The 6G-TWIN consortium includes partners such as Ericsson, Proximus and Viavi
The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) confirmed it will coordinate a project, dubbed 6G-TWIN, on future 6G mobile networks which will be funded by the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) under the Horizon Europe program.
Established by the European Commission in 2021, SNS JU serves as a foundation for fostering the growth of intelligent communication components, systems and networks.
“Each generation of mobile technology takes roughly a decade to evolve from conception to commercial deployment,” said Sébastien Faye, 6G-TWIN project coordinator. “Starting from the first generations, which brought basic cellular connectivity, through 5G, which facilitates revolutionary applications like connected and automated mobility, each iteration introduces new capabilities to meet a demand that is continually growing. Networks are becoming increasingly complex and distributed, requiring a large variety of technologies to operate. With 6G, which is now on the horizon for around 2030, it is essential to design, experiment and standardize new network architectures with more intelligence and automation – which is what we will be proposing in this project.”
Faye also noted that the 6G-TWIN consortium “will explore the concept of Network Digital Twinning (NDT) and its integration into future 6G systems.”
“6G will enable real-time interaction between physical networks and these digital copies, with the aim of optimizing various parameters, anticipating failures, improving energy efficiency and so on, thus paving the way for highly efficient and intelligent networks,” he added.
The 6G-TWIN consortium is made up of multiple partners, ranging from universities and research centers (IMEC, Politecnico di Bari, Technische Universität Dresden, Université de Bourgogne) to SMEs (Accelleran, Research to Market Solution France, Ubiwhere) and large industrial entities (Ericsson, Araştırma Geliştirme ve Bilişim Hizmetleri A.Ş., Proximus Luxembourg, Viavi Solutions). Proximus Luxembourg and Telindus, are the local companies participating in this initiative.
The 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA) and the 5G Media Action Group (5G-MAG) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the main aim of collaborating on topics of mutual interest in the field of next-generation communication networks, systems and applications.
In a joint release, the two entities noted that this MoU would enable the exchange of information on joint activities, participation in workshops, meetings or webinars and insight into research projects and trials.
6G-IA has a wide range of activities, including “beyond 5G” (B5G) and 6G research, pre-standardization activities, policy and regulatory issues, 5G and 6G frequency concepts, international collaboration and verticals’ engagement to shape next-generation industrial use cases.
The main aim of the 6G-IA is to contribute to Europe’s leadership on 5G, 5G evolution and SNS/6G research, the organization said. The 6G-IA represents the private side in both the 5G Public Private Partnership (5G-PPP) and the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU). In the 5G-PPP and SNS JU, the European Commission represents the public side.
