The DOD is looking to the next-generation wireless tech to further build on the improved speeds, latency and capacity it gained with 5G and support the U.S. military’s use of new capabilities at the edge.

With that, Macklin said the Pentagon is beginning to experiment with 6G in a variety of ways.

“6G will introduce some new features that some of the community are aware of, but I don’t think all fully appreciate the implications of that,” Macklin said at Elastic’s Public Sector Summit, produced by FedScoop.

As an example, the FutureG Office has been experimenting with a concept called Integrated Sensing and Communication, which uses radio frequencies of all objects — including those not actively transmitting data — connected to a network to create situational awareness of the surrounding environment, according to Macklin.

“So as these RF signals are going out there, moving from radio towers connecting to our devices, they transmit our voice data … they transmit data as our devices connect to the internet. But as those RF signals are bouncing around the environment, they can also paint a picture of what’s going on in that environment,” he explained.

One way in which the U.S. military could apply this emerging concept is to improve awareness and management of drones in a given environment, Macklin said.

“We’ve got a lot of drone delivery businesses that will expand their operations, right? So where we understand the standards are currently heading with that is drone swarm control, drone deconfliction, and then also drone detection,” he said.

Macklin continued: “If you’ve been tracking what’s been going on in the news recently, when you add a national security perspective to that, we sure have had a lot of incidents where folks who are weaponizing commercial drones. So I think your imagination can run pretty fast with why that is important, why we need to lead innovation in that area.”

Late last year, the Defense Department expressed frustration when it couldn’t figure out who was responsible for flying drones near military installations in New Jersey. But a new capability like Integrated Sensing and Communication supported by 6G might aid in addressing such incidents with threatening drones, Macklin implied.

And, because of existing investments in 5G wireless technology, fielding 6G shouldn’t come with a huge price tag in terms of supporting infrastructure.

A capability like Integrated Sensing and Communication “will be integrated into existing digital infrastructure. You don’t need to add a lot of new equipment. You can provide new capabilities out of existing infrastructure,” Macklin said.

As the Pentagon continues its efforts to explore and adopt next-generation wireless technologies like 6G, Macklin said it’s participating in a “whole-of-government approach” that allows modularity and interoperability called Open Radio Access Network, or Open RAN. He called it “our big play to drive innovation within the U.S. and with other stakeholders.”

In November, the department awarded Hughes Network Systems a $6.5 million contract to develop an Open RAN prototype at Fort Bliss, Texas, to test and evaluate advanced wireless capabilities for military applications. The capability was expected to offer “increased functionality and scalability of 5G wireless networks, incorporation of artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) into DoD systems, and greater flexibility in acquiring or replacing the software and hardware used in military equipment,” the department stated in a press release.

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The “2023 5G Challenge: Advanced Interoperability” initiative will be led by the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences division of the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and is being sponsored by the Defense Department’s FutureG and 5G Office, which falls under Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Heidi Shyu.

“The 5G Challenge will help establish the deployment readiness of Open RAN systems — an important factor in future decisions about updating communications infrastructure on Department of Defense facilities under the base modernization initiatives in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023. The military services will provide plans for such modernization this year and prepare to undertake them over the next three years at hundreds of DoD facilities,” per a DOD press release on Thursday.

The competition will “help validate Open RAN as the architecture of the future,” it added.

Applications are due by March 1. An informational webinar will be held Feb. 9.

Competitors will vie for up to $6.22 million in cash prizes. The total prize pool is worth up to $7 million including in-kind prizes.

A key aim of the two-year, four-stage effort is to accelerate the adoption of open interfaces, interoperable subsystems, secure networks, and modular, multi-vendor solutions, according to the event website.

The prize money will go to participations who “successfully showcase the best ability to integrate with other participants to establish end-to-end (E2E) sessions and demonstrate mobility.”

The initiative will accept combined central unit (CU) and distributed unit (DU), and radio unit (RU) subsystems from qualified applicants.

This year’s challenge is just the latest of many U.S. government moves to push the Defense Department to adopt next-generation communication technologies. Last year’s 5G challenge focused on demonstrating RAN subsystem interoperability.

At the direction of Congress, the DOD last year also established a cross-functional team focused on these capabilities. And the FutureG and 5G Office, which falls under the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, has been tasked with spearheading key modernization efforts.

The Defense Department is also helping to fund an Open6G technology hub, which is part of the Pentagon’s Innovate Beyond 5G (IB5G) program, which aims to “jumpstart 6G systems research on open radio access networks (Open RAN).”

A number of other 5G pilot projects and experiments have also been launched on U.S. military bases in recent years as officials look to leverage the technology for things like augmented/virtual reality for mission planning and training, “smart warehouses” for logistics, and distributed command and control.

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