CN118282443A

CN118282443A - Unmanned aerial vehicle antenna switching method, device and system

Info

Publication number: CN118282443A
Application number: CN202211732337.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李�杰; 彭文杰
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-12-30
Filing date: 2022-12-30
Publication date: 2024-07-02
Also published as: WO2024140795A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a method, a device and a system for switching antennas of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The method is applied to the terminal and comprises the following steps: using a first antenna to communicate with a network device, wherein the terminal comprises the first antenna and a second antenna; and determining to turn on the second antenna according to the first information, wherein the first information comprises first measurement information and/or second indication information, the first measurement information comprises one or more of quality information, altitude information, speed information and area information of the cell, and the second indication information is used for indicating to turn on the second antenna. According to the method, the terminal determines to start the second antenna according to the first information under the condition that the first antenna and the second antenna are equipped, and the communication performance of the terminal is improved.

Description

Unmanned aerial vehicle antenna switching method, device and system

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a method, a device and a system for switching antennas of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Background

Unmanned aerial vehicles (uncrewed AERIAL VEHICLE, UAV) are becoming increasingly popular today as a new type of aircraft due to their flexibility and convenience. Meanwhile, the cellular network can provide important characteristic support such as wide coverage, high reliability, high safety, continuous mobility and the like for the unmanned aerial vehicle. The communication environment of the unmanned aerial vehicle is greatly different from that of a common terminal, mainly flies above a base station, is connected with the base station through a wireless communication interface (such as Uu port), and mainly communicates with a line of sight (LOS) path.

With the development of technology, multiple antennas with different capabilities may be configured on the unmanned aerial vehicle, for example, a directional antenna and an omni-directional antenna, and how to manage the multiple antennas on the unmanned aerial vehicle and improve the communication performance of the unmanned aerial vehicle is a problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method for switching antennas of an unmanned aerial vehicle, a communication device and a communication system, so as to improve the communication performance of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where the method may be performed by a terminal, or may be performed by a component of the terminal (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or may be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of a function of the terminal, where the method includes: communicating with a network device using a first antenna, the terminal comprising the first antenna and a second antenna; and determining to turn on the second antenna according to first information, wherein the first information comprises first measurement information and/or second indication information, the first measurement information comprises one or more of quality information, altitude information, speed information and area information of a cell, and the second indication information is used for indicating to turn on the second antenna.

According to the method, when the terminal is provided with the first antenna and the second antenna, the terminal determines to start the second antenna according to the first information, so that the terminal antenna management performance is improved, and the antenna switching mode is clarified.

Optionally, the quality information of the cell includes one or more of quality information of a serving cell of the first antenna connection, quality information of a neighboring cell, and measured quality information of the cell.

Optionally, the determining to turn on the second antenna according to the first information includes: and determining to start the second antenna according to the quality information and the threshold information of the cell, wherein the threshold information comprises one or more of threshold information corresponding to the service cell, threshold information corresponding to an adjacent cell and a first threshold.

Optionally, the determining to turn on the second antenna according to the quality information and the threshold information of the cell includes: and determining to turn on the second antenna according to the measured quality of the cell being lower than the first threshold.

Optionally, the determining to turn on the second antenna according to the quality information and the threshold information of the cell includes: and determining to turn on the second antenna according to the quality of the serving cell being lower than the threshold information corresponding to the serving cell and/or the quality of the adjacent cell being lower than the threshold information corresponding to the adjacent cell.

In this way, when determining whether the second antenna is turned on, the quality information of the cell is considered, and when the quality information of the cell satisfies the threshold condition, the second antenna is determined to be turned on.

Optionally, the determining to turn on the second antenna according to the first information includes: and determining to turn on the second antenna according to one or more of the altitude information, the speed information, the area information and first configuration information, wherein the first configuration information comprises one or more of altitude configuration information, speed configuration information or area configuration information. In this way, the speed information, the altitude information, or the area information is considered in determining whether the second antenna is turned on.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and sending first indication information or first request information to the network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal starts the second antenna, the first request information is used for indicating that the second antenna is requested to be started, or the first request information is used for indicating the first measurement information of the terminal. In this way, the terminal interacts the opening condition of the second antenna with the network device, or the terminal requests the network device to open the second antenna, or the terminal reports the measurement information to the network device for requesting to open the second antenna.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the second indication information from the network device is received.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and communicating by using the second antenna.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and receiving indication information from the network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal to close the first antenna.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and closing the first antenna. In this way, after turning on the second antenna, the terminal turns off the turned-on first antenna.

Optionally, the communicating using the second antenna includes: communication is performed using the first antenna and the second antenna. In this way, the terminal remains on the first antenna after the second antenna is turned on.

Optionally, the first antenna is used for uplink communication with the network device, and the second antenna is used for downlink communication with the network device; or communicate with the network device using the first antenna and measure using the second antenna.

Optionally, the method further comprises: determining second configuration information of the second antenna, wherein the second configuration information is the same as the first configuration information of the first antenna, or the second configuration information is preconfigured, or the second configuration information is configured by the network device.

Optionally, when the second configuration information is the same as the first configuration information of the first antenna, the method further includes: and sending indication information for indicating that the second configuration information is the same as the first configuration information to the network equipment.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and determining the power of the second antenna according to the power of the first antenna.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and sending measurement result indication information to the network equipment, wherein the measurement result indication information is used for indicating an antenna corresponding to the measurement result, or the measurement result indication information is used for indicating that the measurement result is the measurement result before or after the second antenna is started.

Optionally, the first measurement result corresponding to the first antenna is cleared after the second antenna is determined to be turned on.

Optionally, the first antenna is an omni-directional antenna, and the second antenna is a directional antenna; or the first antenna is a directional antenna and the second antenna is an omni-directional antenna.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where the method may be performed by a network device, may be performed by a component (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system) of the network device, or may be implemented by a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of a function of the network device, where the method includes: communicating with a terminal through a first antenna of the terminal, wherein the terminal comprises the first antenna and a second antenna; determining that the terminal uses the second antenna according to second information; the second information comprises one or more of first indication information, first request information and second measurement information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal starts the second antenna; the first request information is used for indicating the terminal to request to start the second antenna, or the first request information is used for indicating first measurement information of the terminal, and the first measurement information comprises one or more of quality information, altitude information, speed information and area information of a cell; the second measurement information includes one or more of serving cell information, interference information, or deployment information of the terminal.

