BLACKSBURG, Va. (WFXR) – The U.S. Department of Defense have awarded a Virginia Tech Innovation Campus staff member $9 million in funding for FutureG wireless technology research, according to the University.

Lingjia Liu, professor of electrical and computer engineering and an inaugural faculty member of VT’s Innovation Campus, will lead the team researching Mobile dMIMO-facilited complex and large-scale wireless networks to help define and set the standards for FutureG technology. The goal is to focus on the NextG wireless, networking, and computing systems that may have potential impacts for the future of NextG standards.

MIMO is an antenna technology for wireless communications in which multiple antennas are used at both the source, or transmitter, and the destination, or receiver. It enables technology for 4G LTE-Advanced and its extended version, massive MIMO, is enabling technology for 5G new radio systems.

For this project, Liu and his team will work with MIMO technology to take it to the next level, leveraging mobile distributed MIMO networks where distributed antenna arrays are wirelessly connected.

“If we can develop and demo the technology, we have a very good chance of achieving many features of 6G,” said Liu. “Furthermore, we anticipate making technical contributions to 3GPP, which is the standard body set to define the technical specifications for 6G and beyond standards. If so, we would literally be contributing to the 6G standards and would be defining what 6G is. Virginia Tech would help to drive the standardization specifications, which is extremely rare for an academic institution to have the opportunity to do so.”

According to industry experts, the 6G network is expected to be 100 times faster than the current 5G network, offering data speeds of up to 1 terabyte per second. 6G networks will be able to use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide faster response times without delays or lags.

Designing mobile distributed MIMO networks is complicated and challenging, but the work is expected to result in applications that unlock technologies for 6G and beyond. These include:

• Commercial communications: 6G is expected to provide higher data rates with more reliable services.
• Reduced operating expenses: Mobile distributed MIMO networks use wireless connections instead of fiber, meaning it operates with less costly infrastructure.
• Military communications: 6G could dramatically improve situational awareness and decision-making for military operations and shorter conflicts. Wireless connections are more agile and could be set up and dismantled quickly in the field.
• Improved location services: 6G is expected to detect locations accurately within centimeters, meaning drones or other unmanned vehicles could be sent into dangerous environments without risking human lives.
• Cybersecurity: 6G would incorporate advanced security features to minimize or eliminate cyberattacks. By distributing antennas in various locations, mobile distributed MIMO networks avoid the common issue of single point of failure.

“Harnessing wireless technology through mobile distributed MIMO networks means developing an enabling technology that has so far been unrealized or imperfect at best. It will have profound impacts for FutureG networks,” said Liu.

For more information, visit https://news.vt.edu/articles/2023/10/eng-futuregaward.