Press

• Signature of the Chair agreement
• Press release on collaboration with the University of California, Irvine
• Press release on collaboration with POSTECH and Korea University
• Media coverage (1) 
• Media coverage (2)
• Fractus, the deep tech pioneer
• Angel Lozano, director of the chair, distinguished with the "Narcís Monturiol" award
• Giovanni Geraci, member of the chair, distinguished with the Early Achievement award by the IEEE

Research

The Fractus-UPF Chair on Tech Transfer and 6G supports the research activities of the WiSeCom group at UPF, including multiple-input multiple-output transmission, sub-terahertz communication, machine learning for wireless networks, communication for unmanned aerial vehicles, smart surfaces, and cybersecurity, among other topics. The folllowing papers have resulted thus far from research supported by the Chair:

• F. Campolo, A. Blaga, M. Rea, A. Lozano, X. Costa-Pérez, “5GNSS: Fusion of 5G-NR and GNSS Localization for Enhanced Positioning Accuracy and Reliability” IEEE Trans. Vehicular Technology, Vol. 73, 2024
• H. Do, N. Lee, R. W. Heath Jr., A. Lozano, “Hybrid Arrays: How Many RF Chains Are Required to Prevent Beam Squint?” IEEE Trans. Wireless Communications, Vol. 23, 2024
• A. Giuliani, R. Nikbakht, G. Geraci, S. Kang, A. Lozano, S. Rangan, “Spatially Consistent Air-to-Ground Channel Modeling via Generative Neural Networks,” IEEE Wireless Communication Letters, Vol. 13, No. 4, Apr. 2024, pp. 1158-1162
• A. Lozano, S. Rangan, “Spectral vs Energy Efficiency in 6G: Impact of the Receiver Front-End,” IEEE BITS the Information Theory Magazine (Special Issue on 6G), Vol. 3, No. 1, Mar. 2023, pp. 41-53
• C. Diaz-Vilor, A. Lozano, H. Jafarkhani, “Cell-Free UAV Networks with Wireless Fronthaul: Analysis and Optimization,” IEEE Trans. Wireless Communications, Vol. 23, No. 3, Mar. 2024, pp. 2054-2069
• M. Sadeghian, A. Pizzo, A. Lozano, “RIS in Indoor Environments: Benchmarking Against Ambient Propagation,” Asilomar Conf. on Signals. Systems and Computers, Pacific Grove, USA, Nov. 2023
• H. Do, N. Lee, A. Lozano, “Parabolic Wavefront Model for Line-of-Sight MIMO Channels,” IEEE Trans. Wireless Communications, Vol. 22, No. 11, Nov. 2023, pp. 7620-7634
• H. Do, N. Lee, A. Lozano, "Validity of the Parabolic Wavefront Model for Near-Field MIMO," IEEE ICC Workshop on Near-Field Localization and Communication For 6G, Rome, Italy, May 2023
• M. Mojahedian, A. Lozano, “Precoding and Reception for ULA-Based Wide-Aperture MIMO,” IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, Vol. 12, 2023
• A. Pizzo, A. Lozano, S. Rangan, T. Marzetta, “Wide-Aperture MIMO via Reflection off a Smooth Surface,” IEEE Trans. Wireless Communications, Vol. 22, 2023
• H. Do, N. Lee, A. Lozano, “Line-of-Sight MIMO via Intelligent Reflecting Surface,” IEEE Trans. Wireless Communications, Vol. 22, 2023.
• C. Diaz-Vilor, A. Lozano, H. Jafarkhani, “Cell-Free UAV Networks: Asymptotic Analysis and Deployment Optimization,” IEEE Trans. Wireless Communications, Vol. 22, 2023
• A. Pizzo, A. Lozano, "On Landau's Eigenvalue Theorem for Line-of-Sight MIMO Channels," IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, Vol. 11, No. 12, Dec. 2022, pp. 2565-2569
• M. Benzaghta, G. Geraci, R. Nikbakht, D. Lopez-Perez, “UAV Communications in Integrated Terrestrial and Non-terrestrial Networks,” IEEE Global Commun. Conf. (GLOBECOM), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dec. 2022
• M. Mojahedian, M. Attarifar, A. Lozano, “DFT-Based Wideband Line-of-Sight MIMO Communication,” IEEE Global Commun. Conf. (GLOBECOM), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dec. 2022
• M. Attarifar, M. Mojahedian, A. Lozano, "Reduced-Complexity Wideband Line-of-Sight MIMO Communication," Invited Paper at the Asilomar Conf. on Signals. Systems and Computers, Pacific Grove, USA, Nov. 2022
• H. Do, N. Lee, A. Lozano, "DOF Augmentation via IRS for Line-of-Sight Communication," Invited Paper at the Asilomar Conf. on Signals. Systems and Computers, Pacific Grove, USA, Nov. 2022
• A. Pizzo, A. Lozano, S. Rangan, T. Marzetta, “Line-of-Sight MIMO via Reflection from a Smooth Surface,” IEEE Vehicular Techn. Conf. (VTC Spring), Helsinki, Finland, June 2022
• M. Mojahedian, M. Attarifar, A. Lozano, “Spatial-Wideband Effect in Line-of-Sight MIMO Communication,” IEEE Int’l Conf. Communications (ICC), Seoul, Korea, May 2022

