhere in device  10 , may include one or more databases stored at control circuitry  14  or elsewhere in device  10  (e.g., codebook  54  may be stored as software code), may include one or more look-up-tables at control circuitry  14  or elsewhere in device  10 , and/or may include any other desired data structures stored in hardware and/or software on device  10 . In one suitable arrangement that is described herein as an example, codebook  54  may include a beam table that identifies each beam pointing angle formable using phased antenna array  50  and the corresponding phase and magnitude settings for each phase and magnitude controller  58  to form beams at those beam pointing angles. Codebook  54  may be generated during calibration of device  10  (e.g., during design, manufacturing, and/or testing of device  10  prior to device  10  being received by an end user) and/or may be dynamically updated over time (e.g., after device  10  has been used by an end user). 
     Control circuitry  14  may generate control signals Y based on codebook  54 . For example, control circuitry  14  may identify an optimal signal beam that would exhibit optimal wireless performance in communicating with external wireless equipment. Control circuitry  14  may subsequently identify the signal beam in codebook  54  that is oriented closest to this optimal signal beam. Control circuitry  14  may use codebook  54  to generate phase and magnitude values for phase and magnitude controllers  58 . Control circuitry  14  may transmit control signals Y identifying these phase and magnitude values to phase and magnitude controllers  58  over control paths  56 . 
     In examples where the antennas  30  in phased antenna array  50  convey radio-frequency signals with multiple polarizations (e.g., horizontal and vertical polarizations as shown in  FIG.  2   ), phased antenna array  50  may generate respective signal beams for each polarization. For example, codebook  54  may store phases and magnitudes for use in generating signal beams of a first polarization and may store phases and magnitudes for use in generating signal beams of a second polarization.  FIG.  4    is a diagram showing how codebook  54  may store phase and magnitude information for generating signal beams of different polarizations. 
     As shown in  FIG.  4   , codebook  54  may include a first set of phase and magnitude settings  60  for generating signal beams of a first polarization and may include a second set of phase and magnitude settings  62  for generating signal beams of a second polarization. Examples in which the first polarization is a first linear polarization such as a vertical (V) polarization and the second polarization is a second linear polarization orthogonal to the first linear polarization such as a horizontal (H) polarization are described herein as an example. This is merely illustrative and, in general, the vertical polarization and horizontal polarizations as described herein may be replaced by any desired polarizations (e.g., orthogonal polarizations). 
     The rows of phase and magnitude settings  60  each include phase and magnitude settings for a respective one of the M antennas  30  in phased antenna array  50 . The columns of phase and magnitude settings  60  each include phase and magnitude settings for a respective one of the vertically polarized signal beams formable using phased antenna array  50 . The vertically polarized signal beams may sometimes be referred to herein as vertically polarized signal beams BEAM V  or simply as vertical signal beams BEAM V . Each cell of phase and magnitude settings  60  includes a respective phase value ϕ and magnitude (amplitude) value α to be applied by the phase and magnitude controller  58  ( FIG.  3   ) in using the corresponding antenna  30  to convey radio-frequency signals within the corresponding vertically polarized signal beam BEAM V . As shown in  FIG.  4   , each vertically polarized signal beam BEAM V  may be labeled by an index j and there may be N 1  total vertically polarized signal beams BEAM V  formable by phased antenna array  50 . Each of the N 1  vertically polarized signal beams BEAM V  may be oriented in a different respective beam pointing direction (e.g., an angle/orientation of peak signal gain). Control circuitry  14  may control phased antenna array  50  to convey radio-frequency signals within one of the vertically polarized signal beams BEAM V  by providing control signals Y to phase and magnitude controllers  58  ( FIG.  3   ) that identify the phase values and amplitude values given by the corresponding column of phase and magnitude settings  60 . 
