Cell-Free Integrated Sensing and Communication: Principles, Advances, and Future Directions

Cell-free (CF) integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) combines CF architecture with ISAC. CF employs distributed access points, eliminates cell boundaries, and enhances coverage, spectral efficiency, and reliability. ISAC unifies radar sensing and communication, enabling simultaneous data transmission and environmental sensing within shared spectral and hardware resources. CF-ISAC leverages these strengths to improve spectral and energy efficiency while enhancing sensing in wireless networks. As a promising candidate for next-generation wireless systems, CF-ISAC supports robust multi-user communication, distributed multi-static sensing, and seamless resource optimization. However, a comprehensive survey on CF-ISAC has been lacking. This paper fills that gap by first revisiting CF and ISAC principles, covering cooperative transmission, radar cross-section, target parameter estimation, ISAC integration levels, sensing metrics, and applications. It then explores CF-ISAC systems, emphasizing their unique features and the benefits of multi-static sensing. State-of-the-art developments are categorized into performance analysis, resource allocation, security, and user/target-centric designs, offering a thorough literature review and case studies. Finally, the paper identifies key challenges such as synchronization, multi-target detection, interference management, and fronthaul capacity and latency. Emerging trends, including next-generation antenna technologies, network-assisted systems, near-field CF-ISAC, integration with other technologies, and machine learning approaches, are highlighted to outline the future trajectory of CF-ISAC research.

Low-Complexity Multi-Target Detection in ELAA ISAC

Multi-target detection and communication with extremely large-scale antenna arrays (ELAAs) operating at high frequencies necessitate generating multiple beams. However, conventional algorithms are slow and computationally intensive. For instance, they can simulate a \num{200}-antenna system over two weeks, and the time complexity grows exponentially with the number of antennas. Thus, this letter explores an ultra-low-complex solution for a multi-user, multi-target integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system equipped with an ELAA base station (BS). It maximizes the communication sum rate while meeting sensing beampattern gain targets and transmit power constraints. As this problem is non-convex, a Riemannian stochastic gradient descent-based augmented Lagrangian manifold optimization (SGALM) algorithm is developed, which searches on a manifold to ensure constraint compliance. The algorithm achieves ultra-low complexity and superior runtime performance compared to conventional algorithms. For example, it is \num{56} times faster than the standard benchmark for \num{257} BS antennas.

Hybrid Beamforming Design for RSMA-enabled Near-Field Integrated Sensing and Communications

To enable high data rates and sensing resolutions, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) networks leverage extremely large antenna arrays and high frequencies, extending the Rayleigh distance and making near-field (NF) spherical wave propagation dominant. This unlocks numerous spatial degrees of freedom, raising the challenge of optimizing them for communication and sensing tradeoffs. To this end, we propose a rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA)-based NF-ISAC transmit scheme utilizing hybrid digital-analog antennas. RSMA enhances interference management, while a variable number of dedicated sensing beams adds beamforming flexibility. The objective is to maximize the minimum communication rate while ensuring multi-target sensing performance by jointly optimizing receive filters, analog and digital beamformers, common rate allocation, and the sensing beam count. To address uncertainty in sensing beam allocation, a rank-zero solution reconstruction method demonstrates that dedicated sensing beams are unnecessary for NF multi-target detection. A penalty dual decomposition (PDD)-based double-loop algorithm is introduced, employing weighted minimum mean-squared error (WMMSE) and quadratic transforms to reformulate communication and sensing rates. Simulations reveal that the proposed scheme: 1) Achieves performance comparable to fully digital beamforming with fewer RF chains, (2) Maintains NF multi-target detection without compromising communication rates, and 3) Significantly outperforms space division multiple access (SDMA) and far-field ISAC systems.

