The global 6G competition has quietly begun

Recently, at China Mobile's 2021 Science and Technology Workers' Day and Science and Technology Week, Liu Guangyi, China Mobile's group-level chief expert, explained China Mobile's layout in applied basic research and 6G. "Nowadays, 5G innovation has entered the 'deep water zone', 6G research has entered the 'no man's land', and multidisciplinary frontiers have entered the 'integration period'. China Mobile Research Institute will continue to promote the further implementation of 5G concepts, and constantly seek 6G innovation breakthroughs to cope with multiple challenges." Liu Guangyi said.

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Four major measures

Realize the development of applied basic research

Today, the development of the global information and communication industry is facing challenges. 5G innovation has entered the "deep water zone", 6G research has entered the "no man's land", and multidisciplinary frontiers have entered the "integration period". Facing the new situation, it is even more necessary to lay a solid foundation to achieve breakthroughs. China Mobile Research Institute has implemented the layout of applied basic research through four major measures, and has continuously improved the scientific and technological innovation system in four aspects: deepening the layout of the field, innovating the cooperation model, improving the system and mechanism, and stimulating the vitality of talents, strengthening applied basic research, and strengthening industry-university-research cooperation.

In order to strengthen applied basic research, China Mobile established the Future Research Institute. "Liu Guangyi introduced that China Mobile Future Research Institute clearly defines itself as a researcher of basic core theories and original technologies, a leader in forward-looking research in key areas, and an important resource integrator in the field of future research. It will build a high-end technical think tank in the field of future information communication and related interdisciplinary integration technologies to guide the direction of technological development.

The three main directions of the Future Research Institute are future information and communication technology (including 6G, next-generation Internet/optical network/AI/security/business, etc.), interdisciplinary fusion technology (including brain-like intelligence, life sciences, quantum information, new materials, new energy and energy conservation, etc.), and humanities (including analysis of the impact of technological progress on society, laws, regulations and policy recommendations for forward-looking technologies). China Mobile Research Institute will continue to innovate cooperation models, build a "new high ground" for scientific research with deep integration of industry, academia and research, establish university innovation consortiums, strengthen cooperation with scientific research institutions, and establish cutting-edge cross-disciplinary funds.

The global race for 6G

The curtain has been opened

In 2021, 5G has been commercialized on a large scale and the world has actively launched 6G research.

Looking around the world, China began to study 6G in 2018, established IMT-2030 and 6G technology R&D promotion groups in 2019, China Mobile, vivo, Datang and others released 6G white papers, and Huawei and China Mobile jointly initiated the 6G Network Architecture Forum 6G ANA. Japan has established multiple innovation alliances and proposed a goal of 30% global share of 6G infrastructure, and is currently in the R&D startup stage.

The United States established the Next G Alliance to promote its leadership in 6G. The United States and Japan established an alliance and jointly invested $4.5 billion in 6G research. The European Union proposed a relatively clear planning roadmap to complete the 6G industry-university-research framework project in the third quarter of 2020. South Korea will spend 200 billion won on 6G research and development starting next year, and plans to launch commercial use as early as 2028. In the ITU, Ericsson and Samsung proposed to complete the 6G standard in 2028.

Judging from the current development situation of various countries, the competition in 6G technology, standards and industry will become more intense in the future.

The United States proposed 6G to overtake China and enhance its global leadership. The United States is increasing investment in the 6G field, hoping to surpass China's advantage in the 5G field with "leapfrog development"; the Department of Defense DARPA has launched multiple 6G projects such as terahertz communication and sensor technology integration research; the FCC opened the terahertz test spectrum in 2018.

Finland's 6G flagship project promotes 6G research and international cooperation. It will invest 250 million euros from 2018 to 2026; hold a global 6G summit every year, which has been held twice; and publish 12 white papers.

