Abstract: To assist a user device of a 5G or 6G network in finding its downlink messages, the base station can attach a leading and trailing demarcation to the message. The user device can recognize the demarcations, extract the data between them, and thereby receive the message without computation-intensive searching. Advantageously, the user device can request that the base station not transmit DCI (downlink control information) messages to the user device, since the user device can readily find its messages according to the demarcations. In various embodiments, the demarcations can indicate the address or identity of the intended recipient, the length of the message, the type of the message, and other information to assist the user device. In addition, for even easier detection of the demarcations, the base station can insert a gap of no transmission before and/or after each demarcation. Such demarcations may enable low-cost reduced-capability user devices.

Abstract: Message faults are expected to be an increasing problem in 5G and 6G, due to signal fading at high frequencies, heavy background interference, and high user densities. Retransmissions are expensive in time, power, and the additional background they generate. Prior art includes “soft-combining” among multiple copies, an especially ineffective fault mitigation procedure when SNR is low. Nevertheless, the waveform signals of even badly faulted message elements are rich with information about the correct value. Therefore, procedures are disclosed herein for determining which message elements of a corrupted message, or its associated error-detection code, are faulted, by measuring characteristic parameters of the signal waveform of each message element, and correlating those parameters with the associated error-detection code. In many cases, the corrupted message may be corrected without a retransmission, according to some embodiments.

Abstract: A user device in 5G/6G is required to search for its downlink control messages across a vast array of frequencies, times, and message length variations, costing substantial computational energy that can stress many reduced-capability devices. A simpler procedure is disclosed in which the user device requests a custom search space consisting of just one (or a small number of) resource elements, recurring periodically. The user device can then receive its downlink control messages, and optionally its downlink data messages as well, starting in the custom search space. In addition, the user device can request that its identification code be placed at the beginning of each downlink control and/or data message, to further ease reception. Optionally, the length of the downlink control and/or data message may be inserted as a header or footer to each message, thereby enabling the user device to identify its messages in a stream of ongoing data.

Abstract: Beamforming is a critical element of 5G and especially 6G, but currently requires a series of time-consuming and resource-consuming messages. Disclosed are procedures by which base stations can transmit a phased beam pulse, having a phase that varies with angle, so that each user device can measure the received phase of the pulse and thereby determine its angle relative to the base station. Each user can then sequentially inform the base station of its orientation relative to the base station, or can append that information to another message such as an initial access message or an acknowledgement, for example. The user device and the base station can then exchange messages in narrow beams aimed at each other according to the alignment angle. Also disclosed are procedures to economically generate the wide-angle phased beam by combining overlapping beams of various phases.

Abstract: Feedback messages are essential for controlling transmission beams between network devices in 5G and 6G. Disclosed are brief signals and procedures for a user device to provide feedback to a base station on beam direction, transmission power, beam width, and other transmission parameters. The resource cost is so low, the base station can provide alignment test signals with each downlink message, and the user device can provide feedback selecting a best-received test signal as part of each uplink message, such as an acknowledgement. With such near-real-time beam fine-tuning, base stations and user devices can maintain the tight directional communications required for next-generation communications, without burdening the network with cumbersome feedback messages of prior art. Numerous other aspects are disclosed.

Abstract: Many wireless receivers in 5G and 6G are expected to use DRX (discontinuous reception) to save power. What is lacking is an efficient procedure to inform the DRX users that they have an incoming message on hold at the base station. Therefore, a procedure is disclosed for the base station to assign each user device to a section and a position within that section. Then the base station can periodically broadcast a polling message including only those sections that have at least one waiting with a message on hold. In addition, each user device is assigned a single bit at a calculated position in the polling message, so that each DRX user can determine when it has a message on hold. In addition, the base station can assign an equally compact and efficient reply region for each ready user to request its message, thereby saving time and resources.

Abstract: AI-based fault detection, localization, and correction can improve message reliability in 5G and 6G communications by enabling the rapid recovery of faulted messages without wasting precious time and power on an unnecessary retransmission. The waveform of a received message is rich with information implicating the faulted message elements and, in many cases, suggesting the corrected value. In examples, message recovery can be based on the amplitude of the received waveform, its phase, any pathological variations in noise or in frequency or in polarization, and on inter-symbol transition regions, to list just a few waveform fault indicators revealing the fault locations. In addition, the AI model, or an algorithm derived from it, can discern the intent or meaning of a message, as well as its form and format, the bitwise content, the sequence of characters, and other error flags indicating which parts of the message are faulted.

