See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/358557377

A Review on 6G Wireless Communication Systems: Localization and Sensing

Conference Paper · July 2021

DOI: 10.1109/ICMEAS52683.2021.9692415

CITATION READS
1 101

6 authors, including:

Jaafaru Sanusi Omotayo Oshiga

Nile University of Nigeria Nile University of Nigeria
11 PUBLICATIONS 51 CITATIONS 40 PUBLICATIONS 73 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Sadiq Thomas Sadiq Idris

Nile University of Nigeria Nile University of Nigeria
77 PUBLICATIONS 155 CITATIONS 9 PUBLICATIONS 56 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Non Destruction Testing on Aircraft Composite Material View project

Capacity of Nakagami-m Fading Channel View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Aminu Muhammad Abba on 12 September 2022.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 A Review on 6G Wireless Communication Systems:
Localization and Sensing
2021 1st International Conference on Multidisciplinary Engineering and Applied Science (ICMEAS) | 978-1-6654-3493-5/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICMEAS52683.2021.9692415

Jaafaru Sanusi Omotayo Oshiga Sadiq Thomas

Dept.of Electrical & Electronics Eng. Dept.of Electrical & Electronics Eng. Dept.of Electrical & Electronics Eng.
Nile University of Nigeria Nile University of Nigeria Nile University of Nigeria
Abuja, Nigeria Abuja, Nigeria Abuja, Nigeria
jafarsanusiliman@nileuniversity.edu.ng ooshiga@nileuniversity.edu.ng sadiqthomas@nileuniversity.edu.ng

Sadiq Idris Steve Adeshina Aminu Muhammad Abba

Dept. of Communications Engineering Dept.of Electrical & Electronics Eng. Dept.of Electrical & Electronics Eng.
University of Bremen Nile University of Nigeria Nile University of Nigeria
Bremen, Germany Abuja, Nigeria Abuja, Nigeria
sadiq.idris30@gmail.com steve.adeshina@nileuniversity.edu.ng aminuabba1055@gmail.com

Abstract—The demand for multimedia data services has
grown up rapidly over the years. Fifth generation (5G) wireless
communication which has been deployed in a lot of countries will
not be able to meet up with users demand based on the estimated
mobile traffic volume of users in the next few years. Therefore,
the sixth generation (6G) communication has been proposed
to address the constraints/limitations of 5G communication.
6G systems will operate in the millimeter wave (mmWave)
and terahertz region which has larger bandwidth and offers
higher data rate than 5G systems. 6G has a lot of opportunities
like high-definition imaging, frequency spectroscopy, accurate
localization and sensing, which is the main focus of this work.
There are a lot of opportunities for sensing at higher frequencies
because of fine resolution in all physical dimensions (range,
Doppler and angle). Moreover, localization and sensing in 6G is
made possible by the key enablers technologies which are: the
use of new radio band for communication, intelligent beam-space
incorporation of intelligent surfaces, artificial intelligence and
machine learning methods. In the new proposed 6G system, it is
necessary for localization, sensing and communication to coexist,
sharing the same time-frequency-spatial resources. In other to
enable sharing, cooperation, coexistence and co-design, various
mechanisms and approaches are needed in 6G communication
systems.
Index Terms—Sixth generation Communication, Artificial intel-
ligence, Machine Learning, Sensing.
I. INTRODUCTION
In today’s world, a lot of applications like virtual reality
(VR), artificial intelligence (AI), three-dimensional (3D) me-
dia, and internet of things (IoT) have made the volume of
traffic to be massive [1]. It was estimated that in 2010, the
global mobile traffic volume was 7.462 EB/month, and this
traffic is predicted to increase to 5016 EB/month by 2030 [2].
Hence, the need to improve the current communication system
in order to support these services is of great importance.
The fifth generation (5G) wireless communication has been
deployed in some countries and is predicted to be fully
deployed worldwide by 2020. However, 5G networks will
still not have the capability to meet up the traffic volume of
5016 EB/month by 2030 and deliver a fully automated and
intelligent network [1]– [4].
In other to overcome the limitations of 5G network, sixth
generation (6G) communication has been proposed to address
the constraints of 5G communication system [4]. 6G systems
will operate in the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies and
will also expand the frequency band’s boundaries to terahertz
(THz) in order to meet up with even higher data rate demand.
For example, the per-user bit rate in 6G networks is envisioned
to be approximately 1 Tbps [5]. As a matter of fact, the THz
band has a lot of opportunities like high definition imaging,
frequency spectroscopy, accurate localization and sensing. In
[4], the authors envisaged that the 6G networks will operate
above 100 GHz and that the opportunities of localization and
sensing enabled by the THz and mmWave was highlighted.
Enhanced 911 (E911) emergency call localization, personal
radar, robot and drone tracking, navigation, through the wall
intruder and social networking are some practical applications
of location and sensing in mobile communication systems [6].
Location side information can also be a service-enabler for
communication network design, operations and optimization.
The authors in [6], [7] extensively overviewed the location-
aware of 5G systems and also highlighted some promising
trends, pitfalls and tradeoffs. In addition, various localization-
based service methods for 5G new radio (NR), practical chal-
lenges and recommended potential techniques are investigated
by authors in [8], [9].
The remaining part of this paper is organized as follows: en-
abling technologies for 6G environment aware communication
systems is provided in section II. In section III, localization
and sensing opportunities for future systems is presented.
In section IV, active sensing with radar and communication
convergence are discussed. Conclusions are given in Section
V.

