Europe's DESIRE6G Project Advances 6G Network Architecture Development

While 5G networks have not yet been fully popularized globally, efforts to research and develop 6G networks are already in full swing around the world. Europe has taken a leading position in this field, with the DESIRE6G project – funded by the European Commission's Horizon Europe program – standing out as a particularly notable initiative.

The full name of the DESIRE6G project is "Deep Programmability and Secure Distributed Intelligence for Real-Time End-to-End 6G Networks". Its core objective is to design and develop a zero-touch control, management, and coordination platform to support extreme Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (extreme URLLC) applications. The project has a three-year duration, running from January 2023 to December 2025.

The research team behind the project boasts a strong lineup, consisting of 14 institutions from diverse fields. These include the University of Amsterdam (serving as the project coordinator), Ericsson (acting as the technical coordinator), Telefónica, NVIDIA, Nubis, Accelleran, Solidshield, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the University of Oulu (Finland), Carlos III University of Madrid, the University of Budapest, the Italian National Interuniversity Consortium for Telecommunications (CNIT), NEC Laboratories Europe, and the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Italy).

Carlos Bernardos, a lecturer in the Department of Telematics Engineering at Carlos III University of Madrid and a researcher on the project, points out that future applications such as autonomous vehicles, spatial computing, and augmented reality will demand greater bandwidth as well as lower and more stable latency. However, current 5G networks are unable to meet these growing performance requirements, and 6G networks are expected to fill this gap.

A key goal of the DESIRE6G project is to develop a platform that enables zero-touch organization, management, and control through the native integration of artificial intelligence (AI). This platform will feature near-real-time autonomous networking capabilities and a cloud-native data plane layer to support multi-tenancy, with backing from a comprehensive monitoring system. In this way, it will be able to meet the needs of extreme URLLC applications – such as scenarios requiring ultra-high-speed and reliable communication.

To achieve this objective, the research team is leveraging cutting-edge technologies including terahertz communication, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to design new hardware and software components. These components will serve as the foundation for the new wireless communication system. Meanwhile, the system under development will undergo testing in two scenarios using extended reality (XR) and digital twin applications. Digital twin technology can create virtual replicas of products, enabling the efficient application of new solutions to physical products.

Bernardos also notes that the advancement of this project will not only make applications like autonomous driving, industrial robots, spatial computing, and augmented reality feasible and more efficient but also is expected to reduce energy consumption. As networks grow in importance across all aspects of society, reducing the energy consumption and carbon footprint of communication networks will attract increasing attention – and the new network architecture developed by the DESIRE6G project is well-aligned with this trend.

In a broader sense, the DESIRE6G project represents a key strategic move by Europe in the field of 6G. Although 5G networks are projected to cover all urban areas by 2025, Europe is already looking ahead to the future, aiming to take a leading role in defining the architecture of 6G networks. 6G networks are expected to achieve a peak data transmission rate of approximately 1 terabit per second, sub-millisecond latency, and a traffic capacity 100 times higher than that of 5G, supporting up to tens of millions of devices per square kilometer.

Furthermore, the implementation of the DESIRE6G project provides opportunities for European technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in 6G R&D. This helps drive the development of Europe's entire technology industry, as these SMEs can leverage their innovative strengths to collaborate with large enterprises and universities in advancing 6G technology.

Currently, the DESIRE6G project is progressing steadily as planned, with the goal of completing its objectives by December 2025. By then, the zero-touch control, management, and coordination platform it develops is expected to provide crucial technical support for the practical deployment and application of 6G networks, while also helping Europe secure a competitive position in the global 6G race. As the project continues to advance, there is good reason to anticipate the early realization of 6G networks, which will bring about more transformations and opportunities for people's lives and social development.