6G
LG Electronics demos “6G” power amplifier and adaptive beamforming technology at South Korea trade show
South Korea’s LG Electronics showcased so called “6G” technology during the ‘2021 Korea Science and Technology Exhibition’ that was recently held at KINTEX in Ilsan, South Korea. Specifically, LG is unveiling a power amplifier for 6G, which is jointly developed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Research and Institute.
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Author’s Note: This news comes despite there is no definition of 6G from either ITU-R or 3GPP. Further, 5G standards are in their infancy, with only the RAN standardized in ITU-R M.2150 (but not the frequency arrangements for terrestrial IMT in a yet to be completed revision of M.1036).
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The power amplifier is the same one that was used by LG during its 6G demo in Berlin in August 2021. At that time, LG Electronics said it has successfully demonstrated the transmission and reception of wireless “6G” terahertz (THz) data over 100 meters in an outdoor setting. That was impressive because THz transmission is short-range and experiences power loss during transmission and reception between antennas. This is where the power amplifier proved crucial, as it was able to generate a stable signal across ultra-wideband frequencies.
The power amplifier is capable of generating stable signal output up to 15 dBm in the frequency range between 155 to 175 GHz. LG noted that it was also successful in demonstrating adaptive beamforming technology, which alters the signal’s direction in accordance with changes to the channel and receiver position; as well as high-gain antenna switching, which combines output signals of multiple power amplifiers and transmits them to specific antennas. LG also introduced the FDR full-duplex system which allows simultaneous transmission and reception across the same frequency band.
At the Korea exhibition, LG Electronics and Keysight Technologies (a global wireless communication test and measurement equipment manufacturer) also demonstrated ‘Adaptive beamforming’ technology that converts beam directions according to channel changes and receiver positions.
In 2019, LG established the LG-KAIST 6G Research Center in partnership with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). LG and KAIST had previously partnered with U.S.-based test and measurement firm Keysight Technologies with the aim of carrying out research on future 6G technologies.
Under the terms of the agreement, the three partners will cooperate in developing technologies related to terahertz frequencies, widely seen a key frequency band for 6G communications, which have not yet been standardized. The partners aim to complete 6G research by 2024.
LG previously said that 6G is expected to be commercialized in 2029. LG also noted that future 6G technologies will provide faster data speed, lower latency and higher reliability than 5G, and will be able to bring the concept of Ambient Internet of Everything (AIoE), which provides enhanced connected experience to users.
The government of South Korea previously said it aims to launch a pilot project for not-yet-standardized 6G mobile services in 2026. The Korean government expects 6G services could be commercially available in Korea between 2028 and 2030.
The Korean government’s strategy for 6G consists of preemptive development of next-generation technologies, securing standard and high value-added patents, and laying R&D and industry foundations. The government selected five major areas for the pilot project: Digital healthcare immersive content, self-driving cars, smart cities and smart factories.
LG expects 6G communication to be commercialized in 2029, with talks for standardization beginning in 2025. “6G will be a key component of Ambient Internet of Everything, the emerging technology that aims to improve living and business environments by making them more sensitive, adaptive, autonomous and personalized to consumers’ needs by recognizing human presence and preferences,” LG said.
References:
https://www.rcrwireless.com/20211227/wireless/lg-electronics-showcases-6g-tech-south-korea
https://www.techradar.com/news/lg-demonstrates-its-progress-in-6g-technology-at-a-korean-exhibition
Omdia: Regulatory activity to impact telecom in 2022; Global 5G status
According to market research dynamo Omdia, 2022 will be rife with regulatory activity that will impact the telecommunications market for years to come.
“As technology evolves, regulation will become more important than ever in the TMT industry,” said Sarah McBride, senior analyst for regulation at Omdia.
Omdia identified several trends it says will be “at the heart of regulatory activity” next year, including spectrum licensing, fiber networks, the digital divide and 6G (even though 5G spectrum has not been standardized by ITU-R in a revision to M.1036).
Regarding the digital divide (between the broadband haves and have nots), Omdia says “governments should learn from the pandemic and recognize the need for these broadband services to be affordable to all.”
The Omdia analysts say that governments must define a “comprehensive national digital strategy that includes providing state-aid tools to improve broadband availability and affordability.”
Such a strategy should go beyond deployment to “ensure citizens can use connectivity transformatively to bring about innovation and growth.” Doing so will encourage more deployment and investment, writes Omdia.
However, to avoid too much government intervention, Omdia also stresses the need for cooperation by service providers.
“Experience shows that market-led development, not a reliance on government intervention, is the most effective model for effective allocation of resources. However, economic viability is lower in some rural and sparsely populated areas than in populous areas,” Omdia said. The firm recommends that network operators collaborate by sharing infrastructure to reduce deployment costs and create shared wireless networks to “remove the need for regulators to set ambitious coverage obligations as part of spectrum licenses or universal service obligations.”
According to Omdia’s tracker for 5G networks, more than 150 5G networks have been launched around the world to date, which the research firm says will continue to drive demand for more spectrum.
“5G will profoundly affect society because of its ultrafast speeds, low latency, and high reliability, which enable digital transformation and support new use cases,” writes Omdia.
Regulators need to effectively manage spectrum allocation, “allowing access to the right amount of internationally harmonized spectrum (e.g., 700MHz, 3.6GHz, and 26GHz bands in the EU) in a timely manner to keep costs down.”
