Integrated Sensing and Communication for Large Networks Using Joint Detection and a Dynamic Transmission Strategy

A large network employing integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) where a single transmit signal by the base station (BS) serves both the radar and communication modes is studied. We consider bistatic detection at a passive radar and monostatic detection at the transmitting BS. The radar-mode performance is significantly more vulnerable than the communication-mode due to the double path-loss in the signal component while interferers have direct links. To combat this, we propose: 1) a novel dynamic transmission strategy (DTS) and 2) joint monostatic and bistatic detection via cooperation at the BS. We analyze the performance of monostatic, bistatic and joint detection. We show that bistatic detection with dense deployment of low-cost passive radars offers robustness in detection for farther off targets. Significant improvements in radar-performance can be attained with joint detection in certain scenarios, while using one strategy is beneficial in others. Our results highlight that with DTS we are able to significantly improve quality of radar detection at the cost of quantity. Further, DTS causes some performance deterioration to the communication-mode; however, the gains attained for the radar-mode are much higher. We show that joint detection and DTS together can significantly improve radar performance from a traditional radar-network.