     Similarly, the rows of phase and magnitude settings  62  each include phase and magnitude settings for a respective one of the M antennas  30  in phased antenna array  50 . The columns of phase and magnitude settings  62  each include phase and magnitude settings for a respective one of the horizontally polarized signal beams formable using phased antenna array  50 . The horizontally polarized signal beams may sometimes be referred to herein as horizontally polarized signal beams BEAM H  or simply as horizontal signal beams BEAM H . Each cell of phase and magnitude settings  62  includes a respective phase value ϕ and magnitude (amplitude) value α to be applied by the phase and magnitude controller  58  ( FIG.  3   ) in using the corresponding antenna  30  to convey radio-frequency signals within the corresponding horizontally polarized signal beam BEAM H . As shown in  FIG.  4   , each horizontally polarized signal beam BEAM H  may be labeled by an index k and there may be N 2  total horizontally polarized signal beams BEAM H  formable by phased antenna array  50 . Each of the N 2  horizontally polarized signal beams BEAM H  may be oriented in a different respective beam pointing direction. Control circuitry  14  may control phased antenna array  50  to convey radio-frequency signals within one of the horizontally polarized signal beams BEAM H  by providing control signals Y to phase and magnitude controllers  58  ( FIG.  3   ) that identify the phase values and amplitude values given by the corresponding column of phase and magnitude settings  62 . 
     To maximize the communications throughput for wireless circuitry  24  ( FIG.  1   ), phased antenna array  50  may concurrently convey at least first and second streams of wireless data. Phased antenna array  50  may convey the first stream of wireless data using a first polarization and may concurrently convey the second stream of wireless data using a second polarization. Phased antenna array  50  may concurrently form multiple signal beams of different polarizations for conveying each stream of wireless data. For example, phased antenna array  50  may convey the first stream of wireless data using a given vertically polarized signal beam BEAM V  and may concurrently convey the second stream of wireless data using a given horizontally polarized signal beam BEAM H . 
       FIG.  5    is a diagram showing how device  10  may convey multiple streams of wireless data using concurrently-formed vertically polarized and horizontally polarized signal beams. As shown in  FIG.  5   , device  10  may communicate within a communications system  64  (sometimes referred to herein as communications network  64 ). Communications system  64  may include network nodes (e.g., communications terminals). The network nodes may include user equipment (UE) such as device  10 . The network nodes may also include external communications equipment (e.g., communications equipment other than UE devices) such as external communications equipment  66 . External communications equipment  66  may include a wireless base station (BS) or a wireless access point, for example. If desired, device  10  may wirelessly communicate with external communications equipment  66  without passing communications through any other intervening network nodes in communications system  64  (e.g., device  10  may communicate directly with external communications equipment  66  over-the-air). 
     Communications system  64  may form a part of a larger communications network that includes network nodes coupled to external communications equipment  66  via wired and/or wireless links. The larger communications network may include one or more wired communications links (e.g., communications links formed using cabling such as ethernet cables, radio-frequency cables such as coaxial cables or other transmission lines, optical fibers or other optical cables, etc.), one or more wireless communications links (e.g., short range wireless communications links that operate over a range of inches, feet, or tens of feet, medium range wireless communications links that operate over a range of hundreds of feet, thousands of feet, miles, or tens of miles, and/or long range wireless communications links that operate over a range of hundreds or thousands of miles, etc.), communications gateways, wireless access points, base stations, switches, routers, servers, modems, repeaters, telephone lines, network cards, line cards, portals, user equipment (e.g., computing devices, mobile devices, etc.), etc. The larger communications network may include communications (network) nodes or terminals coupled together using these components or other components (e.g., some or all of a mesh network, relay network, ring network, local area network, wireless local area network, personal area network, cloud network, star network, tree network, or networks of communications nodes having other network topologies), the Internet, combinations of these, etc. Device  10  may send data to and/or may receive data from other nodes or terminals in the larger communications network via external communications equipment  66  (e.g., external communications equipment  66  may serve as an interface between device  10  and the rest of the larger communications network). Some or all of the communications network may, if desired, be operated by a corresponding network operator or service provider. 
