ETSI has set up a new Industry Specification Group (ISG) dedicated to Multiple Access Techniques (MAT) for 6G mobile systems. The group’s goal is to establish industry consensus on various multiple-access techniques derived from 3GPP specifications.
The ISG MAT will investigate potential techniques like Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA), Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA), Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), and Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) to enhance transmission efficiency in terms of spectrum efficiency, power consumption, latency, and user fairness. The ISG MAT will focus on downlink multiple access techniques for the physical layer of the 3GPP radio interface, considering deployment environments such as indoor hotspots, urban macros, and rural settings.
ETSI officially launched the ISG MAT on January 15-16, 2025, during a meeting in London attended by 24 participants from industry, academia, and government administrations. Dr. David Vargas from the BBC was elected as chair, with Prof. Bruno Clerckx from Imperial College London and Dr. Stephen Wang from VIAVI Solutions as vice chairs.
Dr. Vargas stated, “Multiple Access Techniques are fundamental to mobile technology development and play a crucial role in enhancing the radio interface for IMT-2030 systems. We are thrilled to kick off the ISG MAT and unite industrial and academic members to accelerate the development of advanced Multiple Access Techniques for 6G mobile systems.”
Scope and areas of activities:
- Use cases, deployment scenarios, key performance indicators, and evaluation methodology
- Study of transmitter and receiver processing structures including complexity aspects
- Study of physical layer procedures
- Study of link level and system level performance
- Study of potential specification impact and gaps of new multiple access techniques
- Proof-of-concepts, prototypes, and field trials
The new ETSI Group will provide reports to 3GPP and other relevant industry bodies as part of their 6G standardization efforts. It will contribute to the development of 6G as a versatile communication system connecting humans and machines across various use cases. This initiative aligns with the evolving needs of future wireless networks, which are expected to support new interactive immersive experiences and address connectivity challenges in high-demand areas. Additionally, it will enhance media delivery efficiency and reliability over mobile networks at scale.
