Cooperative Integrated Communication and Positioning Design via Rate-Splitting Multiple Access and Channel Estimation Enhancement

This paper investigates an integrated communication and positioning (ICAP) system facilitated by rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA). We propose encoding part of users’ messages into a common stream using a public codebook, which simultaneously facilitates fingerprint-based positioning. To enhance positioning accuracy, we investigate the interplay between geometric and non-geometric spatial consistency, which intriguingly leads to improved quality of imperfect channel state information (ICSI). In particular, we establish a novel strategy to significantly reduce the minimum mean square error of channel estimation via the Bayes pooling principle. We also demonstrate the theoretical equivalence between ICSI enhancement and positioning accuracy. Moreover, we develop a progressive transmission protocol that minimizes training overhead alongside ICSI enhancement strategy while allowing for the reallocation of spare resources without compromising designed performance. Our cooperative ICAP system leverages both reconfigurable intelligent surface and transmit precoding techniques to reconfigure the spatial consistency of the propagation space. Numerical results underscore advantages of proposed system in achieving the broadest Pareto boundary among existing ICAP designs. Furthermore, we reveal that RSMA bolsters communication capabilities while the ICSI enhancement strategy predominantly augments positioning.