Researchers to develop next-gen wireless technology

As part of the project, Active Intelligent Reconfigurable surfaces for 6G wireless communications (AR-COM), they will work to improve the design of smart materials, intelligent reconfigurable surfaces (IRS) which are anticipated to play a key role in the 6G wireless networks of the future.

Tyndall’s WCL, based at University College Cork, in Ireland, was founded in 2020 by three former scientists from Nokia Bell Labs - Holger Claussen, Lester Ho and Senad Bulja - to boost Tyndall’s research activities in the communications sector.

AR-COM is supported by £1m in funding from UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in addition to €500K from Research Ireland.

Over a three-year period, the AR-COM partners will develop new materials and methods to support IRS technologies achieve their full potential in the millimetre-wave and terahertz ranges of the communications spectrum.

Intelligent reflecting surfaces are capable of intercepting weak wireless signals both indoors and outdoors to actively guide them to devices, boosting the strength of the signal in the process to maximise performance.

In the future, as demand for improved indoor wireless signals grows, IRS devices could potentially provide better mobile coverage in buildings with poor reception, allow more reliable high-speed internet connections and support new 6G applications which will require extremely reliable wireless connections.

AR-COM will undergo four key stages of research and development. The first stage will involve the researchers focus on creating advanced switches engineered from materials known as transition metal oxides (TMOs) to enable precise and rapid control over wireless signal strength.

The second stage will involve the development of technology to control the direction of wireless signals. The researchers will study how signals move through carefully designed layers of metal and TMO materials and find new ways for signals to be steered around obstacles in complex indoor environments.

In the third stage, the team are going to develop miniature signal amplifiers designed using devices called resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) which are capable of boosting weakened signals and requiring low amounts of power to operate.

In the fourth and final stage, the team will integrate all of these newly-developed elements into a fully-functional IRS system which can manipulate wireless signals with no signal loss and low latency, as well as maximise signal quality even in challenging environments.

This project marks the latest development in 6G research spearheaded from the University of Glasgow’s Communications, Sensing and Imaging (CSI) hub. 

"Current materials used in wireless communications face significant limitations, especially at the higher frequencies that 6G networks will require. With AR-COM, we’re building on the expertise of the University of Glasgow and the Tyndall Institute with the support of key industry partners to develop truly next-generation technologies,” said Professor Qammer H. Abbasi, Director of CSI Hub at the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering and AR-COM’s principal investigator.

“Resonant tunnelling diodes, which can amplify signals while using very little power, and transition metal oxides which can act as ultra-fast switches have a great deal of potential to help overcome the bottlenecks of current generations of IRS technologies,” added Dr. Senad Bulja, who will lead Tyndall National Institute’s contribution to AR-COM. “Together, these technologies will help us create surfaces that not only redirect signals but also boost them with minimal energy consumption, which will help them find use in a wide range of devices in the years to come.”

“Intelligent reconfigurable surfaces will be key to solving the challenges of delivering robust 6G networks and enabling the next generation of wireless applications. Ultra-fast, ultra-low latency wireless networks will underpin new forms of communication and sensing that will transform how we interact with each other in the years to come,” said Professor Muhammad Imran, project co-investigator and head of the James Watt School of Engineering.