Introduction to Joint Communications and Sensing (JCAS)

Wireless communications and radar sensing have been advancing in parallel for decades. The coexistence of communication and radar systems is not new, and the issue has been extensively studied in the past decade. Joint communications and radar/radio sensing (JCAS) is emerging as an attractive solution to integrating communications and sensing into one system. The current JCAS systems maybe classified into three categories: communication‐centric design; radar‐centric design; and joint design and optimization. This chapter discusses the major differences between traditional communication and radar signals, which are important for understanding the design philosophy of the three categories of JCAS systems. Recently, performing JCAS in the ubiquitous mobile networks, such as the fifth‐generation and beyond, has attracted extensive attention. The joint design and optimization of JCAS is still in its infancy. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the other chapters of this book.