Keysight’s Tech Predictions for 2026:
Kalyan Sundhar, Vice President and General Manager of Wireless Technologies, Keysight Technologies:
“FR3 is emerging as a critical spectrum range for 6G, bridging the gap between FR1 and FR2. But it’s not just about frequency, it’s about feasibility. We’re talking about antenna arrays with 730 elements for certain bands. That’s an order of magnitude more than what we’ve deployed in 5G. To make FR3 viable, we need innovation in packaging, thermal management, and power efficiency. It’s a hardware challenge as much as a spectrum opportunity.”
“In 5G, AI was largely confined to the base station side. With 6G, we’re entering a new phase where AI will be embedded on both the transmit and receive sides. That means smarter devices, smarter networks, and smarter interactions. It also means that we need to rethink model complexity, latency, and energy budgets. AI must be co-designed with the physical layer, not bolted on after the fact.”
“Sensing isn’t just a research curiosity, it’s a monetizable feature for 6G. Whether it’s detecting subtle movements in elder care, coordinating robots in smart factories, or enhancing situational awareness in defense applications, sensing adds real value. It also adds complexity though. We need centimeter-level precision, robust integration with communications, and efficient switching between modes. That’s where 6G can truly differentiate itself.”
Balaji Raghothaman, Chief Technologist, 6G, Keysight Technologies:
“The shift to FR3 bands presents a unique challenge: achieving coverage parity with existing FR1 deployments without adding new infrastructure. This demands a dramatic increase in antenna elements and advanced beamforming techniques. But scaling up MIMO must go hand-in-hand with energy efficiency.”
“In 6G, AI is part of the architecture. We’re moving toward agentic AI, where both the base station and user equipment act autonomously to optimize performance. The challenge is balancing model complexity with latency and energy constraints at the edge.”
“Integrated sensing and communication is more than a technical novelty, it’s a business model shift. Networks can become universal sensors, enabling applications from elder care and infrastructure monitoring to drone detection and traffic compliance. The key is to harness existing deployments to deliver new value without reinventing the physical layer.”
Scott Register, Vice President of Security Solutions, Keysight Technologies
“Historically, manufacturing teams worked with one subcomponent at a time to activate or monitor a system. With digital adoption, however, all of those subcomponents can be controlled from a single control point—often in a fully automated fashion. This is wonderful for efficiency but significantly increases the damage that a compromise could inflict. If a threat actor can infiltrate that single control point, they can manipulate the entire system, potentially with disastrous results. In 2026, expect to see greater awareness of this vulnerability and evolving cybersecurity strategies to mitigate the threat.”
“When you think about supply chain attacks, you likely picture name brand companies as the primary targets. But I predict threat actors will become more creative in their pursuits. With the increased awareness of a complex supply chain’s susceptibility to even minor disruption, smaller and less protected manufacturers will increasingly be targeted—if their compromise would disrupt a large supply chain and disable a downstream manufacturer with deeper pockets.
Consider the case of an automotive manufacturer who relies upon a single, small supplier for a particular chipset—the door lock mechanisms, for example. A threat actor could halt manufacturing at that chipset manufacturer and demand a hefty ransom payment from the proprietary automotive company. Or, they could launch a SolarWinds-style attack but targeted at the control software for a critical industrial robot.”
For more information about Keysight Technologies, visit www.keysight.com.
