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

6G-REFERENCE Showcases Our Research & Development Progress to SNS JU and European Commission Leaders at MWC 2025

Last week, the Spanish city of Barcelona woke up busier than usual welcoming over 100.000 attendees and 3.000 exhibitors in which we can consider one of the largest, if not the largest, technological event in the world: Mobile World Congress 2025, celebrated from the 3rd to the 6th of March. 6G-REFERENCE couldn’t miss this relevant...

6G-REFERENCE Project Newsflash #2 – January 2025: New Year, New Use Cases on 6G Communications, Sensing and Synchronization

Exactly one year ago, the 6G-REFERENCE partners, coordinated by Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), were hosting the project online pre-kick off meeting to present the project objectives for the three upcoming years. Further discussions about the project challenges, action plans and demonstrators definitions also took place. One of those three years has already...

6G-IA Women in Telecommunications and Research (WiTaR) Working Group Publishes their 2024 Activity Report

The “Women in Telecommunications and Research (WiTaR)” Working Group was founded in 2023, but the initiative stemmed from the H2020 project Hexa-X, in which a group “Women in Hexa-X” was created in 2020. This group gathered participants from the Hexa-X project interested in promoting diversity in the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) area, and in...

Subscribe to our Newsletter!

Privacy PolicyCookie Policy Cookie Solution: