Fully Randomized Stepped-Carrier OFDM Radar for Integrated Sensing and Communication Systems

Bian M., Ranstrom T., ARSLAN H., Mumcu G.

IEEE Transactions on Radar Systems, cilt.4, ss.1436-1451, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 4
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1109/trs.2026.3724109
  • Dergi Adı: IEEE Transactions on Radar Systems
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1436-1451
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC), radar, randomization, resource allocation, software-defined radio (SDR), stepped orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), unambiguous velocity
  • İstanbul Medipol Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has recently attracted significant attention, with the design of versatile waveforms playing a central role. Stepped-carrier orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is a promising ISAC waveform since it can extend the range resolution by providing access to a wider spectrum by a factor of the carrier frequency steps (N) without necessitating higher sampling requirements. However, it also inherently gets penalized in its maximum unambiguous velocity by a factor of N. This makes stepped OFDM radar unsuitable for fast-moving targets. In this article, we propose a fully randomized stepping scheme that recovers the unambiguous velocity range by spreading the power of aliasing artifacts in the velocity map, thereby extending the maximum unambiguous velocity range by a factor of N. We also propose an optimization algorithm that operates within the sequence space to minimize the aliasing artifacts in the velocity map. Moreover, we extend the framework to include the communication functionality within an ISAC system. Since the resulting overall framework is different from prior stepped OFDM schemes, we validate both radar and communication functionalities through simulations and software-defined radio (SDR)-based hardware experiments, confirming the capability of the proposed method.