In the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), various techniques for improving the capacity of a cellular system are currently studied in order to accommodate explosively increasing traffic. It is also envisaged that the required capacity will become about 1000 times the current capacity in the future. Techniques such as multi-user multi-input multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO), coordinated multipoint (CoMP), and the like could increase the capacity of a cellular system by a factor of as low as less than ten. Therefore, there is a demand for an innovative technique.
For example, as a technique for significantly increasing the capacity of a cellular system, a base station may perform beamforming using a directional antenna including a large number of antenna elements (e.g., about 100 antenna elements). Such a technique is a kind of technique called large-scale MIMO, massive MIMO, or free dimension (FD)-MIMO. By such beamforming, the half-width of a beam is narrowed. In other words, a sharp beam is formed. Also, if the large number of antenna elements are arranged in a plane, a beam aimed in a desired three-dimensional direction can be formed.
For example, Patent Literatures 1 to 3 disclose techniques applied when a directional beam aimed in a three-dimensional direction is used.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds