Journal of Zhejiang University

ENGINEERING Information Technology & Electronic Engineering 2026 Vol.27 No.8 P.1-16

http://doi.org/10.1631/ENG.ITEE.2026.0090

Continuous aperture array-assisted integrated communication and navigation in low Earth orbit satellite constellations

Author(s): Qi WANG, Xiaoming CHEN, Qiao QI, Zhaolin WANG, Yuanwei LIU
Affiliation(s): 1. College of Information Science and Electronic Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China more
Corresponding email(s): chen_xiaoming@zju.edu.cn
Key Words: Sixth-generation (6G), Electromagnetic information theory, Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, Continuous aperture array, Integrated communication and navigation (ICAN)

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Qi WANG, Xiaoming CHEN, Qiao QI, Zhaolin WANG, Yuanwei LIU. Continuous aperture array-assisted integrated communication and navigation in low Earth orbit satellite constellations[J]. Journal of Zhejiang University Science C, 2026, 27(8): 1-16.

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author="Qi WANG, Xiaoming CHEN, Qiao QI, Zhaolin WANG, Yuanwei LIU",
journal="Journal of Zhejiang University Science C",
volume="27",
number="8",
pages="1-16",
year="2026",
publisher="Zhejiang University Press & Springer",
doi="10.1631/ENG.ITEE.2026.0090"
}

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%T Continuous aperture array-assisted integrated communication and navigation in low Earth orbit satellite constellations
%A Qi WANG
%A Xiaoming CHEN
%A Qiao QI
%A Zhaolin WANG
%A Yuanwei LIU
%J Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering
%V 27
%N 8
%P 1-16
%@ 1869-1951
%D 2026
%I Zhejiang University Press & Springer
%DOI 10.1631/ENG.ITEE.2026.0090

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T1 - Continuous aperture array-assisted integrated communication and navigation in low Earth orbit satellite constellations
A1 - Qi WANG
A1 - Xiaoming CHEN
A1 - Qiao QI
A1 - Zhaolin WANG
A1 - Yuanwei LIU
J0 - Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering
VL - 27
IS - 8
SP - 1
EP - 16
%@ 1869-1951
Y1 - 2026
PB - Zhejiang University Press & Springer
ER -
DOI - 10.1631/ENG.ITEE.2026.0090

Abstract
Chinese Summary
Academic Network
Reviewer Comment

Abstract: This paper proposes a novel continuous aperture array (CAPA)-assisted integrated communication and navigation (ICAN) framework for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. Within this framework, an electromagnetic-based collaborative transmission model is developed, in which multiple satellites equipped with CAPAs simultaneously radiate downlink data streams and navigation reference signals over a shared spectrum. Building upon this, the achievable communication rate and the navigation Cramér–Rao bound (CRB) are derived, which explicitly characterize the intrinsic coupling between the dual-function beamformers and system performance. To improve the positioning accuracy with a communication quality of service guarantee, a joint beamforming optimization problem is formulated to minimize the average CRB subject to transmit power budgets and minimum rate constraints. To tackle the inherent infinite dimensionality of the CAPA beamformer design, an ICAN channel subspace is introduced to equivalently transform the formulation into a tractable finite-dimensional problem, which is then efficiently solved via an iterative convex optimization algorithm. Finally, numerical results demonstrate that the proposed CAPA-assisted beamforming design algorithm significantly outperforms conventional discrete phased array architectures and other benchmark schemes, yielding notable improvements in ICAN performance.

连续孔径阵列辅助的低轨卫星星座通信导航一体化

王琦¹，陈晓明¹，齐俏²，王照霖³，刘元玮³
¹浙江大学信息与电子工程学院，中国杭州市，310027
²杭州师范大学信息科学与技术学院，中国杭州市，311121
³香港大学电机与计算机工程学系，中国香港特别行政区，999077
摘要：本文提出了一种新颖的连续孔径阵列辅助的低轨卫星星座通信导航一体化架构。在该架构中，构建了基于电磁理论的协同传输模型，其中多个部署有连续孔径阵列的卫星在共享频谱上同时发射下行数据信号和导航参考信号。在此基础上，推导了可达的通信传输速率和导航克拉美罗下界，显式刻画了双功能波束成形与系统性能之间的内在耦合关系。为在保障通信服务质量的同时提升导航定位精度，本文建立了联合波束成形优化问题，在发射功率预算和最小速率约束下最小化平均克拉美罗下界。针对连续孔径阵列波束成形设计固有的无限维特性，本文引入通信导航一体化信道子空间，将原问题等价转化为可处理的有限维优化问题，并进一步通过迭代凸优化算法进行高效求解。最后，数值结果表明，所提出的连续孔径阵列辅助波束成形设计算法显著优于传统离散相控阵架构及其他基准方案，能够有效提升低轨卫星星座通信导航一体化性能。

关键词：6G；电磁信息论；低轨卫星星座；连续孔径阵列；通信导航一体化

Darkslateblue:Affiliate; Royal Blue:Author; Turquoise:Article

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