Keysight Technologies Forward-Looking: 2026 6G Development Trend Forecast

As research into 6G, early technology development, and standardization efforts continue to advance, artificial intelligence (AI), integrated communication sensing (ISAC), energy efficiency, and new physical layer innovations are gradually becoming key focuses of industry attention. Looking ahead to 2026, what will the landscape of the 6G field look like? In this special 6G outlook article, the management team and technical experts from Keysight Technologies share cutting-edge insights, deeply analyzing the technological routes, system-level challenges, and testing and validation needs that influence 6G development, helping enterprises navigate an increasingly complex and evolving industry environment.

Keysight Technologies Releases 2026 6G Development Trend Forecast

Keysight Technologies’ Chief Technology Expert for 6G, Balaji Raghothaman:

“The evolution toward the FR3 band presents a unique challenge: achieving coverage comparable to existing FR1 deployments without adding new infrastructure. This requires a significant increase in the number of antenna elements and the adoption of advanced beamforming techniques. However, large-scale MIMO deployment must be synchronized with energy efficiency optimization.”

“In 6G, AI will become an essential part of network architecture. We are moving toward agentic AI, where base stations and user devices can operate autonomously to optimize performance. The challenge lies in balancing model complexity, latency, and energy consumption at the edge.”

“ISAC is not only a technological innovation but also a business model transformation. Networks can evolve into ubiquitous sensor networks, enabling diverse applications from elder care and infrastructure monitoring to drone detection and traffic compliance. The key is to fully utilize existing deployments to create new value without reconstructing the physical layer.”

Kalyan Sundhar, Vice President and General Manager of Wireless Technologies at Keysight:

“The FR3 band is gradually becoming a key spectrum for 6G, filling the gap between FR1 and FR2. But this is not just a matter of frequency selection; it concerns the feasibility of technology implementation. In some bands, antenna arrays can reach up to 730 elements—an order of magnitude higher than current 5G deployments. To realize FR3 technology, breakthroughs are needed in packaging, thermal management, and energy efficiency. This presents both a new spectrum opportunity and hardware challenges.”

“In the 5G era, AI was mainly limited to base stations. In 6G, we will enter a new phase: AI embedded at both the transceiver ends. This means smarter devices, smarter networks, and smarter interactions. It also requires rethinking model complexity, latency, and energy consumption—integrating AI with the physical layer from the start rather than adding it afterward.”

“Perception technology is not just a research topic; it is a vital function with commercial potential in 6G. Whether monitoring subtle movements in elder care or coordinating robot collaboration in smart factories, perception can create tangible value. However, it also increases complexity—requiring centimeter-level accuracy, robust integration with communication, and efficient mode switching. This is crucial for building a differentiated advantage in 6G.”

Sassan Ahmadi, Product Manager for SystemVue at Keysight:

“ISAC is revolutionizing our understanding of wireless networks. By leveraging existing communication waveforms to enable sensing, infrastructure can be transformed into distributed sensor grids. This approach requires no additional sensors and can empower applications like drone detection, traffic monitoring, and industrial safety. The fusion of connectivity and sensing will redefine future service models.”

“In 6G, AI will do more than optimize networks; it will become part of the control loop. We are discussing embedding real-time decision-making into the radio access network (RAN), driven by machine learning for beamforming, resource allocation, and mobility management. Achieving this requires explainable models, robust training data, and validation frameworks to ensure system reliability in dynamic environments.”

“Without solving energy consumption issues, large-scale deployment of 6G is impossible. From low-power RF front ends and intelligent sleep modes to AI orchestration systems that reduce unnecessary transmissions, each layer must incorporate energy-efficient design. This is not only about sustainability but also about making high-density, high-capacity networks economically and operationally feasible.”

Sang-Kyo Shin, Product Manager for WirelessPro at Keysight:

“In 6G, AI is not just an add-on feature but a design principle. We embed intelligence into the architecture itself, influencing waveform selection, beam management, and resource allocation. The challenge is to make these models interpretable and robust enough to operate in unpredictable conditions in real time without compromising system reliability or security.”

