A Korean research team will showcase core technologies targeting next-generation 6G communications at the world's largest mobile exhibition, Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) said it will participate in MWC 2026 in Barcelona, Spain, and unveil six research outcomes, including an artificial intelligence (AI)-based 6G core network, AI-native wireless transmission, AI-enabled base stations, intelligent transparent reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), next-generation non-terrestrial networks (NTN) for low Earth orbit satellites, and real–virtual convergence interaction technologies.
The AI-based 6G core technology aims to realize an autonomous core that learns and controls itself according to service requirements, featuring a 40% improvement in session processing efficiency over existing systems. In the wireless domain, through an extremely large multiple-input multiple-output (E-MIMO) transceiver system integrating 1,000 antenna elements, it seeks more than a 10-fold capacity increase in the 7 GHz band while using the same C-band (3.5 GHz) base station locations employed in 5G.
For radio access network (RAN) technology, it will exhibit the "Neural Receiver," in which AI corrects signal distortion and noise in real time. Field tests confirmed up to an 18% improvement in reception performance over existing methods. It will also unveil Open RAN-based low-power base station software that performs energy control based on traffic prediction, indicating up to a 20% reduction in base station power use.
In addition, it will demonstrate transparent RIS that improves indoor coverage by adjusting radio characteristics without power supply; NTN that links terrestrial networks with low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and technologies related to Korea's first Internet of Things (IoT) satellite, ETRISat; and interaction based on Digital Twin Virtual Reality (VR)/Mixed Reality (MR) and multimodal haptic feedback. ETRI plans technology demos and researcher briefings at its booth and will expand cooperation with global research institutions and corporations.
Bang Seung-chan, president of ETRI, said, "MWC 2026 is an important stage to showcase our researchers' next-generation communications capabilities to the world," adding, "We will lead future networks and digital innovation through continuous research and development and global cooperation."