Abstract: As transmitters proliferate, and the transmission frequency steadily increases in 5G and especially 6G, the rate of message faults will likely increase unacceptably. Disclosed are methods for wireless receivers to detect, localize, and correct message faults using a combination of signal quality, modulation quality, and an embedded error-detection code. The error-detection code can indicate when the message is corrupted, while the signal quality and modulation quality can indicate which message elements are faulted, or can provide a likelihood that each message element is faulted. The message can then be corrected, using a combination of the error-correction code, the signal quality, and the modulation quality. In embodiments, the correction can be calculated directly from the error-detection code, or determined by altering each likely faulted message element to each of the other modulation states and testing with the error-detection code.

Abstract: Message faults are expected to be an increasing problem in 5G and 6G, due to signal fading at high frequencies, heavy background interference, and high user densities. Retransmissions are expensive in time, power, and the additional background they generate. Prior art includes “soft-combining” among multiple copies, an especially ineffective fault mitigation procedure when SNR is low. Nevertheless, the waveform signals of even badly faulted message elements are rich with information about the correct value. Therefore, procedures are disclosed herein for determining which message elements of a corrupted message, or its associated error-detection code, are faulted, by measuring characteristic parameters of the signal waveform of each message element, and correlating those parameters with the associated error-detection code. In many cases, the corrupted message may be corrected without a retransmission, according to some embodiments.

Abstract: As transmitters proliferate, and the transmission frequency steadily increases in 5G and especially 6G, the rate of message faults will likely increase unacceptably. Disclosed are methods for wireless receivers to detect, localize, and correct message faults using a combination of signal quality, modulation quality, and an embedded error-detection code. The error-detection code can indicate when the message is corrupted, while the signal quality and modulation quality can indicate which message elements are faulted, or can provide a likelihood that each message element is faulted. The message can then be corrected, using a combination of the error-correction code, the signal quality, and the modulation quality. In embodiments, the correction can be calculated directly from the error-detection code, or determined by altering each likely faulted message element to each of the other modulation states and testing with the error-detection code.

Abstract: A major goal of 5G and especially 6G is reliable, low-latency communication. Unfortunately, higher density networks result in increasing interference, and higher frequency bands inevitably have signal fading problems, leading to frequency message faults. To restore high-speed, high-reliability messaging, methods are disclosed for evaluating the signal quality of each message element of a received message so that any faulting can be localized to the message elements with the lowest signal quality. Numerous contributions to signal quality are disclosed, including modulation, amplitude and phase stability, polarization and inter-symbol irregularities, expected message format and meaning, and common or unexpected bit sequences. Many further aspects are included.

Abstract: Reliability, in 5G and emerging 6G, is a continuing challenge due to signal fading, heavy interference, and phase noise, among others. The disclosed procedures show how to locate the most likely faulted message elements according to a deviant modulation, excessive amplitude or phase instability, and inconsistency between successive transmissions of the message. In addition, the receiver can rectify the message either by altering the faulted message elements to other modulation states, or by selectively merging two versions of the message according to signal quality. In either case, reliability is improved, range is extended, and time is saved.

Abstract: Wireless messages in 5G and 6G are generally transmitted on one polarization orientation, the vertical orientation, while the horizontal polarization is generally unused. Disclosed are modulation schemes and systems for encoding additional information in the horizontal polarization signal as well as the vertical, thereby providing faster and more compact messaging. Also disclosed are short-form polarization-demodulation references that exhibit the maximum and minimum amplitude levels of the modulation scheme, in the vertical and horizontal polarizations separately, while the other polarization is silent. The receiver can thereby measure and correct for crosstalk between the polarization components. The demodulation reference may also include a gap of zero transmission, enabling background evaluation.

Abstract: A supercomputer, with traffic-modeling software and 5G/6G connectivity, can assist an autonomous vehicle in avoiding, or at least minimizing the expected harm of, an imminent collision. Upon detecting the imminent collision, the autonomous vehicle can transmit a message to an access point, requesting an uncontested direct communication link to the supercomputer, and then transfer sensor data and other traffic data to the supercomputer through the access point. The supercomputer can calculate a multitude of sequences of braking, steering, and accelerating actions of the autonomous vehicle, and can select the sequence that enables the autonomous vehicle to avoid the collision if possible. If all sequences cannot avoid the collision, the supercomputer can select the sequence that results in the least harm (fatalities, injuries, and property damage) in the unavoidable collision.

