Collaborative Research: Sensing by Leveraging Cellular Communication Networks: A Framework of Medium Distance Baseline Interferometry

合作研究：利用蜂窝通信网络进行传感：中距离基线干涉测量框架

• 批准号: 2343465
• 负责人: Husheng Li
• 金额: $ 20.33万
• 依托单位: Purdue University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343465&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Sensing; Leveraging; Cellular

There is a long history of reusing communication signals for radar sensing, in which the illumination by communication signal is not intended for radar sensing, thus being a `bonus' of communications. In 5G communication networks, the signals from densely deployed base stations provide substantial illumination over the region served by the network, similar to the way that densely-placed streetlamps illuminate an area. In particular, the base stations form a large virtual antenna, where large distances between the base station antennas can help improve the sensing resolution, since the spatial resolution is inversely proportional to the antenna size. A motivating example for the use of a large virtual antenna to improve sensing resolution is the milestone achievement in radio astronomy, namely the first successful imaging of black hole in 2019. The black hole is 550 light years away from the earth, thus requiring an angle resolution of 20 microarcseconds. Due to the full reuse of the waveforms and infrastructure to achieve both communications and sensing, various applications are expected for the proposed communication-signal-based sensing scheme, such as outdoor positioning, wide-area imaging for surveillance, and remote sensing using communication satellites. The function of sensing with high resolution is achieved at the marginal cost of computation, without requiring extra radio or sensing hardware for implementation. The project is extended to education purposes, including K-12 outreach, and undergraduate/graduate level course development. The achievements of the proposed research are disseminated to academia and industry communities.The key technique in the imaging of black hole is the very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). It is based on the principle of interferometry, which stems from optics: two coherent beams from the same source interfere with each other at a receiver and form a fringe (namely the pattern of intensity); the fringe experiences substantial changes when the source has a tiny displacement, thus yielding high sensitivity of sensing. Due to the much shorter propagation distance for communication signals, the proposed scheme is called Medium Distance Baseline Interferometry (MDBI). Major challenges in the proposed MDBI scheme are addressed, including: (1) the near field analysis, in contrast to the far field in VLBI, (2) limited number of baselines, (3) time/frequency synchronization errors in base stations, and (4) interference/clutter. The proposed MDBI scheme is tested using software and hardware testbeds.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

雷达传感的通信信号有很长的历史，其中通信信号的照明不打算用于雷达传感，因此是通信的“奖励”。在5G通信网络中，来自密集部署的基站的信号对网络提供的区域提供了大量照明，类似于占地位置的街头灯照亮区域的方式。特别是，基站形成一个大型虚拟天线，因为空间分辨率与天线大小成反比，因此基站天线之间的较大距离可以帮助改善传感分辨率。使用大型虚拟天线来改善感应分辨率的一个激励示例是射电天文学的里程碑成就，即2019年黑洞的首次成功成像。黑洞距离地球550光年，因此需要20个微弧度的角度分辨率。由于波形和基础架构的全部重复使用以实现通信和传感，因此，预计会为拟议的基于沟通信号的传感方案（例如室外定位，用于监视的广泛面积成像以及使用通信卫星的遥感传感）的各种应用。高分辨率的传感功能是在计算的边际成本中实现的，而无需额外的无线电或传感硬件以实现。该项目扩展到教育目的，包括K-12外展和本科/研究生级课程的发展。拟议研究的成就被传播到学术界和行业社区。黑洞成像的关键技术是非常长的基线干涉法（VLBI）。它基于干涉法的原理，该原理源自光学：来自同一源的两个相干梁在接收器上彼此干扰并形成条纹（即强度模式）；当源具有微小的位移时，边缘会发生重大变化，从而产生高灵敏度。由于通信信号的传播距离短得多，因此所提出的方案称为中距离基线干涉法（MDBI）。解决了提议的MDBI方案中的主要挑战，包括：（1）近场分析与VLBI的FAR场相比，（2）基准数量有限，（3）基本站中的时间/频率同步误差以及（4）干扰/混乱。拟议的MDBI计划是使用软件和硬件测试床测试的。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来支持的。