Webinaire du CCEM: ‘From Research to Standards: Measurement Perspectives on 6G'

Topic

As research on 6G accelerates toward global standardization, measurement science is becoming a critical enabler for validating next-generation wireless technologies and integrated sensing capabilities. This presentation provides a metrology-oriented perspective on key 6G developments discussed in recent industry and 3GPP activities, highlighting how advances at the physical layer challenge existing measurement and validation methodologies.

AI and machine learning are transforming the physical layer of future networks, enabling neural receivers, ML-based channel state information feedback, and AI-driven signal processing. While these approaches promise gains in spectral efficiency, robustness, and energy efficiency, they introduce new challenges for test and measurement, including reproducibility, performance assessment under realistic propagation conditions, and the establishment of traceable benchmarks. Digital twins of radio propagation environments—combining measurement-based channel models, ray tracing, and large-scale channel sounding—play a key role in bridging simulation and real-world testing, enabling scalable, repeatable, and uncertainty-aware evaluation across FR3, mmWave, and emerging THz bands.

Beyond communication, 6G extends wireless systems into the domain of sensing and perception through Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC), enabling applications such as passive object detection for automotive, industrial, and security use cases. This convergence raises fundamental metrological questions regarding sensing accuracy, calibration, and the interpretation of radio-based measurements as physical observables.

Finally, the talk addresses enabling technologies such as extreme massive MIMO, photonic signal generation, and all-photonic networks, highlighting their implications for ultra-stable frequency generation, low-latency measurement, and energy-efficient operation. Taken together, these developments underline the growing role of metrology in providing trusted measurement frameworks, reference methodologies, and validation tools that are essential for the transition of 6G from research to global standards and deployment.

Webinar speaker

Taro Eichler is Technology Manager for Wireless Communications and Photonics at Rohde & Schwarz in Munich, where he drives the company’s technology strategy and research engagement for 6G. With over 15 years of experience in wireless communications, he plays an active role in numerous 6G industry research initiatives, focusing on key areas such as THz for communication and sensing, photonics, channel characterization, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS). He also represents the company on various research advisory boards and contributes to pre-standardization efforts in sub-THz and photonic technologies, including through his role as a delegate to the ETSI ISG THz working group.

Before joining Rohde & Schwarz, he held senior roles at Intel Corporation, where he specialized in integrated photonic communication systems, and at NTT Basic Research Laboratories, working on quantum optical research. Taro's academic background is rooted in quantum optics and fundamental physics. He conducted research at the University of Tokyo under an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellowship, holds a Diploma in Physics from the Technical University of Munich completing his thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and the University of Bonn, where he earned his Ph.D. in Physics.