“ISAC aims to turn connectivity into sensing capability. By reusing standardized communication waveforms for sensing, we can enable object detection, indoor positioning, and environmental monitoring without deploying additional sensor networks. This fusion relies on existing infrastructure, creating new service opportunities.”

“6G introduces unprecedented complexity: AI-driven control loops, sensing feedback, and multi-domain interactions. High-fidelity simulation environments are essential before hardware prototyping to validate these concepts. Platforms capable of modeling RF behavior, AI inference, and user dynamics will accelerate iteration and foster interdisciplinary collaboration.”

Javier Campos, 6G Physical Layer Architect and Technical Lead at Keysight:

“In 6G, AI and machine learning will be deeply integrated into the physical layer to support new functionalities and enable smarter resource allocation. The core challenge is balancing these gains with power consumption and complexity constraints.”

“Operators are actively leveraging existing 5G hardware to build 6G networks, which, while imposing design limitations, will also drive innovation. Our focus is on maximizing spectral efficiency through smarter carrier aggregation and fragmented spectrum utilization rather than relying solely on new spectrum bands.”

“Perception is becoming a native capability of 6G. We are optimizing systems from the start to support sensing, beginning with drone applications, while ensuring flexibility for diverse scenarios and sensing topologies.”

Giovanni D’Amore, Emerging Technologies Project Manager at Keysight:

“RF photonic integration is a significant breakthrough with the potential to play a key role in 6G deployment. Integrating microwave, millimeter-wave, and even sub-terahertz functions into a compact chip allows dynamic spectrum access and carrier aggregation without the complexity of multiple hardware platforms. This approach reduces costs, improves energy efficiency, and accelerates the transition from R&D to large-scale testing and standardization.”

“Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) are poised to reshape perceptions of coverage and energy efficiency. These metasurfaces can dynamically control radio propagation, enabling low-power coverage extension and advanced sensing capabilities. The real challenge lies in moving from simulation to practical deployment—developing prototypes that withstand real-world environments and deliver measurable performance improvements.”

“ISAC will transform networks from simple data pipes into intelligent platforms. Embedding sensing into communication architectures enables applications like predictive traffic management, collision-aware factory automation, and immersive XR based on real-time spatial mapping. This fusion opens pathways for digital twins and smart city planning, creating a new paradigm where connectivity and situational awareness coexist seamlessly.”

Nizar Messaoudi, 6G Project Manager at Keysight:

“Integrating different technologies into CMOS may not be glamorous, but it is essential. As the industry moves toward massive MIMO and miniaturization, heterogeneous integration becomes key to realizing 6G radios.”

“FR3 offers a good balance between coverage and capacity, but coexistence remains challenging. Most resources in this band are already occupied, so combining sensing techniques to determine the best solutions for spatial and temporal sharing is critical. As the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-27) approaches, the scope of globally shared spectrum will become clearer.”

“AI is becoming central to wireless design, but technical capability alone is not enough. We need to establish trustworthiness—this means better training data, clear objectives, and rigorous testing. By 2026, significant progress in AI model testability and validation will be made, making trust and verification as important as technical capability itself.”

Francisco Garcia, Chief Scientist at Keysight:

“For decades, we could determine every bit of data transmitted over the air interface. AI breaks this certainty. To realize AI-native functions in 6G, we must validate them with the same rigor as traditional signal processing. Otherwise, we risk increasing complexity without understanding the costs. The real breakthrough will come when we can measure AI’s impact on the entire system.”

“At first, I was skeptical about combining integrated sensing and communication with semantic communication. But once I realized both layers transmit encoded information—one physical, one semantic—it opened new possibilities: using generative AI to design physical layers tailored for specific tasks. Imagine drones not transmitting raw video but only the key perceptual information needed for a mission. That’s not only efficient but revolutionary.”

6G is accelerating toward us, ushering in a disruptive transformation for the industry. Deep integration of AI, sensing, communication, and high energy efficiency at the system level unlocks unprecedented development opportunities, but also presents challenges. In this comprehensive transformation, the ability to simulate real-world scenarios and conduct testing and validation will be critical to success. Companies capable of implementing effective testing and validation strategies will gain a decisive advantage in the emerging 6G era.