WO2024000603A1

WO2024000603A1 - Probing signal selection

Info

Publication number: WO2024000603A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/103483
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wenjian Wang; Jianguo Liu; Fei Gao; Chaojun Xu; Xiagang XU; Wenyi Xu
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd.; Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2022-07-01
Filing date: 2022-07-01
Publication date: 2024-01-04

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media of probing signal selection. The method comprises receiving, from a second device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and receiving, from the second device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics. With this solution, the component or resource for the sensing and communication functionality can be more efficiently coupled and therefore the efficiency on hardware, spectrum and energy may be increased and the latency and signal overhead may be reduced.

Description

PROBING SIGNAL SELECTION

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media of probing signal selection.

BACKGROUND

Currently, there is growing interest in joint communication and sensing system (JCAS) , because it has advantages in reducing the system size, weight, and power consumption, mitigating electromagnetic interference and a multitude of scenarios of application.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of probing signal selection.

In a first aspect, there is provided a first device. The first device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes; the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to receive, from a second device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and receive, from the second device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In a second aspect, there is provided a second device. The second device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes; the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device at least to transmit, to a first device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and transmit, to the first device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises receiving, from a second device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and receiving, from the second device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In a fourth aspect, there is provide a method. The method comprises transmitting, to a first device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and transmitting, to the first device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for receiving, from a second device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and means for receiving, from the second device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for transmitting, to a first device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and means for transmitting, to the first device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to carry out the method according to the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

Other features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will also be apparent from the following description of specific embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the disclosure are presented in the sense of examples and their advantages are explained in greater detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings, where

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 2 shows a signaling chart illustrating a process of probing signal selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a signaling chart illustrating a process of probing signal selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGs. 4A and 4B show simulation results of shared resource of JCAS;

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method of probing signal selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method of probing signal selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 shows a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish functionalities of various elements. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as fifth generation (5G) systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the future fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a NR Next Generation NodeB (gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. A RAN split architecture comprises a gNB-CU (Centralized unit, hosting RRC, SDAP and PDCP) controlling a plurality of gNB-DUs (Distributed unit, hosting RLC, MAC and PHY) . A relay node may correspond to DU part of the IAB node.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a subscriber station (SS) , a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS) , or an access terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to Mobile Termination (MT) part of the integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node (a.k.a. a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

Although functionalities described herein can be performed, in various example embodiments, in a fixed and/or a wireless network node, in other example embodiments, functionalities may be implemented in a user equipment apparatus (such as a cell phone or tablet computer or laptop computer or desktop computer or mobile IoT device or fixed IoT device) . This user equipment apparatus can, for example, be furnished with corresponding capabilities as described in connection with the fixed and/or the wireless network node (s) , as appropriate. The user equipment apparatus may be the user equipment and/or or a control device, such as a chipset or processor, configured to control the user equipment when installed therein. Examples of such functionalities include the bootstrapping server function and/or the home subscriber server, which may be implemented in the user equipment apparatus by providing the user equipment apparatus with software configured to cause the user equipment apparatus to perform from the point of view of these functions/nodes.

FIG. 1 shows an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may comprise a terminal device 110 (hereinafter may also be referred to as a UE 110 or a first device 110. The communication network 100 may further comprise a network device 120 (hereinafter may also be referred to as a gNB 120 or a second device 120) . The terminal device 110 and the network device 120 may communicate with each other via a communication channel 102 between the terminal device 110 and the network device 120.

The communication network 100 may further comprise an object 130 to be sensed. The object 130 may comprise an active object or a passive object. For example, the object 130 may be a person, a package, or an electronic equipment. The network device 120 may sense the object 130 by a sensing signal reflected from the object 130 via a sensing channel 104 between the network device 120 and the object 130 and/or the terminal device 110 may sense the object 130 by a sensing signal reflected from the object 130 via a sensing channel 106 between the terminal device 110 and the object 130.

It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

As described above, there is growing interest in JCAS, which has many potential applications, such as the intelligent transportation, a factory automation, an enhanced human perception, etc. For the integrated system, the performance of communication and sensing functions at the same time is beneficial to improve the integration gain.

However, the challenges of the performance boundary of the JCAS may be further studied and discussed, which may be used to determine how to design optimal waveforms/probing signal for both data transmission and wireless sensing.

