JP7698595B2 - Communication device, control device, control method, and program for forming beams with high accuracy and communicating - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to beam control technology in wireless communications.

In mobile communications, wireless communication services are provided to terminal devices that are located in positions where radio waves sent from a base station device can be received. For this reason, it is important that the radio waves sent from the base station device reach the position of the terminal device appropriately. In recent wireless communication environments, particularly those that tend to use high frequency bands, wireless quality is likely to deteriorate. In response to this, it is assumed that the base station device will form a beam and improve wireless quality by using the gain of the beam. In addition, the use of a reflector that reflects radio waves toward areas with low wireless quality is being considered. Note that the reflector can change the direction in which the signal is reflected by changing its physical orientation, but by using a metasurface reflector (see Non-Patent Document 1), it is possible to reflect radio waves in various directions without changing the physical orientation. Similarly, a wireless repeater that can form a beam can also be used. Furthermore, a regenerative relay device that demodulates and decodes the received signal, re-encodes and modulates the decoded data, and regenerates and relays the wireless signal may be used. Note that these reflectors, wireless repeaters, and regenerative relay devices are sometimes collectively referred to as relay devices.

J. He, H. Wymeersch, T. Sanguanpuak, O. Silven, and M. Juntti, "Adaptive Beamforming Design for mmWave RIS-Aided Joint Localization and Communication", 2020 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference Workshops (WCNCW), 2020

In order for a base station device to communicate with a terminal device with sufficient wireless quality, it is important that the beams formed by the base station device itself and by relay devices are properly directed toward the terminal device.

The present invention provides adaptive control technology in a communication device to direct a beam in the direction of a remote device with high accuracy.

A communication device according to one embodiment of the present invention has an output means for forming a beam and outputting radio waves, a setting means for setting the first beam and the second beam so that a difference between a received power when the radio waves output using a first beam are received at a receiving device and a received power when the radio waves output using a second beam are received at the receiving device is different for each output direction of the radio waves from the communication device, and a control means for controlling the direction of the beam to be directed toward the receiving device based on a difference value between a first received power of the radio waves at the receiving device when the radio waves are output using the first beam and a second received power of the radio waves at the receiving device when the radio waves are output using the second beam.
In addition, a communication device according to another aspect of the present invention is a communication device that functions as a relay device that relays communication between a base station device and a terminal device, and has an output means that forms a beam and outputs radio waves, a setting means that sets the first beam and the second beam so that a difference between a received power when the radio waves output using a first beam are received at the terminal device and a received power when the radio waves output using a second beam are received at the terminal device is different for each output direction of the radio waves from the communication device, a relay means that relays to the base station device information transmitted from the terminal device, the information being a first received power of the radio waves at the terminal device when the radio waves are output using the first beam and a second received power of the radio waves at the terminal device when the radio waves are output using the second beam, a receiving means that receives from the base station device a beam control instruction based on a difference value between the first received power and the second received power, and a control means that controls the direction of the beam to be directed toward the terminal device based on the control instruction.

A control device according to one aspect of the present invention is a control device for controlling a relay device which relays communication between a base station device and a terminal device staying in a predetermined area, the relay device forms a first beam and a second beam different from the first beam with respect to radio waves arriving from the base station device, and outputs the formed first beam and a second beam different from the first beam, the first beam and the second beam being set such that a difference between a received power when the radio waves relayed using the first beam are received at the terminal device and a received power when the radio waves relayed using the second beam are received at the terminal device differs for each output direction of the radio waves from the relay device, and the control device controls the relay device to receive the first beam and the second beam from the terminal device. the first beam and the second beam; a calculation means for calculating a difference between the first and second received powers; an estimation means for estimating a direction in which the terminal device is located as seen from the relay device based on the difference; a determination means for determining a direction of the beam to be directed from the relay device to the terminal device based on a result of the estimation; and a transmission means for transmitting a beam control instruction to the relay device based on the determination to cause the relay device to control the direction of the beam to be directed to the terminal device.

