Sony Group Corporation
WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE, INFRASTRUCTURE EQUIPMENT AND METHODS

Abstract:

Mixture of implicit and explicit signaling of the Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) time index for 5G New Radio. In NR, multiple SSBs (each containing PSS, SSS and PBCH) are sent on different beams, and on multiple time occurrences. The UE when detecting the SSB has therefore to identify the SSB time instance and the beam ID used by the gNB. This detection is allowed by said SSB time index. If sent on the PBCH, this prevents soft combining between PBCH time instances. It is therefore proposed to send the SSB time index via the DMRS interleaved with the PBCH. Problem: overhead would be too high for DMRS solution only. Solution: Part of the bits (the LSBs) of the SSB time index are signaled implicitly via the relative position of PSS, SSS and PBCH within a SSB. The other bits are explicitly sent using DMRS scrambling.