NTT DOCOMO Achieves Successful Outdoor Trial of AI-Driven Wireless Interface Toward 6G

NTT DOCOMO announced that they have successfully conducted the world’s first outdoor demonstration using real-time transceiver systems with AI-powered wireless technology for sixth-generation mobile communications. The demonstration was carried out in collaboration with NTT, Nokia Bell Labs., and SK Telecom. Field trials took place at three locations in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and confirmed that the use of AI improved throughput (transmission speed) by up to 100% compared with conventional non-AI-based methods under the same environmental conditions, effectively doubling the communication speed.

In wireless communications, fluctuations in the radio propagation environment can cause unstable connection quality. To address this issue, the parties have been developing and testing “AI-AI technology,” which applies artificial intelligence to both the transmitting and receiving sides of the wireless interface to optimize modulation and demodulation schemes according to radio conditions, enabling stable communication across diverse use cases. The effectiveness of this technology had previously been verified in indoor environments.*1

The latest field trials aimed to verify whether this new technology can maintain stable performance in outdoor environments, where radio conditions vary greatly due to temperature, weather, and obstacles.

In the field trials, DOCOMO and its partners evaluated the AI-AI technology under three outdoor environments with varying radio propagation conditions, such as the presence of obstacles and whether the terminal was stationary or in motion. The evaluations were conducted using devices equipped with the technology to compare throughput performance with and without its application.

The results confirmed that applying the AI-AI technology improved communication speed by compensating for signal degradation across all test environments. In particular, under the most complex propagation conditions in Course 1, the technology achieved an average throughput improvement of 18% and a maximum of 100% compared to conventional methods. This improvement enables users to transmit larger volumes of data at higher speeds, while also allowing network operators to enhance spectrum efficiency and deliver higher-quality communication services.

These findings demonstrate that the AI-AI technology is effective not only indoors but also in complex outdoor environments, marking a significant step toward practical 6G systems that combine high wireless transmission efficiency with low power consumption.

DOCOMO will continue to refine this technology under diverse conditions and accelerate R&D toward 6G realization, while also collaborating with global partners to advance 6G standardization and implementation.

Source: NTT DOCOMO media announcement