Semi-Passive IRS Enabled Sensing with Group Movable Sensors

Abstract: The performance of the sensing system is limited by the signal attenuation and the number of receiving components. In this letter, we investigate the sensor position selection in a semi-passive intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) enabled non-line-of-sight (NLoS) sensing system. The IRS consists of passive elements and active sensors, where the sensors can receive and process the echo signal for direction-of-arrival (DoA) estimation. Motivated by the movable antenna array and fluid antenna system, we consider the case where the sensors are integrated into a group for movement and derive the corresponding Cramer-Rao bound (CRB). Then, the optimal solution for the positions of the movable sensors (MSs) to the CRB minimization problem is derived in closed form. Moreover, we characterize the relationship between the CRB and system parameters. Theoretical analysis and numerical results are provided to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed MS scheme over the fixed-position (FP) scheme.