6G Hardware Enablers for Cell Free Coherent
Communications and Sensing

6G-REFERENCE envisions a future where urban areas are equipped with sustainable solutions
that can cope with the ever-increasing traffic demands and population densification, while
providing disruptive capabilities like the materialization of the internet of sense.

6G-REFERENCE will:

DEVELOP

Develop integrated circuit and antenna component solutions, including dynamic frequency filtering and modulated radiation, to enable efficient spectrum coexistence schemes.

DEVELOP

Develop integrated circuit and antenna component solutions, including dynamic frequency filtering and modulated radiation, to enable efficient spectrum coexistence schemes.

DEPLOY

Deploy practical hardware enablers in terms of low complexity, cost and power consumption that could end up constituting a reference design for future 6G-distributed radios.

DEPLOY

Deploy practical hardware enablers in terms of low complexity, cost and power consumption that could end up constituting a reference design for future 6G-distributed radios.

Objectives

6G-REFERENCE will develop hardware enablers constituting a reference design of distributed
radios for a cell-free communication and sensing system operating in the 10-15 GHz range.

The project targets low complexity and low power, in other words, practical integrated circuits
(IC) and antenna systems for 6G applications. It aims at enabling new functionalities addressing D-MIMO communication scenarios but extended to support distributed sensing and accurate localization and positioning.

Objectives

6G-REFERENCE will develop hardware enablers constituting a reference design of distributed
radios for a cell-free communication and sensing system operating in the 10-15 GHz range.

The project targets low complexity and low power, in other words, practical integrated circuits
(IC) and antenna systems for 6G applications. It aims at enabling new functionalities addressing D-MIMO communication scenarios but extended to support distributed sensing and accurate localization and positioning.

Challenges

Accurate
synchronization
among distributed
radio units (cell-free
deployments)

Fronthaul data distribution

Integration of sensing capabilities

Low complexity/cost/
consumption radios

Coexistence with
other services

Methodology

Explore radio system
operation in the
10-15GHz range

Develop hardware
concepts and show
feasibility in CMOS

Use additive
manufacturing for
antenna arrays and
nanotechnology for
sensors

Exploring Active Phased Arrays for Integrated Sensing and Communication: 6G-REFERENCE at European Microwave Week 2026

The 6G-REFERENCE project took part in European Microwave Week (EuMW) 2026, held at ExCeL London, United Kingdom, from 4 to 9 October 2026, to exchange knowledge and discuss developments in microwave technologies, radar systems and integrated circuit design, under the theme “Radiating Change, Microwaves for a Sustainable Tomorrow”. Our Technical Manager, Eric Klumperink, Associate Professor at...

The 6G-REFERENCE Team Gathers in Lund to Strengthen Demonstrations and Maximise Project Impact

The 6G-REFERENCE consortium came together in person for a meeting hosted and organised by project partner Ericsson in Lund, Sweden, on 22 and 23 September 2026. The agenda focused on advancing the project’s demonstrations and discussing how its results can have a lasting impact, particularly through communication, dissemination and exploitation activities, as the project enters...

6G-REFERENCE at URSI 2026: Advancing Integrated Sensing for Future 6G Systems

6G-REFERENCE participated in the XLI National Symposium of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI 2026), held from 2 to 4 September 2026 in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, leading the Special Session “M.3.2: NextG and 6G System”. Zabdiel Brito-Brito, Researcher at Centre Tecnològic de Telecommunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), the organisation coordinating our...

Subscribe to our Newsletter!