Method and Measurement Environment, Apparatus to be Tested

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus to be tested, e.g., in view of its wireless op eration, to a measurement system and to a method for a testing of an apparatus. The pre-sent invention further relates to multi-beam switching/scanning and an enumeration/identi-fication of beams/beam patterns, sometimes known as beam ID-ING.

The ISO Open Systems Interconnection Standard with its layered model concept has been adapted in a variety of computer and telecommunication systems including those that are loosely known as 4G, beyond 4G, 5G and beyond 5G systems. Using this model, the circuitry required to implement the functions of transmission and reception of raw data over a physical medium - the radio transceivers and their associated antenna systems - result in the so-called physical layer (PHY). Parameters used in the PHY layer thus control the way in which the radio transceiver(s) and their antenna system(s) operate. During normal operation, these parameters are controlled automatically to ensure that the communication system performs according to criteria determined by so-called higher layers.

At the same time, there exists a need for testing the devices in view of their performance in the wireless environment. Tests are required to be fast and precise. Thus, there is a need to enhance wireless testing.

It is an object of the present invention to enhance wireless testing and wireless measurements.

The inventors have found that for testing an apparatus it is of advantage to predefine one or more beam patterns to be formed by the apparatus or device under test (DUT) and to measure the formed beam pattern so as to allow evaluation of the behavior of the apparatus. By directly controlling the apparatus so as to form the predefined beam pattern time for adjusting and/or moving the apparatus and/or a time for adjusting the apparatus, control the apparatus so as to (automatically) form its beam pattern towards a link antenna, lock the beam and then to move the apparatus may be saved. As time for orienting or aligning an apparatus and/or moving an apparatus may be of orders longer when compared to the real

measurement time, the invention allows to significantly reduce time for measurements and thus to enhance the measurements.

According to an embodiment, a method for evaluating a apparatus having at least one an-tenna array, the apparatus is configured for forming a plurality of communication beam pat-terns. Measuring the antenna array comprises positioning of the apparatus in a measurement environment adapted to measure beam patterns, controlling the apparatus so as to form a predefined beam pattern of the plurality of communication beam patterns and meas uring the predefined beam patterns using the measurement environment. Controlling the apparatus so as to form the predefined beam pattern allows the predefined beam pattern to be obtained in a short time and thus for fast measurements.

According to an embodiment, the predefined beam pattern is a first of a plurality of predefined beam patterns, the plurality of predefined beam patterns being a subset of the plurality of communication beam patterns. The method comprises controlling the apparatus so as to form a second predefined beam pattern of the plurality of predefined beam pattern after measuring of the first predefined beam pattern. The method further comprises measuring the second predefined beam pattern using the measurement environment. By sequentially forming and measuring a plurality of predefined beam patterns, different beam patterns, probably along different directions, having a different number of lobes and/or nulls, lobe size or direction or the like may be measured one after the other and thus allows for saving time between two measurements in which an apparatus is moved.

According to an embodiment, the predefined beam pattern is a first of a plurality of prede fined beam patterns. The plurality of predefined beam patterns is at least a subset of the plurality of communication beam patterns. The method comprises controlling DUTs as to form the predefined beam pattern and a third predefined beam pattern of the plurality of predefined beam patterns during measuring of the first predefined beam pattern, i.e. , at least a first and a further predefined beam pattern are formed simultaneously. The method comprises measuring the third predefined beam pattern using the measurement environment. This allows for evaluating at least two predefined beam patterns at the same time and thus for further reducing the measurement time.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus is controlled so as to sequentially form the plurality of predefined beam patterns, or in the respective predefined beam pattern is measured with the measurement environment. The method comprises changing a relative

position between the apparatus and the measurement environment after having measured the plurality of predefined beam patterns for one position/direction or while moving from one position to another. Changing the relative position may be obtained by moving the apparatus relative to the one or more probe antennas and/or by moving the one or more probe antennas relative to the apparatus. The method comprises repeating the controlling of the apparatus for forming and measuring the plurality of beam patterns or a further plurality of predefined beam patterns. The further plurality of beam patterns may comprise the same or a subset of predefined beam patterns of the first plurality. Alternatively or in addition, one or more of the predefined beam patterns of the further plurality may differ from the first plurality. That is to say, after having sequentially formed and measured some or all of the predefined beam patterns, the apparatus may be moved and afterwards, further required beam patterns may be formed. By reducing the movement or even without movement just sampling in space with the measurement environment of the apparatus in time to those between forming the plurality of predefined beam patterns and measurement thereof, fast and precise measurements are enabled.

Alternatively or in addition to a change of the relative position between measurement environment (probe antenna(s)) and apparatus embodiments relate to measuring the beam patterns over a sphere (e.g., without any motion) or e.g. first in cuts along an azimuth or elevation (e.g. motion in just one axis), or according to a 2D grid in azimuth and elevation with a certain number of sampling points in space.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus is controlled so as to form the plurality of predefined beam patterns and/or defer the plurality of predefined beam patterns in a predefined order. This allows for coordination/synchronicity of actions during a measurement, i.e., the measurement environment may clearly await a specific beam pattern and may evaluate the measured beam pattern against the expectations. E.g. in this way also the beam corre spondence between Tx and Rx beams of the apparatus can be evaluated.

According to an embodiment, the method comprises determining the predefined beam pattern by selecting the predefined beam pattern from the plurality of communication beam patterns. For example, the predefined beam patterns may be selected from a list provided by the manufacturer so as to obtain a subset of the communication beam patterns that allows for a quick and/or precise evaluation of the apparatus.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus or a model or an example thereof so as to form a calibration beam pattern having receive (Rx) and/or transmit (Tx) beams, the calibration beam pattern being one of the plurality of communication beam patterns. The method fur-ther comprises storing a beam-related information indicating the calibration beam pattern in a memory. Controlling the apparatus may comprise a direct control of, for example, gain parameters or the like, or may comprise an automated control, for example, allowing the apparatus to form its beam pattern towards a link antenna. This allows for obtaining prede-fined beam patterns in absence or in addition to information provided by the manufacturer.

According to an embodiment a plurality of calibration beam patterns is formed and a corresponding plurality of beam-related information is stored in the memory so as to allow repeatedly and deterministically re-forming the plurality of calibration beam patterns as predefined beam patterns.

According to an embodiment, controlling the apparatus or the apparatus-model or an example so as to form the calibration beam pattern comprises positioning of the apparatus or the apparatus similar to the apparatus so as to comprise a relative position to a link antenna such that the apparatus forms the calibration beam pattern towards the link antenna. The parameters used by the apparatus or the apparatus similar to the apparatus so as to form the beam pattern towards the link antenna may describe the calibration beam pattern and may thus recall as beam-related information. Alternatively, the beam-related information may be derived from the parameters. For example, different calibration beam patterns may be named or labeled, e.g., using an identifier or the like such that the parameters in combination with the additional information forms the beam-related information.

