Integrating Sensing And Communications (ISAC) for Enhanced System Efficiencies and New User Experiences

I have posted multiple blog posts looking at Integrating/Joint Sensing And Communications (ISAC/JSAC). Qualcomm recently hosted a webinar on this topic. Quoting about sensing capabilities in 6G from the OnQ blog post:

Wireless sensing is an innovative technology that utilizes RF signals to detect the environment — all without the need for active electronics on the sensing target. It can enable spatial monitoring without using cameras, and is capable of presence detection, motion and gesture recognition, and even environmental monitoring.

Wireless sensing works by detecting and analyzing changes in RF signals as they travel from a transmitter to a receiver. It can flexibly support different operation modes, tailoring to specific needs. Monostatic sensing integrates the transmitter and receiver within a single entity, allowing for self-contained, compact implementation. On the other hand, bistatic sensing supports the transmitter and receiver in different entities, offering more flexibility. Additionally, multistatic sensing utilizes multiple receivers to detect signals from one or more transmitters, further improving performance.

This emerging wireless capability is set to enable a wide range of use cases. For instance, wireless sensing can enhance drone operations by enabling collision avoidance, flight trajectory tracing and intrusion detection. Other use cases include intruder detection in smart homes, geo-fencing in smart factories, and unobtrusive vital monitoring in healthcare. There are many other examples shown in Figure 3 highlighting the diverse use of wireless sensing in enhancing safety, efficiency and convenience. Many of these are actively being studied in the wireless ecosystem and broader industries.

An interesting thing worth noting from this picture above is that sensing capabilities is present regardless of the frequency in use. Higher frequencies with wide bandwidths provide excellent precision while lower frequencies with narrower bandwidths offer better long-range detection and penetration but with reduced resolution.

3GPP is currently studying sensing as part of Release-19 and will continue to look at it further in Release-20 and then 21, which is expected to be the first drop of 6G specifications. The webinar and the slides explain this further. 

The video from the Qualcomm webinar is embedded below and the slides are available here.

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