Special Session 2: “ISAC – Integrated Sensing and Communications Towards 6G”
Date, hour and room to be defined
Session chair:
- Xavier Costa Pérez (i2cat, )
Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) has matured from a theoretical concept to a cornerstone of the 6G ecosystem. As we approach 2026, the focus of the community is shifting from fundamental waveform design to three critical implementation frontiers: distributed/networked sensing, the intersection with semantic communications, and the formalization of standardization frameworks.
Building on the success of the 2025 edition, this updated Special Session gathers leading European projects (INSTINCT, MultiX, 6G-DISAC, and the newly added 6G-GOALS) to address these evolving challenges. Crucially, this session will bridge the gap between academic research and industrial standardization. We are honored to feature Alain Mourad, Chair of the ETSI ISG on ISAC, who will provide the definitive roadmap on how these research outputs are converging into the ETSI framework and influencing 3GPP Release 20.
List of Contributors:
- ETSI ISG ISAC: Represented by the ISG Chair (Alain Mourad)
- MultiX: Focusing on multi-band, multi-static perception fusion in the RAN
- 6G-DISAC: Focusing on distributed intelligent sensing and RIS integration
- 6G-GOALS: Focusing on semantic, goal-oriented communications and AI-enhanced ISAC
- INSTINCT: Focusing on immersive/interactive connectivity and joint sensing implementations
(Open Call: The session welcomes additional contributions from emerging ISAC initiatives.)
Programme
- Welcome and Introduction
Special Seccion Chair: Xavier Costa Pérez (i2cat, NEC, ICREA)
Setting the scene: The evolution of ISAC from “Definition” (2025) to “Integration & Standardization” (2026). - MultiX Project Presentation
Speaker: Antonio de la Oliva (University Carlos III of Madrid) – Project Coordinator
Title: The MultiX Perceptive RAN: Architectural Fusion of Multi-Static and Multi-Band Sensing
Deep dive into the “MultiX fusion Perceptive 6G-RAN system” (MP6R). Focusing on the practical challenges of fusing radar, LiDAR, and communication signals in a unified RAN architecture. - 6G-DISAC Project Presentation
Speaker: Henk Wymeersch (Chalmers University) – Technical Manager
Title: Distributed Sensing at Scale: RIS and Network-Wide Coordination
Focusing on the distributed architecture required to track targets across large areas. Discussion on how Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) are evolving from passive reflectors to active sensing nodes in a distributed 6G network. - 6G-GOALS Project Presentation
Speaker: Vincenzo Sciancalepore (NEC Laboratories Europe) – Innovation Manager
Title: Semantic and Goal-Oriented Paradigms for Efficient ISAC
It will explore how semantic communications can be applied to ISAC—for instance, by only transmitting “semantically relevant” sensing updates (goal-oriented) rather than raw sensing data, drastically reducing the overhead in distributed sensing networks. - INSTINCT Project Presentation
Speaker: Angeliki Alexiou (University of Piraeus) – Technical Manager
Title: Beyond Communications: Demonstrating Interactive and Immersive ISAC
Moving from the “vision” presented in 2025 to discussing the “three visionary pillars” (sense-to-communicate, etc.) with a focus on recent demonstrators and hardware proofs-of-concept for interactive 6G applications towards the end of the project. - ETSI ISAC ISG
Speaker: Alain Mourad (Interdigital) – ETSI ISAC ISG Chair
Title: ETSI ISG ISAC: Frameworks, Architectures, and the Path to 3GPP Rel-20
A high-level view of the current status of the ETSI Industry Specification Group (ISG) on ISAC. Alain will discuss the defined use cases, channel models, and architecture frameworks, providing a “reality check” for researchers on what is required for industrial adoption.
Keywords: 6G, Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC), Distributed Sensing, Semantic Communications, Multi-static Sensing, RIS, Standardization.
