Integrated Sensing, Localization, and Communications in 6G THz Systems

In parallel to the evolution of 5G communication systems, 6G concepts are being developed in the academic community.

In 6G, several key technical enablers are envisioned: i) mmWave and THz frequencies electromagnetic with extremely large bandwidths, and extremely large antenna arrays; ii) reconfigurable intelligent surfaces that control the propagation environment; and iii) machine learning to solve problems for which mathematical models are not sufficient.

As location-aware communication (i.e., to optimize network efficiency and communication capacity by exploiting location, map, and trajectory information) is already a part of 5G, we expect that the 6G key enablers will also lead to high-accuracy sensing and localization and, in turn, improve communication quality.

The goal of this project is to develop integrated sensing, localization, and communication systems for 6G, and the project comprises the following 3 work packages (WPs).

In WP1, joint parameter estimation methods for the 6G channel are studied, and low-complexity methods will be developed based on the inherent high resolution of the 6G channel.

By exploiting the estimated channel parameters of 6G signals, novel methods for estimating user state as well as sensing the time-varying propagation environment will be developed in WP2.

We will design methods to use sensing and localization information from WP2 for initial beam search, beamspace processing, beam alignment, and power allocation in WP3.

In doing so, we address several of the fundamental challenges in 6G communications and high-accuracy sensing and localization.