About

The integration of sensing and communications (ISAC) is widely seen as one of the main and disruptive features of the next generation of wireless communication systems . ISAC indeed allows the envisioned 6G network to not only communicate, but also to sense the environment, localise and track users as well as passive devices and objects within the wireless propagation environment, which in turn can be used for mobilising sensing-aided applications and/or improving communication functions. All those functionalities are expected to be offered by the same 6G network infrastructure.


The 6G-DISAC project will bring the ISAC vision into reality, going well beyond the usual restrictive standalone or localised scenarios, by adopting a holistic perspective, with large numbers of connected users and/or passive objects to be tracked, and relying on a widely distributed intelligent infrastructure compatible with both real-world integration constraints and the flexibility requirements of future wireless networks.

Project Reference

101139130

Funding Agency

EU/Horizon Europe

Funding Amount

4,300,000€

EU Funding Discrimination

Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking

Start and End dates

01-01-2024 to 31-12-2026

Duration

724 Days

Motivation, vision, goals

Driven by increasing demands in terms of data rates and latencies, wireless systems have entered new frequency bands with more available spectrum. As such bands are commonly found at higher carrier frequencies, increased path loss much be overcome by larger antenna apertures to support reasonable coverage. These concepts have brought the world the 5G concepts of millimetre wave (mmWave) and massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO). As we enter the 6G era, it has become obvious that these same technological advances that lead to higher rates are also enablers for high-resolution sensing: larger bandwidths bring distance resolution, larger carrier frequencies make the channel more geometric and interpretable, while larger array apertures naturally bring increased angular resolution (enabling holographic MIMO applications). This triad of delay resolution, geometric channels, and angle resolution has been harnessed for several decades in radar systems, where advanced 4D radars can create 4D images (3 spatial dimensions and radial velocity) of the environment, with performance matching that of lidars, while also providing velocity/Doppler information, and (in contrast to lidar) operating in all weather and lighting conditions, with much lower cost. However, this performance comes at the expense of extreme data processing demands, as a typical 4D radar needs to process Gb/s of data to form 4D images.


These concepts are now being introduced towards 6G networks in the form of ISAC, which has become one of the most important innovation trends in 6G research and presents a paradigm shift in the design and operation of wireless networks. The ability to sense and track both active users and passive objects has nearly unlimited applications, ranging from extended reality, robot-human interaction to vehicular safety functions, as well as improving the communication key performance indicators (KPIs) (so-called sensing-aided communication). Nevertheless, ISAC has stagnated at low technology readiness levels (TRLs) and focused on toy scenarios, such as positioning of user equipment (UE), already part of 5G, and monostatic sensing of individual targets by a single base station (BS) or an end user. There are several fundamental challenges that must be addressed for ISAC to truly be integrated into 6G. These challenges include:

The 6G-DISAC project addresses these challenges. By considering the distributed aspect of ISAC from the start, 6G-DISAC will not only enable large-scale sensing applications but will also provide a multi-perspective view of networks in space and time for substantial communication gains (i.e., thanks to the collected heterogeneous sensing data, which can be further fused and interpreted considering semantic reasoning), with minimal overheads and limited usage of additional network-extrinsic sensors.

Targets

1.

Cm-level localisation accuracy

2.

Multi-band operation

3.

ISAC techniques

4.

Cell-free networking, massive MIMO or large intelligent surfaces

5.

Capability to drastically reduce energy consumption and to control EMF exposure levels

6.

Innovative AI/ML based architectures to control adaptive L1/L2 functions with optimised feedback control and operations

7.

New application domains

WP1

Name: Project Management

Lead Beneficiary: CEA-Leti

Start month: 01

End Month: 36

Number of deliverables: 5

WP2

Name: Distributed ISAC uses cases, metrics, and architecture

Lead Beneficiary: Orange

Start month: 01

End Month: 24

Number of deliverables: 4

WP3

Name: Physical-layer implications and enablers of integrated sensing and communications

Lead Beneficiary: Chalmers

Start month: 01

End Month: 36

Number of deliverables: 3

WP4

Name: Resource allocation for ISAC and new distributed and cooperative sensing

Lead Beneficiary: NEC

Start month: 07

End Month: 36

Number of deliverables: 3

WP5

Name: Evaluation through Proof-of-Concepts and Demonstrators

Lead Beneficiary: Bosch

Start month: 13

End Month: 36

Number of deliverables: 4

WP6

Name: Dissemination, exploitation, and standardisation

Lead Beneficiary: NKUA

Start month: 01

End Month: 36

Number of deliverables: 5