Cell-Free Full-Duplex Communication -- An Overview

Cell-free (CF) architecture and full-duplex (FD) communication are leading candidates for next-generation wireless networks. The CF framework removes cell boundaries in traditional cell-based systems, thereby mitigating inter-cell interference and improving coverage probability. In contrast, FD communication allows simultaneous transmission and reception on the same frequency-time resources, effectively doubling the spectral efficiency (SE). The integration of these technologies, known as CF FD communication, leverages the advantages of both approaches to enhance the spectral and energy efficiency in wireless networks. CF FD communication is particularly promising due to the low-power and cost-effective FD-enabled access points (APs), which are ideal for short-range transmissions between APs and users. Despite its potential, a comprehensive survey or tutorial on CF FD communication has been notably absent. This paper aims to address this gap in the literature. It begins with an overview of FD communication fundamentals, self-interference cancellation techniques, and CF technology principles, including their implications for current wireless networks. The discussion then moves to the integration and compatibility of CF and FD technologies, focusing on channel estimation, performance analysis, and resource allocation in CF FD massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) networks, supported by an extensive literature review and case studies.

Flexible Rate-Splitting Multiple Access for Near-Field Integrated Sensing and Communications

This letter presents a flexible rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) framework for near-field (NF) integrated sensing and communications (ISAC). The spatial beams configured to meet the communication rate requirements of NF users are simultaneously leveraged to sense an additional NF target. A key innovation lies in its flexibility to select a subset of users for decoding the common stream, enhancing interference management and system performance. The system is designed by minimizing the Cram\'{e}r-Rao bound (CRB) for joint distance and angle estimation through optimized power allocation, common rate allocation, and user selection. This leads to a discrete, non-convex optimization problem. Remarkably, we demonstrate that the preconfigured beams are sufficient for target sensing, eliminating the need for additional probing signals. To solve the optimization problem, an iterative algorithm is proposed combining the quadratic transform and simulated annealing. Simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme significantly outperforms conventional RSMA and space division multiple access (SDMA), reducing distance and angle estimation errors by approximately 100\% and 20\%, respectively.

Joint Beam Scheduling and Resource Allocation for Flexible RSMA-aided Near-Field Communications

Supporting immense throughput and ubiquitous connectivity holds paramount importance for future wireless networks. To this end, this letter focuses on how the spatial beams configured for legacy near-field (NF) users can be leveraged to serve extra NF or far-field users while ensuring the rate requirements of legacy NF users. In particular, a flexible rate splitting multiple access (RSMA) scheme is proposed to efficiently manage interference, which carefully selects a subset of legacy users to decode the common stream. Beam scheduling, power allocation, common rate allocation, and user selection are jointly optimized to maximize the sum rate of additional users. To solve the formulated discrete non-convex problem, it is split into three subproblems. The accelerated bisection searching, quadratic transform, and simulated annealing approaches are developed to attack them. Simulation results reveal that the proposed transmit scheme and algorithm achieve significant gains over three competing benchmarks.

Signal Detection in Colored Noise Using the Condition Number of $F$-Matrices

Signal detection in colored noise with an unknown covariance matrix has numerous applications across various scientific and engineering disciplines. The analysis focuses on the square of the condition number \(\kappa^2(\cdot)\), defined as the ratio of the largest to smallest eigenvalue \((\lambda_{\text{max}}/\lambda_{\text{min}})\) of the whitened sample covariance matrix \(\bm{\widehat{\Psi}}\), constructed from \(p\) signal-plus-noise samples and \(n\) noise-only samples, both \(m\)-dimensional. This statistic is denoted as \(\kappa^2(\bm{\widehat{\Psi}})\). A finite-dimensional characterization of the false alarm probability for this statistic under the null and alternative hypotheses has been an open problem. Therefore, in this work, we address this by deriving the cumulative distribution function (c.d.f.) of \(\kappa^2(\bm{\widehat{\Psi}})\) using the powerful orthogonal polynomial approach in random matrix theory. These c.d.f. expressions have been used to statistically characterize the performance of \(\kappa^2(\bm{\widehat{\Psi}})\).