     External communications equipment  66  may include one or more antennas that provides wireless coverage for UE devices located within a corresponding geographic area or cell. The antennas may be arranged into one or more phased antenna arrays  68  (e.g., phased antenna arrays such as phased antenna array  50  of  FIG.  3   ). Device  10  may communicate with external communications equipment  66  over a wireless link. To support the wireless link, external communications equipment  66  may transmit radio-frequency signals in a downlink (DL) direction  84  from external communications equipment  66  to device  10  and/or device  10  may transmit radio-frequency signals in an uplink (UL) direction  86  from the device  10  to external communications equipment  66 . 
     Device  10  and external communications equipment  66  may convey a first stream of wireless data (e.g., in uplink direction  86  and/or downlink direction  84 ) using vertically polarized radio-frequency signals  70 V and may concurrently convey a second stream of wireless data (e.g., in uplink direction  86  and/or downlink direction  84 ) using horizontally polarized radio-frequency signals  70 H. To support vertically polarized radio-frequency signals  70 V, device  10  may form a vertically polarized signal beam  74 V (e.g., a vertically polarized signal beam BEAM V  formed using a corresponding column of phase and magnitude settings  60  of  FIG.  4   ) and external communications equipment  66  may form a vertically polarized signal beam  72 V. To support horizontally polarized radio-frequency signals  7011 , device  10  may form a horizontally polarized signal beam  74 H (e.g., a horizontally polarized signal beam BEAM H  formed using a corresponding column of phase and magnitude settings  62  of  FIG.  4   ) and external communications equipment  66  may form a horizontally polarized signal beam  72 H. The same antennas  30  in phased antenna array  50  may cover both polarizations (e.g., as shown in  FIG.  2   ) or phased antenna array  50  may include a first set of antennas  30  that cover the horizontal polarization and a second set of antennas  30  that cover the vertical polarization. If desired, device  10  may include different phased antenna arrays  50  for covering the horizontal and vertical polarizations, respectively. 
     Communications system  64  may perform a beam selection algorithm to identify the vertically polarized signal beams  72 V and  74 V to be used in conveying vertically polarized radio-frequency signals  70 V and to identify the horizontally polarized signal beams  7211  and  74 H to be used in conveying horizontally polarized radio-frequency signals  70 H. The beam selection algorithm generally involves external communications equipment  66  sweeping over different vertically polarized signal beams  72 V (as shown by arrow  76 ), external communications equipment  66  sweeping over different horizontally polarized signal beams  72 H (as shown by arrow  78 ), device  10  sweeping over different vertically polarized signal beams  74 V (as shown by arrow  80 ), and device  10  sweeping over different vertically polarized signal beams  74 H (as shown by arrow  82 ) until optimal vertically polarized signal beams and optimal horizontally polarized signal beams are found. 
     In some scenarios, device  10  performs beam selection by measuring reference signal received power (RSRP) values from the radio-frequency signals transmitted by external communications equipment  66  for each vertically polarized signal beam  74 V and for each horizontally polarized signal beam  74 H, and then selecting the vertically polarized signal beam  74 V having the highest measured RSRP and selecting the horizontally polarized signal beam  74 H having the highest measured RSRP for subsequent communications. However, simply selecting signal beams that exhibit the highest RSRP does not account for polarization imbalance that may be present between the vertical and horizontal polarizations. In an ideal case, the wireless performance of device  10  is the same for both horizontal and vertical polarizations. Polarization imbalance occurs when the wireless performance of device  10  for one polarization differs from the wireless performance of device  10  for another polarization. If care is not taken, polarization imbalance between the vertical and horizontal polarizations can limit the overall data throughput of wireless communications between device  10  and external communications equipment  66 . 
