Is 6G spying on us?

[Mendel]

Source: https://imgur.com/gallery/M2PaZFo

Spoiler: Click here if the imgur image does not load

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon says the next network, 6G, is built on three things: connectivity, computing and sensing. Sensing means the radio signal itself works like radar, detecting objects and movement all around it — and the companies running it could stitch millions of connections into a 3D map of a neighborhood, a city, eventually a country.

That is a different kind of watching. There is no lens on your porch to cover, no camera to unplug. The signal passing over your street is the sensor. Amon has promised 6G will turn us into walking cameras through smart glasses — but the radar works whether you wear anything at all.

None of this is live today. Qualcomm aims at demonstrations in 2028 and first networks around 2029 — so every rule about consent and off switches is still unwritten.

• I haven't found the original quote yet.
• I'm not sure if there's a misunderstanding.

I did find these:
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/onq/2025/09/empowering-ai-user-experiences-with-6g

It's unclear to me whether they're planning to aggregate device sensor data, or whether they're planning to use radio signal reflection and propagation to let the antenna itself act as a sensor.

 

[sandergrauze]

You can already be tracked based on which cell towers your phone is connected to. I'm not sure this would be any different.

 

[Smythe Bacchus]

It's unclear to me whether they're planning to aggregate device sensor data, or whether they're planning to use radio signal reflection and propagation to let the antenna itself act as a sensor.

@Mendel thanks for this. This article quotes Cristiano Amon, "A new capability of the (6G) network, in addition to connectivity, is actually to sense the environment".

Article:

Connectivity, computing, sensing – Qualcomm CEO outlines 6G pillars

2026-03-06, Juan Pedro Tomás, RCR Wireless News

Three 6G pillars – Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said connectivity, distributed computing, and sensing will form the foundation of 6G networks and support AI-driven services and devices.

At Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, Cristiano Amon outlined a vision for future 6G networks built around three core building blocks: connectivity, computing, and sensing. Together, he said, these elements will support a new generation of AI-driven services, devices and digital experiences.

"The requirements for 6G are actually going to be built around three building blocks," Amon said in his keynote speech at MWC 2026. "One is connectivity. The other one is going to be the computing. And then the number three, which is completely new, is sensing."
...
The third pillar — sensing — represents a new capability for wireless networks. "That's a brand new feature of 6G," Amon said. Using radio frequency signals and AI processing, future networks could detect objects and movement across their coverage areas, effectively turning the network into a large-scale sensing system.

"A new capability of the network, in addition to connectivity, is actually to sense the environment," Amon said. This capability could enable services such as drone detection, monitoring of moving objects, and real-time environmental mapping. "You're going to have a 3D map of the entire city, You're going to have a 3D map of the entire country," he said.

Such capabilities could support emerging sectors including drone traffic management, robotics, and autonomous systems. According to the company's timeline, demonstrations of key technologies could appear within the next few years. "Our timeline is based on demonstration in 2028," the Qualcomm CEO said.

"We are going to have infrastructure in semiconductor and devices toward the end of 2028 for launching as early as 2029."

Source: https://rcrwireless.com/20260306/6g/qualcomm-ceo-6g

New 6G technology is planned to include Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC), aka Joint Sensing and Communication (JSAC), aka Joint Radar Communication (JRC), also informally dubbed as sixth-sense.

Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) — also called Joint Radar-Communication (JRC) — uses a single transmitted waveform to simultaneously deliver data to users and sense the physical environment (detect objects, measure range, estimate velocity). This dual-function approach eliminates the need for separate radar hardware, reduces spectrum usage, and enables new applications that neither system could achieve alone.

Aside: ISAC has been standardized for Wi-Fi under IEEE 802.11bf WLAN Sensing.

For communications, the objective is to avoid interference and maximise security through pseudorandom signals which also by definition carry unpredictable data. For sensing, the objective is to use a predictable signal so it as easy as possible to detect and characterise subtle reflections.

The full potential of ISAC is a computational challenge, due to the multitude of nodes that must sense reflected signals from other nodes and the sheer volume of data. Accurate time synchronisation between nodes is critical for ranging. To maintain a real-time 3D model of the changing physical environment, distributed processing with machine learning will be required on a massive scale.

