Engineers from the University of Glasgow are teaming up with colleagues from the Tyndall National Institute’s Wireless Communications Laboratory (WCL) on a project to develop key technologies that could usher in the next generation of wireless communications.

The project, called Active intelligent Reconfigurable surfaces for 6G wireless COMmunications, or AR-COM, will work to improve the design of smart materials called intelligent reconfigurable surfaces (IRS), which are expected to play a key role in the ultrafast 6G wireless networks of the future.

Over the next three years, the AR-COM partners will develop new materials and methods to help 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.

As demand for improved indoor wireless signals increases, IRS devices could provide better mobile coverage in buildings with poor reception, enable more reliable high-speed internet connections, and support new 6G applications requiring extremely reliable wireless connections.

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

Professor Qammer H. Abbasi, director of the CSI Hub at the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering, and AR-COM’s principal investigator, said: “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.”

The AR-COM project will now move through research and development, beginning with focus on creating advanced switches engineered from materials called transition metal oxides (TMOs) to enable precise and rapid control over wireless signal strength.

The project will then look at how signals move through carefully designed layers of metal and TMO materials, allowing the team to develop miniature signal amplifiers which can boost weakened signals but require only low amounts of power to operate.

These newly-developed elements will be integrated into a fully-functional IRS system which can manipulate wireless signals with no signal loss and low latency, maximising signal quality even in the most challenging environments.  

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Professor Muhammad Imran, project co-investigator and the head of the James Watt School of Engineering, said: “Intelligent reconfigurable surfaces will be key to solving the challenges of delivering robust 6G networks and enabling the next generation of wireless applications. 

“Ultrafast, 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.

AR-COM is supported by £1 million in funding from UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in addition to €500,000 (£414,675) from Research Ireland, and is backed by industry partners including Ericsson Silicon Valley, Nokia, Samsung Electronics UK Ltd, Virgin, and Analog Devices Inc (UK).