Radar-communication Spectrum Sharing and Integration: Overview and Prospect

The need of extra wireless spectrum is on the rise, given the rapid development of global wireless communication industry. To this end, Radar and Communication Spectrum Sharing (RCSS) has gained considerable attentions recently from both industry and academia. In particular, RCSS aims not only at enabling the spectral cohabitation of radar and communication systems, but also at designing a novel joint system that is capable of both functionalities. In this paper, a systematic overview of RCSS by focusing on the two main research directions are provided, i.e., Radar-Communication Coexistence (RCC) and Dual-Functional Radar-Communication (DFRC). We commence by discussing the coexistence examples of radar and communication at various frequency bands, and then elaborate on the practical application scenarios of the DFRC techniques. As a further step, the state-of-the-art approaches of both RCC and DFRC are reviewed. Finally we conclude the paper by identifying a number of open problems in the research area of RCSS.