China launched 6G research and development simultaneously with the rest of the world, made comprehensive arrangements, established the IMT-2030 Promotion Group, the 6G Technology R&D Promotion Working Group and the Overall Expert Group; China Mobile released the "2030+ Vision and Demand Report".

Europe has taken technological innovation as its guide, increased its R&D investment, and released a strategic document, "The Cornerstone of a Comprehensive Industrial Strategy". It plans to establish the EU 6G Partner Cooperation Project in Q1 2021. The European Horizon Project has achieved technological breakthroughs in 6G and other technologies. Japan has released a B5G promotion strategy to compete for the world's first place, with the goal of completing 6G basic technology research in 2025 and commercializing it in 2030; increasing the global market share of 6G infrastructure to about 30%; and the share of 6G patents to more than 10%.

Japanese companies' 6G research and development can utilize the upstream advantages of integrated circuits, materials and other industries; NTT released the "Smart World 2020 Technology Report".

The South Korean government has set the goal of "leading 6G commercialization" and plans to achieve the world's first 6G commercialization in 2028, striving to achieve the world's first 6G core standard patent, the world's first smartphone market share, and the world's second equipment market share; MSIT project support to ensure leading position in the mobile communications field; LG, Samsung and other companies have established 6G research centers; Samsung has released a 6G white paper.

In terms of standards, international organizations around the world are formulating 6G work plan roadmaps. The completion time of the ITU-R 6G standard is still under debate. There are currently two views: one is that it will be completed in 2028, and the other is that it will be completed in 2030.

China Mobile believes that the 6G work is mainly divided into two stages. The first stage (2018-2025) is the research on 6G vision and needs, the research on 6G potential key technologies, and the design of 6G concept systems. The second stage (2025-2030) is the formulation of 6G standards, industry promotion, commercialization and application cultivation.

China Mobile 6G Research

Already having an impact

In order to initially build an innovation system with deep integration of industry, academia, research and application, China Mobile Research Institute is responsible for the overall end-to-end top-level design and some key technologies, and collaborates with universities to carry out research and verification of basic theories and key technologies.

Liu Guangyi shared some basic judgments of China Mobile on 6G. In terms of vision, "digital twin and ubiquitous intelligence" has basically become the industry's consensus, although there are differences in description; in terms of frequency, frequencies below 10GHz are the basis, millimeter wave bands will play a more important role, and THz and visible light will be supplemented in specific scenarios.

Wireless transmission technology expects more theoretical breakthroughs, and scenario-based optimization will be an important direction; integrated air-space-ground networking is a trend, and satellite networks are an important supplement to ground networks; wireless and core networks will be further simplified and integrated, and the boundaries will become more blurred; 6G will no longer just provide communication functions, perception and AI will become a new business and capability, and the integration of perception-communication-computing will be a major trend; endogenous intelligence and endogenous security will be important features of future networks; network automation based on digital twins is the key to reducing future network operation and maintenance costs.

The 6G research of China Mobile Research Institute has now begun to have influence at home and abroad. It was the first in the industry to release three white papers on vision requirements, technology trends and network architecture outlook; it holds multiple leadership positions in domestic and foreign industry organizations such as IMT-2030, CCSA, NGMN, ITU and IETF, takes the lead in 6G project establishment, and actually dominates 6G discussions, gradually forming influence at home and abroad, and building a 6G cooperation ecosystem around China Mobile; it hosted 6G forums and delivered keynote speeches at IEEE's top academic conferences more than 10 times, initially establishing China Mobile's image as a leading operator.

"6G needs to be down-to-earth, but also look up to the stars," Liu Guangyi said. China Mobile Research Institute will continue to promote the further implementation of 5G concepts, build a user-centric network, realize service-oriented, cloud-based, and network slicing, and continue to seek 6G innovation breakthroughs to cope with multiple challenges, such as capacity approaching the Shannon limit, Moore's Law approaching the limit, and scene requirements becoming more extreme and diverse. "Future global cooperation is the key to the success of 6G," Liu Guangyi concluded.