The Taiwanese–German research project GLEMORIS (Large Low-Energy CMOS-Based Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces) has officially kicked off. GLEMORIS brings together the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS as project partner, the National Chung Cheng University (CCU) in Taiwan, and the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) advance energy-efficient Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) for 6G wireless networks by June 2028. The collaboration also includes student exchange programs and ongoing bilateral cooperation.
The project is part of a strategy by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt – BMFTR) to promote German partners in joint projects with Taiwan to expand research cooperation in the field of microelectronics. Taiwan has outstanding research expertise and globally leading semiconductor manufacturers. The scientific exchange aims to tap into new research potential, skilled workers, and forward-looking hardware innovations for chip development and design.
The next generation of RIS panels for 6G mobile networks
The aim of the project is to research a new technology for mobile communications and other communication antennas. More specifically, the consortium will develop a novel low-power RIS panel leveraging ultra-low-power RF CMOS switch chips and embedded decoders as phase shifters. This will significantly reduce energy consumption while maintaining high performance in next-generation communication systems. The mm-Wave research team in the wireless communications and networks department at Fraunhofer HHI has long-standing hands-on expertise in wireless channel measurement and in situ testing of wireless networks’ radio entities.
The most important tasks within the project include the design of low-power CMOS switches for RIS, the integration of these switches into RIS elements, and the conduction of system-level tests in realistic application scenarios. The project’s goal will be demonstrated with a 15 GHz 32×32 RIS panel that aims for a gain of 55 dB, a reflection beam width of 4°, RF power consumption of less than 1 W, an RF switching time of less than 1 μs, and a digital control time of less than 1 ms—an important step toward a scalable, energy-efficient 6G infrastructure.
Learn more about the project here: https://www.elektronikforschung.de/projekte/de-tw-glemoris