Currently, the conventional solution of sensing upper limit may include parameter estimation (e.g., the Cramer-Rao lower bound and ambiguous function) , object imaging resolution (e.g., Rayleigh criterion, Abbe diffraction limit) , and spectral perception (e.g., Heisenberg's uncertainty principle) , while the conventional solution of communication upper limit may be mainly based on Shannon's theorem. Furthermore, it has been proposed that adaptive communication and radar waveform design may be implemented based on information theory principles, especially mutual information, and relative entropy.

In general, for the joint of the communication and the sensing, two types of performance bounds can be used to represent the performance limits of the joint. One is based on Mutual Information (MI) , while the other is based on estimation accuracy of sensor parameters, such as the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLBs) . The CRLBs may be used to describe the lower bound of parameter estimation. However, for Multiple Input Multiple Output -Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) signals, it is not easy to apply the CRLB metrics for the analytical optimization, because the received signal is a nonlinear function of the sensor parameters.

The MI metric may be used to choose an appropriate waveform/probing signal from a set of waveforms/probing signals designed for both sensing and communication. Therefore, for the JCAS, it is expected that the concept of MI can be used as the evaluation standard for its performance.

Therefore, the present disclosure provides solutions of probing signal selection. In this solution, the network device may transmit a first probing signal for detecting respective channel characteristics for both the communication and sensing channels. At least based on the relevance level of the respective channel characteristics, the network device may select a target type of a second probing signal.

In this way, waveform/probing selection mechanism may be achieved based on MI for satisfying the requirement of communication-centric or sensing-centric or even both (a joint performance) in the JCAS. With this solution, the component or resource for the sensing and communication functionality can be more efficiently coupled and therefore the efficiency on hardware, spectrum and energy may be increased and the latency and signal overhead may be reduced.

Principle and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to FIGs. 2 and 3. which show signaling

charts illustrating processes

200 and 300 of probing signal selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, respectively. For the purpose of discussion, the

processes

200 and 300 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The processes 200 and 330 may involve the UE 110 and the gNB 120.

For example, the

processes

200 and 300 may relate to scenarios in a JCAS MIMO system, in which the UE 110 and gNB 120 may perform point-to-point communications, and simultaneously sense the environment to determine the locations and speeds of one or more nearby objects 130. In these scenarios, N transmit antennas and N receive antennas may be used. A communication packet may include data payload, together with pilot signal for synchronization and channel estimation, which may be in various forms such as comb-type pilots, block-type pilots or Lattice-type pilots.

In general, the framework for the JCAS may focus on how to optimize the transmitted signal to maximize the overall performance of the JCAS while sending both training and data symbols. In the scenarios associated with the

processes

200 and 300, the MI may be used for performance metric, to study the grouping structure and the distribution of temporal and spatial signal power mask from the perspective of information theory. For example, the power mask may refer to a framework system in which different antennas transmit different symbols with different energies. Hereinafter the MI may be considered as a performance indicator and a measurement method for measuring, for example, how much information can be transmitted through known communication channels and how much reflected signals can be captured and used to perceive unknown targets.

Now the reference is made to FIG. 2. As shown, the gNB 120 may transmit 202 a first probing signal. For example, on one hand, the first probing signal may be transmitted to the UE 110 and used to detect a communication channel between the UE 110 and gNB 120, on the other hand, the first probing signal may also be used to detect a nearby object 130. For example, the first probing signal may be transmitted from the gNB 120 and reflected from the object 130 to the gNB 120 via a sensing channel.

In some example embodiments, the gNB 120 may transmit OFDM-MIMO waveform matrix X used as dual-functional waveform based on MIMO-OFDM for the JCAS. The communication symbol is a snapshot of a radar pulse.

Without loss of generality, a general data structure, consisting of a sequence of L _t training symbols and L _d data symbols for each spatial stream, may be considered. The total length of the transmit signals, L=L _t+L _d. X= [X _t, X _d] may be given by concatenating the symbols from N spatial streams into a matrix X, where

and

with X _t (n) and X _d (n) denoting the pilot and data symbols transmitted from the n-th antenna, respectively.

After receiving the first probing signal, the UE 110 may determine 204 detecting information based on the first probing signal, which may also refer to UE-aware information. For example, the detecting information may comprise a first channel characteristic of the communication channel between the UE 110 and the gNB 120, which may also be considered as channel state information (CSI) of the communication channel.

