A Breakthrough in 6G Wireless Communication and Sensing for Dynamic Range Optimization
A new study for an up-and-coming 6G feature around Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC), or as some refer to as joint communications and sensing (JCAS or JC&S), and it addresses critical challenges for next-generation wireless networks, particularly those anticipated in 6G. The research paper has been published on 27 January 2025 where Ahmad Bazzi, a research scientist at New York University (NYU) Abu Dhabi and NYU WIRELESS appears as first author and Marwa Chafii, an associate professor at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU WIRELESS is the second author, and the paper is titled “Low Dynamic Range for RIS-aided Bistatic Integrated Sensing and Communication”, published in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Selected Areas on Communications.
ISAC in 6G is anticipated to mark the beginning of a new connectivity era, where communication transcends mere data transfer and incorporates sensing, intelligence, and reconfigurability. The prevailing vision for ISAC frequently neglects key aspects, such as enabling large-scale deployments to track numerous connected User Equipments (UEs) and passive objects across extensive areas and prolonged durations. Furthermore, instead of relying solely on the 6G signal as a sensor, a more holistic approach envisions integrating 6G signals with external sensing modalities—such as LiDAR, cameras, or radar—to enhance situational awareness, improve detection accuracy, and enable a richer semantic understanding of the environment [6]. Such an approach could significantly improve ISAC’s adaptability to diverse applications, including smart cities, industrial automation, and intelligent transportation systems. ISAC offers a transformative approach by combining wireless communication with environmental sensing, enabling a wide range of applications across various domains. In autonomous transportation, ISAC facilitates real-time vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication while simultaneously detecting road conditions, obstacles, and traffic patterns to enhance safety and efficiency. Smart cities can leverage ISAC for infrastructure monitoring, air quality assessment, and crowd density estimation, optimizing urban management. In industrial automation, ISAC enhances machine-to-machine communication and robotic control while enabling precise object tracking without the need for additional sensing hardware. Healthcare applications benefit from ISAC’s ability to enable non-intrusive monitoring of vital signs and movement detection, supporting elderly care and remote diagnostics. Security and surveillance systems can utilize ISAC for intrusion detection and activity tracking, reducing reliance on dedicated sensing devices. Additionally, ISAC enhances extended reality (XR) and metaverse applications by enabling low-latency motion tracking and gesture recognition for immersive experiences. In defense and aerospace, ISAC supports battlefield awareness, target tracking, and secure military operations by integrating sensing and communication into a unified system. By reducing hardware redundancy and improving spectral efficiency, ISAC not only optimizes resource utilization but also paves the way for more intelligent, interconnected, and responsive systems in next-generation networks.
Despite its advantages, integrating reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) into ISAC systems presents interference challenges that can significantly impact system performance. The research identifies a critical issue: the path interference invoked by RIS-assisted communication and sensing tasks. This interference is composed of: Direct Path Interference, which are signals directly reaching the passive radar (PR) from the base station. Further, reflected path interference are signals reflected by the RIS, which can overwhelm the PR with excess power. The paper also shows that uncontrolled interference can degrade the accuracy of radar sensing, making it difficult to detect and track objects effectively.
The paper represents a major step toward realizing interference resilient ISAC systems for next-generation wireless networks. With RIS technology expected to play a pivotal role in smart cities, V2X communication, and industrial automation, optimizing ISAC performance will be essential for having practical systems and revealing the full potential of 6G. Not only JCAS or ISAC can use this apparently, but also distributed sensing and communication (DSAC) which can expand the capabilities of ISAC towards distributed architectures. The paper appears on the IEEE website and is also open source on arXiv.
The full citation of the paper is:
A. Bazzi and M. Chafii, “Low Dynamic Range for RIS-aided Bistatic Integrated Sensing and Communication,” in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, doi: 10.1109/JSAC.2025.3531533.
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