A Co-hardware and Co-waveform THz Integrated Sensing and Communication System for High-rate Communication and Millimeter-level Imaging

Imaging is expected to be a necessary capability for the 6G network under the concept of Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC). High-resolution imaging can not only help reconstruct surrounding environments for base stations (BSs) and user equipment (UE) in networks but also provide abundant potential to a variety of vertical applications. This paper presents a 220-GHz ISAC prototype system based on a classical communication waveform to achieve millimeter-resolution imaging capability without compromising communication performance. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first prototype able to implement simultaneous sensing and communication functionality through a co-hardware and co-waveform design by using a communication waveform in terahertz bands. Design principles and practical considerations of this prototype are described in this paper, and effect of imaging-related factors (antenna aperture size, range, etc.) on imaging quality were validated against theory. Results of experimental validations agreed closely with theories, further substantiating the reliability of this prototype. This work contributes to 1) the first physical realization of ISAC through a classical communication waveform, 2) a millimeter-resolution imaging, and 3) the simultaneous 10-Gbps data transmission comparable with data rates in communication-only scenarios. This prototype system serves as a practical exemplary of integrating sensing functions on BSs and portable devices, paving the way for numerous ISAC applications.