For the first channel characteristic of the communication channel, the UE 110, for example, may estimate the raw channel H and the effective channel H _eff at the available subcarriers. The raw channel H may be represented as

where the first N is the UE antenna number (port level) , the second N is gNB antenna number (port level) , while the effective channel H _eff may be represented as

where S is the UE stream number and N is gNB antenna number (port level) .

Furthermore, based on the first probing signal, the UE 110 may also calculate UE positioning and its ephemeris information, which may consist of UE’s moving direction, moving velocity and planned route of movement.

It is also possible that the UE 110 may determine the UE Sub-Array (SA) index (m _r, n _r) in the uplink to gNB 120. For example, the transmitting and receiving sides consist of P×P subarrays (SAs) , respectively. The coordinates of each SA are the subarrays (SA) index (m _r, n _r) .

Then the UE 110 may transmit 206 the UE-aware information including CSI, UE positioning and its ephemeris to gNB 120.

For the sensing channel, via which the probing signal is reflected from the object 130 to be sensed to the gNB 120, the gNB 120 may determine the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel, which may also refer to CSI of the sensing channel and denoted by G. The CSI G may also be referred to as the compound sensing CSI G. The term ‘compound’ means the compound channel (DL+UL for sensing) in mono-static sensing. For example, the compound sensing CSI G can be obtained in the same way as UE CSI H.

Furthermore, the gNB 120 may also determine a sensing/communication priority (S/C priority) , which may characterize which one has a higher priority. For example, if the communication has a higher priority than the sensing, the transmission from the gNB 120 may be considered as a communication-centric transmission. On the contrary, if the sensing has a higher priority than the communication, the transmission from the gNB 120 may be considered as a sensing-centric transmission.

In some example embodiments, the S/C priority may be determined based on the communication-specific Signal-to-Noise Ratio (CSNR) and the sensing-specific SNR(SSNR) , which may focus on the SNRs in communication channel and the sensing channel, respectively.

For example, the CSNR and the SSNR may be defined as:

where |H _n (f) | ² is the power of noise. H _static (f) and H _object (f) are the signals arriving through static path and object path, respectively. Both static path signal and object path signal can be utilized for communication. H _interferer (f) refers to the other dynamic objects that do not need to be sensed while also can be used for communication.

When there are interferers, SSNR may be decreased, however, the CSNR may be increases for better communication. The term ‘compound’ means the compound channel (DL+UL for sensing) in mono-static sensing.

For example, if the CSNR exceeds a first threshold ratio, for example, 20dB, and/or the SSNR is lower than a second threshold ratio, the gNB 120 may determine that the communication has a higher priority than the sensing, which may also be refer to a high communication priority. If the CSNR is lower than the first threshold ratio and/or the SSNR exceeds the second threshold ratio, the gNB 120 may determine that the sensing has a higher priority than the communication, which may also be refer to a high sensing priority.

The gNB 120 may determine 208 the relevance level between the first channel characteristic of the communication channel between the UE 110 and the gNB 120 and the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel, i.e., H and G.

For example, the gNB 120 may identify the relevance level between G and H based on

the function r=corr2 (G, H) can be used to present the relevance level, the higher the r value is, the higher the correlation level is.

Then the gNB 120 may determine the pattern/type for the second probing signal to be transmitted from the gNB 120 at least based on the determined relevance level between G and H. For example, if the relevance level exceeds a threshold level, the gNB 120 may generate a second probing signal/waveform having a type suitable for a joint of the communication and the sensing. The generated probing signal/waveform may enable the MI of the joint of the communication and the sensing to be maximized, and therefore balance the communication and sensing to achieve the best performance. For example, the MI of the joint of the communication and the sensing may be represented as:

F _JCAS=w _rI (G (t) ; Y (t) |X (t) ) + (1-w _r) I (X (t) ; Y (t) |H (t) ) (3)

where X (t) and Y (t) are represented as transmitting signal and receiving signal, respectively, H (t) and G (t) are represented as respective channel characteristics of the communication channel and the sensing channel, respectively, w _r is represented as the weighted factors or weighted coefficient of sensing MI.