       FIG.  6    includes plots illustrating the potential impact of polarization imbalance on data throughput. Curve  90  of  FIG.  6    plots polarization imbalance (in dB) for different combinations of vertically polarized signal beam  74 V and horizontally polarized signal beam  74 H. Each combination of vertically polarized signal beam  74 V and horizontally polarized signal beam  74 H may sometimes be referred to herein as a (signal) beam pair. Each beam pair may be identified or indexed by a corresponding beam pair number (e.g., a first beam pair that includes a first vertically polarized signal beam oriented in a first beam pointing direction and a first horizontally polarized signal beam oriented in the first beam pointing direction, a second beam pair that includes the first vertically polarized signal beam oriented in the first beam pointing direction and a second horizontally polarized signal beam oriented in a second beam pointing direction, a third beam pair that includes a second vertically polarized signal beam oriented in a third beam pointing direction and a third horizontally polarized signal beam oriented in a fourth beam pointing direction, etc.). 
     As shown by curve  90 , some beam pairs may exhibit more polarization imbalance than other beam pairs. For example, device  10  may exhibit significant polarization imbalance for beam pair number X. Beam pair number X may, for example, include a horizontally polarized signal beam that exhibits substantially different wireless performance (e.g., RSRP) than the corresponding vertically polarized signal beam. Such imbalance may be produced by the relative orientation of device  10  and external communications equipment  66 , multi-path effects, differences in the radio-frequency components of device  10  and/or external communications equipment  66 , and/or other factors, as examples. 
     Curve  88  of  FIG.  6    plots throughput for each of the beam pairs (in bps). As shown by curve  88 , the polarization imbalance for beam pair number X may produce a reduction in the overall throughput achievable by device  10  in communicating with external communications equipment  66 . Even if the vertically polarized signal beam in beam pair number X exhibits the highest RSRP of all the vertically polarized signal beams of device  10  and if the horizontally polarized signal beam in beam pair number X exhibits the highest RSRP of all the horizontally polarized signal beams of device  10 , using the horizontally polarized and vertically polarized signal beams of beam pair number X may still exhibit less overall throughput than other beam pairs due to the polarization imbalance between the horizontally polarized and vertically polarized signal beams. 
     To mitigate these issues and maximize throughput for device  10  while communicating with external communications equipment  66 , device  10  may select horizontally polarized and vertically polarized signal beams based at least in part on the polarization imbalance between the signal beams. For example, as shown in  FIG.  7   , wireless circuitry  24  may include signal beam selection circuitry such as beam scanner  92 , beam filter  100 , and beam manager  104 . Beam scanner  92 , beam filter  100 , and beam manager  104  may be implemented using hardware (e.g., digital and/or analog logic gates, look up tables, etc.) and/or using software (e.g., one or more processors on device  10  such as control circuitry  14  of  FIG.  1    may perform the operations of beam scanner  92 , beam filter  100 , and/or beam manager  104 ). 
     The output of beam scanner  92  may be coupled to the input of beam filter  100  over control path  98 . The output of beam filter  100  may be coupled to the input of beam manager  104  via control path  102 . The output of beam manager  104  may be coupled to codebook  54  ( FIG.  3   ), other control circuitry in device  10 , or the control input of phase and magnitude controllers  58  ( FIG.  3   ). Beam scanner  92  may sometimes be referred to herein as beam scanning engine  92  or beam scanning circuitry  92 . Beam filter  100  may sometimes be referred to herein as beam filter circuitry  100  or beam filtering engine  100 . Beam manager  104  may sometimes be referred to herein as beam management engine  104  or beam management circuitry  104 . 
     Beam scanner  92  may include measurement circuitry  96 . Measurement circuitry  96  may, if desired, be implemented on receiver  34  of  FIG.  1   . Measurement circuitry  96  may gather, generate, or measure wireless performance metric values (data) M from radio-frequency signals received using phased antenna array  50  ( FIG.  5   ). Wireless performance metric values M may include RSRP values, receive signal strength indicator (RSSI) values, channel quality indicator (CQI) values, signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) values, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values, reference signal received quality (RSRQ) values, received signal power levels, received signal quality metrics, other wireless performance metric values associated with the performance of receiver  34  in receiving radio-frequency signals, and/or any other desired wireless performance metrics associated with the radio-frequency performance of device  10 . Wireless performance metric values M may include wireless performance metric values M V  associated with the wireless performance of device  10  in conveying vertically polarized radio-frequency signals  70 V ( FIG.  5   ) and may include wireless performance metric values M H  associated with the wireless performance of device  10  in conveying horizontally polarized radio-frequency signals  70 H ( FIG.  5   ). 
