Cooperative ISAC: An End-to-End Perspective

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has caught a great deal of interest and attention since it was identified as a key usage scenario of 6G mobile communications. Whereas cooperative ISAC, taking advantage of the large-scale cellular infrastructure, in addition to the benefit of eliminating full duplex transceivers, is favored by mobile operators. This paper starts with channel modeling and key technologies at the link level, including synchronization, beam management, and advanced sensing algorithms, of cooperative ISAC systems. From a network perspective, it provides optimal base station deployment, receiving node(s) selection, and network interference management to improve system performance. Then, cooperative ISAC enhanced by novel multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technologies is introduced. Finally, prototype designs of cooperative ISAC systems at both Sub-7 GHz and millimeter wave bands are presented, respectively. Experimental results in an outdoor environment have verified that with only 3. 5% of the communication capacity cost and 200 MHz bandwidth, a range estimation accuracy of 0.2 m can be achieved within the 500 m range.