Large Wireless Foundation Models: Stronger over Bigger

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Cheng, Xiang, Liu, Boxun, Liu, Xuanyu, Cai, Xuesong
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Cheng, Xiang
Liu, Boxun
Liu, Xuanyu
Cai, Xuesong
author_facet Cheng, Xiang
Liu, Boxun
Liu, Xuanyu
Cai, Xuesong
contents AI-communication integration is widely regarded as a core enabling technology for 6G. Most existing AI-based physical-layer designs rely on task-specific models that are separately tailored to individual modules, resulting in poor generalization. In contrast, communication systems are inherently general-purpose and should support broad applicability and robustness across diverse scenarios. Foundation models offer a promising solution through strong reasoning and generalization, yet wireless-system constraints hinder a direct transfer of large language model (LLM)-style success to the wireless domain. Therefore, we introduce the concept of large wireless foundation models (LWFMs) and present a novel framework for empowering the physical layer with foundation models under wireless constraints. Specifically, we propose two paradigms for realizing LWFMs, including leveraging existing general-purpose foundation models and building novel wireless foundation models. Based on recent progress, we distill two roadmaps for each paradigm and formulate design principles under wireless constraints. We further provide case studies of LWFM-empowered wireless systems to intuitively validate their advantages. Finally, we characterize the notion of "large" in LWFMs through a multidimensional analysis of existing work and outline promising directions for future research.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_10963
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Large Wireless Foundation Models: Stronger over Bigger
Cheng, Xiang
Liu, Boxun
Liu, Xuanyu
Cai, Xuesong
Signal Processing
AI-communication integration is widely regarded as a core enabling technology for 6G. Most existing AI-based physical-layer designs rely on task-specific models that are separately tailored to individual modules, resulting in poor generalization. In contrast, communication systems are inherently general-purpose and should support broad applicability and robustness across diverse scenarios. Foundation models offer a promising solution through strong reasoning and generalization, yet wireless-system constraints hinder a direct transfer of large language model (LLM)-style success to the wireless domain. Therefore, we introduce the concept of large wireless foundation models (LWFMs) and present a novel framework for empowering the physical layer with foundation models under wireless constraints. Specifically, we propose two paradigms for realizing LWFMs, including leveraging existing general-purpose foundation models and building novel wireless foundation models. Based on recent progress, we distill two roadmaps for each paradigm and formulate design principles under wireless constraints. We further provide case studies of LWFM-empowered wireless systems to intuitively validate their advantages. Finally, we characterize the notion of "large" in LWFMs through a multidimensional analysis of existing work and outline promising directions for future research.
title Large Wireless Foundation Models: Stronger over Bigger
topic Signal Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10963