Green Cell-Free Massive MIMO for ISAC: Joint Cloud, Fronthaul and Radio Resource Allocation

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a cross-layer end-to-end (E2E) resource orchestration framework for green CF-mMIMO ISAC systems with distributed multi-target detection. We propose a distributed sensing approach in which receive access points (RX-APs) compute local test statistics, which are aggregated at the cloud using weights based on sensing interference and channel quality. We derive the local maximum a posteriori ratio test (MAPRT) detectors under fully informed (FIS) and partially informed (PIS) operation, representing different levels of transmit-signal information at the RX-APs. We further characterize their processing and fronthaul requirements and derive a network power model incorporating radio transmission, AP and cloud processing, and fronthaul infrastructure. We formulate a mixed-integer non-convex problem that jointly optimizes transmit powers, AP modes, UE and sensing-area associations, RX-AP assignments, and active fronthaul and cloud resources subject to communication, sensing, power, processing-capacity, and fronthaul constraints. A two-stage iterative algorithm based on Big-M reformulation, convex--concave programming, penalty-based relaxation, and structured discrete recovery is developed. Numerical results show that the proposed E2E framework reduces total power by up to 50% compared with transmit-power-only optimization and by approximately 11-17% compared with joint radio optimization under full coordination, while maintaining detection probabilities above 0.95. The results also reveal a fundamental implementation trade-off: FIS provides lower detector-processing complexity and higher detection performance, whereas PIS substantially reduces fronthaul requirements.