ETSI identifies first 6G sensor use cases
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European standards group has identified 18 ways 6G wireless can be used for next generation sensing applications in its first report.
The 6G use cases range from human motion recognition and emergency rescue to autonomous vehicle navigation and industrial robotics. Each example details the deployment, enabling technologies, sensing modes, and required system capabilities.
The report, ETSI GR ISC 001, developed by ETSI integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) group is a major step toward identifying the critical functional and performance requirements necessary to support these cutting-edge use cases.
ETSI’s analysis introduces three integration levels—tight, intermediate, and loose—as well as six sensing modes and key performance indicators (KPIs).
- Group for 6G sensor technology
- ETSI teams for 6G standards
- Report on reconfigurable intelligent surfaces
Loose integration refers to the case where the two functions are implemented separately with some level of coordination, e.g. on application level, or by combining dedicated sensors and communication hardware on a site. Tight integration refers to a joint waveform or joint signal design that is suitable for both tasks. Intermediate integration may refer to anything in between.
These definitions form a key part of a proposed framework to standardize sensing capabilities within future 6G networks.
“This first report on advanced ISAC use cases and requirements sets the foundations for ISAC’s forthcoming specifications in 6G. I’m delighted that this GR has been released on time for further consideration by specification groups such as 3GPP SA1 in their work toward 6G,” said Alain Mourad, Chair of ISAC ISG at ETSI.
The report is here for the 18 6G use cases.
The use cases span indoor, outdoor, mixed environments, with varied mobility and sensing targets, including people, vehicles, drones and robots. The links cover low (sub-6 GHz), mid (~7–24 GHz), and high (mmWave/THz) frequency bands, often combining them with non-RF sensors such as cameras or environmental detectors.
Both 6G System and non-6G System data fusion are considered critical, with architectural implications for system design and trust management. The report also places a strong emphasis on the need for secure, private, and sustainable ISAC implementations, especially for human-centric use cases.
The ETSI Report also provides functional requirement categories and proposes new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as fine motion accuracy and sensing services to provide a a performance evaluation framework for 6G sensing services.
The report is already being used in further ETSI reports under development looking at channel modelling; System and RAN architecture; security, privacy, trustworthiness and sustainability; and integration of computing with ISAC.
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