6G Telecommunications, Perception and Artificial Intelligence: event explored convergence and social challenges

Promoting a debate on the relationship between telecommunications, the sensing of environments through radio and computer vision techniques, and Artificial Intelligence. This was the motto of the 11^th edition of the Open Day, organised by INESC TEC Centre for Telecommunications and Multimedia (CTM); the event took place on May 10, at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP).

Entitled “Communications and Machine Perception – Convergence and Societal Challenges”, the 2023 edition of the Open Day CTM brought together more than 100 participants, including representatives of industry, academia and public administration, who had the opportunity to discuss the convergence of telecommunications and artificial perception, analysing their impact on addressing social challenges and environmental sustainability. The participants also had the opportunity to watch the demonstration of technologies developed at INESC TEC.

“We aim to promote a debate and the reflection on the expected revolution in 6G telecommunications, which will combine mobile communications with speeds that can reach hundreds of Gbit/s, as well as with artificial vision obtained via video cameras and antennas, which will also act as radars”, explained Manuel Ricardo. According to the Full Professor of FEUP, Associate Director of INESC TEC and coordinator of the event, this combination of communications and vision “will lead to new applications yet to be identified, but with the potential to cause a revolution comparable to that of the Internet or mobile phones”.

According to Manuel Ricardo, it is important to ensure, on the one hand, that these technologies support the transition of the economy to a sustainable model and, on the other hand, to understand “how the expected techniques of Artificial Intelligence will operate with this ubiquitous system of communications and artificial perception”.

This was the starting point of the Open Day CTM, which featured a vast agenda, including: an intervention by Mário Campolargo, Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation; a presentation by Ivan Seskar, professor at Rutgers University (United States of America), who addressed the construction of liveable, safe and inclusive communities using hyperlocal technologies; and a roundtable, moderated by Arlindo Oliveira, President of INESC and Distinguished Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico (University of Lisbon) – featuring Ivan Seskar, Aníbal Matos, member of the Board of Directors at INESC TEC, Paula Viana, researcher at INESC TEC and Coordinating Professor at the Porto School of Engineering, and Luís Pessoa, researcher at INESC TEC and guest professor at FEUP.

Rui Campos, CTM coordinator and professor at FEUP, presented the research work in telecommunications and artificial perception carried out at INESC TEC, which currently leads an international consortium that will develop scientific equipment and laboratory infrastructures to explore this area of convergence, in collaboration with European and North American partners.

The event, which also featured interventions by Rui Calçada, Dean of FEUP, José Manuel Mendonça, Chairman of the Board of Directors of INESC TEC, and António Cunha, President of CCDR-N, ended with a series of demonstrations of technologies developed at the CTM.

The video of the session is available here.

The Open Day CTM is an annual event that aims to increase knowledge and promote discussion on emerging research topics, bringing together representatives from industry and academia.