Integrated Sensing and Communication – ISAC

RAN-level ISAC has demonstrated that sensing and communication can be combined at the radio interface.
The next challenge is to build the complete 5G/6G system around it.

Our research focuses on integrating sensing into the end-to-end mobile-network architecture: transporting and correlating sensing information, combining it with positioning, mobility and network state, exposing it to applications, and making it available for network control and optimization.

Open6GCore can be combined with OpenISAC and/or RAN implementations such as OpenAirInterface and OCUDU to create end-to-end ISAC testbeds spanning sensing-capable radio access, positioning, core-network functions, applications and network control.

A further research direction is area-based sensing and services: associating sensing, positioning, mobility and communication information with a selected geographical area so that applications and network functions can reason about what is happening in that area rather than only about individual devices.

Research Topics

  • End-to-end ISAC system architectures
  • Integration of sensing-capable RAN with the 5G/6G core
  • Sensing information collection and exposure
  • Positioning and common time reference
  • Fusion of sensing, mobility and network information
  • Area-based sensing and services
  • Sensing-assisted network control and optimization
  • ISAC information for applications and AI
  • End-to-end ISAC testbeds

The objective is to move from ISAC at the radio interface to ISAC as an integrated 5G/6G system capability.