Integrated Sensing and Communication with Power Amplifier Impairment

Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) is identified as a critical candidate technology for both 5G-Advanced and 6G networks. In this study, the baseband reference signal, which is highly valuable for sensing, is modified with a Power Amplifier (PA) with a known model. Thus, the proposed baseband reference signal strives to approximate the baseband equivalent representation of the waveform obtained from the transmitter output. To assess the sensing efficacy of this methodology, a baseband Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM) waveform is chosen, incorporating a well-defined helix-type Traveling-Wave Tube (TWT) amplifier. To evaluate the performance of the proposed study, the monostatic radar performance of the CP-OFDM waveform, employed as the reference signal in conventional methodology, and the monostatic radar performance of the reference signal approximating the baseband equivalent model of the signal obtained from the transmitter output, are scrutinized on the range-Doppler map and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves generated from the Cell Averaging - Constant False Alarm Rate (CA-CFAR) detector output.