978-1-6654-3493-5/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: Newcastle University. Downloaded on February 09,2022 at 13:51:01 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 II. E NABLING T ECHNOLOGIES FOR 6G
E NVIRONMENT-AWARE C OMMUNICATION S YSTEMS
The four enabling technologies for 6G communication
systems are: the use of new radio band for communication,
intelligent beam-space incorporation of intelligent surfaces,
artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) methods
[10], [11]. The opportunities of localization and sensing in
6G systems together with key enablers have been summarized
in Fig. 1. Also, the Fig. identifies some open issues and
challenges that need to be addressed so as to be able to
benefit from the new opportunities offered by improved range,
Doppler and angle resolutions [11].
Fig. 1. 6G new enablers technologies, applications and challenges [12].
A. Future Localization and Sensing using RF Spectrum
This section discusses the radio frequency (RF) band that
6G systems will use for its operations. At the same time, the
features of radio propagation and their implications in relation
to localization and sensing will be discussed.
As shown in Fig. 2, 6G systems will have bandwidth that
is at least five times bigger than 5G in order to meet the ever-
increasing demand of higher data rates by users, improved
reliability needs and requiring new services like localization
and sensing [10].
The fourth generation (4G) systems operates on frequency
bands of 10 GHZ and less, while the 5G NR can operates in the
so-called mmWave band. The future 6G on the other hand is
envisioned to operates in higher bandwidths above 100 GHZ.
Again, there are plans underway to propose frequency bands
above 100 GHz (see Fig. II-A ) for research and development
by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [10], [11].
Thus, the transition to 6G which is of higher frequency
and smaller wavelength than 5G is expected to have smaller
Authorized licensed use limited to: Newcastle University. Downloaded on February 09,2022 at 13:51:01 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Fig. 2. The evolution of bandwidth for different generation networks [11].
TABLE 1. The proposed 100 GHz spectrum by FCC [10]
beam width, better positioning accuracy, better array gain and
imaging application.
From localization and sensing point of view, there are a lot
of advantages of moving to THz frequencies. Some of these
advantages include direct relation between the propagation
environment and paths because, at higher frequencies, the
signals cannot penetrate objects. Also, at THz frequencies,
because of the large available bandwidth, the multi-path that
is in the delay domain becomes resolvable with more specular
components. And lastly, the antennas are generally short due
to short wavelength which means that a lot of small devices
can be integrated with hundreds of antennas (massive multiple-
input multiple-output (MIMO)) which will be helpful a lot for
angle estimation. Furthermore, because of the high data rate
offered by 6G, map sharing and location information exchange
between sensing devices will be done very fast with reliability
and accuracy [12].
The characterization of 6G waves propagation over the
hardware and the air is essential in supporting the develop-
ment of new solutions and algorithms for 6G systems [13].
Modeling electromagnetic wave propagation is very important
in the proper design, operation and optimization of wireless
communication systems. The propagation models are very
important to guarantee a secured and reliable positioning as it
is not possible to design sensing, radar, ranging or direction
estimation algorithms without knowing how waves propagate
around a sensing device.
B. Enhanced Mapping and Localization with Intelligent Re- that is flexible and accurate for 6G localization and sensing,
flective Surfaces based on probabilistic and learning methods [18].
The propagation of radio waves between receivers and
III. F UTURE S YSTEM L OCALIZATION AND S ENSING
transmitters is generally random in nature. Intelligent Reflec-
O PPORTUNITIES
tive Surfaces (IRS) has been proposed to control propagation
phenomena like reflection, scattering and refraction. IRS can The opportunities of localization and sensing which are
