OTFS-based Integrated Positioning and Communication Systems with Low-Resolution ADCs

This paper proposes a two-phase orthogonal time–frequency space (OTFS)-based integrated positioning and communication (IPAC) framework under realistic low-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). In the uplink phase, the positioning signal is used to estimate channel parameters, which are subsequently used to determine the user’s position. The spatial smoothing-multiple signal classification algorithm is introduced to estimate the angle-of-arrival, whereas an iterative interference cancellation scheme is conceived for the remaining parameters’ estimation. The corresponding Cramer–Rao lower bounds of channel parameters and user position are also derived. During the downlink communication phase, the estimated parameters are exploited to improve beamforming at the base station. Simulation results evaluate the impact of ADC quantizer resolutions. Specifically, it is shown that enhanced downlink bit error rate performance can be achieved with improved uplink positioning, while the use of low-resolution ADCs induces noticeable performance degradation in the OTFS-IPAC system.