Advances in artificial intelligence, 6G/5G networks and their applicability in connected and autonomous mobility, public protection and disaster relief services.
From February 27 to March 2, Barcelona will be again the world capital of technology and innovation. The Centre Tecnològic de Telecommunications de Catalunya (CTTC) will participate as an exhibitor to the Mobile World Congress in the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona.
The CTTC showcases three demos in its booth. First, a prototype of 6G communications powered by artificial intelligence developed by the 6G-AINA project will be presented. The demo illustrates how two terminals accessing a network simultaneously adjust in real-time their transmit signals so as to minimize mutual interference. This results into increased reliability and data rates for both terminals. This demo includes a 3D holography of the transmitted signals for visualization purposes. The second demo revolves around joint management and orchestration of distributed computing resources and it stems from the European 5G-ROUTES project. This has a direct application in automated driving scenarios allowing, for instance, seamless cross-border service continuity. The third demo, developed by the 5GMediaHUB project, focuses on the development of a platform that operates on top of the communications infrastructure and allows third parties to develop network applications (NetApps) in a secure and efficient manner.
In recent years, CTTC has become a key player in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for communication systems, this allowing for a more flexible resource management and optimization in 5G and 6G networks, as well as faster deployment of new vertical services. Those solutions target both terrestrial and satellite communications technologies and they have been developed through their participation in numerous international Horizon Europe/2020 projects and technology transfer contracts with the industry.
At this year’s Mobile World Congress, the Center will present selected project results on the use of AI. In the 6GBLUR project, for instance, AI tools have been developed to jointly and efficiently manage communication, computing, storage and energy resources in disaggregated open mobile networks (e.g., OpenRAN). Complementarily, the SliceOPS project addresses explainability aspects in the decisions made by the AI mechanisms in network slicing and resource management tasks. Such information is relevant in use cases (e.g., automated driving) where inadequate network operation may have an ethical or economic impact (e.g., vehicle collisions). Also, via a direct contract with NOKIA, the CTTC investigates in the EmMAC project how AI can help network equipment (terminals, base stations, etc.) learn optimized communication protocols without human intervention. The extension of the use of AI techniques to satellite networks is being carried out in the AROMA-3D and 6G-NTN projects. These two projects are tasked with the design of a unified radio interface for both terrestrial and non-terrestrial (satellites, drones, high-altitude platforms) networks. A proof of concept with real satellite and terrestrial network equipment is planned for the next year.
Other particularly relevant Horizon Europe projects where CTTC is involved include the HEXA-X-II flagship project which is led by Nokia and brings together 44 companies, universities and research centers. The objective is to design a complete 6G communications system with a view to its standardization and implementation. Complementarily, in the European projects 5G-EPICENTRE and DARLENE, the feasibility of using advanced 5G networks for emergency and public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) applications, typically exhibiting very stringent requirements, is being investigated. DARLENE explores how PPDR services can benefit from the use of virtual, augmented and extended reality (AR/VR/XR) techniques. Along the same lines, the CTTC has an industrial contract with META on advanced 5G network optimization techniques for a massive use of AR/VR/XR techniques. To that aim, it counts with the 5G-LENA open-source network simulator which is developed by the CTTC. 5G-LENA turns out to be the most used simulator by the academic and industrial communities around the world to simulate large-scale mobile networks. This is exemplified by the many other contracts the CTTC has with e.g., the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST), the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL), or Interdigital where 5G-LENA has been used or further developed.
Finally, in the last year the CTTC has led and very actively participated in international standardization fora. For example, the CTTC chairs the TeraFlowSDN group at ETSI (European Telecommunications Standard Institute). This group has just completed the second release of its cloudified software for virtualized transport networks.
Visit us at the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona. We are exhibiting at Congress Square, Hall 210, Booth 19.