As operators continue to build out their 5G networks, Omdia tells policymakers it’s important to plan ahead on 6G standards, given the role these networks will play in the digital economy and the danger posed by a lack of cohesion.
Specifically, the firm warns against further splintering the telecom and Internet ecosystem, or what it calls “the splinternet.”
“It is especially important that regulators and policymakers prepare for future network generations by ensuring agreement is reached on 6G standards. A fragmentation of standards must be avoided to prevent any further separation of the telecoms and internet ecosystem, a ‘splinternet’,” writes Omdia.
Acknowledging that plans for 6G are in their infancy, Omdia further tells policymakers to begin identifying appropriate spectrum bands, though it notes that such plans “will need to be balanced with the need to release spectrum for 5G.”
Part of the rush to deploy high-speed internet everywhere includes a migration to fiber, whether through new builds or upgrades of existing cable networks. Omdia says that as network operators migrate to fiber, regulators should focus on promoting competition, pricing strategies and raising awareness amongst consumers about fiber access.
The firm further states that regulators should include fiber access in wholesale obligations, “once sufficient fiber coverage is reached.”
It’s important for network operators to collaborate with regulators on network upgrade plans and give wholesale customers advance warning to avoid disruption.
“Operators need to give their wholesale customers a sufficient notice period when withdrawing copper networks. This includes providing formal notifications that outline the timeframes involved, the replacement products on offer, and the new price terms,” writes Omdia.
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In a separate report titled, 2022 Trends to Watch: Global 5G, Omdia says that 5G network rollouts are still in the early stages, especially in developing regions.
“But there are compelling reasons for telcos to commit to 5G so they can differentiate around an improved network experience, as well as realize network efficiencies and lower operating costs. Moreover, 5G’s enhancements over 4G – most noticeably speed and latency – will come to be appreciated by consumers more next year as an increasing number of data-intensive services and applications become popular in the mass market,” the research firm said.
“A surprise to many next year may be the rapid emergence of satellite to augment telcos’ terrestrial network coverage,” Omdia observed.
“A key driver for hybrid satellite-cellular deployments is the need for ubiquitous high-speed data coverage, something which telcos can greatly benefit from if their rivals’ 5G network coverage remains patchy.”
Major telcos including BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia and Verizon signed significant deals with satellite internet providers in 2021 to offer a hybrid approach to targeted residential, enterprise and industrial markets.
Omdia believes that the likely success of these satellite internet initiatives could jump-start a flurry of new activity in this area in 2022.
“Although most end users aren’t rushing to buy 5G, the quality of their network experience in terms of reliability, speed, and coverage is increasingly important to them. As such, 5G offers telcos a better opportunity than 4G to differentiate, especially for ones that can claim they offer the best-in-market network experience,” Omdia said.
Omdia thinks that partnership strategies will be even more important for telco 5G success in 2022.
“How good telcos are at partnering, whether for content, service, or technology development, will increasingly define how successful they are in consumer, enterprise, and industrial markets. Because of its enhanced capabilities over 4G, 5G enables telcos to offer much more, and they will have to partner effectively to capitalize on this.”
“Except for 5G MEC (really ?), the ecosystem and markets for advanced 5G technologies are still in their infancy. However, 5G front-runners are already launching them, placing them in a strong position to gain a first-mover advantage when the market is ready to adopt them,” Omdia said.
References:
https://www.broadbandworldnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=774240&
https://techblog.comsoc.org/2021/12/18/etsi-mec-standard-explained-part-ii/
Nokia exec talks up “5G Advanced” (3GPP release 18) before 5G standards/specs have been completed
Nokia said it is working with Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) in 5G field trials in advance of India’s repeatedly delayed 5G spectrum auction, now scheduled for April-May, 2022. India’s big three telecos are using government spectrum to conduct their 5G field trials.
Nokia’s chief strategy and technology officer Nishant Batra said Wednesday at India Mobile Congress that his company expects to bring in advanced 5G solutions (?):
“We have active engagements with Bharti, VI, and Jio for 5G field trials and have made several public announcements on the milestones achieved. 5G will open up new possibilities that will have a massive impact on society, industry and consumers in India…in the coming years and beyond the 5G era,” said Batra. By the end of 2023, we expect to see release 18 of 3GPP (see the actual 3GPP Timeline below)….or as we prefer to call it: 5G-Advanced. This version of the 5G evolution will develop 5G to its fullest capabilities and is an important stepping-stone to the new interactive use cases we will see on a large scale in the coming 6G era,” he added.
Nishant Batra, Nokia’s Chief Strategy and Technology Officer
3GPP Timeline for Release 17 and 18
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Telcos so far have highlighted that 5G use cases (what are they without URLLC?) can bring in transformation in healthcare, agriculture, education related areas. Batra also gave a glimpse of how human technology interfaces will change in the future and the internet used via smartphones will be “less exciting.”
“By 2030, we expect two of the biggest drivers of network evolution will be human augmentation and digital/physical fusion. Consumer broadband will still be the biggest service, and video will still drive the bulk of Internet traffic,” Batra opined. India is one of the biggest data consumers. “Practically speaking, digital/physical fusion means that by 2030 every physical thing that makes sense to connect digitally will be connected to the Internet,” he added. Nokia, which has its “Conscious Factory” in Chennai, is betting big on machine learning, automation, cloud services and automation. “As enterprises, governments and networks invest in their digital transformations, Nokia is well-positioned to provide the critical networking solutions they need,” Batra said.
