5G is still being promoted, and 6G is coming?

There is increasing attention on 6G.

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According to Huanqiu.com, Nikkei Asia Review reported on the 16th that China is committed to improving the sixth-generation mobile communication technology (6G) capabilities. In terms of the number of 6G patent applications, China ranks first in the world with a share of 40.3%.

In addition, at the "2021 6G Seminar - 6G Vision Outlook" held from September 16 to 17, Han Xia, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that 6G for commercial use in 2030 is still in the stage of vision demand research and concept formation, and the direction and solution of 6G technology are still being explored. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will make every effort to promote the innovative development of 6G and proactively lay out the 6G network technology reserves.

Start running before you can even walk?

"The successful commercialization of 5G should lay a solid foundation for the development of 6G." Han Xia emphasized that we should accurately grasp the relationship between the promotion of 5G commercialization and the layout of 6G research, and promote their coordinated and mutually reinforcing development. We should not only fully promote the deployment and large-scale application of 5G networks to lay a good foundation for the development of 6G, but also deeply analyze and summarize the application directions that are difficult to meet with the existing 5G, gradually clarify the potential business scenarios of 6G, and guide the formation and improvement of the 6G vision requirements.

Wen Ku, vice chairman and secretary-general of the China Communications Standards Association, believes that the development of 6G requires not only forward-looking planning for 6G technology pre-research, but also solid work on 5G commercialization and 5G-A evolution to lay a solid foundation for 6G development.

"We must vigorously promote the commercial maturity of 5G and carry out the evolution of 5G-A to lay a solid foundation for the development of 6G. For example, countries around the world have identified terahertz as an important technical direction for 6G, but the prerequisite is to cultivate millimeter waves to maturity first, otherwise it would be like 'starting to run before a child can walk steadily'," said Wen Ku.

In the two years since the commercial use of 5G in China, rapid progress has been made in network construction, user market, integrated applications, and standard development. my country has built the world's largest 5G network. As of August this year, a total of 1.037 million 5G base stations have been built, accounting for more than 70% of the world. The number of 5G terminal users has exceeded 400 million, which is the largest user group in the world. Tens of thousands of 5G application innovation cases have been created, especially in the media, medical, transportation, education and other industries, forming a number of typical applications such as 5G+4K/8K high-definition video, 5G+smart medical care, 5G+Internet of Vehicles, and 5G+distance education.

How to promote the innovative development of 6G?

Han Xia said that it is necessary to carry out in-depth research on potential key technologies of 6G, optimize the development layout of supporting industries such as chips and new materials, and form a good situation of coordinated development between upstream and downstream. Strengthen exchanges and cooperation between global 6G promotion organizations, various enterprises, universities and research institutes, promote the formation of a global unified 6G standard, and create a good environment for the healthy development of 6G.

Wen Ku believes that for potential 6G technology research, it is necessary to gradually converge and summarize to form phased results. For some 6G potential technology directions that are generally considered to be effective and valuable, in addition to theoretical research, it is also necessary to conduct industrialization-oriented research such as hardware test verification, development of test prototypes and trial commercialization, and test technical performance through continuous practice.

Wang Zhiqin, head of the IMT-2030 (6G) promotion group and vice president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, emphasized the need to strengthen research on basic technologies, ICDT fusion technologies, and multidisciplinary cross-disciplinary technologies to achieve efficient use of low, medium, and high spectrum, integration with non-ground mobile communication networks such as satellites and high-altitude platforms, and collaborative innovation with social and industry applications.

What can 6G bring?

"6G will greatly expand the capabilities and service boundaries of mobile communication networks, continue to deepen the application scope and fields of the Internet of Things, and effectively serve intelligent production and life." Han Xia said.

Huang Yuhong, deputy director of the China Mobile Communications Research Institute, said that 6G will give rise to new business scenarios such as interawareness interconnection, holographic communication, and digital twins. In terms of new technologies, 6G will enable technologies such as wireless air interfaces, intelligent and simplified distributed networks, digital twin networks, and endogenous security to achieve 6G's extreme transmission needs, full-scenario services, and high network autonomy.

Tong Wen, CTO of Wireless at Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., believes that in the future, 6G will be like a huge distributed neural network, integrating communication, perception, computing and other capabilities, deeply integrating the physical world, biological world and digital world, and truly opening a new era of "intelligent connection of all things" where everything will be perceived, connected and intelligent.

"The core vision of 6G is to achieve interconnection between intelligent entities and build a communication network shared by all intelligent entities (including humans and smart machines). The 6G era will realize the integration of six major AI resources, including networks, terminals, services, computing power, storage, and data, and provide an AI platform for thousands of industries." said Yang Ning, director of the Standard Research Department of OPPO Research Institute.

Cai Liyu, head of Bell Labs (China) of Shanghai Nokia Bell Co., Ltd., believes that 6G, as a new generation of network paradigm, will penetrate and influence human society to a greater depth and breadth, and expand human survival and potential. 6G will greatly expand network communication capabilities through the support of technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing, better perceive and understand the physical world, and achieve seamless connection and deep integration of the physical world, the biological world and the digital world.

Leading regions around the world have already started the process of developing 6G technology. According to Bernard Barani, Deputy Director of the Future Connected Systems Division of the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology of the European Commission, the first 6G products and infrastructure are expected to be launched in the next 10 years. The European Commission is preparing a proposal for a strategic partnership for European 6G smart networks and services to carry out 6G-related research activities under the European Horizon program in the form of joint undertakings.