Since 2020, When The Corona Virus Epidemic Forced Many Businesses To Continue Their Activities Based On A Remote Work Approach, The Importance Of Communication Networks Became Clear To Everyone.
This process continued until remote work culture became one of the approved policies of companies and organizations. However, telecommuting has doubled the dependence on the Internet and mobile communication networks.
Along with the easing of restrictions around the pandemic by governments, experts, and research centers, more opportunities for research around 6G have been obtained.
The sixth generation of communication networks is supposed to bring about significant changes, which are only possible in the shadow of conducting research in research centers and the budget allocated by governments in this field.
This article will briefly examine the efforts made in this field.
In 2021, two British universities, Bristol and King’s College London, as part of an initiative, launched a virtual research center to focus on ongoing research on 6G, which aims to advance research in this field in a coordinated manner. In this research project, companies from Finland, Singapore, the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and South Korea are present.
Companies such as LG, KDDI, Ericsson, and MIT University are among the other contributors, each investigating different aspects of this technology. Meanwhile, the German government will fund another research center in Texas in partnership with Samsung, AT&T, Nvidia, Qualcomm, InterDigital, and other research centers in Dresden and Munich.
In parallel, the European Commission and the 5G Infrastructure Association of Europe signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2021 to invest 900 million euros in a joint European project in the field of Smart Networks and Services (SNS) called Smart Networks and Services. to fund A project that aims to research and implement innovative plans in the area of 6G.
This research project is supposed to determine the road map for establishing the sixth generation of communication networks in Europe.
The first call for top research projects from active organizations and institutions was held in 2021, and the process of final review and work on selected projects is scheduled to begin in 2023.
In 2022, the 5G IA Association published an article in which the critical areas related to 6Gspecified so that the researchers and activists of this industry have an accurate vision of the general goals and the role that 6G will play in society in 2030. The critical question is why companies and leaders in this field emphasize conducting targeted research.
The answer is clear. They seek convergence between the digital and physical worlds and the personalization of services and products by 2030. To be more precise, the sixth generation of communication networks will not be just a simple cellular network like its predecessors, and it is supposed to bring us into the new era of the fourth industrial revolution.
A period in which virtual reality will become one of the everyday necessities of human life. In addition, 6G emphasizes achieving zero carbon, which the European Union seriously accentuates, and intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this Union to zero by 2050.
6G Key areas and achievement of key performance indicators
As mentioned, the University of Bristol and King’s College London launched a virtual research center around 6G in 2021. This virtual research center, 6GCalled Futures, hosts more than 400 renowned experts worldwide specializing in telecommunications networks, cyber security, artificial intelligence, digital humanities, social sciences, and the arts. It is good to know that these two academic centers played a central role in 5G and conducted valuable research in this field.
While they specialize in artificial intelligence and machine learning, King’s has expertise in mobile networks, wired/wireless technology, and network layers at the University of Bristol.
The virtual center is managed by Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, director of the Smart Internet Lab at the University of Bristol and one of the directors of the Bristol Digital Future Institute, and Professor Mischa Dohler, professor of wireless communications at King’s College. Simonido says, “6G will be inherently human-centric and create a cyber-physical chain by providing real-time sensory information, supporting touch and hologram technologies.
More precisely, we should say that the sixth generation of communication networks will take us to an era beyond predictions. This issue is possible only in the shadow of the use of expert forces who can transform plans and views into acceptable solutions.
“The establishment of this center is a historic milestone in the UK technology sector,” says Dowler.
We will develop new architectures, design information exchange mechanisms, and try to use the potential capacities of technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, blockchain, and similar examples to improve the Internet.
However, 6G will not be only a pure technological plan in cellular networks. Still, we emphasize the participation of a wide range of professionals and companies, which will positively impact society.
Bosses Simonido and Doller emphasize that the center will fill a leadership gap for 6G in the UK. Phil Taylor, the University of Bristol’s vice-chancellor for research and entrepreneurship, said: “This research center will not be limited to 6G but will also try to develop solutions that can be used in the health, energy, and transport sectors. This allows industry and international partners to provide impactful solutions and turn them into concrete examples by attracting the best and brightest talent.”
Reza Razavi, researcher and vice-chancellor of King’s University Research Department, says: “If the UK is going to play an essential role in realizing the potential capacity of 6G, we need a national center that brings together the best talents in communication technologies. So that professionals active in the cyber industry, artificial intelligence, humanities, digital, art, and social sciences interact with each other.
Germany invests 70 million euros in 6G research centers.