According to an embodiment, controlling the apparatus or the apparatus-model or an example/comparable apparatus, i.e. , an apparatus being like the apparatus 14, so as to form the calibration beam pattern comprises electronically switched or steered positioning of the apparatus related to the apparatus so as to comprise a relative position to multiple link antennas for different relative positions such that the apparatus forms the calibration beam pattern towards the multiple link antennas sequentially. The parameters used by the apparatus or the apparatus similar to the apparatus so as to form the beam pattern towards the multiple link antennas may describe the calibration beam pattern and may thus recall as beam-related information. For example, the apparatus may form the beam pattern sequentially, one after the other, towards a plurality of link antennas, and/or simultaneously to a plurality of link antennas. Alternatively, the beam-related information may be derived from the parameters. For example, different calibration beam patterns may be named or labeled, e.g., using an identifier or the like such that the parameters in combination with the addi-tional information forms the beam-related information.

According to an embodiment, controlling the apparatus or the apparatus so as to form the calibration beam pattern comprises in addition to forming the calibration beam pattern controlling the apparatus so as to lock the beam pattern such that the apparatus maintains a relative orientation of the beam pattern relative to a surface of the apparatus when changing the relative position of the apparatus with respect to the link antenna or multiple link antennas. This may allow for first evaluating the formed calibration beam pattern before deciding whether to store the beam-related information in the memory or not.

According to an embodiment, the calibration beam pattern is a first calibration beam pattern. The beam-related information is a first beam-related information. The method further comprises changing the relative position between the apparatus or the apparatus similar to the apparatus and the link antenna such that the apparatus forms a second calibration beam pattern, e.g., when again directing its beam pattern towards the link antenna. Changing the relative position can be done mechanically or by switching to another link antenna with a different angular position. The latter can be also done by superposing a plurality of link antennas to form the link coming from arbitrary directions between the superposed plurality of link antennas. The method comprises storing a second beam-related information indicating the second calibration beam pattern in the memory. Thereby, a plurality of calibration beam patterns may be stored through the respective beam-related information, thereby defining the predefined beam patterns.

According to an embodiment, the controlling of the apparatus so as to form the predefined beam pattern comprises reading the beam-related information from the memory and forming the predefined beam pattern according to the beam-related information. This allows for a quick forming of the beam pattern.

According to an embodiment, the beam-related information comprises at least one of a beam identifier, an information indicating one or a multitude of beam-related parameters for a transmission and/or a reception beam, e.g., gain(s), power, absolute or relative phase or the like, to be applied to the antenna array and/or the associated baseband signal which is to be communicated, i.e. , transmitted and/or received, using the antenna array, a beam polarization, a carrier frequency of the beam pattern, a beam correspondence flag, e.g.,

indicating a beam correspondence between a receive beam and a transmission beam, a beam correspondence ID, e.g., the beam/beam sweep identifier of the correspondent re-ceive beam and/or transmission beam/beam sweep or the like. Such information is interpreted by the apparatus so as to form the beam accordingly. This allows for characterizing the beam pattern according to the needs of the measurement environment.

According to an embodiment, controlling of the apparatus so as to form the predefined beam pattern of the plurality of communication beam patterns comprises transmitting a signal to the apparatus by the measurement environment, the signal containing information indicat-ing at least one of a time duration of the predefined beam pattern, a time duration of a beam sweep comprising the predefined beam pattern, a time at the apparatus or the measure-ment environment so as to enable time synchronization, and/or an order of predefined beam patterns to be formed by the apparatus, an Tx-Rx flag allowing to identify if receive beam patterns (Rx) or transmit beam patterns (Tx) are measured, e.g., to guarantee in half duplex that the Tx power is off when measuring the Rx, e.g. to be used if the apparatus signaled that beam correspondence exists between Tx and Rx, and a beam identifier. Such information may be stored within the memory and may be indicated, for example, by indicating an entry of the codebook, i.e. , by using an identifier. A codebook may contain a set of identifiable directions/radiation patterns that cover a part or the whole angular space used for communication (transmission and/or reception). Alternatively or in addition, at least one of the parameters may be indicated in the signal transmitted to the apparatus so as to allow for flexibly adapting to the measurement, for example, with regard to a time being set for forming and maintaining a predefined beam pattern.

According to an embodiment, the beam-related information is stored in a memory of the apparatus. The signal indicates the beam-related information. This allows for low communication load as the respective required information is already stored at the apparatus.

According to an embodiment, the controlling of the apparatus so as to form the predefined beam pattern comprises transmitting a signal from the measurement environment to the apparatus, the signal comprising information unambiguously indicating the beam pattern or sequence of a plurality of predefined beam patterns to be formed by the apparatus. This allows measuring the behavior of the apparatus and evaluating the behavior against a de sired condition or a target state identified by the signal.

According to an embodiment, measuring the predefined beam pattern comprises at least one of measuring a total radiated power of the beam pattern, measuring an equivalent isotropic radiated power, measuring an effective isotropic sensitivity; measuring Rx and/or Tx complex radiation pattern in magnitude and phase; measuring Rx and/or Tx complex radi-ation pattern in relative magnitude and relative phase; measuring a direction of the beam pattern relative to the apparatus and measuring of a spherical coverage, a covered spheri-cal beam grid density, a specific beam pattern of all activated beams in the set of beams, at least one side lobe of the main beam/beam patterns, a scalability/linearity, hysteresis of beam pattern changes/switching/inflating/deflating, spurious missions and/or adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR), probably with spatial resolution, a capability and accuracy of null steering and multi-beam steering, an accuracy of a beam correspondence, e.g., between Tx and Rx beams, a calibration of antenna arrays/panels or the like. This allows for accurately evaluating the formed beam pattern.

According to an embodiment, measuring the predefined beam pattern comprises measuring of in-band emissions of a communication band utilized by apparatus. This allows for evaluating the in-band behavior of the apparatus.

According to an embodiment, measuring the predefined beam pattern further comprises measuring out-of-band emissions of the communication band. This allows for characterizing the interference behavior of the apparatus.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus is adapted so as to use at least a first and a second beam for superpositioning so as to form a combined beam in the predefined beam pattern. The individual beams may be distinguishable or indistinguishable for the measurement environment. The beams may be distinguishable, for example, by using different reference-pilots or reference-symbols that may be evaluated with the measurement environment, wherein, in case of only evaluating a transmission power, the single beams may remain indistinguishable. This may allow for a scalable degree of information obtained.

According to an embodiment, the predefined beam pattern is one of a plurality of predefined beam patterns. The apparatus is controlled so as to sequentially form each of the plurality of beam patterns, wherein the plurality of predefined beam patterns is arranged according to a pattern in the measurement environment. The pattern may be a regular or irregular pattern, a pattern in which the plurality of beams is arranged in an equidistant manner and/or a pattern that covers an azimuth and/or elevation angle range of the apparatus and/or a pattern with one or a superposition of polarization components. By selecting the plurality of predefined beams according to an also predefined pattern in the measurement environment high accuracies may be obtained during the measurement. According to an embodiment, when controlling the apparatus, the predefined beam pattern is formed independently from a link antenna. This allows simple measurement environments and/or a low interference for the measurements.

According to an embodiment, a non-transitory storage medium has stored thereon a com-puter program having a program code for performing, when running on a computer, a method according to an embodiment.

