Embedding the Radio Imaging in 5G Networks: Signal Processing and an Airport Use Case

Integrating sensing and communications is becoming a rising trend in the architecture design of the foreseeable mobile communications system, which could be driven by multifold applications and scarce spectrum resources. Regarding the demand for the economic surveillance solution in the secondary airports, the inborn imaging function in the 5G networks could be a promising candidate. This paper investigates the feasibility and capability of using 5G uplink and downlink reference signals for imaging purposes. An ambiguity function-based signal processing method is proposed in this paper to elaborate the imaging functionality in the 5G networks. The 5G signal-based imaging idea is validated with a realistic ray-tracing channel model generated from a simulated 3D airport model. Our method empowers the imaging functionality of the wireless communications system solely without the aid of external signal resources. Different from the conventional synthetic-aperture radar processing, our methods are adjusted for unevenly allocated reference signal symbols, which causes mirror images problem. The mirror images are quantified in the simulation result, and the mitigation strategies such as lower flight speed and narrower beam are proposed to resolve the problem.