B5G and 6G Wireless Technology

- Overview

Driven by the rapid expansion of 5G technology, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), and expectations for 6G deployment, the communications industry is on the verge of massive growth. 

The communications industry is growing significantly, driven by growing demand for 5G technology and the need for high-speed, low-latency networks. The continued expansion of 5G, coupled with expectations for 6G deployment and the use of AI to revolutionize operations and customer experiences, is driving substantial growth within the industry. 

In essence, these technological advancements are creating a more connected, efficient, and intelligent world, leading to a surge in demand for communications services and propelling the industry towards massive growth.

Key drivers for this growth include:

• 5G Expansion: The continued global rollout and adoption of 5G networks are enabling faster speeds, lower latency, and enhanced capabilities for a wide range of applications, including IoT, augmented reality (AR), and smart cities. This expansion is driving investment in infrastructure and increasing efficiency across various industries.
• AI Integration: Artificial intelligence is playing a crucial role in revolutionizing the telecommunications industry. It's used for intelligent network management, optimization, and enhanced customer experiences. AI is also being integrated into emerging technologies like 6G to further improve performance and unlock new possibilities.
• 6G Development: While 5G is still being deployed, the communications industry is already looking ahead to 6G, the next generation of wireless technology. 6G is expected to bring even greater speeds (potentially 100 times faster than 5G), ultra-low latency, and massive connectivity, leading to revolutionary applications in areas like holographic communication, immersive experiences, and autonomous systems. Research and development for 6G are underway, with initial deployments expected around 2030.

- 5G vs 6G

6G wireless technology is the next step after 5G, promising much faster speeds and reduced latency. While 5G offers a significant leap in speed and connectivity compared to 4G, 6G is projected to be even more transformative, with potential for speeds hundreds or even thousands of times faster. 

Here's a more detailed comparison: 

Speed: 

• 5G: Offers download speeds up to 10 Gbps and upload speeds up to 10 Gbps.
• 6G: Expected to reach speeds of up to 1 Tbps (1,000 Gbps).

Latency:

• 5G: Aim for latency below 1 ms.
• 6G: Targeting latency below 100 microseconds (0.0001 seconds).

Other Key Differences: 

• Frequency Bands: 6G will utilize higher frequency bands (terahertz), offering more bandwidth and potential for faster speeds.
• Enhanced Functionalities: 6G will go beyond just speed, incorporating capabilities like AI, edge computing, and distributed computing, allowing for more sophisticated applications.
• Scalability: 6G is designed for increased scalability and dynamic access to various connection types, improving reliability and reducing connection drops.
• Applications: 5G enables various applications like VR/AR, but 6G could unlock even more, like advanced autonomous systems, real-time data processing, and integrated communication and computation.
• Cost: While 5G has seen a decrease in cost-per-bit, 6G could potentially see higher cost-per-GB due to the higher frequencies.

- The Key Building Block of 5G and 6G

The key building block for both 5G and 6G is the New Radio (NR) air interface, which is part of the 3GPP standard. This NR interface, along with its associated core network architecture, virtualization, and automation, forms the foundation for 5G, and 5G Advanced is a stepping stone towards 6G, leveraging these technologies in different ways.

- Technology Development from 5G to Beyond 5G (B5G)

New developments in wireless communications are advancing rapidly. Although 5G has officially entered the commercial market not long ago, many designers are developing new 6G-related technologies.

5G technology has reached the transmission level with a peak rate of 10Gbps and a low latency of 1 millisecond. Because its bandwidth is greater than 4G, it can be connected to more smart devices at the same time. However, there are still technical limitations in the application of 5G. Therefore, B5G/6G is integrating wireless communication and satellite communication to achieve the goal of global seamless coverage and interconnection.

The application frequency bands of B5G/6G are in the range of 0.1~0.3THz and 0.1~10THz respectively. This frequency band is called the terahertz frequency band. 

Advantages of the terahertz band:

• Abundant Spectrum Resources
• The peak transmission speed reaches 100Gbps~1Tbps
• Indoor positioning accuracy reaches 10 cm/outdoor 1 meter
• Communication delay 0.1 ms
• Ultra high reliability
• The density of connected devices reaches more than 100 per cubic meter
• Since there is no space absorption loss problem in the terahertz frequency band, it has the advantages of fast transmission speed and long transmission distance. It can be applied to inter-satellite communication and can provide greater coverage.

- B5G Networks and Edge Intelligence

Beyond fifth-generation (B5G) networks, or so-called "6G," the next generation of wireless communication systems will fundamentally change the way society develops. 

Edge intelligence is emerging as a new concept with high potential to address new challenges in B5G networks by providing mobile edge computing and edge caching capabilities and artificial intelligence (AI) close to the end user. In the B5G network enabled by edge intelligence, edge resources are managed by artificial intelligence systems to provide powerful computing processing and massive data collection locally on the edge network. 

AI helps to obtain efficient resource scheduling strategies in complex environments with heterogeneous resources and a large number of devices, while meeting the ultra-low latency and ultra-high reliability requirements of new applications such as autonomous vehicles, remote operations, and intelligent applications. Transportation systems, Industry 4.0, smart energy, e-health and AR/VR services. 

By integrating AI capabilities into the edge network, the radio network becomes service-aware and resource-aware, providing a complete understanding of the operating environment and the ability to dynamically adjust resource allocation/orchestration. 

However, despite the potential of edge intelligence, there are many challenges that need to be addressed in this new paradigm. So far, there has been limited research work on edge intelligence in B5G networks.

[University of Chicago]

- The 6G Systems

6G is the successor to 5G cellular technology. It's expected to be 100 times faster than 5G, with enhanced reliability and wider network coverage. 6G is expected to hit the market around 2030. 6G will be a fully integrated system that allows for instantaneous communications between devices, consumers, and the surrounding environment. It will provide: 

• Higher capacity
• Much lower latency
• A peak data rate of 1,000 gigabits/s
• Air latency less than 100 microseconds
• Improved network connectivity
• New communication experience with virtual existence and involvement anywhere

6G is expected to adopt unconventional communication networks to access several types of data and transmit them through conventional improved radio-frequency networks. 

The 6G ecosystem is expected to integrate WLANs to meet rising indoor access demands. 

The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) launched a "Next G Alliance" in October 2020. The alliance consists of AT&T, Ericsson, Telus, Verizon, T-Mobile, Microsoft, Samsung, and others.  

Notes:

• A microsecond is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one millionth (0.000001 or 10−6 or 1⁄1,000,000) of a second. Its symbol is μs, sometimes simplified to us when Unicode is not available. A microsecond is equal to 1000 nanoseconds or 1⁄1,000 of a millisecond.
• 1 milliseconds (ms) is equal to 1×10^-3 seconds (s). Conversely, 1 seconds (s) is equal to 1000 milliseconds (ms).