The present invention allows a communication device to point a beam in the direction of a remote device with high accuracy.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating gain settings for multiple beams. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of the apparatus. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a functional configuration of a relay device. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a base station device. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a terminal device. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a first example of a processing flow. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a second example of the processing flow.

The following embodiments are described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims, and not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are necessarily essential to the invention. Two or more of the features described in the embodiments may be combined in any combination. In addition, the same reference numbers are used for the same or similar configurations, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.

(Configuration of communication system)
FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system according to this embodiment. The wireless communication system includes, for example, a base station device 101 and a terminal device 102. The base station device 101 and the terminal device 102 perform wireless communication according to, for example, a fifth generation (5G) cellular communication standard, but this is only an example, and communication according to other communication standards such as long-term evolution (LTE) and future wireless communication standards may be performed. It is assumed that an obstacle 104 such as a building is present near the base station device 101. In such a situation, the received power of radio waves sent from the base station device 101 is significantly reduced in a predetermined area that is in the shadow of the obstacle 104 as seen from the base station device 101, and the terminal device 102 staying in the predetermined area cannot directly communicate with the base station device 101. For this reason, in this embodiment, a relay device 103 is used to allow radio waves from the base station device 101 to reach the predetermined area, and also allows radio waves from the terminal device 102 staying in the predetermined area to reach the base station device 101.

The relay device 103 may be a reflector or a wireless repeater that relays a wireless signal without decoding the user data. The reflector is a metasurface reflector composed of multiple reflecting elements, and is configured to be able to form a reflection pattern in any direction and beam width by adjusting the reflection phase of each reflecting element. The wireless repeater can amplify the received signal (and further convert the frequency as necessary) and output it. The wireless repeater is configured to be able to form a beam in any direction and beam width using multiple antennas. The relay device 103 may be a regenerative relay device that demodulates and decodes user data, re-encodes and modulates the decoded user data, and regenerates and relays the wireless signal. In this embodiment, the relay device 103 is configured to be able to form a beam 111 and output the radio wave arriving from the base station device 101. Although FIG. 1 shows an example in which one beam is formed, two or more beams may be formed, or only two beams may be formed.

Here, in order to efficiently perform wireless communication between the base station device 101 and the terminal device 102 using the relay device 103, it is important that a beam is formed from the relay device 103 toward the terminal device 102. For this reason, in this embodiment, a technique is provided for estimating the direction in which the terminal device 102 is located as seen from the relay device 103. Note that, below, the direction in which the relay device 103 emits radio waves toward the terminal device 102 is referred to as the radio wave output direction. Also, below, a method of controlling the beam directed toward the terminal device 102 in the relay device 103 is described, but the following discussion can be used for a communication device that forms any beam to communicate, such as when the base station device 101 forms a beam in the base station device 101 when the base station device 101 can directly communicate with the terminal device 102.

In this embodiment, the relay device 103 forms at least two beam patterns and outputs radio waves toward the terminal device 102. At this time, the gain of each of the at least two beam patterns is determined for each output direction of the radio waves such that the difference value between the gain of the first beam and the gain of the second beam is a different value for each output direction of the radio waves from the relay device 103.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2(A), beams are formed so that the gain of the first beam and the second beam differs for each radio wave output direction. When a gain such as that shown in FIG. 2(A) is used, the direction in which the terminal device 102 is located as seen from the relay device 103 can be identified based on the difference between the first received power when the first beam is used to output radio waves and the second received power when the second beam is used to output radio waves.

