InterDigital helps lead efforts on joint US-Europe 5G roadmap through H2020 EMPOWER project

WILMINGTON, Del., May 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InterDigital, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDCC), a mobile technology research and development company, helped lead efforts to develop a 10-year roadmap for 5G evolution at a joint workshop between the European Union H2020 EMPOWER project and the US-based PAWR program at the IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (IEEE INFOCOM), which took place in Paris this week.

The H2020 EMPOWER-PAWR joint workshop at IEEE INFOCOM 2019 offered the first significant opportunity to discuss progress on a joint mission to accelerate the research and development for the evolution of 5G. Alain Mourad, Director of Engineering at InterDigital, hosted a session entitled “EMPOWER Advanced Roadmap”, where he assessed future technical areas on the path of 5G evolution and the associated experimental challenges.

These research areas currently include enhancements to existing 5G specifications to support full-fledged operations in a wide range of vertical use cases, support of low-power low-cost devices, and support for spectrum above 50 GHz. Moving forward, research areas will include support of moving and flying cells and relays, highly accurate positioning, machine learning-based advanced spectrum sharing, and fine integration of cellular and non-cellular technologies. Longer-term objectives include support for spectrum above 100 GHz, pervasive machine learning and artificial intelligence, integration of non-wireless communication technologies (sensing, radar, charging, imaging), and integration of massive High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) and Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellites.

“The H2020 EMPOWER project is a first of its kind, and along with outlining the vision for 5G evolution, this project is also groundbreaking because it is the first project that sees the EU and the USA actively collaborating to further 5G,” said Alain Mourad, Director of Engineering at InterDigital. “Collaboration is critical for the development of any technology, and with the first iterations of 5G expected this year, it’s important that major players in the industry come together to explore how to develop the technology further. The landmark year 2020 is not the end of 5G, it is rather the beginning of a journey that will see 5G evolving in phases over the next decade, and, this joint workshop with PAWR at IEEE INFOCOM was a timely first step to start defining this evolution.”

EMPOWER is a European H2020 project with a mission to support collaboration between the EU and the USA on advanced wireless experimental research, targeting the new connectivity frontiers beyond 5G. The project aims to establish a cross-Atlantic wireless technology roadmap for 5G evolution over the next 10 years. As part of the project, InterDigital is responsible for the technology road mapping covering scientific research, standards, spectrum and regulation. PAWR (Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research) is a US-based 5G research consortium funded by the National Science Foundation and the PAWR Industry Consortium, which brings together 28 of the nation’s leading companies and associations in wireless, and of which InterDigital is a founding member.