Author’s Opinion:
It is premature to start thinking of 5G-Advanced when so many of the needed 5G ITU-R recommendations/standards and 3GPP specs are incomplete. These include: URLLC in the RAN and updates to ITU-R M.2150 for URLLC (to meet the 5G minimum performance requirements specified in ITU-R M.2410), implementation specs/agreements for 5G SA Core network (cloud native/microservices/containers, etc or otherwise), frequency arrangements for terrestrial 5G (ITU-R M.1036 revision to include mmWave frequencies approved at WRC’19), network management, security, roaming, interworking with WiFi 6E, etc.
References:
IMT towards 2030 and beyond (“6G”): Technologies for ubiquitous computing and data services
ATIS: Next G Alliance leadership and 6G Roadmap – Is it premature?
UK-India research project to progress 5G and future telecom networks
The UK-India Future Networks Initiative (UKI-FNI) is a£1.4 million project, led by the University of East Anglia in collaboration with other UK and Indian universities. Its objective is to build the capability, capacity, and relationships between the two countries in telecoms diversification technologies and research for 5G and beyond. The project will explore hardware and software solutions for future digital networks, as well as develop a joint UK/India vision for Beyond 5G and 5G. The development of Open Radio Access Networks (OpenRAN) will be a key part of the project.
The project is funded by the UK Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The 5G/6G Innovation Centre (5G/6GIC) at the University of Surrey in the UK will play a key role in a project to examine advanced technologies for future digital telecoms networks. The 5G/6GIC will work with the University of East Anglia (project lead), University College London and the University of Southampton in the UK; and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science in (IIS) Bangalore.
The 5G vision of the Centre includes:
- Indoors and outdoors
- Dense urban centres with capacity challenges
- Sparse rural locations where coverage is the main challenge
- Places with existing infrastructure, and areas where there is none
India has an excellent research and innovation base in networking systems software and has the complex testbeds required for proving new technologies. Indeed, under a previous £20 million EPSRC initiative led in the UK by Prof Parr (the India-UK Advanced Technology Centre), the team collaborated for more than 10 years with partners across India – an experience that will be leveraged in the UKI-FNI project.
Prof Parr said: “To those of us who have access to telecommunications services and the Internet, it comes as no surprise how reliant we are on voice, data and web services for email, video conferencing and file sharing, as well as social media for business and personal needs. This has been much more visible during the Covid pandemic. For the telecoms service providers there are important considerations in providing all these systems across regions and nations, including performance, cyber security, energy efficiency, scalability and operational costs for maintenance and upgrades.”
“The consideration on costs is attracting increasing attention when we consider the limited number of global vendors who manufacture and supply the systems over which our data flows across the national and international networks.”
There is a global push to explore innovations that will deliver the infrastructure, systems and services for next-generation mobile communication networks. Part of this drive is coming from network operators who are seeking solutions to reduce the costs for network components by aiming to remove dependence and lock-in to a small group of telecom original equipment manufacturers.
A leading idea is that the 5G infrastructure should be far more demand/user/device centric with the agility to marshal network/spectrum resources to deliver “always sufficient” data rate and low latency to give the users the perception of infinite capacity. This offers a route to much higher-performing networks and a far more predictable quality of experience that is essential for an infrastructure that is to support an expanding digital economy and connected society.
Sanjeev K Varshney, Head of International Cooperation at the DST, said: “The announcement of the India-UK partnership to develop newer research opportunities in future telecom networks is very timely and we look forward to developing new bilateral collaboration in this and other emerging areas of mutual interest.”
Rebecca Fairbairn, Director UKRI India, said: “UKRI India, in collaboration with our partner funders in India, is delighted to announce a drive towards a new Indo-UK research and innovation partnership on future telecom networks.
“Bringing together both our countries’ scientists, engineers, and innovators we will jointly develop new knowledge and high-impact research and innovation in line with our shared 2030 India-UK roadmap.”
Professor Gerard Parr, Principal Investigator for UKI-FNI, University of East Anglia, said: “There are many benefits to be accrued from the UKI-FNI project as we explore new innovative solutions in hardware, software and protocols.
“Ultimately, we will develop a roadmap for a much larger, mutually beneficial and longer-term collaboration between India and the UK in the important digital telecoms sector.”
References:
https://www.surrey.ac.uk/institute-communication-systems/5g-innovation-centre
https://www.uea.ac.uk/news/-/article/uea-leads-on-uk-india-future-telecom-network-partnership-c2-a0
IMT towards 2030 and beyond (“6G”): Technologies for ubiquitous computing and data services
From emerging IMT towards 2030 and beyond use cases such as digital twin, cyber-physical systems, mixed reality, industrial/service robots, the following technology trends can be observed:
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There is a need to process data at the network edge for real-time response, low transport cost, and privacy protection.
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There is need to scale out device computing capability beyond its physical limitations for advanced application computing workloads.
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The ubiquity of AI needs ubiquitous computing and data resources.
These new technology trends bring in new technology issues on scalability, dynamic workload distribution, data collection/management/sharing:
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Scalability – In today’s cloud computing, computing resource are often centralized in a few national or regional data centers. Centralized service discovery and orchestration mechanisms used are given full visibility on computing resources and services in the data centers. When computing resources and services become more widely distributed, the centralized approach is no longer scalable; a more scalable approach is needed for widely distributed computing resources.
