NetISAC: Design and performance analysis of network-level ISAC: More than Integration

Radar and communications technologies have developed independently for decades, resulting in the widespread mutual occupation
of the spectrum. Smart cities bring high-reliability sensing and communication (S&C) requirements, with the number of connected
devices expected to jump to 27 billion by 2025. The independent development of S&C systems is no longer sustainable and leads to
unprecedented spectrum and hardware demands. Integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) aim to share wireless
infrastructures for S&C in hardware-, energy-, spectrum-, and cost-efficient ways. Network-level ISAC is to enable next-generation
communication, remote sensing, and incident detection. This proposal aims to develop novel performance analysis and signal
processing techniques to enable promising ISAC networks via interdisciplinary studies, to handle several critical challenges: 1)
Complex natures of interference from S&C operations require new signal processing tools, 2) Network design for ISAC cannot be
treated as an extension of multi-cell communications, 3) The limited range of terrestrial ISAC necessitates its integration with
nonterrestrial nodes, 4) Dynamic natures of ISAC channels necessitate new modelling frameworks. To address these, NetISAC will
work across multiple domains, from fundamental limits to ISAC network topology to network-level interference management. To
enlarge S&C coverage, the applicant will apply his experience in drones to ISAC networks. Finally, proof of concept experiments will
be conducted to test the proposed approaches. Supervised by Prof. Christos Masouros, an expert in signal processing and wireless
communications, the applicant will acquire new theoretical and experimental knowledge in ISAC networks. The track record of the
application's expertise in beamforming, trajectory optimization, and S&C collaboration, with the leading expertise of the host group
in link-level interference exploitation and ISAC, guarantees the success of this project.