Key Aspects of 6G Mobile Networks Discussed in Elche

The Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) is hosting a meeting of the European project 6G-SHINE until tomorrow. This is one of the first projects funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe programme for defining future 6G mobile networks. These networks, currently in the research and development phase and in the early stages of standardisation, are expected to be gradually deployed from 2030 onwards.

Among the main innovations introduced by 6G technology are the native integration of artificial intelligence (AI) for autonomous and efficient management of networks and services, greater convergence between communication and computing networks to support new industrial use cases, and the creation of a 'network of networks', which will integrate mobile networks with local sub-networks and non-terrestrial networks.

The participation of UMH in 6G-SHINE is led by professors Javier Gozálvez Sempere and Baldomero Coll Perales, from the Institute of Research in Engineering of Elche (I3E) and the Department of Communications Engineering. According to Professor Gozálvez, UMH's contribution is articulated around two fundamental axes: the management of 6G networks that sustainably integrate connectivity, computing, intelligence, and services; and the development of predictive communication management techniques for deterministic services that require low levels of guaranteed latency.

The project coordinator, Professor Gilberto Berardinelli from Aalborg University (Denmark), emphasises that 6G-SHINE focuses on the development of short-range sub-networks, which will be an integral part of future 6G networks. This project is pioneering in designing key technological components for short-range radio communications, which will be integrated, for example, into robots, industrial production modules, or vehicles.

Thus, it will be possible to replace wired intra-vehicle connections with wireless links and interconnect vehicles with 6G networks and their computing capabilities, which is essential for the development of Software Defined Vehicles (SDV) and autonomous driving. The integration of 6G wireless sub-networks in industrial environments will allow greater flexibility and reconfiguration capacity, as well as direct connection with edge or cloud nodes for high-demand services and the development of digital twins.

6G sub-networks will also facilitate the development of extended reality (XR) and immersive applications, for example, in educational or gaming environments. 6G networks will enable the seamless interconnection of devices, communication networks with distributed computing capacity (edge computing), and the cloud (cloud computing), thus creating a device-network-cloud continuum.

This will facilitate the dynamic distribution of tasks and processes among different nodes, improve service quality, reduce latency, and promote a more efficient and sustainable use of communication and computing resources.

In this context, the UMH team has developed pioneering solutions to distribute tasks in the continuum and manage communication and computing resources, ensuring deterministic service levels, that is, with guaranteed latencies, which is key for critical industrial services.

Furthermore, UMH has developed AI-based solutions to predict traffic demand in 6G sub-networks and allocate communication resources to ensure these service levels.

UMH also coordinates the work package related to scenarios, use cases, and requirements, and Professor Coll Perales leads the consortium's representation in the European working group of the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS-JU), responsible for defining the vision and harmonising the architecture of future 6G networks, including the local communication sub-networks developed in 6G-SHINE.

The European project 6G-SHINE (6G Short range extreme communication IN Entities, https://6gshine.eu/) has a budget of 5 million euros and is co-financed by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe programme and the European Smart Network and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS-JU). Alongside UMH and Aalborg University (Denmark), the consortium includes Apple Technology Engineering B.V.; Co. KG (Germany), Sony Nordic (Sweden), Nokia Solutions and Networks (Denmark), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Consorzio Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni (Italy); Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS (Germany), Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (Belgium), Interdigital Europe LTD (United Kingdom), Keysight (Finland), and Cogninn (Greece).