CENTRIC: Towards an AI-native, User-Centric Air Interface for 6G Networks

CENTRIC introduces a ground-breaking approach to 6G communications by designing the protocol stack based on application-specific requirements. At its core is an AI-native Air Interface (AI-AI), enabling unparalleled customization across the physical layer and protocol stack. With a top-down, modular methodology, CENTRIC prioritizes user needs and environmental factors in network design. By leveraging AI, it customizes waveforms, transceivers, signalling, protocols, and resource management to provide users with precisely the connectivity they require, whenever and wherever they need it.

To make this vision a reality, CENTRIC is advancing energy-efficient hardware platforms, including neuromorphic computing and mixed analog-digital systems. By integrating theory, algorithms, hardware co-design, and digital twins for training and monitoring, the project ensures high-quality user experiences while optimizing spectrum usage, reducing energy consumption, and adhering to electromagnetic field (EMF) regulations.

CENTRIC’s innovations will be validated through laboratory prototypes, enabling advanced 6G use cases such as self-driving vehicles, the internet of nano bio-things, and multi-sensory holographic communications. Its user-centric approach offers highly customizable solutions for diverse markets, from mobile network operators to private networks. By addressing the unique needs of environments like smart factories and university campuses, CENTRIC overcomes the limitations of traditional multi-purpose wireless standards with adaptable AI-powered tools.

The project also tackles critical challenges, including sustainable data management, energy savings, and EMF exposure control. CENTRIC envisions an interoperable, AI-driven ecosystem, resolving the compatibility issues seen in today’s fragmented smart home technologies. 

A recent presentation from Hexa-X-II Workshop on Architecture and Standards is embedded below and the slides can be found here:

By designing networks that prioritize user-specific requirements and environmental constraints, CENTRIC is shaping future 6G systems to support the dynamic needs of the 2030s and beyond.