TOKYO -- NTT DOCOMO, INC., working in cooperation with NTT Corporation, Nokia and SK Telecom Co., Ltd., an international telecommunications operator, announced that in an indoor test with radio waves in the 4.8Ghz band of 6G wireless technology using AI for the first time in Japan, they confirmed that communication speeds can be improved up to 18% compared to conventional methods indoors.

Moving towards the era of 6G, DOCOMO conducted the test with NTT, Nokia and SK Telecom, using AI technology to optimize transmission and reception processing for various radio wave propagation environments.

Specifically, the test confirmed that communication performance can be improved by using AI-based baseband transmission and reception processing developed by Nokia to design optimum modulation schemes according to the radio wave propagation environment and applied it to a wireless interface. In addition, the reception process using AI does not use a known signal between the transmitter and receiver (reference signal), which is conventionally needed to estimate the propagation channel, but instead uses AI to realize a series of reception processes from channel estimation to signal detection in one step. The result is higher transmission efficiency and improved communication speeds (see figure).

With further upgrades, the technology is expected to optimize modulation and demodulation schemes for diverse propagation environments and thereby improve communication quality across a broad range of wireless transmission usage cases.

Going forward, DOCOMO will continue further tests initiatives with major domestic and international vendors as well as international operators. DOCOMO expects to accelerate 6G R&D and contribute to 6G’s global standardization and commercialization.

Some of the results of the test mentioned in this announcement will be showcased at the NTT R&D Forum 2024 - IOWN INTEGRAL from November 25.