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Husheng Li

Publications and source records attributed to Husheng Li.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Target Localization and Self-Calibration in a Multistatic Radar System

Target localization in a multistatic radar system, where multiple receivers cooperate to improve target positioning accuracy, has many applications, including cooperative simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and autonomous robot networks. A key challenge in these applications is the uncertainty in the position and orientation (pose) of the radar receivers due to platform mobility. This work investigates the achievable improvements in both target localization and receiver pose estimation by deriving the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) for a multistatic radar system performing bistatic range and bearing measurements. We propose an alternating weighted least-squares algorithm that jointly optimizes target and receiver parameters. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that the algorithm performance approaches the CRLB for low to moderate noise levels.

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Enhancing Sensing Privacy in ISAC Through Joint Signal and Artificial Noise Beamforming

Integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) is a promising feature in 6G networks. It is envisioned to enhance spectral efficiency and provide sensing and communication services that meet the stringent requirements of future applications. However, it also poses new security and privacy concerns by giving malicious attackers access to new information about the network. In this work, we focus on the sensing privacy of a monostatic ISAC system by investigating the capability of a sensing eavesdropper (EVE) with an unknown location, acting as a passive bistatic radar (PBR) to gain access to user location information. We then propose a joint transmit and artificial noise (AN) beamforming optimization problem to degrade EVE's performance. Finally, we propose an iterative algorithm to solve the proposed optimization problem and evaluate its performance.

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Blind OFDM-ISAC Relying on Asymmetric Modem Constellations

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is increasingly expected to operate under aggressive spectrum reuse, where co-channel orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) interference can be catastrophic for data recovery on the time-frequency (TF) grid. We show that supporting blind ISAC is feasible by exploiting a fundamental asymmetry in the impact of co-channel OFDM interference: while communication is fragile on the TF grid, sensing depends on structured physical parameters whose signatures remain identifiable by relying on higher-order statistics. Based on this observation, we construct a fourth-order measurement tensor from the received OFDM signal whose coherent component preserves the delay-, Doppler-, and angle-dependent phase evolution of each source. We then develop a three-dimensional higher-order-statistics (HOS) based periodogram for iterative peak search and refinement to jointly estimate both range, velocity, and angle in the presence of unknown co-channel interferers. We further exploit constellation asymmetry to resolve the remaining phase ambiguities of blind recovery, enabling blind coherent demodulation via minimum constellation fitting. We also benchmark the performance through matched data-aided and stochastic Cramer-Rao lower bounds. We then quantify the cost of signal blindness. Simulations and experimental validations demonstrate reliable radar parameter estimation together with effective communication demodulation even when the TF-domain link is severely interfered with.

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Virtualizing the Senses: Enabling High-Precision ISAC on Commercial Cellular Infrastructure

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is poised to be a defining feature of 6G networks, promising to transform cellular base stations (BSs) into ubiquitous radar sensors. However, a significant gap exists between the theoretical promise of ISAC and the commercial reality of legacy cellular communication infrastructure. Existing communication networks are constrained by fragmented spectrum, blockage-prone environments, and cost-prohibitive high-rate analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). These limitations stifle the high-resolution sensing required for emerging applications. This article advocates a shift from dependence on physical resources to computational synthesis and introduces a unified full stack virtualization framework that upgrades legacy networks with minimal hardware changes, spanning signal generation, propagation, and acquisition. Specifically, we virtualize signal generation via space-time -frequency synthesis across distributed BSs to synthesize a larger effective aperture and a wider effective bandwidth. We then virtualize signal propagation by leveraging environmental multipath and digital maps to reinterpret reflections as massive virtual arrays. Finally, we virtualize signal acquisition using sub Nyquist strategies to bypass sampling bottlenecks. We demonstrate that by trading computation for hardware, commercial networks can achieve fine-grained sensing without expensive retrofitting.

