W5
Technologies, Circuits, and Challenges Defining the Future of 6G
14:00 - 17:30
ROOM GRANADOS I
CHAIRS
Florinel Balteanu (Skyworks Solutions, US)
Andrei Grebennikov (Sumitomo, London, GB)
ABSTRACT
The transition from 5G to 6G represents a significant shift in wireless communication, promising data rates of up to 1 Tb/s, sub-microsecond latency, and the integration of pervasive artificial intelligence (AI) and widespread sensing capabilities. Achieving these ambitious goals will require a comprehensive re-evaluation of fundamental semiconductor technologies and integrated circuit design, as well as addressing substantial system-level challenges. This workshop provides a valuable platform to explore the interconnected advancements required to facilitate the transition from 5G to 6G.
PROGRAM
14:00 - 14:45
CMOS THz phased arrays for 6G applications
Kenichi Okada (Institute of Science, TokyO, JP)
CMOS-based terahertz (THz) phased arrays are emerging as a promising technology for 6G wireless systems, enabling ultra-high data rates, precise beam steering, and scalable integration. By leveraging advanced semiconductor processes, these arrays achieve compact, low-cost implementations while supporting frequencies beyond 100 GHz. Key challenges include power efficiency, signal generation, phase synchronization, and thermal management. Recent innovations in circuit design, antenna integration, and beamforming algorithms have significantly improved performance. CMOS THz phased arrays offer flexible architectures for communication, sensing, and imaging, positioning them as a critical enabler of future high-capacity, low-latency, and highly directional 6G networks across diverse deployment scenarios.
14:45 - 15:30
6G-FR3 power transmitters – practical aspects
Florinel Balteanu, (Skyworks Solutions, US)
11:00 - 11:30
Coffee break
16:00 - 16:30
Recent Advancements of GaN Power Amplifiers towards 6G
Kento Saiki and Shuichi Sakata (Mitsubishi Electric, JP)
Gallium Nitride (GaN) Doherty power amplifiers have been widely used in base stations for FR1 frequency bands. Accordingly, the 7.125–8.4 GHz band is being considered for mobile communications as FR3 towards 6G. In this frequency range, GaN Doherty power amplifiers remain promising candidates for power density and efficiency. In this workshop, we will present a prototype GaN Doherty power amplifier module for the FR3 band and basic studies on enhancing the VSWR resilience of power amplifiers, including the results of a newly proposed mode-reconfigurable power amplifier with a hybrid coupler.
16:30 - 17:00
Broadband Approaches to the Design of Sub-terahertz TRx Components
Renato Negra (RWTH University, DE)
This talk provides an overview of key RF building blocks in modern communication systems, including broadband and power amplifiers, VCOs, VGAs, mixers, frequency multipliers, and receiver front-ends. It highlights essential design trade-offs such as bandwidth, efficiency, linearity, noise, and phase noise, along with practical techniques for optimizing performance across wide frequency ranges. The session concludes with a system-level perspective on integrating these components to achieve high-performance RF solutions for wireless and sensing applications.
17:00 - 17:30
Efficiency enhancement in 6G power amplifiers; the challenges of load modulation
Anna Piacibello (Politecnico di Torino, IT)
Load modulation is a highly effective power amplification technique, enabling high efficiency across the broad dynamic ranges of modern communication signals. In next-generation wireless systems, communication and sensing are increasingly combined, and the demands on linearity are stricter, driven by spectrum crowding and rising expectations for signal quality. Load modulation may be viewed either as part of the solution or as an additional design challenge, depending on one’s perspective. This talk will review key techniques and recent results in load-modulated power amplifiers, highlighting their relevance for 6G transmitters and offering an interpretation of the open challenges and emerging solution paths.
BIOSKETCHES
Kenichi Okada is a professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the Institute of Science Tokyo. He received his B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. degrees in communications and computer engineering from Kyoto University in 1998, 2000, and 2003, respectively. After joining Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2003, he led research in advanced wireless systems.
Okada’s research focuses on millimeter-wave and terahertz CMOS wireless transceivers, phased arrays, and high-frequency RF circuits for 5G, beyond‑5G, and 6G applications. He has authored more than 500 scientific publications and is widely recognized for contributions to high-speed, low-power wireless communication technologies. He is an IEEE Fellow.
Shuichi Sakata received the Bachelor of Engineering degree in materials engineering and the Master of Science. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering, all from the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, in 2008, 2010, and 2013, respectively.
In 2013, he joined Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Kamakura, Japan, where he was involved in the research and development of microwave monolithic integrated circuits and solid-state power amplifiers.
From 2015 to 2016, he was a Visiting Scholar with the University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Renato Negra is a Professor of High Frequency Electronics at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He received his M.Sc. in telematics from Graz University of Technology, Austria, in 1999, and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, with a focus on power-efficient linear amplification for wireless communication systems. He joined RWTH Aachen University in 2008 as an assistant professor and became a full professor in 2013. His research focuses on high-frequency circuits and systems, including power amplifiers, mixed-signal and millimeter-wave ICs, and RF technologies in silicon, III–V, and emerging 2D materials, with applications in wireless communications and sensing systems.
Anna Piacibello is an assistant professor at Politecnico di Torino, specializing in microwave and millimeter‑wave electronics, particularly high‑efficiency power amplifiers for applications like 5G and satellite communications. Born in 1991 in Chivasso, Italy, she earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from Politecnico di Torino and later worked there as a postdoctoral researcher before joining the faculty. She has also been a visiting researcher at Cardiff University and has received recognition, including the 2018 Young Engineer Prize from the European Microwave Association, for her contributions to advanced RF and microwave circuit design.