The project started with a six-month phase that encompassed the definition of the scenarios, use cases and the general requirements to be fulfilled by future 5G communication platforms. Then, the derived general requirements were particularized for each one of the four technology areas being addressed in Flex5Gware: RF front-ends and antennas, mixed-signal technologies, digital front-ends, and SW modules and functions. After the first six months and until the end of the project, the core activity of Flex5Gware took place as the eleven proofs-of-concept (PoC) were prototyped based on the technology developments carried out in each one of the four technology areas.
In terms of main results achieved at the end of the action, Flex5Gware had outstanding achievements in all its PoCs. In particular, (i) an increase in the HW versatility and reconfigurability was achieved mainly via building blocks than enable multiband operation for bands below 6 GHz and the ability to work at mmWave bands; (ii) HW-agnostic, flexible and cost-effective building blocks for SW platforms were designed and developed thanks to a SW architecture that supports changing the communication operation parameters across multiple devices in real-time, based on the estimated context and (iii) building blocks of 5G communication platforms showcased an increase in the overall achievable capacity and/or a reduction in the overall energy consumed with respect to prior art.
As a short summary of the dissemination activities carried out, the outcomes of Flex5Gware have been published in 15 contributions to standardization bodies, 24 contributions in book chapters, journals, and whitepapers, 38 papers in conference/workshop proceedings and participation in 5 exhibition events (Fig. 1). It is also worth pointing out that important dissemination activities of the Flex5Gware project were also channeled through the participation in joint 5G PPP-organized/supported activities. Finally, regarding the exploitation plans of Flex5Gware results, for large industry partners and SMEs, their main contributions are directly aligned with internal R&D strategies and the outcomes are going to be used in future generation of products. For academic partners (research centres and universities), the project outcomes will pave the way for their future research, based on prototyping of research ideas in a credible, industry driven proof of concept.
