In the sixth generation (6G) era, intelligent machine network (IMN) applications, such as intelligent transportation, require collaborative machines with communication, sensing, and computation (CSC) capabilities. This article proposes an integrated communication, sensing, and computation (ICSAC) framework for 6G to achieve the reciprocity among CSC functions to enhance the reliability and latency of communication, accuracy and timeliness of sensing information acquisition, and privacy and security of computing to realize the IMN applications. Specifically, the sensing and communication functions can merge into unified platforms using the same transmit signals, and the acquired real-time sensing information can be exploited as prior information for intelligent algorithms to enhance the performance of communication networks. This is called the computing-empowered integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) reciprocity. Such reciprocity can further improve the performance of distributed computation with the assistance of networked sensing capability, which is named the sensing-empowered integrated communications and computation (ICAC) reciprocity. The above ISAC and ICAC reciprocities can enhance each other iteratively and finally lead to the ICSAC reciprocity. To achieve these reciprocities, we explore the potential enabling technologies for the ICSAC framework. Finally, we present the evaluation results of crucial enabling technologies to show the feasibility of the ICSAC framework.

翻译：在第六代（6G）时代，智能机器网络（IMN）应用（如智能交通）要求具备通信、感知与计算（CSC）能力的机器协同工作。本文提出面向6G的一体化通信、感知与计算（ICSAC）框架，通过实现CSC功能间的互惠协作，提升通信的可靠性与时延性能、感知信息获取的准确性与时效性、以及计算的隐私与安全性，从而支撑IMN应用。具体而言，感知与通信功能可借助相同发射信号融合为统一平台，获取的实时感知信息可作为先验知识驱动智能算法以提升通信网络性能，这一机制称为计算赋能的一体化感知与通信（ISAC）互惠。此类互惠可通过网络化感知能力进一步提升分布式计算性能，称之为感知赋能的一体化通信与计算（ICAC）互惠。上述ISAC与ICAC互惠可迭代增强彼此，最终形成ICSAC互惠。为达成这些互惠机制，本文探索了ICSAC框架的关键使能技术，并展示了核心使能技术的评估结果以验证ICSAC框架的可行性。