Channel Emulator-Enabled Over-the-Air Testing Platform for Integrated Sensing and Communication Systems: Framework and Experimental Validation

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is considered as a promising technology for the next-generation wireless communications. As the ISAC-powered base station (BS) integrates both communication and sensing capabilities, the testing system must possess the ability to test both aspects simultaneously. In this work, a novel channel emulator (CE)-enabled over-the-air (OTA) testing platform for ISAC systems is proposed. The main idea is to extend the basic channel emulation capabilities of the CE, which has been employed mainly for communication testing, to generate deceptive echoes for sensing testing, thereby achieving a comprehensive evaluation of the joint communication and sensing functionalities of ISAC BSs. The proposed testing platform is cost-efficient, as it extends the functionality of the existing CE without introducing new and expensive instruments. The platform is also capable of emulating diverse realistic propagation scenarios for ISAC testing. Since the CE is not specifically designed for sensing test, we conduct experimental investigations to explore the capabilities and limitations of the CE in delay and Doppler emulations. Finally, a commercial vehicle-mounted millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) radar is tested using the proposed platform, and the results indicate that the CE possesses potential to support ISAC BS testing.