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Dynamic computing workload distribution – Today’s workload distribution between devices and the cloud is based on client-server model with a fixed workload partition between the client and the cloud. The fixed workload partition is application specific and is pre-determined in the application development phase. Such a fixed workload partition is based on the assumption that there are always sufficient computing resources in the cloud to fulfil the server-side workload. Moving forward, as computing resources become distributed, the assumption of unlimited server-side computing resource would likely no longer hold so there needs to be a scheme that allows dynamic device computing scaling out based on conditions such as workload requirements, communication and computing resource availability, etc. To minimize the impact on applications, dynamic computing scaling scheme should be enabled as an IMT system capability with minimal dependency on applications.
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Data collection, processing, management and sharing – With the widespread application of AI in society/industry, a systematic approach in collecting, processing, management and sharing data to facilitate AI/Machine Learning becomes very important. The conventional data management functions in cellular networks focus on managing subscription information and policies. In IMT-2020, driven by the use of AI tools for network optimization and automation, a network data analytics function (NWDAF) was added into the specifications through which network functions’ measurement data can be collected and used for analytics. Future IMT towards 2030 and beyond are anticipated to have further diversification on data sources, types and consumptions, so it is expected that data plane functions will be part of the IMT system function from the beginning and can support full-blown data services to devices, network functions and applications.
To address the above-mentioned challenges, computing services and data services are expected to become an integral component of the future IMT system. Ubiquitous computing and data services can be enabled alongside the ubiquitous connectivity as integral services of the IMT system. Dynamic computing workload distribution can be inherently supported as an IMT system capability. Applications can use the IMT system’s workload distribution and scaling capability to achieve optimized performance. Data plane services in the IMT system such as data collection, processing, management and sharing can be enabled to support AI needs in air interface, cellular network and applications.
Source: Intel contribution to ITU WP5D: “Further development of working document towards preliminary draft new Report on future technology trends” Sept 21, 2021
Development of “IMT Vision for 2030 and beyond” from ITU-R WP 5D
Introduction:
No organization, standards or spec writing body have detailed anything real related to “6G.” All the 6G claims from telecom equipment vendors and network operators are pure propaganda/hype. There is no consensus of what 6G will be, nor is there any effort to standardize “5G Advanced.” Hence, there is no basis whatsoever to talk about standardized 5G Advanced or 6G anytime soon.
Yes, we know 3GPP is working on Release 18 which will have many new features and functions, but their Release 16 (frozen one year ago) is not complete– at least not for the URLLC 5G NR specification and performance testing. Don’t talk about “5G Advanced” or “6G” if the key use case (URLLC) for 5G is not complete. Nor is the implementation specified for “5G core” or 5G advanced functions, e.g. network slicing, as we’ve stated many, many times.
This article examines what’s real: the important ongoing work by ITU-R (the official standards body for cellular communications and frequencies) on the vision, goals and objectives for what may become 6G. Or maybe not?
ITU-R WP 5D Efforts on IMT Vision for 2030 (which will include “6G”):
ITU-R Working Party 5D (WP 5D) has started to develop a new draft Recommendation “IMT Vision for 2030 and beyond” at their March 2021 meeting. This Recommendation might be helpful to drive the industries and administrations to encourage further development of IMT for 2030 and beyond.
This Recommendation will define the framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2030 and beyond, including the role that IMT could play to better serve the needs of the future society, for both developed and developing countries.
For the development of this draft new Recommendation, WP 5D would like to invite the views of External Organizations on the IMT Vision for 2030 and beyond, including but not limited to, user and application trends, evolution of IMT, usage scenario, capabilities and framework and objectives.
WP 5D will also develop a new draft Report ITU-R M.[IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS] which focuses on the following aspects:
“This Report provides a broad view of future technical aspects of terrestrial IMT systems considering the time frame up to 2030 and beyond. It includes information on technical and operational characteristics of terrestrial IMT systems, including the evolution of IMT through advances in technology and spectrally-efficient techniques, and their deployment.”
For the development of these reports, WP 5D invites the views of External Organizations on future technology trends for terrestrial IMT systems, including but not limited to the motivation on driving factors such as new use cases, applications, capabilities, technology trends and enablers. These technical inputs are intended for the timeframe towards 2030 and beyond and are proposed to be significantly advanced and different from that of IMT-2020.
