Techtile -- Open 6G R&D Testbed for Communication, Positioning, Sensing, WPT and Federated Learning

Abstract

New concepts for next-generation wireless systems are being developed. It is expected that these 6G and beyond systems will incorporate more than only communication, but also sensing, positioning, (deep) edge computing, and other services. The discussed measurement facility and approach, named Techtile, is an open, both in design and operation, and unique testbed to evaluate these newly envisioned systems. Techtile is a multi-functional and versatile testbed, providing finegrained distributed resources for new communication, positioning and sensing technologies. The facility enables experimental research on hyperconnected interactive environments and validation of new algorithms and topologies. The backbone connects 140 resource units equipped with edge computing devices, software-defined radios (SDRs), sensors, and LED sources. By doing so, different network topologies and local-versuscentral computing can be assessed. The introduced diversity of i) the technologies (e.g., RF, acoustics and light), ii) the distributed resources and iii) the interconnectivity allows exploring more degrees and new types of diversity, which can be investigated in this testbed.

Designing a 6G Testbed for Location: Use Cases, Challenges, Enablers and Requirements

“…The physical setting is in several different indoor areas, including office and open spaces. While there are no location-specific testbeds for 6G, some proposals for generic testbeds are emerging, such as the Techtile testbed [53]. In this testbed, tile-based generic radio elements conform an indoor scenario for testing multiple 6G technologies, incluiding mmWave communications and visible light communications.…”

“…The IDCE will also offer these facilities for development of computation programs in the Evaluation framework and for updating software components throughout the testbed. Some testbeds that use a similar approach are [49], [50], [53], [232]. Another function that the IDCE must offer is some degree of automation for live demonstrations, where it may replay experiments with minimal operator intervention.…”

Techtile: a Flexible Testbed for Distributed Acoustic Indoor Positioning and Sensing

“…These are mounted on the back of the tiles, facilitating hidden electronics from inside the room's viewpoint. Connection to the processing backbone is provided through high throughput Ethernet [10], [11]. For acoustic sensing and positioning, hiding the acoustic hardware behind the tiles is unfavorable, as most of the signals get reflected and do not enter the infrastructure.…”

“…The following subsections focus on the Techtile building blocks that are important for acoustic positioning and sensing. For other applications, the correlated technical aspects and potential research contribution of this infrastructure, we kindly refer to the following research [10], [11].…”

“…This testbed also offers other R&D opportunities for communications, wireless power transfer (WPT), general indoor positioning via RF, light, IR, etc. and combinations or comparisons with, among others, acoustic setups [9]- [11]. However, the focus of this paper is on the acoustic properties of this testbed and the available equipment needed for future research on acoustic positioning and sensing.…”