Channel Modeling Framework for Both Communications and Bistatic Sensing Under 3GPP Standard

Integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) is considered a promising technology in the beyond 5G/6G networks. The channel model is essential for an ISAC system to evaluate the communication and sensing performance. Most existing channel modeling studies focus on the monostatic ISAC channel. In this article, the channel modeling framework for bistatic ISAC is considered. The proposed channel modeling framework extends the current 3GPP channel modeling framework and ensures the compatibility with the communication channel model. To support the bistatic sensing function, several key features for sensing are added. First, more clusters with weaker power are generated and retained to characterize the potential sensing targets. Second, the target model can be either deterministic or statistical, based on different sensing scenarios. Furthermore, for the statistical case, different reflection models are employed in the generation of rays, taking into account spatial coherence. The effectiveness of the proposed bistatic ISAC channel model framework is validated by both ray tracing simulations and experiment studies. The compatibility with the 3GPP communication channel model and how to use this framework for sensing evaluation are also demonstrated.