This paper exploits the networked integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) to support low-altitude economy (LAE), in which a set of networked ground base stations (GBSs) cooperatively transmit joint information and sensing signals to communicate with multiple authorized uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and concurrently detect unauthorized objects over the interested region in the three-dimensional (3D) space. We assume that each GBS is equipped with uniform linear array (ULA) antennas, which are deployed either horizontally or vertically to the ground. We also consider two types of UAV receivers, which have and do not have the capability of canceling the interference caused by dedicated sensing signals, respectively. Under each setup, we jointly design the coordinated transmit beamforming at multiple GBSs together with the authorized UAVs’ trajectory control and their GBS associations, for enhancing the authorized UAVs’ communication performance while ensuring the sensing requirements. In particular, we aim to maximize the average sum rate of authorized UAVs over a given flight period, subject to the minimum illumination power constraints toward the interested 3D sensing region, the maximum transmit power constraints at individual GBSs, and the flight constraints of UAVs. These problems are highly non-convex and challenging to solve, due to the involvement of binary UAV-GBS association variables as well as the coupling of beamforming and trajectory variables. To solve these non-convex problems, we propose efficient algorithms by using the techniques of alternating optimization, successive convex approximation, and semi-definite relaxation. Numerical results show that the proposed joint coordinated transmit beamforming and UAV trajectory designs efficiently balance the sensing-communication performance tradeoffs and significantly outperform various benchmarks. It is also shown that the horizontally placed antennas lead to enhanced performance compared with their vertical counterparts due to the more flexible multi-beam design, and the sensing interference cancellation ability at UAV receivers is advantageous for further enhancing ISAC performance.

This paper studies a multi-antenna networked integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) system, in which a set of multi-antenna base stations (BSs) employ the coordinated transmit beamforming to serve multiple single-antenna communication users (CUs) and concurrently perform joint target detection by exploiting the echo signals. To facilitate target sensing, the BSs transmit dedicated sensing signals combined with their information signals. We consider two types of CU receivers with and without the capability of canceling the interference from the dedicated sensing signals, respectively. We also investigate two scenarios with and without time synchronization among the BSs. For the scenario with synchronization, the BSs can exploit the target-reflected signals over both the direct links (BS-to-target-to-originated-BS links) and the cross-links (BS-to-target-to-other-BSs links) for joint detection, while in the unsynchronized scenario, the BSs can only utilize the target-reflected signals over the direct links. For each scenario under different types of CU receivers, we optimize the coordinated transmit beamforming at the BSs to maximize the minimum detection probability over a particular targeted area, while guaranteeing the required minimum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) constraints at the CUs. These SINR-constrained detection probability maximization problems are recast as non-convex quadratically constrained quadratic programs (QCQPs), which are then optimally solved via the semi-definite relaxation (SDR) technique. Numerical results show that for each considered scenario, the proposed ISAC design achieves enhanced target detection probability compared with various benchmark schemes. In particular, enabling time synchronization and sensing signal cancellation at the BSs is always beneficial for further improving the joint detection and communication performance.

This paper studies a multi-antenna network integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system, in which a set of multi-antenna base stations (BSs) employ the coordinated transmit beamforming to serve their respectively associated single-antenna communication users (CUs), and at the same time reuse the reflected information signals to perform joint target detection. In particular, we consider two target detection scenarios depending on the time synchronization among BSs. In Scenario I, these BSs are synchronized and can exploit the target-reflected signals over both the direct links (from each BS to target to itself) and the cross links (from each BS to target to other BSs) for joint detection. In Scenario II, these BSs are not synchronized and can only utilize target-reflected signals over the direct links for joint detection. For each scenario, we derive the detection probability under a specific false alarm probability at any given target location. Based on the derivation, we optimize the coordinated transmit beamforming at the BSs to maximize the minimum detection probability over a particular target area, while ensuring the minimum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) constraints at the CUs, subject to the maximum transmit power constraints at the BSs. We use the semi-definite relaxation (SDR) technique to obtain highly-quality solutions to the formulated problems. Numerical results show that for each scenario, the proposed design achieves higher detection probability than the benchmark scheme based on communication design. It is also shown that the time synchronization among BSs is beneficial in enhancing the detection performance as more reflected signal paths are exploited.