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In telecommunications, 6G is the designation for a future technical standard of a sixth-generation technology for wireless communications.
It is the planned successor to 5G (ITU-T IMT-2020), and is currently in the early stages of the standardization process, tracked by the ITU-T as IMT-2030 [1] with the framework and overall objectives defined in recommendation ITU-R M.2160-0. [2] [3] Similar to previous generations of the cellular architecture, standardization bodies such as 3GPP and ETSI, as well as industry groups such as the NGMN Alliance, are expected to play a key role in its development. [4] [5] [6]
Numerous companies (Airtel, Anritsu, Apple, Ericsson, Fly, Huawei, Jio, Keysight, LG, Nokia, NTT Docomo, Samsung, Vi, Xiaomi), research institutes (Technology Innovation Institute, the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) and countries (United States, countries in the European Union, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and United Arab Emirates) have shown interest in 6G networks, and are expected to contribute to this effort. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
6G networks will likely be significantly faster than previous generations, [13] thanks to further improvements in radio interface modulation and coding techniques, [2] as well as physical-layer technologies. [14] Proposals include a ubiquitous connectivity model which could include non-cellular access such as satellite and WiFi, precise location services, and a framework for distributed edge computing supporting more sensor networks, AR/VR and AI workloads. [5] Other goals include network simplification and increased interoperability, lower latency, and energy efficiency. [2] [15] It should enable network operators to adopt flexible decentralized business models for 6G, with local spectrum licensing, spectrum sharing, infrastructure sharing, and intelligent automated management. Some have proposed that machine-learning/AI systems can be leveraged to support these functions. [16] [17] [18] [15] [19]
The NGMN alliance have cautioned that "6G must not inherently trigger a hardware refresh of 5G RAN infrastructure", and that it must "address demonstrable customer needs". [15] This reflects industry sentiment about the cost of the 5G rollout, and concern that certain applications and revenue streams have not lived up to expectations. [20] [21] [22] 6G is expected to begin rolling out towards the end of the 2020s, [13] [21] [23] but given such concerns it is not yet clear which features and improvements will be implemented first.
This section needs to be updated.(April 2024) |
6G networks are expected to be developed and released by the late 2020s. [24] [25] The largest number of 6G patents have been filed in China and the United States, both of which exceed the amounts filed by any other country. [26]
Recent academic publications have been conceptualizing 6G and new features that may be included. Artificial intelligence (AI) is included in many predictions, from 6G supporting AI infrastructure to "AI designing and optimizing 6G architectures, protocols, and operations." [27] Another study in Nature Electronics looks to provide a framework for 6G research stating "We suggest that human-centric mobile communications will still be the most important application of 6G and the 6G network should be human-centric. Thus, high security, secrecy and privacy should be key features of 6G and should be given particular attention by the wireless research community." [28]
The frequency bands for 6G are undetermined. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers states that "Frequencies from 100 GHz to 3 THz are promising bands for the next generation of wireless communication systems because of the wide swaths of unused and unexplored spectrum." [29]
One of the challenges in supporting the required high transmission speeds will be the limitation of energy consumption and associated thermal protection in the electronic circuits. [30]
Millimeter waves (30 to 300 GHz) and terahertz radiation (300 to 3000 GHz) might, according to some speculations, be used in 6G. The wave propagation of these frequencies is much more sensitive to obstacles than the microwave frequencies (about 2 to 30 GHz) used in 5G and Wi-Fi, which are more sensitive than the radio waves used in 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G.
