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 University of Twente, presented ‘Reconfigurable Active Phased Array for Full-Duplex Integrated Sensing and Communication’ during the workshop ‘Active Phased Arrays: Bridging Design and Measurement for Young and Industry Professionals’ on Thursday, 8 October, to an estimated audience of 40 attendees.
Addressing the Challenges of Full-Duplex Communication
Chaired by Marc Dirix (Emerson & Cuming AC) and Kamil Yavuz Kapusuz (imec), the workshop attracted the attention of young professionals, researchers and engineers for a practical exploration of next-generation active phased arrays, a cornerstone technology for emerging communication and sensing systems operating from mm-wave to sub-THz frequencies.
The workshop programme covered the full lifecycle of phased arrays, from chip-level and interposer design to scalable array architectures, radar modules, and full-duplex integrated sensing and communication systems. It brought together leading experts from academia, research institutes and industry, including Eric Klumperink. His presentation focused on reconfigurable active phased arrays and their role in enabling in-band full-duplex communication, a technology that allows transmission and reception to take place simultaneously within the same frequency band. This capability has potential for future wireless systems, including integrated sensing and communication, but it also presents important hardware challenges.
As Klumperink explained, self-interference remains a central issue:
“Self-interference is a key problem for in-band full-duplex and requires antenna isolation and self-interference cancellation techniques. Compact low cost phased antenna arrays offer only limited antenna isolation, which also degrades with antenna steering angle. To address this challenge Spatial Self-Interference techniques exploiting adaptive transmit and receiver beamforming are a key hardware enabler for in-band full-duplex.” – Eric Klumperink, 6G-REFERENCE Technical Manager.
The 6G-REFERENCE Team at EuMW 2026
Beyond the workshop, the 6G-REFERENCE team was present at the 29th European Microwave Week, joining wider discussions on integrated circuit design, radar and other microwave techniques. Besides Eric Klumperink, our project was represented by Hua Wang (ETH Zürich), Marc Bauduin (imec) and Dominique Morche (CEA-Leti).
Through its participation in EuMW 2026, 6G-REFERENCE engaged with the microwave research and engineering community, contributing to technical discussions. The event provided an opportunity to support the advancement of the technologies and hardware architectures needed for future 6G systems.