Related documents: ITU Recommendations, Reports, Documents and Handbook:
Recommendation ITU-R M.1645 – Framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT‑2000 and systems beyond IMT‑2000
Recommendation ITU-R M.2083 – IMT Vision – “Framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2020 and beyond”
Recommendation ITU-R M.1457 – Detailed specifications of the terrestrial radio interfaces of International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000)
Recommendation ITU-R M.2012 – Detailed specifications of the terrestrial radio interfaces of International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-Advanced)
Recommendation ITU-R M.2150 – Detailed specifications of the terrestrial radio interfaces of International Mobile Telecommunications-2020 (IMT-2020)
Report ITU-R M.2243 – Assessment of the global mobile broadband deployments and forecasts for International Mobile Telecommunications
Report ITU-R M.2320 – Future technology trends of terrestrial IMT systems
Report ITU-R M.2370 – IMT Traffic estimates for the years 2020 to 2030
Report ITU-R M.2376 – Technical feasibility of IMT in bands above 6 GHz
Report ITU-R M.2134 – Requirements related to technical performance for IMT‑Advanced radio interface(s)
Report ITU-R M.2410 – Minimum requirements related to technical performance for IMT-2020 radio interface(s)
Report ITU-R M.2441 – Emerging usage of the terrestrial component of International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT)
Report ITU-R M.[IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS TOWARDS 2030 AND BEYOND] – Future technology trends of terrestrial IMT systems towards 2030 and beyond
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Key objectives of the Vision towards IMT for 2030 and beyond:
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Focus on continued need for increased coverage, increased capacity and extremally high user data rates;
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Focus on continued need for lower latency and both high and low speed of movement of the mobile terminals;
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Fully support the development of a Ubiquitous Intelligent Mobile Society;
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Focus on tackling societal challenges identified in UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular to meet the needs of Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure;
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Consider what the future heterogenous mobile broadband networks can offer to the society and the economy through the applications and services they support;
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Target the changing global scenario on how we work and how we stay safe during the societal challenges such COVID-19 pandemic and global climate changes;
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Focus on delivering on digital inclusion and connecting the rural and remote communities.
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The 4 key pillars for the vision:
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Any future technology should help in the development of a Ubiquitous Intelligent Mobile Connected Society (whatever that means is TBD).
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Any future technology should support technologies that can help bridge the digital divide.
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Any future technology should support technologies that can Personalize / localize services.
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Any future technology should support the connectivity / compute technologies that can address issues of real-world data ownership sensitivities.
Brief text for each of the pillars is as below:
1. Development of a Ubiquitous Intelligent Mobile Connected Society:
It is anticipated that Public / Private / Enterprise networks, specialized networks (application / vertical specific), IOT / sensor networks will increase in numbers in the coming years and could be based on multiple radio access technologies. Interoperability is one of the most significant challenges to enable a ubiquitous intelligent, connected / compute environment, where different networks, processes, applications, use cases and organizations are connected. This includes supporting very high bandwidth requirements applications such as holographic communications, digital twins etc to supporting extremely low bandwidth requirement use cases such as sensors.
2. Support technologies that can bridge the digital divide: It is a very important considerations for any future technology development.
Future networks / technologies should support affordability as a key parameter and to that end support technologies such as:
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Highly composable networks /architectures to address issues of cost and affordability.
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Dynamic Spectrum Sharing technologies which can lower the cost of initial spectrum purchase.
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Heterogeneous device types to bring the cost of affordability down without compromising high end usage scenarios.
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Energy efficiency to enable affordability and sustainability.
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3. Support technologies that can Personalize /localize services.
As home network capabilities, edge device / network capabilities are enhanced, there is an opportunity to personalize services like never before. It’s important that personalization (focused on individuals, homes, apartments small / medium enterprises) services is a key focus area.
4. Support technologies that can mimic real world data ownerships and hierarchies.
Personal data protection is becoming important and as nations are focused on data protection and management it is important that any future network / technology takes into account the intrinsic data hierarchies and management aspects. Data ownership granularity spans from personal data, enterprise or group data, organizational data, data considered as national assets (data that is not allowed to leave the geographic boundaries)
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External Organizations will be invited to contribute to this work item via contributions to future ITU-R WP 5D meetings in 2021 and 2022.
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Source: ITU-R WP 5D
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Addendum from Leo Lehmann, Chairman ITU-T SG13:
ITU-T had run Focus Group Network-2030, which was concluded in July 2020. This Focus Group studied the capabilities of networks for the year 2030 and beyond. Those networks are expected to support novel forward-looking scenarios, such as holographic type communications, extremely fast response in critical situations and high-precision communication demands of emerging market verticals.
It has produced a remarkable “White Paper: “Network 2030 – A Blueprint of Technology, Applications and Market Drivers Towards the Year 2030 and Beyond” (May 2019).”
Even though studies are focusing only on “non-radio-related” aspects, the given use cases might be very important for the further discussion how they might be supported by corresponding spectrum requirements (whatever “G”).
References:
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/net2030/Pages/default.aspx
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/net2030/Documents/White_Paper.pdf
ATIS: Next G Alliance leadership and 6G Roadmap – Is it premature?
The Alliance for Telecom Industry Solutions (ATIS) has announced election results for the Next G Alliance and its Steering Group as well as the launch of work on a 6G Roadmap.
Andre Fuetsch, Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, AT&T, has been named chair of the Next G Alliance executive governing body, the Full Member Group (FMG). Jan Söderström, Ericsson’s Head of Technology Office Silicon Valley, has been named FMG vice chair. Among its many roles, the FMG sets the overall strategy and direction for the Next G Alliance as well as its organizational policies. Both the chair and vice chair serve a two-year term.
Three co-chairs have also been named for the Next G Alliance Steering Group (SG). The SG is composed of technology leaders and experts who will identify key North American R&D needs, standards strategies and market readiness policies to achieve the goals established by the Next G Alliance. The SG co-chairs are: AT&T Assistant Vice President – Standards & Industry Alliances Brian Daly; Head of North American Standardization at Nokia, Devaki Chandramouli; and VMware Director, Edge & AI Ecosystems, Telco Cloud Business Unit, Benoit Pelletier.
