Wireless Network Lab Research Projects on 6G and Wi-Fi Secured grant Support of the Russian Science Foundation in 2026

Two scientific projects by WNL in the field of wireless communications have received grant support from the Russian Science Foundation under the 2026 competition.

The first project is being carried out by the Intelligent Communication Systems Laboratory of the Artificial Intelligence Institute at MIPT. The project is titled “Development of Configuration Methods for Passive and Active Reconfigurable Metasurfaces in Sixth-Generation Cellular Communication Systems.” Its goal is to create technologies for future 6G mobile networks to make communications faster, more stable, and more accessible, especially in urban areas, industrial facilities, and remote regions.

The key idea is the use of reconfigurable metasurfaces – special elements that control radio signals, amplify them, direct them, or reduce interference. This makes it possible to redirect signals without installing new base stations and to apply them within existing networks. The main scientific challenge is to develop metasurface control algorithms that remain robust under noise and changing conditions, including operation with minimal control information, which is especially important for the Internet of Things.

The project is led by the young team of the MIPT Intelligent Communication Systems Laboratory: Alexey Kureev, Andrey Tyarin, Ekaterina Stepanova, PhD students Ilya Burtakov and Anton Karamyshev, as well as Master’s students Anna Gorbunova and Savva Tronin, and third-year students Vladislav Lepin and Dmitry Manzhos.

The second project is conducted by the Wireless networks laboratory of the IITP RAS and is titled “Intelligent Coordinated Radio Resource Management for Interference Control in Dense Next-Generation Wireless Local Area Networks.” It aims to improve Wi-Fi networks, especially in environments with many devices such as offices, apartments, and exhibition halls.

The performance of modern Wi-Fi networks can decrease significantly when many devices operate nearby, as their transmissions interfere with one another, causing signal reception issues.

The new project develops intelligent management algorithms for Wi-Fi 8 and future Wi-Fi 9 networks, enabling devices to “negotiate” transmission parameters in order to transfer data faster and without interference. The main solutions include Co-SR (Coordinated Spatial Reuse), Co-BF (Coordinated Beamforming), and NPCA (Non-Primary Channel Access). These technologies are expected to significantly improve Wi-Fi speed and stability in dense network environments, including through the use of machine learning methods.

The project team includes: Evgeny Khorov, Ilya Levitskiy, Vyacheslav Loginov, Sergey Tutelyan; PhD students Egor Endovitskiy, Vladislav Paroshin, Anton Tretyakov; and Master’s students Andrey Barannikov, Egor Golubev, and Evgeny Bogdanov.

Both projects create the scientific and technological foundation for future telecommunications equipment, including 5G-Advanced, 6G, and next-generation Wi-Fi.