Resource Allocation and Mobility Management for Perceptive Mobile Networks in 6G

With the rapid development of smart terminals and infrastructure, 6G is expected to evolve to a mobile network with integrated radio-sensing capability -- namely, perceptive mobile networks -- and to support diverse heterogeneous services with rich needs. The existing radio access architecture cannot take into account the various requirements of heterogeneous services. Therefore, it is critical to develop radio access schemes for perceptive mobile networks in 6G. Open radio access networks (O-RAN), which support open interfaces and common development standards, enables deployment of diversified access schemes. Additionally, the combination of integration of sensing and communication (ISAC) and O-RAN is expected to provide new possibilities for next-generation mobile network schemes. This article proposes a new radio access networks (RAN) architecture: ISAC assisted O-RAN, which not only supports open interfaces, but also endows base stations (BSs) and terminals with the ability to perceive the surrounding environment. The current information obtained by sensing -- and the future information obtained by prediction -- are used to assist access decision-making, realizing the self-optimization function of 6G access networks. As the types of services and devices supported by 6G access networks become more and more diverse, an on-demand dynamic allocation mechanism for multi-dimensional resources is proposed to achieve a good match between multi-dimensional resources and heterogeneous services. Meanwhile, aiming at the problem of frequent handover (HO) in high mobility scenarios, a scheme is proposed in which ISAC technology is used to flexibly adjust HO control parameters (HCP) and achieve more accurate beam tracking. As a result, the wireless link failures and communication interruptions in the HO process are minimized.