Summary
Samsung and Verizon completed a field trial that used a virtualized 5G network to create near-real-time crowd-density heatmaps at a soccer fan event in Dallas. The demonstration shows how Integrated Sensing and Communication could add environmental sensing to mobile-network infrastructure.
Samsung Electronics and Verizon have completed a field trial that used a virtualized 5G network to sense crowd density at a major international soccer fan event in Dallas, Texas. The system produced a heatmap that changed in near real time as people moved through the venue.
Samsung describes the demonstration as one of the industry’s first practical implementations of Integrated Sensing and Communication, or ISAC, over a virtualized radio access network. ISAC is a 6G-related approach in which wireless infrastructure is used not only to transmit data but also to derive information about the surrounding environment.
How the network became a sensing system
The trial combined Verizon’s commercial AI-powered virtualized RAN and virtualized core network with Samsung’s ISAC application. These software-based network functions were deployed on Samsung’s Network in a Server, or NIS, an edge-AI platform that brings network functions and accelerated computing together on a single server.
The arrangement allowed the trial to use connectivity from a 5G network without requiring separate sensing equipment for the application, according to Samsung. It also demonstrated how software-driven network infrastructure can support new capabilities on a commercial network rather than requiring a purpose-built experimental system.
A CBRS radio unit mounted on a Verizon Cell-On-Wheels acted as the sensing receiver. Using 40 MHz of spectrum, it captured changes in the wireless channel associated with transmissions from a commercial 5G device. Samsung’s NIS processed that real-time data and used accelerated computing to generate an aggregate crowd-density heatmap.
The system measured the number of people in a given area at a given time. Samsung says it did not identify individual users or objects and obtained no information about their identities.
What the trial could support at venues
The live demonstration was designed around practical event-management tasks. Visitors could use crowd information to locate less congested food facilities and services, potentially improving access and reducing waiting times. Organisers could see how people were distributed across the venue and how facilities were being used, helping them deploy resources more quickly.
The same information could also help security and government organisations identify developing overcrowding conditions. In that setting, a network-based sensing layer could provide an additional source of information for crowd control and public-safety operations.
These applications are based on aggregate movement patterns rather than individual tracking. That distinction is important: the trial’s reported output was a density map, not an identity or location system for named people.
Why virtualised networks matter for ISAC
Traditional mobile networks are built primarily to move data between devices and network services. Virtualised RAN replaces some specialised network hardware functions with software running on general-purpose or accelerated computing platforms. This can make it easier to introduce new network functions, provided the software, radio equipment and processing capacity can support them.
Samsung and Verizon used that flexibility to place ISAC processing alongside commercial network functions. Verizon’s existing software-driven network provided the platform, while Samsung supplied the vRAN, virtualised core, NIS and ISAC components used in the trial.
The companies present the result as a step toward 6G networks that can perceive and respond to aspects of their environment in addition to providing connectivity. The announcement describes a live field demonstration, rather than a quantified comparison of sensing accuracy, latency, coverage or performance across different crowd sizes. It also does not announce a timetable for wider commercial deployment of the venue-sensing system.