By this method, the network device interacts with the terminal to determine whether to use the second antenna in case the terminal is equipped with the first antenna and the second antenna.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and receiving the first indication information from the terminal.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and sending second indication information to the terminal, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the terminal to start the second antenna.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and sending indication information for indicating the terminal to close the first antenna to the terminal.

Optionally, the determining that the terminal uses the second antenna includes: and communicating with the terminal through the first antenna and the second antenna.

Optionally, uplink communication is performed with the terminal through the first antenna, and downlink communication is performed with the terminal through the second antenna; or communicate with the terminal through the first antenna, and the second antenna is used for the terminal to measure.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and sending or indicating second configuration information of the second antenna to the terminal, wherein the second configuration information is the same as or different from the first configuration of the first antenna.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and receiving second configuration information which is used for indicating a second antenna and is the same as the first configuration information of the first antenna from the terminal.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and receiving measurement result indication information from the terminal, wherein the measurement result indication information is used for indicating an antenna corresponding to the measurement result, or the measurement result indication information is used for indicating that the measurement result is the measurement result before or after the terminal uses the second antenna.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, which may implement the method of the first aspect or any of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect. The apparatus comprises corresponding units or modules for performing the above-described methods. The units or modules included in the apparatus may be implemented in a software and/or hardware manner. The device may be, for example, a terminal, a chip system, or a processor that supports the terminal to implement the above method, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the terminal functions.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide an apparatus capable of implementing the method of the second aspect or any of the possible embodiments of the second aspect. The apparatus comprises corresponding units or modules for performing the above-described methods. The units or modules included in the apparatus may be implemented in a software and/or hardware manner. The device may be, for example, a network device, a chip system, or a processor that supports the network device to implement the method, or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the network device.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, including: a processor coupled to a memory for storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to carry out the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, including: a processor coupled to a memory for storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to carry out the method of the third aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the third aspect.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform the method of the first aspect, or any of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform the method of the second aspect, or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the first aspect, or any of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the second aspect or any of the possible embodiments of the second aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, including: a processor coupled to a memory for storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the chip to implement the method of the first aspect, the second aspect, any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect, or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including: the apparatus of the third aspect and the apparatus of the fourth aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including: the apparatus of the fifth aspect above and the apparatus of the sixth aspect above.

It is to be understood that the technical effects of any one of the possible embodiments of the second aspect to the thirteenth aspect may be referred to the technical effects of any one of the possible designs of the data transmission method described in any one of the foregoing aspects, and are not repeated.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application for communication through an omni-directional antenna;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application for communication through a directional antenna;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of another apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

First, in order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, some terms related to the embodiments of the present application will be described:

Beamforming: generally, electromagnetic waves have power loss when propagating in air, and the higher the frequency of the electromagnetic waves, the larger the loss, and the smaller the coverage range of the electromagnetic waves correspondingly. There is a need to improve coverage using multi-antenna techniques. Under the multi-antenna technology, due to interference and diffraction characteristics of electromagnetic waves, after signals with different amplitudes and phases transmitted by different antennas are overlapped, the energy in certain directions can be enhanced, and the energy in certain directions can be weakened. In this case the electromagnetic wave will radiate into a beam of a narrow width and in a certain direction. With this property of multiple antennas, the process of beamforming is interfered with, so that the width and direction of the beam that we want are formed, which is beamforming. The purpose of beam management techniques is to establish and maintain a suitable set of beams at the transmitting and receiving ends to maintain a good wireless connection, which mainly includes service beam selection and beam failure recovery.

Omni-directional antenna: it is generally meant that the signal pattern of the antenna is a 360 degree coverage antenna. For example, it is generally shown that the radiation is uniformly 360 ° in a horizontal pattern, which is commonly known as non-directivity, and a beam having a certain width in a vertical pattern, the smaller the lobe width, the larger the gain. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a terminal using an omni-directional antenna to communicate with a network device.

Directional antenna: typically, the signal pattern of the antenna covers only a certain angular range. For example, 30 degrees. For example, directional antennas generally focus radio frequency energy in a particular direction. As the gain of the directional antenna increases, the coverage distance increases, but the effective coverage angle decreases. For a directional antenna, the lobe will be pushed in a certain direction and little energy is present at the back of the antenna. A schematic diagram of a terminal communicating with a network device using a directional antenna is shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating one possible, non-limiting system. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 1000 includes a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) 100 and a Core Network (CN) 200.RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b, collectively 110 in fig. 1) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j, collectively 120 in fig. 1). Other RAN nodes may also be included in the RAN100, such as wireless relay devices and/or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in fig. 1), and the like. Terminal 120 is connected to RAN node 110 wirelessly. RAN node 110 is connected to core network 200 by wireless or wired means. The core network device in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN100 may be different physical devices, or may be the same physical device integrated with the core network logic function and the radio access network logic function. The following description will be made taking a terminal as an example of a UAV and an access network device as an example of a base station. UAVs are equipped with directional antennas or multiple pairs of antennas of different capabilities. For example, in one possible scenario, a UAV is equipped with a set of directional antennas and a set of omni-directional antennas.

The communication system may support, for example, a communication system of 2G,3G,4G, or 5G (sometimes also referred to as new radio, NR) access technology, a wireless fidelity (WIRELESS FIDEL ITY, wiFi) system, a third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) related cellular system, a communication system supporting convergence of multiple wireless technologies, or a future-oriented evolution system.

It should be noted that the architecture diagram of the communication system shown in fig. 1 is merely an exemplary architecture diagram, and although not shown, the communication system shown in fig. 1 may further include other functional entities besides the network functional entities shown in fig. 1, which is not limited. The network elements in the architecture of fig. 1, the names of interfaces between the network elements are just an example, and the names of interfaces between the network elements in the specific implementation can be other names, which are not limited in particular by the embodiment of the present application.

