Ericsson has joined Hexa-X – the 6G flagship research project that brings together a strong consortium of major ICT, industry and academic stakeholders.
The project will begin on 1 January 2021, with a focus on developing the vision for future 6G systems and developing key technology enablers to connect human, physical and digital worlds.
In its Outlook for 6G research paper, Ericsson identifies four key drivers which will emerge in what it calls “the 2030 era” and which the project will seek to address: trustworthiness of the systems, sustainability through mobile technology efficiency, accelerated automatization and digitalization, and limitless connectivity.
Part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 Program
The Hexa-X project, which is commissioned to run until June 2023, will be awarded from the European Commission under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program.
Ericsson, together with Nokia, will lead the project, while Ericsson will also be represented across three European countries: Sweden, Turkey and Hungary.
As technical lead, Ericsson’s contribution is expected to be pivotal in laying the groundwork for future use cases, distributed MIMO, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), and overall 6G vision and architecture. Ericsson will lead several tasks as well as the work packet on architectural enablers for 6G.
“We are proud to be the technical lead of the Hexa-X project, together with a strong line up of consortium partners from industry and academia. In 2030, society will have been shaped by 5G for ten years,” says Magnus Frodigh, VP and Head of Ericsson Research.
“While we continue to evolve 5G, now is also the right time to start collaborative 6G research activities. The Hexa-X project will be an important vehicle for joint exploration across European industry and academia, together shaping how exponential technology evolution will meet anticipated demands and opportunities for the 6G era. The road to 6G begins today.”
