Interference-Resilient Concurrent Sensing in Dense Environments: A Review of OFDM and OTFS Waveforms for JRC

This paper presents a unified perspective on Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM)-based joint radar–communication (JRC) sensing, focusing on the efficient reuse of time and frequency resources in range–Doppler estimation and imaging scenarios. By leveraging OFDM’s inherent subcarrier orthogonality, noise-like temporal properties, and minor carrier frequency offsets, these systems can support concurrent transmissions over the same spectral and temporal resources while maintaining interference resilience. Experimental and simulation-based insights demonstrate the feasibility of simultaneous sensing across users and antennas, even in dense Radio Frequency (RF) environments. We analyze trade-offs, implementation considerations, and system-level implications to provide a consolidated foundation for designing future OFDM-based JRC systems. The feasibility of an Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) waveform for the proposed method is also investigated. The review highlights the potential of such architectures in spectrum and time-congested applications such as Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), indoor localization, Internet of Things (IoT), and beyond fifth-generation (5G) networks.