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Safe Continuous-time Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning via Epigraph Form

Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) has made significant progress in recent years, but most algorithms still rely on a discrete-time Markov Decision Process (MDP) with fixed decision intervals. This formulation is often ill-suited for complex multi-agent dynamics, particularly in high-frequency or irregular time-interval settings, leading to degraded performance and motivating the development of continuous-time MARL (CT-MARL). Existing CT-MARL methods are mainly built on Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations. However, they rarely account for safety constraints such as collision penalties, since these introduce discontinuities that make HJB-based learning difficult. To address this challenge, we propose a continuous-time constrained MDP (CT-CMDP) formulation and a novel MARL framework that transforms discrete MDPs into CT-CMDPs via an epigraph-based reformulation. We then solve this by proposing a novel physics-informed neural network (PINN)-based actor-critic method that enables stable and efficient optimization in continuous time. We evaluate our approach on continuous-time safe multi-particle environments (MPE) and safe multi-agent MuJoCo benchmarks. Results demonstrate smoother value approximations, more stable training, and improved performance over safe MARL baselines, validating the effectiveness and robustness of our method.

cs.MA

Space-Time-Frequency Synthetic Integrated Sensing and Communication Networks

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) promises high spectral and power efficiencies by sharing waveforms, spectrum, and hardware across sensing and data links. Yet commercial cellular networks struggle to deliver fine angular, range, and Doppler resolution due to limited aperture, bandwidth, and coherent observation time. In this paper, we propose a space-time-frequency synthetic ISAC architecture that fuses observations from distributed transmitters and receivers across time intervals and frequency bands. We develop a unified signal model for multistatic and monostatic configurations, derive Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs) for the estimations of position and velocity. The analysis shows how spatial diversity, multiband operation, and observation scheduling impact the Fisher information. We also compare the estimation performance between a concentrated maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and a two stage information fusion (TSIF) method that first estimates per-path delay and radial speed and then fuses them by solving a weighted nonlinear least-squares problem via the Gauss-Newton algorithm. Numerical results show that MLE approaches the CRLB in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime, while the two stage method remains competitive at moderate to high SNR but degrades at low SNR. A central finding is that fully synthesized network processing is essential, as estimations by individual base stations (BSs) followed by fusion are consistently inferior and unstable at low SNR. This framework offers a practical guidance for upgrading existing communication infrastructure into dense sensing networks.

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Wideband Integrated Sensing and Communications: Spectral Efficiency and Signaling Design

In integrated sensing and communications (ISAC), a distinguishing feature of 6G wireless networks, the main challenge lies in integrating the two distinct functions of sensing and communication within the same waveform. In this paper, the ISAC waveform synthesis is studied in the wideband regime, since a large bandwidth can simplify the analysis and is justified by the employment of millimeter wave or higher frequency band. Standard orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signaling is assumed, and the wideband analysis of sensing is a counterpart of the existing studies on wideband communications. It is proposed that the phase over such OFDM subcarriers is for modulating communication messages while the power spectral density (PSD) is shaped for the sensing performance. Beyond OFDM, we further reveal a duality between the proposed PSD-shaping rule and the orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) waveform. Flattening the OTFS delay-axis PSD produces the same integrated sidelobe level (ISL) reduction effect in the delay-Doppler domain as PSD control achieves for OFDM in the frequency domain. To balance communication and sensing performance over frequency-selective channels, we propose a low-complexity, water-filling-like allocator with an explicit PSD-flatness (variance) constraint. The performance of the proposed wideband ISAC scheme is demonstrated using both numerical simulations and hardware experiments.