In the present application, a terminal (or referred to as a terminal device) is a device having a wireless transceiver function, and may be a fixed device, a mobile device, a handheld device (for example, a mobile phone), a wearable device, a vehicle-mounted device, or a wireless apparatus (for example, a communication module, a modem, or a chip system) built in the above device. The terminal device is used for connecting people, objects, machines and the like, and can be widely used in various scenes, including but not limited to the following scenes: cellular communication, device-to-device communication (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (vehicle to everything, V2X), machine-to-machine/machine-to-machine-type communications, M2M/MTC), internet of things (internet of things, ioT), virtual reality (virtual real ity, VR), augmented reality (augmented real ity, AR), industrial control (industrial control), unmanned (SELF DRIVING), remote medical (remote medical), smart grid (SMART GRID), smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city (SMART CITY), drone, robot, etc. A terminal device may sometimes be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a terminal, an access station, a UE station, a remote station, a wireless communication device, or a user equipment, etc., and for convenience of description, the UE will be exemplified as a terminal in the present application.

The network device in the present application comprises, for example, an access network device, and/or a core network device. The access network device is a device with a wireless transceiving function and is used for communicating with the terminal. The access network device includes, but is not limited to, a base station (BTS, node B, eNodeB/eNB, or gNodeB/gNB), a transceiver point (TRANSMISS ION RECEPT ION POINT, TRP), a base station for subsequent evolution of 3GPP, an access Node in a WiFi system, a wireless relay Node, a wireless backhaul Node, and the like in the above communication system. The base station may be: macro base station, micro base station, pico base station, small station, relay station, etc. Multiple base stations may support networks of the same access technology as mentioned above, or may support networks of different access technologies as mentioned above. A base station may comprise one or more co-sited or non-co-sited transmission reception points. The network device may also be a centralized unit (central ized unit, CU), and/or a Distributed Unit (DU). The network device may also be a server, a wearable device, or an in-vehicle device, etc. For example, the network device in the V2X technology may be a Road Side Unit (RSU). An access network device will be described below taking a base station as an example. The communication system may comprise a plurality of network devices, which may be the same type of base station or different types of base stations. The base station may communicate with the terminal device or may communicate with the terminal device through the relay station. A terminal device may communicate with multiple base stations in different access technologies. The core network equipment is used for realizing the functions of mobile management, data processing, session management, policy and charging and the like. The names of devices implementing the core network function in the systems of different access technologies may be different, and the present application is not limited thereto. Taking a 5G system as an example, the core network device includes: an access and mobility management function (ACCESS AND mobi L ITY MANAGEMENT funct ion, AMF), a session management function (sess ion management funct ion, SMF), or a user plane function (user plane funct ion, UPF), etc.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device for implementing the function of the network device may be a network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system, and the device may be installed in the network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device is exemplified by the network device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

The data transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application is specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in the following embodiments of the present application, a name of a message between each network element or a name of each parameter in a message is only an example, and in specific implementations, other names may also be used, which is not limited in particular by the embodiments of the present application.

Mobile communication systems are designed mainly for terrestrial UEs, but with the popularity of UAVs, the measurement mechanisms for UAVs are increasingly being discussed. The communication environment of the UAV in the air is very different from the ground, firstly, because the base station radiates electromagnetic waves towards the ground, the signals in the air are basically ground signal reflection and beam side lobes of the base station, and therefore, the signals received by the UAV are weaker. In addition, since the UAV is mainly based on Los path in the air, the UAV can receive more base station signals. In this case, in the densely deployed base station area, the UAV may cause serious uplink interference if it is equipped with an omni-directional antenna. In order to mitigate uplink interference caused by the UAV to the base station, one possible solution is to introduce directional antennas on the UAV to reduce the UAV interference to surrounding base stations. Thus, the UAV may be equipped with multiple antennas of different capabilities at the same time, e.g., the UAV is equipped with an omni-directional antenna and a directional antenna. When the UAV is equipped with multiple antennas with different capabilities at the same time, how the UAV manages the multiple antennas with different capabilities is a problem to be solved because the interference caused by the different antennas to surrounding base stations is different.

The application provides a method for switching antennas of unmanned aerial vehicles, which introduces how to manage antennas of UAVs, for example, under what conditions the UAVs switch antennas; how the different antennas are configured when the UAV switches antennas; or after switching the antenna, on the measurement results. By the method, the antennas with different capacities of the unmanned aerial vehicle can be managed, and the communication performance of the unmanned aerial vehicle is improved.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 400 according to an embodiment of the present application, which is used to introduce an antenna switching method of a terminal (hereinafter, a terminal is taken as an example of a UAV to describe the terminal), so as to improve communication performance of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

As shown in fig. 4, the method 400 may include the following steps.

S410: the UAV communicates using a first antenna, the UAV including a first antenna and a second antenna.

It will be readily appreciated that communicating does not limit the UAV to having access to the network device, and may include situations where the UAV is not in access with the network device.

In one possible implementation, the UAV establishes a connection with the network device, and the UAV communicates with the network device using a first antenna.

In another possible implementation, the UAV does not establish a connection with the network device, or is attempting to establish a connection with the network device, the UAV communicates using the first antenna.

The UAV including the first antenna and the second antenna is understood to be antennas where the UAV has (or is referred to as being equipped with) a plurality of different capabilities. For example, the first antenna is an omni-directional antenna and the second antenna is a directional antenna; or the first antenna is a directional antenna, and the second antenna is an omni-directional antenna; of course, the UAV may also have multiple omni-directional antennas or multiple directional antennas, with the first antenna being a first directional antenna and the second antenna being a second directional antenna, where the antenna capabilities of the first and second directional antennas are different. Or the first antenna is a first omni-directional antenna, and the second antenna is a second omni-directional antenna, wherein the antenna capacities of the first omni-directional antenna and the second omni-directional antenna are different.

For example, when the UAV is equipped with both a directional antenna and an omni-directional antenna, and the omni-directional antenna is enabled for communication.

S420: the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna.

That is, the UAV may determine to turn on the second antenna for communication when using the first antenna for communication.

The UAV may determine to turn on the second antenna in a number of ways, for example, the UAV may autonomously determine to turn on the second antenna, and the UAV may also determine to turn on the second antenna by interacting with the network device. The condition for specifically determining to turn on the second antenna may also be various, for example, the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna according to one or more of its own measurement information, configuration information of the network device, pre-configuration information, and indication information.

For example, the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna based on first information including first measurement information including one or more of quality information, altitude information, speed information, area information of the cell, and/or second indication information. The second indication information is used for indicating to turn on the second antenna. The first measurement information may be understood as measurement information of the UAV itself, which may also be referred to as measurement information measured by the UAV.

