Ericsson is turning parts of the mobile network into a distributed sensor for low-flying drones, including aircraft that never connect to the cellular system.
The telecom equipment maker introduced its Integrated Sensing and Communication system, or ISAC, on November 2 after trials in the United States, Finland and Poland. Small commercial pilots are due to begin in 2027, with broader deployments planned from 2028. The first version is a sensing product; communication and sensing are expected to converge more fully as mobile networks move toward 6G.
The idea sounds simple: reuse radio infrastructure that already covers cities, roads and sensitive sites. The deployment is less automatic than that headline suggests. Operators need sensing-capable radios, suitable Massive MIMO antennas and spectrum, edge computing, backhaul and software that can separate a small moving aircraft from buildings, vegetation and other radio clutter.
How a 5G network can see a drone
A cellular base station normally transmits radio signals to phones and other connected devices. ISAC also analyzes the energy that bounces off physical objects. A moving drone changes the reflected signal’s delay, direction and Doppler characteristics. Signal-processing software can use those changes to estimate the object’s range, speed and position.
Ericsson’s system is multi-static: transmission and reception are spread across geographically separate mobile sites. Seeing the same object from several angles can improve location accuracy, maintain a track as the drone crosses coverage areas and reduce the chance that terrain or another obstruction hides it from a single sensor.
That design is important because an unauthorized drone does not need a SIM, Remote ID signal or cooperative radio link to be detected. The mobile network is watching reflections, not waiting for the aircraft to identify itself.
The company says validated tests reliably detected micro drones at kilometer-scale distances and produced precise three-dimensional positions. It has not published a universal range or accuracy figure, however. Performance changes with the drone’s size and flight profile, the geometry between radio sites, spectrum and antenna configuration, terrain, weather and surrounding clutter.
The trials cover three different deployment models
At an AT&T trial in Arlington, Texas, the system located and tracked multiple drones near a large venue. A Helsinki demonstration with Erillisverkot, Finland’s state-owned critical-communications operator, used several 5G sites to follow drones for public-safety and counter-UAS applications.
In Poland, Ericsson combined mobile-network sensing with Play’s network and Asseco’s PUSZCZYK acoustic detection system. That hybrid arrangement is likely closer to how high-risk sites would deploy the technology. Radio sensing can provide wide-area coverage, while acoustic sensors, cameras and conventional radar add independent evidence and help classify a target.
Ericsson is explicit that ISAC complements radar rather than replacing it. A mobile network may cover low elevations that conventional air-surveillance radar does not prioritize, but it does not solve every detection problem. Airports, military bases, power plants and stadiums still need layered sensors, trained operators and a separate legal and technical process for responding to an aircraft.
Existing towers do not mean a software-only upgrade
The product can reuse towers, fiber or microwave backhaul, spectrum and operational systems already in place. It cannot turn every current cell site into a sensor with a remote software update.
Ericsson says deployments require radios and antennas that meet specific Massive MIMO and spectrum conditions, dedicated computing resources and ISAC software. Operators will also need interfaces that deliver tracks to authorized security or command systems, plus rules governing retention, access and use of the resulting location data.
A recent experimental paper on 6G ISAC helps show what the processing entails. Researchers used frequency-range-one radio measurements, fitted a clutter model, removed the zero-Doppler band, combined observations across frames and searched a range-Doppler-angle data cube. Their proof of concept detected drones in real time on a laptop GPU without dedicated radar hardware, but the authors still listed more flight testing and better handling of phase drift as future work.
In other words, the radio network supplies useful measurements; signal processing and careful calibration turn them into a dependable track.
Why drone detection is the first commercial pitch
ISAC has wider uses, including monitoring traffic, boats, rail corridors, weather and environmental changes. Drone detection is the most immediate market because small aircraft are difficult to cover across large areas with dedicated sensors alone. Mobile antennas are already aimed at the lower elevations where many drones fly, and cell sites are distributed through urban and transport corridors.
That footprint could help operators fill gaps between protected locations. It could also create a new service for carriers, selling sensing coverage or data to public-safety agencies, infrastructure operators and venue owners.
The commercial questions are not settled. Ericsson has not disclosed pricing, required radio models, spectrum bands, processing capacity, false-alarm rates or how well equipment from different vendors will cooperate. Those details will determine whether a carrier can add sensing to selected sites at a manageable cost or needs a more extensive network refresh.
6G could make the sensing layer more useful
Ericsson’s 2027 pilots will be sensing-only. The company expects later systems to combine sensing and communications more tightly as 6G standards and spectrum mature. Wider channels can improve resolution, while common standards could let radios, devices and systems from multiple suppliers contribute to the same sensing picture.
For now, the strongest claim is narrower and more practical: selected 5G infrastructure can detect and track uncooperative drones without adding a radar unit to every site. The 2027 pilots will show whether that capability remains reliable outside controlled demonstrations, how much hardware carriers must replace and whether operators can handle the security and governance burden that comes with turning a communications network into a regional sensor grid.
