When Cell Towers Start to See: How ISAC Is Evolving Mobile Networks

By Sailesh Raju, Director, RAN Systems Engineering, Network Systems, Samsung Electronics America 

Cell towers were built to carry data — voice, video, machine information. The same radio waves carrying this data interact with the physical world. They bounce off cars, scatter from buildings and shift when a drone flies by. Traditionally, these changes were seen as disruptions to be managed. A new technology called Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) reframes them as an opportunity. It poses the question: what if these changes are not seen as distortion, but valuable information?

ISAC uses radio signals to observe the environment. Changes in signal reflections, such as delays, frequencies, strengths, phases and angles, are analyzed to create a detailed picture of the environment. 

Studied in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as part of Release 19 and now in active Release 20 standardization, ISAC has also been named by the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) as a 6G (IMT-2030) usage scenario^[i]: future networks are expected to provide not only connectivity but also spatial awareness of objects, movement, and surroundings^[ii]. This evolution opens the door to significant operator opportunity — looking ahead, some industry experts estimate that the total addressable market for ISAC-enabled services could be as much as USD 60 billion by 2035.^[iii]

The real shift here is in mindset. The wireless channel is no longer just something that transmits data. It is becoming a measurement of the world around us. 

What the Network Will See: Practical Use Cases 

ISAC is more than adding radar-like functionality to a base station. It's realizing the ability to transform telecom infrastructure into a shared awareness layer for cities, low-altitude airspace, factories, and more. The network will not see everything — nor should it — but in the right places, with the right permissions, it can unlock a new level of awareness to benefit operators, businesses, and end users alike.

Smarter cities

Smart cities already use cameras, traffic sensors, environmental sensors, emergency-alert systems, roadside infrastructure, connected vehicles, and public-safety networks to enhance safety, provide traffic insights, and more. ISAC will not replace these systems — it will help fill gaps between them.

A camera may struggle in darkness, fog, rain, or when there is a glare. A flood gauge measures one specific location. A roadside radar covers one segment of the highway. But ISAC adds another layer: radio-based awareness from infrastructure that is already distributed across the city. It plays a complementary role in situations where vision systems are limited — like when objects fall outside camera coverage or when lighting conditions pose challenges for visual sensing.^[iv]

The smart-city value is not “the network sees everything.” The value is that the network contributes another trusted signal to a broader civic sensing platform.

Clearer skies

The low-altitude airspace is getting crowded. Drones are no longer just hobby devices; they are used to inspect cell towers, monitor crops, deliver packages, support emergency responders, film events, and patrol infrastructure. But a drone near an airport, stadium, bridge, utility site, or emergency scene can quickly become a safety issue.

Here, ISAC has a natural role. A network can now detect drones, distinguish them from birds or clutter, classify the type of drone, count how many are in a given area, and expose that result to authorized airspace systems. By reporting these findings, the appropriate personnel will have improved information and visibility to better inform their decision-making. 

More intelligent factories

The first commercial deployments of ISAC may come inside factories, ports and private campuses, where the customer owns the environment and the outcome is most measurable. A manufacturing robot needs more than connectivity; it needs awareness. Is a worker nearby? Is another robot crossing its path? Pairing connectivity with sensing will allow businesses and enterprises to reach new levels of safety and efficiency. 

Infrastructure resilience and beyond

The same layer matters when infrastructure systems are compromised: after a flood, ISAC can help identify which roads are blocked; before a failure, it may detect a bridge shifting through displacement trends. ISAC will not replace weather radar, flood gauges, or civil engineers, but it adds situational awareness where cameras fail or reports arrive late — logic that extends to smarter cities and ports. 

Navigating Challenges with the Right Partner

While the potential is great, implementing ISAC does come with some challenges. Selecting the right partner can help operators address these effectively and unlock the technology's full potential.

• Trust and Privacy: A network that senses people and movements must prioritize privacy. The right partner will ensure strict authorization, data minimization, retention limits, and clear boundaries between safety sensing and surveillance. 
• Maturity: Standards are still evolving, and practical implementations require further development. A partner with demonstrated technical capabilities can accelerate deployment and ensure reliability. A partner that has completed real operator collaboration, like Samsung’s recent trial with a Tier 1 U.S. operator, will bring ample experience to the table, and will be versed in where the technology is today and where it still has yet to grow.
• Governance: Clear policies are needed to balance safety benefits with legitimate concerns about surveillance. The right model authorized: purpose-limited sensing — not a network that sees everything, but one that sees the right things — at the right time, with the right permissions, known limits, and measurable accuracy.

Choosing a partner with strong standards participation, scalable platform approaches and proven operator partnerships is crucial. Samsung has each of these. It actively contributes to 3GPP standards, it has established leadership in vRAN and it collaborates with major operators. These achievements position it as a trusted ally in overcoming potential challenges and delivering ISAC's transformative benefits.

The Network That Sees

ISAC is a new way of thinking about telecom infrastructure. For decades, operators optimized the wireless channel so that the world would interfere as little as possible with communication. In the ISAC era, the world’s interference becomes part of the signal. A train, a drone, a robot near a worker — all become network-observable events.

Defining this shift takes standardization depth, AI, and real-network validation — not just vision. That is the combination Samsung has been building in public view — contributing to the standards, leading the vRAN platform that ISAC will ride on, and validating sensing with operators. Those who help define the sensing API layer early will be better positioned to capture the platform’s value.

While ISAC is still early, the direction is clear. The wireless channel is becoming more than a path for data. It is becoming a way to measure the world. Operators who understand that shift early will not just run networks that connect; they will run networks that see.