In October 2020, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) launched a "Next G Alliance", an alliance consisting of AT&T, Ericsson, Telus, Verizon, T-Mobile, Microsoft, Samsung, and others that "will advance North American mobile technology leadership in 6G and beyond over the next decade." [31]
In January 2022, Purple Mountain Laboratories of China claimed that its research team had achieved a world record of 206.25 gigabits per second (Gbit/s) data rate for the first time in a lab environment within the terahertz frequency band, which is supposed to be the base of 6G cellular technology. [32]
In February 2022, Chinese researchers stated that they had achieved a record data streaming speed using vortex millimetre waves, a form of extremely high-frequency radio wave with rapidly changing spins, the researchers transmitted 1 terabyte of data over a distance of 1 km (3,300 feet) in a second. The spinning potential of radio waves was first reported by British physicist John Henry Poynting in 1909, but making use of it proved to be difficult. Zhang and colleagues said their breakthrough was built on the hard work of many research teams across the globe over the past few decades. Researchers in Europe conducted the earliest communication experiments using vortex waves in the 1990s. A major challenge is that the size of the spinning waves increases with distance, and the weakening signal makes high-speed data transmission difficult. The Chinese team built a unique transmitter to generate a more focused vortex beam, making the waves spin in three different modes to carry more information, and developed a high-performance receiving device that could pick up and decode a huge amount of data in a split second. [33]
In 2023, Nagoya University in Japan reported successful fabrication of three-dimensional wave guides with niobium metal, [34] a superconducting material that minimizes attenuation due to absorption and radiation, for transmission of waves in the 100GHz frequency band, deemed useful in 6G networking.
On November 6, 2020, China launched a Long March 6 rocket with a payload of thirteen satellites into orbit. One of the satellites reportedly served as an experimental testbed for 6G technology, which was described as "the world's first 6G satellite." [35]
During rollout of 5G, China banned Ericsson in favour of Chinese suppliers, primarily Huawei and ZTE. [36] [ failed verification ] Huawei and ZTE were banned in many Western countries over concerns of spying. [37] This creates a risk of 6G network fragmentation. [38] Many power struggles are expected during the development of common standards. [39] In February 2024, the U.S., Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Japan, South Korea, Sweden and the U.K. released a joint statement stating that they support a set of shared principles for 6G for "open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, resilient, and secure connectivity." [40] [41]
6G is considered a key technology for economic competitiveness, national security, and the functioning of society. It is a national priority in many countries and is named as priority in China's Fourteenth five-year plan. [42] [43]
Many countries are favouring the Open RAN approach, where different suppliers can be integrated together and hardware and software are independent of supplier. [44]
Wireless communication is the transfer of information (telecommunication) between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most common wireless technologies use radio waves. With radio waves, intended distances can be short, such as a few meters for Bluetooth or as far as millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications. It encompasses various types of fixed, mobile, and portable applications, including two-way radios, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and wireless networking. Other examples of applications of radio wireless technology include GPS units, garage door openers, wireless computer mouse, keyboards and headsets, headphones, radio receivers, satellite television, broadcast television and cordless telephones. Somewhat less common methods of achieving wireless communications involve other electromagnetic phenomena, such as light and magnetic or electric fields, or the use of sound.
3G is the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology. It is the upgrade over 2G, 2.5G, GPRS and 2.75G Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution networks, offering faster data transfer, and better voice quality. This network was superseded by 4G, and later on by 5G. This network is based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications use services and networks that comply with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) specifications by the International Telecommunication Union. 3G finds application in wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video calls and mobile TV.
4G is the fourth generation of broadband cellular network technology, succeeding 3G and preceding 5G. A 4G system must provide capabilities defined by ITU in IMT Advanced. Potential and current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, and 3D television.
Vehicular communication systems are computer networks in which vehicles and roadside units are the communicating nodes, providing each other with information, such as safety warnings and traffic information. They can be effective in avoiding accidents and traffic congestion. Both types of nodes are dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) devices. DSRC works in 5.9 GHz band with bandwidth of 75 MHz and approximate range of 300 metres (980 ft). Vehicular communications is usually developed as a part of intelligent transportation systems (ITS).
Mobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access via mobile networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a tablet/smartphone or other mobile device. The first wireless Internet access became available in 1991 as part of the second generation (2G) of mobile phone technology. Higher speeds became available in 2001 and 2006 as part of the third (3G) and fourth (4G) generations. In 2011, 90% of the world's population lived in areas with 2G coverage, while 45% lived in areas with 2G and 3G coverage. Mobile broadband uses the spectrum of 225 MHz to 3700 MHz.
LTE Advanced is a mobile communication standard and a major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. It was formally submitted as a candidate 4G to ITU-T in late 2009 as meeting the requirements of the IMT-Advanced standard, and was standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in March 2011 as 3GPP Release 10.
