Nvidia working with Booz Allen, Cisco, MITRE, ODC and T-Mobile to demo 6G applications
Nvidia is working with a cadre of industry expert at Booz Allen, Cisco, MITRE, ODC, Nokia and T-Mobile to bring an AI-native wireless stack for 6G networking to fruition.
As AI moves beyond smartphones to cameras, augmented-reality glasses, robots, autonomous vehicles and other devices, wireless networks face mounting demand to support billions of connections at unprecedented scale and efficiency, Nvidia stated.
The stack is built around Nvidia’s AI Aerial platform and includes 5G RAN software from ODC, user plane function and 5G core software from Cisco, and specialized 6G applications from MITRE and Booz Allen. T-Mobile is also a partner on this initiative and expects to begin test deployment next year.
One such AI application, developed by MITRE manages wireless spectrum allocation within a cell site in real time so users can experience seamless connectivity and operators can see improvements in spectral efficiency, Nvidia stated. Unlike traditional approaches that shut down entire network bands when interfering systems are detected; this application uses AI to target and block only the affected frequencies without interrupting services.
Nvidia also introduced its Aerial RAN Computer (ARC) Pro. The ARC Pro will run 5G, 6G and AI together at existing cell sites, with the goal of enabling operators to move from 5G to 6G via software upgrades alone. Nvidia promised it will deliver both 6G connectivity and AI processing at the same time.
Speaking at Nvidia’s GTC developer’s conclave in Washington, D.C. this week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that for too long, the U.S. has depended on foreign communications technology. “Our fundamental communication fabric is built on foreign technologies. That must stop, and we have an opportunity to do that, especially during this fundamental platform shift,” he said as part of his keynote speech.
As much as Jensen pushed the “Made in America” notion hard, Nokia is a Finnish company and Ericsson is Swedish. So Nvidia is investing $1 billion in Nokia and working with the vendor to “rewrite their stack” to incorporate Nvidia’s ARC Pro system into its AirScale RAN portfolio.
“We’re going to create for the first time a software-defined, programmable computer that is able to communicate wirelessly and do AI at the same time,” Huang said.
