D-MIMO for 6G: An online accessible testbed

Purpose and goal:

In this project, the Swedish partners Chalmers, Ericsson, and Qamcom are collaborating with leading international partners from Virginia Tech (USA), Surrey University (UK), Aveiro University (Portugal), and Tampere University (Finland) to establish a D-MIMO testbed for real-time investigations of 6G use cases within the emerging FR3 (7-15 GHz) frequency band. The project aims to strengthen Sweden´s competitiveness through international collaboration on one of the key technologies for 6G.

Expected results and effects:

The project will stimulate collaboration between partners who have not previously worked together in this constellation. This will form the basis for follow-up applications both nationally, at the EU level, and with the USA.

In a broader and longer-term perspective, we hope the interdisciplinary and international collaboration enabled by the testbed will contribute to the development of future wireless communication systems with improved technical performance, as well as sustainability. Approach and implementation:

The testbed will consist of a D-MIMO network infrastructure that utilizes a 1-bit digital fiber-optic fronthaul architecture. A robotic UE (User Equipment) will also be developed and used to autonomously collect data.

The testbed will be made available online through a dedicated interface. This will promote effective collaboration between hardware researchers working on the development of the testbed and communication system researchers working on new 6G use cases.