In this work, we propose a compact millimeter wave (mmWave) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system utilizing electronically steerable parasitic array radiator (ESPAR). We analyze the system and channel models for the compact mmWave massive MIMO system using a beamspace formulation and demonstrate that we can optimize the spectral efficiency of the compact mmWave massive MIMO system by jointly adjusting the variable reactive loads in the ESPAR with a digital beamformer. We formulate the compact mmWave massive MIMO system optimization problem to maximize spectral efficiency and propose an unconstrained optimization based algorithm with an initialization method. The spectral and energy efficiencies of the compact mmWave massive MIMO system are evaluated in comparison to conventional mmWave massive MIMO systems of the same antenna size using full-digital, fully-connected hybrid, and partially-connected hybrid beamforming. The results show that the compact mmWave massive MIMO system provides higher spectral efficiency than partially-connected hybrid beamforming. On top of this, it can provide higher energy efficiencies of around 3.21, 2.88, and 1.22 times compared to full-digital, fully-connected hybrid, and partially-connected hybrid beamforming but with lower hardware complexity and lower cost. Therefore, compact mmWave massive MIMO systems are a promising and effective alternative to conventional massive MIMO systems in millimeter wave (mmWave) communications.

Abstract A novel multistatic integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system based on cellular network is proposed. It can make use of widespread base stations (BSs) to perform cooperative sensing in wide area. This system is important since the deployment of sensing function can be achieved upon the mobile communication network at low complexity and cost without modifying the architecture of BSs for full duplexing. In this work, the topology of sensing cell is first provided, which can be duplicated to seamlessly cover the cellular network. Each sensing cell consists of a single central BS transmitting signals and multiple neighboring BSs receiving reflected signals from sensing objects. Then an estimating approach is described for obtaining position and velocity of sensing objects that locate in the sensing cell. Joint data processing with an efficient optimization method is also provided. In addition, key issues in the cellular network based multistatic ISAC system are analyzed. Simulation results show that the multistatic ISAC system can reduce interference power by over 10 dBm and significantly improve position and velocity estimation accuracy of objects when compared with the monostatic ISAC system, demonstrating the effectiveness and promise of implementing the proposed system in the mobile network.

The 6th generation mobile communication system (6G) will provide everything as a service (XaaS), where X includes communication, sensing, computing, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and security and more. Novel features such as sensing as a Service (SaaS) will contribute to further realising Internet of Everything (IoE). Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) is identified as one of the six usage scenarios for 6G by the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), and the corresponding studies on the detailed technical performance requirements and evaluation methodologies have begun in 2024. Although ISAC has become a popular topic, there are no systematic performance requirements metrics and corresponding evaluation methodologies defined for SaaS in a mobile communication system, while conventional key performance indicators (KPI) for radar systems have been borrowed currently. Therefore, to fill this gap, this paper proposes SensCAP, a systematic CAPability performance metric composed of Sensing Capacity, Accuracy and Probability. The sensing capacity reflects the comprehensive sensing performance, which can be expressed as the number of targets that can be detected per unit area within unit time, given Sensing Quality of Service (QoS) requirements consisting of sensing accuracy and probability. Furthermore, the performance evaluation of the SensCAP is conducted through system simulation using proposed evaluation methodologies, and the KPI values are suggested as the guidelines for further study in ITU-R.

The combination of communication and sensing is envisioned as a novel feature in the forthcoming sixth-generation (6G) wireless communication. The conventional approach to the joint sensing and communication (JSAC) system is utilizing one base station (BS) as both a sensing transmitter and a sensing receiver, which is known as monostatic sensing. However, the resulting self-interference issue requires additional hardware promotion to achieve full-duplexing. To overcome this issue, in this paper, we focus on cooperative sensing where the transmitter and receivers are non-co-located, which includes the bistatic and multistatic sensing. Specifically, the system model of cooperative sensing based on mobile networks is established. To demonstrate the feasibility of cooperative sensing, the bistatic radar cross section (RCS) is provided. As for the sensing method, a refined orthogonal matching pursuit (R-OMP) method is proposed to estimate the channel parameters and data fusion is also provided to derive the objects’ positions and velocities. Considering the non-negligible interference in the cooperative JSAC networks, we also discuss interference management in this paper. Simulation results show that the proposed cooperative sensing system improves the position and velocity estimation accuracy by over 20% when compared with monostatic sensing. The preliminary experiment results also verify the feasibility of the proposed system.

