On February 24, 2026, the Electrical Engineering Department at KFUPM hosted a seminar titled “Extremely Large Antenna Arrays (ELAA) for 6G Communications & Sensing,” delivered by Prof. Karim Abed-Meraim (Professor at the University of Orléans) in Building 59, Room 1001. The seminar was organized by the IRC for Communication Systems and Sensing, in collaboration with the IEEE Signal Processing Society and the Electrical Engineering Department.

During the seminar, Prof. Abed-Meraim explained why Extremely Large Antenna Arrays are becoming a key enabling technology for 6G networks, where deploying hundreds or even thousands of antennas can significantly enhance system performance. He noted that as antenna counts and operating frequencies increase, 6G systems are expected to operate more strongly in the near-field region—shifting the assumptions behind traditional far-field communication models and opening new research directions.

Prof. Abed-Meraim then discussed the main challenges and opportunities created by this shift, including improved spectrum efficiency and more targeted transmission strategies. He also presented recent research themes related to ELAA, focusing on channel estimation and mobile positioning, and highlighted how blind and semi-blind techniques can support these tasks in practical 6G communication and sensing scenarios.

The following are the highlights of the event: