The Brooklyn 6G Summit

The 2022 year marks the 9th Brooklyn 6G Summit (B6GS), a two-day event held on the New York University (NYU) campus in Brooklyn and organized by Nokia and NYU WIRELESS, which is focused on the technical future of the wireless industry. The summit, which began as the Brooklyn 5G Summit in 2014, has become one of the industry’s most distinguished events, serving as a harbinger for communication technologies, applications, and services. The event brings together representatives from industry, startups, academia and the regulatory community to discuss solutions to various technical, business and regulatory issues.

The brainchild of Nokia researchers Amitava Ghosh, Peter Merz and Lauri Oksanen, the summit evolved from their desire for a forum in which people could exchange ideas and information about channel modeling. Recognizing that the scope of the workshop would be limited if it reflected the agenda of just one organization, the three men approached their long-time collaborator and friend, NYU professor Ted Rappaport, to ask for the university’s help.

While the first summit was exclusively focused on issues related to channel modeling, B6GS has to address a variety of 5G and 6G topics. Today, the summit features live demonstrations of the latest access technologies, including mmWave, antenna, Cloud, RF testing, IoT and C2X technologies, from Nokia and other organizations. Over the years, the event has featured a diverse field of speakers from such organizations as AT&T, Verizon, NTT Docomo, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden), and Stanford University, among others.

Renowned for its participatory atmosphere and commitment to illuminating the tough issues, the summit is a prime example of Nokia’s dedication to collaboration. It brings together technologies and partners and fosters transparent and trusted relationships in an academic setting.

For more than 20 years, Nokia Bell Labs has been supporting and working alongside academic institutions, such as NYU WIRELESS, to build deep, long-term research relationships that accelerate innovation.

These collaborations have yielded significant results, including breakthroughs in 6G sensing with the University of Helsinki; advances in transimpedance amplifier (TIA) chips for Passive Optical Networks (PON) with IMEC researchers; and new technologies for human augmentation from the Centre for Mobile, Wearable Systems and Augmented Intelligence at the University of Cambridge.

But it’s not just about the pursuit of knowledge. The relationships between Nokia Bell Labs and the universities it works with also enhance the experience for students, providing them with real-world insights, exposure to new areas of research and access to internships and full-time positions. Conversely, researchers from both the universities and Nokia Bell Labs can broaden their perspectives and enrich their careers through secondments, residencies, and visitations.

The theme for this year’s B6GS is “On the Path to 6G,” which will focus heavily on the status of various 6G initiatives around the globe and highlight key technologies defining the 6G era, such as the metaverse (XR/VR/AR, digital twinning), native AI/ML, network as a sensor and new spectrum technologies. As the 5G age evolves into the 6G era, no one company can hope to create all the elements required. Collaboration is needed across the industry and academia to bring 6G to life.

Learn more: https://b6gs.com/

Register to attend virtually: https://b6gs.com/ieee-tv-livestream/