According to an embodiment, an apparatus comprises at least one antenna array. The apparatus is configured for forming a plurality of communication beam patterns using the antenna array. The apparatus comprises a memory having stored thereon beam-related infor-mation unambiguously indicating at least one of the plurality of communication beam pat-terns as a predefined beam pattern. The apparatus comprises an interface configured for receiving a signal indicating a request to form the predefined beam pattern. The apparatus is configured for forming the predefined beam pattern responsive to the signal using the beam-related information. For example, in case of measuring the receive beam the apparatus may feedback measurement results comprising one or more of

a unique beam setting identifier

Received Signal strength Indicator (RSSI)

Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP)

Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ)

Power e.g. in case of arbitrary test signals

Magnitude and phase at defined frequency

Relative magnitude and relative phase at a defined frequency

beam direction, like an angle of arrival.

According to an embodiment, a non-transitory storage medium has stored thereon a beam identification signal indicating a request to an apparatus to form a predefined beam pattern.

According to an embodiment, a measurement environment comprises a holding unit configured to hold an apparatus and a control unit adapted to execute instructions, the

instructions configured to cause the measurement environment or apparatus to execute a method according to a method described in the present embodiments.

Further embodiments are described in further dependent claims.

Embodiments of the present invention are now described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a measurement system, the measurement system comprising a measurement environment according to an embodiment;

Fig. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment, which may be used as apparatus in the measurement environment of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3 shows a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment;

Fig. 4 shows a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment in which measurement is repeated;

Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram for illustrating the relationship between communi- cation beam patterns and predefined beam patterns used in embodiments;

Fig. 6 shows a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment, that may be performed so as to obtain a set of predefined beam patterns used in the methods of Fig. 3 or Fig. 4;

Fig. 7a shows a schematic block diagram of a calibration environment according to an embodiment, the calibration environment comprising a link antenna;

Fig. 7b shows a schematic block diagram of the calibration environment of Fig., 7a wherein the apparatus has been moved with respect to its relative position relative to the link antenna;

Fig. 8 shows a schematic block diagram of a part of the apparatus in the measure- ment environment of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 9 shows a schematic block diagram of the predefined beam pattern of Fig. 1 ac- cording to an embodiment and describing further details with respect to the predefined beam pattern;

Fig. 10a-c show an apparatus in a measurement environment forming different predefined beam patterns;

Fig. 11 a shows an example table presenting the pseudo-code for a known measurement procedure;

Fig. 1 1 b shows an example table presenting pseudo-code for a method in accordance with embodiments;

Fig. 12a shows a schematic view of mechanical positions that are used for the known method ;

Fig. 12b shows a schematic overview of mechanical positions that are used for a method in accordance with an embodiment;

Fig. 13 shows a schematic top view of an example beam pattern that is subjected to a spatial dithering or jittering according to an embodiment;

Fig. 14a shows a schematic block diagram illustrating a beam sweep according to an embodiment; and

Fig. 14b shows a schematic block diagram of a configuration of different pathways with exemplary four waypoints that are interconnected by trajectories according to an embodiment.

Equal are equivalent elements or elements with equal or equivalent functionality are denoted in the following description by equal or equivalent reference numerals even if occurring in different figures.

Embodiments described herein may relate to an apparatus. The apparatus may be located, used and/or controlled in connection with a measurement environment or test environment.

The apparatus may thus be referred to as device under test (DUT) as being tested or at least dedicated to be tested. That is, even if currently being not tested, the apparatus may still be referred to as DUT without limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein.

Embodiments described herein may relate to antenna arrays used for forming beam pat-terns. An antenna array may comprise at least one antenna element and is configured within the scope of the described embodiments so as to form a transmission (Tx) and/or reception (Rx) beam i.e., a communication beam, with a varying direction/radiation pattern. An an-tenna array thus comprises of one or a multitude of radio wave emitting /receiving (antenna) elements which allow an adaptive change of radiated/received beam patterns by means of e.g. parasitic capacity changes, use of several antenna elements with different phase and/or amplitudes.

An antenna array according to present embodiments may thus also be referred to as an array antenna, antenna panel or jointly operated multiple antennas/antenna arrays. For ex-ample, a single antenna element may comprise a radiating element configured for omnidi-rectional or directional radiating energy such as a monopole antenna, a dipole antenna, a patch antenna or a horn antenna. According to an embodiment, a parasitic element such as a capacitive element might be activated by a PIN (positive intrinsic negative) diode and may be arranged so as to be effective with respect to the radiating element in at least one of an inactive and an active state. By being effective, the radiation along which at least a part of the radiated energy (beam) is directed or from which a signal may preferably be received may be adjusted. Alternatively or in addition to the parasitic element at least a second radiating element may be arranged in the antenna array allowing for influencing or controlling the transmission and/reception direction by adapting a power of at least one radiating element and/or a phase.

Embodiments described herein may relate to one or more beam patterns formed by an apparatus. A beam pattern may comprise one or more beams. A beam may be understood as spatial directional property of an antenna array for transmit and/or receive purposes rep-resenting e.g. a specific antenna beam pattern formed by exploiting the superposition of the antenna pattern of the individual antenna elements to form the antenna array and phase and amplitude factors in between. That is, a transmitting/sending capability and/or receiving capability towards a specific direction, wherein this does not exclude forming the beam as an omnidirectional lobe. That is to say, the respective beam pattern may be a single-beam pattern or a multi-beam pattern. A beam may comprise one or more main lobes. Beside the beam, the beam pattern may comprise one or more side lobes. Between beams and/lobes and/or lobes, a null may be arranged. A lobe may be understood as a spatial region along which or from which signals are transmitted/received with a higher quality when compared to other regions. The beam pattern may comprise a null, e.g., between a first and a second lobe or at a different position. A null which may be understood as a spatial region along which or from which a low amount of transmission power is transmitted or from which signals are received with a lower quality when compared to the region of a lobe. E.g., the transmis-sion power at a null may be lower when compared to the centre of a lobe by at least 20 dB, at least 40 dB or at least 60 dB or even more. Rephrased, forming a“null” may be under-stood that the formed beam pattern is spatially structured such that into a specific direction or spatial sector very little or in a perfect world no power is transmitted or received from. Such a“null” may be of importance in order not to cause interference into a specific direction, e.g., where another communication device A communicates with another communica-tion device B on the same time frequency resources. In other words, the beam may corn-prise one or more lobes and may comprise nulls between lobes. A beam may be formed for transmission purposes, i.e., as a transmission beam which may be understood as directing transmission power for transmitting a wireless signal towards a specific direction relative to the apparatus. Alternatively or in addition, a beam may be formed for reception purposes, i.e., as a receiving beam, i.e., antenna gains are adjusted or controlled so as to generate a preferred direction of reception of a wireless signal. The beam may be used for transmitting and/or receiving a signal at radiofrequency with a regular or irregular spatial pattern which may be used for beamforming.

