6G has many goals and requirements, and several technologies have emerged to meet them that are now used in 6G research. Joint communication and sensing is based on 6G sensing requirements and has become an important candidate technology in the wireless industry. The technology focuses on fulfilling native JCAS design requirements with multiple-signal designs and/or hardware sharing. JCAS can sense direction, distance, and speed during information exchanges as well as velocity. JCAS can also detect, track, identify, and create images of the target equipment, event, or environment for interconnection between communications and sensing equipment to improve overall system performance. 

The China Mobile Research Institute is an industry leader in several technologies and has a long-term commitment to researching 6G technologies, developing prototypes, and verifying technologies. From early on, Rohde & Schwarz has been actively involved in national and international 6G research projects and organizations and in the development of accompanying test solutions. Both parties have joined forces to research and validate JCAS and already have several accomplishments under their belt. The China Mobile Research Institute and Rohde & Schwarz recently developed a JCAS testing solution in which they used the latest R&S AREG800A as an object simulator. This solution can simulate a target object’s distance, angle, velocity, and other parameters to verify the ability of a system under test to precisely locate a target object. The solution enables reliable and repeatable testing in the lab, accelerating the research and development of JCAS and preparing it for industrialization. 

Currently, most industrial technologies used to validate and test sensing capabilities are based on real objects with limited test scenarios in inflexible settings. The R&S AREG800A is the latest dynamic artificial object simulator from Rohde & Schwarz and can generate multiple dynamic targets with varying distances, sizes, radial velocities, and angular directions. The R&S AREG800A can simulate several target objects by increasing the number of frontends. Various frequency converter modules allow the R&S AREG800A to perform JCAS testing in specific frequency bands. 

Dr. Liu Guangyi, Chief Expert at the China Mobile Communications Corporation, says, “The mission of 6G is to expand mobile network capabilities and boundaries to enable the vision of digital twins and ubiquitous intelligence, which requires continuous collaboration and innovation from the industry. We are glad that the 6G team at the China Mobile Research Institute and Rohde & Schwarz can collaborate on JCAS and we look forward to deepening this collaboration to find a consensus on scenarios, requirements, and key technologies while developing a solid foundation for future standardization and industrialization.” Hailiang Jin, Senior Director Product and System at Rohde & Schwarz, says: “We are glad to see the industry-leading 6G JCAS results from the collaboration between Rohde & Schwarz and the China Mobile Research Institute. We hope that further collaboration will allow both parties to make more breakthroughs here and fully validate the capability of 6G networks to sense the physical world. We also hope that both parties will be able to collaborate on other key 6G technologies and open up a new era of 6G.”