Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

6G haRdware Enablers For cEll fRee cohEreNt Communications & sEnsing

Project description

Sustainable solutions for future 6G distributed radios

To meet the demands of urban areas and population densification, 6G technology must embrace sustainable solutions while introducing disruptive capabilities like the realisation of the Internet of Sense. However, these systems face challenges, including the need for precise synchronisation among distributed radio units, efficient fronthaul data distribution, integration of sensing capabilities, development of low-complexity, low-cost, low-consumption radios, and coexistence with other services. The EU-funded 6G-REFERENCE project will address these challenges by developing integrated circuit and antenna component solutions for future 6G distributed radios. It will design a new synchronisation framework based on full-duplex technology, explore the integration of environmental sensors with antennas, and develop novel array solutions for spatial super-resolution. The project will also establish dynamic filtering techniques to ensure efficient spectrum coexistence.

Objective

In urban areas, 6G will need to rely on a sustainable solution to cope with the ever-increasing traffic demands and population densification, while providing disruptive capabilities like the materialization of the internet of sense. The solution envisioned by 6G-REFERENCE consist of ultra-dense cell-free deployments for joint coherent communications and sensing at cm-waves, which balance the benefits of sub-6GHz (e.g. reduced pathloss) and mm-wave (e.g. wide bandwidth) ranges. These systems face five fundamental challenges: (i) the need of accurate synchronization among distributed radio units; (ii) fronthaul data distribution; (iii) integration of sensing capabilities; (iv) low complexity/cost/consumption radios; and (v) coexistence with other services. 6G-REFERENCE will develop integrated circuit and antenna component solutions addressing all of them. It will design frequency/time synchronization circuits and a new continuous synchronization framework based on full-duplex. Indeed, full-duplex enabling solutions will be developed targeting such scheme as well as efficient fronthaul data distribution among cascaded radio units, and for enabling integrated monostatic radar sensing. Besides these, on the sensing domain, 6G-REFERENCE will explore environmental sensors integrated in the antenna estates, reuse the synchronization framework for accurate localization, and develop new array solutions like frequency modulation providing spatial superesolution at a contained cost and power consumption. The latter will be also targeted by time modulated arrays providing efficient single-RF chain multibeam operation as well as reconfigurable intelligent surfaces extending the capabilities of small FMA/TMA arrays. Finally, dynamic IF and antenna filtering will be developed to enable efficient spectrum coexistence schemes. The ultimate goal of 6G-REFERENCE is to develop hardware enablers that could end up constituting a reference design of future 6G distributed radios.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-JU-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and Innovation Actions

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-SNS-2023

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

CENTRE TECNOLOGIC DE TELECOMUNICACIONS DE CATALUNYA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 553 542,00
Address
AVINGUDA CARL FRIEDRICH GAUSS 7 PARC MEDITERRANI DE TECNOLOGIA
08860 Castelldefels Barcelona
Spain

See on map

Region
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 559 302,50

Participants (6)

Partners (3)

My booklet 0 0