NEWS29 June 2021

Surrey-led workshop to shape recommendations for 6G wireless research

The online workshop, ‘Radio Access Network Techniques for 6G’, will focus on energy efficiency, spectrum efficiency and coverage. It is the second of a series of three events, supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and the UK Spectrum Policy Forum (UK SPF), which are intended to be a platform for all UK universities working on relevant wireless research.

Led by Regius Professor Rahim Tafazolli, Head of Surrey’s Institute for Communication Systems (ICS), the workshop is due to be attended by over 200 delegates from academia, government bodies and industry. The event will include eminent speakers from the Universities of Surrey, Bristol, Durham, Leeds, Glasgow, Southampton, Strathclyde, University College London, Imperial College London, and Queen’s University Belfast.

The series of 6G workshops will culminate in a White Paper which UK SPF will present to Government. The purpose of the White Paper will be to validate the relevance of the research projects against 6G research priorities, identify gaps, suggest opportunities for collaboration, look at the adequacy of research funding streams, and flag potential implications for 6G spectrum policy. The first workshop in the series was run by University of Bristol in May and the third will be run by University of Strathclyde on 16 September 2021.

Dr Abhaya Sumanasena, Chair of the UK Spectrum Policy Forum’s Steering Board, said: “UK SPF is proud to be supporting the second workshop, showcasing the 6G wireless research projects, hosted by the University of Surrey 5GIC and 6GIC. We hope these workshops will enable UK to be on the right track of developing the groundwork for the next-generation technologies and facilitate an understanding of the long-term spectrum policy impacts in line with the objectives of the SPF.”

Regius Professor Rahim Tafazolli commented: “We are delighted to be hosting the second workshop in this series, which will be a useful hub for knowledge exchange and shaping 6G wireless network priorities. The research being undertaken by UK universities in the field of radio access network techniques and technologies has huge potential for enhancing the spectrum efficiency, energy efficiency and 6G coverage we can achieve. This coverage capability will be crucial in delivering the maximum benefits for society from the highly advanced mobile networks of the future.”

The ‘Radio Access Network Techniques for 6G’ workshop will run from 9am to 5pm, on Thursday 1 July 2021, and is free to attend. Find out more and register.