Structured Tensor Decomposition Based Channel Estimation and Double Refinements for Active RIS Empowered Broadband Systems

Channel parameter estimation is crucial for optimal designs of next-generation reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-empowered communications and sensing. Tensor-based mechanisms are particularly effective, capturing the multi-dimensional nature of wireless channels, especially in scenarios where RIS integrates with multiple-antenna devices. However, existing studies assume either a line-of-sight (LOS) scenario or a blocked condition for non-RIS channel. This paper solves a novel problem: tensor-based channel parameter recovery for active RIS-aided multiple-antenna wideband connections in a multipath environment with non-RIS paths. System settings are customized to construct the received signals as a fifth-order canonical polyadic (CP) tensor. Four of the five-factor matrices unfortunately contain redundant columns, and the remaining one is a Vandermonde matrix, which fails to satisfy the Kruskal condition for tensor decomposition uniqueness. To address this issue, spatial smoothing and Vandermonde structured CP decomposition (VSCPD) are applied, making the tensor factorization problem solvable and providing a relaxed general uniqueness condition. A sequential triple-stage channel estimation framework is proposed based on the factor estimates. The first stage enables multipath identification and algebraic coarse estimation, while the following two stages offer optional successive refinements at the cost of increased complexity. The closed-form Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) is derived to assess the estimation performance. Herein, the noise covariance matrix depends on multipath parameters in our active-RIS scenario. Finally, numerical results are provided to verify the effectiveness of proposed algorithms under various evaluation metrics.

Downlink Beamforming for Cell-Free ISAC: A Fast Complex Oblique Manifold Approach

Cell-free integrated sensing and communication (CF-ISAC) systems are just emerging as an interesting technique for future communications. Such a system comprises several multiple-antenna access points (APs), serving multiple single-antenna communication users and sensing targets. However, efficient beamforming designs that achieve high precision and robust performance in densely populated networks are lacking. This paper proposes a new beamforming algorithm by exploiting the inherent Riemannian manifold structure. The aim is to maximize the communication sum rate while satisfying sensing beampattern gains and per AP transmit power constraints. To address this constrained optimization problem, a highly efficient augmented Lagrangian model-based iterative manifold optimization for CF-ISAC (ALMCI) algorithm is developed. This algorithm exploits the geometry of the proposed problem and uses a complex oblique manifold. Conventional convex-concave procedure (CCPA) and multidimensional complex quadratic transform (MCQT)-CSA algorithms are also developed as comparative benchmarks. The ALMCI algorithm significantly outperforms both of these. For example, with 16 APs having 12 antennas and 30 dBm transmit power each, our proposed ALMCI algorithm yields 22.7% and 6.7% sum rate gains over the CCPA and MCQT-CSA algorithms, respectively. In addition to improvement in communication capacity, the ALMCI algorithm achieves superior beamforming gains and reduced complexity.

A Riemannian Manifold Approach to Constrained Resource Allocation in ISAC

This paper introduces a new resource allocation framework for integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) systems, which are expected to be fundamental aspects of sixth-generation networks. In particular, we develop an augmented Lagrangian manifold optimization (ALMO) framework designed to maximize communication sum rate while satisfying sensing beampattern gain targets and base station (BS) transmit power limits. ALMO applies the principles of Riemannian manifold optimization (MO) to navigate the complex, non-convex landscape of the resource allocation problem. It efficiently leverages the augmented Lagrangian method to ensure adherence to constraints. We present comprehensive numerical results to validate our framework, which illustrates the ALMO method's superior capability to enhance the dual functionalities of communication and sensing in ISAC systems. For instance, with 12 antennas and 30 dBm BS transmit power, our proposed ALMO algorithm delivers a 10.1% sum rate gain over a benchmark optimization-based algorithm. This work demonstrates significant improvements in system performance and contributes a new algorithmic perspective to ISAC resource management.