Toward Integrated mmWave Communication and Sensing with Compressive Beam Shaping Techniques

The integration of communication and sensing functions within mmWave systems is gaining attention due to its potential for prevalent high-resolution passive sensing and imaging as well as reliable wireless connectivity-- often challenged by frequent blockages in directional mmWave networks. However, joint detection of the unknown transmitted symbols and the key parameters of the wireless medium present significant challenges, particularly due to the inherently different requirements of successful sensing vs communication functions. Hence, most existing techniques rely on pre-known periodic sequences of bits (i.e., preambles, beacons, etc.) in IEEE802.11ay and 3GPP for sensing. In this talk, I will present a novel system architecture for integrated communication and sensing sharing the same hardware, frequency, and time resources with the capability to jointly detect unknown symbols and channel components from data-modulated signals. The core idea lies in a new beam-shaping technique that capitalizes on channel sparsity in the mmWave and sub-THz bands. Finally, I will discuss emerging solutions that utilize beams carrying orbital angular momentum, highlighting their potential as a paradigm shift for integrated communication and sensing systems.