In this case, the generated second probing signal/waveform may be represented as:

where Π may be defined as the matrix variable that related to the maximized JCAS MI and may be equal to

with its (i, i) -th entry being

(JCAS) for JCAS, U _H is the right unitary matrix after singular value decomposition (SVD) of the communication channel covariance matrix

and Λ _H=diag ( [μ _1, 1, ..., μ _i, i, ..., μ _N, N] ) is a diagonal matrix with μ _i, i being the singular values, U _H is the right unitary matrix after singular value decomposition (SVD) of the communication channel covariance matrix

and Λ _H=diag ( [μ _1, 1, ..., μ _i, i, ..., μ _N, N] ) is a diagonal matrix with μ _i, i being the singular values Z is the preconfigured matrix satisfying Z ^HZ=I _N.

In a case where the relevance level is lower than the threshold level, the gNB 120 may determine the pattern/type for the second probing signal to be transmitted from the gNB 120 based on the S/C priority. If the high communication priority is determined, the gNB 120 may generate a second probing signal/waveform having a type suitable for the communication. That is, the generated probing signal/waveform may enable the MI of the communication to be maximized. For example, the MI of the communication may be represented as:

F _c=I (X (t) ; Y (t) |H (t) ) (5)

where X (t) and Y (t) are represented as transmitting signal and receiving signal, respectively, H (t) are represented as channel characteristic of the communication channel.

where Ξ is defined as the matrix variable that related to the maximized communication MI and may be equal to

with its (i, i) -th entry being ξ _ii (C) for communication, U _H is the right unitary matrix after singular value decomposition (SVD) of the communication channel covariance matrix

and Λ _H=diag ( [μ _1, 1, ..., μ _i, i, ..., μ _N, N] ) is a diagonal matrix with μ _i, i being the singular values, Θ is the preconfigured matrix satisfying Θ ^HΘ=I _N.

Furthermore, if the high sensing priority is determined, the gNB 120 may generate a second probing signal/waveform having a type suitable for the sensing. That is, the generated probing signal/waveform may enable the MI of the sensing to be maximized. For example, the MI of the sensing may be represented as:

F _s=I (G (t) ; Y (t) |X (t) ) (7)

where X (t) and Y (t) are represented as transmitting signal and receiving signal, respectively, G (t) are represented as channel characteristic of the sensing channel.

where Q ^(d) is defined as the matrix variable that related to the maximized sensing MI and may be equal to

with its (i, i) -th entry being q _ii (S) for sensing. U _G is the right unitary matrix after singular value decomposition (SVD) of the sensing channel covariance matrix

andΛ _G=diag ( [λ _1, 1, ..., λ _i, i, ..., λ _N, N] ) is a diagonal matrix with λ _i, i being the singular values, Ψ is the preconfigured matrix satisfying Ψ ^HΨ=I _N.

Alternatively or optionally, the gNB 120 may also determine 210 precoder and norma_vector to meet the total transmitted power constraint and meet the directional beampattern design by considering the determined pattern/type of the second probing signal, for example, based on the received UE-aware information and the compound sensing CSI G.

For example, the gNB 120 may determine a temporary transmit precoding with

where N is the gNB antenna number (port level) , S is the UE stream number. B = pinv (A) returns the Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse of A.

is the complex number domain.

The gNB 120 may determine a temporary norma vector to meet the total transmitted power constraint after pre-equalization with

where S is the UE stream number. Y =abs (X) returns the absolute value of each element in array X, D = diag (v) returns a square diagonal matrix with the elements of vector v on the main diagonal.

is the real number domain.

The gNB 120 may also determine a transmit precoding with

where N is the gNB antenna number (port level) , S is the UE stream number, RB _num is the RB number, and a norma vector with

where S is the UE stream number, RB _num is the RB number.

Based on the determined precoder and norma_vector and the pattern/type of the second probing signal, the gNB 120 may generate the second probing signal with an optimal beamformed waveform and transmit 212 the second probing signal to the UE 110.

Regarding to the other scenario in the framework for the JCAS, now the reference is made to FIG. 3. As shown, the gNB 120 may transmit 302 a first probing signal. After receiving the first probing signal, the UE 110 may determine 304 detecting information based on the first probing signal, which may also refer to UE-aware information. For example, the detecting information may comprise a first channel characteristic of the communication channel between the UE 110 and the gNB 120, which may also be considered as CSI H of the communication channel. The

actions

302 and 304 may be similar with the

actions

202 and 204 shown in FIG. 2 and the description may be omitted here.

