We propose a novel cooperative joint sensing-communication (JSC) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) network that can achieve downward-looking detection and transmit detection data simultaneously using the same time and frequency resources by exploiting the beam sharing scheme. The UAV network consists of a UAV that works as a fusion center (FCUAV) and multiple subordinate UAVs (SU). All UAVs fly at the fixed height. FCUAV integrates the sensing data of network and carries out downward-looking detection. SUs carry out downward-looking detection and transmit the sensing data to FCUAV. To achieve the beam sharing scheme, each UAV is equipped with a novel JSC antenna array that is composed of both the sensing subarray (SenA) and the communication subarray (ComA) in order to generate the sensing beam (SenB) and the communication beam (ComB) for detection and communication, respectively. SenB and ComB of each UAV share a total amount of radio power. Because of the spatial orthogonality of communication and sensing, SenB and ComB can be easily formed orthogonally. The upper bound of average cooperative sensing area (UB-ACSA) is defined as the metric to measure the sensing performance, which is related to the mutual sensing interference and the communication capacity. Numerical simulations prove the validity of the theoretical expressions for UB-ACSA of the network. The optimal number of UAVs and the optimal SenB power are identified under the total power constraint.

翻译：我们提出了一种新型协作式联合感知通信（JSC）无人机（UAV）网络，该网络通过利用波束共享方案，能够在相同时间和频率资源下同时实现下视探测和探测数据传输。该无人机网络由一个作为融合中心的无人机（FCUAV）和多个从属无人机（SU）组成。所有无人机均以固定高度飞行。FCUAV负责整合网络感知数据并进行下视探测，而SU则执行下视探测并将感知数据传输至FCUAV。为实现波束共享方案，每架无人机均配备了一种新型JSC天线阵列，该阵列由感知子阵列（SenA）和通信子阵列（ComA）组成，分别生成用于探测的感知波束（SenB）和用于通信的通信波束（ComB）。每架无人机的SenB和ComB共享总射频功率。由于通信与感知的空间正交性，SenB和ComB可轻松形成正交模式。我们定义了平均协作感知区域上界（UB-ACSA）作为感知性能的度量指标，该指标与相互感知干扰和通信容量相关。数值仿真结果验证了网络UB-ACSA理论表达式的有效性，并在总功率约束下确定了最优的无人机数量及最优SenB功率。