ETSI releases the first Report that outlines a comprehensive analysis of advanced Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) use cases and deployment scenarios, setting the foundation for future 6G systems. This Report, ETSI GR ISC 001, developed by ETSI ISAC ISG, is a major step toward identifying the critical functional and performance requirements necessary to support these cutting-edge use cases.
The document details 18 advanced ISAC use cases ranging from human motion recognition and emergency rescue to autonomous vehicle navigation and industrial robotics. Each use case is explored in terms of deployment scenarios, enabling technologies, sensing modes, and required system capabilities.
ETSI’s analysis introduces three integration levels—tight, intermediate, and loose—as well as six sensing modes, including monostatic and bistatic sensing configurations for both base stations and User Equipment. These definitions form a key part of a proposed framework to standardize sensing capabilities within future 6G networks.
Key highlights from the Report include: Deployment Versatility: Use cases span indoor, outdoor, mixed environments, with varied mobility and sensing targets, including people, vehicles, UAVs, and robots; Frequency Band Utilization: Proposed sensing strategies incorporate 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; Fusion of Data Sources: Both 6G System and non-6G System data fusion are considered critical, with architectural implications for system design and trust management; Security, Privacy, and Sustainability: The document 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 Service Range, ensuring a robust performance evaluation framework for 6G sensing services.
The output of this Report is already being used in further ETSI reports under development, addressing channel modelling, System and RAN architecture, security, privacy, trustworthiness, sustainability, and integration of computing with ISAC.
ETSI GR ISC 001 is a comprehensive analysis that will help shape the technical requirements for next-generation 6G systems.
