Millimeter Wave Frontend for Integrated Sensing and Communication System Transceiver on Edge

IEEE 802.11ad standard uses analog beamforming for high-speed directional communication with mobile user (MU) in the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. However, the lengthy beam alignment procedures involving large data packets between the base station (BS) and the MU introduce considerable overhead, deteriorating the overall throughput. Prior works have proposed 802.11ad-based integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) BS transceivers to eliminate time-consuming beam alignment. Instead, the radar and communication functionalities use the same waveform, spectrum, and millimeter wave front end (MFE) with a common spatial field of view. The radar detects and localizes the MU, enabling the subsequent directional communication with the MU. This work proposes an end-to-end IEEE 802.11ad-based ISAC BS transceiver prototype, wherein the digital baseband hardware frontend on edge is integrated with a Simulink-based MFE. The proposed prototype facilitates a systematic link budget and detailed performance analysis for different wireless channels, target motions, signal-to-noise ratios, hardware configurations, and impairments. We also investigate how these impairments affect radar performance and, in turn, the communication metrics since the performances of both systems are uniquely interrelated in an ISAC system. Our results show that even with hardware impairments, the 802.11ad-based ISAC offers 34% higher throughput than the standard with an ideal MFE.