Overview
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 Ambition
This project goal project is to design, develop and exhibit the operation of a Radio Optical 6G, so that it can easily be installed in a wide range of different types of properties and where third-party application developers can develop and exhibit their innovative network services in homes, businesses and public space buildings using the open-source development environment. Example services will be developed in the project such as one that ameliorates the need for using HeNB (Home Network Base Stations) or WLAN ( Wireless Local Area Networks) in buildings and eliminates the uplink interference that they induce. This will have the effect of incentivising all building construction companies to install a cell-free network throughout their new build developments. The OPTI-6G project will be the first project to integrate cell-free sub-THz and near IR 6G network architectures.
