Toward 6G Networks: Use Cases and Technologies
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a full-stack, system-level perspective on 6G scenarios and requirements, and select 6G technologies that can satisfy them either by improving the 5G design or by introducing completely new communication paradigms.
Abstract: Reliable data connectivity is vital for the ever increasingly intelligent, automated, and ubiquitous digital world. Mobile networks are the data highways and, in a fully connected, intelligent digital world, will need to connect everything, including people to vehicles, sensors, data, cloud resources, and even robotic agents. Fifth generation (5G) wireless networks, which are currently being deployed, offer significant advances beyond LTE, but may be unable to meet the full connectivity demands of the future digital society. Therefore, this article discusses technologies that will evolve wireless networks toward a sixth generation (6G) and which we consider as enablers for several potential 6G use cases. We provide a fullstack, system-level perspective on 6G scenarios and requirements, and select 6G technologies that can satisfy them either by improving the 5G design or by introducing completely new communication paradigms.
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Southeast University1, ShanghaiTech University2, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications3, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China4, China Mobile Research Institute5, University of Southampton6, University of Waterloo7, University of Technology, Sydney8, University of Manchester9, University of Edinburgh10, Huawei11, Linköping University12, Queen's University Belfast13, Georgia Institute of Technology14, University of Surrey15, Princeton University16, Dresden University of Technology17
TL;DR: 6G with additional technical requirements beyond those of 5G will enable faster and further communications to the extent that the boundary between physical and cyber worlds disappears.
Abstract: The fifth generation (5G) wireless communication networks are being deployed worldwide from 2020 and more capabilities are in the process of being standardized, such as mass connectivity, ultra-reliability, and guaranteed low latency. However, 5G will not meet all requirements of the future in 2030 and beyond, and sixth generation (6G) wireless communication networks are expected to provide global coverage, enhanced spectral/energy/cost efficiency, better intelligence level and security, etc. To meet these requirements, 6G networks will rely on new enabling technologies, i.e., air interface and transmission technologies and novel network architecture, such as waveform design, multiple access, channel coding schemes, multi-antenna technologies, network slicing, cell-free architecture, and cloud/fog/edge computing. Our vision on 6G is that it will have four new paradigm shifts. First, to satisfy the requirement of global coverage, 6G will not be limited to terrestrial communication networks, which will need to be complemented with non-terrestrial networks such as satellite and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication networks, thus achieving a space-air-ground-sea integrated communication network. Second, all spectra will be fully explored to further increase data rates and connection density, including the sub-6 GHz, millimeter wave (mmWave), terahertz (THz), and optical frequency bands. Third, facing the big datasets generated by the use of extremely heterogeneous networks, diverse communication scenarios, large numbers of antennas, wide bandwidths, and new service requirements, 6G networks will enable a new range of smart applications with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data technologies. Fourth, network security will have to be strengthened when developing 6G networks. This article provides a comprehensive survey of recent advances and future trends in these four aspects. Clearly, 6G with additional technical requirements beyond those of 5G will enable faster and further communications to the extent that the boundary between physical and cyber worlds disappears.
935 citations
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TL;DR: It is suggested that human-centric mobile communications will still be the most important application of 6G and the 6G network should be human centric and high security, secrecy and privacy are its key features.
Abstract: The standardization of fifth generation (5G) communications has been completed, and the 5G network should be commercially launched in 2020. As a result, the visioning and planning of 6G communications has begun, with an aim to provide communication services for the future demands of the 2030s. Here, we provide a vision for 6G that could serve as a research guide in the post-5G era. We suggest that human-centric mobile communications will still be the most important application of 6G and the 6G network should be human centric. Thus, high security, secrecy and privacy should be key features of 6G and should be given particular attention by the wireless research community. To support this vision, we provide a systematic framework in which potential application scenarios of 6G are anticipated and subdivided. We subsequently define key potential features of 6G and discuss the required communication technologies. We also explore the issues beyond communication technologies that could hamper research and deployment of 6G. This Perspective provides a vision for sixth generation (6G) communications in which human-centric mobile communications are considered the most important application, and high security, secrecy and privacy are its key features.
