On 24–25 March 2026, UNITY-6G partner imec participated in the Workshop on Deterministic Wireless Communications (DEWICOMM 2026) hosted at TU Dresden, Germany. The event brought together leading academic and industrial experts to explore the evolution of wireless systems towards deterministic, time-sensitive, and converged network architectures for Industry 4.0 and beyond.
DEWICOMM 2026 focused on bridging the long-standing gap between the flexibility of wireless communication systems and the strict determinism traditionally associated with wired industrial networks. Discussions centred on enabling guaranteed performance, time synchronization, and reliability across heterogeneous Radio Access Technologies (RATs), including 5G, industrial Wi-Fi, DECT NR+, and optical wireless systems.
imec contribution: Wireless TSN and deterministic networking
As part of Session 4: “3GPP and Non-3GPP RATs, Wireless Communication”, Pablo Avila Campos (imec) contributed to the technical programme with the presentation:
“From Best-Effort to Deterministic: Enabling Wireless TSN with OpenWiFi”
The presentation addressed a key challenge in next-generation industrial connectivity: how to extend Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) principles into wireless environments while preserving deterministic behaviour.
The contribution highlighted the role of OpenWiFi-based architectures in enabling more predictable wireless communication, moving beyond traditional best-effort delivery models towards coordinated, time-aware networking. This aligns with ongoing research efforts in UNITY-6G on deterministic and service-aware wireless infrastructures for 6G systems, particularly in industrial automation scenarios.
Workshop themes and relevance to UNITY-6G
DEWICOMM 2026 provided a highly interactive environment featuring technical sessions, testbed discussions, and demonstrations across leading European research institutions and industry stakeholders such as Siemens, Ericsson, TNO, Fraunhofer institutes, and TU Dresden.
Key workshop topics included:
- Integration of 5G and TSN for industrial use cases
- Control plane evolution for deterministic scheduling and traffic engineering
- Wireless time synchronization across heterogeneous networks
- Experimental testbeds for validating deterministic communication systems
- Converged architectures combining 5G, TSN, and DetNet principles
These themes are strongly aligned with UNITY-6G objectives, particularly in the areas of intelligent orchestration, network determinism, and edge-to-cloud convergence, which are essential for enabling future autonomous industrial systems.
Strengthening collaboration on deterministic 6G systems
Participation in DEWICOMM 2026 reinforced UNITY-6G engagement with the broader research community working on deterministic networking and next-generation wireless systems. The discussions highlighted the increasing importance of predictable, low-latency communication in industrial environments where real-time control, robotics, and automation depend on strict timing guarantees.
By contributing to this workshop, UNITY-6G continues to support the development of converged, reliable, and deterministic wireless infrastructures, paving the way for future 6G industrial ecosystems where wireless networks can meet the rigor of mission-critical applications.