Different with the process 200, the first probing signal may be received by the UE 110 via a sensing channel reflected from the object 130 to be sensed. In this situation, the UE 110 may further determine the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel, which may also refer to CSI of the sensing channel and denoted by G.

Then the UE 110 may also determine a sensing/communication priority (S/C priority) , which may characterize which one has a higher priority. For example, if the communication has a higher priority than the sensing, the transmission from the gNB 120 may be considered as a communication-centric transmission. On the contrary, if the sensing has a higher priority than the communication, the transmission from the gNB 120 may be considered as a sensing-centric transmission.

In some example embodiments, the S/C priority may be determined based on the communication-specific Signal-to-Noise Ratio (CSNR) and the sensing-specific SNR(SSNR) , which may focus on the SNRs in communication channel and the sensing channel, respectively. For example, the UE 110 may calculate the CSNR and the SSNR by using the Equation (1) and (2) , respectively.

Similarly, if the CSNR exceeds a first threshold ratio, for example, 20dB, and/or the SSNR is lower than a second threshold ratio, the UE 110 may determine that the communication has a higher priority than the sensing, which may also be refer to a high communication priority. If the CSNR is lower than the first threshold ratio and/or the SSNR exceeds the second threshold ratio, the UE 110 may determine that the sensing has a higher priority than the communication, which may also be refer to a high sensing priority.

The UE 110 may further determine the relevance level between the first channel characteristic of the communication channel between the UE 110 and the gNB 120 and the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel, i.e., H and G.

For example, the UE 110 may identify the relevance level between G and H based on

Then the UE 110 may determine 306 the pattern/type for the second probing signal to be transmitted from the gNB 120 at least based on the determined relevance level between G and H. For example, if the relevance level exceeds a threshold level, the UE 110 may determine that a second probing signal/waveform having a type suitable for a joint of the communication and the sensing to be transmitted from the gNB 120, which may enable the MI of the joint of the communication and the sensing to be maximized, and therefore balance the communication and sensing to achieve the best performance. For example, the MI of the joint of the communication and the sensing may be represented in the Equation (3) .

In a case where the relevance level is lower than the threshold level, the UE 110 may determine the pattern/type for the second probing signal to be transmitted from the gNB 120 based on the S/C priority. If the high communication priority is determined, the UE 110 may determine that a second probing signal/waveform having a type suitable for the communication to be transmitted from the gNB 120, which may enable the MI of the communication to be maximized. For example, the MI of the communication may be represented in the Equation (5) .

Furthermore, if the high sensing priority is determined, the UE 110 may determine that a second probing signal/waveform having a type suitable for the sensing to be transmitted from the gNB 120, which may enable the MI of the sensing to be maximized. For example, the MI of the sensing may be represented in the Equation (7) .

After determining the expected type/pattern of the second probing signal, the UE 110 may transmit 308 a request of determined type/pattern of the second probing signal to gNB 120, to indicate that which type of the second probing signal is expected or suitable for the downlink transmission.

After receiving the request, the gNB 120 may generate 310 the second probing signal having an expected type/pattern indicated in the request. For example, the gNB 120 may generate a second probing signal for the joint communication and sensing by using the Equation (4) , a second probing signal for the communication-centric scenario by using Equation (6) and a second probing signal for the sensing-centric scenario by using Equation (8) .

Furthermore, the UE 110 may also transmit the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel, i.e., CSI G, to the gNB 120. Similarly, the gNB 120 may also determine precoder and norma_vector to meet the total transmitted power constraint and meet the directional beampattern design by considering the determined pattern/type of the second probing signal, for example, based on the received UE-aware information and the compound sensing CSI G.

For example, the gNB 120 may determine a temporary transmit precoding with

is the complex number domain.

is the real number domain.

The gNB 120 may also determine a transmit precoding with

where S is the UE stream number, RB _num is the RB number.

Based on the determined precoder and norma_vector and the pattern/type of the second probing signal, the gNB 120 may generate the second probing signal with an optimal beamformed waveform and transmit 312 the second probing signal to the UE 110.

For both

processes

200 and 300, the gNB 120 may update the type of the probing signal with a predefined period, to meet the transmit power constraint and the directional beampattern design when the channel state is changed.

