Panel on integrated sensing and communications for 6G and beyond – event report

On September 3, 2024, a one6G-endorsed panel “Integrated Sensing and Communications for 6G and Beyond: Key Synergies, Use Cases and New Opportunities” took place at the IEEE PIMRC 2024 in Valencia, Spain.

The recently adopted IMT-2030 framework by ITU-R envisions the sixth-generation networks to provide integrated, intelligent, multi-function, and ubiquitous connectivity for reliable, sustainable, and resilient communications. The major enhanced capability of integrated sensing and communications herald a new era of connectivity by transcending conventional communication networks and infrastructure to shared hardware and spectral resources, energy and spectral efficient co-design, and multiple use cases for 6G, such as simultaneous imaging, mapping and localization, augmented human sense, smart health care, automation and robotics, and public safety, and new opportunities, such as exploring integrated sensing and communications at cmWave (7-15 GHz) through to sub-THz (92-300 GHz) bands and utilizing the principles of electromagnetic signal and information theory for smart radio environment. Furthermore, considering the recent 3GPP Rel. 19, integrated sensing and communications will play a vital role in 6G wireless standards where early study items are focused on communications-assisted sensing and sensing-assisted communications. Additionally, 6G integrated sensing and communications pre-standardization efforts include work items at one6G, 5GAA, 5G-ACIA, and the newly established ETSI ISG on integrated sensing and communications.

The panel was chaired by Aryan Kaushik, University of Sussex, UK, and featured a diverse group of experts with unique background, namely:

• Andreas Mueller, Project Director 6G, Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany
• Ana Garcia Armada, FIEEE, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
• Richard A. Stirling-Gallacher, Huawei Technologies, Germany
• Mohamed-Slim Alouini, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia

who presented a comprehensive overview of the topic, including vision, synergies, timeliness with 6G standardization, trends, challenges, new use cases, and opportunities for integrated sensing and communications implementation with other key 6G enablers, such as AI, cmWave and sub-THz bands, NTN, holographic-MIMO/RIS/stacked IM/metaprism, and immersive communications.

The main takeaway from the event is that while integrated sensing and communications remains one of the most promising new topics in 6G, its full potential but also its shortcomings and potential limitations are yet to be explored. As stated by Andreas Mueller of Robert Bosch who shared some perspectives on the non-technical challenges of integrated sensing and communications, “the non-technical challenges might be harder to overcome in the end than the technical ones. This includes aspects related to ecosystem development, business cases, societal concerns, and regulatory issues.”

About IEEE PIMRC

The Annual IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC) has become one of the two major conferences of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) in the field of wireless communications and networking. Originally founded in 1989 in London as a workshop and developed over the years to become a major international conference attracting the technical community from all regions and continents.