Integration of endogenous sensing and communication based on photonics-enabled cellular base station networks with a spectrum fusion algorithm

Endogenous integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) based on cellular base stations (BSs) can simultaneously achieve high-quality imaging and communication, which is one of the key technologies for future applications. However, due to the lack of a communication-compatible high-resolution algorithm and hardware co-design, current ISAC methods cannot simultaneously balance imaging and communication performance. To address this, we build photonics-enabled cellular BS networks using analog radio-over-fiber (AROF), which can integrate a spectrum fusion algorithm derived from the advanced concept of bandwidth-enhanced microwave forward-looking imaging (MFI) to achieve endogenous ISAC. The spectrum fusion algorithm reconfigures the spatial spectrum to achieve a high-resolution MFI by fusing the spectrum resources of coexisting heterogeneous broadband orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals. The photonics-enabled cellular BS network not only satisfies the requirements of the algorithm for synchronization and carrier frequency preservation but also responds to the communication trend of high-efficiency fronthaul. The formulation and simulation results show that the imaging resolution can be significantly improved with the fusion of communication spectrum resources, achieving a higher resolution than that of existing ISAC methods at the same aperture. An ISAC demonstration system is built. The experimental results show that the imaging resolution of the fused communication spectrum resources is ∼3.5 cm × ∼4 cm, and the complex target (vehicle) can be imaged. Additionally, the maximum achievable communication data rate communication rate is 6Gbps.