NTT Docomo says it has carried out the world’s first outdoor trial of real-time transceiver systems using AI-driven wireless technology as part of its push toward 6G. Conducted in collaboration with Nokia Bell Labs and SK Telecom across three sites in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, the test demonstrated that integrating AI on both ends of the link can boost throughput by up to 100% compared to conventional non-AI methods under identical conditions effectively doubling communication speeds.
According to the release, wireless networks often suffer from unstable connection quality due to fluctuations in the radio propagation environment. The trial aimed to tackle this challenge by testing what Docomo calls “AI-AI technology,” which applies artificial intelligence to both the transmitting and receiving ends of the wireless interface to help stabilize and optimize performance.
The goal of this approach is to optimize modulation and demodulation based on real-time radio conditions, allowing the system to automatically adjust for better reliability. Docomo says this helps maintain stable communication performance “across diverse use cases.
While this technology had previously been validated in controlled indoor settings, the significance of the new trial lies in demonstrating its performance in real-world outdoor conditions. The latest tests were designed to confirm whether the system can deliver consistent, stable results even as radio environments fluctuate due to factors such as temperature changes, weather variations, and physical obstacles.
The companies evaluated the so-called AI-AI technology across three different outdoor scenarios with varying radio propagation conditions, including situations where obstacles were introduced and the terminal was in motion. The tests featured vehicles travelling at different speeds on public roads, as well as environments with partial obstructions to assess how the system adapts under challenging, real-world conditions.
NTT says the results confirm that the AI-AI technology successfully improved communication speeds across all test scenarios by compensating for signal degradation in each environment.
Under the most challenging propagation conditions, the system delivered an average throughput gain of 18%, with peak improvements reaching up to 100% compared with conventional methods.
These results show that AI-AI technology works effectively not only in controlled indoor settings but also in complex outdoor environments, representing a meaningful step toward practical 6G systems that deliver high transmission efficiency with low power consumption,” the release states. It adds that DOCOMO will continue refining the technology across diverse conditions and accelerate its 6G R&D efforts, while working with global partners to drive standardization and eventual deployment.
NTT says it will continue advancing this technology as part of its push toward full “6G realization.” Meanwhile, European mobile operators recently secured access to upper 6GHz spectrum—frequencies that would otherwise have been allocated for Wi-Fi. Because higher-band spectrum generally suffers from weaker propagation, innovations like this AI-driven approach, which aims to overcome those limitations, could become instrumental in enabling effective 6G use of such bands in the future.
