Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) use case for CATS
draft-bernardos-cats-isac-uc-00
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| Document | Type | Active Internet-Draft (individual) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Carlos J. Bernardos , Alain Mourad | ||
| Last updated | 2025-02-27 | ||
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draft-bernardos-cats-isac-uc-00
CATS WG CJ. Bernardos
Internet-Draft UC3M
Intended status: Standards Track A. Mourad
Expires: 31 August 2025 InterDigital
27 February 2025
Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) use case for CATS
draft-bernardos-cats-isac-uc-00
Abstract
Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) represents a paradigm
shift in wireless networks, where sensing and communication functions
are jointly designed and optimized. By leveraging the same spectral
and hardware resources, ISAC enables advanced capabilities such as
environment perception, object tracking, and situational awareness,
while maintaining efficient and reliable data transmission. This
integration holds great potential for applications in areas such as
autonomous systems, smart cities, and industrial automation, where
precise sensing and low-latency communication are critical.
This document presents a use case related to ISAC, aiming to
facilitate discussions within the CATS Working Group on the potential
challenges, and requirements. The aim for this document is to
facilitate discussion in the CATS WG for potential consideration of
the use case.
Status of This Memo
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 31 August 2025.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Computing Aware distributed sensing for Integrated Sensing and
Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. Use case description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Relation to CATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3. Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4. Additional remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. Introduction
Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) is emerging as a key
enabler for next-generation wireless networks, integrating sensing
and communication functionalities within a unified system. By
leveraging the same spectral, hardware, and computational resources,
ISAC enhances network efficiency while enabling new capabilities such
as high-resolution environment perception, object detection, and
situational awareness. This paradigm shift is particularly relevant
for applications requiring both reliable connectivity and precise
sensing, such as autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, and
smart city deployments. Given its strategic importance, ISAC has
gained significant traction in standardization efforts. The ETSI
Industry Specification Group (ISG) on ISAC has been established to
explore technical requirements and use cases, while 3GPP has
initiated discussions on ISAC-related features within its ongoing
research on future 6G systems. Furthermore, research initiatives
within the IEEE and IETF are investigating how ISAC can be integrated
into network architectures, spectrum management, and protocol design,
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making it a critical area of development in the evolution of wireless
networks.
This document presents a use case related to ISAC, aiming to
facilitate discussions within the CATS Working Group on
thechallenges, and requirements. The aim for this document is to
facilitate discussion in the CATS WG for potential consideration of
the use case in [I-D.ietf-cats-usecases-requirements].
2. Computing Aware distributed sensing for Integrated Sensing and
Communications
2.1. Use case description
Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) enables wireless
networks to perform simultaneous data transmission and environmental
sensing. In a distributed sensing scenario, multiple network nodes
--such as base stations, access points, or edge devices-- collect raw
sensing data from the environment. This data can include radio
frequency (RF) reflections, Doppler shifts, channel state information
(CSI), or other physical-layer features that provide insights into
object movement, material composition, or environmental conditions.
To extract meaningful information, the collected raw data must be
aggregated and processed by a designated computing node with
sufficient computational resources. This requires efficient
coordination between sensing nodes and computing resources to ensure
timely and accurate analysis, making it a relevant use case for
Computing-Aware Traffic Steering (CATS) in IETF.
This use case aligns with ongoing efforts in standardization bodies
such as the ETSI ISAC Industry Specification Group (ISG),
particularly Work Item #5 (WI#5), titled 'Integration of Computing
with ISAC'. WI#5 focuses on exploring different forms of computing
integration within ISAC systems, including sensing combined with
computing, communications combined with computing, and the holistic
integration of ISAC with computing. The considerations outlined in
this document complement ETSI's work by examining how computing-aware
networking solutions, as developed within CATS, can optimize the
processing and routing of ISAC sensing data.
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As an example, we can consider a network domain with multiple sites
capable of hosting the ISAC computing "service", each with
potentially different connectivity and computing characteristics.
Figure 1 shows an exemplary scenario. Considering the connectivity
and computing latencies (just as an example of metrics), the best
service site is #n-1 in the example used in the Figure. Note that in
the figure we stilluse the old terminology in which by ICR we mean
Ingress CATS-Forwarder [I-D.ietf-cats-framework], and by ECR we mean
Egress CATS-Forwarder.
