Multi-Objective Optimization-Based Waveform Design for Multi-User and Multi-Target MIMO-ISAC Systems

TL;DR

This paper proposes a multi-objective waveform design method for multi-user, multi-target MIMO-ISAC systems, balancing communication and sensing performance using Pareto optimization.

Contribution

It introduces a weighted Tchebycheff-based approach to effectively manage C&S trade-offs in ISAC waveform design, considering multi-user interference and performance preferences.

Findings

The proposed method achieves Pareto-optimal trade-offs between C&S objectives.

Simulation results demonstrate flexible waveform design under different C&S preferences.

Constructive interference mechanism reduces power consumption for communication.

Abstract

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) opens up new service possibilities for sixth-generation (6G) systems, where both communication and sensing (C&S) functionalities co-exist by sharing the same hardware platform and radio resource. In this paper, we investigate the waveform design problem in a downlink multi-user and multi-target ISAC system under different C&S performance preferences. The multi-user interference (MUI) may critically degrade the communication performance. To eliminate the MUI, we employ the constructive interference mechanism into the ISAC system, which saves the power budget for communication. However, due to the conflict between C&S metrics, it is intractable for the ISAC system to achieve the optimal performance of C&S objective simultaneously. Therefore, it is important to strike a trade-off between C&S objectives. By virtue of the multi-objective optimization theory, we propose a weighted Tchebycheff-based transformation method to re-frame the C&S trade-off problem as a Pareto-optimal problem, thus effectively tackling the constraints in ISAC systems. Finally, simulation results reveal the trade-off relation between C&S performances, which provides insights for the flexible waveform design under different C&S performance preferences in MIMO-ISAC systems.