A Uniform Pilot and Data Payload Optimization Framework for OTFS-Based ISAC

The orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) signal is considered a promising solution for high-mobility wireless environments. It manages Doppler effects by utilizing delay-Doppler (DD) domain processing. However, the relatively long OTFS frame duration could introduce considerable sensing or communication latency when radar and communication are performed separately. By operating in a dual-functional radar and communication (DFRC) mode, the OTFS system performs sensing and data transmission simultaneously, thereby reducing the resulting latency. Nevertheless, the optimal OTFS DFRC signal strategy remains insufficiently explored. This paper investigates the optimal signal design for OTFS DFRC systems, focusing on pilot symbol design and data symbol power allocation. Specifically, we derive a channel capacity lower bound metric for communication that considers channel estimation errors in OTFS. For sensing, we derive an integrated sidelobe level (ISL), accounting for the randomness of the data symbols alongside the deterministic pilot symbols. Leveraging the above metrics, we formulate an optimization problem that balances radar and communication performance, and then solve it using an alternating optimization framework. We validate the proposed signal through numerical analysis and Monte Carlo simulations. Our analysis shows that OTFS DFRC enforces a deterministic pilot signal that is characterized by a concentrated peak in the DD domain, which furnishes a common structure in the DD domain facilitating sensing and channel estimation, with data multiplexed in other DD grids, thereby unifying sensing and communication within a single OTFS signal. Compared with conventional OTFS signals, the proposed OTFS DFRC signal expands the achievable sensing-communication performance region, delivering at least a 9.45 dB ISL suppression for sensing and a 4.82 dB SINR ratio gain for communication.

Ultra-Massive MIMO with Orthogonal Chirp Division Multiplexing for Near-Field Sensing and Communication Integration

This paper integrates the emerging ultra-massive multiple-input multiple-output (UM-MIMO) technique with orthogonal chirp division multiplexing (OCDM) waveform to tackle the challenging near-field integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) problem. Specifically, we conceive a comprehensive ISAC architecture, where an UM-MIMO base station adopts OCDM waveform for communications and a co-located sensing receiver adopts the frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) detection principle to simplify the associated hardware. For sensing tasks, several OCDM subcarriers, namely, dedicated sensing subcarriers (DSSs), are each transmitted through a dedicated sensing antenna (DSA) within the transmit antenna array. By judiciously designing the DSS selection scheme and optimizing receiver parameters, the FMCW-based sensing receiver can decouple the echo signals from different DSAs with significantly reduced hardware complexity. This setup enables the estimation of ranges and velocities of near-field targets in an antenna-pairwise manner. Moreover, by leveraging the spatial diversity of UM-MIMO, we introduce the concept of virtual bistatic sensing (VIBS), which incorporates the estimates from multiple antenna pairs to achieve high-accuracy target positioning and three-dimensional velocity measurement. The VIBS paradigm is immune to hostile channel environments characterized by spatial non-stationarity and uncorrelated multipath environment. Furthermore, the channel estimation of UM-MIMO OCDM systems enhanced by the sensing results is investigated. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed ISAC scheme enhances sensing accuracy, and also benefits communication performance.

A Sensing Dataset Protocol for Benchmarking and Multi-Task Wireless Sensing

Wireless sensing has become a fundamental enabler for intelligent environments, supporting applications such as human detection, activity recognition, localization, and vital sign monitoring. Despite rapid advances, existing datasets and pipelines remain fragmented across sensing modalities, hindering fair comparison, transfer, and reproducibility. We propose the Sensing Dataset Protocol (SDP), a protocol-level specification and benchmark framework for large-scale wireless sensing. SDP defines how heterogeneous wireless signals are mapped into a unified perception data-block schema through lightweight synchronization, frequency-time alignment, and resampling, while a Canonical Polyadic-Alternating Least Squares (CP-ALS) pooling stage provides a task-agnostic representation that preserves multipath, spectral, and temporal structures. Built upon this protocol, a unified benchmark is established for detection, recognition, and vital-sign estimation with consistent preprocessing, training, and evaluation. Experiments under the cross-user split demonstrate that SDP significantly reduces variance (approximately 88%) across seeds while maintaining competitive accuracy and latency, confirming its value as a reproducible foundation for multi-modal and multitask sensing research.

On Discrete Ambiguity Functions of Random Communication Waveforms

This paper provides a fundamental characterization of the discrete ambiguity functions (AFs) of random communication waveforms under arbitrary orthonormal modulation with random constellation symbols, which serve as a key metric for evaluating the delay-Doppler sensing performance in future ISAC applications. A unified analytical framework is developed for two types of AFs, namely the discrete periodic AF (DP-AF) and the fast-slow time AF (FST-AF), where the latter may be seen as a small-Doppler approximation of the DP-AF. By analyzing the expectation of squared AFs, we derive exact closed-form expressions for both the expected sidelobe level (ESL) and the expected integrated sidelobe level (EISL) under the DP-AF and FST-AF formulations. For the DP-AF, we prove that the normalized EISL is identical for all orthogonal waveforms. To gain structural insights, we introduce a matrix representation based on the finite Weyl-Heisenberg (WH) group, where each delay-Doppler shift corresponds to a WH operator acting on the ISAC signal. This WH-group viewpoint yields sharp geometric constraints on the lowest sidelobes: The minimum ESL can only occur along a one-dimensional cut or over a set of widely dispersed delay-Doppler bins. Consequently, no waveform can attain the minimum ESL over any compact two-dimensional region, leading to a no-optimality (no-go) result under the DP-AF framework. For the FST-AF, the closed-form ESL and EISL expressions reveal a constellation-dependent regime governed by its kurtosis: The OFDM modulation achieves the minimum ESL for sub-Gaussian constellations, whereas the OTFS waveform becomes optimal for super-Gaussian constellations. Finally, four representative waveforms, namely, SC, OFDM, OTFS, and AFDM, are examined under both frameworks, and all theoretical results are verified through numerical examples.

Look Before Switch: Sensing-Assisted Handover in 5G NR V2I Networks

Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) has emerged as a promising solution in addressing the challenges of high-mobility scenarios in 5G NR Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications. This paper proposes a novel sensing-assisted handover framework that leverages ISAC capabilities to enable precise beamforming and proactive handover decisions. Two sensing-enabled handover triggering algorithms are developed: a distance-based scheme that utilizes estimated spatial positioning, and a probability-based approach that predicts vehicle maneuvers using interacting multiple model extended Kalman filter (IMM-EKF) tracking. The proposed methods eliminate the need for uplink feedback and beam sweeping, thus significantly reducing signaling overhead and handover interruption time. A sensing-assisted NR frame structure and corresponding protocol design are also introduced to support rapid synchronization and access under vehicular mobility. Extensive link-level simulations using real-world map data demonstrate that the proposed framework reduces the average handover interruption time by over 50%, achieves lower handover rates, and enhances overall communication performance.

From OFDM to AFDM: Enabling Adaptive Integrated Sensing and Communication in High-Mobility Scenarios

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is a key feature of next-generation wireless networks, enabling a wide range of emerging applications such as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which operate in high-mobility scenarios. Notably, the wireless channels within these applications typically exhibit severe delay and Doppler spreads. The latter causes serious communication performance degradation in the Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) waveform that is widely adopted in current wireless networks. To address this challenge, the recently proposed Doppler-resilient affine frequency division multiplexing (AFDM) waveform, which uses flexible chirp signals as subcarriers, shows great potential for achieving adaptive ISAC in high-mobility scenarios. This article provides a comprehensive overview of AFDM-ISAC. We begin by presenting the fundamentals of AFDM-ISAC, highlighting its inherent frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW)-like characteristics. Then, we explore its ISAC performance limits by analyzing its diversity order, ambiguity function (AF), and Cramer-Rao Bound (CRB). Finally, we present several effective sensing algorithms and opportunities for AFDM-ISAC, with the aim of sparking new ideas in this emerging field.

Integrated Sensing and Communication: Towards Multifunctional Perceptive Network

The capacity-maximization design philosophy has driven the growth of wireless networks for decades. However, with the slowdown in recent data traffic demand, the mobile industry can no longer rely solely on communication services to sustain development. In response, Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) has emerged as a transformative solution, embedding sensing capabilities into communication networks to enable multifunctional wireless systems. This paradigm shift expands the role of networks from sole data transmission to versatile platforms supporting diverse applications. In this review, we provide a bird's-eye view of ISAC for new researchers, highlighting key challenges, opportunities, and application scenarios to guide future exploration in this field.