In one possible implementation, the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna based on the quality information of the cell. The quality information of the cell includes one or more of quality information of a serving cell of the UAV, quality information of neighboring cells, or measured quality information of the cell. The neighboring cell may be a neighboring cell measured by a UAV. Serving cell (to be complemented). The measured cell may be a cell measured using the first antenna.

Optionally, the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna according to the quality information and the threshold information of the cell. The threshold information includes one or more of threshold information corresponding to a serving cell, threshold information corresponding to a neighboring cell, and a first threshold.

For example, the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna when the quality of the serving cell is below threshold information (described as threshold a for example) corresponding to the serving cell and/or the quality of the neighboring cell is below threshold information (described as threshold B for example) corresponding to the neighboring cell. The threshold information that the quality of the serving cell is lower than the corresponding serving cell may be replaced by the quality of the serving cell is lower than the threshold a plus a first offset, where the first offset may be a positive number or a negative number. The quality of the neighboring cell below the threshold value information corresponding to the neighboring cell may be replaced by the quality information of the neighboring cell below the threshold value B plus a second offset, where the second offset may be a positive number or a negative number, or the number of neighboring cells whose quality information is above the threshold value B may be replaced by less than a first value, for example, the first value is 2.

For another example, the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna based on the measured quality information of the cell being below a first threshold.

Alternatively, the threshold information, the first offset, the second offset, and the first value may be network device configured, or pre-defined by a protocol, or determined by a UAV.

In yet another possible implementation, the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna based on the UAV reaching a corresponding altitude, speed, or reaching a particular area. For example, the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna based on one or more of altitude information, speed information, area information, and first configuration information.

The altitude information includes altitude information of the UAV, which may be altitude value information or altitude range (may also be referred to as altitude section) information, and may be absolute altitude or relative altitude. Exemplary altitude information includes UAV altitude of 200m; or the altitude information includes a height of the UAV greater than 100m and less than 200m.

The speed information includes speed information of the UAV, which is illustratively current speed information of the UAV or average speed information, maximum speed information, or minimum speed information of the UAV over a period of time.

The area information includes the cell coverage of the network device, or tracking area range, or actual geographical location information such as the no-fly area information specified by the administration. For example, the zone information includes that the UAV is in zone 1.

The first configuration information includes one or more of altitude configuration information, speed configuration information, or area configuration information. Specifically, the first configuration information may be configured by the network device (for example, the network device is described as a base station) in advance, for example, the base station configures the first configuration information for the UAV at the time of initial access. Or the first configuration information is preconfigured in the UAV. Alternatively, the first configuration information may include one or more sets of corresponding parameters, such as using an omni-directional antenna at 100m, using a directional antenna at 200m, and so on. Or the first configuration information is obtained from other network elements, which may be, for example, UAV controllers or UAV controlling network elements. The first configuration information is either preconfigured, predefined by a protocol, or determined by the UAV.

In yet another possible embodiment, the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna based on the second indication information

The second indication information instructs the UAV to turn on the second antenna. Optionally, the UAV receives second indication information from the network device. The embodiment of the application does not limit the content or the indication mode of the second indication information. For example, the second indication information may be bit information.

The multiple ways in which the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna may be used alone, i.e., the UAV may turn on the second antenna using one of the ways, or any two or more of the multiple ways may be used in combination, i.e., the UAV may determine to turn on the second antenna in a combination of the multiple ways, which may improve the accuracy of determining to turn on the second antenna. The UAV may determine whether to turn on the second antenna by any of the methods described above, and may be determined by the UAV itself, or may be specified by a protocol. Or, in addition to the above, the UAV may determine to turn on the second antenna in other manners, and the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna in a manner that is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

It is readily appreciated that the method may also include the network device determining that the UAV uses the second antenna.

The network device determining that the UAV uses the second antenna may be referred to as the network device determining that the UAV needs to perform a handoff of the antenna, or as determining to send second indication information to the UAV, or as the network device determining to communicate with the UAV through the second antenna of the UAV, or as the network device determining that the UAV satisfies an antenna handoff condition.

The network device may determine that the UAV uses the second antenna in a number of ways. For example, the network device may autonomously determine, and the network device may also determine by interacting with the UAV. For example, the network device determines that the UAV uses the second antenna based on one or more of its own measurement information, UAV indication information, and UAV request information.

For example, the network device determines from the second information that the UAV uses the second antenna.

Wherein the second information includes one or more of first indication information, first request information, and second measurement information.

The first indication information is used for indicating that the UAV has started the second antenna;

Optionally, in one possible manner, the first request information is used to instruct the UAV to request to turn on the second antenna. The embodiment of the application does not limit the content of the first indication information and the first request information, for example, the first indication information or the first request information includes the identification of the second antenna.

Optionally, in yet another possible manner, the first request information is used to indicate first measurement information of the UAV, where the first measurement information includes one or more of quality information, altitude information, speed information, and area information of the cell. The first request information may be sent periodically, or may be sent to the network device for requesting to turn on the second antenna after the UAV determines that the UAV itself satisfies the condition of turning on the second antenna. The network device may determine whether the terminal uses the second antenna based on an internal implementation of the network device after receiving the first request information. For example, the network device, upon receiving the first measurement information, determines from the first measurement information that the UAV uses the second antenna. Regarding the first measurement information and the manner in which the UAV determines itself to satisfy the condition of turning on the second antenna, reference may be made to the UAV in step S420 described above for determining a description of turning on the second antenna based on the first measurement information. The method of determining, by the network device, that the UAV uses the second antenna according to the first measurement information is similar to the method of determining, by the UAV, to turn on the second antenna according to the first measurement information, except that the network device determines according to the first measurement information after obtaining the first measurement information from the UAV, which is not described in detail in the embodiments of the present application.

The second measurement information includes one or more of serving cell information, interference information, or deployment information of the UAV. The service cell information of the UAV comprises load information of the service cell of the UAV, and the interference information comprises uplink interference information detected by the network equipment. The deployment information includes deployment information of the network device. For example, the network device determines that the load of the UAV serving cell is too high or the detected uplink interference is too strong according to the second measurement information, or the network device is deployed in a dense area, and the network device determines that the UAV uses the second antenna.

