C-DOT partners with IIT Roorkee, Mandi to boost 6G standardisation, connectivity

New Delhi: The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), a premier telecom R&D centre under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), on Wednesday signed an agreement with IIT Roorkee and IIT Mandi to help in 6G standardisation as well as boost connectivity in the country.

The agreement, a significant step towards developing indigenous technology, has been signed under the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) scheme of the DoT for the development of ‘Cell-Free’ 6G access points.

In traditional mobile networks, each cell is serviced by a single base station like 4G/5G to service mobile customers.

On the other hand, "the 'Cell-Free’ massive MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) eliminates the idea of cells and cell boundaries by deploying several access points (APs) across a vast region to serve many user devices at the same time", said the Ministry of Communications.

The Ministry noted that this will aid in “ubiquitous connectivity to the users, eliminating dead zones, and enhancing signal strength”.

It will also significantly boost data speeds, and offer an exceptional user experience even in densely populated areas.

“The 6G project will focus on developing APs for enabling the upcoming 6G radio access networks and also aims to contribute to the 6G standardisation activity,” the Ministry said.

It will also “drive commercialisation, generate intellectual property rights (IPRs), and develop a skilled workforce to support the emerging 6G landscape”.

Rajkumar Upadhyay, CEO, C-DOT, underscored the key role of indigenously designed and developed technologies in meeting the specific requirements of communication.

"This will help us generate IPRs in the 6G domain and emerging technologies in the area of 6G,” he said.