Page 101 - SAMENA Trends - Jan-Mar 2024

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

DOCOMO and NTT Team Up with SK Telecom and Rohde & Schwarz for 6G

Research

There is little doubt that 6G is still many years from commercial re- gave further detail, describing the collaboration as focusing on de-
ality, but interest in the nascent technology is nonetheless growing veloping a ‘6G AI-native air interface (AI-AI), a critical next-gener-
steadily throughout the telecoms ecosystem. This week, Japanese ation technology that could greatly boost network performance
telecoms giants NTT DOCOMO and NTT have announced that their while increasing energy efficiency’. This includes created a future
pool of 6G research partners is growing, with South Korean opera- proof-of-concept for 6G AI-AI systems, which can then be tested
tor SK Telecom and electronics testing specialist Rohde & Schwarz under real-world conditions. “For Nokia to create a world-class 6G
stepping into the fold. The new partners will help collaborate on system, it’s critical we get input from the service providers that
various 6G trials currently taking place in Japan focused on ex- will one day deploy 6G. SKT, NTT and DOCOMO are among the
ploring potential frequency bands for the new technology. More most innovative service providers in the world, which gives us the
specifically, SK Telcom will join an existing trial by DOCOMO, NTT, perfect partners to design the networks of the future,” explained
and Nokia aiming to explore the use of AI to “tailor radio interfaces Peter Vetter, President of Bell Labs Core Research at Nokia. Giv-
for various propagation environments”. A press release from Nokia en SK Telecom’s ambition of transforming from a telco to an AI
company, their interest in this project with Nokia and the Japanese
operators is hardly surprising. Rohde & Schwarz, meanwhile, will
use their measurement-system design technology to evaluate
wireless-sensing solutions in real-world environments. DOCOMO
and NTT are already conducting various 6G spectrum trials with
Fujitsu, NEC, Nokia, Ericsson, and Keysight Technologies, aiming
to play a integral role in the development and standardization of
the 6G technology. Nokia, for example, has already conducted
successful beamforming trials in the 140GHz band, with the next
steps set to explore more specific applications using sub-terahertz
spectrum in indoor environment. Fujitsu, on the other hand, has
been trialing distributed MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output)
technology in the 100GHz and 300GHz bands.

China is Testing 6G Technology in Space

6G connectivity is far from commercialization, but that is not a lower height, these satellites can deliver optimized data transfer
stopping nations from carrying out a series of tests to gain an speeds and low latency, compared to other satellites that travel at
edge against other competing regions. Samsung, for instance, 36,000 kilometers. This hardware can provide a steady ground for
has been conducting tests of a similar nature, but this standard future integrated space and ground networks, addressing issues
is not expected to go mainstream until 2030. Similarly, China such as coverage reliability while also exploring the possibility of
Mobile does not see a 6G launch anytime soon, but that has not offering higher bandwidth satellite internet services globally. China
stopped the carrier from performing its own benchmarks through Mobile intends to conduct more in-orbit tests but has not provided
a satellite launch. China Mobile’s 6G satellite will be orbiting at a a launch timeline for the 6G standard. As it stands, the successor
height of just 500 kilometers and will be intended to deliver high to 5G is not slated to arrive before several years, but that does not
data transfer rates at a lower latency There is no official name of mean that extensive testing cannot be carried out to prepare for
the 6G satellite, but China Daily reports that it is the world’s first the future.
low-earth orbit test satellite to employ 6G connectivity. Before its
inception, another satellite was launched by China Mobile, which
supported the 5G standard. The latest one was developed thanks
to the tag team of the carrier and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’
Innovation Academy for Microsatellites. The satellite supports
various autonomous features specifically designed to drive 6G.
Both the software and hardware have reportedly been developed
domestically, supporting in-orbit software reconstruction,
flexible deployment of core network functions, and automated
management. According to China Mobile, all of these features
combined allow for an efficient and reliable in-orbit operation of
the satellite core network. The 6G test satellite operates at an orbit
height of just 500 kilometers, and the reason for that is simple. At

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