The work "UAV Communications in Integrated Terrestrial and Non-terrestrial Networks" received the best paper award at the 2022 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), the flagship event of the IEEE Communications Society.

Technology Transfer

The Fractus-UPF Chair on Tech Transfer and 6G seeks to strengthen UPF’s role as a player in the innovation ecosystem. Indeed, the Spanish university system is far stronger at producing scientific outputs than at being engines of innovation in their local surroundings or in the global scene. Addressing this weakness by capitalizing on Fractus’ experience and know-how is another mission of the Chair.

The Catalan government has accredited the WiSeCom group as a consolidated research unit for 2023-2025 with an explicit mention that "the UPF Fractus-UPF chair represents an excellent transfer door at the national level".

Dissemination

A final goal of the Chair is to disseminate knowledge to the general public. The ensuing activities conducted to date under the aegis of the Chair include:

• “An Academic’s Perspective on 6G Research,” IEEE Communication Theory Workshop (CTW), Banff, Canada, May 22nd 2024
• “Near-Field MIMO: An Old Theory Up to New Tricks,” Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, Feb. 2nd 2024
• “MIMO and Intelligent Surfaces: A Marriage Made in Heaven,” Silicon Austria Labs Symposium on 6G, Nov. 22nd 2023. Host: Prof. Bruno Clerckx
• “MIMO and Smart Surfaces: A Marriage Made in Heaven,” University of California at Irvine, Irvine, USA, June 11th 2023. Host: Prof. Hamid Jafarkhani
• “MIMO and Smart Surfaces: An Old Theory Up to New Tricks,” Keynote Presentation, IEEE ICC Workshop on Near-Field Localization and Communication for 6G, Rome, Italy, June 1st 2023
• “MIMO and Smart Surfaces: A Marriage Made in Heaven,” Keynote Presentation, Keynote, COST Action CA20120 Meeting, Barcelona, Spain, May 23rd 2023
• "Line-of-Sight MIMO: When Multipath Propagation Becomes Dispensable," Invited Seminar at the Technology Innovation Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Oct. 11th 2022.
• "Line-of-Sight MIMO: When Multipath Propagation Becomes Dispensable," Invited Presentation at the Futurewei University Day, Chicago, USA, Aug. 5^th 2022.
• "Wide-Aperture MIMO: When Multipath Propagation Becomes Dispensable," Plenary Presentation at the IEEE Int'l Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), Oulu, Finland, July 4^th 2022.
• “Line-of-Sight MIMO: An Old Theory Up to New Tricks,” Keynote Presentation, 5G Ph.D. School, Rome, Italy, Dec. 1^st 2021
• “Future Directions for Communications Engineers”, National Science Foundation - Networks and Telecommunications, Nov. 18^th 2021
• “Line-of-Sight MIMO: An Old Theory Up to New Tricks,” One World Signal Processing Seminar Series, Nov. 3^rd 2021

• “Harnessing the Radio Wavefront Curvature with Line-of-Sight MIMO,” IEEE Communication Technology News, Aug. 26^th 2021