Customising Indoor Radio Environments for Dual-functional radar-communication systems

Sensing is envisioned as an indispensable part to construct an intelligent in-building environment. Compared to well-developed wireless communications, radio/radar sensing is still in its infancy for indoor networks. As 5G and beyond wireless networks will be ubiquitous indoors, it is particularly attractive to realise extra sensing capability that is piggybacked on indoor wireless networks.

Recent developments in dual-functional radar-communication (DFRC) systems represent an excellent opportunity to integrate wireless communications and radar sensing indoors.

For an indoor DFRC system, its communication and sensing (C&S) performance largely depends on the DFRC transceiver and the radio environment. Even though major efforts have been made on designing DFRC transceivers, radio environments as another key element to realise the potential of DFRC for integrated C&S remain unexplored.

To realise the potential of DFRC systems for integrated C&S, the CIRED project will: 1) Define a set of metrics to measure the C&S performance of indoor radio environments; 2) Establish mathematical models to characterise the impact of indoor radio environments on DFRC systems; and 3) Develop advanced algorithms to optimally customise indoor radio environments for C&S.

The achievement of these objectives will significantly enhance the C&S performance of indoor DFRC systems. The project is timely as integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is critical for 6G networks.