Abstract: Reliable communications is a central goal of 5G and 6G. However, due to signal fading at high frequencies and interference due to crowding, message faults continue to be a problem. Disclosed are methods for base station and user devices to adjust the modulation scheme according to the types of faults received, including amplitude faults (incorrectly demodulated amplitude levels) and phase faults (incorrectly demodulated phase levels), among others. The base station can select a more suitable modulation scheme based on the types of faults observed by user devices, such as modulation schemes with more or fewer amplitude levels and phase levels. In some versions, the number of amplitude levels is different from the number of phase levels, to combat specific fault problems.

Abstract: Network throughput can be increased and the message failure rate can be reduced in 5G and 6G communications by use of AI-based fault mitigation: that ism detection, localization, and correction of faulted message elements in real-time. A receiver provides the demodulated message, along with amplitude and phase measurements of each message element, directly to a properly trained artificial intelligence model. The model determines the most-likely faulted message elements, and in some cases can indicate the most probable correct value of the faulted message elements. The AI model can also determine the fault probability of each message element. The expected message content (such as value ranges and predetermined format) can also be provided to the AI model, for further corruption sensitivity. By correcting faulted messages in less time than required for a retransmission, the system can save time, reduce backgrounds, and greatly reduce dropped messages.

Abstract: Billions of low-cost autonomous sensors and actuators are expected to join 5G and 6G networks. Most of them will use DRX (discontinuous reception) to save power. However, if an incoming message arrives while the device is in sleep-mode, a complex process is required for the device to obtain its message. Instead, a fast, lean polling method is provided, in which the base station can inform the user devices periodically of their messages on hold, using an encoded matrix of bits, one bit per user device in the network. When a user device wakes up and receives the matrix, it can determine, according to its bit position, whether it has messages waiting. If so, the user device can then transmit a very brief signal in an allocated reply region, at a specific location corresponding to its bit position in the matrix, thereby requesting the message or messages on hold.

Abstract: The user devices in managed networks, such as 5G and 6G networks, are required to adapt their uplink transmissions to the base station's resource grid, including the timing and frequency structure of the resource grid. Message-heavy legacy synchronization procedures can consume substantial resources. Therefore, a simpler, faster procedure is disclosed in which synchronization parameters are standardized where possible, timing signals are configured in minimal size where possible, and the user device collaborates with the base station to adjust the user device's clock setting, clock rate, timing advance (to match the base station's symbol boundaries), and Doppler correction (to match the base station's subcarrier frequency), without exchanging data messages other than very brief timing signals. Such ultra-lean synchronization procedures may enable low-complexity synchronization in future high-frequency communications.

Abstract: An ultra-lean, low-complexity 5G/6G procedure for adjusting transmission beam parameters for optimal reception by a particular user device. The transmitter can append multiple brief test signals to each message, using a different transmission parameter for each test signal. The receiver can reply (optionally in an acknowledgement) indicating which test signal was best received. The transmitter can then use the selected value of the transmission parameter for the next message, thereby successively approaching the optimal value. Each adjustment step can be a predetermined increment value, which is added or subtracted from the previous value depending on which test signal was selected by the receiver. As conditions change (or as the user device moves), the beam parameter can be updated again upon each downlink transmission, thereby tracking the user device's preferred transmission value in realtime.

Abstract: In 5G and 6G, a message received with even a single-bit fault generally discarded and a retransmission is requested. However, the faulted message contains a wealth of information that the receiver can use to avoid, or at least mitigate, such faults thereafter. Disclosed is a method for comparing a faulted message with an unfaulted copy, thereby determining which part of the message is faulted, and specifically how it was faulted. For example, the fault may have been an amplitude fault in which a demodulated amplitude differs by one level from the initially modulated amplitude, or it may be a phase fault in which the received phase differs by one phase level, or there may be a displacement by multiple amplitude or phase levels (a non-adjacent fault). Different mitigation strategies are disclosed for each situation, including AI models configured to select a suitable modulation scheme to combat specific faults.