EU program trains experts for 5G and beyond

In October 2020, Fraunhofer IAF welcomed two PhD students and began supporting them on their way to becoming experts in the field of key technologies for future mobile standards. Both are partaking in the EU program “MyWave – Efficient Millimeter-Wave Communications for mobile users,“ which combines academic education with application-oriented industrial experience.

The EU project MyWave supports the training of 15 PhD students with the aim of promoting innovative concepts for wireless millimeter-wave communications. Throughout the training program, the doctoral students will each work on an individual research topic that is of high relevance for the successful further development of the next generation of mobile telecommunication systems – 5G and beyond. The contributions from each student’s research topic will be combined in a demonstrator, which will be assembled and tested by the end of the project.

The program combines research and education at top ranking academic institutions with practical industrial experience at leading technology and system providers, thus offering the perfect foundation for the future of mobile telecommunication research. Starting their dissertation projects at one of the three participating research institutions, the students later move to one of the seven industrial partners for at least 18 months. The former include the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, who is happy to welcome two of these young scientists – Bharat Cimbili and Moïse Safari – and support their studies. “During my previous studies, I was always limited not only in terms of infrastructure but also by the available expertise. Here at Fraunhofer IAF, I am surrounded by so many experts who support my ideas, so that I feel limitless,” says Moïse Safari, PhD student of MyWave.

5G and beyond

Wireless communication is one of the fastest growing technologies worldwide. In order to meet the growing data traffic, which is expected to increase a hundredfold within the next ten years, higher transmission frequencies in the millimeter-wave range are required. Fraunhofer IAF has many experts in the field of high-frequency electronics and develops in projects like “ARIADNE” and “5G-GaN2” not only technologies for the current, but also for the next generation of mobile communication. It thus offers the two doctoral students a unique opportunity for their research. MyWave student Bharath Cimbili is inspired by the available research infrastructure: “I used to work for the largest semiconductor manufacturer, but the closest I have ever been to a clean room is at Fraunhofer IAF; my workplace is literally one floor away. The institute covers all the important things for my research under one roof – I could not ask for more.”

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska Curie grant agreement No 860023.