Information Processing at the Deep Physical Layer level

Abstract

Recently it has been proposed the introduction of an additional layer placed below the Physical Layer of the OSI model, called the “Deep Physical Layer” (DPL), to analyze the communication process at the electromagnetic field level. While the transmission process at the Physical Layer level is focused on bits, information at the DPL level is modeled in terms of distinguishable configurations of the electromagnetic field. In this approach, the numerous solutions proposed for 6G, which include intelligent modifications of the propagation environment, can be seen as “data processing” at the DPL level able to preserve information lost in previous generations of cellular systems.