The OPTI-6G project develops a photonic near infrared (IR) cell-free 5G network, which does not suffer from interference because of the propagation characteristics of electro-magnetic waves in this part of the spectrum and provides universal broadband coverage within buildings from pervasively located optical wireless communication (OWC) access points.
The benefits of applying cell-free near IR networks in buildings are (1) multi-connectivity can be configured with cell-free network thereby improving link quality and reliability; (2) there is no longer the need for building owners to subdivide their non-public mobile in-building network into cellular areas; (3) building owners no longer need to seek to acquire frequency licence or ensure alignment with spectrum usage in the area since the system operates at the optical unlicensed bands; (4) interference between inside and outside access is managed by an artificial intelligence (AI) based distributed scheduler; (5) position and orientation of end user equipment can be measured very accurately.
OPTI-6G brings together a select multi-disciplinary team of research institutions and industries in a collaborative project to develop and demonstrate this vision. OPTI-6G will (i) Develop and showcase a proof of concept demonstrator at OLEDCOMM and RunEL; (ii) Verify position and orientation measurement precision improvement of end user equipment at University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and at Brunel University London.
