Vodafone’s mobile network senses something in the air

Vodafone is working on new technology that uses its mobile network to sense and identify objects like a drone or bird within an approximate three-kilometre radius, before they impact strategically important places such as airports.

Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) is one of the many innovations on show on Vodafone’s stand at Mobile World Congress 2025 (MWC25), Barcelona, Spain. With ISAC technology, a drone or a similar unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could be more easily detected.

New sensing capabilities inherent in Vodafone’s pan-European network use radio signals, like a sonar, to calculate the range, speed, and angle of both moving and static objects in a surrounding area. It will identify both SIM-enabled objects and unconnected ones. And by leveraging AI capabilities, the system can automatically identify objects and learn whether to ignore them or alert someone to a potential threat.

Vodafone envisages the existing mobile infrastructure being used to identify an unauthorised vessel at a busy port, like the one in Barcelona, a rogue drone at an airport, or an intruder on campus. In these scenarios, ISAC could provide an additional layer of security to complement existing CCTV, and other security measures. Closer to home, this technology could be used by machines or connected white goods to interpret sign language or raise the alarm if someone is in distress.

This ‘network as a radar’ technology is being discussed within industry-led research and 6G forums, and new common standards under the umbrella organisation 3GPP (Release 19) are expected to be finalised by June 2025.

Ultimately, the technology will seamlessly integrate mobile communication and sensing functions into a single system which will be made accessible to third party organisations via a network Application Programming Interface (API).