     Beam scanner  92  may scan (sweep) phased antenna array  50  over different horizontally polarized signal beams  74 H while gathering wireless performance metric values M H  for each of the horizontally polarized signal beams (e.g., from received downlink signals such as reference or synchronization signals that are periodically transmitted by external communications equipment  66  of  FIG.  5   ). Beam scanner  92  may also scan (sweep) phased antenna array  50  over different vertically polarized signal beams  74 V while gathering wireless performance metric values M H  for each of the horizontally polarized signal beams (e.g., from received downlink signals such as reference signals transmitted by external communications equipment  66  of  FIG.  5   ). If desired, beam scanner  92  may scan over horizontally polarized signal beams  74 H and vertically polarized signal beams  74 V according to a beam scanning algorithm identified by control input  94 . The beam scanning algorithm may, for example, be determined by the communications protocol governing wireless communications between device  10  and external communications equipment  66  (e.g., a 3GPP 5G NR communications protocol). Beam scanner  92  may scan over all possible (formable) horizontally polarized signal beams  74 H and all possible (formable) vertically polarized signal beams  74 V or over a subset of the formable signal beams. As an example, the beam scanning algorithm identified by control input  94  may instruct beam scanner  92  to scan over only a subset of the formable signal beams (e.g., signal beams that are pointed in the direction of external communications equipment  66 , etc.). 
     While performing beam scanning, beam scanner  92  may generate, compile, identify, or produce a signal beam set S. The elements of signal beam set S may be labeled by index i (e.g., each element may include a tuple or other data structure). Each element of signal beam set S may include a respective signal beam pair. The signal beam pair includes a vertically polarized signal beam (e.g., vertically polarized signal beam  74 V of  FIG.  5   ) labeled by vertical signal beam identifier BEAM Vi  and a horizontally polarized signal beam (e.g., horizontally polarized signal beam  74 H of  FIG.  5   ) labeled by horizontal signal beam identifier BEAM Hi . Each element of signal beam set S may also include the wireless performance metric value M Vi  gathered by measurement circuitry  96  using the corresponding vertically polarized signal beam of that element (e.g., as identified by vertical signal beam identifier BEAM Vi ), and may include the wireless performance metric value M Hi  gathered by measurement circuitry  96  using the corresponding horizontally polarized signal beam of that element (e.g., as identified by horizontal signal beam identifier BEAM Hi ). In other words, signal beam set S may map horizontally polarized signal beams to the corresponding measured wireless performance metric values M H  and may map vertically polarized signal beams to the corresponding measured wireless performance metric values M V . Beam scanner  92  may transmit signal beam set S to beam filter  100  via control path  98 . 
     Beam filter  100  may filter signal beam set S based on a threshold value such as threshold value TH to produce signal beam subset C (e.g., an additional/filtered set of signal beams having elements selected from the elements of signal beam set S). Signal beam subset C may include elements with horizontally polarized and vertically polarized signal beams that exhibit at least a satisfactory level or wireless performance (e.g., as determined by threshold value TH). 
     For example, beam filter  100  may identify a maximum wireless performance metric value M MAX  of the wireless performance metric values M Vi  and M Hi  in signal beam set S (e.g., the wireless performance metric value from the elements of signal beam set S having the highest magnitude). Beam filter  100  may generate signal beam subset C by removing elements from signal beam set S where the difference between the greater of wireless performance metric values M Vi  and M Hi  for that element and maximum wireless performance metric value M MAX  is greater than or equal to (exceeds) threshold value TH (e.g., by removing the worst-performing signal beam pairs from signal beam set S). Put differently, beam filter  100  may include in signal beam subset C only those elements of signal beam set S where the difference between the greater of wireless performance metric values M Vi  and M Hi  and maximum wireless performance metric value M MAX  is less than threshold value TH (e.g., by including only the best-performing signal beam pairs from signal beam set S in signal beam subset C). Threshold value TH may be configurable/adjustable. Threshold value TH may be 5 dBm, 1-10 dBm, 10 dBm, 2-8 dBm, 1-6 dBm, 1-5 dBm, 8 dBm, or other values, as examples. 