Introduction to Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC)

2026-02-02, Emil Björnson, Professor of Wireless Communication, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

The lecture introduces the basic principles of ISAC, highlights similarities and differences between radar and communication systems, and discusses how and why sensing capabilities should be integrated into future cellular networks, including 6G.

(lecture slides also attached to this post)

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lNV28z7wIQ&t=1409s

ISAC is about leveraging wireless infrastructure for communication and physical sensing applications. The telecommunications providers intend to unlock a new revenue stream through selling access to new physical sensing and detection APIs to third parties.

Ericsson lists several possible applications, including UAVs and airspace safety, transport and automotive safety, industry and logistics, and consumer applications, like immersive experiences including augmented reality. They also acknowledge privacy concerns.

Privacy and regulation

Privacy and responsible use are central considerations for sensing. While ISAC focuses on observing the physical environment rather than communication content, events in the environment can of course be sensitive information. This is very dependent on the use cases, however, both due to the motivation behind the use case and what potential things can be seen in the targeted sensing area.

If it can monitor UAVs, then maybe it can also search for UAPs?

ISAC is an example of how technologies evolve separately to solve specific problems, until someone realises they can be integrated together to provide new saleable functionalities.

Once again, legal regulations may not be able to keep up, and one can only imagine how this technology could both enrich our lives and also be misused.

Wearing a tinfoil hat will only make you more detectable.

 

[Mendel]

New 6G technology is planned to include Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC), aka Joint Sensing and Communication (JSAC), aka Joint Radar Communication (JRC), also informally dubbed as sixth-sense.

Thank you, that's a helpful source.

https://www.5g6gacademy.com/learn/6g-isac-sensing

Real-World Research and Demonstrations

Qualcomm — Wi-Fi Sensing

While not cellular ISAC, Qualcomm's Wi-Fi Sensing technology (based on IEEE 802.11bf) demonstrates the ISAC principle at scale. Deployed in commercial Wi-Fi 7 chipsets, the system uses standard OFDM channel sounding to detect:

• Presence detection: >95% accuracy at <10 m range
• Room-level localization: <1.5 m accuracy using multiple APs
• Gesture recognition: 6 gestures classified with >90% accuracy at <3 m

The channel estimation data (CSI) is processed by on-chip ML models. Qualcomm has proposed extending this approach to NR for 3GPP ISAC, leveraging similar CSI-based sensing algorithms.

Nokia — Radar-Communications Prototype

Nokia Bell Labs demonstrated a 28 GHz ISAC prototype at Mobile World Congress 2024, using a standard NR FR2 waveform (400 MHz BW, 120 kHz SCS) for simultaneous data and radar:

• Data throughput: 1.5 Gbps DL to a connected UE
• Radar detection: vehicles detected at 200 m range with 0.4 m range accuracy
• Velocity measurement: ±1 m/s accuracy for targets at 50 km/h
• Angular resolution: 2° using a 256-element phased array

The prototype operated in bistatic mode, with separate Tx and Rx antenna panels on the same gNB. Nokia's roadmap targets commercial ISAC capability integrated into AirScale base stations by 2028.

Ericsson — ISAC for Smart Factories

Ericsson Research partnered with a European automotive manufacturer to trial ISAC in a factory environment using a 3.5 GHz (n78) private 5G network. The system detected:

• Forklift positions with <1 m accuracy using 100 MHz bandwidth
• Human presence in restricted zones (safety geofencing) with 99.7% detection rate
• Collision prediction between AGVs with <200 ms warning latency

The trial used existing NR DL signals (SSB and CSI-RS) for bistatic sensing, requiring no hardware modifications to the standard Ericsson RAN equipment. Signal processing was performed at the edge server using Ericsson's proprietary ISAC algorithms.

It looks to me that the actual capabilities will depend on the density of separate antenna locations, and on how certain challenges will be adressed. Not least, someone will have to be willing to pay for this.

For comparison, Air Canada Express Flight 8646 collided with a fire truck at La Guardia airport back in March. The airport employs an actual radar system to track movements on the airport ground (called ADSE-X), but it wasn't able to resolve the group of airport vehicles into separate signals and so remained unaware that one of the trucks had not stopped and was heading for the runway.

If this 6G sensing technology actually works reliably, I'd expect it to be demonstrated and installed at airports, because ASDE-X is expensive, and so are aircraft accidents (even "simple" wingtip strikes while taxiing).