Digital Catapult is One of the First Sites to join UK 6G Research Platform

The self-proclaimed “deep tech innovation organisation“, Digital Catapult, has today become one of the first sites to connect to the University of Bristol (UB) led JOINER project (Joint Open Infrastructure for Networks Research), which is working to research and help accelerate the commercial deployment of future 6G based mobile broadband technologies across the UK.

The 6G standard is currently still in the early R&D phase, and the first commercial builds aren’t due until around 2028-30 (3GPP aim to complete the specs for 6G networks and terminals by 2029). But the next gen mobile technology is thought to be aiming for theoretical peak data rates of up to 1Tbps (Terabits per second) and may be able to harness radio spectrum up to the TeraHertz (THz) bands, while also using AI optimisations, new antenna designs and other changes to improve network efficiency.

The UK is conducting its own work to prepare for 6G and the JOINER platform is just one part of that. This brings together 11 universities and research organisations to create environments for large-scale 6G research and experimentation. As part of this, Digital Catapult will integrate its Autonomous Network Service Management and Orchestration System into JOINER, enabling the creation of “intelligent, resilient 6G networks capable of adapting to changing demands from UK industry“.

The rest of the announcement largely seems to be an exercise in how to fit as many hype induced soundbites and jargon heavy terms into 2-3 paragraphs as possible, which doesn’t add much and thus we’ll skip right to the comments.

Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, Director of Smart Internet Lab (UB), said:

“The JOINER platform is going to revolutionalise the way we undertake telecoms R&D and innovation in the UK. By creating a national experimentation platform and having leading organisations such as Digital Catapult connected to it, we’ll be able to accelerate the rate at which we can collaborate and innovate, ultimately driving UK growth and global advancements in future telecoms.”

Dritan Kaleshi, Director of 5G Technology at Digital Catapult, said:

“We are thrilled to be among the first sites connected to the JOINER platform, a significant step forward in the evolution of future communications and networks research and innovation capabilities in the UK. This collaboration with University of Bristol, and the interconnection with all the other JOINER nodes, highlights our role as a key enabler in telecoms innovation, bringing academia, industry, our leading technical expertise and independent facilities together to drive tangible technical progress and deliver benefits for the UK’s economy and society.”

However, in practical terms, it’s worth noting that the final 6G technology will almost certainly end up being constrained by the real-world restrictions of existing data capacity and spectrum availability, with most UK mobile operators preferring to harness more economically viable lower and mid-band spectrum between 700MHz and 4GHz.

Naturally, you can get faster speeds from using even higher frequencies, but this tends to make the signals very weak and offers poor coverage. Admittedly, 6G will bring enhancements for existing mobile bands too, but it’s always important not to get too lost in the hype train of future mobile technologies as the realities can be underwhelming.