Integrated Sensing and Communications

This course delivers a comprehensive introduction to Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) — a cutting-edge paradigm that enables simultaneous wireless communication and environmental sensing using shared spectral and hardware resources. ISAC is emerging as a key enabler for 6G networks, autonomous vehicles, IoT, and smart environments. Participants will explore the theoretical foundations, signal processing architectures, waveform design, and hardware challenges for co-designing radar and communication functionalities in a single system. Real-world case studies and research trends will be discussed, with examples from vehicular sensing, drone detection, and mmWave systems.

• Introduction to ISAC: concept, evolution from separate radar and communication systems, motivation in 6G networks, and key performance drivers

• ISAC architectures: joint, coordinated, and competitive system models, centralized vs. distributed deployments, and system-level trade-offs

• Waveform design for dual-function radar and communication (DFRC): OFDM-based and spread-spectrum approaches, ambiguity functions, and rate-accuracy balance

• Signal processing and performance metrics: range, velocity, and angle estimation, mutual information, detection probability, and throughput trade-offs

• Spectrum sharing and coexistence: interference management, resource allocation, beam scheduling, and spectral efficiency optimization

• mmWave, THz, and Massive MIMO techniques: advanced beamforming, high-resolution sensing, and large antenna array benefits and limitations

• Hardware and implementation challenges: RF front-end constraints, synchronization, calibration, power consumption, and real-time processing issues

• Application domains: vehicular radar, drone detection, gesture recognition, RF imaging, smart environments, and industrial automation

• Emerging trends and future directions: AI-driven joint optimization, 6G native ISAC frameworks, and integrated satellite-terrestrial sensing systems

• Wireless communication engineers working on 5G/6G physical layer and waveform design

• Radar and signal processing engineers interested in dual-function radar-communication (DFRC) systems

• RF, mmWave, and THz researchers exploring spectrum sharing and hardware co-design

• Automotive and autonomous vehicle developers dealing with vehicular radar and environment perception

• IoT and smart-city system architects integrating sensing and connectivity in the same platform

• Graduate students and academics in telecommunications, electronics, and applied electromagnetics

• AI/ML engineers focusing on joint sensing-communication optimization and data fusion

• Defense, aerospace, and drone technology teams working on surveillance, detection, and tracking systems