The above ways in which the network device determines that the UAV uses the second antenna may be applied alone, i.e., the network device may determine using one of the ways, or any two or more of the above ways may be applied in combination, i.e., the network device may determine in a comprehensive plurality of ways, which may improve the accuracy of the determination. Whether the network device determines that the UAV uses the second antenna in any of the manners described above may be determined by the network device itself or may be specified by a protocol. Or in addition to the above, the network device may determine that the UAV uses the second antenna in other manners, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to the manner in which the network device determines that the UAV uses the second antenna.

In one possible approach, after the UAV turns on the second antenna, the UAV may turn off the first antenna or may choose to continue using the first antenna.

In one possible approach, the UAV autonomously determines to turn off the first antenna. That is, after the UAV turns on the second antenna, the UAV turns off the first antenna. Optionally, after turning off the first antenna, the UAV sends an indication information to the network device indicating that the first antenna has been turned off. Accordingly, the network device receives indication information from the UAV indicating that the first antenna has been turned off.

In one possible approach, the network device determines to turn off the first antenna. The network device sends indication information to the UAV indicating that the UAV closes the first antenna, and the UVA receives the indication information from the network device indicating that the UAV closes the first antenna. The UAV turns off the first antenna according to the indication information.

It is readily understood that the network device may be configured to send, to the UAV, the indication information indicating that the UAV turns off the first antenna after receiving the indication information sent by the UAV to indicate that the second antenna is turned on. Or the network device may be configured to send, to the UAV, indication information indicating that the UAV turns on the second antenna, simultaneously or after sending, to the UAV, indication information indicating that the UAV turns off the first antenna.

Optionally, the method further includes S430, the UAV communicating using a second antenna.

In one possible approach, the UAV communicates using a second antenna, the first antenna being turned off.

In yet another possible manner, the first antenna and the second antenna are used to communicate with each other. For example, uplink communication is performed with the network device using the first antenna, and downlink communication is performed with the network device using the second antenna; or communicate with the network device using a first antenna and make measurements using a second antenna.

The information sent by the network device to the UAV in the embodiment of the present application may be carried in a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) message, a media access control (MEDIA ACCESS) Control Element (CE), or downlink control information (downl ink control informat ion, DCI) and other messages to be sent to the UAV.

It will be readily appreciated that the method may also include processing of the measurement results by the UAV when switching antennas, how the different antennas are configured, or after switching antennas. This section may be referred to in the description of the embodiments of fig. 5 and/or fig. 6.

According to the method, when the terminal is provided with the first antenna and the second antenna, the terminal autonomously determines to start the second antenna or starts the second antenna according to the indication of the network equipment, so that the management efficiency of the second antenna is improved, and the communication performance of the terminal is improved.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating how to determine configuration information of an antenna after antenna switching of a terminal (hereinafter, the terminal is taken as an example for UAV) according to an embodiment of the present application, so as to improve communication performance of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

510: The UAV switches from the first antenna to the second antenna. Wherein the UAV includes a first antenna and a second antenna. The UAV may communicate via the first antenna and/or the second antenna.

It will be readily appreciated that the embodiment shown in fig. 5 may be combined with the embodiment of fig. 4, for example, one possible implementation of 510 is 510 comprising 410 and 420.

520: The UAV determines second configuration information for the second antenna.

For example, when the UAV switches from the first antenna to the second antenna, it may also be referred to as when the UAV determines to turn on the second antenna after turning on the first antenna (or when the UAV has turned on the second antenna), the UAV determines second configuration information for the second antenna. It is easy to understand that the embodiment of the application does not limit the order of determining to start the second antenna by the UAV and determining the second configuration information by the UAV, and may be determined simultaneously, or may be determined after the UAV determines to start the second antenna, or may be determined after the UAV determines the second configuration information to start the second antenna. Referring to the description of step S403, the present application is not limited to whether the first antenna is turned off after the second antenna is turned on.

In one possible approach, the UAV determines that the second antenna applies the first configuration information of the first antenna. That is, the first antenna and the second antenna take the same configuration information, and the first configuration information of the first antenna is the same as the second configuration information. Optionally, the UAV indicates to the network device that the second antenna and the second antenna apply the same set of configurations. Or alternatively, the UAV determines that the second configuration information is the same as the first configuration information based on the indication information from the network device. For example, the network device may send an indication to the UAV that the second antenna applies the configuration of the first antenna when it is known or determined that the second antenna is on.

In yet another possible manner, the UAV determines second configuration information for the second antenna based on pre-configuration information or configuration information from the network device. Alternatively, the second configuration information is different from the first configuration information, that is, the second antenna may be configured separately. Alternatively, the second configuration information may be pre-configured in the UAV. Or the second configuration information is network device configured. For example, as the network device may include second configuration information and/or first configuration information in a configuration that is issued when the UAV initially accesses, the first configuration information is applied when the UAV uses the first antenna, and the second configuration information is applied when the UAV uses the second antenna. Or after the UAV is switched to the second antenna, sending indication information to the network equipment, indicating that the UAV is switched to the second antenna currently, and determining whether to issue the first configuration information and/or the second configuration information by the network equipment.

Optionally, the UAV determines the power of the second antenna.

In one possible implementation, the UAV determines the power of the second antenna from the power of the first antenna. It is understood that the conversion is based on the power between the first antenna and the second antenna. Specifically, assuming that the transmitting power of the first antenna is a baseline, after the UAV switches to the second antenna, performing power conversion through a correlation coefficient, if the conversion coefficient is α, multiplying the transmitting power of the first antenna by α is the power of the second antenna. The embodiments of the present application are not limited in the manner in which the power of the second antenna is determined based on the power of the first antenna, but are merely examples herein.

Illustratively, the second configuration information includes one or more of the following: measurement interval, measurement period, or transmit power. It is easy to understand that the second configuration information may also include other information, and embodiments of the present application are not limited.

According to the method, when the UAV is provided with different types of antennas, after the UAV switches the antennas, the related antenna configuration can be selected to be actively applied, or the related configuration can be issued by the base station, and optionally, the UAV performs power conversion, so that the corresponding configuration can be determined after the antennas are switched.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating how to perform measurement after antenna switching of a terminal (hereinafter, the terminal is taken as an example for UAV) according to an embodiment of the present application, so as to improve communication performance of an unmanned aerial vehicle.