For example, let P be the output power of radio waves in the relay device 103, G1 be the gain in the first beam, G2 be the gain in the second beam, Gr be the gain of the receiving antenna in the terminal device 102, PL be the propagation loss from the relay device 103 to the terminal device 102, and N be the noise. Note that these are all represented in logarithmic notation. In this case, the first received power P1 of radio waves in the terminal device 102 when the first beam is used is:
P1=P+G1+Gr+PL+N
The second reception power P2 of the radio wave at the terminal device 102 when the second beam is used is expressed as follows:
P2=P+G2+Gr+PL+N
Here, the difference between the first reception power and the second reception power is expressed by P1-P2. Here, when the terminal device 102 does not move significantly, the propagation loss is generally the same when the first beam is used and when the second beam is used, and when the output power P is sufficiently large, the effect of noise can be relatively ignored. Therefore, it can be expressed as P1-P2≒G1-G2. That is, the difference between the first reception power and the second reception power in the terminal device 102 corresponds to the difference between the gain of the first beam and the gain of the second beam. Therefore, when the first beam and the second beam having the characteristics as shown in FIG. 2(A) are used, the difference between the first reception power and the second reception power becomes as shown in FIG. 2(B). When a characteristic such as that shown in Figure 2 (B) is obtained, one difference value corresponds to only one direction of the terminal device 102 as seen from the relay device 103, so by identifying the difference value between the first received power and the second received power, it is possible to uniquely identify the direction in which the terminal device 102 is located as seen from the relay device 103.

In this way, the direction in which the terminal device 102 exists as seen from the relay device 103 can be identified based on the first reception power of radio waves at the terminal device 102 when the relay device 103 uses a first beam and the second reception power of radio waves at the terminal device 102 when the relay device 103 uses a second beam. When the direction in which the terminal device 102 exists is identified in this way, the relay device 103 can perform beam direction control so that the peak of the beam is formed toward the identified direction.

In one example, when a signal notifying information indicating the measurement results of the first reception power and the second reception power is transmitted from the terminal device 102, the relay device 103 transfers the signal as is to the base station device 101. After that, the relay device 103 may obtain information for directional control based on the first reception power and the second reception power measured in the terminal device 102 from the base station device 101. In one example, this information for directional control may be information indicating the values of the first reception power and the second reception power themselves. In this case, the relay device 103 calculates and obtains the difference value between the first reception power and the second reception power. Note that information indicating the difference value between the first reception power and the second reception power may be obtained as information for directional control. When the relay device 103 calculates the difference between the first reception power and the second reception power or acquires the difference between the first reception power and the second reception power by notification from the base station device 101, the relay device 103 estimates the direction in which the terminal device 102 exists as seen from the relay device 103 based on the difference, as described above, and performs beam direction control so as to direct the beam toward the terminal device based on the estimation result. The estimation of the direction in which the terminal device 102 exists as seen from the relay device 103 may be performed by a control device provided in the base station device 101 or a control device in a network connected to the base station device 101. In this case, the control device estimates the direction in which the terminal device 102 exists as seen from the relay device 103 based on the difference between the first reception power and the second reception power, and generates beam control instruction information that instructs the relay device 103 to direct the beam formed by the relay device 103 toward the terminal device 102 based on the estimation result. Then, the control device transmits the generated control instruction information to the relay device 103 via the base station device 101. When the relay device 103 receives this control instruction information, it performs control in accordance with the instruction to direct the beam toward the terminal device 102. In this case, the relay device 103 does not need to calculate the difference between the first received power and the second received power, or estimate the direction in which the terminal device 102 is located.

In addition, when the relay device 103 receives a notification of the first reception power and the second reception power transmitted from the terminal device 102, the relay device 103 may demodulate and decode the notification to obtain the first reception power and the second reception power. In other words, the relay device 103 may obtain the first reception power and the second reception power notified from the terminal device 103 to the base station device 101 directly from the terminal device 102, rather than obtaining them via the base station device 101. In this case, the relay device 103 may calculate the difference value as described above based on the obtained information, estimate the direction in which the terminal device 102 is located, and perform control so as to direct the beam toward the terminal device 102 based on the result of the estimation. Furthermore, when the base station device 101 communicates directly with the terminal device 102 (without going through the relay device 103), the base station device 101 may form at least two beams as described above, receive notification of the received power of radio waves when the at least two beams are used from the terminal device 102, and estimate the direction in which the terminal device 102 is located as seen from the base station device 101 based on the difference in the received power. The base station device 101 may then execute beam direction control so that the beam is directed in the estimated direction. Note that the base station device 101 and the relay device 103 may also use this method when forming a beam toward a device other than a terminal device, such as another relay device. In this case, too, a specific radio wave may be transmitted using at least two beams, and control may be executed to direct the beam toward the receiving device by feedback of the received power from the receiving device that received the radio wave.