In this connection, Germany also has four 6G research centers that will establish with an investment of 70 million euros over the next four years. The project is an initiative of the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Research Center, an arm of Germany’s research and innovation department. These centers are to be established in Dresden and Munich.
About 50 research partners, including researchers and industry activists, will be involved in these four centers, which aim to provide national research activities to create the technological foundations for future generations of mobile communications. The main focus is developing and innovating technologies and critical components that will allow Germany and Europe to achieve new technologies.
Prof. Slawomir Stanczak from the Fraunhofer HHI research center, which has the role of coordinating these research centers, says:
“In the 6G-RIC consortium, we can use the presence of experts in various research projects and implement the best plans in an operational form.
In this center, we will focus on mobile communications, artificial intelligence, transmission, and compression of optical fiber data. By bringing together experienced and interdisciplinary partners in these research centers, we can improve Germany’s position in Let’s Strengthen 6G “.
The 6G-Life Center will focus on human-machine collaboration and conduct research on the touch internet, communication networks, quantum communication, post-Shannon theory, artificial intelligence, and adaptive and flexible hardware and software platforms.
In addition, it will be focused on new concepts such as security (quantum communication, post-quantum security) and delay reduction in communication networks.
Another aspect that 6G-Life will focus on is the German startup ecosystem. This center aims to launch at least ten new startups in the first four years and increase the participation rate of at least 30 startups in this hub.
Finland, Singapore, and Japan partnership on 6G
Finnish company 6G Flagship was one of the first companies to start working on 6G. The company recently announced a collaboration with Singapore’s Future Communications Research and Development Center (FCP) in the field of 6G. The FCP research center at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) started working on 6G in July with an investment of US$70 million in the country’s research, innovation, and enterprise plan.
Professor Matti Latva-who says: “The development of advanced technologies on a global scale, such as 6G, requires international cooperation. Therefore, partnership with leading countries is critical for success in this field.
In addition, the Finnish government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Beyond 5G Promotion Consortium, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, to cooperate in the field of 6G development.
The leading member organizations of the Beyond 5G consortium include several Japanese telcos, operators, and SoftBank. “Japan is a major global player in the development of wireless mobile technologies, and it would benefit Finland to partner with Japan in developing 6G,” says Professor Matti Latoahu. In this regard, Japan invested 2 billion dollars in developing 6G technologies last year.
Ericsson and MIT Collaborate on Lithionics and Zero-Energy Devices
MIT and Ericsson are collaborating on two major research projects in advanced hardware design that could dramatically impact 5G and 6G networks. This research project involves the fabrication of lithium-ion-based devices that can be used in neural computing, which promises to design artificial intelligence algorithms that can use energy more efficiently.
The two companies are trying to build advanced hardware called zero-energy devices that can receive energy directly from radio signals and connect to mobile networks.
Mobile networks with new features will have complex structures that make their management process difficult for network operators. Ericsson is researching cognitive networks that rely on artificial intelligence to drive secure, automated, data-driven network operations.
To improve the computing power, speed, and energy performance of cognitive networks, the Ericsson Research Institute and the MIT Materials Research Laboratory are working on new designs in the field of lithium chips that can be used in the field of neural computing, Chips that can perform artificial intelligence processing with less energy consumption.
If these two companies’ plans are completed, fully cognitive networks will be usable with reduced operational complexity and minimal energy consumption compared to today.
The University of Texas, Samsung, Nvidia, and Qualcomm have begun collaborating on 6G research.
The University of Texas at Austin has launched the 6G@UT Center. A new research center focused on the use of 6G in the industrial world. The founders of this research center are Samsung, AT&T, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and InterDigital, each of which will fund at least two projects for three years at the center.
Researchers from these companies will work with the University of Texas at Austin faculty and top students to develop machine learning algorithms applicable to wireless networks, advanced sensor technologies, and 6G innovation.
Jeffrey Andrews, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the center, says: “Combining the capabilities of sensory equipment with the sixth generation of communication networks and artificial intelligence allows us to achieve native intelligence for the first time and To be able to create a great transformation in the network and provide incredible services to users.”
The four main axes of 6G@UT research are as follows:
- Applying machine learning in the range of physical to functional layers
- Extensive research on sensory equipment with the aim of comprehensive and informed positioning
- Enabling new spectrums and topologies
- Flexible resource sharing, including spectrum and computing resources
The research group seeks to achieve the highest level of convergence about innovative ideas. In other words, the use of machine learning tools for comprehensive measurement to efficiently share resources, spectrum, and shape directional beams is on the agenda of this group.
Also, an open and software-driven cellular network designed based on the ORAN paradigm provides an efficient and high-speed platform for practical research. It can take advantage of machine learning in the best way.