European project for next generation MIMO multi-antenna 6G technologies
The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in Spain is coordinating a major project into ultra-MIMO antenna technologies for 6G.
MiFuture (ultra-massive MIMO for future cell-free heterogeneous networks) includes Ericsson, Nokia and Vodafone, along with several leading universities in mobile communications research to develop next generation MIMO multi-antenna technologies for 6G communications.
The challenge is to achieve networks with lower latency and higher data transmission speeds, which will enable innovative applications such as telesurgery, holographic virtual meetings or the use of digital twins, for example.
Fifteen contracts will be funded for researchers to investigate how to evolve the MIMO (multiple input multiple output – multiple transmit and receive antenna systems) technology used in 5G communications to ultra-massive MIMO (UmMIMO) systems for 6G over the next ten years.
“MiFuture will pave the way towards the implementation of heterogeneous cell-free networks with an ultra-massive number of antennas to meet the performance, energy efficiency, positioning accuracy and complexity requirements demanded by the evolution of mobile communications towards 6G”, explains project coordinator Ana García Armada, a professor in UC3M’s Signal Theory and Communications Department.
“We want to address what we consider to be the most important challenges in mobile communications for our society in the next ten years. Specifically, communications with very low latency (the delay that occurs due to the lag between the transmission and reception of information packets, due to propagation and processing, among other things), with very high data rates and with reduced energy costs,” says Armada.
“To address these challenges, it is necessary to work on a series of innovative architecture and technologies, such as Open RAN (a non-proprietary version of the Radio Access Network (RAN), which allows interoperability between equipment from different manufacturers) or to have native AI throughout the network design”, she adds.
The partners include the Instituto de Telecommunicaçoes (Portugal), the University of Tampere (Finland), the University of Lund (Sweden), the University Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain), Ericsson Research (in Finland and Sweden), Vodafone (Spain), Nokia (Poland), Nokia Bell Labs (Finland), Altys Technology (France) and Keysight Technologies Belgium.
Associate partners include Keysight Technologies UK, the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), the NOVA University of Lisbon (Portugal), the University of Aveiro (Portugal) and the University of Coimbra (Portugal).
mifuture.tsc.uc3m.es/index.html
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