On January 26, the Top Ten Scientific Advances of China and the Top Ten Scientific Advances of the World for 2025 were announced in Beijing. The selection was jointly organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and determined by votes from academicians of both academies. The Center’s achievement, “Chinese Scientists Achieve a New Breakthrough in 6G Wireless Communications,” was selected as one of the Top Ten Scientific Advances of China in 2025.
As a core direction of next-generation wireless communication networks, 6G technology must enable high-speed and stable transmission of wireless signals across the entire frequency spectrum under diverse application scenarios. For a long time, this goal has been constrained by fundamental bottlenecks in traditional electronic hardware: conventional devices are typically designed for a single frequency band, and devices for different bands differ significantly in design, structure, and materials, making cross-band or full-band operation extremely challenging.
To address this challenge, a joint team led by Professor Wang Xingjun and Researcher Shu Haowen from the Center, together with Professor Wang Cheng’s team from City University of Hong Kong, conducted four years of intensive collaborative research. The team successfully and independently developed an ultra-broadband optoelectronic fusion integrated system, achieving for the first time full-band, flexibly tunable, high-speed wireless communication, thereby laying a solid technological foundation for the reliable and efficient operation of future 6G networks. The system enables high-speed wireless transmission at any frequency point from 0.5 GHz to 115 GHz, demonstrating internationally leading full-band compatibility. It also features flexible tunability: when signals are subject to interference, the system can dynamically switch to secure frequency bands to establish new communication channels, significantly enhancing communication reliability and spectrum utilization efficiency.
Ultra-broadband optoelectronic fusion chip developed by the research team
The team further proposed the concept of a “general-purpose optoelectronic fusion wireless transceiver engine,” fundamentally overcoming the long-standing trade-offs among bandwidth, noise performance, and reconfigurability. This breakthrough is expected to give rise to more flexible and intelligent AI-driven wireless networks, reshaping the future landscape of wireless communications. Based on an “AI-native” paradigm, the system can embed AI algorithms to enable dynamic, adaptive adjustment of hardware parameters in response to complex and rapidly changing communication environments. Moreover, it can be applied to integrated communication-and-sensing scenarios: by loading linear frequency-modulated (LFM) signals, the system can simultaneously realize real-time data transmission and precise environmental sensing. The proposed solution is also anticipated to generate significant industrial spillover effects, particularly by injecting new momentum into the development of key components such as wideband reconfigurable antennas.
Looking ahead, the team will continue to uphold the spirit of independent innovation and collaborative problem-solving, deepen research on 6G and next-generation wireless communication technologies, persistently break through core technological barriers, and accelerate the translation of scientific achievements into practical applications, contributing more substantially to the high-quality development of China’s communications industry.
The “Top Ten Scientific Advances of China/World” selection is jointly organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and undertaken by the Bureau of Academic Divisions of CAS and China Science Daily. It is one of the longest-running science popularization selection activities in the field of science and technology, having been held 32 times to date. Following extensive coverage by news media, the results have generated strong public interest, helping the public better understand domestic and international scientific and technological developments and playing a positive role in disseminating frontier scientific knowledge.
