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On a balcony not far from World Cup At AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, a dot suddenly appeared on a large screen, representing an unwelcome drone heading toward a rectangular no-fly zone. Within a few seconds, a “friendly” drone flew near the balcony to intercept the unwelcome aircraft and encourage it to return.
However, the drone was not identified using standard methods such as radar. Instead, its flight path was tracked by 5G cellular radios just like the ones you see on towers and buildings.
This proof-of-concept demonstration was presented by AT&T and Ericsson to showcase their integrated sensing and communications technology, timed to coincide with one of the world’s largest sporting events. Drones were the focus of the day, but the same technology could be applied to track other subjects such as vehicles or people within range of a 5G network.
Ericsson representatives Christine Kuhn and Rahul Patel demonstrated ISAC, a tracking technology to identify objects such as drones using 5G signals.
Although it was a small-scale demonstration, it comes amid a growing proliferation of drones operating in areas where they are not supposed to fly. according to ReutersThe FBI said US agencies seized more than 700 drones during the World Cup, some flown by operators who did not realize they were in no-fly zones that were extended for the matches.
But as we’ve seen in Ukraine and Russia, small drones can be very elusive and destructive — a nightmare scenario for planners of events like the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles or even small public gatherings.
Real time data from three towers
In this demonstration, the companies created a “multi-static sensing configuration” using three cell towers, each containing the same type of Ericsson Massive MIMO, or multiple-input, multiple-output radios located at other nearby cell sites, enabling sensing capability. They were spaced about 1.6 miles from the experimental area.
In this demo, the tracking software identifies a potentially threatening drone (blue dot) and tracks it before it crosses into a no-fly zone (red).
When the network sensed the rogue object, outside the no-fly zone, the system’s software, using signal processing and artificial intelligence algorithms, classified it as a drone flying at about 11 mph. Had the drone been a real threat, other agencies, such as law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, would have received the same live data to determine what action to take.
Although only two drones were tracked during the demo, AT&T says the system can track swarms of them.
Why do we use 5G for this type of tracking?
Identifying flying objects is nothing new: radar installations around the world are constantly scanning the skies to track aircraft and detect potential threats. But they tend to scan at high altitudes and require dedicated hardware to operate.
In contrast, the cellular network already has an established footprint of towers and cell sites that provide continuous phone coverage throughout most of the United States. The demonstration is tracked by drones flying at an altitude of about 300 to 400 feet, but the detection range can be up to 6 kilometers.
A pilot controls a “friendly” drone during a demonstration of technology that can track and identify unwanted drones using 5G network signals.
Robert Soni, vice president of radio access network technology at AT&T, pointed to the company’s 75,000 sites across North America.
“This is a large number that is difficult to replicate by building a targeted radar,” Sony said during a press conference after the demo. “We’re also closer to the ground, and because of our angle of elevation, we can descend to a lower altitude than we could with traditional airborne radar. We’re able to see more of the nation.”
Akhil Gokul, vice president and chief technology officer of the Americas at Ericsson, explained that the density of sensor-enabled towers leads to greater accuracy “because you get the reflections (of radio frequency waves) from multiple towers.” “You get a richer set of data that can be fed to our models.”
This approach also makes the 5G-based tracking system more flexible, with no single point of failure; Cellular networks already have the ability to automatically compensate when a tower goes offline for maintenance or during severe weather events.
Demonstrating new uses for existing hardware is also a big part of the appeal of something like ISAC, because adding components to towers is expensive and time-consuming.
“I think the industry is always looking for what wireless can do,” said Yigal Elbaz, senior vice president and chief network technology officer at AT&T. “Like anything else, you always want to drive and see what you can actually do with the infrastructure you have.”
The drone demo used a standard Ericsson Massive MIMO radio like the one shown here mounted on the metal frame.
The push towards 6G technologies today
The sensor technology demonstrated is expected to be part of the final 6G standards, but the AT&T and Ericsson employees I spoke to didn’t want to wait to start testing.
“From a technology point of view, this was seen as a 6G capability, and this is something that is already being developed according to standards,” Gokul said. “What we’re doing in collaboration with AT&T is accelerating that much earlier.”
Disrupting the legacy process changes the timelines for technologies needed in the next two years. Sony doesn’t want to wait until 2030 to start that cycle, which is when 6G could begin rolling out.
“(Previously), standards had to be implemented first, proof of concepts second, experiments later, and then finally seeing the technology in the home,” Sony said. “We’re trying to break that cycle…of the Gs themselves by introducing this early.”
The drone trial in Texas involved just two drones on the outskirts of an empty stadium, but it showed that the technology can track and identify objects in real time using existing 5G devices. Real-world uses, from potential threats to assisting autonomous vehicles, won’t wait for standards to mature, and neither will AT&T and Ericsson.
