5G‑A (5G‑Advanced, commonly known as 5.5G) Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) is a core technology in 5G evolution. It enables one set of hardware and one spectrum to deliver both mobile communication and radar‑style environmental sensing, realizing “one network for dual purposes”.
Traditional solution: Communication base stations, surveillance cameras and low‑altitude radars operate independently. Separate construction and maintenance lead to high costs.
ISAC solution: Electromagnetic waves from 5G‑A base stations transmit data. Meanwhile, echo signals detect surrounding targets and output information including target position, speed, altitude and trajectory.
Standards Reference: China’s first special group standard T/CIET 1001‑2025 Technical Specification for 5G‑A Integrated Sensing and Communication Smart Street Light Poles was officially implemented on January 22, 2025. It regulates pole load capacity, power supply, interfaces, equipment installation and performance indicators, providing unified engineering guidelines for mounting ISAC devices on street light poles.
Why Smart Street Light Poles Are Preferred Carriers for ISAC
Smart street light poles are ideal for deploying ISAC micro‑base stations at urban scale for the following reasons:
1.Height advantage: Street light poles stand 8‑12 meters high, higher than most buildings, offering unobstructed views for detecting ground vehicles, pedestrians and low‑altitude targets.
2.Ready‑made power and fiber optics: Each pole has stable municipal power supply, with communication fiber cables laid along roads. Re‑excavation for cabling is largely avoided, greatly cutting infrastructure costs.
3.Dense urban deployment: Poles are widely distributed along city roads, parks and new districts, supporting continuous sensing networking and eliminating fragmented coverage caused by standalone radars.
4.Multi‑device integration: ISAC units can be co‑mounted with lighting, cameras, environmental sensors, 5G micro‑stations, loudspeakers and charging piles. One pole fulfills multiple functions and reduces redundant poles for better urban landscape.
In short: Instead of building numerous new signal towers, existing street light poles across cities can be reused to build a combined communication and radar‑sensing urban network.
Commercial Pilot Technical Specifications
1.Low‑altitude detection range: 1‑2 km per station, capable of identifying “low‑slow‑small” drones.
2.Sensing accuracy: Sub‑meter to centimeter level, outputting target position, flight altitude, moving speed and trajectory.
3.Anti‑interference performance: Works effectively at night, in heavy fog and light rain. Compensates for camera limitations under poor weather and low‑light conditions, forming complementary perception with video cameras.
4.Multi‑target tracking: A single base station can track dozens to hundreds of ground and low‑altitude targets simultaneously.
Core Application Scenarios
1.Low‑Altitude Economy & Low‑Altitude Security (Key Scenario)
Real‑time detection of urban drones to identify unauthorized flights and trigger platform alerts. Electronic geofences protect sensitive airspace near airports, government premises and commercial districts. It builds an air‑space perception foundation for legal drone inspection and drone delivery, and interoperates with “pole‑as‑drone‑nest” UAV hangar systems.
2.Intelligent Transportation & Vehicle‑Road Cooperation
Road‑side ISAC‑enabled smart poles perceive traffic flow, vehicle speed, queue length, non‑motor vehicles and pedestrians. Traffic data is generated without relying on camera footage. It supports optimized traffic signal timing, congestion early‑warning and accident detection to assist vehicle‑road collaboration.
3.Urban Panoramic IoT Perception
Fuse data from built‑in pole sensors (temperature‑humidity, PM2.5, noise). Report road events such as illegal parking, road occupation and crowd gathering to supply data sources for urban governance platforms.
4.Auxiliary Public Security
Fill surveillance blind spots and supplement target detection capability under poor lighting and bad weather. Multi‑source data fusion with AI‑powered cameras strengthens urban security resilience.