     Consider an example where wireless performance metric values M include RSRP values. In this example, beam filter  100  may identify the maximum RSRP value RSRP MAX  gathered by measurement circuitry  96  across signal beam set S. The ith element of signal beam set S may include an RSRP value RSRP Vi  as its wireless performance metric value M Vi  and may include an RSRP value RSRP Hi  as its wireless performance metric value M Hi . The greater of RSRP value RSRP Hi  and RSRP value RSRP Vi  may be denoted simply as RSRP i  to characterize the performance of the signal beam pair. Beam filter  100  may include the ith element of signal beam set S in signal beam subset C if RSRP MAX −RSRP i &lt;TH. In this way, beam filter  100  may generate signal beam subset C to include only the best-performing signal beams from signal beam set S (e.g., signal beam pairs that will produce at least a satisfactory level of wireless performance). 
     Beam filter  100  may transmit signal beam subset C to beam manager  104  over control path  102 . Beam manager  102  may identify, calculate, compute, or generate the polarization imbalance between the signal beams in each signal beam pair of signal beam subset C (e.g., beam manager  102  may identify, calculate, compute, or generate a polarization imbalance value IMB for each element of signal beam subset C). The polarization imbalance for each element of signal beam subset C (e.g., for each signal beam pair identified by signal beam subset C) may be defined by the absolute value of the difference between the wireless performance metric value M Vi  and the wireless performance metric value M Hi  of that element of signal beam subset C. For example, when wireless performance metric values M include RSRP, the polarization imbalance IMB of the ith element of signal beam subset C may be given by the equation IMB=|RSRP Hi −RSRP Vi |. 
     Beam manager  102  may then select the signal beam pair of signal beam subset C having the smallest of the polarization imbalances to serve as the signal beams used for subsequent communications (e.g., as vertically polarized signal beam BEAM V  and horizontally polarized signal beam BEAM H ). For example, beam manager  102  may identify the element of signal beam subset C having the minimum polarization imbalance IMB of all the elements of signal beam subset C. Beam manager  102  may control phased antenna array  50  (e.g., using codebook  54  of  FIG.  4   ) to perform subsequent communications using the vertically polarized signal beam BEAM V  given by the vertical beam identifier BEAM Vi  of the identified element of signal beam subset C and may control phased antenna array  50  (e.g., using codebook  54  of  FIG.  4   ) to perform subsequent communications using the horizontally polarized signal beam BEAM H  given by the horizontal beam identifier BEAM Hi  of the identified element of signal beam subset C. 
     The selected vertically polarized signal beam BEAM V  (e.g., vertically polarized signal beam  74 V of  FIG.  5   ) and the selected horizontally polarized signal beam BEAM H  (e.g., horizontally polarized signal beam  74 H of  FIG.  5   ) may allow device  10  to communicate with greater throughput than in scenarios where device  10  simply uses the vertically polarized signal beam that exhibits the highest RSRP value and the horizontally polarized signal beam that exhibits the highest RSRP value (e.g., because the selected signal beams minimize polarization imbalance). While the vertically polarized signal beam BEAM V  may not have the highest wireless performance metric value M V  and/or the horizontally polarized signal beam BEAM H  may not have the highest wireless performance metric value M H  across signal beam set S, device  10  may maximize throughput in communicating with external communications equipment  66  by accounting for and minimizing polarization imbalance in this way. 
