Joint Communication and Sensing in 6G Networks

Projektinformationen

6thSense

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101119652

DOI

10.3030/101119652

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 21 Juni 2023

Startdatum 1 Februar 2024

Enddatum 31 Januar 2028

Finanziert unter

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Gesamtkosten

Keine Daten

EU-Beitrag

€ 2 635 429,20

Koordiniert durch

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - 6thSense (Joint Communication and Sensing in 6G Networks)

Berichtszeitraum: 2024-02-01 bis 2026-01-31

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

6thSense follows a holistic approach to address these challenges by: (WP1) Going beyond traditional sub-6GHz systems and enabling sensing in new B5G/6G communication bands, i.e. millimetre-wave and visible light; (WP2) Addressing distributed sensing and networking challenges through architecture and protocol design; (WP3) Handling the analytical complexity of JCAS by combining the strengths of classical signal processing and optimisation models with advanced machine learning techniques; (WP4) Transferring these research contributions to industry-relevant applications in healthcare, manufacturing, and automotive sectors. 6thSense is an intersectoral and interdisciplinary cluster of excellence formed by electrical engineers and computer scientists that has pooled leading members of large EU initiatives (5G PPP), industry leaders (e.g. Nokia, Ford, Bosch), and academic institutions (e.g. KUL, TUDelft, Princeton, UCLA). Benefitting from this consortium, a comprehensive soft-skill training (WP5) and a tailored dissemination and exploitation strategy (WP6), the 10 PhD fellows will become highly employable in various industries, academia, or public government bodies.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

During the first reporting period, the project has achieved technical and scientific progress across the research and technical work packages, despite minor initial delays in recruitment. Significant advances were made in methodological foundations for joint communication and sensing (JCAS) at mmWave and visible-light frequencies. Novel signal models, simulation tools, and prototype platforms were developed, enabling progress in low-power sensing, physical-layer security, and VLC-based localization. Results include the design of a neuromorphic architecture for energy-efficient sensing, the experimental validation of a new physical-layer key generation framework for sparse mmWave channels, and the realization of a complete VLC-based navigation platform for micro-drones with successful indoor and outdoor trials. These activities established the technical basis for the next phase, which will focus on integration, multimodal fusion, and preparation of final demonstrators. The project advanced the integration, security, and analytics aspects of JCAS in realistic wireless networks. Research addressed backscatter-enabled sensing, privacy- and security-aware JCAS, distributed and non-coherent cooperative sensing, and efficient signal processing under hardware and propagation constraints. Experimental and simulation results include validated models for backscatter Doppler sensing, a testbed for privacy and security evaluation, scalable learning-based resource allocation for distributed JCAS, system-level modelling of on-screen antenna arrays, near-field massive-MIMO localization with centimetre-level accuracy on real hardware, and adaptive waveform evaluation for high-mobility scenarios.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

The project has already produced several results that go beyond the current state of the art in joint communication and sensing (JCAS), particularly in the context of future 6G systems where communication, sensing, security, and analytics must be jointly designed under realistic hardware, energy, and propagation constraints. Novel architectures for low-power sensing, entropy generation in sparse mmWave channels, and visible-light-based localisation demonstrate new design directions that depart from conventional communication-centric approaches. The neuromorphic sensing concept enables continuous environment awareness with very low energy consumption, the proposed physical-layer key generation framework introduces controlled randomness for secure operation even in static channels, and the VLC navigation platform shows that accurate localisation can be achieved with minimal infrastructure. In parallel, new system-level models, learning-based optimisation frameworks, and near-field massive-MIMO processing algorithms provide improved accuracy, robustness, and scalability compared to existing approaches, and have been validated through simulations and experiments on real hardware platforms.
These results have a strong potential impact on future wireless networks, autonomous systems, IoT sensing, and privacy-aware services, as they demonstrate that JCAS can be implemented efficiently on practical devices while meeting performance, energy, and security requirements. Continued collaboration with industrial partners which itakes place at 6thSense events, is essential to support technology transfer and dentify commercially relevant use cases.