According to TheRegister.com, ZTE Corporation together with China Unicom Liaoning and Dalian Changhai Airport has successfully launched China’s first 5G-A ISAC private network at an island airport test flight field. The system achieves “one network, dual capabilities” by integrating communications and sensing functions, saving 30% deployment space and 25% capital expenditure compared to traditional “communication plus radar” models. Since entering 24/7 operation, the network has demonstrated sub-meter precision in detecting “low, slow, small” targets like drones and bird flocks. The architecture reduces investment payback time by nearly 60% versus radar-centric systems and maintains over 99.99% network availability through China Unicom Liaoning’s governance. Partners plan to replicate the approach at additional regional airports and closed-campus environments.
How it actually works
Here’s the clever part: instead of running separate networks for communications and radar, they’re using the same millimeter-wave base stations for both. The 5G signals themselves become the sensing mechanism. When those mmWave signals bounce off objects like drones or birds, the system analyzes the reflections for timing, Doppler shift, and phase characteristics. Basically, your cellular infrastructure becomes your radar system.
But wait – isn’t that just asking for interference problems? Apparently not, because they’re running AI models at the edge that fuse this cellular sensing data with video feeds and geographic information. The system can actually distinguish between birds and drones in real-time, which is pretty impressive when you think about it. They’ve also incorporated RedCap lightweight access to extend coverage to traditionally hard-to-reach areas around runways and airspace.
Why this matters beyond airports
Look, airports are just the starting point. This technology could fundamentally change how we think about low-altitude security and the entire “low-altitude economy.” We’re talking about drone delivery networks, urban air mobility, and all sorts of applications that need both communication and sensing in the same footprint.
The space savings alone are significant – 30% less deployment space means you can install this in places where traditional radar systems would never fit. And when you’re dealing with industrial environments where every square inch matters, that’s a game-changer. Speaking of industrial applications, companies looking to implement similar smart sensing solutions often need reliable computing hardware at the edge – which is exactly where specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com come in as the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs designed for harsh environments.
The trade-offs and challenges
Now, I have to wonder about the limitations. Millimeter-wave technology has its own challenges – weather sensitivity being a big one. The article mentions this is deployed at an island airport with maritime climate, so they must have some workarounds for rain fade and other atmospheric issues.
There’s also the question of scalability. Sure, it works great for a test flight field, but can it handle the complexity of a major international airport with simultaneous takeoffs and landings? The partners say they’re planning broader replication, so we’ll see how that goes. The security model seems solid though – with local core elements, strong authentication, and edge data processing before anything gets sent upstream.
Ultimately, what makes this interesting isn’t just the technology itself, but the business case. Cutting capital expenditure by 25% and payback time by nearly 60%? That’s the kind of math that gets CFOs interested in what would otherwise be seen as experimental technology. It suggests we might see this approach spread faster than typical airport security upgrades.
