Cooperative Multistatic Sensing Using 5G NR PRS Signal

Published

December 12, 2025

Author(s)

Anirudha Sahoo, Amala Sonny, Steve Blandino, Tanguy Ropitault, David Griffith, Thao Nguyen, Nada Golmie

Abstract

Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) has gained momentum because it reuses hardware, spectrum, and waveforms meant for communication. ISAC in 5G New Radio (NR) systems is envisioned to enable a wide range of applications like intruder detection, unmanned arial vehicle (UAV) tracking, rainfall monitoring, etc. In this study, we consider 5G NR base stations (BSs) in a multistatic configuration and use the positioning reference signal (PRS) for sensing. We formulate an optimization-based fusion method to enable cooperative sensing by combining the measurements from multiple receivers to improve the sensing performance in terms of target position and velocity. Our study finds that with just two receivers, the median position estimation error of a target is below 3 m, which is promising for many ISAC applications. However, while the median velocity estimation error with two receivers is below 4 %, sometimes the error can be quite high. Hence, at least three receivers should be deployed to have a robust velocity estimation.

Proceedings Title

IEEE GlobeCom Workshop (WS16) on Positioning and Sensing Over Wireless Networks

Conference Dates

December 8-12, 2025

Conference Location

Taipei, TW

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

5G NR, ISAC, Cooperative Sensing, PRS signal

Citation

Sahoo, A. , Sonny, A. , Blandino, S. , Ropitault, T. , Griffith, D. , Nguyen, T. and Golmie, N. (2025), Cooperative Multistatic Sensing Using 5G NR PRS Signal, IEEE GlobeCom Workshop (WS16) on Positioning and Sensing Over Wireless Networks, Taipei, TW, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960346 (Accessed April 7, 2026)