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________________
( ---------- )
( | | )
( ---------- | )
________________ ( | | | ) _______________
( ---------- ) ( ---------- | | ) ( ---------- )
( | | ) ( |service | |- ) ( | | )
( ---------- | ) ( |contact | | ) ( ---------- | )
( | | | ) ( |instance|-- ) ( | | | )
( ---------- | | ) ( ---------- ) ( ---------- | | )
( |service | |- ) ( Serv. site #N-1 ) ( |service | |- )
( |contact | | ) -------+---------- ( |contact | | )
( |instance|-- ) Computing \ ( |instance|-- )
( ---------- ) delay:4ms \ ( ---------- )
( Serv. site #1 ) --------+-- ( Serv. site #N )
-------+-------- ----| ECR#N-1 |---- ---------+-----
\ Computing -- ----------- -- Computing /
\ delay:10ms Networking delay:5ms /
---+----- delay:7ms ------+--
( | ECR#1 | // | ECR#N | )
( --------- // --------- )
( Networking // Networking )
( delay:5ms // delay:15ms )
( // )
( // )
( // )
( // )
( // )
( --------- --------- )
-------| ICR#1 |---------------------| ICR#2 |--------
--------- __ ---------
(·) (·) / ( ) (·)
(·) ------- - ( ) (·)
(·) | UE2 | / (__) \ (·)
(·) ------- / - -------
(·) / (sensing \ | UE3 |
------- --------- -------
| UE1 | /
-------
Figure 1: Exemplary scenario
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2.2. Relation to CATS
In the distributed sensing use case, the sensed data collected by
multiple nodes must be efficiently routed to a computing node capable
of processing it. The choice of the computing node depends on
several factors, including computational load, network congestion,
and latency constraints. CATS mechanisms can optimize the selection
of the processing node by dynamically steering the traffic based on
computing resource availability and network conditions.
Additionally, as sensing data is often time-sensitive, CATS can
ensure low-latency paths while balancing computational demands across
different processing entities. This capability is essential for
real-time applications such as cooperative perception for autonomous
systems, industrial monitoring, and smart city infrastructure.
2.3. Requirements
Several challenges need to be addressed for efficient distributed
sensing in ISAC-enabled networks:
* Traffic Steering and Resource Allocation: Ensuring that sensing
data is directed to the most suitable computing node while
considering both network conditions and processing availability.
* Latency Sensitivity: Many ISAC applications require near-real-time
processing, necessitating low-latency and high-reliability data
forwarding strategies.
* Data Synchronization: Sensing nodes may have different
perspectives on the environment, requiring synchronization and
fusion of data streams before processing.
* Scalability: As the number of participating sensing nodes
increases, mechanisms must efficiently distribute and balance the
computational workload.
* Security and Privacy: Sensed data may contain sensitive
information, requiring mechanisms for secure transmission and
processing.
2.4. Additional remarks
The integration of ISAC-based distributed sensing into CATS
frameworks may require enhancements in computing-aware routing
protocols, traffic steering algorithms, and signaling mechanisms.
Standardization efforts could focus on defining metrics for
computing-aware path selection, developing mechanisms for real-time
coordination between sensing and computing nodes, and ensuring
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interoperability with existing network architectures. Furthermore,
coordination with ETSI ISAC WI#5 may help align the development of
computing-aware ISAC networking solutions with ongoing
standardization efforts in computing integration, ensuring cross-
industry compatibility and deployment feasibility.
3. IANA Considerations
N/A.
4. Security Considerations
TBD.
5. Acknowledgments
The work of Carlos J. Bernardos in this document has been partially
supported by the Horizon Europe MultiX (Grant Agreement No.
101192521) and Hexa-X-II (Grant Agreement No. 101095759) projects.
6. Informative References
[I-D.ietf-cats-framework]
Li, C., Du, Z., Boucadair, M., Contreras, L. M., and J.
Drake, "A Framework for Computing-Aware Traffic Steering
(CATS)", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
cats-framework-05, 10 February 2025,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-cats-
framework-05>.
[I-D.ietf-cats-usecases-requirements]
Yao, K., Contreras, L. M., Shi, H., Zhang, S., and Q. An,
"Computing-Aware Traffic Steering (CATS) Problem
Statement, Use Cases, and Requirements", Work in Progress,
Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-cats-usecases-requirements-06,
14 February 2025, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
draft-ietf-cats-usecases-requirements-06>.
Authors' Addresses
Carlos J. Bernardos
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Av. Universidad, 30
28911 Leganes, Madrid
Spain
Phone: +34 91624 6236
Email: cjbc@it.uc3m.es
URI: http://www.it.uc3m.es/cjbc/
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Alain Mourad
InterDigital Europe
Email: Alain.Mourad@InterDigital.com
URI: http://www.InterDigital.com/
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