University academics lead doctoral network training future 6G network experts

University of Huddersfield academics are part of a doctoral network training a new generation of experts in 6G networks.

The Europe-wide project will focus on research into integrated sensing and communications for 6G and involves a total of 17 academic and industrial partners.

Funded by Horizon Europe the project is known as ISAC-NEWTON - Intelligent Sensing and Communication as Training Network for Perceptive Mobile Networks.

Total funding for the research is €3.9 million with the biggest share of €615,571 going to The University of Huddersfield. On this occasion, the funds will be provided by the UKRI guarantee scheme.

Professor Pavlos Lazaridis is the principal investigator and will be bringing his expertise in Electronic and Electrical Engineering to the project. The Huddersfield team will also involve Professor Nigel Schofield, Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Dr Qasim Ahmed, Reader in Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

Together they will be supervising two fully funded doctoral researchers based at the University, out of a total of 15 across the whole consortium.

Professor Lazaridis commented: “This is a very ambitious project on the next generation of mobile communications involving top-level partners both from industry and academia. It has been awarded the highest possible score of 100% during the evaluation process by the European Commission.”

The ISAC-NEWTON project will be seeking to shape the future of communications technology by addressing challenges within 6G wireless applications, looking at Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) and Perceptive Mobile Networks (PMNs).

The project is coordinated by Dr Zaharias Zaharis of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Other universities that are part of the network comprise: Charles III University of Madrid in Spain, Vienna University of Technology in Austria, Technical University of Sofia in Bulgaria, Technical University Berlin in Germany, and IHU, Greece.

The industry partners involved include: Silicon Austria Labs, Italtel (Italy), GMV Aerospace and Defence (Spain), Acceligence (Cyprus), OTE (Greece), Sofia Tech Park (Bulgaria), Smart Avatar (NL), Massive Beams, Germany, Samsung Electronics R&D (UK), NPL (UK).

The proposal was approved in April 2024 and will run for four years. Funding from the University’s International Collaboration Fund (ICF) was instrumental in extending the international collaboration network and applying for ISAC-NEWTON.

The project follows on from a similar doctoral network relating to advancing 5G communications, MOTOR5G, which began in 2019 with four PhD researchers based at the University of Huddersfield that time.

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