CW TEC 2023 looks at future mobile networks – and the risks of complexity

‘The unavoidable complexity of future wireless networks?’ was the theme for CW TEC 2023, which took place at Cambridge Computer Labs and online last week.

The event at the William Gates Building considered the increasing demands made on mobile networks, as new mobile network generations, new spectrum bands and new antenna technology add complexity to deployed networks.

The schedule began with a welcome by CW CEO Paul Crane, followed by the first session on ‘How complex are current mobile networks?’

First up was Andy Sutton, principal network architect, BT, who reviewed the evolution of digital cellular site design and explored how the complexity has come about.

Moray Rumney, director, Rumney Telecom, said our networks are brittle and considered whether we are “sleepwalking into catastrophe”. The solution he proposed is “not more risk mitigation features which add complexity but to return to less complex systems that are inherently robust, less efficient, and less vulnerable to failure and attack”.

The session before lunch saw Peter Love, 4G/5G densification architect at Nokia, talk about managing complexity and predicting future capacity upgrades.

Nick Johnson, head of UKTIN, then assessed how telecoms innovation can “help the industry meet policy, manage complexity, be affordable, perform well and make common sense all at the same time”.

Yue Wang, head of group, 6G Research/SRUK, Samsung, said “the convergence of communication, computation, and intelligence in the 6G era” would bring new challenges.

Speakers after lunch included Nafiseh Shariati Eshkevari, master researcher, Ericsson Research UK; Maria Lema, co-founder, Weaver Labs; and Prof Rahim Tafazolli of the University of Surrey, a technologist who is known as “the father of 5G”.

Paul Crane said afterwards: “What a great day – insightful presentations and debates on key topics which impact us all. It was a joy listening to the technology experts giving their perspective on the future of mobile infrastructure.

“For me, the key take out was a big question. Mobile networks have become more and more complex. At the same time they have become critical infrastructure, a serious outage would now have a major social and economic impact.

“Are we doing enough to ensure this risk is minimised? This conference raised an important issue, I’m sure future Cambridge Wireless events will look at how to solve the problem.”