Introduction to the Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) Paradigm

AESS is excited to announce its second edition of the initiative - AESS Workshop on Integrated Sensing and Communications.

Registration is free but required.

• Virtual Registration
• In-Person Registration

Schedule (times listed in IST)

2:00 PM  - Introduction to the Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) Paradigm
Maria Sabrina Greco, University of Pisa, Italy

2:15 PM - Waveform design to improve the estimation of target parameters in a MIMO-OFDM Dual Function Radar Communication (DFRC) system
K.V.S. Hari, Professor, Statistical Signal Processing Lab, Department of ECE, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Abstract: Dual-function Radar Communication (DFRC) systems integrate Radar and Communication systems using the same hardware. We consider a Multiple-Input Multiple- Output (MIMO) DFRC system based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and present the existing Fourier-based methods to estimate the direction, range and velocity of the targets.  First, we propose a new waveform which improves the performance of the Fourier method. Next, we design a waveform to enable a subspace framework to estimate the range and velocity of the target. Simulation results show that the proposed approaches improve the performance of the system. We present results for the modified Cramér-Rao bound for the above system.

3:00 PM - Leveraging Upon Learning and Sparsity for ISAC
Kumar Vijay Mishra, United States DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory.

Abstract: Recent interest in integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) has led to the design of novel signal processing techniques to recover information from an overlaid radar-communications signal as well as transmit a common signal for both systems. In this talk, we focus on two important tools for the design and signal processing of ISAC systems: learning and sparsity. The interest in learning-based ISAC is driven largely by the need to solve difficult nonconvex optimization problems inherent in an ISAC design as well as to address the highly dynamic channel environments. Toward fully realizing the coexistence/co-design of both radar and communications, the optimization of resources for both sensing and wireless communications modalities is crucial. But the optimization-based approaches suffer from high computational complexity and their performance strongly relies on factors such as perfect channel conditions, specific constraints, and mobility. In this context, learning techniques provide robust performance at an upfront training cost. We discuss applying learning to various ISAC aspects including channel estimation, antenna selection, resource allocation, and wideband beamforming. The second half of the talk focuses on exploiting sparsity in a general spectral coexistence scenario, wherein the channels and transmit signals of both radar and communications systems are unknown at the receiver. In this dual-blind deconvolution (DBD) problem, a common receiver admits a multi-carrier wireless communications signal that is overlaid with the radar signal reflected off multiple targets. The communications and radar channels are represented by continuous-valued range-time and Doppler velocities of multiple transmission paths and multiple targets. We exploit the sparsity of both channels to solve the highly ill-posed DBD problem by casting it into a sum of multivariate atomic norms (SoMAN) minimization. Toward the end of the talk, we focus on highlighting emerging ISAC scenarios, particularly at mm-Wave and THz frequencies, vehicular applications, distributed radar-communications networks, intelligent surfaces, and aerial channels.

3:45 PM - Break

4:00 PM - IEEE 802.11ad Based Intelligent Joint Radar Communication Transceiver: Design, Prototype and Performance Analysis
Shobha Sundar Ram, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, New Delhi

Abstract: Millimeter wave communication will potentially form the backbone of vehicle-to-X communications in next generation intelligent transportation systems due to the high bandwidth. Existing sub-6 GHz V2X communication strategies such as dedicated short range communication services on IEEE802.11p based wireless technology, device-to-device (D2D-LTE V2X) communications and cellular LTE-V2X communications modes operate below 6GHz and hence are restricted to tens of megabits per second data rates with latency of the order of few milliseconds. Due to the high propagation loss at millimeter wave carrier frequencies, they are meant to operate in short range line-of-sight conditions with highly directional beams realized through beamforming. In high mobility environments, rapid beam training will result in considerable overhead and significant deterioration of latency. Alternatively, auxiliary sensors such as GPS or standalone radars can aid in beam alignment of the communication systems. However, the deployment of auxiliary sensors increase the cost and complexity in terms of synchronization and data processing as well as pose challenges in terms of interference. 

An integrated sensing and communications framework based on IEEE 802.11ad protocol is presented, in the talk, to overcome these limitations. The augmentation of the radar functionality within the existing communication framework will result in both systems cohabiting a common spectrum and sharing hardware resources. This will reduce cost and complexity as well as mitigate interference. The high wide bandwidth of the transmitted millimeter wave signal along with the channel estimation capabilities within the packet preamble are uniquely suited for radar remote sensing operations. The radar based detection and localization of communication mobile users will enable the subsequent transmission of directional beams towards the mobile users for maximising the throughput. 

The talk will present the recommendation to enable the IEEE 802.11ad framework to support for radar functionality while maintaining compatibility with the existing communication protocol requirements; signal processing and learning based algorithms for supporting radar based detection and localization of mobile users as well as estimation of channel conditions in both static and quasi-static scenarios; the complete end-to-end software prototype for baseband, digital and analog front-end of the dual functional transceiver at the base station; the hardware prototype of the ISAC on heterogeneous system-on-chip – specifically the Zynq Ultrascale+RFSoC consisting of processor system (quad-core ARM processor with 4 dual-core real-time processor and graphic processing unit) and programmable logic consisting of FPGA and sub-6GHz RF front-end; and finally the evaluation of the improvement of the communication link metrics (throughput, bit error rate) with the augmentation of the radar functionality. 

4:45 PM  - Closing Remarks