Integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) is potentially capable of circumventing the limitations of existing frequency-division sensing and communications (FDSAC) techniques. Hence, it has recently attracted significant attention. This article aims to propose a unified analytical framework for ISAC from a mutual information (MI) perspective. Based on the proposed framework, the sensing performance and the communication performance are evaluated by the sensing MI and the communication MI, respectively. The unity of this framework is originated from the fact that the sensing and communication (S\&C) performance metrics, i.e., the S\&C MI, have the similar physical and mathematical properties as well as the same unit of measurement. Based on this framework, the S\&C performance of downlink and uplink ISAC systems is investigated and compared with that of FDSAC systems. Along each considered system settings, numerical results are provided to demonstrate the superiority of ISAC over conventional FDSAC designs. Finally, promising open research directions are provided in the context of MI-based ISAC.
翻译:综合遥感和通信(ISAC)有可能绕过现有频率观测和通信(FDSAC)技术的局限性,因此,最近引起大量注意,该条旨在从相互信息的角度为ISAC提出一个统一分析框架;根据拟议的框架,遥感性能和通信性能分别由感测MI和通信MI进行评估;这一框架的统一性源于以下事实:遥感和通信性能衡量标准,即S ⁇ C MI,具有类似的物理和数学特性以及相同的计量单位;根据这一框架,S ⁇ C下行和上行连接ISAC系统的业绩得到调查,并与FDSAC系统的业绩进行比较;在每种考虑的系统环境之外,提供数字结果,以证明ISAC优于常规FDSAAC设计;最后,在MIISAC的范围内提供了有希望的开放研究方向。