Setting the stage for the eventual commercialization of 6G, the work of the Next G Alliance will influence and encompass the full lifecycle of research and development, manufacturing, standardization and market readiness. As an initial priority, a 6G Roadmap Working Group has been launched. The National 6G Roadmap being developed will act as a foundation for future outputs, delivering a common vision and destination point for achieving North American 6G wireless leadership. It will define what is needed in terms of research needs, technology developments, service and application enablers, policies and government actions and market priorities.
In addition to the 6G Roadmap Working Group, the Next G Alliance will simultaneously launch a “Green G” Working Group focused on achieving energy efficiency by reducing power consumption and assessing how to achieve a sustainable ecosystem with emerging technologies. The Working Group will evaluate the environmental impact of a broad range of sources including water and materials consumption as well as the use of renewable or ambient energy.
“While innovation frequently occurs in response to market needs, long-term technology leadership takes strategic foresight and critical stakeholders committed to reaching the desired future state,” said Susan M. Miller, President and CEO, ATIS. “With its leadership set and work on both sustainability and the 6G Roadmap launched, the Next G Alliance is well positioned to create a national vision for the next decade.”
Thus far, the Next G Alliance has united 45 of the leading information and communications companies in a shared commitment to advance the evolution of 5G, chart the future of 6G technology and put North America at the forefront of wireless technology leadership for the next decade and beyond. The membership spans infrastructure, semiconductors and device vendors; operators; hyper-scalers and other organizations, including those in the area of research.
If your company is interested in joining, contact ATIS Membership Director Rich Moran.
Learn more about the Next G Alliance at: https://nextgalliance.org/
About ATIS:
As a leading technology and solutions development organization, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) brings together the top global ICT companies to advance the industry’s business priorities. ATIS’ 150 member companies are currently working to address 6G, 5G, robocall mitigation, IoT, Smart Cities, artificial intelligence-enabled networks, distributed ledger/blockchain technology, cybersecurity, emergency services, quality of service, billing support, operations, and much more. These priorities follow a fast-track development lifecycle – from design and innovation through standards, specifications, requirements, business use cases, software toolkits, open source solutions, and interoperability testing.
ATIS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a founding Partner of the oneM2M global initiative, a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, visit www.atis.org. Follow ATIS on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
Editorial Comment:
We think it’s very premature to start an INDEPENDENT group to plan the future of 6G networks for North America. That’s because 5G standards and specs are not even close to be finished. The standardization work on 6G hasn’t started in earnest yet. There’s only an ITU-R draft report on “Technology Trends of terrestrial IMT systems towards 2030 and beyond,” which is scheduled to be completed in July 2022.
Regarding 5G standards and specs being incomplete, revision 6 of ITU-R M.1036 recommendation specifying Frequency Arrangements for the terrestrial component of IMT (including 5G/IMT 2020) has not yet been agreed upon yet in ITU-R WP5D. It should include all the WRC 19 recommended frequencies for 5G/IMT 2020, especially mmWave.
Another example is that 3GPP Release 16 URLLC in the RAN [Physical Layer Enhancements for NR Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC)] has not been completed, despite that release being frozen last July.
3GPP Release 16 5G NR-URLLC in the RAN spec status as of as of March 25, 2021:
- RP-191584 5G NR Physical Layer Enhancements for Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC) [UID=830074 and CODE=NR_L1enh_URLLC] was 37% complete. It is scheduled for completion June 12, 2022).
- RP-190726 Performance part: Physical Layer Enhancements for NR Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC) spec was 0% complete and hasn’t been updated since 2019.
- RP-200472 revised NR performance requirement enhancement [UID=840094 CODE=NR_perf_enh] was 0% complete.
URLLC Enhancement of URLLC support in the 5G Core network (UID=830098) is stated to be 90% complete.
Note also that there are no ITU-T recommendations/standards that specify implementation for IMT 2020/5G non radio aspects. All the work is being done in 3GPP and at a reference architecture level that does NOT specify detailed implementation. That applies to 3GPP specs on 5G core network, network slicing, and other highly touted 5G features.
Hence, there will surely be many implementations of 5G “cloud native” core networks, network slicing, virtualization, security, etc
We think any 6G technology aspects and specification work should be done in ITU-R WP5D for the RAN and 3GPP for the RAN and Core network.
References:
https://www.3gpp.org/DynaReport/GanttChart-Level-2.htm#bm830074
Verizon and Deloitte collaborate on 5G mobile edge computing + 6G nonsense talk
Verizon today announced a deal with Deloitte to collaborate on 5G mobile edge computing services for manufacturing and retail businesses and ultimately expand to other industry verticals. The companies plan to create transformational solutions to serve client-specific needs using Deloitte’s industry and solution engineering expertise combined with Verizon’s advanced mobile and private enterprise wireless networks, 5G Edge MEC platform, IoT, Software Defined-Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), and VNS Application Edge capabilities.
Verizon and Deloitte are collaborating on innovative solutions to transform manufacturers into “real-time enterprises” with real-time intelligence and business agility by integrating next-gen technologies including 5G, MEC, computer vision and AI with cloud and advanced networking. The companies are co-developing a smart factory solution at Verizon’s Customer Technology Center in Richardson, TX that will utilize computer vision and sensor-based detection coupled with MEC to identify and predict quality defects on the assembly line and automatically alert plant engineering and management in near real-time.
