Experimenting Joint Vehicular Communications and Sensing with Optimized 5G NR Waveform

Abstract

This article contributes to the experimentation of joint vehicular communications and radio-based sensing using a fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) waveform. Firstly, simulations are carried out to observe the effect of using default (communication-purpose) 5G NR waveforms for sensing, and they indicate high side-lobes in the range profile due to the existence of unused communication subcarriers within the frames of the 5G NR waveform. These can be filled with optimized frequency-domain symbols to minimize the side-lobes. As the main result, these observations are validated through over-the-air measurements with practical 5G NR waveforms, operating at the mm-wave frequency of 27.7 GHz. For this, an outdoor environment is mapped with both the default 5G NR waveform and the optimized waveform, and the latter showcases considerable improvement in the mapping image due to side-lobe suppression.