Cellular World Congress (MWC) Barcelona is sort of right here once more. Final yr noticed a number of main bulletins on the evolution to 6G, together with a notable joint shared-principles assertion from 10 international locations asserting their intention to “assist open, free, world, interoperable, dependable, resilient, and safe connectivity.”
As a trusted associate in community check, automation, and optimization for over 100 years, VIAVI performs a big position in enabling the event, development and implementation of 6G applied sciences. On this weblog, we’ll have a look at VIAVI’s 6G Ahead program and the way it’s serving to to take 6G from analysis to actuality.
6G Evolution
The launch of 6G is about to considerably enhance on the capabilities of present networks, providing quicker speeds, decrease latencies and higher reliability than 5G. The usual goals to attain knowledge charges of as much as 1 terabyte per second and allow near-instantaneous knowledge transfers for a variety of functions together with autonomous autos, IoT and augmented actuality (AR).
The mixing of synthetic intelligence (AI) and machine studying inside 6G networks- by means of applied sciences akin to VIAVI’s NITRO AIOps will even improve community administration and optimize efficiency.
And whereas it’s nonetheless within the very early phases of growth, organizations and governments have already introduced 6G breakthroughs. Whereas these breakthroughs are thrilling, VIAVI is placing the expertise to the check.
6G Ahead
VIAVI’s 6G Ahead program is main the way in which in 6G innovation, proving applied sciences and delivering transformative options that improve community effectivity, safety, and accessibility. This system is constructed on collaboration and strengthened by 4 pillars of 6G growth.
This system is run by a devoted CTO Crew working alongside VIAVI Marconi Labs® analysis scientists. By way of this system, VIAVI has developed an unmatched understanding within the particular necessities of 6G use instances. This analysis isn’t solely serving to to maneuver 6G ahead; the utilized expertise is built-in into business merchandise, creating pre-specification options for our clients to make use of now.
The VIAVI staff is shaping next-gen expertise. For instance, a brand new ETSI working group, ETSI ISG MAT was formally launched with myself elected as co-vice chair with Bruno Clerckx from Imperial Faculty London and chaired by Dr. David Vargas from the BBC. This group focuses on downlink a number of entry strategies for the 3GPP radio interface. The group’s findings will affect 6G standardization.
This yr, 6G Ahead Analysis has targeted on:
1. Power Environment friendly Neuromorphic Receivers
Synthetic Neural Community (ANN)-based neural receivers changing a number of sign processing blocks by a single NN has appeared as a promising answer to deal with the channel results and {hardware} impairments with larger accuracy. However neural receivers consumes considerably larger energy, resulting in restricted sensible implementations. VIAVI has developed a neuromorphic receivers primarily based on Spiking Neural Networks (SNN) for 6G functions that achieves comparable efficiency to a neural receiver however consumes a fraction of the facility – roughly 90 p.c much less.
These neuromorphic receivers leverage neural community architectures to course of complicated communication indicators and have been designed to adapt dynamically to various channel situations, enhancing sign processing capabilities.
2. AI Beam Administration Expertise
AI and machine learning-based beam administration is among the many most promising applied sciences for 6G and is presently being thought of by the 3GPP as a piece merchandise. To optimize beamforming in next-generation networks, VIAVI’s AI-driven beam administration strategies combine neural networks on the person tools facet. This technique options eight antennas on the transmitter and a single antenna on the receiver, enabling it to establish and choose the optimum beam for downlink transmission. VIAVI’s AI-based methodology delivers the accuracy of full-beam sweeping, however with the halved latency and energy consumption of half sweeping.
3. Semantic Communications for Prolonged Actuality (XR)
6G will present shorter buffering instances with decreased lag for higher prolonged actuality experiences. Due to the sheer quantity of knowledge being moved, it’s critical that solely knowledge that’s actually vital to the person expertise is transmitted. To allow this, VIAVI is creating semantic communication methods that prioritize the transmission of significant knowledge over uncooked knowledge, permitting less-critical info to be compressed and irrelevant knowledge to be discarded.
4. Close to-time Ray Tracing for Community Digital Twin
Ray tracing permits high-fidelity radio propagation emulation for 5G-Superior and 6G community planning and optimization, in addition to for digital twin functions.
VIAVI has developed a near-real-time GPU accelerated ray-tracing expertise, which offers site-specific channel info for communication in addition to sensing use instances, supporting dynamic scene modifications. It helps all propagation mechanisms (line-of-sight, reflection, diffraction, diffuse scattering and penetration) and comes with a complete materials and antenna library, calibrated utilizing subject measurements for frequencies as much as 70 GHz.
VIAVI’s ray tracer helps each outside in addition to indoor environments – akin to dense city landscapes, good factories or stadiums – enabling exact sign evaluation, protection optimization and interference detection. This enables community planning and optimization in a risk-free radio digital twin earlier than bodily deployment, decreasing value whereas bettering efficiency and effectivity. When mixed with VIAVI’s TM500 and TeraVM AI RSG, ray tracing permits a complete community digital twin answer for 5G-advanced and 6G community testing by means of digital drive assessments.
5. Joint Communications and Sensing (JCAS)
JCAS is a candidate expertise for 6G and permits using communication networks for the detection and localization of objects – from drones, robots and autos to static objects akin to bushes and buildings – to develop situational consciousness in autonomous methods and good environments. VIAVI has developed a JCAS testing functionality utilizing the cmWave FR3 (7-24 GHz) band and leveraging our real-time ray tracing software program, with it being efficiently examined in each indoor and outside environments.
6. AI Testing AI
Testing AI algorithms for 6G networks presents new alternatives and new AI-centric KPIs for wi-fi business. The check technique for 6G networks must be redesigned for testing AI-based options. As an example, many of the current AI-based 6G algorithms concentrate on generalizability for some or all the completely different websites / situations / configurations (signal-to-noise ratio, delay, Doppler, channel situations, and so on). Coaching such a generalizable community stays difficult as a result of creating a big sufficient dataset to coach on all potential wi-fi channels in all potential settings is impractical. Even with site-specific re-training, testing the efficiency of the AI algorithms stays a problem.
VIAVI has developed a strategy for AI-based dynamic testcase technology and report creation to streamline the testing means of the 6G AI algorithms with each communication and AI-centric KPIs.
VIAVI at Cellular World Congress 2025
VIAVI will likely be at Cellular World Congress (MWC) Barcelona in 2025 from March 3 by means of 6 at Corridor 5, sales space A18. Click on right here to be taught extra.
Speak to consultants at our sales space and uncover how we might help you develop and plan for 6G’s arrival.
