The publication of 3GPP Release 15 in June 2018 paved the way for the new 5G air interface, making a new step towards the new generation of mobile networks. The work on the development of a new radio interface dedicated to Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity should then start in 2020. It is expected to replace or to complete the Narrow Band-IoT and LTE-M interfaces originally specified in Release 13 in order to achieve the multi-service capability of 5G. Actually, IoT use cases can be segmented into two categories: “critical” applications (traffic safety, automated vehicles …) and “massive” applications (smart buildings, transport logistics …). Massive applications are characterized by an expected high density of connected devices (1 Million/km² from IMT-2020 requirements), small data payloads, as well as stringent constraints on the device energy consumption and cost. Maximizing the spectral efficiency of an IoT network is a key pre-requisite for providing massive connectivity. At link level, it can take advantage of powerful error control codes such as Non-Binary (NB) codes. At system level, reducing “meta-data” throughput, i.e., exchange of information linked to signaling, synchronization and identification is the new paradigm of massive IoT network. This requires encompassing those functions in a single well protected frame. The first wave of IoT standards are far from achieving the reliability and spectral efficiency targets: they implement sub-optimal Forward Error Correction (FEC) schemes such as convolutional or Turbo codes combined with repetition codes (EC-GSM, Narrow Band-IoT and LTE-M [3GPP]), simple Hamming codes (LoRa), or simply omit any FEC capability (SigFox). The aim of the QCSP project is to contribute to the evolution of IoT networks by defining, implementing and testing a new coded modulation scheme dedicated to IoT networks. The “big bet” of the project is to work on the emergence of NB codes combined with a Cyclic Code Shift Keying (CCSK) modulation. This new coded modulation scheme, called CCSK-NB-code [ABA13, ABA14], can be easily implemented in a cost efficient way at the device side. CCSK-NB-code provides several advantages compared to state of the art waveforms: it offers self-synchronization and self-identification capabilities, and is able to operate at ultra-low Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNR). The ambition for the industrial partners of this project is to provide an input to the 3GPP standardization committee built from the results of the QCSP project. These results are expected, at least, to initiate discussions around the efficiency of such a solution for IoT and to push CCSK-NB-Code in a future 3GPP release, if the project is able to rally enough support from other industrial partners. To fulfill this goal, the project has 4 main objectives: Objective 1: Construction of good Non-Binary-CCSK frame for low to ultra-low coding rate (rate 1/3 down to rate 1/256). Three families of Non-Binary error control code will be studied and compared: NB-Turbo code, NB-LDPC code and NB-Polar Code. Objective 2: Define efficient detection and synchronization algorithm for a CCSK-NB-Code frame considering the whole frame itself as a preamble thanks to its particular structure. Objective 3: Development of two demonstrators, the first one using GNU radio module to perform real time demonstration, and the second one integrating new modules in Open Air Interface, the open source software, capable of emulating a complete 4G network, from the core network to the user equipment. Objective 4: The last objective is the dissemination of the results of the project with a particular focus on the 3GPP standard.

EPHYL proposes to evaluate and experiment improvements to the new cellular networks that have been emerging in the context of the internet of things (IoT). The project will be based on the extremely active standardization in the field of Cellular IoT that will be closely followed by the industrial partner of the consortium. Then, the research entities will evaluate and propose improvements to these emerging standards considering the physical layer and the radio resource management levels. Coverage aspects, data link quality and energy consumption will be used for comparison as performance criteria. Some of the most promising technologies will be implemented on a prototype and tested within the mutualized research facility of the FIT-CorteXlab. The impact of the project will principally be found in innovations where patents, publications and contributions to standardization are to be expected.

