How to prepare for a 6G future
Even the most ambitious projections estimate that 6G networks won’t be rolled out for another five years. Operators are still ramping up their 5G initiatives, and yet, telecom industry players know that this is exactly the time to think ahead to the next standard. Governments around the world already are, as is the EU, which has already begun the second phase of its 6G research and innovation program. Industry players, such as Nokia, DOCOMO and NTT, are working together on the technology, and academic institutions are also ramping up their focus on 6G.
This preparation for the next G needs to run alongside existing efforts to operationalize and commercialize 5G. To play a competitive part in the global connectivity landscape for the next decade or more, telecom industry players know they need to begin aligning their networking capabilities to hit the ground running when 6G does arrive, most likely in or around 2030.
Putting the 5G cart before the 6G horse?
However, for many businesses, preparing for 6G feels premature. They are still not leveraging the full potential of 5G. The 5G footprint is expanding steadily across the globe, but there is still a long way to go and scaling up 5G services is not plain sailing. Spectrum availability, for example, is instrumental in driving 5G development, and major markets like the USA are experiencing shortfalls in bandwidth compared with global peers, according to Analysys Mason. Creaking connectivity infrastructure also presents a considerable technical challenge to businesses wanting to boost their 5G initiatives.
Just as the roadmap to 5G involved a stepping stone from 4G to standalone 5G in the form of LTE and RAN-enabled 5G, so there will need to be an intermediary step on the journey between standalone 5G and 6G. Also known as ‘5G Advanced’, this evolution of the 5G standard is planned for rollout in 2025 and will improve on current 5G capabilities, including innovations such as Wireless AI, which enables increased network automation and network intelligence.
The stepping stone to 6G
Concepts such as autonomous vehicles, smart cities or Industry 4.0 used to be far-off thought experiments. Thanks to the ongoing evolution of the 5G stack, as well as advances in AI/ML, cloud computing and related technologies, these are rapidly becoming mainstream technologies we can expect to see in every car, street, or factory.
In some of these use cases – autonomous vehicles being a prime example – every millisecond of latency counts. For these use cases to function, networks will need to process and exchange vast amounts of data in real-time. The full force of 5G, a fundamental requirement for many of 5G’s most talked-about innovations, will require an uptick in infrastructure investment. This does not just mean more 5G antennas or fiber optic backhauls, it also requires considerably more IT infrastructure in the form of denser, more interconnected data centers and Internet Exchanges.
Indeed, all future use cases involving 5G Advanced – and looking ahead, 6G – depend on far greater interconnectedness to facilitate massive quantities of real-time data processing.
https://www.techradar.com/pro/6g-a-glimpse-into-the-future-beyond-5g