In this paper, we propose a novel non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) based integrated localization and communication (ILAC) signal transmission scheme, where communication and localization signals of different user equipments (UEs) are superimposed respectively. We analyze the performance of localization and communication in terms of position error bound (PEB) and effective data rate (EDR) theoretically. We further compare the proposed NOMA-ILAC method with current NOMA-orthogonal multiple access (OMA) method where different UEs’ communication signals are superposed while their localization signals are transmitted orthogonally, both from theoretical analysis and simulations. Performance trade-off is then carried out w.r.t. the time-domain resource allocation. Numerical results demonstrate that by adapting the time allocation ratio, the proposed method is able to improve the communication performance by up to 33%, when the PEB of the two methods are equal.

A method for achieving the continuous-space electromagnetic channel capacity bound using loaded$N$-port structures is described. It is relevant for the design of compact multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas that can achieve channel capacity bounds when constrained by size. The method is not restricted to a specific antenna configuration and a closed-form expression for the channel capacity limits are provided with various constraints. Furthermore, using loaded$N$-port structures to represent arbitrary antenna geometries, an efficient optimization approach is proposed for finding the optimal MIMO antenna design that achieves the channel capacity bounds. Simulation results of the channel capacity bounds achieved using our MIMO antenna design with one square wavelength size are provided. These show that at least 18 ports can be supported in one square wavelength and achieve the continuous-space electromagnetic channel capacity bound. The results demonstrate that our method can link continuous-space electromagnetic channel capacity bounds to MIMO antenna design.

A novel analog beamforming technique that utilizes single radio frequency (single-RF) electronically steerable parasitic array radiator (ESPAR) antennas is proposed. The ESPAR beamforming techniques are aimed at precoding in multiple antenna wireless communication systems using the single or hybrid RF approach. One advantage of ESPAR analog beamforming compared to conventional analog beamforming using phase shifters is that arbitrary patterns can be straightforwardly formed. Therefore, ESPAR analog beamforming can provide performance almost identical to digital beamforming. More importantly, ESPAR analog beamforming does not require phase shifters and power splitters, overcoming implementation challenges of conventional analog beamforming. It also has a more compact size compared to conventional beamforming using uniform antenna arrays. We analyze and optimize ESPAR analog beamforming and propose a channel approach based on beamspace pilot transmission to acquire channel state information (CSI). In addition, we propose limited feedback ESPAR analog beamforming based on a beamforming selection strategy. Simulation results for average gain show that ESPAR analog beamforming has almost identical performance to digital beamforming and better performance than analog beamforming using phase shifters. Energy efficiency simulations show that the technique has the highest efficiency among all the beamforming techniques. Therefore, ESPAR analog beamforming has near optimal performance, high energy efficiency, low circuit complexity, low cost, compact size and can be an effective alternative to conventional analog beamforming.

A systematic and general method for obtaining orthogonal far-field radiation patterns using any electronically steerable parasitic array radiator (ESPAR) embedded in a propagation environment with an arbitrary power angular spectrum (PAS) is described. The method is useful in designing single-RF multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems where the orthogonal patterns can be utilized as a basis set for beamspace MIMO. The method utilizes the correlation matrix of the open-circuit radiation patterns and is termed the pattern correlation decomposition method (PCDM). PCDM is applicable to any antenna type (including realistic antennas with losses), array configuration, PAS and overcomes the limitations of previously proposed techniques. PCDM also provides closed-form solutions for the antenna currents to generate the orthogonal patterns. It also provides an estimate of the effective aerial degrees-of-freedom of the ESPAR. In addition, efficient optimization approaches to finding the optimal reactive loads that excite the required orthogonal radiation patterns are provided. Simulation examples using a 5-element and a 8-element planar inverted-F antenna array including material losses in various PAS are provided. These show that the proposed approach increases system capacity by up to 7 bits/s/Hz or equivalently reduces the required transmit power by up to 73% compared with previous approaches.

A systematic method based on the Theory of Characteristic Modes (TCM) for finding orthogonal radiation patterns of any electronically steerable parasitic array radiator (ESPAR) is described. This method can be useful for designing single-RF front-end multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems in which orthogonal patterns can be utilized as a basis set for space modulation (SM) or full multiplexed MIMO systems. The method is based on the$N$-port formulation of TCM and is not restricted to antenna type or array configuration. It can also provide closed formed solutions for the antenna element currents required to generate the orthogonal patterns. In addition an approach to finding the required load reactances in ESPAR for generating the orthogonal patterns is provided and is based on the quasi-Newton method utilizing a closed form expression for the initial approximate solution. Approximate estimation of the effective aerial degrees of freedom of the ESPARs is also discussed. Two simulation examples of ESPARs, a 4-element linear dipole array and an 8-element rectangular planar inverted-F antenna array, using SM as well as full multiplexed MIMO are provided, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method.