Multimodal Wireless Foundation Models
Not on the map. Why?
Abstract (arXiv)
Wireless foundation models (WFMs) have recently demonstrated promising capabilities, jointly performing multiple wireless functions and adapting effectively to new environments. However, while current WFMs process only one modality, depending on the task and operating conditions, the most informative modality changes and no single modality is best for all tasks. WFMs should therefore be designed to accept multiple modalities to enable a broader and more diverse range of tasks and scenarios. In this work, we propose and build the first multimodal wireless foundation model capable of processing both raw IQ streams and image-like wireless modalities (e.g., spectrograms and CSI) and performing multiple tasks across both. We introduce masked wireless modeling for the multimodal setting, a self-supervised objective and pretraining recipe that learns a joint representation from IQ streams and image-like wireless modalities. We evaluate the model on five tasks across both modality families: image-based (human activity sensing, RF signal classification, 5G NR positioning) and IQ-based (RF device fingerprinting, interference detection/classification). The multimodal WFM is competitive with single-modality WFMs, and in several cases surpasses their performance. Our results demonstrates the strong potential of developing multimodal WFMs that support diverse wireless tasks across different modalities. We believe this provides a concrete step toward both AI-native 6G and the vision of joint sensing, communication, and localization.
Key facts. Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 12 of its 19 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 19 Nov 2025.
Builds on
12 of 19 references.
References · 12
- 2021Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervisioncited by 33,744
- 2020An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scalecited by 30,186
- 2017Multimodal Machine Learning: A Survey and Taxonomycited by 1,013
- 2024Large Wireless Model (LWM): A Foundation Model for Wireless Channelscited by 40
- 2025WirelessGPT: A Generative Pre-trained Multi-task Learning Framework for Wireless Communicationcited by 40
- 2022EfficientFi: Towards Large-Scale Lightweight WiFi Sensing via CSI Compressioncited by 35
- 20256G WavesFM: A Foundation Model for Sensing, Communication, and Localizationcited by 13
- 2025A MIMO Wireless Channel Foundation Model via CIR-CSI Consistencycited by 10
- 2024Building 6G Radio Foundation Models with Transformer Architecturescited by 9
- 2025CSI2Vec: Towards a Universal CSI Feature Representation for Positioning and Channel Chartingcited by 6
- 2024Self-Supervised Radio Pre-training: Toward Foundational Models for Spectrogram Learningcited by 5
- 2025IQFM A Wireless Foundational Model for I/Q Streams in AI-Native 6Gcited by 5
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2026: 5.
5 papers.
- 2026LatentWave: JEPA Pretraining for Wireless Foundation Modelscited by 2
- 2026RFPrompt: Prompt-Based Expert Adaptation of the Large Wireless Model for Modulation Classificationcited by 0
- 2026A Comprehensive Survey of Wireless Foundation Models for AI-Native 6G Networkscited by 0
- 2026Wireless Foundation Models: State-of-the-Art and Open Challengescited by 0
- 2026Scaling of Wireless Foundation Models via Representation Diversity and Multi-Branch Architecturescited by 0
- 2026Scaling of Wireless Foundation Models via Representation Diversity and Multi-Branch Architectures3 Oct 2026
- 2026Wireless Foundation Models: State-of-the-Art and Open Challenges4 Sep 2026
- 2026A Comprehensive Survey of Wireless Foundation Models for AI-Native 6G Networks9 Aug 2026
- 2026LatentWave: JEPA Pretraining for Wireless Foundation Models4 Jun 2026
- 2026RFPrompt: Prompt-Based Expert Adaptation of the Large Wireless Model for Modulation Classification5 May 2026