Precoding Design for QoS in Integrated Multi-Stream Information Delivery and Multi-Target Estimation and Localization

This work explores signal transmission for serving multiple communication users (CUs) while simultaneously estimating multiple targets. In this context, the multi-stream signals intended for downlink CUs equipped with multiple antennas are also employed as probing signals for target estimation. We consider precoding design to ensure quality of service, quantified by the CUs’ individual rates and the mean squared error in target estimation. We develop path-following computational procedures that generate a sequence of improved feasible points by iterating closed-form expressions, ensuring convergence. As a byproduct, a computational solution for estimating the targets’ response vectors or their reflection coefficients and angles manifests, addressing long-standing open problems in estimation theory. Computational experiments not only demonstrate their consistency but also reveal that the obtained precoders produce highly directionally selective beampatterns toward the targets, even though this is not a primary objective.