(Device configuration)
Using FIG. 3, an example of the hardware configuration of the base station device 101, the terminal device 102, and the relay device 103 will be described. In one example, each device is configured to include a processor 301, a ROM 302, a RAM 303, a storage device 304, and a communication circuit 305. The processor 301 is a computer configured to include one or more processing circuits such as a general-purpose CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), and executes the overall processing of the device and each of the above-mentioned processes by reading and executing a program stored in the ROM 302 or the storage device 304. The ROM 302 is a read-only memory that stores information such as programs and various parameters related to the processing executed by each device. The RAM 303 functions as a workspace when the processor 301 executes a program, and is a random access memory that stores temporary information. The storage device 304 is configured, for example, by a removable external storage device. The communication circuit 305 is configured to include, for example, a circuit for wireless communication of LTE or 5G. 3, one communication circuit 305 is illustrated, but each device may have multiple communication circuits. For example, the base station device 101 may include a wired communication circuit for communication with other nodes, and the relay device 103 may include a wired communication circuit for communication with a control device.

Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of relay device 103. Relay device 103 includes, as its functional configuration, relay processing unit 401, beam forming unit 402, direction control unit 403, and terminal position identification unit 404, for example. Note that these are merely examples, and some of the functions may be omitted, may be integrated with other functional units, or one functional unit may be further divided. These functional units may be realized, for example, by processor 301 executing a program stored in ROM 302 or storage device 304. However, this is not limited to the above, and dedicated hardware may be provided.

The relay processing unit 401 executes a process of relaying a wireless signal (radio wave) transmitted from the base station device 101 or the terminal device 102 (in one example, without decoding the user data). For example, if the relay device 103 is a wireless repeater, the relay processing unit 301 amplifies the received radio wave, converts the frequency as necessary, and outputs it. Also, if the relay device 103 is a reflector, the relay processing unit 301 reflects the incoming radio wave without performing any actual processing. Also, if the relay device 103 is a regenerative relay device, the relay processing unit 301 demodulates and decodes the received signal, re-encodes and modulates the decoded data to regenerate the radio signal, and outputs the regenerated radio signal to the relay destination.

The beam forming unit 402 forms beams with at least two beam patterns, as described above. The beam forming unit 402 sets the first beam and the second beam so that the difference value between the gain of the first beam and the gain of the second beam differs for each output direction of the radio wave from the relay device 103, as described above.

The direction control unit 403 performs control to form a beam in the direction in which the terminal device 102 exists based on a difference value between the first reception power of the radio wave in the terminal device 102 when the first beam is formed and the radio wave is output, and the second reception power of the radio wave in the terminal device 102 when the second beam is formed and the radio wave is output. The terminal position determination unit 404 determines the position of the terminal based on information acquired from the control device, for example. For example, the terminal position determination unit 404 may obtain information indicating the measurement value of the first reception power and the second reception power of the radio wave in the terminal device 102 or information of the difference value of the reception power (or information that can identify the value) from the control device, and may estimate the direction in which the terminal device 102 exists as seen from the relay device 103 based on the information. In addition, the terminal position determination unit 404 may obtain information indicating the measurement result of the reception power of the radio wave in the terminal device 102 by receiving (or intercepting) a report from the terminal device 102, for example. In addition, if the control device estimates the position of the terminal device 102 and provides a beam control instruction based on that estimation to the relay device 103, the terminal position determination unit 404 may be omitted.

Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the base station device 101. The base station device 101 includes, for example, a report receiving unit 501, an information notification unit 502, and a terminal direction estimation unit 503 as its functional configuration. Note that these are merely examples, and some of the functions may be omitted, may be integrated with other functional units, or one functional unit may be further divided. These functional units may be realized, for example, by the processor 301 executing a program stored in the ROM 302 or the storage device 304. However, this is not limited to this, and dedicated hardware may be prepared. Also, Figure 5 only shows a schematic diagram of the functional units related to this embodiment, and the base station device 101 naturally has the functions of a base station device in a normal cellular communication system.

The report receiving unit 501 receives a report of the measurement results of the first reception power and the second reception power of the radio wave output by the relay device 103 from the terminal device 102. The base station device 101 continues to transmit a reference signal periodically using a predetermined radio resource as a normal base station device, and the terminal device 102 can report to the base station device 101, for example, the reference signal reception power (RSRP) obtained by measuring the reference signal relayed by the relay device 103. Note that, although the reception power of the radio wave is reported here, this is not limited to this, and any index capable of identifying the reception strength of the radio wave, such as SNR (signal-to-noise ratio), may be used. The information notification unit 502 notifies the relay device 103 of information regarding the first reception power and the second reception power. The terminal direction estimation unit 503 estimates the direction in which the terminal device 102 exists as seen from the relay device 103 based on the difference value between the first reception power and the second reception power. Here, the information on the first reception power and the second reception power notified by the information notification unit 502 may be information indicating the first reception power and the second reception power, or information on the difference between these reception powers. In addition, the information on the first reception power and the second reception power may include control instruction information that specifies the direction in which the relay device 103 should point the beam, based on the direction in which the terminal device 102 exists as seen from the relay device 103, estimated by the terminal direction estimation unit 503. Note that, if the relay device 103 can receive a report from the terminal device 102 and autonomously control the beam, the base station device 101 does not need to have the function shown in FIG. 5.

Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the terminal device 102. The terminal device 102 includes, for example, a received power measurement unit 601 and a received power notification unit 602 as its functional configuration. Note that these are merely examples, and some of the functions may be omitted, may be integrated with other functional units, or one functional unit may be further divided. These functional units may be realized, for example, by the processor 301 executing a program stored in the ROM 302 or the storage device 304. However, this is not limited to this, and dedicated hardware may be prepared. Also, Figure 6 only shows a schematic diagram of the functional units related to this embodiment, and the terminal device 102 naturally has the functions of a terminal device in a normal cellular communication system.

The received power measurement unit 601 measures the power of the radio waves output from the relay device 103. For example, the received power measurement unit 601 measures a reference signal transmitted from the base station device 101 and relayed by the relay device 103, and obtains the reference signal received power (RSRP). The received power notification unit 602 notifies the base station device 101 (for example, via the relay device 103) of information indicating the received power measured by the received power measurement unit 601. Note that the received power notification unit 602 may be configured to notify the relay device 103 of the information indicating the received power.

(Processing flow)
Next, an example of the flow of processing executed in the wireless communication system will be outlined with reference to FIG. 7. In this processing, the relay device 103 sets the first beam and the second beam so that the difference value between the gain of the first beam and the gain of the second beam is different for each output direction of the radio wave from the relay device 103, as described above, and forms and outputs the set first beam and second beam. For example, the relay device 103 first forms the first beam and relays the wireless signal arriving from the base station device 101 (S701, S702). The terminal device 102 measures the received power (first received power) of the relayed wireless signal (S703), and notifies the base station device 101 of the measurement result via the relay device 103 (S704). The relay device 103 also forms the second beam and relays the wireless signal arriving from the base station device 101 (S705, S706). The terminal device 102 measures the received power (second received power) of the relayed radio signal (S707), and notifies the base station device 101 of the measurement result via the relay device 103 (S708). Note that although the case where the first beam and the second beam are formed in a time-division manner has been described here, these beams may be formed in parallel. In this case, for example, a different radio signal (e.g., a reference signal) may be transmitted for each beam, and the terminal device 102 may measure these radio signals in parallel.

