Semi-Distributed Hybrid Beamforming Design for Cooperative Cell-Free Dual-Function Radar-Communication Networks

To improve both radar sensing and communication performances, this paper proposes a cooperative cell-free dual-function radar-communication (CCF-DFRC) network with hybrid beamforming (HBF) architecture. In the proposed CCF-DFRC network, multiple access points cooperatively provide communication services to users and detect multiple targets of interest. To show the benefits of the CCF-DFRC network, we formulate the joint HBF design problem to maximize the network communication capacity while satisfying the constraint of beampattern similarity for radar sensing. To solve the resulting high-dimensional and non-convex problem, a semi-distributed algorithm based on alternating optimization is proposed. Simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and show the considerable potential of deploying CCF-DFRC networks.