Target Localization in Cooperative ISAC Systems: A Scheme Based on 5G NR OFDM Signals

The integration of sensing capabilities into communication systems, by sharing physical resources, has a significant potential for reducing spectrum, hardware, and energy costs while inspiring innovative applications. Cooperative networks, in particular, are expected to enhance sensing services by enlarging the coverage area and enriching sensing measurements, thus improving the service availability and accuracy. This paper proposes a cooperative integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) framework by leveraging information-bearing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals transmitted by access points (APs). Specifically, we propose a two-stage scheme for target localization, where communication signals are reused as sensing reference signals based on the system information shared at the central processing unit (CPU). In Stage I, we propose a two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (2D-FFT)-based algorithm to measure the ranges of scattered paths induced by targets, through the extraction of delay and Doppler information from the sensing channels between APs. Then, the target locations are estimated in Stage II based on these range measurements. Considering the potential occurrence of ill-conditioned measurements with large error during the extraction of time-frequency information, we propose an efficient algorithm to match the range measurements with the targets while eliminating ill-conditioned measurements, achieving high-accuracy target localization. In addition, based on the transmission configurations defined in the fifth generation (5G) standards, we elucidate the performance trade-offs in both communication and sensing, and extend the proposed sensing scheme for general scenarios. Finally, numerical results confirm the effectiveness of our sensing scheme and the cooperative gain of the ISAC framework.