Academician Zhang Ping: 6G and 5G do not conflict, they are an iterative relationship

While the entire industry is still looking for killer applications to detonate the 5G market, the research and deployment of 6G has been quietly and gradually launched, gathering momentum. On September 16, the "2021 6G Seminar - 6G Vision and Outlook" was held in Beijing. Zhang Ping, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a member of the Advisory Committee of the IMT-2030 (6G) Promotion Group, and a professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, pointed out at the meeting that in the future, 6G will increase the space of consciousness, further expand the communication space, reshape the world through intelligent interaction between the virtual world and the physical world, and serve the intelligently connected society.

After the meeting, Academician Zhang Ping was interviewed by many media including Communication World. When talking about "how to solve the relationship between 5G commercialization and 6G development at an important stage of 5G commercial deployment and application development", Academician Zhang Ping said: "Each generation of communication technology is an iterative process from its standardization to practical application, and this process takes time. From 5G to 5G-Advanced, it is still moving forward, which shows that 5G itself is continuously improving."

Indeed, the iterative development of each generation of communication technology has certain objective laws and rhythms. From 2G/3G/4G to the current 5G and the future 6G, market demand is the fundamental driving force behind the development of each generation of communication technology. In the view of Academician Zhang Ping, although 5G has perfected simple communication between people, it has not yet reached perfection in terms of man, machine and objects. The proposal of 6G now is also an iterative need to meet the needs of the future industry.

But it is worth noting that the standardization and industrialization process of communication technology is very long and arduous, requiring the study of potential theoretical technologies, standardization, and then industrialization. This is not something that can be achieved in a short period of time. Academician Zhang Ping believes that it will take at least 10 years for communication technology to be truly realized from the proposal of vision, and 6G may take 12 years. Therefore, the research on 6G will not have any impact on the future 5G.

Just as 5G performance is obviously better than 4G now, but we are still researching 4G. In the future, we will not stop researching 5G just because 6G is available. Academician Zhang Ping said that the industrialization of 6G requires a cultivation process. The R&D department can make products in the laboratory, but they cannot immediately become commodities that ordinary people can use. To make a product, standards must be formulated. After standardization, demonstration prototypes must be manufactured, and then subsequent testing and certification must be successful before it can become a popular commodity. Moreover, after the launch, it is accompanied by the process of ecological cohesion. The ecology will not follow an innovative concept, but follow standardization.