     Consider an example in which the 31 st  vertically polarized signal beam (e.g., j=31 in codebook  54  of  FIG.  4   ) exhibits the highest RSRP of all the vertically polarized signal beams and the 159 th  horizontally polarized signal beam (e.g., k=159 in codebook  54  of  FIG.  4   ) exhibits the highest RSRP of all the horizontally polarized signal beams. In this example, the 31 st  vertically polarized signal beam may exhibit an RSRP of −97.58 dBm whereas the 159 th  horizontally polarized signal beam exhibits an RSRP of −86.94 dBm. While these RSRP values may be the best performing RSRP values gathered, there is a relatively large polarization imbalance between the vertically polarized and horizontally polarized signal beams (e.g., a polarization imbalance of 10.6 dBm). Performing concurrent communications using parallel wireless data streams over these two signal beams may produce a limited overall throughput such as a throughput of 1.34 Gbps. 
     On the other hand, beam scanner  92 , beam filter  100 , and beam manager  104  of  FIG.  7    may identify that the 35 th  vertically polarized signal beam (e.g., j=35 in codebook  54  of  FIG.  4   ) and the 163 rd  horizontally polarized signal beam (e.g., k=163 in codebook  54  of  FIG.  4   ) exhibits the least polarization imbalance of all the signal beam pairs in signal beam subset C, for example. In this example, the 35 th  vertically polarized signal beam may exhibit an RSRP of −90.78 dBm and the 163 rd  horizontally polarized signal beam may exhibit an RSRP of −88.53 dBm. While the 35 th  vertically polarized signal beam exhibits an RSRP that is around 7 dBm worse than the 31 st  vertically polarized signal beam in this example, there is a relatively small polarization between the vertically polarized and the horizontally polarized signal beams (e.g., a polarization imbalance of 2.25 dBm). This reduction in polarization imbalance may allow device  10  to perform concurrent communications using parallel wireless data streams over the 35 th  vertically polarized signal beam and the 163 rd  horizontally polarized signal beam that is much higher than the throughput achievable using the 31 st  vertically polarized signal beam and the 159 th  horizontally polarized signal beam (e.g., by as much as 500 Mbps or greater). In other words, sacrificing some RSRP on one or both the signal beams to instead minimize polarization imbalance between the signal beams may serve to maximize throughput for device  10  relative to examples where the phased antenna array is forced to communicate simply using the signal beams having the highest RSRP. 
       FIG.  8    is a flow chart of illustrative operations involved in maximizing throughput for wireless circuitry  24  by selecting vertically polarized and horizontally polarized signal beams based on polarization imbalance. 
     At operation  106 , beam scanner  92  may generate signal beam set S by scanning over different horizontally polarized signal beams  74 H ( FIG.  5   ) and vertically polarized signal beams  74 V. Beam scanner  92  may choose signal beams to scan over based on control input  94  if desired. Measurement circuitry  96  may generate wireless performance metric values M for each of the scanned signal beams (e.g., by measuring received signals from external communications equipment  66  such as synchronization signals or reference signals). The ith element of signal beam set S may include a wireless performance metric value M Hi , a horizontal signal beam identifier BEAM Hi  that identifies the horizontally polarized signal beam  74 H that was used to gather the wireless performance metric value M Hi , a wireless performance metric value M Vi , and a vertical signal beam identifier BEAM Vi  that identifies the vertically polarized signal beam  74 V that was used to gather the wireless performance metric BEAM Vi . Beam scanner  92  may output signal beam set S for filtering by beam filter  100 . 
     At operation  108 , beam filter  100  may identify the maximum wireless performance metric value M MAX  from signal beam set S. Maximum wireless performance metric value M MAX  may be the wireless performance metric value M Hi  or M Vi  having the greatest absolute value (magnitude) across the elements of signal beam set S. 
     At operation  110 , beam filter  100  may generate signal beam subset C by filtering signal beam set S based on wireless performance metric values M Hi  and M Vi , maximum wireless performance metric value M MAX , and threshold value TH. For example, beam filter  100  may generate signal beam subset C by filtering out elements from signal beam set S where the difference between the greater of wireless performance metric values M Hi  and M Vi  and maximum wireless performance metric value M MAX  is greater than or equal to threshold value TH. Put differently, beam filter  100  may include in signal beam subset C those elements of signal beam set S where the difference between the greater of wireless performance metric values and M Vi  and maximum wireless performance metric value M MAX  is less than threshold value TH. Beam filter  100  may output signal beam subset C to beam manager  104  for further processing. 
