6G program drives academic and industry research

Viavi Solutions Inc supports 6G academic and industry research worldwide via its new 6G Forward program. The program is intended to offer vital expertise, technology, and funding to promising avenues of research, which could lead to breakthroughs for the next generation of wireless technology. It has already supported three universities, Northeastern University and the University of Texas at Austin in the US and the University of Surrey in the UK.

At Northeastern University, it supports the Institute for Wireless Internet of Things and the Open6G cooperative research centre led by Professor Tommaso Melodia. The group explores large-scale RF propagation channel modelling based on AI and ML technologies to develop a city-scale digital twin of a 6G network. The team is also developing a RIC-enabled Massive MIMO beamforming optimisation testbed employing the Colosseum 256-port RF channel emulator and the VIAVI E500 UE Emulator.

At the University of Texas at Austin, the company supports 6G@UT, led by Professor Jeff Andrews, within the Wireless Networking and Communications Group. The key topic of the joint research is applying end-to-end machine learning, specifically deep reinforcement learning, utilising adversarial conditions to re-train more robust cellular traffic forecasters.

At the University of Surrey in the UK, it is a founding member of the 5G/6G Innovation Centre led by Regius Professor Rahim Tafazolli, FREng. The Innovation Centre manages advanced communication systems and the key challenges in developing a 5G, 5G+ and 6G infrastructure to provide connectivity for future technologies. Key research areas include Antennas and signal processing; AI for wireless communications; Intelligent and high-performance networking and service delivery; Intelligent RAN technology and management; Mobile network security; New physical layer; Satellite communications; THz components and communications, all under future Integrated communication and sensing.

“Academic institutions play a vital role in exploring the potential of 6G,” said Dr. Ian Wong, CTO Office, VIAVI. “We believe it is important to get involved now and to allow disruptive and productive areas of research to see their ideas come to fruition ahead of formal standards definitions. We have had fascinating and beneficial exchanges with our academic partners, and we hope to expand the scale of the program in the future.”