TThe 6GTandem project will demonstrate ultra-high-capacity coverage, off-load of lower frequency bands and new services such as sub-cm resolution sensing and positioning in high traffic areas by adding sub-THz carriers to lower frequency bands in a seamless, tightly coordinated fashion. The two frequency bands will form a network collaborating and supporting each other in a “tandem” configuration enabling an introduction of high capacity, energy efficient, sub-THz enabled services, while mitigating known drawbacks of the sub-THz frequency bands such as susceptibility to line-of-sight blockage, coverage, and cost. Deployment will be addressed through the introduction of a thin and light dielectric waveguide to distribute a sub-THz RF signal through a daisy chain of integrated low-power antenna units, referred to as a “radio stripe”. We will demonstrate the use of lower, sub-10 GHz frequency bands to support the sub-THz band with resilience and coverage and the implementation of a distributed MIMO system to extend the coverage of the sub-THz band as well as offering capacities in the order of Tbps system throughput. We will demonstrate the possibility to implement local fronthaul solutions for added sub-10GHz access points using the high bandwidth of sub-THz radio stripes. Key elements for 6GTandem: - A system defining an ‘aligned tandem’ dual-frequency distributed MIMO architecture - Medium-aware waveforms, transmission schemes and communication strategies for energy-efficient operation and development of cross-layer solutions to offer required service levels on the novel dual-frequency infrastructure - Novel, “radio stripe” hardware including transceivers at 130GHz-175GHz, packaging, integration, and plastic waveguide for a low-cost, easy-deployable sub-THz infrastructure - Conception of a combined low-frequency and sub-THz distributed MIMO system supporting joint high-resolution sensing, high-accuracy positioning, and high-resilience and reliability communication.

The 6GStart project will facilitate the preparation activities of the European Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) Initiative. This work will maintain the European momentum and leadership in 5G achieved through the 5G PPP and carry it forward to the new 6G SNS JU. It will bring the relevant players together to prepare the SNS JU by building on the work done to date in the 5G PPP. This approach will contribute significantly to Europe having a leading role in the definition, provision, and exploitation of 6G by 2030. The 6GStart project will ensure the inter-project collaboration structures and mechanisms will be established and in place by the time the first phase projects of the SNS JU start. As such, the 6GStart project will ensure the fast launch of the new SNS partnership and the availability of an efficient operational infrastructure for the inter-SNS-project coordination. The infrastructure for the 50+ ongoing 5G PPP projects will also be supported. The 6GStart Project will also orchestrate collaborations, and capture and promote the achievements of the new 6G SNS initiative and the ongoing 5G PPP by facilitating their activities in inter-project working groups and maintaining links to the NetworldEurope community and the 5G-IA membership. The 6GStart project will support the running of two editions of the EuCNC&6G Summit events in 2023 and 2024, as well as assisting the organisation of the Global 5G/6G events based on the inter-regional MoUs managed by the 5G IA, contributing to the strategy of promoting the European achievements in the wider ICT sector.

The COREnext project aims to build a computing architecture and digital components for sustainable and trustworthy B5G and 6G processing. This architecture must support an open, multi-vendor and multi-tenant disaggregated RAN by employing virtualization technology. A step forward in digital component design must be made to address the compute throughput and energy-efficiency requirements. This is addressed by the development of powerful and efficient heterogeneous accelerators, purpose-built for RAN computation and signal processing, as well as ultra-high-speed and low-power interconnects to support disaggregation of compute resources. A cornerstone of the project is trustworthiness. The pervasiveness of B5G and 6G use cases requires deeply embedded hardware trust anchors to fulfil the vision of secure disaggregated compute systems. To realize these goals, the project brings together major telecommunications and microelectronics players as well as academic research partners. A strategic roadmap will offer a transparent path towards future exploitation of the generated research results, fostering a continuing European strategy for the emergence of European digital capabilities in this communication-computing domain.

The increasing demand of higher data rates while ensuring sustainability through reduced energy consumption levels call for a collective effort to define and set up the new generation of mobile communications. It is expected that some of the newly arising services will need to accurately map the environment for a seamless interaction of the physical and the digital worlds, and then require a combination of communications, positioning and sensing. The vision of MiFuture is that an evolution of massive multiple input – multiple output (MIMO), the technique that has provided the unprecedented spectral efficiency of 5G, towards ultra-massive MIMO (UmMIMO), will be a key ingredient in the future mobile radio access network. MiFuture will pave the path towards the implementation of heterogeneous cell-free networks with an ultra-massive number of antennas that will satisfy the throughput, energy efficiency, positioning accuracy and feasible complexity requirements that the evolution of mobile communications towards 6G demands. This evolution will require a new generation of excellent researchers able to address the emerging complex engineering problems that the thriving area of mobile communications is facing. MiFuture will develop a high-level personalised multidisciplinary programme to provide 15 Ph.D. candidates, supervised by committed experts from industry and academia, with research competences and transferable skills (e.g., entrepreneurship, project management, IPR, open access) with the long-term goal to lead scientific advances in the new concepts arising in the field of wireless communications. These creative young researchers will face real world implementation, work across multiple European countries and organisations, become knowledgeable in standardisation activities, present at workshops in front of researchers and industrial stakeholders and interact with the general public to make them aware of how 6G can help in their daily lives.

Our society is on the brink of a new age with the development of new visionary concepts such as internet of things, autonomous driving, and coverage everywhere. This stimulates the use of new deployment concepts, such as Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), to support the wireless communication evolution. For 6G, a key use case which stands unaddressed by prior telecommunication generations, is that of coverage everywhere. A major candidate to solve this issue, is to deploy a network of satellites in an NTN configuration, which is front hauled by a high-gain gateway cell in order to serve rural and remote areas which up until now is lacking coverage. Here, especially novel energy efficient antenna systems are required to track fast moving satellites while meeting the cost targets of the consumer market. One of the major reasons for not addressing this thus far is the lack of expertise about non-terrestrial communication in the classical (terrestrial) telecommunication industry, which underpins the urgent need for a cross-disciplinary industrial doctorate network. ANTERRA establishes a unique and well-structured training network with leading R&D labs from European industries, universities and technology institutes in the domain of antenna systems for terrestrial as well as non-terrestrial applications. The 15 ESRs will form a research team that is embedded in leading industrial and academic R&D labs. The programme will strongly enhance the employability and career prospects of the ESRs by offering a high-quality consortium with in-depth training in the technical areas as well as a comprehensive set of transferable skills relevant for innovation and long-term employability. The ESRs will all spend at least 18 months of their time at industry, ensuring that the training includes a significant industrial experience and application.