The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has outlined the sensing capabilities anticipated in future 6G networks.
An ETSI report on Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) presents 18 advanced use cases that harness the convergence of sensing and communication technologies to create more context-aware, efficient, and responsive systems.
Alain Mourad, Chair of the ISAC Industry Specification Group at ETSI, commented: “This initial report on advanced ISAC use cases and requirements establishes a foundation for ISAC’s forthcoming specifications for 6G. I’m pleased this guidance report has been released in time to inform specification groups such as 3GPP SA1 as they progress toward 6G.”
ISAC represents a major shift: wireless networks will not only carry data but also perceive and interpret their surroundings. By embedding sensing capabilities into communications infrastructure, 6G systems aim to enable applications that extend well beyond current capabilities.
The approach seeks to reuse radio signals, and potentially the same spectrum and hardware, for both communication and sensing. This dual use could deliver technological and societal benefits across healthcare, public safety, transportation, robotics, manufacturing, and smart cities.
Transforming industries with sensing powered by 6G networks
Consider a future where your 6G network actively supports health and safety. The report explores healthcare scenarios such as outdoor health monitoring, where base stations could detect vital signs like heart rate and respiration in public spaces and alert emergency services to incidents such as falls or sudden medical events.
Another example involves remotely operated companion robots for elder care that act as remote avatars for family members, providing interaction, monitoring, and assistance through advanced sensing. Emergency search-and-rescue operations could also benefit: mobile devices and networked sensors using ISAC could detect faint micro-movements from breathing or a heartbeat to find people trapped under rubble or snow.
The transportation sector stands to gain significantly from 6G-enabled sensing.
The report details vision-aided smart traffic management, which combines RF sensing from ISAC with camera data to produce richer insights into traffic density, vehicle types, and pedestrian movement. By augmenting or replacing traditional sensors like inductive loops, ISAC could improve throughput and safety at intersections through smarter traffic signal coordination.
For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), ISAC is proposed as a resilient secondary system that independently verifies UAV positions, reducing reliance on potentially vulnerable GNSS signals and improving safety for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLoS) operations.
In industrial settings, ISAC promises greater automation and precision.
Collaborative robots working with digital twins can rely on 6G sensing for precise environmental mapping and coordinated task execution. Use cases such as precise localization for robotic grasping aim to enable robots to identify and manipulate objects with extremely high accuracy, which is essential for manufacturing and construction tasks.
Real-time cyber-physical systems (R-CPS) in hazardous environments could let skilled operators remotely control robots to perform delicate operations, leveraging fused sensor data and ultra-reliable, low-latency communications.
Requirements and challenges
To realize these futures, the ETSI report compiles candidate requirements and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that 6G systems will need to meet.
These include stringent demands for positioning accuracy—down to millimetre-level for some applications—velocity estimation, sensing resolution, ultra-low latency (potentially sub-millisecond for some real-time control tasks), high reliability, and strict bounds on missed-detection and false-alarm probabilities. New KPIs such as “Fine Motion Accuracy” are proposed to capture the ability to detect subtle movements like vibrations or breathing.
The report evaluates multiple deployment scenarios—from indoor offices and factories to outdoor urban canyons and highways—considering varying mobility and coverage conditions, including out-of-coverage operation for scenarios like emergency rescue. It also examines the suitability of different frequency ranges (Sub-6 GHz, 7–24 GHz, and above 24 GHz), noting that higher frequencies typically provide better resolution but suffer greater path loss, which often favors multi-band approaches.
Six distinct sensing modes are described—variants of monostatic and bistatic operation involving transmission and reception points such as base stations (TRPs) and user equipment (UEs)—and the report recommends supporting all modes to maximize flexibility and performance. It also discusses varying integration levels, from loose coordination to tightly integrated joint waveform designs, acknowledging that the optimal approach will depend on the use case and trade-offs.
Nevertheless, major challenges remain. Achieving fine-scale motion detection, guaranteeing the extreme low latency and tight synchronization required for real-time cyber-physical systems and human-robot interaction, and maintaining robust performance in complex propagation environments will require continued innovation.
Progress depends on effective data fusion from multiple sources (including non-6G sensors such as cameras and LiDAR), distributed sensing strategies, and the application of AI and machine learning for signal processing and decision-making.
Recommendations for the path forward
The report closes with several recommendations. It calls for further ISAC channel modelling work—covering radar cross section (RCS), micro-Doppler signatures, and near-field effects—along with targeted measurements and evaluation methodologies to verify feasibility. Designing system and Radio Access Network (RAN) architectures that support diverse deployment scenarios, sensing modes, and integration levels is essential.
The report places particular emphasis on security, privacy, trustworthiness, and sustainability. With nine of the eighteen use cases focused primarily on sensing humans and six more involving sensing in human environments, the report stresses the importance of addressing these aspects.
Ensuring informed user consent, employing data anonymization where appropriate, protecting against unauthorized access, and building systems that earn public trust are vital for societal acceptance and regulatory compliance.
ETSI’s foundational work on ISAC use cases lays out a practical roadmap that highlights both the transformative potential of sensing integrated into 6G and the technical, regulatory, and ethical steps needed to make that vision a reality.
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