NTT Docomo claims successful outdoor 6G AI-driven interface trial | Computer Weekly

Just a year after NTT Docomo concluded a test with radio waves in the 4.8GHz wireless band, which found that indoor 6G communication speeds can be improved up to 18% compared with conventional methods, the firm has “successfully conducted the world’s first” outdoor demonstration using real-time transceiver systems with AI-powered wireless technology for 6G.

The operator has already been at the forefront of a string of developments moving towards the era of 6G, and the latest move saw NTT work with Nokia Bell Labs and SK Telecom in field trials taking place at three locations in the city of Yokosuka in Kanagawa prefecture.

NTT said that in wireless communications, fluctuations in the radio propagation environment can cause unstable connection quality. To address this issue, the three parties have been developing and testing “AI-AI technology”, which applies artificial intelligence to both the transmitting and receiving sides of the wireless interface to optimise modulation and demodulation schemes according to radio conditions, enabling stable communication across diverse use cases.

The effectiveness of this technology is said to have been proved in the indoor tests undertaken a year ago.

The latest field trials aimed to verify whether this new technology can maintain stable performance in outdoor environments, where radio conditions vary greatly due to temperature, weather and obstacles. The trials are said to have confirmed that the use of AI improved throughput (transmission speed) by up to 100% compared with conventional non-AI-based methods under the same environmental conditions, effectively doubling the communication speed.

In the field trials, Docomo and partners evaluated the AI-AI technology under three outdoor environments with varying radio propagation conditions, such as the presence of obstacles and whether the terminal was stationary or in motion. Namely Course 1, which consisted of a public road with gentle curves where the test vehicle travelled at speeds of up to 40 km/h; Course 2, an environment with partial obstacles; and Course 3, a road with few obstacles where the test vehicle travelled at speeds of up to 60 km/h.

The evaluations were conducted using devices equipped with the technology to compare throughput performance with and without its application.The results were claimed to have confirmed that applying the AI-AI technology improved communication speed by compensating for signal degradation across all test environments.

In particular, NTT noted that under the most complex propagation conditions in Course 1, the technology achieved an average throughput improvement of 18% and a maximum of 100% compared with conventional methods. This improvement it stressed would enable users to transmit larger volumes of data at higher speeds, while also allowing network operators to enhance spectrum efficiency and deliver higher-quality communication services.

Docomo also believes that the findings demonstrated that the AI-AI technology is effective not only indoors but also in complex outdoor environments, marking a significant step toward practical 6G systems that combine high wireless transmission efficiency with low power consumption.

The company said that it will continue to refine the new technology under diverse conditions and accelerate R&D toward 6G realisation, while also collaborating with global partners to advance 6G standardisation and implementation.