663 citations
TL;DR: Significant technological breakthroughs to achieve connectivity goals within 6G include: a network operating at the THz band with much wider spectrum resources, intelligent communication environments that enable a wireless propagation environment with active signal transmission and reception, and pervasive artificial intelligence.
Abstract: 6G and beyond will fulfill the requirements of a fully connected world and provide ubiquitous wireless connectivity for all. Transformative solutions are expected to drive the surge for accommodating a rapidly growing number of intelligent devices and services. Major technological breakthroughs to achieve connectivity goals within 6G include: (i) a network operating at the THz band with much wider spectrum resources, (ii) intelligent communication environments that enable a wireless propagation environment with active signal transmission and reception, (iii) pervasive artificial intelligence, (iv) large-scale network automation, (v) an all-spectrum reconfigurable front-end for dynamic spectrum access, (vi) ambient backscatter communications for energy savings, (vii) the Internet of Space Things enabled by CubeSats and UAVs, and (viii) cell-free massive MIMO communication networks. In this roadmap paper, use cases for these enabling techniques as well as recent advancements on related topics are highlighted, and open problems with possible solutions are discussed, followed by a development timeline outlining the worldwide efforts in the realization of 6G. Going beyond 6G, promising early-stage technologies such as the Internet of NanoThings, the Internet of BioNanoThings, and quantum communications, which are expected to have a far-reaching impact on wireless communications, have also been discussed at length in this paper.
595 citations
01 Jul 2021
TL;DR: This work rigorously discusses the fundamental changes required in the core networks of the future, such as the redesign or significant reduction of the transport architecture that serves as a major source of latency for time-sensitive applications.
Abstract: Mobile communications have been undergoing a generational change every ten years or so. However, the time difference between the so-called “G’s” is also decreasing. While fifth-generation (5G) systems are becoming a commercial reality, there is already significant interest in systems beyond 5G, which we refer to as the sixth generation (6G) of wireless systems. In contrast to the already published papers on the topic, we take a top-down approach to 6G. More precisely, we present a holistic discussion of 6G systems beginning with lifestyle and societal changes driving the need for next-generation networks. This is followed by a discussion into the technical requirements needed to enable 6G applications, based on which we dissect key challenges and possibilities for practically realizable system solutions across all layers of the Open Systems Interconnection stack (i.e., from applications to the physical layer). Since many of the 6G applications will need access to an order-of-magnitude more spectrum, utilization of frequencies between 100 GHz and 1 THz becomes of paramount importance. As such, the 6G ecosystem will feature a diverse range of frequency bands, ranging from below 6 GHz up to 1 THz. We comprehensively characterize the limitations that must be overcome to realize working systems in these bands and provide a unique perspective on the physical and higher layer challenges relating to the design of next-generation core networks, new modulation and coding methods, novel multiple-access techniques, antenna arrays, wave propagation, radio frequency transceiver design, and real-time signal processing. We rigorously discuss the fundamental changes required in the core networks of the future, such as the redesign or significant reduction of the transport architecture that serves as a major source of latency for time-sensitive applications. This is in sharp contrast to the present hierarchical network architectures that are not suitable to realize many of the anticipated 6G services. While evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of key candidate 6G technologies, we differentiate what may be practically achievable over the next decade, relative to what is possible in theory. Keeping this in mind, we present concrete research challenges for each of the discussed system aspects, providing inspiration for what follows.
529 citations
20 Jul 2020
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the vision of future 6G wireless communication and its network architecture and also describe potential applications with 6G communication requirements and possible technologies, as well as potential challenges and research directions for achieving this goal.
Abstract: The demand for wireless connectivity has grown exponentially over the last few decades. Fifth-generation (5G) communications, with far more features than fourth-generation communications, will soon be deployed worldwide. A new paradigm of wireless communication, the sixth-generation (6G) system, with the full support of artificial intelligence, is expected to be implemented between 2027 and 2030. Beyond 5G, some fundamental issues that need to be addressed are higher system capacity, higher data rate, lower latency, higher security, and improved quality of service (QoS) compared to the 5G system. This paper presents the vision of future 6G wireless communication and its network architecture. This article describes emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, terahertz communications, wireless optical technology, free-space optical network, blockchain, three-dimensional networking, quantum communications, unmanned aerial vehicles, cell-free communications, integration of wireless information and energy transfer, integrated sensing and communication, integrated access-backhaul networks, dynamic network slicing, holographic beamforming, backscatter communication, intelligent reflecting surface, proactive caching, and big data analytics that can assist the 6G architecture development in guaranteeing the QoS. Besides, expected applications with 6G communication requirements and possible technologies are presented. We also describe potential challenges and research directions for achieving this goal.
514 citations
References
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TL;DR: A new tractable approach where BS locations are endow with a distribution by modeling them as a Poisson point process (PPP), and tools from stochastic geometry are used to obtain easy-to-use expressions for key performance metrics.
Abstract: When dedicated positioning systems, such as GPS, are unavailable, a mobile device has no choice but to fall back on its cellular network for localization. Due to random variations in the channel conditions to its surrounding base stations (BS), the mobile device is likely to face a mix of both favorable and unfavorable geometries for localization. Analytical studies of localization performance (e.g., using the Cramer-Rao lower bound) usually require that one fix the BS geometry, and favorable geometries have always been the preferred choice in the literature. However, not only are the resulting analytical results constrained to the selected geometry, this practice is likely to lead to overly-optimistic expectations of typical localization performance. Ideally, localization performance should be studied across all possible geometric setups, thereby also removing any selection bias. This, however, is known to be hard and has been carried out only in simulation. In this paper, we develop a new tractable approach where we endow the BS locations with a distribution by modeling them as a Poisson point process (PPP), and use tools from stochastic geometry to obtain easy-to-use expressions for key performance metrics. In particular, we focus on the probability of detecting some minimum number of BSs, which is shown to be closely coupled with a network operator’s ability to obtain satisfactory localization performance (e.g., meet FCC E911 requirements). This metric is indifferent to the localization technique (e.g., TOA, TDOA, AOA, or hybrids thereof), though different techniques will presumably lead to different BS hearability requirements. In order to mitigate excessive interference due to the presence of dominant interferers in the form of other BSs, we incorporate both BS coordination and frequency reuse in the proposed framework and quantify the resulting performance gains analytically.
76 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: A viable network architecture enabled by the converged edge and core cloud is presented and the relevant research challenges, open issues and enabling technologies in the 5G communication system are discussed.
Abstract: Robotic telesurgery has a potential to provide extreme and urgent health care services and bring unprecedented opportunities to deliver highly specialized skills globally. It has a significant societal impact and is regarded as one of the appealing use cases of Tactile Internet and 5G applications. However, the performance of robotic telesurgery largely depends on the network performance in terms of latency, jitter and packet loss, especially when telesurgical system is equipped with haptic feedback. This imposes significant challenges to design a reliable and secure but cost-effective communication solution. This article aims to give a better understanding of the characteristics of robotic telesurgical system, and the limiting factors, the possible telesurgery services and the communication quality of service (QoS) requirements of the multi-modal sensory data. Based on this, a viable network architecture enabled by the converged edge and core cloud is presented and the relevant research challenges, open issues and enabling technologies in the 5G communication system are discussed.
68 citations
01 Oct 2011
TL;DR: Two approaches using hologram data compression and object data transmission are discussed in order to solve the high bandwidth requirement problems.
Abstract: In this paper, we briefly introduce the full-color 3D holographic display system developed in Data Storage Institute. The bandwidth requirement of current system is analyzed to be about 10 Gbps. To address this requirement, the network interfaces between hologram loading and launching platforms are developed. Based on our analysis, the bandwidth requirement will increase to be in the range of 100 Gbps ∼ 1 Tbps with the enhancement of system performance. Two approaches using hologram data compression and object data transmission are discussed in order to solve the high bandwidth requirement problems.
45 citations