Embodiments described herein refer to communication beam patterns, calibration beam patterns and predefined beam patterns. An apparatus capable of beamforming may be con-figured for forming one or more beams during normal operation, each beam being config-ured for transmission and/or reception purpose. Such beams are referred to as communi-cation beam patterns. Calibration beam patterns may be a subset of communication beam patterns and may be obtained, for example, when controlling the apparatus or an apparatus beam similar hereto, i.e., a reference apparatus such as a model or of the same series to form a beam of the plurality of communication beam pattern. One or more parameters associated with the calibration beam pattern may be stored and/or read to or from a memory and applied to the apparatus so as to control the apparatus to form the beam pattern indicated by the parameter. Thus, by way of the at least one parameter, the formed beam is predefined such that a predefined beam pattern may be referred to as a recovered or restored version of a calibration beam pattern.

Embodiments described herein may relate to extended beam patterns. An extended beam pattern may be understood as a single beam pattern or a superposition of at least a first beam pattern and a second beam pattern, wherein such a superposition may be obtained for two or more transmitting beams or beam patterns, two or more receiving beams or beam patterns and/or at least one transmission beam or beam pattern and at least one receiving beam or beam pattern. I.e., when performing pattern locking according to embodiments, this may relate to beam locking and/or null locking. Beam locking may relate to lock one or more beams and/or lobes of a beam pattern , wherein null locking may relate to lock at least one null. Pattern locking may thus may also relate to lock elements of different beams or even one or more complete beams and/or to a combination of beam locking and null locking. In other words, a transmission comprises sending/transmitting a signal and receiving a signal. A communication parameter may relate to a parameter at least influencing a receiver property and/or a transmitter property. Embodiments therefore relate to transmission and/or reception and, without limitation to uplink and downlink.

Embodiments described herein refer to locking beam properties and/or at least a part of beam patterns. Locking in connection herewith may be understood as controlling the re-spective element or parameter so as to comprise an invariant status or at least a status comprising a low amount of change, e.g., less than 10 %, less than 5 % or less than 1 %. Such a lock may be executed, for example, during normal operation during which said beam pattern or at least a part thereof and/or parameter are adapted, changed or controlled so as to comply with the requirements of the present operation. Based on the locking said beam, part thereof or parameter may be locked, i.e., preserved, frozen or maintained con-stant, probably within the above indicated tolerance range, such that the beam pattern and/or communication parameter remains as it is, even when changes of the apparatus, e.g., with respect to orientation or position, would cause a change thereof during normal operation as may be obtained when changing a relative position to a link antenna. A relative position in connection with embodiments described herein may relate to a vector in 3D space and/or to an orientation of one object to another such that when changing the orien-tation of one or both objects having the relative orientation, the relative position is thereby also changed. When referring to unlocking, the beam pattern, part thereof and/or communication parameter may be released such that adaptation according to the present operating mode may be performed.

Although having only one link antenna may be sufficient for the measurements, embodiments provide for measurement environments that have a plurality or a set of link antennas. According to an example, the plurality of link antennas 16i to 1615 may be arranged so as to cover an elevation angle (x and/or an azimuth angle b with respect to apparatus 14.

Embodiments relate to locking certain radiation pattern characteristics for the measurement of antennas that are used for transmitting signals, transmit or transmission antennas, and the measurement of antennas that are used for receiving signals, receive or reception an-tennas. Embodiments referring to the communication parameter thus cover both transmis-sion and reception. Embodiments cover beam pattern properties which without loss of generality include time properties, frequency properties, spatial properties and coding proper-ties for example space-time-codes, space-frequency codes and space-time-frequency codes.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a measurement system 10, the measurement system 10 comprising a measurement environment 12 and an apparatus 14. The measure ment environment 12 may comprise one or more sensors 161 to 16e, wherein a number of sensors may be at least one in any number required. The sensors 161 to 16e may be configured, alone and/or in combination to evaluate a beam pattern 18 formed by the apparatus 14. That is, the measurement environment may be configured for measuring beam patterns. Alternatively or in addition, the measurement environment may measure, evaluate or determine a beam correspondence between a transmit (Tx) beam pattern and a reception (Rx) beam pattern. For an evaluation, the measurement environment 12 may comprise a control unit 22 configured for receiving information from the sensors 161 to 16e. Although the sensors 161 to 16e may be arranged in any number according to any pattern, the sensors 161 to 166 may be arranged so as to partially or completely house a volume. Each of the sensors 161 to 166 may be a power sensor that may also be configured for measuring a phase and/or amplitude of the measured beam pattern.

Although being illustrated as forming a combined signal using a“+"-symbol, embodiments are not limited hereto but also relate to an individual measurement with an individual signal line to the control unit 22 or a switched configuration for sequentially using one or more sensors.

The control unit 22 may be configured to transmit a signal 24 to the apparatus 14 using a wired or wireless interface and to instruct the apparatus 14 so as to form the beam pattern 18.

The apparatus 14 may be configured for optionally transmitting a signal 25 to the measure-ment environment 12, e.g., to the controller 22. The signal 25 may comprise information indicating results, parameters or other information determined by the apparatus 14. For example, the apparatus 14 may measure or evaluate a Rx beam with regard to reception quality, beam preciseness and/or other properties. Respective results may be reported to the measurement environment 12 using the signal 25 so as to allow the measurement environment 12 to evaluate those results. Examples for information of interest that may be reported to the measurement environment 12 are a unique beam setting identifier, indicating a beam pattern formed by the apparatus, a Received Signal strength Indicator (RSSI); a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP); a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ); a power e.g. in case of arbitrary test signals; a frequency setting; a magnitude and phase at defined frequency; a relative magnitude and relative phase at a defined frequency; and/or a beam direction, like an angle of arrival. That is, in the Rx beam measurement case the measurement results may be feedback to the measurement environment by use of signal 25.

The measurement environment 12 further comprises a holding unit 26 configured to hold the apparatus 14 The holding unit 26 may comprise, for example, a table, a chuck, a JIG or an actuated fixture or the like. Further examples comprise a positioner, a turntable, a manipulator, a fixture, an assembly, a carrier, a frame, a holder, a grip, a conveyor, a track, an arm, a user and an electromagnetic phantom. An actuated fixture may allow for moving the apparatus 14 along at least one, two, three, four, five or six directions responsive to an optional signal 28 transmitted from the control unit 22 to the holding unit 26 using a wired or wireless interface.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 20, which may be used, for example, as apparatus 14 or as a model, example or reference for the apparatus 14. The apparatus 20 may comprise a number of at least one antenna arrays 32i to 32s, wherein each of the antenna arrays 32i to 325 may be arranged inside a housing 34 of the apparatus 20, at the housing 34 or outside the housing 34. Each of the antenna arrays 32i to 325 may be configured for forming one or more beam communication beam patterns 36i to 36b, each

communication beam pattern 36i to 366 comprising one or more lobes and/or nulls formed for receiving and/or transmitting a signal.

Communication may then refer to those beam patterns that may be formed by the apparatus 20 for communication, for example during normal operation of the apparatus 20. Commu nication beam patterns 36i to 36e therefore define the set of beam patterns that are formable with the apparatus 20. At least a subset thereof, i.e. , one or more of the communication beam patterns 36 may be selected, defined or labeled as predefined beam pattern. During normal operation, the apparatus 20 may be configured for selecting a respective antenna array or antenna panels 32i to 32s that allows for forming a communication beam pattern 36i to 366 towards a link antenna or a base station. For measuring or evaluating the appa-ratus 20, it may be sufficient, to only evaluate a subset of those beams, wherein the one or more predefined beam patterns may provide for a broad basis for such measurements.

