Predictive Beamforming via Echo-Beam Modality Separation with Cross-Attention for ISAC Systems

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a deep learning-based predictive beamforming algorithm for integrated sensing and communications in vehicle-to-infrastructure networks, where echo signals are leveraged to enhance communication performance. We formulate a sum spectral efficiency maximization problem under a sensing signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) constraint and construct a penalty-based unconstrained surrogate objective for network training. Based on this formulation, the beamforming matrix is predicted using sensing echoes and historical beamformers from previous time slots. To this end, we develop a predictive beamforming network that processes sensing echoes and beamforming inputs through separate encoders to preserve their modality-specific characteristics. This separate design enables each modality to learn rich and complementary representations which are more effectively exploited through a cross-attention mechanism compared to naive input fusion. The resulting features are fused via cross-attention, while gated recurrent units capture temporal dependencies across time slots. Simulation results validate the performance of the proposed method.