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A Broadcast Channel Framework for MIMO-OFDM Integrated Sensing and Communication

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is expected to be one of the major features of 6G wireless networks. In an ISAC system, communications and sensing functionalities are jointly performed using the same waveform, frequency band and hardware, thereby enabling various use cases such as in cyber physical systems, digital twin and smart cities. A major challenge to the design and analysis of ISAC is a unified framework that incorporates the two distinct functions. By viewing ISAC as a type of broadcast channel, in this paper, we propose a unified ISAC framework in which communication and sensing signals are broadcast to the actual communication users and virtual sensing users. This framework allows the application of existing multiplexing schemes, such as dirty paper coding (DPC) and frequency division multiplexing (FDM) that have been intensively studied in data communications and information theory. Within this framework, we propose different superposition coding schemes, for cases when the sensing waveform is known or unknown to the communication receiver. We propose the waveform optimization algorithms in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) setting accounting for the effects of clutter and Doppler shift. The proposed framework is numerically evaluated for different schemes under various sensing and communications performance metrics.

cs.IT

Continuous-Time Value Iteration for Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Existing reinforcement learning (RL) methods struggle with complex dynamical systems that demand interactions at high frequencies or irregular time intervals. Continuous-time RL (CTRL) has emerged as a promising alternative by replacing discrete-time Bellman recursion with differential value functions defined as viscosity solutions of the Hamilton--Jacobi--Bellman (HJB) equation. While CTRL has shown promise, its applications have been largely limited to the single-agent domain. This limitation stems from two key challenges: (i) conventional solution methods for HJB equations suffer from the curse of dimensionality (CoD), making them intractable in high-dimensional systems; and (ii) even with HJB-based learning approaches, accurately approximating centralized value functions in multi-agent settings remains difficult, which in turn destabilizes policy training. In this paper, we propose a CT-MARL framework that uses physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) to approximate HJB-based value functions at scale. To ensure the value is consistent with its differential structure, we align value learning with value-gradient learning by introducing a Value Gradient Iteration (VGI) module that iteratively refines value gradients along trajectories. This improves gradient fidelity, in turn yielding more accurate values and stronger policy learning. We evaluate our method using continuous-time variants of standard benchmarks, including multi-agent particle environment (MPE) and multi-agent MuJoCo. Our results demonstrate that our approach consistently outperforms existing continuous-time RL baselines and scales to complex multi-agent dynamics.

cs.LG

Hypernetworks for Model-Heterogeneous Personalized Federated Learning

Recent advances in personalized federated learning have focused on addressing client model heterogeneity. However, most existing methods still require external data, rely on model decoupling, or adopt partial learning strategies, which can limit their practicality and scalability. In this paper, we revisit hypernetwork-based methods and leverage their strong generalization capabilities to design a simple yet effective framework for heterogeneous personalized federated learning. Specifically, we propose MH-pFedHN, which leverages a server-side hypernetwork that takes client-specific embedding vectors as input and outputs personalized parameters tailored to each client's heterogeneous model. To promote knowledge sharing and reduce computation, we introduce a multi-head structure within the hypernetwork, allowing clients with similar model sizes to share heads. Furthermore, we further propose MH-pFedHNGD, which integrates an optional lightweight global model to improve generalization. Our framework does not rely on external datasets and does not require disclosure of client model architectures, thereby offering enhanced privacy and flexibility. Extensive experiments on multiple benchmarks and model settings demonstrate that our approach achieves competitive accuracy, strong generalization, and serves as a robust baseline for future research in model-heterogeneous personalized federated learning.

cs.LG

Trellis Waveform Shaping for Sidelobe Reduction in Integrated Sensing and Communications: A Duality with PAPR Mitigation

A key challenge in integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) is the synthesis of waveforms that can modulate communication messages and achieve good sensing performance simultaneously. In ISAC systems, standard communication waveforms can be adapted for sensing, as the sensing receiver (co-located with the transmitter) has knowledge of the communication message and consequently the waveform. However, the randomness of communications may result in waveforms that have high sidelobes masking weak targets. Thus, it is desirable to refine communication waveforms to improve the sensing performance by reducing the integrated sidelobe levels (ISL). This is similar to the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) mitigation in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), in which the OFDM-modulated waveform needs to be refined to reduce the PAPR. In this paper, inspired by PAPR reduction algorithms in OFDM, we employ trellis shaping in OFDM-based ISAC systems to refine waveforms for specific sensing metrics using convolutional codes and Viterbi decoding. In such a scheme, the communication data is encoded and then mapped to the signaling constellation in different subcarriers, such that the time-domain sidelobes are reduced. An interesting observation is that sidelobe reduction in OFDM-based ISAC is dual to PAPR reduction in OFDM, thereby sharing a similar signaling structure. Numerical simulations and hardware software defined radio USRP experiments are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed trellis shaping approach.

