Joint Optimization of Sensing and Communications in Vehicular Networks: A Graph Neural Network-Based Approach

In this paper, the problem of joint sensing and communications is studied over terahertz (THz) vehicular networks. In the studied model, a set of service provider vehicles provide either communication service or sensing service to communication target vehicles or sensing target vehicles, respectively. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the service mode (i.e., providing sensing or communication service) for each service provider vehicle and the subset of target vehicles that each service provider vehicle will serve. The problem is formulated as an optimization problem aiming to maximize the sum of the data rates of all communication target vehicles while satisfying the sensing service requirements of all sensing target vehicles by determining the service mode and the user association for each service provider vehicle. To solve this problem, a graph neural network (GNN) based algorithm with a heterogeneous graph representation is proposed. The proposed algorithm enables the central controller to extract each vehicle's graph information related to its location, connection, and communication interference. Using the extracted graph information, the joint service mode selection and user association strategy will be determined. Simulation results show that the proposed GNN-based scheme can achieve 94% of the sum rate produced by the optimal solution, and yield up to 3.95% and 36.16% improvements in sum rate, respectively, compared to a homogeneous GNN-based algorithm and the conventional optimization algorithm without using GNNs.