The European Commission has awarded funding to the Hexa-X project as part of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program: a significant step towards bringing together all key stakeholders in the sector across Europe to take the lead in advancing 6G. These stakeholders represent the entire value chain of future connectivity solutions, from network providers, communications service providers, technology providers, and vertical markets, to leading European institutes in the field of communications research.
The Hexa-X project will attempt to connect the physical, human, and digital worlds, firmly grounded in future research on architecture and wireless technology. Wireless technologies are currently fundamental to society and the economy, and their importance will continue to grow with 5G and its evolution, bringing with it new ecosystems and services.
Nokia has been at the forefront of commercializing every generation of wireless technology, from the first GSM call to the highest-performing 4G networks and the world's fastest 5G speeds. Nokia Bell Labs, Nokia's globally recognized industrial research center, has pioneered many of the fundamental technological innovations currently used in the development of 5G standards. These include Massive MIMO technology, access to millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands, 5G radio stack encoding and design, which enabled the initial deployment of 3GPP Release 15. Nokia Bell Labs is also developing enablers for the upcoming 3GPP Releases 16 and 17, which will be key to the digital transformation of vertical markets, such as 5G New Radio (NR) in unlicensed spectrum bands, and NR-Light for massive IoT support with medium-speed sensors and location devices.
Building on this strong legacy, Nokia is leading the joint research and pre-standardization process for 6G, while Nokia Bell Labs is already investigating the essential technologies that will make up 6G. Nokia expects 6G systems to be released to the market by 2030, following the usual 10-year cycle between each generation.
Peter Vetter, Director of Access and Devices Research at Nokia Bell Labs, stated: “Even though there are still many innovations in 5G with the release of new standards, we are already exploring 6G in our research lab. In the 6G era, we will see applications that not only connect humans to machines, but also connect them to the digital world. 6G networks will possess a sixth sense that will intuitively understand our intentions, making our interactions with the physical world more efficient and anticipating our needs, thus significantly increasing our productivity.”
Nokia Bell Labs, together with the Hexa-X consortium, has identified six research challenges that need to be addressed to lay the technological foundations for 6G wireless systems:
• Connected intelligence: Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies must be an essential and reliable tool that produces greater efficiency and service experience for humans
• Network of networks: Various types of resources must be aggregated to create a stronger, more capable, smarter, and more heterogeneous digital ecosystem that ultimately generates a unique network of networks
• Sustainability: Energy-optimized digital infrastructure that enables a lower environmental impact of ICT globally and the creation of effective and sustainable digitization tools for global industry, society, and policymakers
• Global service coverage: Effective and affordable solutions for global service coverage, connecting remote locations
• Extreme experience: Maximum bit rates, extremely low (imperceptible) latencies, seemingly infinite capacity, and accuracy in location and detection using sensors
• Reliability: Ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of communications and data privacy Operational resilience and security.
In addition to participating in the Hexa-X project, Nokia is actively involved in other European 6G research initiatives, such as 6Genesis, a national 6G program founded by the Academy of Finland and led by the University of Oulu, and Horizon Europe Smart Networks and Services, which aims to ensure European leadership in the development and deployment of next-generation network technologies and services, while accelerating the digitalization of European industry.
The Hexa-X project will begin on January 1, 2021, and is expected to last 2.5 years. Nokia is the project leader for Hexa-X and is working closely with a strong consortium of European partners.
