Samsung Electronics and Verizon have successfully completed an Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) trial at a major international soccer fan event in Dallas, Texas, enabling real-time sensing-driven intelligence across a virtualized network. This landmark milestone represents one of the industry’s first practical implementations of a key technology for 6G, signaling how operators are leveraging software-driven network architectures to create infrastructure that actively perceives, understands, and responds to their environment — moving beyond connectivity. The groundbreaking field trial reinforces the value of the strategic partnership between Samsung and Verizon. Operating one of the world’s largest commercial virtualized networks, Verizon has led the charge in deploying a software-driven, AI-powered virtualized RAN (vRAN). This laid the foundation for a 6G-ready platform necessary to bring experimental use cases from concept to real-world validation — highlighting the flexibility of Samsung’s adaptable vRAN, which enables operators to introduce new capabilities like ISAC from day one by leveraging the commercial network they already run. In the ISAC trial, Samsung integrated commercial AI-powered vRAN and vCore with an ISAC application, deploying them on its Network in a Server (NIS) — an end-to-end software-driven edge-AI platform that consolidates all network functions and accelerated compute into a single server. This allowed the ISAC trial to leverage connectivity from a 5G network without the need for any additional equipment. Acting as a sensing receiver, a CBRS 1 radio unit using 40 MHz of spectrum mounted on a Verizon Cell-On-Wheels (COW) captured channel variations in transmissions from a commercial 5G device. Samsung’s NIS then analyzed this real-time data, utilizing the accelerated compute to extract actionable insights that are visualized as a crowd density heatmap that changes in near-real time to reflect people’s movements. 2 Operating live at the event, the ISAC system used wireless signals as a sensing basis to automatically identify crowded areas within the venue, proving how sensing capabilities can enhance event management and the visitor experience across multiple stakeholder groups: Attendees: Locate less congested food facilities and services, improving access and reducing wait times. Event Organizers: Gain real-time visibility into crowd distribution and facility usage, enabling rapid resource deployment and operational optimization. Security and Government Organizations: Detect emerging risks like overcrowding conditions, enabling early intervention to facilitate crowd control and prevent other public safety incidents. The achievement reflects the synergy between Samsung’s commercial technologies and its advanced research in accelerating the path to 6G. The company’s efforts include its commercially proven vRAN software on the edge-AI platform NIS, and Samsung Research America’s (SRA) cutting-edge AI-driven ISAC solution. “Verizon’s strategy has always been focused on building an intelligent, AI-native network that translates into meaningful real-world value for our customers,” said Yago Tenorio, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Technology Development at Verizon. “Our early investments in flexible, software-driven vRAN architecture are paying off today, giving us the agility to engineer and trial groundbreaking 6G concepts like ISAC over our existing infrastructure. This field trial with Samsung proves that the network of the future will do far more than just transfer data — it will actively perceive and interact with its environment to transform venue management and public safety.” “This successful ISAC trial underscores how Verizon’s decision to adopt a software-driven, AI-powered vRAN early on laid a solid foundation, positioning the company at the forefront of the 6G journey,” said Ji-Yun Seol, Executive Vice President and Head of Product Strategy, Networks Business at