Viavi Solutions is supporting 6G academic and industry research worldwide through its new 6G Forward program.
The program is designed to provide vital expertise, technology, and funding to promising avenues of research, which may lead to breakthroughs for the next generation of wireless technology.
At the University of Surrey, Viavi is a founding member of the 5G/6G Innovation Centre led by Regius Professor Rahim Tafazolli FREng (pictured).
The Innovation Centre addresses advanced communication systems and the key challenges in the development of a 5G, 5G+ and 6G infrastructure for providing connectivity for future technologies.
Key research areas include: Antennas and signal processing; Artificial intelligence for wireless communications; Intelligent and high-performance networking and service delivery; Intelligent RAN technology and management; Mobile network security; New physical layer; Satellite communications; THz components and communications all under future Integrated communication and sensing.
“Viavi is a founder member of the Innovation Centre at Surrey and we deeply appreciate the support and expertise they are bringing to the table,” says Prof Tafazolli. “It enables us to fully explore concepts, to deliver technologies and methodologies that will help define and improve connected communities in the future. This is a good example of academia and business working together to improve technology and people’s lives.”
At Northeastern University, VIAVI is supporting the Institute for Wireless Internet of Things and the Open6G cooperative research center led by Professor Tommaso Melodia.
The group is exploring large-scale RF propagation channel modeling based on AI and ML technologies to develop a city-scale digital twin of a 6G network.
The team is also developing a RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC)-enabled Massive MIMO beamforming optimization testbed using the Colosseum 256-port RF channel emulator and the VIAVI E500 UE Emulator.
At the University of Texas at Austin, VIAVI supports 6G@UT, led by Professor Jeff Andrews, within the Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG). The key topic of the joint research is applying end-to-end machine learning, specifically deep reinforcement learning (DRL), using adversarial conditions to re-train more robust cellular traffic forecasters.
