NTT Docomo sees smart surfaces as key to 6G

Could smart surface tech be one of the keys to 6G radio? The 6G network will have to do a lot of heavy lifting in very high frequency bands, requiring dense clusters of very low cost transmitters and receivers.

NTT Docomo is advancing the idea of metasurface reflectors that dynamically redirect signals to mobile devices as they move. The operator ran lab trials with US-based Metawave and Japanese firm AGC 18 months ago and today is proposing metasurfaces as critical for high-throughput indoor 6G.

“It’s a kind of reflector. We can track the mobile terminal by adjusting the angle of reflection on the RIS (reconfigurable intelligence surface),” Takahiro Asai, general manager of Docomo’s 6G-IOWN promotion department, told Light Reading. “We think a new radio network topology will be required to support higher frequency bands,” he said.

In a slide pack, Docomo says existing objects such as traffic lights, glass windows and street lights can all be deployed as RIS to provide small cell infrastructure at much lower cost than legacy antenna tech.

Docomo is not the only one working on metasurfaces, although it was the first operator to do so.

To read the complete article, visit Light Reading.