Where Are We With 6G?

5G is just on the cusp of deployment, with most mobile networks still operating on 4G-LTE technology. So, is it a bit early to be talking about 6G?

Given that telecommunications service providers and technology developers have somewhat settled on a new generation of cellular wireless technology every 10 years, this means that 6G is only 9 years away at this point. The 10 year-per-generation timeline isn’t set in stone, but it is considered by many to be like Moore’s Law, and sets a benchmark for industry to meet. This timeline, similar to the 5G timeline, will likely result in initial standardization around 2028. Product development for 6G technology will likely commence in 2029 after years of research starting around 2025. That being said, 6G is already being thought out and planned by those with a major stake in the mobile telecommunications industry.

Currently, industry standards groups are currently setting out 6G Visions and use cases. Among these early goals enhancing the interaction of people and the digital world of information. In respect to core values, several have been listed including trustworthiness of communication and computing technology as a backbone of society, digital inclusiveness, and sustainability as a means of aiding to achieve greater energy efficiency and minimize green-house gas emissions.

To achieve this, several research focus areas are planned: connecting intelligent machines, supporting larger networks composed of massive numbers of subnetworks, sustainability, absolute global service coverage, extreme user experience, and trustworthiness (security?). As part of the sustainability goals, 6G development is aimed to assist with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The trustworthiness of 6G systems is being considered as part of an open society with characteristics such as, security, privacy, availability, resilience, and compliance with ethical frameworks. This coincides with delivering confidential computing solutions that can securely transport sensitive information over purpose built protocols with end-to-end (E2E) assurances.

6G aspects of digital inclusion are proposed to aid with the UN’s goals of providing quality education and reducing inequalities by enabling every willing individual to have communication capabilities with a network with global coverage. This will ultimately require 6G networks to exhibit extremely high cost and energy efficiency for deployment and operating. These trends follow the thought process that by 2030 connectivity to global networks will be considered a basic human right, as education, business, health, and public safety services will likely move online. Along with ubiquity of interconnectivity, 6G is foreseen to enable trustworthy machine learning/artificial intelligence (ML/AI) systems pervasive in automation and intelligence systems as part of daily life.

It may sound like many of these goals are similar to the goals for 5G networks. This is because unlike previous generations of mobile networks, 6G is being planned as an evolution of 5G, not a total replacement of 5G technologies. The focus for 6G technology appears to be more about enabling connectivity as a seamless transition between material life and digital life. As society becomes more acclimated to ubiquitous connectivity and emerging use cases during the fifth generation of mobile wireless, 6G will be focused on making these experiences more natural and intuitive. Likely, these proposals are 6G are a natural extension of the expansive connectivity that is the goal of 5G. New spectrum will likely be made available for 6G, as it is for 5G, but likely spectrum will also be managed in different ways that allow for greater swaths of bandwidth supported by more flexible wireless standards.