Concept of Joint Fast Beam Search and Synchronization Scheme Using Fast Beam Steering

This report proposes a fast beam search which is completed within a single synchronization signal block (SSB). Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (Massive MIMO) with multiple antenna elements can enhance antenna gain by beam-forming to specific user equipment (UE). However, the beam search requires a number of beam candidates which incurs non-negligible latency and degrades beam tracking capability. Fast beam steering is realized in the vertical domain by our previously proposed antenna equipped with fast phase shifter. The horizontal beam is set for each SSB to be transmitted, and only the vertical beam direction is switched by a fast phase shifter within that SSB to determine its direction. Computer simulations verifies that the proposed beam search scheme can determine the horizontal and vertical beams corresponding to the UE's location while reducing the number of SSBs relative to the number of beams.