When referring again to Fig. 1 , the apparatus 14 may be configured for generating one or more predefined beam patterns responsive to the signal 24 independent from a link antenna.

For example, the apparatus 14 may have stored in a memory a beam-related information that allows for forming the beam. The beam-related information may comprise one or more of a beam identifier, an information indicating one or more of a parameter to be applied to the antenna array and/or the associated baseband signal which is to be communicated using the antenna array, information indicating the respective antenna array, a beam polarization, a carrier frequency of the beam pattern or the like. In one embodiment, the beam-related information may have a structure according to a table in which respective beams are structured and named or labeled with a beam identifier such that, when receiving the signal 24 comprising a respective beam identifier, the requested beam might be formed with the apparatus 14 by reading the beam-related information associated with the beam identifier according to a codebook. The beam-related information may thus indicate properties of the beam pattern. Such indication may be directly such as“set power to 0 dB(m)” but may alternatively or in addition also be indirectly encoded and/or to be interpreted with respect to the property such as“set power to level 2”.

The apparatus 20 may comprise a memory 37 configured for storing thereon beam-related information unambiguously indicating at least one of the plurality of communication beam patterns 36i to 36e as a predefined beam pattern. When using the apparatus 20 as

apparatus 14, the memory 37 comprises respective beam-related information. According to an example, the signal 24 comprising information allowing identification of a predefined beam so that the signal 24 may also be referred to as a beam identification signal indicating a request to an apparatus 14 to form a predefined beam pattern may be stored on a non-transitory storage medium.

The beam related information may also be referred to as beam setting or beam parameter setting, i.e., a parameter or a set of parameters that preferably unambiguously describe a beam pattern to be formed by the apparatus. A set of beam settings may also be referred to as a beam configuration which may comprise the parameter or set of parameters and/or a beam setting identifier associated with a beam setting identified thereby.

According to embodiments, the apparatus 20 and/or the apparatus 14 may be configured for operating responsive to instructions received from the measurement environment such as the measurement environment 12. The following description refers to a behavior of the apparatus/apparatus. Explanations given in connection with reception of a signal by the apparatus/apparatus thus also imply a respective signal transmitted by the measurement environment and vice versa.

An apparatus such as the apparatus 14 and/or the apparatus 20 may comprise at least one antenna array such as the antenna array 32 allowing the apparatus to form a plurality of communication beam patterns with the antenna array. The antenna array may be adapted as transmitter so as to form transmission beams and/or adapted as receiver so as to form reception beams, wherein both configurations may be implemented in parallel. Embodi-ments described in connection with a transmitter thus do not exclude a configuration of the antenna array as a transceiver or receiver.

The apparatus may be configured for signal a beam configuration of a formed communica-tion beam pattern to the measurement environment, i.e., the apparatus may inform the measurement environment about a beam pattern that was formed, is currently formed or will be formed. The signaled beam configuration valid for Tx and/or Rx may comprise at least one of

a unique beam setting identifier;

a beam power;

a beam gain;

a beam directivity;

a beam carrier frequency;

a beam polarization;

a beam direction;

a beam bandwidth part;

a beam usage,

a list of values with the correspondent settings of the antenna arrays in Tx and/or Rx to form the beam

a beam correspondence flag (if beam correspondence between Rx and Tx beam exist)

a beam correspondence ID (the beam/beam sweep identifier of the correspond ent Rx or Tx beam/beam sweep)

As described, measurements may be performed for Tx beam patterns as well as for Rx beam patterns. A measurement environment in accordance with embodiments may be configured to receive, from the apparatus or DUT a result relating to at least one receive beam measurement associated with a unique beam identifiers comprising a plurality of measure-ment results and parameters. This may comprise one or more of but at least one of:

a unique beam setting identifier

Claims

1. Method (300; 400) for evaluating an apparatus (14) having at least one antenna array (32), the apparatus (14) configured for forming a plurality of communication beam patterns (36) using the antenna array (32), the method comprising:

positioning (310; 410) of the apparatus (14) in a measurement environment (12) or changing the relative position of the probe antenna/antennas of the measurement environment adapted to measure beam patterns and/or beam correspondence be- tween a transmission beam pattern and a reception beam pattern;

controlling (320; 420) the apparatus so as to form a predefined beam pattern (18) of the plurality of communication beam patterns (36); and

measuring (330; 430) the predefined beam pattern (18) using the measurement envi- ronment and/or the apparatus.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predefined beam pattern (18) is a first of a plurality of predefined beam patterns (18), the plurality of predefined beam patterns being a subset of the plurality of communication beam patterns, the method further compris- ing:

controlling (440) the apparatus (14) so as to form a second predefined beam pattern (18) of the plurality of predefined beam patterns after measuring of the first predefined beam pattern; and

measuring (450) the second predefined beam pattern using the measurement envi- ronment (12) and/or the apparatus.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the predefined beam pattern (18) is a first of a plurality (42; 44) of predefined beam patterns, the plurality (42; 44) of predefined beam patterns being a subset of the plurality of communication beam patterns (36), the method further comprising:

controlling the apparatus (14) so as to form a third predefined beam pattern of the plurality (42; 44) of predefined beam patterns during measuring of the first predefined beam pattern; and

measuring the third predefined beam pattern using the measurement environment (12) and/or the apparatus.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the apparatus (14) is controlled so as to sequentially form the plurality (42; 44) of predefined beam patterns, and wherein the respective predefined beam pattern is measured, the method further comprising:

changing a relative position between the apparatus (14) and the measurement envi ronment (12) after having measured the plurality of predefined beam patterns; and

repeating the controlling of the apparatus for forming and measuring the plurality (42) of predefined beam patterns or a further plurality (44) of predefined beam patterns.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the apparatus (14) is controlled so as to form the plurality (42) of predefined beam patters and/or the further plurality (44) of predefined beam patterns in a predefined order.

6. The method of one of previous claims, wherein the predefined beam pattern (18) is a first predefined beam pattern of a plurality (42; 44) of predefined beam patterns, wherein the method is performed such that a predefined sequence of predefined beam patterns is generated by the apparatus (14) and measured with the measurement environment (12) and/or the apparatus.

7. The method of one of previous claims, further comprising:

determining the predefined beam pattern by selecting (610) the predefined beam pattern from the plurality of communication beam patterns (36).

8. The method of one of previous claims, further comprising:

controlling the apparatus (14) or a comparable apparatus (20) similar to the apparatus so as to form a calibration beam pattern being one of the plurality of communication beam patterns (36); and

storing a beam related information (Pi) indicating the calibration beam pattern in a memory (37).

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a plurality of calibration beam patterns is formed and a corresponding plurality of beam related information (P,) is stored in the memory (37).

10. The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein controlling the apparatus (14) or the comparable apparatus (20) so as to form the calibration beam pattern comprises (36):

positioning of the apparatus (14) or the comparable apparatus (20) similar to the ap- paratus so as to comprise a relative position to a link antenna (46) or keeping the position of the apparatus and changing the relative position of the link antenna (46) by movement or switching to another link antenna such that the apparatus (14) or the apparatus forms the calibration beam pattern towards the link antenna (46).

