6G ISAC Enables Environment Object Reconstruction

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) stands as a pivotal usage scenario for 6G networks, enabling future systems to acquire comprehensive information regarding target objects and environment objects (EOs). While extensive research in both academia and industry has focused on refining the acquisition of target object information—such as drone location and speed—further effort is warranted in the research and standardization of EO sensing, particularly for entities like buildings and robots. In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of 6G sensing for EO reconstruction through both simulation and field trials. For the simulation, we first propose an EO modeling method that discretizes building EOs into scattering points within the 3GPP Urban Grid scenario. Subsequently, we develop an EO reconstruction algorithm comprising steps of back projection imaging, filtering, and clustering. Simulation results confirm robust EO reconstruction, achieving an error of around 1 m at 90% of scattering points. For the field trial, we construct a prototype system for an indoor EO reconstruction scenario, focusing on daily objects and robotic arms as EOs. We adapted the reconstruction methodology developed in the simulation to overcome practical challenges, including computational complexity and object shape detection. We validate the range and angle accuracy of EO reconstruction with respect to the camera imagery. Furthermore, to demonstrate the utility of EO reconstruction for downstream applications, we develop a posture recognition system for human–robot interaction, which achieves a recognition accuracy of 95% across 400 tests. We also discuss the potential utilization of the EO reconstruction results. This work offers preliminary evidence of the feasibility of EO reconstruction, serving as a valuable reference for future investigations.