Future generations of mobile networks call for concurrent sensing and communication functionalities in the same hardware and/or spectrum. Compared to communication, sensing services often suffer from limited coverage, due to the high path loss of the reflected signal and the increased infrastructure requirements. To provide a more uniform quality of service, distributed multiple input multiple output (D-MIMO) systems deploy a large number of distributed nodes and efficiently control them, making distributed integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) possible. In this paper, we investigate ISAC in D-MIMO through the lens of different design architectures and deployments, revealing both conflicts and synergies. In addition, simulation and demonstration results reveal both opportunities and challenges towards the implementation of ISAC in D-MIMO.

翻译：未来移动通信网络需要在相同硬件和/或频谱上同时实现感知与通信功能。相较于通信，感知服务常因反射信号的高路径损耗和更高基础设施要求而面临覆盖范围受限的问题。为提供更均匀的服务质量，分布式多输入多输出（D-MIMO）系统通过部署大量分布式节点并对其进行高效管控，使得分布式集成感知与通信（ISAC）成为可能。本文从不同设计架构与部署方案的角度研究D-MIMO中的ISAC，揭示其存在的矛盾与协同效应。此外，仿真与示范结果揭示了在D-MIMO中实现ISAC所面临的机遇与挑战。