1 1. The method of claim 10, wherein controlling the apparatus or the comparable appa- ratus so as to form the calibration beam pattern further comprises:

controlling the apparatus (14) or the comparable apparatus (20) so as to lock the beam pattern such that the apparatus (14) or the comparable apparatus (20) maintains a relative orientation of the beam pattern relative to a surface of the apparatus (14) when changing the relative position of the apparatus (14) or the comparable apparatus (20)with respect to the link antenna (41).

12. The method of one of claims 8 to 11 , wherein the calibration beam pattern is a first calibration beam pattern and wherein the beam related information (Pi) is a first beam related information, the method comprising:

changing the relative position between the apparatus (14) or the comparable apparatus (20) and the link antenna (46) such that the apparatus (14) or the comparable apparatus (20) forms a second calibration beam pattern;

storing a second beam related information (P,) indicating the second calibration beam pattern in the memory (37).

13. The method of one of claims 8 to 12, wherein the controlling of the apparatus (14) so as to form the predefined beam pattern comprises reading the beam related infor- mation from the memory (37) and forming the predefined beam pattern according to the beam related information (Pi).

14. The method of one of claims 8 to 13, wherein the beam related information (P,) corn- prises at least one of

• a beam/beam sweep identifier;

• an information indicating one or a multitude of beam-related parameter for a trans- mission and/or reception beam to be applied to the antenna array and/or the associated baseband signal which is to be communicated using the antenna array;

• a beam polarization;

• a carrier frequency of the beam pattern;

• a beam correspondence flag; and

• a beam correspondence ID.

15. The method of one of previous claims, wherein controlling of the apparatus (14) so as to form the predefined beam pattern (18) of the plurality of communication beam patterns (36) comprises transmitting a configuration (24) to the apparatus by the meas- urement environment (12), the signal (24) containing information indicating at least one of:

• an activation time and/or a time duration of the predefined beam pattern;

• an activation time and/or a time duration of a beam sweep comprising the predefined beam pattern;

• a time at the apparatus or the measurement environment so as to enable time synchronization;

• an order of predefined beam patterns to be formed by the apparatus; and

• a Tx-Rx flag.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein beam related information ( ) is stored in a memory (37) of the DUT (14), wherein the signal (24) indicates the beam related information (Pi).

17. The method of one of previous claims, wherein the controlling of the DUT (14) such as to form the predefined beam pattern (18) comprises transmitting a signal (24) from the measurement environment (12) to the DUT (14), the signal (24) comprising information unambiguously indicating the predefined beam pattern (18) or a sequence of a plurality of predefined beam patterns to be formed by the DUT (14).

18. The method of one of previous claims, wherein measuring (330; 430) the predefined beam pattern comprises at least one of:

measuring a total radiated power of the beam pattern;

measuring an equivalent isotropic radiated power;

measuring an effective isotropic sensitivity;

measuring Rx and/or Tx complex radiation pattern in magnitude and phase;

measuring Rx and/or Tx complex radiation pattern in relative magnitude and relative phase;

measuring a direction of the beam pattern relative to the apparatus;

and measuring of

- a spherical coverage,

- a covered spherical beam grid density,

- a specific beam pattern of all activated beams of the set of beams,

- at least one side lobe of the main beams/beam patterns,

- a scalability/linearity/hysteresis of beam pattern

changes/switching/inflating/deflating,

- spurious emissions / ACLR with spatial resolution,

- capability and accuracy of null steering and multi-beam steering,

- accuracy of beam correspondence, and

- calibration of antenna arrays / panels.

19. The method of one of previous claims, wherein measuring the (330; 430) predefined beam pattern comprises measuring of in-band emissions of a communication band utilized by the apparatus.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein measuring the (330; 430) predefined beam pattern further comprises measuring out-of-band emissions of the communication band.

21. The method of one of previous claims, wherein the beam pattern (18) comprises at least one beam (48).

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the apparatus (44) is adapted so as to use the at least one beam (48i) for superpositioning with another beam (482) so as to form a combined beam (57).

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the beam (48i) and the further beam (482) are distinguishable for the measurement system (42) or indistinguishable.

24. The method of one of previous claims, wherein predefined beam pattern is a first predefined beam pattern, wherein the apparatus is controlled so as to form the first predefined beam pattern and at least a second predefined beam pattern simultane- ously and so as to be at least partially distinguishable, the method comprising evaluation of the first predefined beam pattern and the second predefined beam pattern.

25. The method of one of previous claims, wherein the predefined beam pattern (18) is a first predefined beam pattern of a plurality (42; 44) of predefined beam patterns, wherein the method comprises controlling the apparatus so as to sequentially form each of the plurality of predefined beam patterns, wherein the plurality of predefined beam patterns is arranged according to a pattern in the measurement environment.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the pattern is at least one of

• a regular or irregular pattern;

• a pattern in which the plurality of beams is arranged in an equidistant manner;

• a pattern that covers an azimuth and/or elevation angle range of the apparatus and/or

• a pattern with one, two or a superposition of polarization components.

27. The method of one of previous claims, wherein the predefined beam pattern is a static beam pattern or a time variant beam pattern.

28. The method of one of previous claims, wherein the predefined beam pattern (18) describes a static beam pattern or a beam sweep.

29. The method of one of previous claims, wherein, when controlling the apparatus (14), the predefined beam pattern is formed independently from a link antenna.

30. The method of one of previous claims, wherein the predefined beam pattern is form- able repeatedly and deterministically.

31. The method of one of previous claims, wherein the controlling (320; 420) of the apparatus so as to form the predefined beam pattern comprises:

causing the apparatus so as to form the predefined beam pattern as a jittering beam pattern.

32. Method for evaluating a apparatus (14) having at least one antenna array (32), the apparatus (14) configured for forming a plurality of communication beam patterns (36) using the antenna array (32), the method comprising:

relative positioning of the apparatus (14) in a measurement environment (12) adapted to measure beam patterns;

controlling the apparatus so as to form a predefined beam pattern being a beam sweep based on a variation of a communication beam pattern (32) over time; and

measuring the predefined beam pattern (18) using the measurement environment and/or the apparatus.

33. The method of claim 32, comprising:

determining a pathway of the beam sweep so as to comprise a plurality of waypoints in space and a sequence of the waypoints and at least one trajectory, between two subsequent waypoints so as to interconnect the plurality of waypoints with trajectories;

controlling the apparatus so as to form the beam sweep such that a beam pattern is moved according to the pathway of the beam sweep.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the trajectories describe a shortest way between two waypoints.

35. The method of claim 33 or 34, wherein the beam sweep is a first beam sweep having a first pathway, the method further comprising:

determining a second beam sweep having a second pathway, the second pathway at least partially comprising the same waypoints as the first pathway and having a sequence of waypoints changed when compared to the first pathway.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the controlling of the apparatus so as to form the predefined beam pattern comprises:

causing the apparatus so as to form the predefined beam pattern as a jittering beam pattern.