The companies will also introduce an integrated network and application edge compute environment for next generation application functionality and performance that reduces the need for manual quality inspection, avoids lost productivity, reduces production waste, and ultimately lowers the cost of raw materials and improves plant efficiency. The combination of SD-WAN and VNS Application Edge will bring together software defined controls, application awareness, and application lifecycle management to deliver on-demand network transformation and edge application deployment and management.
“By bringing together Verizon’s 5G and MEC prowess with Deloitte’s deep industry expertise and track record in system integration with large enterprises on smart factories, we plan to deliver cutting-edge solutions that will close the gap between digital business operations and legacy manufacturing environments and unlock the value of the end-to-end digital enterprise,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “This collaboration is part of Verizon’s broader strategy to align with enterprises, startups, universities and government to explore how 5G and MEC can disrupt and transform nearly every industry.”
“In our recently published Deloitte Advanced Wireless Adoption study, over 85% of US executives surveyed indicated that advanced wireless is a force multiplier that will unlock the full potential of edge computing, AI, Cloud, IoT, and data analytics. Our collaboration with Verizon combines Deloitte’s business transformation expertise with advanced wireless and MEC technology to deliver game changing solutions,” said Ajit Prabhu, US Ecosystems & Alliances Strategy Officer and 5G/Edge Computing Commercialization leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP.
The #1 U.S. wireless telco still plans to reach an additional two cities with its mobile edge computing (MEC) network, ending the year with availability in 10 cities.
Verizon is also working with Microsoft Azure on private 5G MEC, Amazon Web Services (AWS) on consumer-oriented 5G MEC, IBM on IoT, Samsung and Corning on in-building 5G radios, Apple, major sporting leagues, and other organizations — all in an effort to explore and develop new use cases for 5G.
The MEC activities follows a flurry of announcements last week when Verizon expanded its low-band 5G network to reach up to 230 million people, said its millimeter-wave 5G network is now live in parts of 61 U.S. cities, revealed an on-premises private 4G LTE service for enterprises, expanded a partnership with SAP, inked a multi-year deal with Walgreens Boot Alliance, and launched an IoT services platform.
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Separately, Verizon CTO Kyle Malady said that there’s currently no clear reason to move beyond 5G. “I really don’t know what the hell 6G is,” he said. Neither does anyone else- see Opinion below.
“We just put 5G in. And I think there’s a lot of development still to come on that one.”
Verizon, AT&T, Apple, Google and a wide range of other companies have already teamed under ATIS’ “Next G Alliance” that seeks to unite US industry, government and academia around 6G efforts.
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Opinion on “6G”:
Talk of “6G” is preposterous at this time, since we don’t even have an approved 5G RAN/ IMT 2020 RIT spec or standard that meets the 5G URLLC performance requirements in ITU M.2410. Despite numerous 3GPP Release 16 specs, we don’t have a standard for 5G core network implementation, 5G security, 5G network management, 5G network slicing, etc.
At its 34th meeting (19-26 February 2020), ITU‑R Working Party (WP) 5D decided to start study on future technology trends for the future evolution of IMT. A preliminary draft new Report ITU-R M.[IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS] will be developed and will consider related information from various external organizations and country/regional research programs.
The scope of the new report ITU-R M.[IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS] focuses on the following aspects:
“This Report provides a broad view of future technical aspects of terrestrial IMT systems considering the time frame up to 2030 and beyond. It includes information on technical and operational characteristics of terrestrial IMT systems, including the evolution of IMT through advances in technology and spectrally-efficient techniques, and their deployment.”
In a Sept 27, 2020 ITU-R WP5D contribution, China stated:
IMT technology needs to show sustainable vitality in the perspective of technical development. There are emerging services and applications, and their further development towards 2030 and beyond will impose higher requirements on the IMT system. It motivates the introduction of new IMT technical features, e.g., very high spectrum up to Terahertz, native artificial intelligence (AI), integrated sensing and communications, integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, block chain and quantum computing for multi-lateral trustworthiness architecture, etc., which were not emphasised in Report ITU-R M.2320-0 considering the time-frame for 2015-2020. IMT technology continues to develop and it is necessary for ITU to provide a broad view of future technical aspects of IMT systems considering 2030 and beyond.
And suggested topics to be covered in this new IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS Report:
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IMT technology trends and enablers for the time up to 2030 and beyond:
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Technologies for further enhanced radio interface, including advanced modulation, coding and multiple access schemes, E-MIMO (Extreme -MIMO), Co-frequency Co-time Full Duplex (CCFD) communications, multiple physical dimension transmission
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Technologies for Tera Hertz communication and optical wireless communication
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Technologies for native AI based communication
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Technologies for integrated sensing and communication
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Technologies for integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial communications
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Technologies for integrated access and super sidelink communications
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Technologies for high energy efficiency and low energy consumption
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Technologies for native security, privacy, and trust
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Technologies for efficient spectrum utilization
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Terminal Technologies
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Network Technologies
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Editor’s Note: The next meeting of ITU-R WP5D is March 1-to-12, 2021 (e-meeting)
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References:
https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-business-deloitte-5g-mobile-edge-computing
https://www.lightreading.com/cloud-nativenfv/verizons-cto-i-dont-know-what-hell-6g-is/d/d-id/766270?
