In partnership with Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the Marconi Society hosted the second annual 6G Summit on Connecting the Unconnected in September, 2021. This three-part virtual series—which kicked off the Marconi Society’s inaugural public symposium, The Decade of Digital Inclusion—focused on the development of 6G technology as an opportunity to improve the affordability, accessibility, and usability of the network.

The 6G Summit brought together experts from technology and academia from around the world to discuss the existing technologies, policy challenges, and avenues for collaboration to expand digital inclusion. To incorporate ideas from students and early-career researchers, the Summit hosted a competition requiring participants to submit a short concept paper detailing their vision for how 6G technology can change the equation for the unconnected.

A team from the University of Padova, led by Marco Giordani, placed second in the competition for their paper, “Bridging the Digital Divide: The Potential of Millimeter Wave Non-Terrestrial Networks.” We interviewed Dr. Giordani about his team’s paper and the role that digital inclusion plays in his approach to ICT.

Watch the team’s short video about their proposal to address the digital divide

1. Tell us a little about yourself. What is your background?

I received my Ph.D. Degree in Information Engineering in 2020 from the University of Padova, Italy, where I am now a Postdoctoral Researcher and Adjunct Professor. I am part of the SIGNET Research Group (amongst the most active institutions in the field of wireless networks), which involves research focusing on 5G/6G networks, underwater networks, Internet of Things (IoT), as well as smart energy grids. 

I have been working on protocol design for 5G millimeter-wave systems, including how to implement, dimension, and deploy cellular and vehicular networks. Lately, with 5G deployments ready for global commercial rollout, I have also been exploring the use cases, requirements, and enabling technologies towards 6G. Along these lines, I am working on practical solutions to provide broadband connectivity to rural/remote areas through non-terrestrial networks for bridging the digital divide.

2. What drew you to this competition?

I had the opportunity to attend the first 6G Summit virtually in 2020, and I found the event to be very stimulating and motivating, as a researcher on 6G. When I realized that the second 6G Summit was focusing on rural connectivity issues and solutions, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to showcase some of the early results we have been producing on the topic, and brainstorm ideas and opinions to further enhance my research. 

The “Early-Career Researchers Competition” immediately drew my attention. I did not want to miss the opportunity to be involved in this initiative, in a spirit of healthy and friendly competition with other young colleagues working on similar topics. I also thought that supporting my application with a short video that would be broadcast to academics and professionals would give me the chance to further disseminate my research results, and the activities of the research group I belong to.

3. Tell us about the problem your paper proposes to solve.

As of January 2021, there were over 3.3 billion unconnected people, many living in rural areas. One simple solution to improve network coverage would be to densify cellular sites worldwide, which, in rural areas, is complicated by harsh weather and terrain (involving prohibitive deployment costs for network operators), as well as lack of transport connectivity and access to power sources. 

To solve these issues, unlike current two-dimensional 5G networks, 6G envisions the deployment of non- terrestrial networks in 3D through air/spaceborne platforms like Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, High Altitude Platforms, and satellites. Not only can these elements provide on-demand efficient coverage in the absence of network infrastructures or when terrestrial towers are out of service (e.g., after natural disasters), but they can also guarantee trunking, backhauling, support for high-speed mobility, and high- throughput hybrid multiplay services. 

However, we make the case that supporting rural coverage may not be enough to bridge the digital divide. Notably, the research community should ensure that broadband high-speed connectivity is continuously and reliably provided to the end users in rural regions. People in these areas are not part of the information era, and digital segregation imposes several restrictions to their daily lives and prospects. Narrowband/slow Internet connections further keeps people living in remote areas from benefiting from online commerce and engaging in the digital world, thereby compounding already existing social and economic inequalities. 

In this context, the objectives of our studies are twofold. First, to demonstrate via simulations the feasibility of using the millimeter-wave bands to establish high-capacity communication in rural areas through non-terrestrial networks, in view of the huge traffic demands and service continuity requirements of forthcoming 6G applications. Then, to identify the most promising configuration(s) for non-terrestrial networks, and discuss the design trade-offs in this domain.

4. How do you think the development of 6G will impact digital inclusion?

Remote connectivity has, so far, received scarce consideration. Advances in the communication standards have targeted coverage expansion (a.k.a. “pervasive connectivity”) mainly in urban areas, where connectivity is already guaranteed. Also, the research community is looking at more appealing research areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, Terahertz communications, or augmented and virtual reality, thus disregarding the needs of the rural areas. On the other hand, 6G wireless networks are building upon the issues left over from previous generations, and will be developed with the objective of providing connectivity for all. To this aim, 6G is introducing trending technologies for building a global connectivity framework. 

We collected these innovations in a magazine paper, recently published to the IEEE Wireless Communications. Besides the deployment of non-terrestrial networks, 6G envisions the Internet working among multiple and heterogeneous Radio Access Technologies, the adoption of open/virtualized/cloud-native solutions to reduce infrastructure, maintenance, and upgrade costs, the development of new physical-layer solutions for front/mid/backhaul, and the transition towards self-organizing networks implementing network slicing, dynamic spectrum management, edge computing, and zero-touch automation functionalities. On top of this, one of the major barriers for network deployment in rural areas is spectrum licensing, since participation in spectrum auction is hindered to small service providers. In this context, 6G shall evolve towards fully-autonomous standalone networks that operate in unlicensed bands, for example where giant operators are not interested in providing their service. Another issue is that remote areas may not have ample connectivity to the power sources, and that is why 6G solutions will be designed to be self-reliant in terms of power/energy requirements, with no (or limited) control from centralized network infrastructures.

5. Why does digital inclusion matter to you?

Personally, I consider myself lucky to live in a country where connectivity is generally not an issue. Even so, I am aware and sensitive to the issues that the digital divide produces in society in terms of citizens’ quality of lives. It appears clear that providing connectivity to rural areas will eventually promote better education, increased digital social engagement, and efficient health systems to the most fragile people, with benefits for the whole society.

6. Why did you decide to study information and communications technology (ICT)? How do you hope to impact the field?

During my Master’s program, I had the opportunity to spend some months at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, in Barcelona (Spain). There, I attended a seminar on 5G networks. This was in 2015; 4G networks were just being rolled out, and almost nobody was talking about 5G at that time. I found that topic very interesting, and it motivated me to apply for a Ph.D. in telecommunications. 

In 6 years of research, the outcomes of my work have been disseminated to industrial and academic communities through scientific contributions to journals and conferences. Also, I had the honor to discuss my research in front of wide audiences through webinars and tutorials. I sincerely hope this could lead to interesting ideas, and inspire young researchers and professionals in pursuing active research in the field of 5G/6G networks.

7. Is there anything else you would like us to know about your work?

I would like to thank my Advisor Prof. Michele Zorzi, as well as my whole network of colleagues, co- authors, and friends, for their great support and motivation.

Also, I am happy to share that, besides these academic initiatives, I am involved with some other colleagues (but first of all friends) in ICTea, a YouTube channel on scientific divulgation and research targeted to the general public. We are collaborating with the “Gedi Editorial Group” (an Italian media conglomerate) by regularly participating in live events all around Italy to explain the technology around us (and the technology we study every day in our labs). It has been a long, stimulating, ambitious, thrilling journey, and we look forward to new challenges and opportunities.