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Spreading over OFDM for Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) Ranging: Multi-user Interference Mitigation

In the context of communication-centric integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform was proven to be optimal in minimizing ranging sidelobes when random signaling is used. A typical assumption in OFDM-based ranging is that the max target delay is less than the cyclic prefix (CP) length, which is equivalent to performing a \textit{periodic} correlation between the signal reflected from the target and the transmitted signal. In the multi-user case, such as in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), users are assigned disjoint subsets of subcarriers which eliminates mutual interference between the communication channels of the different users. However, ranging involves an aperiodic correlation operation for target ranges with delays greater than the CP length. Aperiodic correlation between signals from disjoint frequency bands will not be zero, resulting in mutual interference between different user bands. We refer to this as \textit{inter-band} (IB) cross-correlation interference. In this work, we analytically characterize IB interference and quantify its impact on the integrated sidelobe levels (ISL). We introduce an orthogonal spreading layer on top of OFDM that can reduce IB interference resulting in ISL levels significantly lower than for OFDM without spreading in the multi-user setup. We validate our claims through simulations, and using an upper bound on IB energy which we show that it can be minimized using our proposed spreading. However, for orthogonal spreading to be effective, a price must be paid in terms of spectral utilization, which is yet another manifestation of the trade-off between sensing accuracy and data communication capacity

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OTFS-ISAC System with Sub-Nyquist ADC Sampling Rate

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has emerged as a pivotal technology for next-generation wireless communication and radar systems, enabling high-resolution sensing and high-throughput communication with shared spectrum and hardware. However, achieving a fine radar resolution often requires high-rate analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and substantial storage, making it both expensive and impractical for many commercial applications. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS)-based ISAC architecture that operates at reduced ADC sampling rates, yet preserves accurate radar estimation and supports simultaneous communication. The proposed architecture introduces pilot symbols directly in the delay-Doppler (DD) domain to leverage the transformation mapping between the DD and time-frequency (TF) domains to keep selected subcarriers active while others are inactive, allowing the radar receiver to exploit under-sampling aliasing and recover the original DD signal at much lower sampling rates. To further enhance the radar accuracy, we develop an iterative interference estimation and cancellation algorithm that mitigates data symbol interference. We propose a code-based spreading technique that distributes data across the DD domain to preserve the maximum unambiguous radar sensing range. For communication, we implement a complete transceiver pipeline optimized for reduced sampling rate system, including synchronization, channel estimation, and iterative data detection. Experimental results from a software-defined radio (SDR)-based testbed confirm that our method substantially lowers the required sampling rate without sacrificing radar sensing performance and ensures reliable communication.

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DeepSafeMPC: Deep Learning-Based Model Predictive Control for Safe Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning

Safe Multi-agent reinforcement learning (safe MARL) has increasingly gained attention in recent years, emphasizing the need for agents to not only optimize the global return but also adhere to safety requirements through behavioral constraints. Some recent work has integrated control theory with multi-agent reinforcement learning to address the challenge of ensuring safety. However, there have been only very limited applications of Model Predictive Control (MPC) methods in this domain, primarily due to the complex and implicit dynamics characteristic of multi-agent environments. To bridge this gap, we propose a novel method called Deep Learning-Based Model Predictive Control for Safe Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (DeepSafeMPC). The key insight of DeepSafeMPC is leveraging a entralized deep learning model to well predict environmental dynamics. Our method applies MARL principles to search for optimal solutions. Through the employment of MPC, the actions of agents can be restricted within safe states concurrently. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using the Safe Multi-agent MuJoCo environment, showcasing significant advancements in addressing safety concerns in MARL.

