The first national 6G research facility was launched in the U.K. located in the University of Sheffield’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Called the National 6G Radio Systems Facility, the platform will support the delivery of future 6G services and live demonstrations for the next generation wireless capabilities. The facility will also play a role in bringing together academics and industrial partners together to globally develop 6G solutions.
During the launch of the facility, more than 70 academic and industry members were invited including Keysight Technologies, Real Wireless, InterDigital, University of Strathclyde, Neutral Wireless, University of Cambridge and Samsung Research U.K.
The facility will develop many aspects of 6G radio systems like:
- Candidate waveforms
- Baseband and RF signal processing
- Digital acquisition
- Transmitter and receiver RF subsystems
- Over-the-air propagation measurements
Additionally, the facility will be capable of supporting research into 6G radio systems spanning all operating frequency bands such as pioneering bands up to 220 GHz.
What is 6G
6G is the sixth generation of telecommunications technology and the successor to 5G cellular technology. 6G networks will use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide substantially higher capacity and much lower latency.
Because 6G networks will operate on the higher end of the radio spectrum, it is theorized that the peak data rate of 6G could be 1 terabyte per second for wireless data, however, it is too early to know approximate 6G data rates.
6G key equipment will support multiple over-the-air transmissions at once as well as the unification of other technologies inside the infrastructure like mobile edge and core computing. Instead of having to be added directly into existing 5G networks, 6G will feature a combined communications and computation infrastructure framework leading to benefits like improved access to AI capabilities and support for advanced mobile devices and systems.
