C-DOT signs agreement with IIT, Roorkee and Mandi for “Development of ‘Cell-Free’ 6G Access Points”

In a significant step towards developing Indigenous technology, the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), a premier Telecom R&D centre of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India, signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) and Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi (IIT Mandi), for the development of ‘Cell-Free’ 6G Access Points. Both the IITs are collaborating to develop this technology.

The agreement is signed under the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) scheme of Department of Telecommunications, Government of India, which has been designed for providing funding support to domestic companies, Indian startups, academia and R&D institutions involved in technology design, development, commercialization of telecommunication products and solutions. This scheme aims to enable affordable broadband and mobile services, playing a significant role in bridging the digital divide across India.

Traditional mobile networks use cellular topologies in which each cell is serviced by a single base station like 4G/5G to service mobile customers. ‘Cell-Free’ Massive MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) eliminates the idea of cells and cell boundaries by deploying several access points (APs) across a vast region to serve many user devices at the same time. A large number of APs are dedicated to each user within their coverage area, meaning a single user may be supported by many Aps. This ensures ubiquitous connectivity to the users, eliminates dead zones, enhances signal strength, and significantly boosts data speeds, offering an exceptional user experience even in densely populated areas.

This 6G project will focus on developing APs for enabling the upcoming 6G radio access networks and also aims to contribute to the 6G standardization activity, drive commercialization, generate intellectual property rights (IPRs), and develop a skilled workforce to support the emerging 6G landscape.

The agreement was signed during a ceremony attended by CEO, C-DOT – Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay, principal investigator – Dr Abhay Kumar Sah from IIT Roorkee, co-investigator – Dr Adarsh Patel from IIT Mandi and Director C-DOT, Dr Pankaj Kumar Dalela.

At the event, Dr Sah and Dr Patel affirmed their dedication to advancing next-generation communication technologies, aligning with Bharat 6G Vision launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. They expressed their gratitude to Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and C-DOT for the opportunity to collaborate on this research, emphasizing that it bolsters efforts to enhance cutting-edge research capabilities and infrastructure in the telecom sector.

Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay, CEO, C-DOT underscored the key role of indigenously designed & developed technologies in meeting the specific requirements of communication for our diverse country, reaffirming the commitment towards “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. He also said this will help us generating IPRs in 6G domain and emerging technologies in the area of 6G.

The C-DOT, IIT-Roorkee & IIT-Mandi representatives expressed their enthusiasm and commitment to this collaborative endeavour on developing and shaping the 6G vision of India.