In association with Keysight Technologies
By Ben Coffin
6G is expected to be commercially available by 2030, revolutionising connectivity with lightning-fast speeds, unprecedented bandwidths, and ultra-low latencies. It will transform various sectors, including telecommunications, manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, and entertainment.
In its International MobileTelecommunications 2030 (IMT-2030) initiative, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) laid out its vision for the sixth generation of wireless communications (6G).
Industry groups have published 6G visions, including the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN), the 6G Flagship, and the Next G Alliance. They envision the following use cases and applications for next-generation communication technologies.
1. Ubiquitous connectivity
Under 6G, improved inclusivity and bridging of the digital divide are pivotal social objectives. Voice, video, and broadband services will be available even in remote areas and in disaster zones through advances beyond 5G, such as better non-terrestrial networks, airborne and space-borne based station swarms, and mesh access networks.
2. Immersive personal digital experiences
Network bandwidths of 50-200Gbps are expected, perhaps even 1Tbps. With per-device throughputs of 300-500Mbps and microsecond latencies, users will enjoy rich communication and digital experiences through immersive high-resolution video calls, extended reality displays, and remote telepresence through multi-sensory and holographic interfaces.
3. Joint communications and sensing
The sub-terahertz frequencies being considered under 6G will enable combining communication signals with waveforms that resemble those of imaging radars. The same antennas, transceivers, and spectrum can be reused for both communications and sensing, enabling use cases like using smartphones for autonomous driving or for detecting people in low-visibility rescue missions.
4. Automobiles
Automobile companies are actively researching and prototyping the use of 6G technologies for improved autonomous driving systems, real-time data processing, vehicle-to-everything communication, and advanced sensing capabilities.
Additionally, thanks to their reliability, time-sensitive networking features, and ultra-low latencies, 6G wireless networks are being considered as replacements for existing wired automotive networks. This will also reduce vehicle weights and improve sustainability through higher fuel efficiency.
5. Industrial-scale communications
Expect widespread public and private networks with extensive use of internet-of-things (IoT) devices for smart cities, agriculture, transportation, energy grids, and environmental monitoring.
This will be possible due to high connection densities of 1 million to 100 million devices per square kilometre (km2), high reliability, adaptive data rates, low power consumption, extended coverage, and high security.
6G-networked robots and automated vehicles will be extensively used in factories, warehouses, and logistics.
6. Precise positioning
Indoor and outdoor positioning with accuracies of 1-10cm will enable precise object and presence detection, navigation, imaging, and mapping.
7. Sustainability
The research and development into 6G networks explicitly aim for sustainability goals like high energy efficiency, low carbon footprint, and low emissions in telecom infrastructure as well as all the other industries they bolster, like manufacturing, automotive, and farming.
The 6G standardisation roadmap has not yet started. But the ITU has published its IMT-2030 vision for 6G.
Guided by its goals, several industry and academic groups have set up alliances for researching and prototyping new technologies as well as enhancements for 6G.
These groups include the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the Next G Alliance to shape the direction of 6G in the United States, the 6G Flagship run by the University of Oulu in Finland, and the Hexa-X and Hexa-X-II projects that are defining the European blueprints for 6G development. These groups will send their technical proposals for 6G to the ITU around 2027.
The ITU’s expert groups will review their proposals and select the ones that are best aligned with its 6G vision. By then, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which develops the official standards, will have published its Release 19 and Release 20 specifications for 5G-Advanced and is expected to work on the 6G standards as part of Release 21, which will be published by 2030.
About the author
Ben Coffin manages Advanced Wireless Solutions at Keysight Technologies. Having spent the last decade in the test and measurement industry, Ben has spent his time in business development, product management, and systems engineering roles across the wireless communications space, primarily focusing on research testbeds and advanced wireless communications. Ben is enthusiastic about telling stories about how the technology in the wireless world is advancing and how the bleeding edge finds root through research and industry, and academic collaboration. Ben holds a bachelor’s degree in Wireless Engineering from Auburn University.
