Digicomm Research has coordinated and worked on tens of high-level projects, many of which funded by the European Commission or the European Space Agency, contributing to the development and evaluation of new techniques for Non-Terrestrial Networks.
6G-NTN2 Nexus is a 6G SNS-funded project that advances the integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks to deliver seamless, resilient connectivity. It develops unified architectures, orchestration mechanisms, and multi-tenancy frameworks to support vertical markets such as public safety and transportation. The project demonstrates harmonised TN–NTN operations across multiple frequency bands.
Status: Starting
HYPER-6D is the Italian technological response to the global challenge of next-generation networks. The architecture of HYPER-6D has the objective of supporting the realization, evolution, and experimentation of the architectures that will characterize the 6G and Beyond 5G standard.
The traditional "two-dimensional" networks paradigm, limited to terrestrial coverage alone, is overcome by introducing a natively multi-dimensional model that integrates terrestrial and non-terrestrial nodes in a single digital cognitive and multi-access continuum. HYPER-6D is not simply a connectivity system, but an evolved network architecture, capable of transforming communication infrastructure into a sentient network (Network-as-a-Sensor), governed by Agentic and Generative Artificial Intelligence models with the objective of guaranteeing operational resilience, technological sovereignty, and continuity of service in dual-use scenarios.
Status: Starting
STARGATE is an ESA-funded Study aimed at designing and developing an end-to-end demonstrator for the Physical Layer (PHY) of candidate waveforms for future 6G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) systems, in order to support their definition in 3GPP standardisation and further enforce the leadership and competitiveness of the European Research & Development (R&D) NTN ecosystem.
Status: Starting
The EU-funded UNITY-6G project is pioneering the development of an advanced 6G network infrastructure that integrates cutting-edge technologies such as AI, distributed ledger technology, and digital twinning. UNITY-6G aims to build a scalable AI-native architecture that enhances network efficiency and incorporates renewable energy sources for environmental sustainability. The project is designed to meet the diverse demands of integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks and aims to evolve into a real-time, state-aware network using decentralised applications to fulfill stringent timing requirements. Moreover, it targets key use cases such as disaster management, immersive XR communications, and Industry 4.0 and sets a key milestone for future global communication networks.
Status: Ongoing
Discover more: https://www.unity-6g.eu/
GEAR is an ESA-funded Study that aims to develop an improved version of the 5G non-terrestrial networks (NTN) Release 18 protocol stack. The main topics covered are: (i) review the latest 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications for the NTN scenario starting from Release 17 and identify the missing models and functionalities by selecting the library that needs to be enhanced with Release 18 functionalities; (ii) identify the key functionalities planned for Release 19 to be added to the library; (iii) software design and development of the new functions in the user equipment and gNB protocol stack to support bidirectional communication links for geostationary orbit (GEO) and non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite networks; (iv) in-depth laboratory validation of the new functionalities of the software library.
Status: Ongoing
Discover more: https://connectivity.esa.int/archives/projects/gear
The Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) will complement the current Terrestrial Network (TN) and enhance the next generation of mobile networks and services. This will improve connectivity for users in unserved and underserved areas, benefiting both consumers and industries.
6G-NTN is a 6G SNS-funded project that aims to design and validate NTN’s key technical, regulatory, and standardisation enablers for the integration of TN and NTN components into 6G, focusing on multidimensional network infrastructure, multi-constraint RANs, and multi-user terminals.
Status: Completed
Discover more: https://www.6g-ntn.eu/
ITA NTN is a national research project funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU through the RESTART research and development program. In a 6G-oriented scenario, where space network entities cooperate with terrestrial networks, the main goals of ITA NTN are:
Status: Concluded
Discover more: https://fondazione-restart.it/projects/s11-ita-ntn/
To maintain Europe’s leadership in the definition and development of 3GPP-defined network solutions, it is timely to advance significant innovation breakthrough in the current technologies, techniques, and architectures.
The EAGER project aims to pave the way for the use cases, technologies, and techniques that will constitute the heart of Europe’s 6G satellite communications. EAGER will build on and advance the existing innovations to prepare for next generation satellite networks, targeting highly efficient and deeply integrated satellite networks in beyond 5G and 6G cellular systems.
Status: Completed
Discover more: https://www.eagerproject.eu/
With IoT and 5G playing an ever-increasing role in today’s society, many seek to improve their usage and use them as efficiently as possible. With this in mind, the EU-funded DYNASAT project aimed at researching and developing many novel bandwidth-efficient transmission methodologies that are to be used by advanced NGSO base satellite access infrastructures capable of servicing mass market and professional 5G users and equipment. As traffic demand increases, they further expanded the project using MIMO, dynamic spectrum access, frequency reuse, user clustering, CoMP and interference mitigation. With these solutions, DYNASAT is geared towards supporting Europe in holding its lead position in satellite solutions for 5G.
Status: Completed
Discover more: https://www.dynasat.eu/