6G Architecture Blueprint and Key Innovations: A European Perspective
Wednesday, 4 June 2025, 11:00 – 12:30, room 0.B
Session Chair:
- Xi Li (NEC Laboratories Europe, )
- Ömer Bulakci (Nokia , )
- Marco Gramaglia (Univ. Carlos III de Madrid, ES)
- Anastasius Gavras (Eurescom GmbH, )
Research and development activities for 6G networks are currently at full speed, aiming to develop, test, and validate novel technologies and architecture revolution that will bring the 6G to life by 2030. As standardization organizations such as 3GPP are progressing rapidly to define 6G roadmap and initiate their 6G-related activities, various industry as well as academic experts in Europe are innovating new technologies and solutions towards 6G that will deliver the promised performance enhancements at an overall reduced operational and environmental cost. In this context, the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) in Europe, under the Horizon Europe program for Research and Innovation, has started, to date, more than 60 project in Phases 1 and 2, and more new projects are underway, which focus on 5G-Advanced and 6G.
To address the architectural evolution towards 6G and to establish consolidated European view on the 6G architecture, the SNS-JU 6G Architecture Working Group (WG) has evolved from the 5G PPP 5G/B5G Architecture WG, which has successfully issued various white papers in the past on architecture design for 5G and 5GAdvanced system, with the latest open-access book focusing on technology vision towards 6G (currently more than 92K downloads). To foster a consolidated 6G architecture design shared by European 6G stakeholders, the WG is going to release the first 6G Architecture white paper based on the initial research findings on 6G from the ongoing SNS JU Phase 1 and 2 projects. This white paper identifies key architectural innovations required for future 6G mobile telecommunications networks, and revolves around key technology enablers and design recommendations encompassing areas, such as network infrastructure for extending 5G services, spectrum utilization, connectivity, sustainability, security, privacy, as well as AI and integrated communication and sensing, among others. These findings can be taken as valuable input and feedback to the main SDOs like 3GPP to drive their standardization directions for 6G. At the same time, it also provides a platform for projects working on long-term innovations and formulating research items under the 6G theme to share their visions, requirements, and architectural considerations for future mobile systems.
The aim of this special session is to release and present the final consolidated version of the 6G Architecture white paper at EuCNC 2025. The main content of the proposed special session will be focusing on presenting the overall 6G system blueprint and architecture consolidations based on ongoing SNS JU Phase 1 and 2 projects, and select a few representative topics related to 6G on AI, security, ubiquitous connectivity, reliable and dependable communications.
In summary, the rapid progress in mobile telecommunications has demonstrated their crucial role in establishing connectivity and enhancing knowledge sharing. The ongoing efforts in 6G standardization, the SNS JU projects, and the upcoming focus on 5G-Advanced and 6G research indicate the industry’s dedication to advancing mobile telecommunications systems. This special session aims to discuss openly with the research community in Europe on consolidating architectural innovations and evolution towards as a fully-fledged 6G architecture, providing a collaborative platform to shape the future of mobile telecommunications systems.
Program:
Part I: Deep dive presentations on 4 selected focus topics of the 6G Architecture white paper – Session Moderator: Dr. Ömer Bulakci, Chair of 6G Architecture WG, Nokia
11:00 – 11:15: Talk by Prof. Marco Gramaglia, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, UC3M
Title of the talk:
6G System Blueprint & Architecture consolidation
6G is not only to provide communication services but also to provide other capabilities and digital services which are beyond communications. It will process data, generate insights, and deliver additional valuable services such spatio-temporal data services, compute services to applications, intelligent services (e.g., such as AI functionality, analysis, and optimizations). Additionally, a wider ecosystem collaboration as compared to the previous generations, including mobile network operators, cloud providers, enterprises, vertical industries, integrators, application developers & application service providers, end users, etc., will be a prerequisite to creating values for all the ecosystem players. This needs 6G networks to be a versatile platform interfacing with a broad range of applications and that can be tailored to all the ecosystem players to support their specific needs. This presentation aims to provide the key highlights of the designed 6G E2E system architecture blueprint, illustrating the main concepts and design choices which have the potential to impact the standardization work in the near future.
11:15 – 11:30: Talk by Harilaos Koumaras, Head of FRONT Research Group, NCSR “DEMOKRITOS”
Title of the talk:
AI and Trustworthiness
This presentation will explore the essential aspects of AI trustworthiness in the 6G system, including Security, Privacy, Safety, Resilience, and Reliability dimensions that form the full range of a trustworthy system. The importance of user-centric provision and AI-driven orchestration of the relevant trust functions will be addressed, introducing the novelty of cognitive orchestration of the 6G system that leads towards a human-centric network.
11:30 – 11:45: Talk by Dr. Mir Ghoraishi, Founder & CEO, Gigasys Solutions & Dr. Agapi Mesodiakaki, Senior Researcher, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AUTH
Title of the talk:
Ubiquitous 6G Networks
This presentation will provide the European vision for ubiquitous next-generation networks, highlighting the key challenges in achieving seamless connectivity within sustainable 3D networks. It will delve into 6G enabling technologies, showcasing both architectural and subsystem innovations designed to address critical technical hurdles in integrated Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Networks (TN-NTNs) and new multi-connectivity schemes to improve coverage. Key topics include seamless vertical handovers, unified Radio Access Network (RAN) and evolved multiconnectivity schemes, thus, paving the way for a more cohesive future in global 6G connectivity.
11:45 – 12:00: Talk by Dr. Joachim Sachs, Senior Expert, Ericsson Research
Title of the talk:
Reliable and Dependable Communication
This talk will introduce dependable communication for 6G networks to make them ready to support critical applications with a fundamental need on obtaining connectivity services at a minimum performance level. An overview of enablers for dependable communication will be provided.
Part II: Panel: What will be the key elements of the future 6G System? – Moderator: Dr. Xi Li (Vice-chair of 6G Architecture WG, NEC)
12:00 – 12:30: Panel Discussion
- Prof. Dr. med. Christoph Thümmler, Chief Medical Officer, 6G Health Institute, Leipzig, Germany
- Dr. Andreas Müller, Project Director 6G, Bosch
- David Artuñedo Guillen, CEO at OnLife Networks, Telefónica
- Dr. Ishan Vaishnavi, Head of Network Management and Applications, Nokia
- Dr. -Ing. Joachim Sachs, Senior Expert, Ericsson
- Dr. -Ing. Malte Schellmann, Principal Research Engineer, Huawei Technologies Munich Research Center
- Dr. Alain Mourad, Head of Wireless Lab Europe, InterDigital & Chair of the ETSI ISAC ISG
- Prof. Marco Gramaglia, Professor at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Questions:
- How will AI and machine learning be natively integrated into the 6G system architecture to enhance performance and efficiency and what are the missing gaps?
- What role will edge play in the 6G architecture, and how will it impact latency and real-time applications? Would its role change considering the AI adoption?
- What advancements in network capabilities are expected in 6G, and how will they enable customized networks for diverse applications?
- What security and privacy innovations are being developed to protect 6G networks against emerging threats?
- How will 6G architecture incorporate sustainability and energy efficiency as core design principles?
- How will 6G networks support the seamless integration of communication and sensing capabilities? What are the associated business cases that can drive further monetization opportunities?
- What architectural changes are necessary to enable dependable real-time communications in 6G networks compared to 5G?
- What will be the key challenges and required enhancements to integrate new RAN technologies including NTN to achieve seamless 3D connectivity for 6G?
