Special Issue on Recent Advances in Integrated Sensing and Communications Submission Date: 2025-01-30 Next-generation wireless networks are poised to become essential enablers for a variety of new applications that require not just high-speed connectivity but also precise and reliable perception capabilities. Looking ahead to 5G-A and 6G developments, a key prediction is the increasing importance of sensing technology. This advancement anticipates that future cellular systems will be able to sense and interpret their environment, supporting sophisticated location- and imaging-based services. The research area focused on merging sensing and communication technologies is known as Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC), which aims to develop frameworks and technologies that integrate both functionalities, enhancing resource efficiency and generating mutual advantages. This approach is being applied in several new fields, including autonomous vehicles, smart factories, digital twins, and low-altitude economy. With the convergence of mmWave/THz frequencies and massive MIMO technology, the boundaries between communication and sensing systems are blurring, particularly in terms of their hardware platforms, RF front-ends, channel characteristics, and data processing techniques. Consequently, ISAC is advancing from theoretical concept to practical implementation, and even to standardization. Evidently, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has recently acknowledged ISAC as a critical component of the 6G vision, identifying it as one of the six core use cases anticipated for the next generation of networks.

This Special Issue seeks to bring together contributions from researchers and practitioners in the area of wireless communications, signal processing, with an emphasis on the recent advances of new approaches and techniques for ISAC designs. We solicit high-quality original research papers on topics including, but not limited to:

Fundamental information-theoretic limits for ISAC

Waveform/sequence/coding/modulation/beamforming design for ISAC

MIMO, massive MIMO, and extremely large-scale MIMO for ISAC

Intelligent/holographic surface and movable/fluid antennas for ISAC

Millimeter wave and THz technologies for ISAC

Channel modeling and measurement for ISAC

RF front-ends and circuits design for ISAC

Hardware prototyping and field-tests for ISAC

Near-field ISAC transmission

Security and privacy issues in ISAC

ISAC design for V2X/UAV networks

Sensing and positioning over communication networks

Cell-free ISAC networks

AI for ISAC

Integrated communications and multi-modal sensing

Integrated optical/underwater sensing and communications

Wi-Fi sensing for indoor positioning and target recognition

Standardization progress of ISAC