37. Method for determining a predetermined beam pattern for an apparatus having at least one antenna array (32), the apparatus (14) configured for forming a plurality of communication beam patterns (36) using the antenna array (32), the method comprising:

positioning of the apparatus (14) in a measurement environment (12) or changing the relative position of the probe antenna/antennas of the measurement environment adapted to measure beam patterns and/or beam correspondence between a transmission beam pattern and a reception beam pattern;

causing the apparatus to form a communication beam pattern as a jittering beam pattern;

measuring the communication beam pattern so as to obtain a measurement result; and

storing the communication beam pattern as predefined beam pattern for a later test dependent on the measurement result.

38. Non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon a computer program having a program code for performing, when running on a computer, a method according to one of previous claims.

39. An apparatus (14; 20) comprising:

at least one antenna array, wherein the apparatus is configured for forming a plurality of communication beam patterns using the antenna array;

a memory having stored thereon beam related information unambiguously indicating at least one of the plurality of communication beam patterns as a predefined beam pattern;

an interface configured for receiving a signal indicating a request to form the prede- fined beam pattern;

wherein the apparatus is configured for forming the predefined beam pattern responsive to the signal using the beam related information.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the apparatus is configured for forming the pre- defined beam pattern as a jittering beam pattern.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the apparatus is configured for obtaining the jit- tering bam pattern by applying a jitter to a signal used to excite an antenna structure or antenna array so as to generate jittering beam pattern.

42. Non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon a beam identification signal indicating a request to an apparatus to form a predefined beam pattern.

43. A measurement environment (12) comprising:

a holding unit (26) configured to hold an apparatus (14); and

a control unit (22) adapted to execute instructions, the instructions configured to cause the measurement environment and/or the apparatus (14) to execute a method of one of previous claims.

44. The measurement environment according to claim 43, wherein the measurement en- vironment is configured to receive, from the apparatus, a beam configuration associ- ated with the communication beam pattern, the beam configuration comprising a plurality of beam settings, each beam setting comprising at least one of

a unique beam setting identifier;

a beam power;

a beam gain;

a beam directivity;

a beam carrier frequency;

a beam polarization;

a beam direction;

a beam bandwidth part;

a beam usage;

a list of values with the correspondent settings of the antenna arrays in Tx and/or Rx to form the beam;

a beam correspondence flag;

a beam correspondence ID.

45. The measurement environment according to claim 43 or 44, wherein the measure- ment environment is configured to receive responsive to a trigger signal transmitted to the apparatus, from the apparatus, receive beam measurement result(s) associated with a unique beam identifier comprising a plurality of measurement results and parameters, comprising at least one of:

a unique beam setting identifier;

a Received Signal strength Indicator (RSSI);

a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP);

a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ);

a power e.g. in case of arbitrary test signals;

a frequency setting;

a magnitude and phase at defined frequency;

a relative magnitude and relative phase at a defined frequency; and a beam direction, like an angle of arrival.

46. The measurement environment according to one of claims 43 to 45, wherein the measurement environment is configured to signal a trigger signal to the apparatus to initiate the feedback of receive beam measurement result(s) associated with unique beam identifiers.

47. The measurement environment of one of claims 43 to 46, being configured for receiv- ing receive beam measurement results for a sequence of beam setting identifiers in response to a trigger signal.

48. The measurement environment of one of claims 43 to 47, wherein the measurement environment is configured to cause the apparatus to form the predefined beam pattern as a jittering beam pattern.

49. The measurement environment of claim 48, wherein the measurement environment is configured to implement a jitter by applying a jitter to the relative position between the apparatus and a sensor and/or a link antenna of the measurement environment.

50. An apparatus (14; 20), wherein the apparatus is configured to feedback, receive beam measurement result(s) associated with unique beam identifiers comprising a plurality of measurement results and parameters, but at least one of:

a unique beam setting identifier;

a Received Signal strength Indicator (RSSI);

a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP);

a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ);

a power e.g. in case of arbitrary test signals;

a frequency setting;

a magnitude and phase at defined frequency;

a relative magnitude and relative phase at a defined frequency; and

a beam direction, like an angle of arrival.

51. An apparatus (14; 20), wherein the apparatus is configured to receive a trigger signal from a measurement environment and is further configured to initiate the feedback of receive beam measurement result(s) associated with unique beam identifiers.

52. The apparatus of one of claims 50 or 51 , being configured for transmitting receive beam measurement results for a sequence of beam setting identifiers in response to a trigger signal.

53. The apparatus of one of claims 50 to 52, wherein the apparatus is configured to form the predefined beam pattern as a jittering beam pattern.

54. An apparatus (14; 20) comprising:

at least one antenna array (32), wherein the apparatus (14;20) is configured for forming a plurality of communication beam patterns (36) using the antenna array (32);

wherein the apparatus is configured for transmitting a beam configuration associated with the communication beam pattern, the beam configuration comprising a plurality of beam settings, each beam setting comprising at least one of

a unique beam setting identifier;

a beam power;

a beam gain;

a beam carrier frequency;

a beam polarization;

a beam direction;

a beam bandwidth part;

a beam usage;

a list of values with the correspondent settings of the antenna arrays in Tx and/or Rx to form the beam;

a beam correspondence flag; and

a beam correspondence ID.

55. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein the apparatus is a communication device, wherein the antenna array is adapted as a transmitter and/or receiver, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive, from a measurement environment, a signal comprising a beam setting identifier, wherein the beam setting identifier is associated with a beam setting of the beam configuration, and

a controller configured to control the apparatus so as to form a communication beam pattern of the plurality of communication beam patterns according to the beam setting with the transmitter.

56. The apparatus of claim 54 or 44, wherein the apparatus is a communication device, wherein the antenna array is adapted as a transmitter and/or receiver, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive, from a measurement environment, a signal corn- prising information indicating a configuration comprising a beam setting comprising at least one of

a beam power;

a beam gain;

a beam carrier frequency;

a beam polarization;

a beam direction;

a beam bandwidth part;

a beam usage;

a list of values with the corresponding settings of the antenna arrays in Tx and/or Rx to form the beam;

a Tx-Rx flag to identify if the Rx or Tx beam is measured; and

a Rx Trigger indicating a request to the apparatus to measure the receive beam pattern and to transmit associated measurement results to a measurement environment.

wherein the apparatus comprises a controller configured for applying the beam setting to form a predefined beam pattern being one of the plurality of communication beam patterns, with the transmitter and/or receiver.

57. The apparatus of one of claims 54 to 56, wherein the antenna array is adapted as a transmitter and/or receiver, wherein the apparatus is configured for receiving, from a measurement environment, a sequence of beam setting identifiers comprising a plurality of beam setting identifiers and for receiving at least a first and a second trigger signal, wherein each beam setting identifier of the sequence is associated with a beam setting of a beam configuration of the apparatus; and

wherein the apparatus comprises a controller configured for applying a first beam set- ting to form a first predefined beam pattern of the plurality of communication beam patterns with the transmitter and/or receiver in response to the first triggering signal, and for applying the second beam setting as indicated by the sequence to form a second predefined beam pattern of the plurality of communication beam patterns in response to the second triggering signal using the transmitter and/or the receiver.

