Staggered Comb Reference Signal Design for Integrated Communication and Sensing

Abstract: Ambiguity performance is a critical criterion in radar sensor design, which indicates the ambiguities arising from multiple target estimation and detection. We considered a requirement-driven selection of OFDM reference signal (RS) patterns based on ambiguity performances for bi-static sensing in integrated communication and sensing with minimal modifications of current RSs. An RS pattern with a staggering offset of a linear slope that is relatively prime to the RS comb size is suggested for standard-resolution sensing algorithms to obtain the best ambiguity performances. Moreover, an extended guard interval design is proposed to increase the maximum time delay, that is inter-symbol interference (ISI) free using post-FFT sensing algorithms. The proposed techniques are promising to extend the distance and speed without ambiguities and ISI for sensing.