Multi-IRS Aided ISAC System: Multi-Path Exploitation Versus Reduction

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chen, Guangji, Wu, Qingqing, Lu, Shihang, Hua, Meng, Chen, Wen
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909662064934912
author Chen, Guangji
Wu, Qingqing
Lu, Shihang
Hua, Meng
Chen, Wen
author_facet Chen, Guangji
Wu, Qingqing
Lu, Shihang
Hua, Meng
Chen, Wen
contents This paper investigates a multi-intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) aided integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system, where multiple IRSs are strategically deployed not only to assist the communication from a multi-antenna base station (BS) to a multi-antenna communication user (CU), but also enable the sensing service for a point target in the non-line-of-sight (NLoS) region of the BS. First, we propose a hybrid multi-IRS architecture, which consists of several passive IRSs and one semi-passive IRS equipped with both active sensors and reflecting elements. To be specific, the active sensors are exploited to receive the echo signals for estimating the target's angle information, and the multiple reflecting paths provided by multi-IRS are employed to improve the degree of freedoms (DoFs) of communication. Under the given budget on the number of total IRSs elements, we theoretically show that increasing the number of deployed IRSs is beneficial for improving DoFs of spatial multiplexing for communication while increasing the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) of target estimation, which unveils a fundamental tradeoff between the sensing and communication performance. To characterize the rate-CRB tradeoff, we study a rate maximization problem, by optimizing the BS transmit covariance matrix, IRSs phase-shifts, and the number of deployed IRSs, subject to a maximum CRB constraint. Analytical results reveal that the communication-oriented design becomes optimal when the total number of IRSs elements exceeds a certain threshold, wherein the relationships of the rate and CRB with the number of IRS elements/sensors, transmit power, and the number of deployed IRSs are theoretically derived and demystified. Simulation results validate our theoretical findings and also demonstrate the superiority of our proposed designs over the benchmark schemes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_21968
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Multi-IRS Aided ISAC System: Multi-Path Exploitation Versus Reduction
Chen, Guangji
Wu, Qingqing
Lu, Shihang
Hua, Meng
Chen, Wen
Information Theory
Signal Processing
This paper investigates a multi-intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) aided integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system, where multiple IRSs are strategically deployed not only to assist the communication from a multi-antenna base station (BS) to a multi-antenna communication user (CU), but also enable the sensing service for a point target in the non-line-of-sight (NLoS) region of the BS. First, we propose a hybrid multi-IRS architecture, which consists of several passive IRSs and one semi-passive IRS equipped with both active sensors and reflecting elements. To be specific, the active sensors are exploited to receive the echo signals for estimating the target's angle information, and the multiple reflecting paths provided by multi-IRS are employed to improve the degree of freedoms (DoFs) of communication. Under the given budget on the number of total IRSs elements, we theoretically show that increasing the number of deployed IRSs is beneficial for improving DoFs of spatial multiplexing for communication while increasing the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) of target estimation, which unveils a fundamental tradeoff between the sensing and communication performance. To characterize the rate-CRB tradeoff, we study a rate maximization problem, by optimizing the BS transmit covariance matrix, IRSs phase-shifts, and the number of deployed IRSs, subject to a maximum CRB constraint. Analytical results reveal that the communication-oriented design becomes optimal when the total number of IRSs elements exceeds a certain threshold, wherein the relationships of the rate and CRB with the number of IRS elements/sensors, transmit power, and the number of deployed IRSs are theoretically derived and demystified. Simulation results validate our theoretical findings and also demonstrate the superiority of our proposed designs over the benchmark schemes.
title Multi-IRS Aided ISAC System: Multi-Path Exploitation Versus Reduction
topic Information Theory
Signal Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.21968