allow the electromagnetic response of the environment objects made possible by the key enablers of 6G technology are
to be controlled by adjusting parameters like amplitude, fre- discussed in this subsection.
quency, polarization and phase without needing difficult radio In the new 6G system, it is necessary for localization and
frequency operations, encoding or decoding [14]. Fig. 3 shows sensing to coexist, sharing the same time-frequency-spatial
the possible application scenarios of the IRS in an indoor resources. In other to enable sharing, cooperation, coexistence
environment that is where or how IRS can be used to extend and co-design is very important [14]. However, sharing re-
the range of communication and also in enabling non-line-of sources together may lead to interference which has to be
sight (NLOS) communications. The IRS can reflect signals by addressed.
adjusting the phase shifter arrays. Hence, the IRS can support Future 6G should include as part of its key performance in-
surveillance/tracking applications in NLOS communications dicator (KPI) power consumption per position fix because it’s
and autonomous localization and can also improve location important for positioning, user orientation and environmental
accuracy [12], [14]. features in the IoT. Again, 6G systems performing localization
should be designed in such a way that it can monitor integrity
C. Accurate Positioning Using Beamspace Processing
(to detect, remove signals from bad transmitters or the ones
This is one of the key enablers of localization and sensing in affected by multipath). Fig. 4 illustrates how 6G enablers can
6G, where signals are transmitted in a particular direction to be used to support localization and sensing in 6G systems.
improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or throughput [12].
3D beamforming can overcome the high pathloss experi-
enced in millimeter Wave and microwave and also to re-
duce interference from other directions. The channel response
collected may contain spatial information of the link with
objects/humans that can be processed for localization and sens-
ing. Beamspace processing depends on the channel estimation,
which includes both the angular and delay domain profiles
that is required for localization and sensing algorithms [15].
The channel estimation is very handy especially in unfavorable
NLOS and high mobility scenarios [16]. To be able to locate
and track mobile users in a dynamic environment, the beams
are managed dynamically as the channel estimation of the
angle of departure (AoD) or angle of arrival (AoA) [16], [17].
D. Intelligent Localization and Sensing Using Machine Learn-
ing
Future 6G wireless communication is going to involve ma-
chine learning (ML) and AI in order to serve users effectively
and efficiently. Thus, it is important to design models that
can learn from the environment, make decisions and be able
to solve problems [18]. As a matter of fact, 6G systems and Fig. 3. Possible application scenarios of the IRSs in an indoor environment
beyond will depend on data-driven algorithms, which will be where it can help facilitate the NLOS communication [12].
very important not only for communication but also for sensing
and localization methods in the microwave and millimeter
wave band. A. THz Imaging
The usage of regression, fingerprinting and classification are There are a lot of opportunities for sensing at higher
the main ML methods in localization [19]– [21]. ML methods frequencies because of fine resolution in all physical dimen-
are expected to be used widely for localization in Global sions (range, Doppler and angle). Passive sensing/sensor uses
Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) indoor and outdoor where reflection of surfaces or the emissivity with arrays of imager
the usual mathematical models and signal processing methods pixels to capture an image while active sensor transmits a
are not sufficient to model the channel. Thus, ML methods sounding waveform and then go ahead to analyze the echoes
make it possible for the system to learn from by optimizing in other to determine the range, angle and Doppler data with
or inferring unknown parameters to come up with a model high accuracy and resolution.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Newcastle University. Downloaded on February 09,2022 at 13:51:01 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

