Each new generation of mobile technology has promised faster speeds and lower latency. As early work on 6G infrastructure begins, the telecom conversation is changing away from pure connectivity gains. Instead, attention is turning to whether future network infrastructure can support entirely new classes of workloads – including sensing abilities built directly into the radio layer.
One of the clearest candidates is integrated sensing and communications, often shortened to ISAC. Rather than treating a network purely as a data transport system, ISAC proposes that radio infrastructure can also act as a sensing layer, detecting movement, location, and environmental changes using the same signals already travelling in the network.
That may sound abstract, but the practical implications are increasingly concrete. If networks can simultaneously transmit data and sense their surroundings, operators gain a new ability: infrastructure that behaves less like a passive pipe and more like a distributed sensor grid.
From connectivity platform to environmental awareness
Traditional mobile networks are designed to deliver reliable communication between devices. ISAC expands that role. By analysing signal reflections and propagation patterns, base stations can infer information about objects, movement, and spatial positioning without requiring dedicated sensor hardware in every location.
This reframes network infrastructure as a shared platform that supports both communication services and situational awareness. Warehouses could monitor asset movement without installing dense sensor arrays. Transport hubs could improve crowd flow analysis. Industrial sites might gain a passive layer of monitoring that complements existing operational technology.
What makes ISAC is not just the technical ambition, but the economic logic. Operators have spent decades building dense radio infrastructure. If that infrastructure can be extended to sensing functions through software, signal processing, and upgraded radios, it introduces a new service layer without requiring entirely separate physical deployments.
The changes how network investment could be justified. Instead of measuring returns purely in subscriber growth or data consumption, sensing-enabled networks open the possibility of enterprise analytics services, safety monitoring, and location intelligence; all delivered through infrastructure that enterprises already depend on.
Enterprise demand shapes early 6G infrastructure use
Much of the early discussion around 6G centres on futuristic applications like immersive communications or advanced AI integration. ISAC, by contrast, aligns with operational needs that enterprises already recognise.
Manufacturing plants, logistics centres, smart facilities, and critical infrastructure environments all rely on visibility into physical movement and environmental conditions. Today, achieving that visibility often means layering cameras, sensors, and specialised monitoring systems in a site.
An ISAC-capable network could reduce that complexity by embedding sensing into the communication fabric itself. While it would not replace every specialised sensor, it could provide a baseline layer of awareness that scales with network coverage.
A single infrastructure platform handling connectivity and sensing simplifies deployment models, governance, and data flows. Operators, in turn, gain a clearer pathway to monetising advanced network abilities beyond connectivity pricing alone.
Technical and regulatory hurdles remain
None of this suggests ISAC is deployment-ready. Turning radio signals into reliable sensing tools requires advances in signal processing, hardware precision, and interference management. Standardisation work is still early, and questions remain about spectrum use, privacy frameworks, and data ownership.
There is also the challenge of translating laboratory demonstrations into repeatable field performance. Sensing accuracy must be predictable in dense urban environments, industrial settings, and mixed-use spaces where signal conditions vary widely.
Yet these challenges are not unusual for a technology positioned at the start of a generational shift. The telecom industry has repeatedly demonstrated that abilities once considered experimental, from beamforming to network slicing, can mature into commercial tools when standards, silicon, and operational models align.
Rethinking the value of 6G infrastructure
What makes ISAC is the way it reframes expectations for 6G, especially in its infrastructure. Instead of presenting the next generation as a speed upgrade, it positions future networks as multi-function infrastructure that merges communication with environmental intelligence.
This could represent one of the first business cases where 6G abilities map directly onto enterprise workflows. For enterprises, it signals that future networks may act as embedded sensing layers, supporting automation, safety, and analytics in ways current infrastructure cannot.
Whether ISAC becomes the defining workload of early 6G deployments remains uncertain. But its direction is clear: the next phase of telecom evolution is less about moving bits faster and more about making networks context-aware participants in the environments they serve.
(Photo by Josh Withers)
See also: Samsung: Turning legacy infrastructure into AI-ready networks
Want to learn about the IoT from industry leaders? Check out IoT Tech Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is part of TechEx and is co-located with other leading technology events including AI & Big Data Expo and the Cyber Security Expo. Click here for more information.
Telecoms is powered by TechForge Media. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars here.