ITU-R: Future Technology Trends for the evolution of IMT towards 2030 and beyond (including 6G)
ITU-R: Future Technology Trends for the evolution of IMT towards 2030 and beyond (including 6G)
Preface:
This author is truly astounded with all the buzz about 6G when neither 3GPP or ITU-R WP5D (or ITU-T) have completed their 5G specs. However, there is work progressing in ITU-R WP5D on the evolution of IMT in the next ten years with a report scheduled to be completed in June 2022.
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Future Technology Trends for the evolution of IMT towards 2030 and beyond:
Considering the successful accomplishments by ITU-R for the evolution of IMT-2000, IMT‑Advanced and IMT-2020, similar actions are proposed for the evolution of IMT towards 2030 and beyond. The approach taken for IMT‑Advanced evolution towards IMT-2020 was to start with the work on the Report ITU-R M.2320 entitled “Future technology trends of terrestrial IMT systems” (approved in 2014) to develop the evolution for IMT-Advanced (aka “4G”).
At its 34th meeting (19-26 February 2020), ITU‑R Working Party (WP) 5D decided to start study on future technology trends for the future evolution of IMT. A preliminary draft new Report ITU-R M.[IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS] will be developed and will consider related information from various external organizations and country/regional research programs.
The scope of the new Report ITU-R M.[IMT.FUTURE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS] focuses on the following aspects:
“This Report provides a broad view of future technical aspects of terrestrial IMT systems considering the time frame up to 2030 and beyond. It includes information on technical and operational characteristics of terrestrial IMT systems, including the evolution of IMT through advances in technology and spectrally-efficient techniques, and their deployment.”
For the development of this report, WP 5D invites the views of External Organizations on future technology trends for terrestrial IMT systems, including but not limited to the motivation on driving factors such as new use cases, applications, capabilities, technology trends and enablers. These technical inputs are intended for the timeframe towards 2030 and beyond and are proposed to be significantly advanced and different from that of IMT-2020.
A few potential aspects of the new report (subject to change based on inputs from external organizations):
- Motivation on driving factors for future technology trends towards 2030 and beyond
- Driving factors in the design of future IMT technology
- Technology Trends and Enablers
- Technologies to enhance the radio interface
- Technologies to enhance radio network performance and precision
- Technologies for native AI based communication
- Technologies to enhance service coverage
- Technologies to enhance privacy and security
- Technologies for integrated sensing and communication
- Technologies for integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial communications
- Technologies for integrated access and super sidelink communications
- Technologies to enhance adaptability and sustainability
- Technologies for efficient spectrum utilization
- Terminal technologies
- Technologies to support a wide range of new use cases and applications
- Summary and Conclusion
- Acronyms, Terminology, Abbreviations
WP 5D plans to complete this study at the 41st WP 5D meeting in June 2022.
References:
https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/study-groups/rsg5/rwp5d/imt-2020/Pages/default.aspx
Waiting for 5G? Researchers want early development of 6G telecom technologies in South Korea
by Lim Chang-won; email : [email protected]
South Korea has become a front runner in disseminating 5G mobile services, but researchers were not complacent, calling for the early and pre-emptive development of next-generation technologies for market advantage as it did in code-division multiple access (CDMA), a second-generation channel access method used in mobile phone standards.South Korea started providing 5G services for ordinary consumers on April 4, claiming to be “industry-first.” 5G is ten times faster than 4G. Although 6G is still seen as an illusion, researchers at the University of Oulu think the future-generation mobile network can transfer terabits per second, creating near-instant microsecond connectivity between societies.
“We have begun to discuss the development of 6G mobile communication technologies,”Kim Myung-joon, president of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), told reporters on April 24. “I think securing intellectual property rights is more important than anything.”
ETRI is a major state-funded body in wireless communication domain that has played a crucial role in the history of South Korea’s telecom industry by commercializing CDMA technologies in the 1990s. The institute has been working on Terahertz (THz) band for 6G. THz is a unit of frequency defined as one trillion cycles per second.
Because 6G is 100 times faster than 4G LTE and five times faster than 5G, scientists say it will open a completely new era. China has already disclosed a roadmap to develop 6G for commercialization in 2030.
“Not only China but also other countries such as the U.S. and Japan are scrambling to develop 6G technologies.” said a mobile telecom industry official on condition of anonymity. “In order to secure a voice in national security or the international telecom market, preempting 6G-based technology is an essential task.”
In January, LG Electronics opened a 6G research lab through cooperation with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST), a prestigious state science school, to secure core technologies for 6G mobile communication. “It is meaningful to start the development of 6G mobile communication technology ahead of others,” said Cho Dong-ho, a KAIST professor who heads LG‘s research lab.
http://ajudaily.com/view/20190426142351793
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6G Research Centre (Center) in South Korea:
In January 2019, LG Electronics and KAIST opened a 6G research centre to ‘lead in next-generation mobile telecommunications’, the pair said.
The LG-Electronics-KAIST 6G Research Centre will be housed at Daejeon, which is home to the university’s KAIST Institute research complex.
KAIST Institute was set up in 2006 and focuses on convergence research. LG Electronics said it will use the institute’s personnel and infrastructure to preemptively secure technology for 6G.
“We want to secure core technologies for sixth generation wireless network ahead of time,” the company said.
5G is yet to be commercialised but Asia already has its eyes on 6G as the competition heats up among them. China has said it will begin 6G research from 2020.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/lg-sets-up-6g-research-centre-at-kaist/
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