T7 – Holographic Integrated Sensing and Communication for 6G

Co-presenter: Zhu Han, University of Houston, USA
Co-presenter: Shuhao Zeng, Princeton University, USA
Co-presenter: Haobo Zhang, University of Cambridge, UK
Co-presenter: Boya Di, Peking University, China

Abstract: Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is envisioned as a cornerstone of sixth generation (6G) networks, enabling wireless infrastructures to deliver both high-capacity data transmission and high-accuracy environmental perception within a unified framework. While massive MIMO is regarded as a key enabler of ISAC, conventional phased-array-based implementations incur prohibitive cost and power consumption when scaled to ultra-large dimensions. To address these limitations, holographic ISAC (HISAC) has recently emerged as a promising paradigm. It employs newly developed reconfigurable holographic surfaces (RHSs), composed of densely packed sub wavelength metamaterial elements, as a cost- and energy-efficient solution to the implementation of massive MIMO, leveraging the holographic principle to achieve flexible beam manipulation. In this way, HISAC provides an encouraging alternative to phased array-enabled ISAC and supports a wide range of emerging scenarios and applications, such as vehicular networks, low-altitude economy, etc. This tutorial will begin with the fundamentals of RHSs, highlighting their unique features such as the serial propagation structure and leakage power constraint. These characteristics reshape the design analysis, optimization, and signal processing methodologies of HISAC systems, which will be discussed in detail. We will also illustrate the potential of HISAC in emerging applications, such as the low altitude economy and 3D reconstruction with generative models. In addition, prototype implementations and experimental evaluations will be presented to demonstrate the practical feasibility of HISAC. Finally, we will introduce the related open research challenges and outline future directions.

Co-presenter’s Bios:

Zhu Han:

Zhu Han (S’01–M’04-SM’09-F’14) received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from Tsinghua University, in 1997, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1999 and 2003, respectively. From 2000 to 2002, he was an R&D Engineer of JDSU, Germantown, Maryland. From 2003 to 2006, he was a Research Associate at the University of Maryland. From 2006 to 2008, he was an assistant professor in Boise State University, Idaho. Currently, he is a Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering Department as well as Computer Science Department at the University of Houston, Texas. His research interests include wireless resource allocation and management, wireless communications and networking, game theory, wireless multimedia, security, and smart grid communication. Dr. Han received an NSF Career Award in 2010, the Fred W. Ellersick Prize of the IEEE Communication Society in 2011, the EURASIP Best Paper Award for the Journal on Advances in Signal Processing in 2015, the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award in 2021, and several best paper awards in IEEE conferences. Dr. Han is top 1% highly cited researcher according to Web of Science since 2017, and AAAS fellow since 2019.

Shuhao Zeng:

Shuhao Zeng (S’18-M’23) is a postdoc researcher at Princeton University. His current research interests include reconfigurable intelligent surfaces enabled communication and sensing, and aerial access networks. He received the best doctoral thesis award from Chinese Education Society of Electronics in 2023. He is also the recipient of an Honorary Mention in the 2022 IEEE ComSoc Student Competition. He has served as a track chair and TPC Member for several IEEE conferences. He is currently an Editor for Physical Communication. He received the Ph.D. degree at the School of Electronics at Peking University in 2023. Prior to that, he received the B.S. degree in communications engineering from Peking University in 2018.

Haobo Zhang:

Haobo Zhang (S’19-M’24) is a postdoc researcher at University of Cambridge. His current research interests include metasurface, wireless networks, and optimization theory. He has served as a track chair and TPC Member for several IEEE conferences, including IEEE GLOBECOM, ICC, and VTC. He is also a guest editor for Electronics and an editor for Physical Communications. He is the recipient of IEEE GLOBECOM Student Travel Grant in 2019. He received the B.S. degree from the School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, Peking University, Beijing, China, in 2019, and the Ph.D. degree from the School of Electronics, Peking University, in 2024.

Boya Di:

Boya Di (S’17-M’19-SM’24) has been working as an assistant professor at Peking University since 2021. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electronics, Peking University, China, in 2019. Prior to that, she received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from Peking University in 2014. She was a postdoc researcher at Imperial College London after graduation. Her current research interests include holographic surfaces, AI-enabled communications, and aerial access networks. She has published over 30 journal papers on the topic of reconfigurable holographic surface aided communications and sensing. She received the best doctoral thesis award from China Education Society of Electronics in 2019. She is also the recipient of 2021 IEEE ComSoc Asia Pacific Outstanding Paper Award, 2022 IEEE ComSoc Asia-Pacific Outstanding Young Researcher Award, 2023 IEEE ComSoc TCCN publication award, 2024 IEEE GLOBECOM best paper award, and IEEE ICCC best demo award. She serves as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, and IEEE Transactions on Machine Learning in Communications and Networking. She has also served as a workshop co-chair for IEEE WCNC 2020&2021, ISWCS 2022, ICC 2025.