JCR70: A Low-Complexity Millimeter-Wave Proof-of-Concept Platform for a Fully-Digital SIMO Joint Communication-Radar

Abstract

A fully-digital wideband joint communication-radar (JCR) with a single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) architecture at the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band will enable high joint communication and radar performance with enhanced design flexibility. A quantized receiver with few-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) will enable a practical JCR solution with reduced power consumption for futuristic portable devices and autonomous vehicles. In this paper, we present a joint communicationradar proof-of-concept platform, named JCR70, to evaluate and demonstrate the performance of these JCR systems using real channel measurements in the 71-76 GHz band. We develop this platform by extending a mmWave communication set-up with an additional full-duplex radar receiver and by capturing the SIMO JCR channel using a moving antenna on a sliding rail. To characterize the JCR performance of our developed testbed, we conduct several indoor and outdoor experiments and apply traditional as well as advanced processing algorithms on the measured data. The experimental results show that the quantized receiver with 2-4 bit ADCs generally performs quite close to the high-resolution ADC for a signal-to-noise ratio of up to 5 dB. Additionally, we compare the performance of our JCR70 platform with the INRAS Radarbook, which is a state-of-the-art automotive radar evaluation platform at 77 GHz.

Integrated Sensing and Communications: Toward Dual-Functional Wireless Networks for 6G and Beyond

“…Instead, it will facilitate target estimation. 4 By substituting ( 18) into ( 16) as communication utility function, problem (16) minimizes the estimation MSE subject to per-user SINR constraints, which can be optimally solved via semidefinite relaxation (SDR) [119].…”

“…Although it has only recently gained growing attention from both the academia and wireless industry, ISAC has been investigated by various research communities under different names for decades, e.g., Radar-Communications (Rad-Com) [3], Joint Communication and Radar (JCR) [4], Joint Radar and Communication (JRC) [5], and Dual-functional Radar-Communications (DFRC) [5]. While these terminologies may have varying connotations, the sensing functionality therein mainly refers to radar sensing, which has long been a mainstream in ISAC.…”

Integrated Sensing and Communications: Towards Dual-functional Wireless Networks for 6G and Beyond

“…ISAC, in its oldest form, was implemented in [7] over a missile range instrumentation radar via pulse interval modulation (PIM), where information was embedded into a group of radar pulses. Such systems are defined by different names, e.g., Radar-Communications (RadCom) [8], Joint Communication and Radar (JCR) [9], Joint Radar and Communication (JRC) [10], and Dual-functional Radar-Communications (DFRC) [10]. The sensing functionality in these systems mainly refers to radar sensing, which has long been a mainstream in ISAC.…”

An Experimental Proof of Concept for Integrated Sensing and Communications Waveform Design

“…Work in [36] aims to realize joint communication and radar functions in a FDM mode via full-duplex in hardware based solutions. Work in [37] designs a joint communication-radar experiment using single-carrier signals in a TDM mode via full-duplex radar reception. Work in [38] proposed to achieve joint communication and radar functions by modulating information signalling onto standard radar waveforms through index modulation.…”