There are two ongoing industrial trends, one in the mobile communications industry and one in the automotive industry, which are becoming interwoven and will jointly provide new capabilities and functionality for upcoming intelligent transport systems and future driving. The automotive industry is on a path where vehicles are continuously becoming more aware of their environment, due to a permanent increase in various types of integrated sensors; at the same time the amount of automation in vehicles increases, which – with some intermediate steps – will eventually culminate in fully-automated driving without human intervention. Along this path, the amount of interactions increases, both in-between vehicles, as well as between vehicles and an increasingly intelligent road infrastructure. As a consequence, the significance and reliance on capable communication systems for vehicle-to-anything (V2X) communication is becoming a key asset that combined with sensor-based technologies will enhance the performance of automated driving and increase further traffic safety. On the other hand, the mobile communications industry has over the last 25 years connected more than 5 billion people and mobile phones have become part of our daily living. The next step in wireless connectivity is to connect all kinds of devices that can benefit from being connected, with a total of 28 billion connected devices predicted until 2021. It will support the transformation of industries on their journey of digitization. In this step, mobile communications has the ambition to explicitly target the communication needs of vertical industry with corresponding requirements being set for the standardization of 5G until 2020. 5GCAR brings together a strong consortium from the automotive industry and the mobile communications industry, to develop innovation at the intersection of those industrial sectors in order to support a fast, and successful path towards safer and more efficient future driving.

5G will have to cope with a high degree of heterogeneity in terms of: (a) services (mobile broadband, massive machine and mission critical communications, broad-/multicast services and vehicular communications); (b) device classes (low-end sensors to high-end tablets); (c) deployment types (macro and small cells); (d) environments (low-density to ultra-dense urban); (e) mobility levels (static to high-speed transport). Consequently, diverse and often contradicting Key Performance Indicators need to be supported, such as high capacity/user-rates, low latency, high reliability, ubiquitous coverage, high mobility, massive number of devices, low cost/energy consumption. 4G is not designed to meet such a high degree of heterogeneity efficiently. Moreover, having multiple radio access technologies for multi-service support below 6GHz will be too costly. FANTASTIC-5G will develop a new multi-service Air Interface (AI) for below 6 GHz through a modular design. To allow the system to adapt to the anticipated heterogeneity, the pursued properties are: flexibility, scalability, versatility, efficiency, future-proofness. To this end, we will develop the technical AI components (e.g. flexible waveform and frame design, scalable multiple access procedures, adaptive retransmission schemes, enhanced multi-antenna schemes with/without cooperation, advanced multi-user detection, interference coordination, support for ultra-dense cell layouts, multi-cell radio resource management, device-to-device) and integrate them into an overall AI framework where adaptation to the above described sources of heterogeneity will be accomplished. Our work will also comprise intense validation and system level simulations. FANTASTIC-5G includes partners being active in forerunning projects like METIS, 5GNOW and EMPATHIC ensuring the exploitation of the respective outcomes. The consortium possesses the main stakeholders for innovation and impacting standardization, maintaining Europe at the forefront.

Internet of Things (IoT) technology is widely recognised as having the potential to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges. However, to truly benefit society and enable a sustainable future, IoT innovations will need to address the technology gap that exists in powering the rising number of IoT devices. Specifically, the AMBIENT-6G consortium argues that it will be impossible to power hundreds of billions of future IoT devices with batteries that need to be replaced or recharged manually. The maintenance costs, environmental impact, and safety hazards will just be too high. Instead, AMBIENT-6G proposes a new class of energy-neutral devices (ENDs) that will be connected to the IoT through novel ultra-low-power 6G technologies. ENDs exploit ambient energy harvesting or wireless power transfer to recharge their storage and power their operations, allowing them to achieve decades-long energy autonomy. The overall objective of AMBIENT-6G is to design, prototype, validate, and standardize hard- and software technology solutions for intelligent ENDs, and the 6G network infrastructure that connects them to the Internet. To achieve this objective, the project will provide technological innovations in terms of (i) END hardware and software components to enable energy harvesting and management, as well as backscatter and active wireless communications, (ii) a new 6G low-power wide area network technology with significantly lower energy consumption than current technologies, and (iii) machine learning both on-device and orchestrated along the Cloud-Edge-Device continuum to support intelligent management of the device and network resources, as well as local application data processing. AMBIENT-6G will maximize the impact of the above innovations by actively participating in 3GPP Ambient-IoT and other related standardization activities, and adopting an open science approach that facilitates further integration of the AMBIENT-6G technology in follow-up research.