Tri-Hybrid Beamforming Design for Integrated Sensing and Communications

Tri-hybrid beamforming architectures have been proposed to enable energy-efficient communications systems in extra-large-scale antenna arrays using low-cost programmable metasurface antennas. We study the tri-hybrid beamforming design for integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) to improve both communications and sensing performances. Specifically, we formulate a multi-objective optimization problem that balances communications signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the sensing power at a target direction, subject to constraints on the total power consumption and physical limitations inherent to the tri-hybrid beamforming architecture. We develop an efficient iterative algorithm in which the variables are updated in a closed form at each iteration, leading to a low-complexity and fast-execution design. Numerical results show that the tri-hybrid architecture improves spatial gain and energy efficiency, though with reduced beam alignment capability compared to conventional hybrid beamforming architectures.