- The first national 6G research facility in the UK has been launched at the University of Sheffield
- 6G is the next generation of telecommunications technology and has fast become a strategically important area for research and development
- The new facility will bring together academics and industry, giving them the specialist equipment needed to innovate and support the delivery of future 6G services
The launch event was attended by over 70 attendees from academia and industry and included talks from Keysight Technologies, Real Wireless, InterDigital, the University of Strathclyde and Neutral Wireless, the University of Cambridge, the University of Sheffield and its Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), and the former Vice President of Communications Research at Samsung Research UK.
The attendees also had the opportunity to tour the new facility, view exhibits, posters and see the live demonstrations from the AMRC Northwest, demonstrating next generation wireless capabilities.
Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the facility will play a key role in driving innovation in 6G by bringing together academics and industrial partners and giving them the specialist equipment needed to collaborate and develop globally leading 6G solutions.
The new national centre, based in the University’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, will establish a vibrant 6G research community in the UK and support the delivery of future 6G services.
6G is the next generation of telecommunications technology and has fast become a strategically important area for research and development. Our new National 6G Facility will play a huge role in developing the UK’s 6G capabilities; it will enable the UK’s Universities and telecommunications industry to compete on a global scale and provide a unique experimental platform for researching and testing both current and future radio systems.”
Professor Timothy O'Farrell, Professor of Wireless Communication at the University of Sheffield, who will direct the new facility
The Facility was developed in partnership with Keysight, a strategic partner of the facility, and is based on cutting-edge Keysight instruments and software.
Keysight is excited to collaborate with the University of Sheffield and build upon our leadership and expertise to make the vision of 6G a reality. With Keysight's advanced instruments and software forming the foundation of the new National 6G Facility, we are playing an active role in accelerating 6G research and enabling the UK to be at the forefront of global 6G research. As we approach the next generation of mobile communications, the urgency and focus on creating value is higher than ever. The ‘Next G’ brings with it some high expectations for both higher performance but also greater inclusion, sustainability, security, support for IoT, as well as ‘Native AI’.”
Dr Mark Pierpoint, Vice President of Strategic Innovations and Partnerships at Keysight,
The facility will enable world-leading research into many aspects of 6G radio systems, including candidate waveforms, baseband and RF signal processing, digital acquisition, transmitter and receiver RF sub-systems and over-the-air (OTA) propagation measurements. It will be capable of supporting research into 6G radio systems spanning all of the operating frequency bands - from sub-6GHz to sub-THz - including the 6G pioneering bands up to 220GHz.
Importantly, its key equipment will support multiple over-the-air transmissions at once, facilitating research into novel advanced radio systems. This leading-edge set-up will place the UK at the forefront of global research into 6G radio systems.