NVIDIA has formed a dream team to build AI-native 6G networks

AI – used responsibly – has the potential to enhance almost every element of our lives, and that includes mobile connectivity, which is why with 6G, companies aren’t just looking to increase speeds – they’re also looking at infusing it with AI.

To that end, NVIDIA has announced that is has partnered with industry leaders MITRE, Cisco, T-Mobile, ODC (a portfolio company of Cerberus Capital Management), and Booz Allen Hamilton, to research and develop 6G networks that include AI-native hardware and software.

Natively integrated AI in 6G networks has the potential – according to NVIDIA – to deliver enhanced services and far better spectral efficiency (meaning the rate at which data can be transmitted over a given bandwidth), as well as lower operational complexity and costs.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, said: “Next-generation wireless networks will be revolutionary, and we have an unprecedented opportunity to ensure AI is woven in from the start. Working with leaders in the field, we’re building an AI-enhanced 6G network that achieves extreme spectral efficiency.”

To achieve this, NVIDIA and its collaborators are developing AI-RANs (random access networks) – these are a technology that combine AI and RAN workloads on a single platform, as well as embedding AI into radio signal processing, and these AI-RANs are seen as a precursor to AI-native 6G wireless networks.

Each of NVIDIA’s partners has a different role to play here, with MITRE (a not-for-profit research and development organization) for example set to research and prototype open, AI-driven services and applications, while Cisco will provide mobile core and network technologies, ODC will deliver software, and Booz Allen will develop AI RAN algorithms and security.

T-Mobile meanwhile will work directly with NVIDIA to expand their AI-RAN Innovation Center collaboration, to provide research-based concepts for AI-native 6G network capabilities.