Samsung joins AI-RAN Alliance as founding member to promote 6G innovation

Samsung has joined the AI-RAN Alliance (Artificial Intelligence-Radio Access Network) as a founding member, to promote 6G innovation by combining AI technology and wireless communication technology.

In addition, Arm, Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, NVIDIA, SoftBank and Northeastern University are joining the alliance as founding members.

Launched at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2024, the AI-RAN Alliance will collaborate on the development of innovative new technologies, as well as the application of these technologies to commercial products in preparation for the upcoming 6G era.

The alliance aims to combine AI and wireless communication technologies for application in various fields, create an ecosystem, and ultimately expand opportunities for new businesses. To accomplish these objectives, the alliance has established three working groups that carry out technical research:

• AI for RAN: will focus on technology utilizing AI/ML to improve the spectrum, cost and energy efficiency of RAN.
• AI and RAN: will focus on AI and radio network convergence technology for both efficient resource management and maximizing infrastructure utilization.
• AI on RAN: will focus on discovering new AI applications and services in wireless networks.

The results of these activities are expected to advance the standardization and commercialization of 6G, including the discovery of new services, technical requirements, and specifications.

"Emerging services in the 6G era will revolutionize the way people interact with technology, and AI will be an integral part of this trend. The AI-RAN Alliance will foster collaboration, drive innovation and usher in a new era of transformation around AI and 6G networks. We believe this coalition will create new value for end users and operators through AI-based use cases and innovations," said Charlie Zhang, Senior Vice President at Samsung Research America.

Samsung is planning to use the AI-RAN Alliance activity to lead technological convergence and service innovation that combines AI with wireless communication technology.