We are witnessing new development in 6G network , in backdrop of 2019 start with cut throat competition between US and China to prove their leadership in 5G Technology. China premium OEM Huawei has also made such a noise across the world on 5G release and here in Thailand.
Funded with €251 million for a an eight-year research program, technologists at Finland’s Oulu University’s Center for Wireless Communication’s 6Genesis has silently visualized the next revolution in network frequency i.e. 6G vision
2019 will also witness World’s First “6G Wireless Summit” starting 24 March to discuss the standards that 6G should strive for when it’s implemented a decade or so from now
The emerging IoT has already impacted all aspects of industry and nearly all market areas—from raw materials to production to distribution to final goods to consumption cycle. This represents a constantly evolving movement of profound change in how humans interact with machines, information and even each other.
When data is going to be the key and algorithm’s connection needs a trusted, low-latency and high-bandwidth application. Today we literally need something alike of 1 Tbps speeds, microsecond latency and AI optimization.
One of biggest reason of latency is that It is too long a process for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and some other latency-sensitive applications when with current generation infrastructure, mobile devices use the radio network to connect to the base station before connecting the core network, with the same process used to return the signal.
Quite recently Mobile operators started using Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technologies to move functions around their network, closer to customers, in conjunction with edge data centers. This reduced latency significantly bt that’s not enough.
” There is a theory that we will need 1000s of radios per person in next 10 years.“
..that increases complexity and letency on current network will be bottleneck to realize the Technology 4.0 2030
With 1000s of radios/person theory, it’s a problem in part itself as humans are almost connected; what is not connected is objects or machines, that’s the road for 5G and 6G. That’s going to be because the millimeter frequencies that are being used in 5G, while being copious in bandwidth, are short in travel distance. One will need lots of radio-heads and antennas, millions of these all needing to be connected. And it is why one needs to think up better ways of doing it at scale—hence 6G’s efforts are justified today. 6G, with frequencies up to terahertz, will be needed for true microsecond latency and unlimited bandwidth. Millisecond latency [found in 5G] is simply not sufficient and “too slow” whereas 6G will achieve terabits-per-second speeds.
“Initially, 5G will disappoint you !”
non readiness of current system to reduce latency, scalability and poor QOS for IIOT applications are biggest reasons of disappointment.
As per initial plan, 5G connectivity will heavily rely on the combination of existing and new infrastructure, and is largely being developed in response to the increasing number of devices that are expected to require wireless network connectivity and cater to need of there’s an ever-increasing demand for improved coverage, throughput and latency – the last of which being perhaps the primary advancement that 5G will offer, as low latency connections will enable anything from remote brain surgery as we saw in recent news from China to more accurate logistics across countless industries.
Another important issue that will be encountered in 5G overall is related to required scalability. The issue is that the entire network stack is going to be run on non-traditional, software-defined radio. That method inherently introduces network slowdowns. Each orchestration, connection or process decelerates the communication.
Much of what 5G is seeking to accomplish will come by way of moving network infrastructure closer to end users and opening the wireless spectrum to bands well beyond those that are currently used for wireless communications. Whereas most wireless devices currently use spectrum in the 2.4GHz or 5GHz range, 5G will expand that to bands upwards of 28GHz. Higher frequencies have shorter waves – 1 to 10 millimeters in length for mmWaves – which are more susceptible to interference over distances, hence wireless infrastructure must be brought closer to users.
The Center for Converged TeraHertz Communications and Sensing (ComSenTe) is working on the initial 6G specifications. They expect that the next generation of wireless connectivity will provide speeds of 1 to 100 Gbps to the end user and MU-MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) capability of 100 to 1,000 simultaneous independently modulated beams effectively providing speeds in the tens of terabytes per second. Apart from providing precision localization to a fraction of an inch, supplementing GPS, 6G imaging techniques will identify any person or moving object. This intelligent, immersive infrastructure will support low-latency virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and seamless tele-presence.
In March 2019, 6G standards may very well pushed that forward into the terahertz spectrum, as now opens up by FCC Federal Communication Commission in March 2019. Which is voted to open for experimental purposes over the next decade so that companies can begin testing post-5G hardware. The experimental frequency spans from 95GHz (on the upper end of millimeter waves) all the way up to and slightly beyond 300GHz or 3THz (commonly referred to as sub-millimeter waves).
” 6G technologies are based around terahertz frequencies, which sit between infrared and microwave radiation on the spectrum “
Companies such as Genia Photonics have already developed terahertz spectroscopy devices with capabilities such as detecting the molecular traces of chemicals like drug residue on your hands or even signatures of substances in your bloodstream – all at distances of 150 feet according to specifications reported back in 2012.
Lastly, of course, would be in addition to the inevitable boost in bandwidth that terahertz would bring to wireless networks. Don’t hold your breath, though: 6G networks could easily be a decade away.
The Blog of Dr. Saurabh Katiyar 