EU Project Develops Automotive Photonic Sensing Technology To Advance Next-generation Optical-enhanced 6G Communication Systems

Recently, the European Union's Horizon-Europe program announced the launch of an ambitious multidisciplinary project, 6G-EWOC, which focuses on the development of 6G communication technologies to support autonomous driving and brings together 11 partners from eight European countries. the efforts of 11 partners from eight European countries.
To achieve this, the project will employ a range of cutting-edge technologies, including precision sensing, optical wireless communications, high-capacity forward connectivity, and efficient data center technologies. These technologies will be realized through a powerful combination of photonic integrated circuits and artificial intelligence.
6G networks have been touted as the enabler of modern digital applications because of their ability to provide unrivaled data throughput, extremely low transmission latency, and seamless network coverage. These advantages make 6G technology a huge potential for applications in areas such as autonomous driving.
However, translating this potential into reality requires high-performance, compact and cost-effective solutions for practical implementations, and the Horizon-Europe project is focused on reducing the size and cost of sensing, communication and processing technologies, while improving application-level performance, especially in the context of "connected" vehicles.
The core objective of the 6G-EWOC project is to build a fiber-optic-wireless optical 6G network integrating artificial intelligence technologies to support mobility in connected vehicles. This will be achieved by combining innovative research with recently developed early prototype communication, sensing and computing systems. This three-year project was officially launched in January 2024, marking an important step in leading the development of 6G communications technology in Europe.
The core mission of the 6G-EWOC project is to use photonic technology to enable vehicles to accurately sense their surroundings, use optical wireless communications to build a bridge connecting the vehicle to the road infrastructure, and seamlessly connect to a data center via high-capacity fiber optics to process and compute the collected roadside data in real time. To improve overall efficiency, the project incorporates Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to coordinate and optimize the in-vehicle 6G infrastructure.
Antonio Lázaro, professor at UPC's School of Telecommunications Engineering Barcelona (ETSETB) and researcher at the Center for Advanced Broadband Communications (CCABA), will be responsible for the coordination of the 6G-EWOC project. He said, "Enabling smarter autonomous driving in the cars of the future will require deep integration of sensing and communication technologies to enhance the vehicle's sensing capabilities and connectivity to modern ICT infrastructures. By exchanging information between connected vehicles and seamlessly interfacing with data centers, vehicles are able to access large amounts of sensor data, while data centers are responsible for integrating and processing this data in real time."
This concept, known as Connected Mobility, requires a strong network, the ability to process large amounts of generated information, and the ability to take advantage of cutting-edge communication and sensing technologies, such as those developed in the 6G-EWOC project. These technologies cover a wide range of areas such as integrated laser sensors, wireless optical communications, and optical 6G antennas," says Michael Geiselmann, Chief Commercial Officer at LIGENTEC. "Photonics has a huge potential for performance enhancement, and we are demonstrating this by introducing a highly miniaturized optical beamformer as an optical antenna. "
High-capacity fiber optic forward transmission will enable seamless transmission of large amounts of data in the transportation infrastructure to nearby data centers for real-time processing. Artificial intelligence technology will be responsible for organizing and orchestrating all data streams to ensure their smooth transmission to the various distributed data centers. In addition, other AI tools will integrate vehicle information from each region to build parts of a 3D map and integrate it with the final puzzle generated by distributed computing in each region. With the support of this vehicle infrastructure based on 6G technology, drivers and vehicles will have access to detailed and complete maps that are updated in real time, making travel safer.