Nokia said the new 6G facility will be located at its Global R&D facilities in Bangalore
Finnish vendor Nokia has established a 6G lab at its Global R&D center in Bangalore, India, the company said in a release.
Nokia explained that the main aim of the new initiative is to accelerate the development of fundamental technologies and innovative use cases underpinned by future 6G technology.
The lab will operate as a platform for collaboration for industry stakeholders and facilitate the testing of innovative solutions, Nokia said.
The 6G lab includes a setup to research “network as a sensor” technology that enables the network to sense objects, people and movement without the need for on-board sensors. According to the European vendor, network-as-a-sensor has been identified as a key enabling technology in the 6G era that supports the vision of bringing the digital and physical worlds together. Nokia said that sensing will be fully integrated into the wireless network and operate simultaneously with communication services.
Nokia also highlighted that it is currently engaged in a number of global projects and regional initiatives with industry peers, customers academia, and research institutions aimed at the development of future 6G systems. Some of the projects include 6G Hexa-X and Hexa-X-II, the first and second phase of the European 6G Flagship project. Nokia is also a founding member of the Next G Alliance which is helping to drive the 6G ecosystem in North America and coordinating the German Lighthouse project 6G ANNA.
“The inauguration of the Nokia 6G research lab in Bengaluru is another step towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of making India an innovation hub. Interesting use cases coming out of this lab will be related to transportation safety, health care and education which will be another big contribution in the entire Digital India suite,” said India’s Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Nokia also said its experts at its Bengaluru center will support India’s ambition to make notable contributions towards global 6G technology standards. Nokia noted is in the process of building research collaborations with premier research institutes in India like IISc/IITs.
Nokia’s 6G lab supports the Government of India’s “Bharat 6G Vision,” introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that envisions a key global role for India in the standardization, development and implementation of 6G technology.
Earlier this year, the government of India unveiled a national 6G project with the aim of launching this technology by 2030. 6G has not yet been standardized, but research and development of candidate technologies and spectrum is well underway.
The main aim of the country’s 6G initiative is to identify and fund research and deployment of the next-generation technology in the country.
Last month, ATIS’ Next G Alliance (NGA) and India’s Bharat 6G Alliance signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore collaboration opportunities on 6G wireless technologies.
The main aim of the collaboration is to align research and development priorities that support a “common 6G vision” and to create secure and trusted telecommunications as well as resilient supply chains, the partners said.