Fig. 4. A Pictorial illustration of future 6G opportunities and applications
[12].
B. Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)
User equipment is generally considered as a sensor with
time varying states (derivatives, position and pose) and objects
that are fixed or have states that change slowly. A sensor
usually goes round the environment to collects simultaneous
measurements which may either be from the 6G signals or
from a particular infrastructure. The sensor then goes ahead
to describe the sensor state statistically using the associated
mobility model. The SLAM algorithms try to recover estimates
of the landmark and sensor states.
SLAM techniques can vary in the way they take measure-
ments (in batches/online) and also in the way they process and
represent state statistics (particles or parametric distribution).
Graph-Slam [22] is a very popular batch-based method that is
able to construct a factor graph with vertices that correspond
to the poses of the sensor at different points in time and edges
after which an optimization technique is applied to recover the
sensors poses and localize the sensor within the map.
IV. R ADAR - BASED ACTIVE S ENSING AND
C OMMUNICATION C ONVERGENCE
Radar has a lot of applications especially in the aviation,
meteorology, military as well as the law enforcement sector.
The angle, range and velocity of objects are usually detected
by radars from the propagation of electromagnetic waves.
Radar systems will have to be designed that will operate in
the higher frequency region with directive antenna which is
necessary for angle and range resolution.
The future 6G will depend on both active and passive
principles, where in active radar, the information of the signal
transmitted will help a lot in obtaining accurate and precise
result however, this technique has both signal processing and
Authorized licensed use limited to: Newcastle University. Downloaded on February 09,2022 at 13:51:01 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
hardware challenge because of self-interference at the radar
receiver. The use of both active and passive radars may be
used simultaneously and the information gotten from both
sources can be combined using sensor fusion in other to have
better and accurate mapping of the environment. The future 6G
waveform should be designed to enable: i) good performance
of the radar both in terms of resolution and range in 4D
(range, azimuth, angle of elevation and velocity), ii) good
communication performance in terms of power and spectral
efficiency, iii) flexibility between communication and sensing
needs as well as for different radar needs (short-range/long-
range and different resolutions).
Apart from SLAM, factor graphs that run message passing
algorithm uses different electromagnetic properties like AoA,
time of arrival (ToA), time difference of arrival (TDoA),
received signal strength (RSS) and differential received sig-
nal strength (DRSS) for localization together with extended
Kalman filter (EKF) for the purpose of tracking, has been
applied over the last 20 years [23].
SLAM with 6G signals instead of laser or camera measure-
ment is kind of more difficult because the angle and range
measurements are less accurate compared to the conventional
SLAM. Higher resolution leads to fine-grained view of the
landmarks in the environment. By using the geometry side
information captured by THz imaging [1], the gap between
radio based and Lider-based SLAM is going to be reduced
thereby giving room for the possibility of constructing and
updating maps that are accurate automatically in the indoor
environment. In this scenario, user equipment will act as
personal radar devices that can scan the environment using
the radio signal range and angle measurements.
V. C ONCLUSION
The future 6G technology was proposed to address the
limitations of 5G communication systems of meeting up
with the increasing demands of higher data rate by users.
6G systems has larger bandwidth and higher data rate than
5G systems and will operate in the higher frequency band,
thus making localization and sensing to be more accurate
and exact. Also, the enablers for localization in 6G systems
which include new RF spectrum, usage of reflective intelligent
surfaces, advanced beam space processing to locate users and
objects, as well as mapping the environment and the use
of artificial intelligence were discussed. And lastly, it was
highlighted that the enablers will lead to some opportunities
like simultaneous localization and mapping to automatically
create maps of complex indoor environment and terahertz
imaging for biomedical applications.
R EFERENCES
[1] S. Mumtaz et al., “Terahertz communication for vehicular networks,”
IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 66, no. 7, 2017, pp.
