6G: The next horizon – Huawei Switzerland
6G is the next generation advanced mobile communication system, but it will go way beyond communication. 6G will serve as a distributed neural network providing communication links to merge the physical, cyber and biological worlds, and truly usher in an era where everything is perceived, connected and intelligent. This, in turn, will lay a solid foundation for the Intelligence of Everything in the future.
6G. define
6G: From networked people and things to networked intelligence
There is a tendency to overestimate what can be achieved in two years but underestimate what can be achieved in ten years. For 2030 and beyond, ultra-fast and ultra-reliable wireless connections, native AI, and advanced sensor technologies will expand many aspects of our daily lives. Five main categories of usage scenarios are defined, including eMBB +, URLLC + and mMTC + extensions and combinations of the usage scenarios defined in 5G, while sensing and AI are two new usage scenarios that will flourish in the age of 6G.
eMBB +
6G will bring physical and cyber worlds together and create a paradigm-shifting lifestyle in Metaverse. eMBB + is the continuous further development of Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) for use cases of human-centered communication. It will enable an extremely immersive experience and multi-sensory interactions in XR applications – including Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) – and telepresence. eMBB + has much higher demands on the peak data rate, the data rate experienced by the user, the low E2E latency and the large system capacity (i.e. high throughput and massive connections). In addition, it will enable a range of entertainment, education, manufacturing and navigation use cases and will transform the way we live, learn, work and travel. Both indoor and outdoor cases are required, in which a seamless user experience must be guaranteed in the desired activity areas along the E2E activity routes, regardless of the high mobility in extreme cases. The data rate experienced by users in remote areas and on airplanes and ships must be maintained to support ubiquitous high quality connections.
URLLC +
6G will accelerate the full digital transformation of vertical industries. URLLC + is the continuous advancement of ultra-reliable communication with low latency (URLLC) for critical machine-like communication in Industry 4.0 and beyond. It also applies to new applications made possible by the ubiquitous use of robots, UAVs and new human-machine interfaces (HMIs) in manufacturing, public services, autonomous driving and household management. In order to be better adapted to all types of vertical applications, the requirements for low latency and high reliability in first-order statistics (e.g. distribution of errors in a period). In future automated and flexible manufacturing, precise localization and deterministic communication will be provided to support real-time interaction between collaborative robots. A rethinking of the network architecture is also seen as necessary to enable massive machine learning and the exchange of knowledge between robots.
mMTC +
6G will continue the journey started with 5G to connect everything, but with a wider variety of devices, new HMIs, higher connection density and native trustworthiness. mMTC + is the continuous further development of the Massive Machine Type of Communication (mMTC), which is characterized by the enormous number of easily networked devices with sporadic traffic in smart cities, healthcare, buildings, transport, manufacturing and agriculture. The required data rate could range from very low to medium and the packet arrival time interval could range from a day to a few milliseconds. An important requirement for sensors is a long service life, which, however, can vary considerably depending on their energy generation capabilities. In some cases, passive IoT devices based on zero power backscattering would also be used as an option for extremely low-cost connections.
Sensors
6G will integrate sensors and communication in a single system and use radio waves to “see” the physical world and create digital twins in the cyber world. Networked sensing creates a new type of usage scenario beyond communication. It covers a range of use cases such as localization for device-based or even device-free targets, imaging, environmental reconstruction and monitoring, and gesture and activity recognition. The sensing usage scenario adds new performance dimensions to International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT), such as detection probability and detection resolution and accuracy (in terms of range, speed and angle). The requirements for these dimensions vary from application to application. For future localization and reconstruction applications, high accuracy and resolution will be required, while for imaging applications, ultra-high resolution is key. And with gesture and activity recognition, the probability of recognition has top priority.
AI
6G will employ a deep-edge architecture to enable massive machine learning in a distributed and collaborative manner. Network AI aims to intelligently connect distributed intelligent agents to spread the large-scale use of AI across all industries. For real-time AI, spectrally efficient, high-capacity, low-latency transmission for distributed learning – including data and model parameter exchange between a large number of intelligent agents – is expected. Native trust with the support of native security and local data protection is a key factor for this usage scenario. Robots can work and play harmoniously with people. In the meantime, end-to-end (E2E) machine learning is also used for bespoke optimization and network automation.
