Ericsson exec: ‘5G is leading to a fully realized IoT and bringing us closer to a truly connected world’
Ericsson and MIT have made plans to jointly research and design hardware for 5G and 6G mobile networks. Specifically, Ericsson Research and the MIT Materials Research Laboratory are collaborating on Lithionic chips design to improve the compute power, speed and energy efficiency of cognitive networks, as well as hardware advances that could lead to “zero-energy” devices.
Lithionic chips enable neuromorphic computing, which offers exponentially more energy efficient artificial intelligence (AI) processing. This, the pair claim, could enable fully cognitive networks with reduced operation complexity and energy consumption compared to today.
In addition to lithionics-based device research, Ericsson and MIT are researching ways to power the trillions of sensors and other “zero-energy” devices connected to mobile networks. Doing so in cost-efficient way, they argue, is a “significant technology challenge.”
“As energy-efficient connected devices take the next leap forward, we are thrilled to be collaborating with Ericsson to tackle the key technical challenges,” said Anantha P. Chandrakasan, dean of MIT’s School of Engineering. “By combining our knowledge with Ericsson’s expertise in mobile technology, we aim to develop hardware that will power exciting new AI applications on the edge and take significant strides in the next generation of mobile networks.”
The goal of the research is to reveal how devices can harvest energy from radio signals and other sources and discover how systems can be designed to utilize this low power to accomplish simple tasks.
The Head of Ericsson Research Magnus Frodigh commented: “5G is leading to a fully realized IoT and bringing us closer to a truly connected world. Massive amounts of tiny IoT devices and AI-driven, cognitive networks are two drivers of the next leap forward. Working with the brilliant teams at MIT, we hope to develop the hardware that will make that possible.”
