Integrated Sensing and Communication with Multi-Domain Cooperation

Abstract

With the continuous increase of the spectrum and antennas, endogenous sensing is now possible in the fifth generation and future wireless communication systems. However, sensing is a highly complex task for a heterogeneous communication network with massive connections. Seeking multi-domain cooperation is necessary. In this article, we present an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system that performs active, passive, and interactive sensing in different stages of communication through hardware and software. We also propose different methods about how multi-user and multifrequency band cooperate to further enhance the ISAC system's performance. Finally, we elaborate on the advantages of multi-domain cooperation from the physical layer to the network layer for the ISAC system. I. INTRODUCTIONThe future wireless communication system is expected to provide ubiquitous connectivity with ultra-high throughput, ultra-low latency, and ultra-high reliability. It will also go far beyond communication to realize the ability to sense, control, and even optimize wireless environments [1]. Because, with the rapid advent of the intelligent age, more and more new applications emerge out, such as extended reality, holographic communication, autonomous driving, smart medical, intelligent industry, etc., which require mass data transmission, centimeter-level localization, and highly fine-grained environmental information. To bring the applications above into reality and fulfill the vision that everything will be sensed, connected, and intelligent, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is anticipated to play a pivotal role.

Terahertz Communications and Sensing for 6G and Beyond: A Comprehensive Review

“…Yang [491] Leveraged multi-domain cooperation to enhance the performance of the ISAC system through active and passive sensing, multi-user, and multi-frequency-band networks.…”

“…Without any doubt, communications and sensing can be mutually beneficial for each other. In the category of sensingaided communication, sensing information (treated as prior information), e.g., the location of the transmitter, receiver, and environmental objects, can be leveraged for enhancing the beam prediction/alignment and reducing the overhead of beam training as well as channel sounding [487], [491]. In dynamic scenarios where the user is under mobility, regardless of low or high velocity, such sensing information can be utilized for predicting potential blockages and enabling smooth handovers [22].…”

“…Under the framework of ISAC, data detection and sensing parameter estimation can be performed in an iterative manner by considering the conjugate gradient method until a certain preset stopping criterion is reached. Besides, ISAC performance can be further enhanced by multi-domain cooperation through joint active and passive sensing, and multi-user and multi-frequency operations [491]. The tensor decomposition approach is capable of leveraging the channel sparsity and guaranteeing a unique solution for each environmental sensing parameter without any ambiguity [501].…”

Bayesian User Localization and Tracking for Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Aided MIMO Systems

“…Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has been identified as a promising technology for the sixth-generation (6G) mobile communications [1]- [3], where the joint design of sensing and communication systems becomes necessary to meet the increasing demand for communication and sensing services [4], [5]. High-precision localization, as a critical issue in sensing, shows great potential needs in the emerging 6G application scenarios such as internet of vehicles (IoV), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communications, etc [6]- [8].…”