Six pillars of 6G
6 pillars of 6G
Native AI
6G will have its native AI capability. Its air interface and network designs will leverage E2E AI and machine learning to implement bespoke optimizations and automated O&M. In addition, each 6G network element will natively integrate communication, computation and sensor functions and facilitate the development from centralized intelligence in the cloud to ubiquitous intelligence at deep edges. A distributed machine learning architecture based on deep edge intelligence will be the key to meeting the extensive intelligence needs of future society and manufacturing.
Networked sensors
6G will have the capability of networked recording. Driven by the continuous increase in frequency bands, bandwidths and antennas, communication systems will integrate wireless sensor functions to explore the physical world through radio wave transmission, echo, reflection and scattering. They will also provide high resolution sensor, location, imaging and environment reconstruction capabilities to improve communication performance and support a wider range of network service scenarios, creating a data foundation for building an intelligent digital world.
Extreme connectivity
6G will provide universal high-performance wireless connectivity and the ultimate experience at speeds comparable to fiber optics. Tbit / s peak rate, 10-100 Gbit / s experienced rate, sub-millisecond latency, ten-fold increase in the density of 5G connections, localization at the centimeter level, imaging at the millimeter level and E2E system reliability based on controllable levels In the future, error distribution will not only enable human-centered immersive services, but also accelerate the complete digital transformation and the increase in productivity of vertical industries.
Integrated NTN
6G will integrate terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks. A large number of satellites with low or very low earth orbit (LEO / VLEO) are used to form a mega-satellite constellation in the non-terrestrial networks. These “airborne wireless networks” will expand the coverage of the terrestrial cellular infrastructure and enable new low-latency solutions for transmission over ultra-long distances. In order to continuously provide high quality services to users around the world, it is expected that both networks will be deeply integrated into a system in which the terrestrial and non-terrestrial network nodes can similarly be treated as base stations so that users can take advantage of them Advantages of each type under different conditions of use.
trustworthiness
The 6G network will integrate various capabilities such as communication, sensors, computers and intelligence, which will require a redefinition of the network architecture. The novel network architecture is intended to support native trustworthiness and can be flexibly adapted to tasks such as collaborative sensing and distributed learning in order to disseminate AI applications on a large scale. Data and the knowledge derived from it and the intelligence derived from it are the driving force behind the redesign of the 6G network architecture, in which new functions are developed to enable the native trustworthiness of E2E. These include new data governance architectures that support data compliance and monetization, as well as advanced data protection and technologies to ward off quantum attacks.
sustainability
Green and sustainable development is the core requirement and the ultimate goal of network and device designs in 6G. By introducing the green design concept and native AI capability, 6G aims to improve the overall energy efficiency in the entire network by 100 times – in order to prevent the overall energy consumption of the ICT infrastructure and the terminals from being that of 5G exceeds – and at the same time ensure optimal service and experience. As the core infrastructure of the digital economy, 6G will make unique contributions to the sustainable development of humankind.
6G is the next horizon of innovation. Huawei started investing in 6G research in 2017 when we were also pushing 5G into commercial deployments. We expect 6G to hit the market around 2030. The goal of our 6G vision is to intelligently connect our planet, to develop sustainably, to protect it better and to be full of vitality in all areas of life. We expressed our preliminary 6G vision in the book “6G: The Next Horizon – From Connected People and Things to Connected Intelligence,” with which we hope to inspire more people, companies and industries, broader and deeper perspectives for 6G to develop. We’re ready and ready to work with our customers, industry peers, vertical partners, and any company and organization that needs 6G. Let’s invent and define 6G together!
More information about our book 6G: The next horizon published by Cambridge University Press can be found at the following link:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/6g-the-next-horizon/B12A6013018F4FA14441DA47EEECCC54