Project set to develop next-gen wireless communications

Engineers from Glasgow University are teaming up with colleagues from the Tyndall National Institute’s Wireless Communications Laboratory (WCL) at University College Cork for the AR-COM (Active intelligent Reconfigurable surfaces for 6G wireless COMmunications) project.

AR-COM is supported by £1m in funding from UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) plus €500K from Research Ireland.

In a statement, principal investigator Professor Qammer H. Abbasi, director of the Communications, Sensing and Imaging (CSI) hub at Glasgow University’s James Watt School of Engineering, 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 Glasgow University and the Tyndall Institute with the support of key industry partners to develop truly next-generation technologies.”

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.