Furthermore, the downlink multi-user interference (MUI) may also be minimized under design of a waveform of directional beampattern that points to the targets of interest.

Through this joint optimization described in the present disclosure, the root cause of the joint gain is that the integrated design is superior to the independent communication and sensing functions. For example, if the antenna array is divided into two groups: one for radar and the other for communication. Compared to a shared antenna array (i.e., a more tightly coupled integration setup) , reduced spatial freedom, lower angular resolution, and interference management may incur additional overhead and cost. Unified waveform/probing signal strategies can be more tightly coupled to allow simultaneous transmission of communication and sensing on tightly coupled devices as well as on the same empty, time, frequency, and resources. In this way, signals with dual functions can achieve a completely unified waveform here.

For example, simulation results of shared resource of JCAS may be shown in FIGs. 4A and 4B, in which the

lines

411 and 412 represent the maximum MI value of JCAS,

lines

421 and 422 represent the maximum MI value of communication and the

lines

431 and 432 represent the MI value of sensing.

Based on analysis and simulation, it can be seen that under the resource sharing mode (tight coupling) , optimal performance can be achieved. However, the MI of communication and the MI of sensing cannot reach their maximum value at the same time. If the better communication or sensing performance is expected, the system may work in a non-shared resource mode (loosely coupled) so that communication and sensing can reach their maximums, respectively.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 of probing signal selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 can be implemented at the first device 110 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 510, the first device receives, from a second device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices.

At 520, the first device receives, from the second device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In some example embodiments, the first device may determine based on the first probing signal received via the communication channel, detecting information comprises at least one of the first channel characteristic of the communication channel, positioning information of the first device, ephemeris information of the first device, or array information of the first device; and transmit the detecting information to the second device.

In some example embodiments, the first device may determine the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel received via the sensing channel, which is reflected from the objected to be sensed; and determine a target type of the second probe signal at least based on the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In some example embodiments, if the first device determines that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics exceeds a threshold level, the first device may determine that a first type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of a joint of a communication on the communication channel and a sensing on the sensing channel to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.

In some example embodiments, if the first device determines that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the communication has a higher priority than the sensing, the first device may determine that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the communication to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device. If the first device determines that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the sensing has a higher priority than the communication, the first device may determine that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the sensing to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.

In some example embodiments, the first device may determine a first signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, associated with the communication channel and a second SNR associated with the sensing channel. If the first SNR exceed a first threshold ratio and/or the second SNR is lower than a second threshold ratio, the first device may determine that the communication has a higher priority than the sensing. If the first SNR is lower than the first threshold ratio and/or the second SNR exceeds the second threshold ratio, the first device may determine that the sensing has a higher priority than the communication.

In some example embodiments, the first device may transmit, to the second device, a request of the target type of the second device probe signal.

In some example embodiments, the first device may transmit, to the second device, the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel.

In some example embodiments, the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 of probing signal selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 600 can be implemented at the second device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 610, the second device transmits, to the first device transmits, to a first device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices.

At 620, the second device transmits, to the first device transmits, to the first device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In some example embodiments, the second device may receive, from the first device, detecting information comprising at least one of the first channel characteristic of the communication channel, positioning information of the first device, ephemeris information of the first device, or array information of the first device; and transmit the detecting information to the second device.

In some example embodiments, the second device may determine the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel based on the first probing signal received via the sensing channel, which is reflected from the object to be sensed.

In some example embodiments, the second device may determine a target type of the second probe signal at least based on the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In some example embodiments, if the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics exceeds a threshold level, the second device may determine that a first type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of a joint of a communication on the communication channel and a sensing on the sensing channel to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.

In some example embodiments, if the second device determines that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the communication has a higher priority than the sensing, the second device may determine that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the communication to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device. If the second device determines that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the sensing has a higher priority than the communication, the second device may determine that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the sensing to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.

In some example embodiments, the second device may determine a first signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, associated with the communication channel and a second SNR associated with the sensing channel. If the first SNR exceed a first threshold ratio and/or the second SNR is lower than a second threshold ratio, the second device may determine that the communication has a higher priority than the sensing. If the first SNR is lower than the first threshold ratio and/or the second SNR exceeds the second threshold ratio, the second device may determine that the sensing has a higher priority than the communication.

