ABOUT 6G FUTURES
"6G Futures" is the centre for excellence for 6G research in the UK, providing global leadership and ensuring the UK’s position at the forefront of next generation mobile networks research and innovation.
Drawing on a strong history of collaboration, as well as leading and complementary expertise in the UK on 5G and future networks, the Universities of Bristol, Strathclyde and King’s College London have established ‘6G Futures’, a world-class centre for 6G research, education and innovation.
The Universities are hosting globally recognised experts in the field with a strong research track record on translation research and delivery. The University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab, the University of Strathclyde’s LiFi Research and Development Centre (LRDC) and the Centre for Telecommunication Research (CTR) at King’s College London, are international leaders in the field and have established extensive research collaboration leading to seminal technical publications, policy papers and ground-breaking use-case demonstrations. Their pioneering work brought 5G into the mainstream.
In combining their significant expertise to focus on next generation mobile networks, 6G Futures is unrivalled as a centre for 6G excellence in the UK.
DIMITRA SIMEONIDOU, FRAENG FIEEE
Professor, University of Bristol
“We have a long and proven track record of working together on future networks. Through this new centre, our focus will be on the next generation mobile networks (6G and beyond), and the truly awe-inspiring capabilities it will bring. 6G will be inherently human-centric, it will be about establishing a cyber-physical continuum by delivering real time sensory information, supporting haptics and holograms. This is not just future-forecasting - crucially this is about having the specialist knowledge and expertise to actually transform these visions into deliverable solutions, accelerate innovation and have a global societal impact.”
HARALD HAAS, FRENG FRSE FIEEE FIET
Professor, University of Strathclyde
"Integrating very advanced technologies, such as LiFi of which I am the inventor, presents a unique opportunity for 6G to become more affordable whilst delivering significant performance improvements over 5G. We are excited to be part of the 6G Futures initiative and will be contributing in terms of design and - importantly - engineering prototypes which we hope the industry will pick up to deliver a powerful 6G system. Our current use-case prototypes, used e.g., at Strictly Come Dancing, will hopefully be mainstream as part of the 6G technology portfolio."
TOKTAM MAHMOODI
Professor, King's College London
“As adoption of 5G accelerates around the world, it’s important the UK is prepared for 6G as the next generation mobile technology. The creation of this centre is a notable moment for the UK technology sector. We will be developing novel architectures, incorporating federated exchange and self-synthesising mechanisms, advance the internet of skills, and embed blockchain, quantum and federated AI technologies. But it’s not just pure tech - we’ll be working on co-creation with verticals toward some truly exciting and societally impacting use-cases, while contributing to policy, alliances and global standards.”
REZA NEJABATI
SMIEEE, FELLOW HEA
Professor of Intelligent Networks, University of Bristol
"6G will build on new and emerging communication and computing technologies such as quantum networking, analogue and quantum computing, LiFi and wireless Terahertz. Such an infrastructure will be highly heterogeneous and complex. The complexity even further increases considering that 6G will be human-centric and it must take into account human intent for service provisioning. This multi-dimensional complexity necessitates a new generation of control and management technologies that are not only human intent based but also fully autonomous and ultimately zero touch. The centre vision is to lead research for an autonomous and intent based 6G infrastructure that is self-composeable, self-driving and self- verifying."
OSVALDO SIMEONE
PHD FIEEE FIET
Professor of Information Engineering, King's College London
“Current wireless systems, from Wi-Fi to 5G, have been designed by following principles that have not changed over the last over 70 years. This approach has given us reliable, universal wireless connectivity solutions that can deliver any type of digital information. As computing systems substitute universal digital processors with specialized circuits for artificial intelligence (AI), and as wireless connectivity becomes an integral part of the sensing-compute-actuation fabric powered by AI, it is essential to rethink the fundamental principles underpinning the design of wireless systems. At 6G Futures, we will lead this foundational research activity while engaging with industrial partners and policy makers.”
SIMON SAUNDERS
PHD CENG FRENG FIET FITP
Visiting Professor at King’s College London,
Honorary Professor at the University of Bristol
"I've been involved in all the wireless generations since 2G, across academia, industry, regulation and government, yet I'm more excited now about the emerging technology for 6G than at any time before. We have the opportunity for 6G to be more efficient, greener, more personal and more trustworthy than any previous generation. I look forward to working with the outstanding researchers of 6G Futures and our international collaborators to make good on that promise."
MARK BEACH
CENG, MIET, SMIEEE
Professor of Radio Systems Engineering, University of Bristol
"Tether-free connectivity has become an essential ingredient of our connected society, with 6G providing a further uplift in both performance and the ever-increasing sphere of applications, thus any disruption could have a profound impact. Understanding and reducing the vulnerabilities of cyber attacks to both the core network and the multitude wireless interconnects, in particular those associated low-cost sensors, merits research on a par with that advancing Gigabit access. 6G Futures uniquely brings together experts in all these domains within a high collaborative umbrella".
IMAN TAVAKKOLNIA
Chancellor's Fellow, University of Strathclyde
"The realization of the next generation of mobile communication technologies for the future hyperconnected and data-driven societies requires a cross-disciplinary approach and framework of services, including artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, sensory interfaces, and security. Moreover, 6G is targeting beyond 5G key performance indicators and will transform societies for better and boost global growth, aligned with global sustainable development goals. 6GFutures brings together the UK knowledge and expertise to deliver truly transformative innovation and impact by strategically engaging with academia and industry.."
WYN MEREDITH
FLSW
Honorary Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University and Chair of ‘CSconnected’, the South Wales Advanced Semiconductor technology cluster.
"Semiconductor devices form the brain and central nervous system of the modern digital network, enabling data generation at the sensor end, data transmission, manipulation and routing, analysis and storage.
We have a comprehensive ecosystem in South Wales supporting ~2500 jobs and £500M per annum industrial output in advanced semiconductor research, technology and manufacturing.
We are excited to be part of the 6G Futures initiative, working with the outstanding team of communications systems researchers across the UK.
The partnership will co-create the next generation of semiconductor components to deliver the promise of ubiquitous, high performance, secure 6G technology, and ensure the UK will be at the forefront of global communications systems development and manufacturing".