TERAhertz integrated systems enabling 6G Terabit-per-second ultra-massive MIMO wireless networks

Project Information

TERA6G

Grant agreement ID: 101096949

DOI

10.3030/101096949

EC signature date 21 November 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

€ 6 133 004,91

EU contribution

€ 5 892 962,55

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDAD CARLOS III DE MADRID
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TERA6G (TERAhertz integrated systems enabling 6G Terabit-per-second ultra-massive MIMO wireless networks)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

TERA6G (TERAhertz integrated systems enabling 6G Terabit-per-second ultra-massive MIMO wireless networks) is a HORIZON EUROPE project funded by the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) under the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 101096949.

The main goal of this project is to develop a new generation of wireless transceivers with Terabit-per-second data throughput capacity combining the use of carrier frequencies above 100 GHz and massive Multiple-Input/Multiple-Output (mMIMO) multi-antenna techniques to unlock the Fiber-over-the-air Concept. Key aspects of these transceivers are:

1) Frequency agility, providing ultra-wide bandwidth (up to 30 GHz per channel to handle any modulation scheme) and continuous frequency tuning of the carrier frequency from 30 GHz to 450 GHz, reaching into the Terahertz (THz) range.

2) Scalable transceivers based on combination of chiplets to increase the number of beams (spatial multiplexing) and frequency channels (frequency multiplexing), enabling Multiple-Input/Multiple-Output (MIMO) techniques. These communications resources will be managed by the network to match the transmission capacity with the user demand at every instant.

3) Reconfigurable transceivers, exploiting TERA6G modules frequency agility and number of available wireless pencil-beams to unlock implementing a variety of functions, from wireless data transmission to channel sounding and radar ranging.

TERA6G consortium consists of 10 partners from 5 European countries (Spain, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland) which together bring the experience from various H2020 projects. Among those partners, there are 3 SMEs (LioniX International, PHIX, Cumucore), 1 industry-oriented research institute (Fraunhofer HHI), 2 large companies (Telefónica, Intracom Telecom) and 4 academic organizations (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, National Technical University Athens, University of Piraeus and University Oulu).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

TERA6G progress within RP1 aimed to securing the success of the most critical advances of the project, namely:

A) Definition of TERA6G Target Scenarios: The consortium has analysed different use cases for the targeted technology, defining two application scenarios and key reference use cases, including their set of requirements to drive system design.

B) Development of disruptive wireless transceivers: The consortium is progressing towards achieving the design freeze of the first generation of wireless transceivers based on hybrid photonic integration technology to achieve a 2D antenna array with beamforming and beam-steering. This will enable unlocking Multiple-Input/Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems generating and controlling multiple wireless pencil-beams capable of handling large number of beams with the final specifications. Facing the final specifications allowed us to address the full complexity of chip, leading to crucial decisions on module architecture, as well as starting key experimental validation to address design issues on antenna design and injection locking schemes.


C) Development of an end-to-end orchestrated communication network: Exploiting the wireless transceivers control, the consortium is progressing in the definition of network functions introducing network slicing functionality. We aim to dynamic management of the multi-beam wireless system resources through fully programmable end-to-end orchestrated communication networks to achieve energy efficiency adapting the network capacity to the needs at every instant.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The consortium is addressing on of the key bottlenecks in 6G, which is the development of software-controlled millimeter-wave phase arrays​ with high gain (above 40 dBi).

A patent for a new approach was submitted. Recently, we received the response from the European Patent Office, who presented patents which proposed a similar approach for other applications.

Outlook of TERA6G 6G network use cases