Integrated Sensing and Communication with Tri-Hybrid Beamforming Across Electromagnetically Reconfigurable Antennas

Beamforming with a sufficient number of antennas is one of the most significant technologies for both Multi-user (MU) Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO) communication and MIMO radar sensing in Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) systems. However, its performance suffers from limited Degrees of Freedom (DoFs) in conventional hybrid beamforming systems. To overcome this, we propose an Electromagnetically Reconfigurable Antenna (ERA)-aided ISAC system, where transmit ERAs dynamically adjust their radiation patterns to enhance system DoFs and improve overall performance. Specifically, we design a tri-hybrid beamforming optimization framework combining digital, analog, and Electromagnetic (EM) beamforming to jointly maximize communication rate and sensing Signal-to-Clutter-plus-Noise Ratio (SCNR). Furthermore, an integrated Fractional Programming (FP) and Manifold Optimization (MO) approach is developed to transform the problem into tractable subproblems with closed-form updates. Simulation results verify that the proposed ERA-ISAC system achieves almost 10 dB Sensing and Communication (S&C) performance gain compared to its conventional hybrid beamforming counterparts with Omnidirectional Antenna (OA).

Optical Computation-in-Communication enables low-latency, high-fidelity perception in telesurgery

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds significant promise for enhancing intraoperative perception and decision-making in telesurgery, where physical separation impairs sensory feedback and control. Despite advances in medical AI and surgical robotics, conventional electronic AI architectures remain fundamentally constrained by the compounded latency from serial processing of inference and communication. This limitation is especially critical in latency-sensitive procedures such as endovascular interventions, where delays over 200 ms can compromise real-time AI reliability and patient safety. Here, we introduce an Optical Computation-in-Communication (OCiC) framework that reduces end-to-end latency significantly by performing AI inference concurrently with optical communication. OCiC integrates Optical Remote Computing Units (ORCUs) directly into the optical communication pathway, with each ORCU experimentally achieving up to 69 tera-operations per second per channel through spectrally efficient two-dimensional photonic convolution. The system maintains ultrahigh inference fidelity within 0.1% of CPU/GPU baselines on classification and coronary angiography segmentation, while intrinsically mitigating cumulative error propagation, a longstanding barrier to deep optical network scalability. We validated the robustness of OCiC through outdoor dark fibre deployments, confirming consistent and stable performance across varying environmental conditions. When scaled globally, OCiC transforms long-haul fibre infrastructure into a distributed photonic AI fabric with exascale potential, enabling reliable, low-latency telesurgery across distances up to 10,000 km and opening a new optical frontier for distributed medical intelligence.

Sensing-Secure ISAC: Ambiguity Function Engineering for Impairing Unauthorized Sensing

The deployment of integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) brings along unprecedented vulnerabilities to authorized sensing, necessitating the development of secure solutions. Sensing parameters are embedded within the target-reflected signal leaked to unauthorized passive radar sensing eavesdroppers (Eve), implying that they can silently extract sensory information without prior knowledge of the information data. To overcome this limitation, we propose a sensing-secure ISAC framework that ensures secure target detection and estimation for the legitimate system, while obfuscating unauthorized sensing without requiring any prior knowledge of Eve. By introducing artificial imperfections into the ambiguity function (AF) of ISAC signals, we introduce artificial targets into Eve's range profile which increase its range estimation ambiguity. In contrast, the legitimate sensing receiver (Alice) can suppress these AF artifacts using mismatched filtering, albeit at the expense of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss. Employing an OFDM signal, a structured subcarrier power allocation scheme is designed to shape the secure autocorrelation function (ACF), inserting periodic peaks to mislead Eve's range estimation and degrade target detection performance. To quantify the sensing security, we introduce peak sidelobe level (PSL) and integrated sidelobe level (ISL) as key performance metrics. Then, we analyze the three-way trade-offs between communication, legitimate sensing, and sensing security, highlighting the impact of the proposed sensing-secure ISAC signaling on system performance. We formulate a convex optimization problem to maximize ISAC performance while guaranteeing a certain sensing security level. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of the proposed sensing-secure ISAC signaling, demonstrating its ability to degrade Eve's target estimation while preserving Alice's performance.