58. The apparatus of one of claims 54 to 57, wherein the antenna array is adapted as a transmitter and/or receiver, wherein the apparatus is configured for receiving, from a measurement environment, a sequence of beam setting identifiers, a trigger signal and a time duration indicator, wherein each beam setting identifier of the sequence is associated with a beam setting of the beam configuration of the apparatus; and

wherein the apparatus comprises a controller configured for applying sequentially in response to the triggering signal the beam settings one-by-one as indicated by the sequence, and wherein for each beam setting the apparatus is configured for forming a predefined beam pattern of the plurality of communication beam patterns using the transmitter and/or receiver for keeping the formed predefined beam pattern fixed for a time duration indicated by the time duration indicator.

59. The apparatus of one of claims 54 to 58, wherein the apparatus is configured for transmitting a beam-formed training signal responsive to a signal received from a measurement environment.

60. The apparatus of one of claims 54 to 59, wherein the apparatus is configured for receiving at least one training signal from a measurement environment to perform receive beam measurements.

61 . The apparatus of one of claims 54 to 60, wherein the apparatus is configured for receiving, from a measurement environment, a signal indicating a beam setting measurement request, and

wherein the apparatus comprises a controller configured

for generating a beam setting as a part of the beam configuration of the apparatus;

for applying the beam setting so as to form a beam pattern towards a link an tenna using the transmitter;

for storing the generated beam setting in a memory, and

for controlling the apparatus so as to, in response to the beam setting measurement request, report the beam setting to the measurement environment.

62. The apparatus of one of claims 54 to 61 , wherein the apparatus is configured for reporting its beam configuration capability indicating the total number of supported beam settings of the beam configuration of the apparatus, to a measurement environment.

63. The apparatus of one of claims 54 to 62, wherein the apparatus is configured to form the communication beam patterns as jittering beam patterns.

64. A measurement environment (12) comprising:

a holding unit (26) configured to hold an apparatus (14; 20), the apparatus comprising at least one antenna array (32), wherein the apparatus (14) is configured for forming a plurality of communication beam patterns (36) using the antenna array(s) (32); and a control unit (22) adapted to execute instructions, such that the measurement environment adapts the apparatus so as to form a plurality of communication beam patterns (36) using the antenna array(s) (32); and to instruct the apparatus so as to transmit a beam configuration of a formed communication beam pattern, the beam configuration comprising at least one of

a unique beam setting identifier;

a beam power;

a beam gain;

a beam carrier frequency;

a beam polarization;

a beam direction;

a beam bandwidth part;

a beam usage;

a list of values with the correspondent settings of the antenna arrays in Tx and/or Rx to form the beam;

a beam correspondence flag; and

a beam correspondence ID.

65. The measurement environment of claim 64, wherein the apparatus is a communication device, wherein the antenna array is adapted as a transmitter and/or receiver, wherein the measurement environment is configured for:

transmitting, to the apparatus, a signal comprising a beam setting identifier, wherein the beam setting identifier is associated with a beam setting of the beam configuration, so as to instruct the apparatus to form a communication beam pattern of the plurality of communication beam patterns according to the beam setting with the transmitter;

wherein the beam configuration comprising a plurality of beam settings, wherein each beam setting comprises at least one of

a beam power;

a beam gain;

a beam carrier frequency;

a beam polarization;

a beam direction;

a beam bandwidth part; and

a beam usage;

a list of values with the correspondent settings of the antenna arrays in Tx and/or Rx to form the beam;

a Tx-Rx flag to identify if the Rx or Tx beam is measured; and

a Rx Trigger indicating a request to the apparatus to measure the receive beam pattern and to transmit associated measurement results to a measurement en- vironment.

66. The measurement environment of claim 64 or 65, wherein the apparatus is a commu- nication device, wherein the antenna array is adapted as a transmitter and/or receiver, wherein the measurement environment is configured for:

transmitting, to the apparatus, a signal comprising a beam setting comprising at least one of

a beam power;

a beam gain;

a beam carrier frequency;

a beam polarization;

a beam direction;

a beam bandwidth part;

a list of values with the correspondent settings of the antenna arrays in Tx and/or Rx to form the beam;

a Tx-Rx flag to identify if the Rx or Tx beam is measured ; and

a Rx Trigger indicating a request to the apparatus to measure the receive beam pattern and to transmit associated measurement results to a measurement en- vironment;

so as to instruct the apparatus to apply the beam setting to form a predefined beam pattern being one of the plurality of communication beam patterns, with the transmit- ter.

67. The measurement environment of one of claims 64 to 66, wherein the antenna array of the apparatus is adapted as a transmitter and/or receiver, wherein the measure- ment environment is configured for transmitting, to the apparatus, a sequence of

beam setting identifiers comprising a plurality of beam setting identifiers and for trans- mitting, to the apparatus, at least a first and a second trigger signal, wherein each beam setting identifier of the sequence is associated with a beam setting of a beam configuration of the apparatus;

so as to instruct the apparatus to apply a first beam setting to form a first predefined beam pattern of the plurality of communication beam patterns with the transmitter and/or the receiver in response to the first triggering signal, and to apply the second beam setting as indicated by the sequence to form a second predefined beam pattern of the plurality of communication beam patterns in response to the second triggering signal using the transmitter and/or receiver.

68. The measurement environment of one of claims 64 to 67, wherein the antenna array of the apparatus is adapted as a transmitter and/or receiver, wherein the measure- ment environment is configured to transmitting, to the apparatus, a sequence of beam setting identifiers, a trigger signal and a time duration indicator, wherein each beam setting identifier of the sequence is associated with a beam setting of the beam con- figuration of the apparatus;

so as to instruct the apparatus to apply sequentially in response to the triggering signal the beam settings one-by-one as indicated by the sequence, and so as to, for each beam setting, form a predefined beam pattern of the plurality of communication beam patterns using the transmitter and/or receiver and to keep the formed predefined beam pattern fixed for a time duration indicated by the time duration indicator.

69. The measurement environment of one of claims 64 to 68, wherein the measurement environment is configured for transmitting a signal, to the apparatus, so as to instruct the apparatus to transmit a beam-formed training signal.

70. The measurement environment of one of claims 64 to 69, wherein the measurement environment is configured for transmitting, to the apparatus, a signal indicating a beam setting measurement request, so as to instruct the apparatus to

generate a beam setting as a part of the beam configuration of the apparatus;

apply the beam setting so as to form a beam pattern towards a link antenna using a transmitter of the apparatus;

store the generated beam setting in a memory, and

control the apparatus so as to, in response to the beam setting measurement request, report the beam setting to the measurement environment.

71. The measurement environment of one of claims 64 to 70, wherein the measurement environment is configured for receiving, from the apparatus, a report of its beam configuration capability indicating the total number of supported beam settings of the beam configuration of the apparatus, and to evaluate the beam configuration capabil- ity during a measurement procedure.

72. The measurement environment of one of claims 64 to 71 , wherein the measurement environment is configured to cause the apparatus to form the predefined beam pattern as a jittering beam pattern.

73. A controller adapted to:

control an apparatus (14; 20) comprising at least one antenna array, wherein the apparatus is configured for forming a plurality of communication beam patterns using the antenna array, so as to form at least one predefined beam pattern of the communication beam patterns using beam related information;

control a measurement environment so as to measure the predefined beam pattern using the beam related information.