Nokia teams up with DOCOMO and NTT to develop key technologies for 6G

Nokia, a Finnish telecoms equipment provider, has teamed up with DOCOMO AND NTT in order to define and develop essential technologies for the 6G network. As a first proof-of-concept, the partnership aims to create AI native air interface and sub-THz radio access. The Finnish telecoms equipment provider on Monday announced that it will collaborate with Japanese firms Docomo and NTT.

The goal is to prove that an AI-based 6G AI interface can outperform a conventional air interface in terms of performance and that high-data-rate beamformed access can be attained in a high-frequency band at 140 GHz, according to the press release.

According to a media release by Nokia, among the Finnish telecom equipment provider’s six technologies that it sees as critical components of future 6G networks are:

1. New spectrum technologies
2. AI native air interface
3. Network as a sensor
4. Extreme connectivity
5. Cognitive, automated and specialized architectures
6. Security and trust

The firms’ collaboration will initially focus on demonstrating the benefits of AI-based learnt waveform in the transmitter with a deep learning receiver in the mid-band, as well as testing high data rate indoor communications in the sub-THz band, among these six components.

The objective is to set up experimental and demonstration environments in Docomo and NTT facilities in Japan, as well as Nokia facilities in Stuttgart, Germany, and to begin executing the required tests and measurements in 2022, according to the announcement.