Within the framework of the Mobile World Congress 2024, the creation of the AI-RAN Alliance has just been announced, in which both Samsung and a large number of leading companies take part. Its objective is to take the innovation of 6G networks one step further and set trends when it comes to the future of connections.
As you may have already seen if you are aware of the latest news published, MWC 2024 has begun and AI is playing a highly relevant role in the event. Many manufacturers, like Samsung, have focused on it and are making the most of it really efficiently with all kinds of technology. Now we discover that it will also be one of the gears that help the development of 6G networks.
The AI-RAN Alliance is born
It has been presented at the event that is taking place in Barcelona and has Samsung Electronics as one of the founding members. In reality, the role of the Korean entity is of high importance, since they are at the forefront of innovation in wireless communications with the application of AI. This is the main task of an alliance that already has some of the biggest names in the industry in its ranks.
In addition to Samsung, the alliance has 10 founding members who are going to put all their effort into ensuring that the future of 6G connections is greatly benefited by AI. These companies include such big names as Microsoft, Arm, Nvidia, Ericsson, Nokia and Japan’s SoftBank. Together, all of these leading companies in their respective fields will try to drive 6G development like never before.
An ambitious goal
The main mission is to ensure that 6G networks enjoy the boost they need so that their introduction into the market, in due course, is carried out with the best results. To achieve this, the way to achieve this will be by combining the latest in wireless communications with artificial intelligence technology. And what all these companies are going to do is collaborate deeply in order to be able to combine resources and materialize the plans they have in mind.
In addition to reinforcing the use of 6G networks and their capacity, another of the objectives of the AI-RAN Alliance is to develop the best way to apply these advances made in commercial products. The long-term mission is that the market is prepared for the debut of the 6G generation and that it can be taken advantage of in a massive way.
From Samsung they explain that they know that the 6G era will mean a revolution in the way in which the interaction between technology and people will occur. They are also clear that artificial intelligence will play a crucial part in the development of these progress. For this reason, they want to ensure that they collaborate to maximize innovation and create value not only for operators, but also for the users themselves.
But carrying out the alliance’s project will not be exactly easy. The founding members know this and, therefore, have begun by announcing that they have already created three divisions within their group. Each of them will focus on a type of work and challenge, which will help make progress more efficient and break down the barriers found in 6G. These three divisions are called AI on RAN, AI and RAN and AI for RAN. In the case of the latter, it will be the one that deals with technological development with an AI/ML model that helps meet three needs. The first will be to improve the energy efficiency of the RAN, radio access networks, while the other two will fall on improving costs and expanding the spectrum.
For its part, AI on RAN will have the responsibility of searching for new functions, services or tools applicable to artificial intelligence in its combination with wireless networks. Lastly, AI and RAN will have the challenge of improving infrastructure and resource management at the time when 6G networks and AI come together.
The reason for working so thoroughly in these divisions is to ensure, as we indicated, that 6G networks reach their full potential and that better ways of using them are developed. For some of the companies involved in forming the alliance it will be especially important, such as Samsung. After all, the Korean company has a very relevant presence in the world of artificial intelligence and everything it can contribute in this regard will be something that will have a positive impact on its own catalog. We must not leave aside that Samsung is one of the most prominent names in AI development at different levels, both in tool development and AI applied to hardware. In addition to this, Samsung has also been one of the names that has been most at the forefront of 6G development since they entered this field in 2019.
