Nokia has announced the establishment of a 6G Lab at its Global R&D center in Bangalore, India. The
first-of-its-kind project aims to accelerate the development of fundamental
technologies and innovative use cases underpinned by 6G technology to address the future needs of industry and society. The Lab was inaugurated
virtually by the Hon'ble Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics
& IT, Government of India, Mr Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Nokia's 6G lab supports
the Government of India's 'Bharat 6G Vision,' introduced by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, which envisions a key global role for India in the
standardization, development, and implementation of 6G technology. The Lab will
function as a platform for collaboration for industry stakeholders and
facilitate the testing of innovative solutions while establishing their
potential for commercialization.
The Lab includes a setup
to research 'Network as a Sensor' technology that enables the network to sense
objects, people and movement without the need for on-board sensors. In the 6G
era, 'Network as a Sensor' has been identified as a key enabling technology
that supports the vision of bringing the digital and physical worlds together.
Sensing will be fully integrated into the wireless network and operate
simultaneously with communication services. This has the potential to enable
people to see around corners, gather information about their surroundings and
even interact with objects at a distance. The Lab will also provide an
experimental platform for researching algorithms, privacy, and sustainable
system design.
Nokia is a pioneer in 6G
work and is engaged in several global projects and regional initiatives with
industry peers, customers, academia, and research institutions. This work aims
to form a common view and direction for 6G, including 6G Hexa-X and Hexa-X-II,
the first and second phase of the European 6G Flagship. Nokia is also a
founding member of the Next G Alliance which is helping to drive the 6G
ecosystem in North America and coordinating the German Lighthouse project 6G
ANNA.
The Minister of Railways,
Communications, Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw said “The inguaration of the Nokia 6G research lab in Bengaluru today is
another step towards PM Narendra Modi’s vision of making India an innovative
hub. Interesting use cases coming out of the lab will be related to
transportation safety, health care and education which will be another big
contribution in the entire Digital India suite.”
In his remark, the
Chief Strategy and Technology Officer of Nokia, Nishant Batra noted that “Nokia is honored to contribute towards the
realization of the India government’s Bharat 6G vision. We look forward to
collaborating with key stakeholders to help India become a major player in 6G
technology development and adoption; and take its place in the global arena as
a leading developer and supplier of advanced telecom technologies and
solutions.”
Nokia's experts at its Bengaluru
center will support India's ambition to make notable contributions towards
global 6G technology standards. Further, it is in the process of building
research collaborations with premier research institutes in India like
IISc/IITs to further scale up the 6G research initiative in India.