5617-5625.
[2] ITU-R M.2370-0, IMT traffic estimates for the years 2020 to 2030, Jul.
2015.
 [3] E. C. Chukwu, U. S. Abdullahi, G. Koyunlu, J. Sanusi, G. Sani
and I. A. Gangfada, ”Performance Evaluation of Multiplexed 5G-New
Radio Network Services of Different Usage Scenarios,” 5th International
Conference on Communication and Electronics Systems (ICCES), 2020,
pp. 335-342.
[4] M. Z. Chowdhury, M. Shahjalal, S. Ahmed and Y. M. Jang, ”6G Wireless
Communication Systems: Applications, Requirements, Technologies,
Challenges, and Research Directions,” in IEEE Open Journal of the
Communications Society, vol. 1, 2020, pp. 957-975.
[5] K. David and H. Berndt, “6G vision and requirements: Is there any need
for beyond 5G?” IEEE Veh. Technol. Mag., vol. 13, no. 3, 2018, pp.
72–80.
[6] R. Di Taranto, S. Muppirisetty, R. Raulefs, D. Slock, T. Svensson, and H.
Wymeersch, “Location-Aware Communications for 5G networks: How
location information can improve scalability, latency, and robustness of
5G,” IEEE Signal Process. Mag., vol. 31, no. 6, 2014, pp. 102–112.
[7] M. Koivisto, A. Hakkarainen, M. Costa, P. Kela, K. Leppanen, and
M. Valkama, “High-Efficiency Device Positioning and Location-Aware
Communications in Dense 5G Networks,” IEEE Commun. Mag., vol.
55, no. 8, 2017, pp. 188–195.
[8] M. Koivisto, M. Costa, J. Werner, K. Heiska, J. Talvitie, K. Leppänen,
V. Koivunen, and M. Valkama, “Joint Device Positioning and Clock
Synchronization in 5G Ultra-Dense Networks,” IEEE Trans. Wireless
Commun., vol. 16, no. 5, 2017, pp. 2866–2881.
[9] J. del Peral-Rosado, G. Seco-Granados, R. Raulefs, E. Leitinger, S.
Grebien, T. Wilding, D. Dardari, E. Lohan, H. Wymeersch, J. Floch et
al., “Whitepaper on New Localization Methods for 5G Wireless Systems
and the Internet-of-Things,” COST Action CA15104, 2018.
[10] T. S. Rappaport, Y. Xing, O. Kanhere, S. Ju, A. Madanayake, S. Mandal,
A. Alkhateeb, and G. C. Trichopoulos, “Wireless Communications and
Applications Above 100 GHz: Opportunities and Challenges for 6G and
Beyond,” IEEE Access, vol. 7, 2019, pp. 78 729–78 757.
[11] Q. Bi, “Ten Trends in the Cellular Industry and an Outlook on 6G,”
IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 57, no. 12, 2019, pp. 31–36.
[12] C. De Lima et al., ”Convergent Communication, Sensing and Localiza-
tion in 6G Systems: An Overview of Technologies, Opportunities and
Challenges”, IEEE Access, vol. 9, 2021, pp. 26902-26925.
[13] Study on Channel Model for Frequencies From 0.5 to 100 GHz (Release
15), Version 2.3, Standard 3GPP TR 38.901, 3GPP, 2018.
[14] E. Basar, M. Di Renzo, J. De Rosny, M. Debbah, M.-S. Alouini, and
R. Zhang, “Wireless communications through reconfigurable intelligent
surfaces”, IEEE Access, vol. 7, 2019, pp. 116753–116773.
[15] I. Ahmed, H. Khammari, A. Shahid, A. Musa, K. S. Kim, E. De Poorter,
and I. Moerman, “A Survey on Hybrid Beamforming Techniques in 5G:
Architecture and System Model Perspectives,” IEEE Commun. Surveys
Tuts., vol. 20, no. 4, 2018, pp. 3060–3097.
[16] Y. Miao, E. Tanghe, J. Takada, T. Pedersen, P. Laly, D. P. Gaillot, M.
Liénard, L. Martens, and W. Joseph, “Measurement-Based Feasibility
Exploration on Detecting and Localizing Multiple Humans Using MIMO
Radio Channel Properties,” IEEE Access, vol. 8, 2020, pp. 3738–3750.
[17] F. Hong, X. Wang, Y. Yang, Y. Zong, Y. Zhang, and Z. Guo, “WFID:
Passive Device-Free Human Identification Using WiFi Signal,” in Int.
Conf. on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and
Services. Association for Computing Machinery, 2016, pp. 47–56.
[18] K. P. Murphy, Machine Learning: A Probabilistic Perspective. MIT
Press, 2013.
[19] C. Hsieh, J. Chen, and B. Nien, “Deep Learning-Based Indoor Local-
ization Using Received Signal Strength and Channel State Information,”
IEEE Access, vol. 7, 2019, pp. 33 256–33 267.
[20] F. Zafari, A. Gkelias, and K. K. Leung, “A Survey of Indoor Localization
Systems and Technologies,” IEEE Commun. Surveys Tuts., vol. 21, no.
3, 2019, pp. 2568–2599.
[21] A. Bekkali, T. Masuo, T. Tominaga, N. Nakamoto, and H. Ban, “Gaus-
sian processes for learning-based indoor localization,” in IEEE Int. Conf.
on Signal Processing, Communications and Computing (ICSPCC), Sep.
2011, pp. 1–6.
[22] J. Mullane, B.-N. Vo, M. D. Adams, and B.-T. Vo, “A random-finiteset
approach to Bayesian SLAM,” IEEE Trans. Robot., vol. 27, no. 2, Apr.
2011, pp. 268–282.
[23] P. Vernaza and D. D. Lee, “Rao-blackwellized particle filtering for 6-
DOF estimation of attitude and position via GPS and inertial sensors,” in
Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Robot. Autom. ICRA, May 2006, pp. 1571–1578.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Newcastle University. Downloaded on February 09,2022 at 13:51:01 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
View publication stats