“6G should be for the many, not the few” is the final sentence of a recent book by William Webb. In this episode, Erik G. Larsson and Emil Björnson use this book as the starting point for a conversation on why and how wireless technology can improve its coverage. The end goal is to deliver ubiquitous connectivity, so we can use any wirelessly connected application anywhere at any time. The discussion starts at the conceptual level: Why do cellular networks have generations? How are visions for future generations created, and can they be trusted? Different ways to enhance future networks are then covered, from making optimal use of existing network resources to adding different kinds of new infrastructure where it is most needed. The episode was inspired by the book “The 6G Manifesto”, ISBN 9798338481936. Music: On the Verge by Joseph McDade. Visit Erik’s website https://liu.se/en/employee/erila39 and Emil’s website https://ebjornson.com/

Coverage holes exist in cellular networks despite decades of wireless technology evolution, but new potential solutions are on the horizon. In this episode, Emil Björnson and Erik G. Larsson discuss network-controlled repeaters, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and half-duplex relays. Network-controlled repeaters have attracted particular attention from 3GPP in recent years; the conversation focuses on how these can create strong propagation paths through signal amplification. Implementation challenges related to synchronization, band selectivity, and stability are also covered. A detailed overview is provided in “Achieving Distributed MIMO Performance with Repeater-Assisted Cellular Massive MIMO” (https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.00142). Technical details can be found in: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2405.01074 and https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.17908 Music: On the Verge by Joseph McDade. Visit Erik’s website https://liu.se/en/employee/erila39 and Emil’s website https://ebjornson.com/

There are many textbooks to choose between when learning the basics of wireless communications. In this episode, Erik G. Larsson and Emil Björnson discuss the recent book “Introduction to Multiple Antenna Communications and Reconfigurable Surfaces” that Emil has written together with Özlem Tugfe Demir. The conversation focuses on ten subtopics that are covered by the book and differentiates it from many previous textbooks. These are related to the dimensionality of physical constants, the choice of performance metrics, and the motivation behind OFDM signaling. Various system modeling characteristics are discussed, including how the antenna array geometry impacts the channel, dual-polarized signals, carrier frequency dependencies, and the connection between models for small-scale fading and radar cross-sections. The role of non-orthogonal multiple access, hybrid beamforming, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces are also covered. The textbook is meant for teaching an introductory course on the topic and can be freely downloaded from https://www.nowpublishers.com/NowOpen

Music: On the Verge by Joseph McDade. Visit Erik’s website https://liu.se/en/employee/erila39 and Emil’s website https://ebjornson.com/