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6G (sixth-generation wireless)


6G (sixth-generation wireless) is the successor to 5G cellular technology. 6G networks will be able to use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide substantially higher capacity and much lower latency. One of the goals of the 6G Internet will be to support one micro-second latency communications, representing 1,000 times faster -- or 1/1000th the latency -- than one millisecond throughput.

The 6G technology market is expected to facilitate large improvements in the areas of imaging, presence technology and location awareness. Working in conjunction with AI, the computational infrastructure of 6G will be able to autonomously determine the best location for computing to occur; this includes decisions about data storage, processing and sharing. 

Advantages of 6G over 5G

6G is expected to support 1 terabyte per second (Tbps) speeds. This level of capacity and latency will be unprecedented and will extend the performance of 5G applications along with expanding the scope of capabilities in support of increasingly new and innovative applications across the realms of wireless cognition, sensing and imaging. 6G's higher frequencies will enable much faster sampling rates in addition to providing significantly better throughput. The combination of sub-mmWave (e.g. wavelengths smaller than one millimeter) and the use of frequency selectivity to determine relative electromagnetic absorption rates is expected to lead to potentially significant advances in wireless sensing solutions.

Additionally, whereas the addition of mobile edge computing (MEC) is a point of consideration as an addition to 5G networks, MEC will be built into all 6G networks. Edge and core computing will become much more seamlessly integrated as part of a combined communications/computation infrastructure framework by the time 6G networks are deployed. This will provide many potential advantages as 6G technology becomes operational, including improved access to artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

When to expect 6G

6G is expected to launch commercially in 2030. 6G is being developed in response to the increasingly distributed radio access network (RAN) and the desire to take advantage of the terahertz (THz) spectrum to increase capacity and lower latency. While some early discussions have taken place to define 6G, research and development (R&D) activities will start in earnest in 2020. Many of the problems associated with deploying millimeter wave (MM wave) radio for 5G new radio are expected to be solved in time for network designers to address the challenges of 6G.

What 6G will look like


It's expected that 6G wireless sensing solutions will selectively use different frequencies to measure absorption and adjust frequencies accordingly. This is possible because atoms and molecules emit and absorb electromagnetic radiation at characteristic frequencies and the emission and absorption frequencies are the same for any given substance.
6G will have big implications for many government and industry solutions in public safety and critical asset protection such as:
  • Threat detection
  • Health monitoring
  • Feature and facial recognition
  • Decision making (in areas like law enforcement and social credit systems)
  • Air quality measurements
  • Gas and toxicity sensing

Do we even need 6G?
More than ever before, the sixth generation of cellular wireless communications will integrate a set of previously disparate technologies, including deep learning and big data analytics. The introduction of 5G paves the way for much of this convergence.

The need to deploy edge computing to ensure overall throughput and low latency for ultra-reliable, low latency communications solutions is an important driver for 6G, as is the need to support machine-to-machine communication in the internet of things (IoT).  Furthermore, a strong relationship has been identified between future 6G solutions and high-performance computing (HPC). While some of the IoT device data will be handled by edge computing resources, much of it will require processing by more centralized HPC resources.

Who is working on it?

The race to 6G will draw the attention of many industry constituents, such as major test and measurement vendor Keysight Technologies who has also indicated a commitment to its development. This may very well make the race to reach 5G supremacy look minor compared to the wait to see which countries can dominate the 6G technology market and its related applications, services and solutions.
  • The University of Oulu in Finland is committed to a 6G research initiative referred to as 6Genesis. The project will be conducted for the next eight years and will develop a vision for 2037.
  • South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute is conducting research on Terahertz band for 6G and envisions making it 100 times faster than 4G LTE networks and 5 times faster than 5G networks.
  • The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in China is directly investing and monitoring the research and development process.
  • The United States is planning to open up 6G frequency for R&D purposes pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for frequencies over 95 gigahertz (GHz) to 3 THz.


In terms of vendor commitments to 6G, major infrastructure companies such as Huawei, Nokia and Samsung have all signaled that they have R&D in the works.

Future scope

About ten years ago, the phrase 'Beyond 4G' (B4G) was coined to refer to the need to move beyond what was currently envisioned as part of the evolution for 4G via the LTE standard. Since it was not clear what 5G might entail, and only pre-standards R&D level prototypes were in the works at the time, the term B4G lasted for a while, referring to what could be possible and potentially useful beyond 4G. Somewhat ironically, the LTE standard is still evolving itself and some aspects will be used in 5G.

6G will have big implications for many government and industry solutions in public safety and critical asset protection such as:
  • Threat detection
  • Health monitoring
  • Feature and facial recognition
  • Decision making (in areas like law enforcement and social credit systems)
  • Air quality measurements
  • Gas and toxicity sensing



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