International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced are the requirements issued by the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2008 for what is marketed as 4G mobile phone and Internet access service.
In telecommunications, 5G is the fifth-generation technology standard for cellular networks, which cellular phone companies began deploying worldwide in 2019, and is the successor to 4G technology that provides connectivity to most current mobile phones.
The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance is a mobile telecommunications association of mobile operators, vendors, manufacturers and research institutes. It was founded by major mobile operators in 2006 as an open forum to evaluate candidate technologies to develop a common view of solutions for the next evolution of wireless networks. Its objective is to ensure the successful commercial launch of future mobile broadband networks through a roadmap for technology and friendly user trials. Its office is in Frankfurt, Germany.
IEEE 802.11ad is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard, developed to provide a Multiple Gigabit Wireless System (MGWS) standard in the 60 GHz band, and is a networking standard for WiGig networks. Because it uses the V band of the millimeter wave (mmW) band, the range of IEEE 802.11ad communication would be rather limited compared to other conventional Wi-Fi systems. However, its great bandwidth enables the transmission of data at high data rates up to multiple gigabits per second, enabling usage scenarios like transmission of uncompressed UHD video over the wireless network.
Bernhard H. Walke is a pioneer of mobile Internet access and professor emeritus at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. He is a driver of wireless and mobile 2G to 5G cellular radio networks technologies. In 1985, he proposed a local cellular radio network comprising technologies in use today in 2G, 4G and discussed for 5G systems. For example, self-organization of a radio mesh network, integration of circuit- and packet switching, de-centralized radio resource control, TDMA/spread spectrum data transmission, antenna beam steering, spatial beam multiplexing, interference coordination, S-Aloha based multiple access and demand assigned traffic channels, mobile broadband transmission using mm-waves, and multi-hop communication.
Wi-Fi 6, or IEEE 802.11ax, is an IEEE standard from the Wi-Fi Alliance, for wireless networks (WLANs). It operates in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, with an extended version, Wi-Fi 6E, that adds the 6 GHz band. It is an upgrade from Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), with improvements for better performance in crowded places. Wi-Fi 6 covers frequencies in license-exempt bands between 1 and 7.125 GHz, including the commonly used 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, as well as the broader 6 GHz band.
Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) is communication between a vehicle and any entity that may affect, or may be affected by, the vehicle. It is a vehicular communication system that incorporates other more specific types of communication as V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure), V2N (vehicle-to-network), V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle), V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian), V2D (vehicle-to-device).
Cellular V2X (C-V2X) is a 3GPP standard for V2X applications such as self-driving cars. It is an alternative to 802.11p, the IEEE specified standard for V2V and other forms of V2X communications.
5G NR is a radio access technology (RAT) developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) for the 5G mobile network. It was designed to be the global standard for the air interface of 5G networks. It is based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), as is the 4G long-term evolution (LTE) standard.
5G network slicing is a network architecture that enables the multiplexing of virtualized and independent logical networks on the same physical network infrastructure. Each network slice is an isolated end-to-end network tailored to fulfill diverse requirements requested by a particular application.
Ronny Hadani is an Israeli-American mathematician, specializing in representation theory and harmonic analysis, with applications to signal processing. He is known for developing Orthogonal Time Frequency and Space (OTFS) modulating techniques, a method used for making wireless 5G communications faster, that is also being considered for use in 6G technology. The technology is being used by several wireless 5G related companies and Cohere Technologies, a company he has co-founded.
Chan-Byoung Chae is a Korean computer scientist, electrical engineer, and academic. He is an Underwood Distinguished Professor, the director of Intelligence Networking Laboratory, and head of the School of Integrated Technology at Yonsei University, Korea.
Dinh Thuy Phan Huy, is a research engineer specializing in wireless networks. Her specific research interests include wireless communications and beamforming, spatial modulation, predictor antenna, backscattering and intelligent reflecting surfaces.
In 2024, 3GPP is poised to finalize its specification efforts for Release 18, focusing on 5G Advanced systems, while making major progress in the development of Release 19. 3GPP will also prepare for the transition to 6G standardization.
The 6G standardization is expected to start in 3GPP around 2025.