Networked Integration of Sensing and Communication for Extended Reality: Framework, Challenges, and Solutions

The rapid development of immersive technologies is propelling the emergence of extended reality (XR), a promising use case that submerges users into a virtual universe. To enable XR, devices equipped with a large number of sensors are necessary, and the diverse types and functions of sensors lead to different sensing and communication paradigms in the same network. Therefore, an appropriate integration of sensing and communication from all connected devices in the network is essential to XR. In this article, we propose a framework for the networked integration of sensing and communication (NISC), targeting the XR use case. In the proposed NISC framework, the sensing and communication resources from the devices are pooled and managed in a unified manner to satisfy the diverse quality of service (QoS) requirements of XR users. In addition, we illustrate the challenges for the NISC and present the potential solutions. A representative case study of the NISC framework is provided to demonstrate its performance advantages. Open research directions are finally provided.