Then, the base station device 101 notifies the relay device 103 of the first received power and the second received power or the difference between these received powers, which are included in the received measurement result information (S709). The relay device 103 then estimates the direction in which the terminal device 102 is located as seen from the relay device 103 based on the information (S710), and performs directional control of the beam to be formed so that the beam is directed in that direction (S711).

Note that, although FIG. 7 describes an example in which the relay device 103 estimates the direction in which the terminal device 102 is located, as shown in FIG. 8, the control device (base station device 101) may perform the estimation. In the case of FIG. 8, the control device estimates the direction in which the terminal device 102 is located as seen from the relay device 103 from the information on the first reception power and the second reception power included in the received measurement result (S801), and determines the direction in which the beam should be directed in the relay device 103 (S802). Then, the control device transmits beam control instruction information via the base station device 101 to instruct the relay device 103 to direct the beam in the determined direction (S803). The relay device 103 executes beam direction control according to the beam control instruction information (S804).

The relay device 103 may be configured to initially form a beam in a preset direction and output radio waves from the base station device 101 until the terminal device 102 enters an area where it cannot directly communicate with the base station device 101. This beam may be, for example, the first beam or the second beam, or may be a beam with a relatively wide beam width and low gain set to widely cover the blind zone. The relay device 103 may be configured to execute the above-mentioned processing in response to the terminal device 102 entering the area of that beam.

In this way, according to this embodiment, by setting a beam pattern so that the difference in gain between at least two beams is uniquely determined for each radio wave output direction in the relay device 103, it becomes possible to estimate with high accuracy the direction in which the terminal device 102 exists as seen from the relay device 103 based on the measured value of the radio wave reception power in the terminal device 102. Then, the relay device 103 sets a beam according to the estimated direction in which the terminal device 102 exists, and can relay communication between the base station device 101 and the terminal device 102 with high efficiency using the set beam. In addition, by applying the above-mentioned method to the base station device 101, it becomes possible to set a beam with high accuracy when the base station device 101 communicates directly with the terminal device 102.

The above configuration allows the communication device to set the beam in the appropriate direction. This makes it possible to contribute to Goal 9 of the United Nations-led Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is to "build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation."

The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the invention.

Claims (14)

