With 6G standardization work officially underway, Qualcomm is working to make its R&D work a commercial reality
As the world begins shaping the 6G era, Qualcomm is taking a dual-track approach: building on the strengths of 5G while pursuing transformative new capabilities. During an interview at Mobile World Congress, Qualcomm SVP of Engineering and Global Head of Wireless Research John Smee laid out the company’s blueprint for 6G, bringing to light both evolutionary and revolutionary ideas. On the evolutionary side, Qualcomm is driving innovation in spectrum efficiency and network reach. But in parallel, the company is exploring a revolutionary vision of networks that are intelligent, perceptive, and adaptive—from digital replicas of the physical world to AI embedded directly in the air interface.
At the heart of 6G’s evolution lies Qualcomm’s effort to maximize the value of currently deployed spectrum, and spectrum expected to be made available for 6G. For coverage, this means enhancing performance in sub-2 GHz FDD bands and standardizing integration between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks (NTN) to enable ubiquitous connectivity. “We’re bringing a lot of innovation into those lower spectrum bands,” Smee said, emphasizing uplink performance for a world increasingly driven by user-generated content. “And, at the same time, [we’re] making sure we’re doing the standards work necessary to have that integration between terrestrial and non-terrestrial” networks, he added.
On the capacity front, Qualcomm is scaling up 5G’s massive MIMO for mid-band spectrum into “Giga-MIMO,” targeting upper mid-band spectrum (6–8 GHz) to dramatically increase antenna density and improve beamforming. Smee also took on operators’ desire to reuse existing infrastructure as a cost-effective transiton path to 6G. “You’re going to leverage your existing footprint on the network side, and yet you’re moving to an even higher frequency with this Giga-MIMO…That’s going to be really important to bring more capacity into 6G.”
Where 5G relied heavily on simulation and statistical modeling, 6G will be built and optimized using real-time, high-fidelity digital twins. Qualcomm’s vision involves creating precise, 3D models of the network and physical environment—tools that go far beyond planning exercises to become part of the network’s operational fabric.
At its San Diego headquarters, Qualcomm has deployed an Open RAN development platform that includes service management and orchestration (SMO) and RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) capabilities. This is paired with an advanced network digital twin that uses AI to perform end-to-end, closed loop optimizations.
Big picture on network digital twins, Smee described a dual role in enabling new services and enhancing network operations.“On one hand it could be enabling a new service…[and] it enables the network itself to optimize itself better because it has a better understanding of the environment. So we see it as a kind of two-sided: operations side and also an interesting use case in and of itself.”
Another revolutionary step is treating the network as not just a communications system, but also as a sensing system. Qualcomm is building on 5G’s wideband signaling to enable RF-based sensing applications—tracking drones, mapping environments, and performing radar-like functions using communications waveforms. “We’re designing 6G to ensure the waveform can do positioning, can do ranging,” said Smee. Integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) sets the stage for situational awareness, safety applications, and entirely new types of services where the network sees and responds to the physical world in real time.
Smee explained that ensuring the waveform supports sensing is the “integrated part of sensing and communication.” He added: “It also opens this new door that…once the network is able to do that sensing of the environment, it can leverage technologies like sub-band full duplex so it can be listening as well as transmitting on the network side, and get that RF signature. For us it’s a really interesting one.”
With AI gradually being brought into 5G, a key goal for 6G is to make AI part of the network’s DNA. Qualcomm’s AI-native vision means AI isn’t just running on endpoints or in the cloud—it’s embedded into devices, the RAN, and the air interface itself. This allows for new performance enhancements, including better channel state feedback, end-to-end traffic optimization, and dynamic security protocols. “It’s not just about having AI in the device and the network,” Smee noted. “It’s about AI being baked into the specification of how devices and networks communicate.”
“It’s interesting how AI is an application, it’s part of the toolbox for any engineer today, and it’s also something that, from a standards standpoint, we can bring AI directly into the standard.”
Qualcomm’s 6G research shows a network that evolves smartly while revolutionizing deeply. With its roots in improved spectrum use and its branches in digital twins, ISAC, and AI-native architecture, 6G will be more than a faster, better network—it will be an intelligent, adaptive infrastructure for the future of connectivity.
