Cutting through the noise — researchers may have cracked a key issue with developing next-gen 6G networks

• 6G development has received a boost from a new breakthrough
• Using reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, researchers found that electromagnetic waves can be manipulated
• The research has been conducted by engineers led from the University of Glasgow

Research engineers have established a potential solution to the one of the main problems faced in the development of 6G: electromagnetic interference, or EMI. Using reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (referred to as “RIS”), they have been able to control, divert, magnify, and generally manipulate signals, promoting 6G data and dampening EMI.

Intended to deliver networking speeds up to 100 times faster than 5G, development of 6G has encountered various stumbling blocks, not least the electromagnetic interference presented by almost every connected device in the world.

When it is finally rolled out, 6G is expected to revolutionize connectivity, from standard Wi-Fi connectivity to smart home and Internet of Things, and beyond.

Canceling interference

Previous attempts at handling the EMI problem in 6G research have been made, but researchers found that weakening the EMI also weakened the 6G signal.

The team working with the University of Glasgow have found that their approach to RIS, with programmable elements positioned across the surface, can manipulate electromagnetic waves. These elements can reflect and focus signals, redirect EMI, and boost signal strength, and can be programmed and controlled individually.

The team has established what it has termed an “EMI-aware framework” which “fingerprints” the interference, scans for the strongest signal path, and uses the RIS to direct signals to avoid the EMI.

“Previously, cancelling out this kind of interference meant the base station had to do a huge amount of intensive digital signal processing, and that computation is expensive in energy terms,” said Jalil Kazim from The James Watt School of Engineering’s and a co-author of the paper.

“By placing an intelligent surface in the environment, we can shape the signal path in a way that helps handle the interference before it ever reaches the base station. That eases both the computational burden and the energy cost on the network itself.”

EMI and privacy

There is more to the challenges of 6G development than managing the basics of successful connectivity, however. EMI could prove to be a security issue, and the RIS solution can ensure that data signals are correctly routed. This has implications for internal privacy, too, as it can deliver the correct data to specific users and devices.

Professor Muhammad Ali Imran, head of the James Watt School of Engineering, who also co-authored the paper, added: “Security, privacy and resilience are no longer optional extras in these networks but essential requirements. Our surface can direct the signal towards the users we trust and deny it to the ones we don’t, bringing us closer to the secure, flexible networks which will define the communications and sensing technologies of tomorrow.”

Commercial 6G is expected to begin rollout in 2030.