A communication device, comprising:
an output means for forming a beam and outputting radio waves;
a setting means for setting the first beam and the second beam such that a difference between a received power when the radio wave outputted using a first beam is received by a receiving device and a received power when the radio wave outputted using a second beam is received by the receiving device differs for each output direction of the radio wave from the communication device;
a control means for controlling a direction of the beam directed to the receiving device based on a difference value between a first reception power of the radio wave at the receiving device when the radio wave is output using the first beam and a second reception power of the radio wave at the receiving device when the radio wave is output using the second beam;
A communication device comprising: the communication device is a base station device,
the receiving device is a terminal device,
The communication device further includes an acquisition means for acquiring the first reception power and the second reception power from the terminal device.
2. The communication device according to claim 1 . the communication device is a relay device,
the receiving device is a terminal device,
the terminal device notifies a base station device of the first reception power and the second reception power via the relay device;
The communication device further includes an acquisition means for acquiring information for the direction control based on the first reception power and the second reception power from the base station device.
2. The communication device according to claim 1 . the information for the direction control is information indicating the first reception power and the second reception power, or information indicating the difference value,
the communication device further includes an estimation means for acquiring the difference value based on the information, and estimating a direction in which the terminal device is located as seen from the relay device based on the difference value;
The control means performs the direction control so as to direct the beam in the estimated direction of the terminal device.
4. The communication device according to claim 3. A communication device that functions as a relay device that relays communication between a base station device and a terminal device,
an output means for forming a beam and outputting radio waves;
a setting means for setting the first beam and the second beam such that a difference between a received power when the radio wave outputted using a first beam is received by the terminal device and a received power when the radio wave outputted using a second beam is received by the terminal device differs for each output direction of the radio wave from the communication device;
a relay means for relaying to the base station device, the information being transmitted from the terminal device, the information being a first reception power of the radio wave in the terminal device when the radio wave is outputted using the first beam and a second reception power of the radio wave in the terminal device when the radio wave is outputted using the second beam;
a receiving means for receiving from the base station device a beam control instruction based on a difference value between the first received power and the second received power;
A control means for controlling a direction of a beam to be directed toward the terminal device based on the control instruction;
A communication device comprising : The communication device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the relay device is a reflector having a metasurface. The communication device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the relay device is a wireless repeater. A control device that controls a relay device that relays communication between a base station device and a terminal device staying in a predetermined area,
the relay device forms a first beam and a second beam different from the first beam with respect to radio waves arriving from the base station device, and outputs the first beam and the second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are set such that a difference between a reception power when the radio waves relayed using the first beam are received by the terminal device and a reception power when the radio waves relayed using the second beam are received by the terminal device differs for each output direction of the radio waves from the relay device,
The control device includes:
a receiving means for receiving a notification from the terminal device of a first reception power of the radio wave at the terminal device when the relay device relays the radio wave using the first beam, and a second reception power of the radio wave at the terminal device when the relay device relays the radio wave using the second beam;
a calculation means for calculating a difference value between the first reception power and the second reception power;
an estimation means for estimating a direction in which the terminal device is located as viewed from the relay device based on the difference value;
a determining means for determining a direction of a beam to be directed from the relay device to the terminal device based on a result of the estimation;
a transmitting means for transmitting to the relay device a beam control instruction based on the determination for causing the relay device to control a direction of the beam to be directed to the terminal device;
A control device comprising: The control device according to claim 8 , wherein the control device is included in the base station device. A control method executed by a communication device that forms a beam and outputs radio waves, comprising:
setting the first beam and the second beam such that a difference between a received power when the radio wave outputted using a first beam is received by a receiving device and a received power when the radio wave outputted using a second beam is received by the receiving device differs for each output direction of the radio wave from the communication device;
performing a direction control of the beam directed toward the receiving device based on a difference value between a first reception power of the radio wave at the receiving device when the radio wave is output using the first beam and a second reception power of the radio wave at the receiving device when the radio wave is output using the second beam;
A control method comprising: A control method executed by a communication device that functions as a relay device that relays communication between a base station device and a terminal device, forms a beam, and outputs radio waves, comprising:
setting the first beam and the second beam such that a difference between a reception power when the radio wave outputted using a first beam is received by the terminal device and a reception power when the radio wave outputted using a second beam is received by the terminal device differs for each output direction of the radio wave from the communication device;
relaying, to the base station device, information transmitted from the terminal device, the information being a first reception power of the radio wave in the terminal device when the radio wave is output using the first beam and a second reception power of the radio wave in the terminal device when the radio wave is output using the second beam;
receiving, from the base station device, a beam control instruction based on a difference value between the first received power and the second received power;
Controlling a direction of a beam to be directed toward the terminal device based on the control instruction;
A control method comprising: A control method executed by a control device that controls a relay device that relays communication between a base station device and a terminal device staying in a predetermined area, comprising:
the relay device forms a first beam and a second beam different from the first beam with respect to radio waves arriving from the base station device, and outputs the first beam and the second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are set such that a difference between a reception power when the radio waves relayed using the first beam are received by the terminal device and a reception power when the radio waves relayed using the second beam are received by the terminal device differs for each output direction of the radio waves from the relay device,
The control method includes:
receiving a notification from the terminal device of a first reception power of the radio wave at the terminal device when the relay device relays the radio wave using the first beam, and a second reception power of the radio wave at the terminal device when the relay device relays the radio wave using the second beam;
Calculating a difference value between the first received power and the second received power;
estimating a direction in which the terminal device is located as viewed from the relay device based on the difference value; and
determining a direction of a beam directed from the relay device to the terminal device based on a result of the estimation;
transmitting, to the relay device, a beam control instruction based on the determination for causing the relay device to control a direction of the beam to be directed to the terminal device;
A control method comprising: A program for causing a computer to function as a communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A program for causing a computer to function as the control device according to claim 8 or 9 .

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