KT said on Tuesday it succeeded in demonstrating an AI-based next-generation wireless transmit-receive technology in partnership with Qualcomm Technologies and German telecommunications equipment maker Rohde & Schwarz.

The AI-based next-generation wireless transmit-receive technology is an AI-based channel state information (CSI) compression method being pursued under '3GPP Release 20', an international standard-setting body. AI learns complex wireless environments between base stations and devices to improve the accuracy of channel state information sent from devices to base stations.

KT and Qualcomm built a test environment for the demonstration by linking Qualcomm's next-generation Snapdragon mobile platform with built-in AI functions and Rohde & Schwarz's AI base-station system (CMX500 OBT). KT applied an AI model optimised for real communications environments using its 5G network operations experience and base-station configuration information.

The demonstration improved downlink performance by about 50 percent as the accuracy of wireless channel state information increased. KT said, "This demonstration shows that AI can improve practical wireless performance itself." It added, "It is especially meaningful in that it proved the effectiveness of intelligent base station (AI-RAN) technology based on 3GPP standards in a commercial network environment."

KT is also developing and using, in addition to the next-generation wireless transmit-receive technology, an AI-based solution for optimising temperature management at communications centres called 'AI TEMS' and a power-saving solution for base stations and servers called 'ESKIMO'.

KT said it plans to use the demonstration as a momentum to develop AI-based wireless technologies to lead the 6G era and to continue strengthening cooperation with global big tech companies to lead 6G standardisation. It also said it is preparing in parallel for evolution toward an AI-based autonomous operations network.

Sang-pyo Kim (김상표), head of Qualcomm Korea, said, "6G will become an innovative platform for future expanded intelligent edge AI." He added, "Cooperation with KT is an important step toward realising this and is expected to accelerate the development of next-generation communications technologies."

Andreas Pauly (안드레아스 파울리), chief technology officer at Rohde & Schwarz, said, "In this 6G AI demonstration, confirming a leap in performance through AI models via AI-RAN and device solutions will become an important milestone for future communications technologies."

Jong-sik Lee (이종식), executive vice president and head of KT's Future Network Research Institute, said, "With this cooperation with global big tech companies Qualcomm and Rohde & Schwarz, KT will continue to secure wireless AI technologies to improve customer-perceived quality."