• Three-year project led by Ericsson begins work on integrated 6G solutions for industry
• Focus on Industrial Metaverse and network IT integration: digital twins, wireless extension of TSN, and dynamic use of new frequency bands (incl. centimeter band 7–15 GHz)
• Broad transfer into practice: Simulations, laboratory tests and testing in industrial infrastructure as well as at the 5G Industry Campus Europe ensure realism and scalability

The new research project VICTOR6G started its work in January 2026. In this three-year project with a total budget of 5.4 million Euros (of which 4.3 million Euros are publicly funded), industrial partners and research institutions are working closely together to develop real-time virtualization solutions for industrial 6G applications. The goal is an integrated solution of wired and wireless networks that can reliably and with low latencies operate applications such as robots controlled from the local cloud or inspection drones in the Industrial Metaverse.

Partners in the consortium are Ericsson (lead), SEW-EURODRIVE, Adaept Engineering, IKADO, Fraunhofer IPT, RWTH Aachen University, TU Dortmund University, TU Dresden University and, as associated partner, Airbus. The partners bring together expertise from telecommunications, mechanical engineering and IT. The project is financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of the funding guideline "Bringing 6G into Application".

The partners in this research project are investigating future 6G communication networks for industrial applications and developing a close integration of network and IT technology with the applications.

Core components being researched are:

• Digital twins: Interaction of application and communication network for precise virtual representation in real-time.
• Flexible frequency use: Dynamic use of different frequency bands. For the first time, the focus will also be on the centimeter band between 7 GHz and 15 GHz, which is expected to be partially available for mobile communications applications from 2030.
• TSN extension: Wireless extension of Time Sensitive Networking, so far only been used in wired networks.

Robots controlled from the local cloud and inspection drones that offload their computations to the cloud are examples of such industrial applications. All the solutions under consideration must prove their performance in simulations, laboratory tests and in real environments at the industry partners as well as at the 5G Industry Campus Europe operated by Fraunhofer IPT. Thus, partner-specific IT infrastructure is used, ensuring integration and scalability of developed solutions.

The focus is not only on optimizing technical key performance indicators, such as latency and throughput, but also to determine the economic benefits using so-called key value indicators (KVIs): How can digitization reduce costs or unlock new revenue streams? VICTOR6G aims at creating significant added value for the industry and accelerating the market introduction of new 6G technologies.