610: The UAV switches from the first antenna to the second antenna. Wherein the UAV includes a first antenna and a second antenna. The UAV may communicate via the first antenna and/or the second antenna. Reference may be made to the relevant description of step 510.

620: The UAV sends the measurement results to the network device. Accordingly, the network device receives measurements from the UAV.

For example, the UAV sends a measurement report to the network device, the measurement report including the measurement results therein. The measurement may include information measured by the UAV, for example, the measurement may include one or more of altitude information, speed information, and position information of the UAV.

Optionally, the UAV clears the measurement using the first antenna measurement (which may also be referred to as a measurement prior to antenna switching or a historical measurement). For example, after the UAV measures a cell satisfying the condition through the first antenna, the cell is added to the trigger cell list, and after the UAV switches from the first antenna to the second antenna, the UAV clears the cell in the trigger cell list that was added after the measurement through the first antenna. Or the UAV chooses to report the measurement results before the antenna switching to the network equipment, and further clears the measurement results before the antenna switching. Or not clear the measurements prior to antenna switching, the UAV indicates in the measurement report which measurements are historical measurements and which measurements are measurements measured after antenna switching. The present application is not limited to the manner of indication, and for example, indication may be performed by means of bits, bit 1 indicates that the measurement result is a history measurement result, and bit 0 indicates that the measurement result is a measurement result after switching the antenna. The measurement result may also be referred to as measurement information. That is, the network device receives measurement result indication information from the UAV, the measurement result indication information being used to indicate an antenna to which the measurement result corresponds, or the measurement result indication information being used to indicate that the measurement result is a measurement result before or after the UAV uses the second antenna.

Optionally, after antenna switching, the UAV reports the measurement result to the network device, where the measurement result may include the measurement result of the cell after antenna switching, for example, information of the UAV such as height, speed, and position. The measurement reporting process may be indicated by the network device or autonomously determined by the UAV. If the indication is sent by the network equipment, the UAV sends indication information firstly, the indication information is used for indicating that the antenna is switched or the measurement result after the antenna is switched is available, and the network equipment indicates the UAV to report the measurement result in response to the indication information.

By this method, the UAV is equipped with both directional and omni-directional antennas, and after the UAV performs an antenna switch, the UAV can choose to clear the measurement before or not clear, indicate in the measurement report which are the measurement before the antenna switch, or which are the measurement after the antenna switch.

It is to be understood that the above-described method embodiments may be performed independently or in combination, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

Corresponding to the method given by the above method embodiment, the embodiment of the present application further provides a corresponding apparatus, including a module for executing the corresponding module of the above embodiment. The modules may be software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware.

Fig. 7 provides a schematic structural diagram of a terminal. The terminal may be adapted for use in the scenario illustrated in fig. 1. The terminal or a component in the terminal may perform the aforementioned methods as well as various possible embodiments. For convenience of explanation, fig. 7 shows only main components of the terminal. As shown in fig. 7, terminal 1000 can include a processor, memory, control circuitry, antenna, and input-output devices. The processor is mainly used for processing the communication protocol and the communication data, controlling the whole terminal, executing the software program and processing the data of the software program. The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting a baseband signal and a radio frequency signal and processing the radio frequency signal. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user.

When the terminal is started, the processor can read the software program in the storage unit, analyze and execute the instructions of the software program and process the data of the software program. When data is required to be transmitted wirelessly, the processor carries out baseband processing on the data to be transmitted and then outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit processes the baseband signal to obtain a radio frequency signal and transmits the radio frequency signal outwards in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the terminal, the radio frequency circuit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, the radio frequency signal is further converted into a baseband signal, and the baseband signal is output to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

For ease of illustration, fig. 7 shows only one memory and processor. In an actual terminal, there may be multiple processors and memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or storage device, etc., and embodiments of the present application are not limited in this respect.

As an alternative implementation manner, the processor may include a baseband processor, which is mainly used for processing the communication protocol and the communication data, and a central processor, which is mainly used for controlling the whole terminal device, executing a software program, and processing the data of the software program. The processor in fig. 7 integrates the functions of a baseband processor and a central processing unit, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may be separate processors, interconnected by bus technology, etc. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a terminal may include multiple baseband processors to accommodate different network formats, and that a terminal may include multiple central processors to enhance its processing capabilities, with various components of the terminal being connectable via various buses. The baseband processor may also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit may also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing the communication protocol and the communication data may be built in the processor, or may be stored in the storage unit in the form of a software program, which is executed by the processor to realize the baseband processing function.

In one example, an antenna and a control circuit having a transmitting/receiving function may be regarded as the transmitting/receiving unit 1011 of the terminal 1000, and a processor having a processing function may be regarded as the processing unit 1012 of the terminal 1000. As shown in fig. 7, terminal 1000 includes a transceiver unit 1011 and a processing unit 1012. The transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver device, etc. Alternatively, a device for realizing the receiving function in the transceiver unit 1011 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for realizing the transmitting function in the transceiver unit 1011 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, i.e., the transceiver unit 1011 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. For example, the receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitting unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitting circuit, etc. Alternatively, the receiving unit and the transmitting unit may be integrated together, or may be a plurality of independent units. The receiving unit and the transmitting unit may be located in one geographical location or may be distributed among a plurality of geographical locations.

As shown in FIG. 8, a further embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus 1100. The device may be a terminal or a component of a terminal (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.). Or the apparatus may be a network device, a component of a network device (e.g., an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.), or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functionality of the network device. The device may also be other communication modules. For example, the apparatus 1100 may implement the functions of a network device in the methods shown in fig. 4-6, or the apparatus 1100 may implement the functions of a terminal in the methods shown in fig. 4-6. The apparatus 1100 may include an interface module 1101 (or referred to as an interface unit) and a processing module 1102 (or referred to as a processing unit), and may also include a storage module 1103 (or referred to as a storage unit).

For example, the processing module 1102 is configured to communicate with a network device using a first antenna, where the terminal includes the first antenna and a second antenna; the processing module 1102 is further configured to determine to turn on the second antenna according to the first information, where the first information includes first measurement information and/or second indication information, and the first measurement information includes one or more of quality information, altitude information, speed information, and area information of the cell, and the second indication information is used to indicate to turn on the second antenna.