In some example embodiments, the second device may receive, from the first device, a request of the target type of the second device probe signal.

In some example embodiments, the second device may receive, from the first device, information of the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel.

In some example embodiments, the second device may determine, based on the detecting information and the target type, a precoder and vector information associated with the second probing signal; and generate the target type of the second device probe signal based on the precoder and the vector information.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 500 (for example, implemented at the UE 110) may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and means for receiving, from the second device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 600 (for example, implemented at the gNB 120) may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be provided to implement the communication device, for example the UE 110 and the gNB 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 740 coupled to the processor 710, and one or more communication modules 740 coupled to the processor 710.

The communication module 740 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 740 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 740 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 724, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 710. The program 730 may be stored in the ROM 720. The processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 730 into the RAM 720.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 730 so that the device 700 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIGs. 2 to 6. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 730 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 700 (such as in the memory 720) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 722 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any types of tangible non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. FIG. 8 shows an example of the computer readable medium 800 in form of CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has the program 730 stored thereon.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, device, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the

methods

500 and 600 as described above with reference to FIGs. 5-6. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, device or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

A first device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program codes;

the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to:

receive, from a second device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and

receive, from the second device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.
The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to:

determine, based on the first probing signal received via the communication channel, detecting information comprises at least one of:

the first channel characteristic of the communication channel,

positioning information of the first device,

ephemeris information of the first device, or

array information of the first device; and

transmit the detecting information to the second device.
The first device of claim 2, wherein the first device is further caused to:

determine the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel received via the sensing channel, which is reflected from the objected to be sensed; and

determine a target type of the second probe signal at least based on the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.
The first device of claim 3, wherein the first device is caused to determine the target type of the second probe signal by:

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics exceeds a threshold level, determining that a first type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of a joint of a communication on the communication channel and a sensing on the sensing channel to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.
The first device of claim 4, wherein the first device is further caused to:

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the communication has a higher priority than the sensing, determine that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the communication to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device; and

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the sensing has a higher priority than the communication, determine that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the sensing to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.
The first device of claim 5, wherein the first device is further caused to:

determine a first signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, associated with the communication channel and a second SNR associated with the sensing channel;

in accordance with a determination that at least one of

the first SNR exceed a first threshold ratio, or

the second SNR is lower than a second threshold ratio, determine that the communication has a higher priority than the sensing; and

in accordance with a determination that at least one of

the first SNR is lower than the first threshold ratio, or

the second SNR exceeds the second threshold ratio, determine that the sensing has a higher priority than the communication.
The first device of claim 3, wherein the first device is further caused to:

transmit, to the second device, a request of the target type of the second device probe signal.
The first device of claim 3, wherein the first device is further caused to:

transmit, to the second device, the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel.
The first device of any of claims 1-8, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.
A second device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program codes;

the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device at least to:

transmit, to a first device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and

transmit, to the first device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.
The second device of claim 10, wherein the second device is further caused to:

receive, from the first device, detecting information comprising at least one of:

the first channel characteristic of the communication channel,

positioning information of the first device,

ephemeris information of the first device, or

array information of the first device.
The second device of claim 11, wherein the second device is further caused to:

determine the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel based on the first probing signal received via the sensing channel, which is reflected from the object to be sensed.
The second device of claim 12, wherein the second device is further caused to:

determine a target type of the second probe signal at least based on the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.
The second device of claim 13, wherein the second device is caused to determine the target type of the second probe signal by:

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics exceeds a threshold level, determining that a first type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of a joint of a communication on the communication channel and a sensing on the sensing channel to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.
The second device of claim 14, wherein the second device is further caused to:

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the communication has a higher priority than the sensing, determine that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the communication to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device; and

