HELIX: High-speed Real-Time Experimentation Platform for 6G Wireless Networks

Mobile networks are evolving rapidly, with 6G promising unprecedented capabilities in terms of data rates and ultra-low latencies. However, the development of testbed platforms for wireless experimentation has not kept pace. Existing platforms typically offer either end-to-end capabilities with low bandwidth or high bandwidth with limited or no real-time functionality. In this paper, we introduce HELIX, an experimentation platform with 6G scalable real-time capabilities. HELIX integrates a comprehensive physical layer subsystem with multi-numerology support alongside an advanced mixed software-hardware control unit responsible for interacting with the fronthaul network and dynamically configuring the functional split in real time. On the server side, we implement the necessary drivers and routines to enable seamless integration with O-RAN systems, thus facilitating open and end-to-end experimentation. We demonstrate the capabilities of HELIX through a variety of experiments at sub-6 GHz, 28 GHz, and 60 GHz frequencies. Notably, HELIX achieves data rates of up to 1200 Mbps using 256-QAM modulation with over 417 MHz of bandwidth, and end-to-end bidirectional latencies of 500 μs. We show advanced features, including the implementation of Integrated Sensing And Communication (ISAC), and discuss how the platform could be extended to support bandwidths of up to 1670 MHz.