Or, for example, the processing module 1102 is configured to communicate with a terminal through a first antenna of the terminal, where the terminal includes the first antenna and a second antenna; the processing module 1102 is further configured to determine that the terminal uses the second antenna according to the second information; the second information comprises one or more of first indication information, first request information and second measurement information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal opens the second antenna; the first request information is used for indicating the terminal to request to start the second antenna, or the first request information is used for indicating first measurement information of the terminal, and the first measurement information comprises one or more of quality information, altitude information, speed information and area information of a cell; the second measurement information includes one or more of serving cell information, interference information, or deployment information of the terminal.

In one possible design, one or more modules as in FIG. 8 may be implemented by one or more processors or by one or more processors and memory; or by one or more processors and transceivers; or by one or more processors, memory, and transceivers, to which embodiments of the application are not limited. The processor, the memory and the transceiver can be arranged separately or integrated.

The device has the function of realizing the terminal described in the embodiment of the application, for example, the device comprises a module or a unit or means (means) corresponding to the steps involved in the terminal for executing the terminal described in the embodiment of the application, and the function or the unit or means (means) can be realized by software or hardware, can be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware, and can also be realized by combining software and hardware. Reference is further made in detail to the corresponding description in the foregoing corresponding method embodiments. Or the apparatus has a function of implementing the radio access network device described in the embodiment of the present application, for example, the apparatus includes a module or a unit or means (means) corresponding to the steps involved in the radio access network device described in the embodiment of the present application, where the function or the unit or means (means) may be implemented by software, or implemented by hardware, or implemented by executing corresponding software by hardware, or implemented by a combination of software and hardware. Reference is further made in detail to the corresponding description in the foregoing corresponding method embodiments.

In one possible design, apparatus 1100 includes: a processing module 1102 and an interface module 1101. The apparatus 1100 may be, for example, a terminal, a component of a terminal (e.g., a processor, a chip, or a system-on-chip), or a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the terminal functionality. The interface module 1101 is configured to receive configuration information from a network device, where the configuration information is used to configure the apparatus 1100 to communicate with the network device through the second terminal; the second terminal is in radio resource control connection with the network device, and a first communication interface exists between the multimedia access control layer of the apparatus 1100 and the physical layer of the second terminal; the processing module 1102 is configured to communicate via a first communication interface.

In another possible design, apparatus 1100 includes an interface module 1101 and a processing module 1102. The interface module 1101 is configured to receive configuration information from a network device, where the configuration information is used to configure the apparatus 1100 to assist the first terminal in communicating with the network device; the first terminal has radio resource control connection with the network device, and a first communication interface exists between a multimedia access control layer of the first terminal and a physical layer of the apparatus 1100; the processing module 1102 is configured to communicate via a first communication interface.

In yet another possible design, apparatus 1100 includes an interface module 1101 and a processing module 1102. The interface module 1101 is configured to send configuration information to the first terminal, where the configuration information is used to configure the first terminal to communicate with the apparatus 1100 through the second terminal; the second terminal is connected with the device 1100 by radio resource control, and a first communication interface exists between the multimedia access control layer of the first terminal and the physical layer of the second terminal; the processing module 1102 is configured to communicate via a first communication interface.

It can be appreciated that the beneficial effects corresponding to the apparatus 1100 and the various possible embodiments described above may refer to the description in the foregoing method embodiments or the summary of the invention, and are not repeated herein.

Optionally, the apparatus 1100 may further include a storage module 1103 for storing data or instructions (which may also be referred to as codes or programs), and the other modules may interact or be coupled with the storage module to implement the corresponding methods or functions. For example, the processing module 1102 may read data or instructions in the storage module 1103, so that the apparatus 1100 implements the method in the above embodiment.

In one example, a module in the above apparatus may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above method, for example: one or more Application SPECIFIC INTEGRATED Circuits (ASIC), or one or more microprocessors (DIGITAL SINGNAL processors, DSP), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (field programmable GATE ARRAY, FPGA), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when a module in an apparatus may be implemented in the form of a scheduler of processing elements, the processing elements may be general-purpose processors, such as a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU) or other processor that may invoke a program. For another example, the units may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

Referring to fig. 9, a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application may be used to implement the above method and various possible implementations. As shown in fig. 9, the apparatus includes: processor 1210 and interface 1230, processor 1210 being coupled with interface 1230. Interface 1230 is used to enable communication with other modules or devices. Interface 1230 may be a transceiver or an input-output interface. The interface 1230 may be, for example, an interface circuit. Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a memory 1220 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1210 or for storing input data required by the processor 1210 to execute instructions or for storing data generated after the processor 1210 executes instructions.

The above-described methods, as well as various possible implementations, may be implemented by processor 1210 invoking a program or instruction stored in memory 1220. The memory 1220 may be internal to the device or external to the device, as the application is not limited in this regard.

Alternatively, the functions/implementation of the interface module 1101 and the processing module 1102 in fig. 8 may be implemented by the processor 1210 in the apparatus shown in fig. 9. Or the functions/implementation of the processing module 1102 in fig. 8 may be implemented by the processor 1210 in the apparatus shown in fig. 9, the functions/implementation of the interface module 1101 in fig. 8 may be implemented by the interface 1230 in the apparatus shown in fig. 9, and, illustratively, the functions/implementation of the interface module 1101 may be implemented by the processor invoking program instructions in a memory to drive the interface 1230.

When the device is a chip applied to the terminal, the chip of the terminal realizes the functions of the terminal in the embodiment of the method. The chip receives information from other modules in the terminal (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna), which information is from other terminals or radio access network devices; or the chip sends information to other modules in the terminal, such as a radio frequency module or an antenna, which the terminal sends to other terminals or radio access network devices.

When the apparatus is a chip applied to a network device (e.g., a radio access network device), the chip implements the function of the radio access network device in the method embodiment. The chip receives information from other modules (e.g., radio frequency modules or antennas) in the radio access network device, the information being from other radio access network devices or terminals; or the chip sends information to other modules (e.g., radio frequency modules or antennas) in the radio access network device, which the radio access network device sends to other radio access network devices or terminals.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: the first, second, etc. numbers referred to in the present application are merely for convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application, but also to indicate the sequence. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. "at least one" means one or more. At least two means two or more. "at least one," "any one," or the like, refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one of a, b, or c (species ) may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or plural. "plurality" means two or more, and the like.

