Analysis and Design of Joint Communication and Sensing for Wireless Cellular Networks

Abstract

Joint communication and sensing (JCAS) has emerged as an important piece of technology that will radically change ordinary wireless communication and radar systems. This research area, which has significantly grown over the last decade, aims to develop integrated systems that can provide both communication and sensing/radar functionalities simultaneously. The convergence of both systems into the same joint platform facilitates a more efficient use of the hardware and spectrum resources, enabling new civilian and professional applications.

This thesis focuses on the integration of JCAS functionalities into mobile cellular networks, such as fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) and sixth generation (6G) communication systems, which are developing toward higher frequency ranges at millimeter-wave (mm-wave) bands, coming with wider bandwidths, and have massive antenna arrays, providing a great framework to develop sensing functionalities. By implementing JCAS, the different nodes of the cellular network, such as the base station and user equipment, can sense and reconstruct their surroundings. However, the JCAS operation yields multiple design challenges that need to be addressed. To this end, this thesis aims to develop novel algorithms in two relevant research areas that comprise self-interference (SI) cancellation and beamforming optimization techniques for JCAS systems.

This work analyzes the potential sensing performance of mobile cellular networks, proposing a joint framework and identifying the main radar processing techniques to support JCAS. The fundamental SI challenge stemming from the simultaneous operation of the transmitter and receiver is investigated, and different JCAS cancellation techniques are proposed. The performance and feasibility of the proposed JCAS system is evaluated through simulation and measurement experiments at different frequency bands and scenarios, identifying mm-wave frequencies as the key enabler for future JCAS systems.

Alternative antenna architectures and beamforming methods for mm-wave JCAS platforms are proposed by considering both communication and sensing requirements. Specifically, this thesis proposes novel beamforming methods that provide multiple beams, supporting efficient beamformed communications while an additional beam senses the environment simultaneously. In addition, the proposed beam-forming algorithms address the SI challenge by implementing an efficient spatial suppression scheme to suppress the direct transmitter–receiver coupling.