Performance Analysis of Integrated Sensing and Communication Networks with Blockage Effects

Communication-sensing integration represents an up-and-coming area of research, enabling wireless networks to simultaneously perform communication and sensing tasks. However, in urban cellular networks, the blockage of buildings results in a complex signal propagation environment, affecting the performance analysis of integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) networks. To overcome this obstacle, this paper constructs a comprehensive framework considering building blockage and employs a distance-correlated blockage model to analyze interference from line of sight (LoS), non-line of sight (NLoS), and target reflection cascading (TRC) links. Using stochastic geometric theory, expressions for signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and coverage probability for communication and sensing in the presence of blockage are derived, allowing for a comprehensive comparison under the same parameters. The research findings indicate that blockage can positively impact coverage, especially in enhancing communication performance. The analysis also suggests that there exists an optimal base station (BS) density when blockage is of the same order of magnitude as the BS density, maximizing communication or sensing coverage probability.