     At operation  112 , beam manager  104  may identify the polarization imbalance for each element of signal beam subset C. For example, beam manager  104  may generate a polarization imbalance value IMB for each element of signal beam subset C (e.g., for each signal beam pair in signal beam subset C) by computing the absolute value of the difference between the wireless performance metric values M Hi  and M Vi  for that element of signal beam subset C. 
     At operation  114 , beam manager  104  may select a signal beam pair from signal beam subset C to use for subsequent communications based on the polarization imbalance of each of the signal beam pairs in signal beam subset C. For example, beam manager  104  may select the signal beam pair or element of signal beam subset C having the minimum (smallest) polarization imbalance to use for subsequent communications (e.g., beam manager  104  may select the vertically polarized signal beam BEAM V  identified by the vertical signal beam identifier BEAM Vi  of the element of signal beam subset C having the minimum polarization imbalance and may select the horizontally polarized signal beam BEAM H  identified by the horizontal signal beam identifier BEAM H ; of the element of signal bema subset C having the minimum polarization imbalance for use during subsequent communications). This is merely illustrative and, as another example, beam manager  104  may select a signal beam pair that is within a threshold margin of the minimum polarization imbalance to use for subsequent communications. 
     At operation  116 , beam manager  104  may control phased antenna array  50  to convey a first stream of wireless data using vertically polarized radio-frequency signals  70 V ( FIG.  5   ) and the vertical signal beam BEAM V  identified by the selected signal beam pair. Beam manager  104  may control phased antenna array  50  to concurrently (e.g., simultaneously) convey a second stream of wireless data using horizontally polarized radio-frequency signals  70 H ( FIG.  5   ) and the horizontal signal beam BEAM H  identified by the selected signal beam pair. The selected signal beams BEAM V  and BEAM H  may minimize polarization imbalance and thereby maximize throughput for data communications between external communications equipment  66  and device  10 . While horizontal and vertical polarizations are described herein as an example, the horizontal polarization as described herein may be replaced by any desired first electromagnetic polarization and the vertical polarization as described herein may be replaced by any desired second electromagnetic polarization (e.g., orthogonal to the first electromagnetic polarization). 
     Device  10  may gather and/or use personally identifiable information. It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users. 
     The methods and operations described above in connection with  FIGS.  1 - 8    (e.g., the operations of  FIG.  8   ) may be performed by the components of device  10  using software, firmware, and/or hardware (e.g., dedicated circuitry or hardware). Software code for performing these operations may be stored on non-transitory computer readable storage media (e.g., tangible computer readable storage media) stored on one or more of the components of device  10  (e.g., storage circuitry  16  of  FIG.  1   ). The software code may sometimes be referred to as software, data, instructions, program instructions, or code. The non-transitory computer readable storage media may include drives, non-volatile memory such as non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM), removable flash drives or other removable media, other types of random-access memory, etc. Software stored on the non-transitory computer readable storage media may be executed by processing circuitry on one or more of the components of device  10  (e.g., processing circuitry  18  of  FIG.  1   , etc.). The processing circuitry may include microprocessors, central processing units (CPUs), application-specific integrated circuits with processing circuitry, or other processing circuitry. 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can be made to the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20220121
Publication Date: 20240423
Grant Date: 20240423
Priority Date: 20220121
Inventors: Pefkianakis, Ioannis
MONGHAL, GUILLAUME
JOSHI, KSHITIJ
THOTA, Mohan Rao
VASHI, Prashant H.
CAI, Zhenglian
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H01Q21/24", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/246", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0682", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/10", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B17/327", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B17/327", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/24", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0696", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/10", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q9/0414", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q21/24", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H01Q1/246", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B17/327", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/10", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0682", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 87574647