Radar Enhanced Wireless Access for Directional Networks: Fundamental Opportunities, Constraints, and Limits
Abstract
Directional antennas are becoming ubiquitous due to the shift to higher frequencies, particularly mmwave, and the availability of low-cost massive phased-array antennas. Directivity provides higher gain and reduced interference in wireless networks, as well as low probability of interception, as tight antenna beams are difficult to detect outside of the main radiation lobe. This leads to higher spatial reuse of spectrum and higher network throughput through smart elimination of interference. In the mmwave communications and radars directional links are inherent, as the required power budget cannot be ensured without high directivity. In the future it may become a norm to co-locate compact radar and broadband communications systems as the co-existence could provide a number of benefits for both technologies. This could mean either having two separate pieces of equipment - one radar and one communications transceiver - operating at the same site, or having one piece of equipment where radar and communications are sharing the hardware capabilities. The sharing between radar and communications could be enabled either (i) in time-sharing mode; or (ii) by using the radar signal to piggy-back communications data; or (iii) using the communications signal as a radar carrier and processing the backscattering for radar operation. There are opportunities and trade-offs between different alternatives to combine radar and communications operations (RadCom) which are largely unaddressed in the current literature. The objective of this project is to build a solid basic research foundation on understanding the above outlined joint radar-communications operations. The fundamental research question addressed is: how much communication capacity gain or loss would joint RadCom operation provide in a networked environment (i.e. multiple users, directive links, and a multiple-access broadcast channel).
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 06, 2017
- Source ID
- FA95501710091
Entities
People
- Marina Petrova
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- RWTH Aachen University
- United States Air Force