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India has kicked off its 6G research journey and a collaboration with the US can further advance use cases around the new technology, according to experts. 

Towards this goal, IIT Delhi is organising a two-day international workshop, titled “Indo-US Workshop on 6G Technologies,” on December 9-10 in the national capital.

The key objective is to assess the current status of 6G development in India and discuss 6G goals in terms of use cases to be addressed, technologies to be developed, IPR and prototype/testbed creation, manufacturing of equipment/devices/prototypes, and development of skilled manpower.

The aim is to recommend strategies for achieving these goals and how India-US collaboration could help.

"6G communication systems are expected to enable new use cases such as ubiquitous connectivity (through non-terrestrial networks), industry automation, autonomous driving and tactile internet/mobile robots,” said Professor Saif Khan Mohammed, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi.

New use cases bring their own issues of reliability, efficiency, security, and sustainability.

“An objective of this workshop is to understand the technology enablers for these new use cases and how India can lead the innovation of new technologies,” he said in a statement.

The workshop will feature panel discussions and talks by telecom stakeholders from India and the US, including eminent academicians, representatives from government and standardisation bodies, telecom operators, and equipment manufacturers.

According to Professor Shankar Prakriya, Head, Deptartment of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi, the workshop is a unique opportunity for students, researchers and engineers to get a first-hand understanding of 6G.

“It is very timely given that 6G research is already underway, and standardisation is expected to start next year,” said Prakriya.

After successfully deploying 5G across the nation in record time, the country is fast advancing on 6G technology, and now ranks in the top league when it comes to filing patents related to 6G.

According to a government-led panel, India can achieve a share of 10 per cent of all 6G patents along with one-sixth contributions to global standards in the next three years.