RaSeCoL: Radar Sensing, Communication, and Learning for Next Generation Wireless Networks

Project Information

RaSeCoL

Grant agreement ID: 898354

DOI

10.3030/898354

Project closed

EC signature date 24 April 2020

Start date 1 July 2021

End date 30 June 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 183 473,28

EU contribution

€ 183 473,28

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI CASSINO E DEL LAZIO MERIDIONALE
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RaSeCoL (RaSeCoL: Radar Sensing, Communication, and Learning for Next Generation Wireless Networks)

Reporting period: 2021-07-01 to 2023-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The objective of the RASECOL project “Radar Sensing, Communication, and Learning for Next Generation Wireless Networks” was to establish a framework for incorporating radar sensing capabilities into contemporary mobile communication networks through the utilization of dual function radar communication (DFRC) technologies.

In particular, the project leveraged reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) - both passive and active -, which are a key component of forthcoming 6G communication systems, to enhance the potential of integrated sensing and communication systems, thus facilitating the realization of comprehensive mobile networks with heightened perceptiveness. The overarching objective was to enable the development of integrated sensing and communication systems (ISAC) that could effectively meet the demanding requirements of 6G networks, including ultra-high data rates, ultra-high sensing capabilities with substantial correctness, exceptional interference resilience, and optimal energy efficiency.

The inclusion of radar sensing capabilities to current communication networks is an enabler for new services, such as the support to self-driving cars and drones, and to elder patients monitoring. These are key applications for improving the quality of life of citizens.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Project Publications:

[1] M. Rihan, E. Grossi, L. Venturino and S. Buzzi, ”Spatial Diversity in Radar Detection via Active Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces,” in IEEE Signal Processing Letters, vol. 29, pp. 1242-1246, 2022.
Document freely available at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9775578.

[2] M. Rihan, A. Zappone, and S. Buzzi, ”Robust RIS-Assisted MIMO Communication- Radar Coexistence: Joint Beamforming and Waveform Design,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, in print, 2023.
Document freely available at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10194901

[3] M. Rihan, A. Zappone, S. Buzzi, and C. D’Elia, ”Energy Efficiency Maximization for Active RIS-Based Integrated Sensing and Communication,” IEEE Communications Letters (2023). [Under review]
Paper not yet publicly available since still under review.

[4] M. Rihan, A. Zappone, S. Buzzi, G. Fodor, M. Debbah, ”Passive vs. Active Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for Integrated Sensing and Communication: Challenges and Opportunities,” IEEE Network (2023). [Under review]
Paper not yet publicly available since still under review.

Papers [3] and [4] will be made freely available as soon as they are approved for publication.

The overall research has been focused on the use of active and passive RIS in order to enhance the performance of radar detection systems ans of integrated sensing and communication systems. The project has proposed ways to leverage the presence of an active or passive RIS to optimize the performance, also in terms of energy efficiency, of such systems, by proposing novel power control and resource allocation methods.

While the Covid-19 pandemic significantly impacted outreach activities, the RASECOL project managed to showcase its outcomes during one open day organized at the University of Cassino and Southern Latium in 2022. Furthermore, the project was featured during the September 2022 Researchers’ Night, held at the University of Cassino and Southern Latium. These events provided opportunities to disseminate project findings, raise awareness among the public, and showcase the project’s relevance and potential impact.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project has achieved the following progress beyond the state of the art.

1) It has been proposed to use an active RIS to improve the detection capability of a radar system. The main intuition is that an active RIS can offer a second look at a target illuminated by the radar, thus providing spatial (angular) diversity, and, in addition, can compensate for the product path loss along the indirect target-RIS-radar path. The proposed work was able to choose the number of RIS elements, their amplification gain, and the power split among the radar transmitter and the active RIS to maximize the detection probability for a fixed probability of false alarm.

2) A novel RIS-assisted radar communication coexistence framework has been proposed. The design problem aimed to maximize the radar SINR by jointly optimizing the active radar beamforming, the passive RIS beamforming, and communication transmitter covariance matrices under communication rate, communication and radar power budget constraints.

3) Power allocation and RIS beamforming algorithms have been developed in active-RIS-aided integrated sensing and multi-user MISO communication systems. Specifically, a communication system that uses a dual function radar-communication base station (DFRC-BS) to communicate with multiple users using an active RIS and to sense a target. The goal was to maximize the system energy efficiency by optimizing power allocation and active beamforming while considering individual user requirements and power constraints.

4) The key design issues and signal processing solutions associated with deploying a passive RIS in ISAC scenarios were highlighted, and the various roles that active and passive RISs can play in improving the figure-of-merits of different ISAC scenarios were investigated.


At the end of the project, the Experienced Researcher, a non-EU citizen, has been hired with a post-doctoral 3-years contract by the University of Bremen, Germany. This fact is a clearly evidence of the impact of the research project, that made it possible the integration in the European area of a non-EU researcher.

One of the typical scenarios considered in the RASECOL project

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