Two-Stage Distributed Beamforming Design in Cell-Free Massive MIMO ISAC Systems

Integrating radio-sensing functionalities into future cell-free (CF) wireless networks promises efficient resource utilization and facilitates the seamless roll-out of applications such as public safety and smart infrastructure. While the beamforming design problem for the CF integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) paradigm has been addressed in the literature, existing methods rely on centralized signal processing, leading to fronthaul load and scalability issues. This paper presents a two-stage beamforming design for the CF ISAC paradigm, aiming to significantly reduce the fronthaul load by distributing the signal processing tasks between the central unit (CU) and the access points (APs). The design optimizes the sum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) for communication users, subject to per-AP power constraints and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) requirements for radio-sensing purposes. The resulting optimization problems are non-convex and challenging to solve. To address this, we employ a majorization-minimization (MM) approach, which decomposes the problem into simpler convex subproblems. The results show that the two-stage beamforming design achieves performance comparable to centralized methods while substantially reducing the fronthaul load, thus minimizing data transmission requirements over the fronthaul network. This advancement highlights the potential of the proposed method to enhance the efficiency and scalability of cell-free MIMO ISAC systems.

Cooperative Multiterminal Radar and Communication: A New Paradigm for 6G Mobile Networks

The impending spectrum congestion imposed by the emergence of new bandwidth-thirsty applications may be mitigated by the integration of radar and classic communications functionalities in a common system. Furthermore, the merger of a sensing component into wireless communication networks has raised interest in recent years and it may become a compelling design objective for 6G. This article presents the evolution of the hitherto separate radar and communication systems towards their amalgam known as a joint radar and communication (RADCOM) system. Explicitly, we propose to integrate a radio sensing component into 6G. We consider an ultra-dense network (UDN) scenario relying on an active multistatic radar configuration and on cooperation between the access points across the entire coverage area. The technological trends required to reach a feasible integration, the applications anticipated and the open research challenges are identified, with an emphasis on high-accuracy network synchronization. The successful integration of these technologies would facilitate centimeter-level resolution, hence supporting compelling high-resolution applications for next-generation networks, such as robotic cars and industrial assembly lines.