Report on Current Developments in Integrated Sensing and Communication
General Direction of the Field
The field of integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is witnessing significant advancements, particularly in the areas of joint identification and sensing, physical layer security, and robust coded distributed storage. Researchers are exploring innovative methods to enhance the efficiency and security of communication systems by integrating sensing capabilities, leveraging feedback mechanisms, and optimizing transceiver designs.
Joint Identification and Sensing (JIDAS): The focus is on developing methods that combine identification and sensing functionalities to improve the performance of multiple access channels. This approach leverages feedback and supplementary resources like quantum entanglement and common randomness to achieve superior results over traditional separation-based methods. The establishment of lower bounds on capacity-distortion regions for state-dependent multiple access channels (SD-MACs) is a notable development, demonstrating the potential of JIDAS to outperform conventional techniques.
Physical Layer Security: There is a growing interest in analyzing the secrecy performance in both near-field and far-field communications. Researchers are deriving closed-form expressions for secrecy capacity and minimum power requirements, revealing scaling laws and introducing novel concepts like "depth of insecurity" to evaluate secrecy performance. The findings indicate that near-field communications expand the areas where secure transmission is feasible, especially when the eavesdropper is in the same direction as the intended receiver.
Optical ISAC: The optimal capacity-distortion tradeoff in optical systems is being characterized, with a focus on single-input single-output (SISO) for communication and single-input multiple-output (SIMO) for sensing. Practical, asymptotically optimal estimators for target distance are being developed, and algorithms for determining the optimal input distribution are being proposed. These advancements aim to clarify the tradeoff across the Pareto boundary of the C-D region and adapt the Deterministic-Random Tradeoff (DRT) to the optical ISAC context.
Robust Dynamic Coded Distributed Storage (RDCDS): The problem of robust dynamic coded distributed storage is being addressed, with a focus on enabling read and update operations while ensuring robustness against server dropouts. The fundamental limits of RDCDS are being settled, with lower bounds on the optimal tuple of read and update thresholds and costs being established. The use of staircase codes is inspiring new constructions that simultaneously achieve these lower bounds.
Noteworthy Papers
- Joint Identification and Sensing for Multiple Access Channels: This paper establishes a lower bound on the capacity-distortion region of SD-MACs, demonstrating the benefits of joint ID and sensing over separation-based methods.
- Performance Analysis of Physical Layer Security: The analysis of secrecy performance in near-field and far-field communications, including the introduction of the "depth of insecurity" concept, is particularly innovative.
- Optical ISAC: Fundamental Performance Limits and Transceiver Design: The characterization of the optimal C-D tradeoff in optical systems and the development of practical estimators and algorithms are noteworthy contributions.
- How to Read and Update Coded Distributed Storage Robustly and Optimally?: The settlement of the fundamental limits of RDCDS and the construction of an RDCDS scheme that achieves these limits are significant advancements.
These developments highlight the innovative and advancing nature of the ISAC field, providing valuable insights and practical solutions for professionals seeking to stay updated in this rapidly evolving domain.
