PhD Defence Hadi Alidoustaghdam | Joint communication and sensing using tiled arrays - Human-centric applications

Joint communication and sensing using tiled arrays - Human-centric applications

Hadi Alidoustaghdam is a PhD student in the Department of Radio Systems. Promotors are prof.dr.ir. A.B.J. Kokkeler and dr. Y. Miao from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.

This thesis investigates tiled antenna array architectures for Joint Communication and Sensing (JCAS), a key enabling technology for future sixth-generation (6G) wireless systems. Unlike current 5G systems, which mainly focus on communication, 6G networks are expected to simultaneously support communication, sensing, localization, and human-centric services such as health monitoring and intelligent environments. JCAS enables wireless systems to reuse communication hardware and waveforms for sensing, improving spectrum and energy efficiency while reducing hardware complexity. However, communication and sensing functionalities compete for shared resources such as antenna apertures, RF chains, and transmit power, resulting in a challenging multi-objective optimization problem. To address this challenge, this thesis focuses on hardware-efficient antenna aperture design using tiled array architectures. In tiled arrays, a large antenna aperture is divided into multiple subarrays, enabling reduced RF chain count, scalability, modularity, and lower energy consumption. First, a scenario-based tiled array design methodology for JCAS is proposed, where tile configurations are determined using the spatial characteristics of communication and sensing channels. Second, a Sparse Tiled Planar Array architecture is introduced to improve cross-range resolution while maintaining tiled-array modularity. Third, tiled arrays are investigated for multi-user communication and multi-human monitoring. The results demonstrate that tiled and sparse tiled arrays can significantly improve JCAS performance while reducing hardware complexity and energy consumption. Overall, this thesis presents a scalable and sustainable framework for tiled antenna array design for future JCAS-enabled 6G base stations.