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the sensing has a higher priority than the communication, determine that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the sensing to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.
The second device of claim 15, wherein the second device is further caused to:

determine a first signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, associated with the communication channel and a second SNR associated with the sensing channel;

in accordance with a determination that at least one of

the first SNR exceed a first threshold ratio, or

the second SNR is lower than a second threshold ratio, determine that the communication has a higher priority than the sensing; and

in accordance with a determination that at least one of

the first SNR is lower than the first threshold ratio, or

the second SNR exceeds the second threshold ratio, determine that the sensing has a higher priority than the communication.
The second device of claim 10, wherein the second device is further caused to:

receive, from the first device, a request of the target type of the second device probe signal.
The second device of claim 11, wherein the second device is further caused to:

receive, from the first device, information of the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel.
The second device of claim 10, wherein the second device is further caused to:

determine, based on the detecting information and the target type, a precoder and vector information associated with the second probing signal; and

generate the target type of the second device probe signal based on the precoder and the vector information.
The second device of any of claims 10-19, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.
A method comprising:

receiving, at a first device and from a second device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and

receiving, from the second device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.
The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining, based on the first probing signal received via the communication channel, detecting information comprises at least one of:

the first channel characteristic of the communication channel,

positioning information of the first device,

ephemeris information of the first device, or

array information of the first device; and

transmitting the detecting information to the second device.
The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel received via the sensing channel, which is reflected from the objected to be sensed; and

determining a target type of the second probe signal at least based on the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.
The method of claim 23, wherein determining the target type comprises:

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics exceeds a threshold level, determining that a first type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of a joint of a communication on the communication channel and a sensing on the sensing channel to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.
The method of claim 24, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the communication has a higher priority than the sensing, determining that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the communication to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device; and

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the sensing has a higher priority than the communication, determining that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the sensing to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.
The method of claim 25, further comprising:

determining a first signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, associated with the communication channel and a second SNR associated with the sensing channel;

in accordance with a determination that at least one of

the first SNR exceed a first threshold ratio, or

the second SNR is lower than a second threshold ratio, determining that the communication has a higher priority than the sensing; and

in accordance with a determination that at least one of

the first SNR is lower than the first threshold ratio, or

the second SNR exceeds the second threshold ratio, determining that the sensing has a higher priority than the communication.
The method of claim 23, further comprising:

transmitting, to the second device, a request of the target type of the second device probe signal.
The method of claim 23, further comprising:

transmitting, to the second device, the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel.
The method of any of claims 21-28, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.
A method comprising:

transmitting, from a second device to a first device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first and the second devices and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and

transmitting, to the first device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.
The method of claim 30, further comprising:

receiving, from the first device, detecting information comprising at least one of:

the first channel characteristic of the communication channel,

positioning information of the first device,

ephemeris information of the first device, or

array information of the first device.
The method of claim 31, further comprising:

determining the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel based on the first probing signal received via the sensing channel, which is reflected from the object to be sensed.
The method of claim 32, further comprising:

determining a target type of the second probe signal at least based on the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.
The method of claim 33, wherein determining the target type comprises:

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics exceeds a threshold level, determining that a first type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of a joint of a communication on the communication channel and a sensing on the sensing channel to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.
The method of claim 34, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the communication has a higher priority than the sensing, determining that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the communication to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device; and

in accordance with a determination that the relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics is lower than the threshold level and the sensing has a higher priority than the communication, determining that a second type of the second probe signal, which enables mutual information of the sensing to be maximized, is to be transmitted from the second device.
The method of claim 35, further comprising:

determining a first signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, associated with the communication channel and a second SNR associated with the sensing channel;

in accordance with a determination that at least one of

the first SNR exceed a first threshold ratio, or

the second SNR is lower than a second threshold ratio, determining that the communication has a higher priority than the sensing; and

in accordance with a determination that at least one of

the first SNR is lower than the first threshold ratio, or

the second SNR exceeds the second threshold ratio, determining that the sensing has a higher priority than the communication.
The method of claim 30, further comprising:

receiving, from the first device, a request of the target type of the second device probe signal.
The method of claim 30, further comprising:

receiving, from the first device, information of the second channel characteristic of the sensing channel.
The method of claim 30, further comprising:

determining, based on the detecting information and the target type, a precoder and vector information associated with the second probing signal; and

generating the target type of the second device probe signal based on the precoder and the vector information.
The method of any of claims 30-39, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device and the second device comprises a network device.
An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, from a second device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between a first device and the second device and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and

means for receiving, from the second device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.
An apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting, to a first device, a first probing signal for detecting a first channel characteristic of a communication channel between the first device and a second device and a second channel characteristic of a sensing channel associated with an object to be sensed and at least one of the first and the second devices; and

means for transmitting, to the first device, a target type of a second probing signal determined at least based on a relevance level of the first and the second channel characteristics.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 21-29.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 30-40.