6G-EWOC: Optical Wireless Communication in Support of Autonomous Driving

The road towards an efficient transport infrastructure, which safely operates fully autonomous vehicles in congestion-free traffic flows, is subject to several technological challenges that reach also into the realm of telecommunications. Future 6G networks are required to handle huge amounts of sensor information, both in terms of low-latency communication and real-time data processing. The 6G-EWOC project contributes to this challenge through a concerted use of optical wireless communication and sensing with radio-frequency based cellular technology. Three optical-wireless scenarios are discussed, including (i) instant data exchange between vehicles leveraging their lighting assets for low-latency communication, (ii) the provision of vehicular data off-loading to a fiber-based 6G infrastructure through beamsteering-assisted optical remote radio heads to enable data fusion at the edge cloud, and (iii) the seamless wireless extension of fiber-grade capacity to isolated network segments situated in fiber-scarce brownfields, which is accomplished through transparent optical air interfaces that ensure fiber-grade continuity by preventing a translucent electro-optic termination of the single-mode fiber channel. Another important contribution aims to advance light- and radio-based sensing technologies towards networked versions that offer simultaneous communication and detecting capabilities.