It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the foregoing processes do not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by the functions and internal logic thereof, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, produces a flow or function in accordance with embodiments of the present application, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another, for example, by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device including one or more servers, data centers, etc. that can be integrated with the available medium. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid State Drive (SSD)), etc.

The steps of a method described in embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software element executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software units may be stored in random access memory (random access memory, RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), registers, hard disk, a removable disk, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In an example, a storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC.

The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which when executed by a computer performs the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

The application also provides a computer program product which, when executed by a computer, implements the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

The same or similar parts may be referred to each other in the various embodiments of the application. In the embodiments of the present application, and the respective implementation/implementation methods in the embodiments, if there is no specific description and logic conflict, terms and/or descriptions between different embodiments, and between the respective implementation/implementation methods in the embodiments, may be consistent and may refer to each other, and technical features in the different embodiments, and the respective implementation/implementation methods in the embodiments, may be combined to form a new embodiment, implementation, or implementation method according to their inherent logic relationship. The embodiments of the present application described above do not limit the scope of the present application.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present application, and the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A communication method applied to a terminal, comprising:

Communicating with a network device using a first antenna, the terminal comprising the first antenna and a second antenna;

And determining to turn on the second antenna according to first information, wherein the first information comprises first measurement information and/or second indication information, the first measurement information comprises one or more of quality information, altitude information, speed information and area information of a cell, and the second indication information is used for indicating to turn on the second antenna.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality information of the cell comprises one or more of quality information of a serving cell of the first antenna connection, quality information of a neighboring cell, and measured quality information of the cell.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said determining to turn on the second antenna based on the first information comprises:

And determining to start the second antenna according to the quality information and the threshold information of the cell, wherein the threshold information comprises one or more of threshold information corresponding to the service cell, threshold information corresponding to an adjacent cell and a first threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining to turn on the second antenna based on the quality information of the cell and the threshold information comprises:

And determining to turn on the second antenna according to the measured quality of the cell being lower than the first threshold.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining to turn on the second antenna based on the quality information of the cell and the threshold information comprises:

And determining to turn on the second antenna according to the quality of the serving cell being lower than the threshold information corresponding to the serving cell and/or the quality of the adjacent cell being lower than the threshold information corresponding to the adjacent cell.

6. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the determining to turn on the second antenna based on the first information comprises:

And determining to turn on the second antenna according to one or more of the altitude information, the speed information, the area information and first configuration information, wherein the first configuration information comprises one or more of altitude configuration information, speed configuration information or area configuration information.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising:

and sending first indication information or first request information to the network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal starts the second antenna, the first request information is used for indicating that the second antenna is requested to be started, or the first request information is used for indicating the first measurement information of the terminal.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising:

The second indication information from the network device is received.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising:

and communicating by using the second antenna.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising:

and receiving indication information from the network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal to close the first antenna.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising:

And closing the first antenna.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the communicating using the second antenna comprises:

Communication is performed using the first antenna and the second antenna.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first antenna is used for upstream communication with the network device and the second antenna is used for downstream communication with the network device; or communicate with the network device using the first antenna and measure using the second antenna.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising:

Determining second configuration information of the second antenna, wherein the second configuration information is the same as the first configuration information of the first antenna, or the second configuration information is preconfigured, or the second configuration information is configured by the network device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein when the second configuration information is the same as the first configuration information of the first antenna, the method further comprises: and sending indication information for indicating that the second configuration information is the same as the first configuration information to the network equipment.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, further comprising:

And determining the power of the second antenna according to the power of the first antenna.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, further comprising:

And sending measurement result indication information to the network equipment, wherein the measurement result indication information is used for indicating an antenna corresponding to the measurement result, or the measurement result indication information is used for indicating that the measurement result is the measurement result before or after the second antenna is started.

18. The method according to any of claims 1 to 17, wherein the corresponding first measurement of the first antenna is cleared after determining to turn on the second antenna.

19. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the first antenna is an omni-directional antenna and the second antenna is a directional antenna; or the first antenna is a directional antenna and the second antenna is an omni-directional antenna.

20. A communication method applied to a network device, comprising:

Communicating with a terminal through a first antenna of the terminal, wherein the terminal comprises the first antenna and a second antenna;

determining that the terminal uses the second antenna according to second information;

The second information comprises one or more of first indication information, first request information and second measurement information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the terminal starts the second antenna; the first request information is used for indicating the terminal to request to start the second antenna, or the first request information is used for indicating first measurement information of the terminal, and the first measurement information comprises one or more of quality information, altitude information, speed information and area information of a cell; the second measurement information includes one or more of serving cell information, interference information, or deployment information of the terminal.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises:

And receiving the first indication information from the terminal.

22. The method according to claim 20 or 21, characterized in that the method further comprises:

and sending second indication information to the terminal, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the terminal to start the second antenna.

23. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 22, further comprising:

and sending indication information for indicating the terminal to close the first antenna to the terminal.

24. The method of any of claims 20 to 22, wherein the determining that the terminal is using the second antenna comprises: and communicating with the terminal through the first antenna and the second antenna.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein uplink communication is performed with the terminal via the first antenna and downlink communication is performed with the terminal via the second antenna; or communicate with the terminal through the first antenna, and the second antenna is used for the terminal to measure.

26. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 25, further comprising:

And sending or indicating second configuration information of the second antenna to the terminal, wherein the second configuration information is the same as or different from the first configuration of the first antenna.

27. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 26, further comprising:

And receiving second configuration information which is used for indicating a second antenna and is the same as the first configuration information of the first antenna from the terminal.

28. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 27, further comprising:

And receiving measurement result indication information from the terminal, wherein the measurement result indication information is used for indicating an antenna corresponding to the measurement result, or the measurement result indication information is used for indicating that the measurement result is the measurement result before or after the terminal uses the second antenna.

29. A communication device, comprising: a processor coupled to a memory for storing a program or instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 19.

30. A communication device, comprising: a processor coupled to a memory for storing a program or instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 20 to 28.

31. A communication device, characterized in that it comprises means for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 19.

32. A communication device, characterized in that it comprises means for performing the method of any of claims 20 to 28.

33. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed cause a computer to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 19 or to perform the method of any of claims 20 to 28.

34. A computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 19 or performs the method of any one of claims 20 to 28.

35. A communication system, characterized in that it comprises a communication device according to claim 29 and/or claim 30.