cs.LG

Orthogonal Time Frequency Space for Integrated Sensing and Communication: A Survey

Sixth-generation (6G) wireless communication systems, as stated in the European 6G flagship project Hexa-X, are anticipated to feature the integration of intelligence, communication, sensing, positioning, and computation. An important aspect of this integration is integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), in which the same waveform is used for both systems both sensing and communication, to address the challenge of spectrum scarcity. Recently, the orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) waveform has been proposed to address OFDM's limitations due to the high Doppler spread in some future wireless communication systems. In this paper, we review existing OTFS waveforms for ISAC systems and provide some insights into future research. Firstly, we introduce the basic principles and a system model of OTFS and provide a foundational understanding of this innovative technology's core concepts and architecture. Subsequently, we present an overview of OTFS-based ISAC system frameworks. We provide a comprehensive review of recent research developments and the current state of the art in the field of OTFS-assisted ISAC systems to gain a thorough understanding of the current landscape and advancements. Furthermore, we perform a thorough comparison between OTFS-enabled ISAC operations and traditional OFDM, highlighting the distinctive advantages of OTFS, especially in high Doppler spread scenarios. Subsequently, we address the primary challenges facing OTFS-based ISAC systems, identifying potential limitations and drawbacks. Then, finally, we suggest future research directions, aiming to inspire further innovation in the 6G wireless communication landscape.

cs.IT

Learning-based Predictive Beamforming for Integrated Sensing and Communication in Vehicular Networks

This paper investigates the integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) in vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) networks. To realize ISAC, an effective beamforming design is essential which however, highly depends on the availability of accurate channel tracking requiring large training overhead and computational complexity. Motivated by this, we adopt a deep learning (DL) approach to implicitly learn the features of historical channels and directly predict the beamforming matrix to be adopted for the next time slot to maximize the average achievable sum-rate of an ISAC system. The proposed method can bypass the need of explicit channel tracking process and reduce the signaling overhead significantly. To this end, a general sum-rate maximization problem with Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs)-based sensing constraints is first formulated for the considered ISAC system taking into account the multiple access interference. Then, by exploiting the penalty method, a versatile unsupervised DL-based predictive beamforming design framework is developed to address the formulated design problem. As a realization of the developed framework, a historical channels-based convolutional long short-term memory (LSTM) network (HCL-Net) is devised for predictive beamforming in the ISAC-based V2I network. Specifically, the convolution and LSTM modules are successively adopted in the proposed HCL-Net to exploit the spatial and temporal dependencies of communication channels to further improve the learning performance. Finally, simulation results show that the proposed predictive method not only guarantees the required sensing performance, but also achieves a satisfactory sum-rate that can approach the upper bound obtained by the genie-aided scheme with the perfect instantaneous channel state information available.

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Imaging Using Millimeter Wave Communication Networks: A Bonus SAR

In the next generations of cellular communication networks, higher density of base stations and higher frequency bands will be adopted. If being reflected by targets, the communication signal also brings information of the targets, in addition to the communication messages, to the receivers. In this paper, it is proposed to leverage the reflected communication signals to reconstruct an image of the environment. Due to the analogy to traditional synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and inverse SAR (ISAR), the principles of SAR and ISAR, namely the tomography via Fourier transformation, are adopted with necessary improvements. The algorithms are further refined to estimate the 3-dimensional silhouette of the environment. Numerical simulations are carried out to demonstrate the proposed algorithms.

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Taming and Leveraging Interference in Mobile Radar Networks

Mobile radar networks, such as autonomous driving systems, are subject to the severe challenge of mutual interference. Despite the inborn interference-proof capability in frequency modulation continuous waveform (FMCW) radar, interference management is necessary for dense radar networks. The approaches combatting the radar interference include the timing diversity of waveform parameters, data-driven detection interference, and signal processing based decoupling of interference. Moreover, the leverage of radar interference for inferring the information of interfere is studied. Simulations are carried out in the scenario of radar interferences in vehicular networks, which demonstrates the performance of the proposed algorithms.

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