Performance Analysis of UAV Sensing using ISAC-enabled 5G-Advanced and 6G Networks

Abstract

Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) is a key technology for 5G-Advanced and 6G. It lets sensing functions be added to existing communication systems without requiring extra radar equipment. However, detecting and localizing weak targets, such as UAVs, remains challenging due to their low echo power relative to strong background clutter. This paper presents an end-to-end 5G-NR ISAC receiver for UAV sensing using standardized reference signals and evaluates its weak-target detection performance. The proposed receiver integrates channel estimation, clutter suppression, delay-Doppler processing, CA- CFAR detection, and ESPRIT-based time-of-arrival (ToA) and angle-of-arrival (AoA) estimation. Its performance is evaluated under monostatic, bistatic, and fused sensing modes using 3GPP TR 38.901-compliant UAV channel models. Furthermore, local- ization performance is benchmarked using delay-only, angle-only, and hybrid delay-angle localization strategies. The results demon- strate sub-1% ToA estimation error and sub-0.1 degree azimuth AoA estimation error for more than 90% of detected targets. Moreover, the fusion of monostatic and bistatic measurements consistently improves localization accuracy compared with either sensing mode alone, achieving a 90th-percentile positioning error of approximately 20 m.