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Towards an AI-native, user-centric air interface for 6G networks

Project

CENTRIC - Towards an AI-native, user-centric air interface for 6G networks


Funding origin:
European
European Union
STRIA Roadmaps:
Connected and automated transport (CAT)
Connected and automated transport
Transport mode:
Multimodal
Multimodal
Transport sectors:
Passenger transport
Passenger transport
Freight transport
Freight transport
Project website:
Duration:
Start date: 01/01/2023,
End date: 30/06/2025

Status: Finished
Funding details:
Total cost:
€4 528 535
EU Contribution:
€4 215 999

Overview

Background & policy context:

5G cellular technology is already up and running, increasing speed and improving flexibility of wireless services. The next step is to design new disruptive technologies enabling mixed-reality, super-physical experiences in 6G systems. This could be made possible using digital twins, seamlessly connecting and controlling physical or biological entities. The EU-funded CENTRIC project proposes to design the future 6G by creating the user-centric AI Air Interface. It will leverage AI techniques to provide a top-down modular approach to wireless connectivity that focuses on users' communication needs and environmental limitations. CENTRIC will be crucial for future self-driving vehicles, the internet of nano bio-things or multi-sensory holographic communications.

Objectives:

CENTRIC proposes to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques through a top-down, modular approach to wireless connectivity that puts the users’ communication needs and environmental constraints at the center of the network stack design. It all starts with the users’ objectives and application-specific requirements. Then, AI techniques are used to create and customize tailor-made waveforms, transceivers, signaling, protocols and RRM procedures to support these requirements. This is the user-centric AI Air Interface (AI-AI) that CENTRIC will enable. To guarantee that CENTRIC’s AI-AI can be implemented in practice, we will also explore and develop innovative hardware computing substrates with realistic and AI-AI-compatible energy-efficiency properties. This includes novel electronics such as neuromorphic computing and mixed analog-digital platforms. CENTRIC will make this possible by advancing theory, algorithms, hardware co-design, and training and monitoring environments based on digital twins. We will focus on providing the desired quality of experience (QoE) to a given user, or type of users, while optimizing spectrum usage, minimizing energy consumption and guaranteeing EMF compliance. The results of CENTRIC will be validated and demonstrated in laboratory prototypes and its breakthroughs will enable future 6G use-cases, such as self-driving vehicles, the internet of nano bio-things, or multi-sensory holographic communications.

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