A team from the University of California San Diego and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a wireless communication technology named FlexLink (patent pending), which promises to enable faster and more reliable communication in 5G and 6G networks. Team member Ish Kumar Jain stated: "By adopting our approach, it can support 10 times more devices than before under the same bandwidth, while reducing latency and maintaining extremely high data rates."

The FlexLink technology was jointly developed by Dinesh Bharadia from the University of California San Diego and doctoral student Rohith Reddy Vennam, and published as part of the proceedings of the 26th International Workshop on Mobile Networking and Computing. Jain presented this research at the ACM MobiHoc 2025 International Workshop on October 27, emphasizing: "We are proposing something completely new."

The FlexLink technology is applicable to 5G and 6G networks, which use shorter wavelengths to transmit information and rely on multiple antennas. However, current systems have bottlenecks where control signals are bundled with data, leading to processing delays. FlexLink addresses this issue by decoupling the control beam and data beam at the hardware level. It uses a low-latency phased array frontend to simultaneously transmit two independent strong beams on the same wideband channel—one for control and the other for data transmission. This technology nearly doubles spectrum efficiency, and Vennam noted: "In the satellite field, FlexLink can reduce waste while consuming the same power."

The team believes that FlexLink, based on simple mathematical equations, is compelling and has been demonstrated with actual hardware. Jain said: "We hope FlexLink can become part of the next-generation 6G standards, and some companies have already expressed interest."