Integrated sensing, communication, and computing with max-min fairness
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Abstract
Integrated sensing, communication, and computation (ISC2) has been increasingly studied to support high-precision sensing and low-latency computing. Fairness in ISC2 remains unaddressed due to the non-convexity introduced by local computing, task offloading, result delivery, and sensing. This paper develops a new approach to max-min fair task computing while ensuring target sensing demands in ISC2 systems, by holistically optimizing the beamformers of the base station (BS), the transmit powers and CPU frequencies of users (UEs), and the uplink and downlink durations. To solve this non-convex problem, we develop a new algorithm that judiciously decouples the problem into manageable steps, leveraging Rayleigh quotient maximization, semidefinite relaxation (SDR), and successive convex approximation. We rigorously prove the (local) optimality of the algorithm by proving the tightness of the SDR, i.e., a rank-one solution for the dual-purpose beamforming of the BS for both communication and sensing, and the corresponding sensing-only beamforming, can always be constructed from a solution without rank constraint. Moreover, we reveal the optimal structure of the transmit powers of the BS and UEs, the CPU frequencies of the UEs, and the attainability of absolute fairness. As corroborated numerically, our algorithm substantially outperforms its alternatives in task completion and fairness.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
Volume
25
Publication Title
IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications
Publisher
IEEE
School
School of Engineering
Funders
National Natural Science Foundation of China (62401186, 62471163) / Fundamental Research Funds for the Provincial Universities of Zhejiang (GK249909299001-028)
Copyright
subscription content
First Page
7413
Last Page
7427
Comments
Sun, C., Hu, S., Ni, W., Liu, C., & Wang, X. (2025). Integrated sensing, communication, and computing with max-min fairness. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 25, 7413–7427. https://doi.org/10.1109/TWC.2025.3631338