Future of Technology
Time to Focus on 6G Terahertz for the 2030 Technology Revolution
Business organizations need to stay relevant for hyper-connected experiences in 2030.
Introduction
Even though the 5G transformation has just begun, there is a significant focus on the 6G for the 2030 technology revolution, leading to terahertz technologies benefiting from hyper-connected experiences. 2030 is a critical year; thus, business organizations must prepare to stay relevant in this competition.
Quantum computing, the Internet of Things, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence are critical technology domains that business organizations and developed countries plan to leverage and create a competitive economic advantage.
As a result, we observe a massive urgency to prepare society for the technological vision of 2030, which is perceived as the year for a revolution.
I recently posted an article about the competition for quantum computing and super artificial intelligence systems for leading countries like China, Germany, Canada, the US, India, and Japan, which heavily invest in these technologies. One of the burning topics in the technology world is 6G wireless communications.
Hang on; we haven’t transitioned from 4G to 5G yet. Some countries still struggle with 2G to 3G migration. However, proactive technology communities have already started defining and creating a framework for 6G with agility this year, to the surprise of some skeptics.
In this post, I introduce the history of wireless communications, how they evolve, and the vision of Samsung and the Hexa-X, the joint European Commission flagship research initiative to shape 6G aiming for the perceived 2030 technology revolution. The initiative started last January with an online consortium.
Evolution of Wireless Communication Systems
Before jumping into the vision and significance of 6G, let me give you a brief historical background on each wireless communication generation covering 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G based on my experience. In my technology career, I observed this interesting development, which created a pattern of decadal progress.
1G started development around the 1970s. It used AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service), NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone), and TACS (Total Access Control System) technologies.
The frequency rate for 1G was 30 kHz with 2 Kbps bandwidth. It used an FDNA (Future Directions in Network Architecture) access system with a Core Network of PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network).
2G started in the early 1980s. It used GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology supporting 1.8 GHz frequency and up to 64 Kbps bandwidth. In addition, 2G used TDMA (Time-Division Multiple Access) and CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) as access systems and PSTN as the Core Network, similar to 1G.
3G started in the early 1990s. It used WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) as the enabling technology for the first time. WCDMA is the standard of The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).
The frequency rate slightly moved to 2 GHz, but the bandwidth increased to 2 Mbps. While the access system remained as CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access), the Core Network used a mix of Circuit and packet-switching network methods for grouping data.
4G followed the same decade of expansion that started development around the early 2000s. It transformed into the LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) technologies, reaching 8 GHz frequency and 1 Gbps bandwidth.
The access system remained as CMDA, but the Core Network transformed into the use of the Internet.
Even though 5G started development around 2010, we witnessed the first implementation in 2019. The core technologies for 5G are MIMO (Multiple-Input & Multiple Output) and MM Waves (Millimetre Waves).
The frequency increased to 30 GHz and the bandwidth to 5 Gbps. The access systems used OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) and BDMA (Beam Division Multiple Access). The network remained the Internet for 5G.
Rationale Behind 6G Wireless Communication System
You might ask why we will need 6G and rush quickly if 5G is fast enough. I agree that it looks like a fast move for current conditions and the technology landscape. However, imagine when we start adopting self-driving cars, which entirely depend on communication speed.
Every vehicle will be connected to communication devices and get signals from every other car on the road, which requires extraordinarily high-speed and very reliable connections to make autonomous decisions in microseconds (not milliseconds) while driving.
The envisioned features of 6G will be essential for such a real-life scenario. As you can see from the historical development perspective, we need at least ten years to develop and start implementing a new generation of communication systems.
As we are already at the end of 2021, it is reasonable for society to leverage the benefits of 6G around the early 2030s. Many leading organizations and countries specifically target the 2030 technology revolution.
In addition, humanity plans to extend its existence to celestial objects in the cosmos as I briefly touch on an article using Elon Musk and Bill Gates as role models. This aspiration requires remarkable data collection and processing speed.
While 5G meets the required speed capacity for current scenarios, it is not expected to meet these future requirements. Thus, 6G is planned to meet capacity and scalability requirements and address the concerns proactively. Developing such technology might take at least a decade, so this proactive approach is timely.
From an architectural perspective, the key technology enabler for this transformation is to move from the millimeter wave capability of 5G to sub-millimeter waves of 6G to create communication efficiency and reliability.
With current communication facilities, such an ambitious implementation capability looks impossible unless we give artificial intelligence a serious role in this. This is where Samsung is creating a critical awareness of such technology constructs.
Last July, Samsung articulated the 6G vision in a white paper. The white paper is titled The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All. You may download and read the white paper at this link for free.
The key highlights from the paper are the machine as the primary user, new and comprehensive AI wireless communication, the openness of mobile communications, social goals, immersive XRs (extended reality), high fidelity mobile holograms, digital replicas, terahertz technologies, novel antennas, the evolution of duplex technology, the evolution of network topology, spectrum sharing, split computing, and high-precision network.
Samsung highlighted three non-functional requirements: performance, flexible architecture, and trustworthiness. As these are broad topics, I plan to introduce them in separate articles in the future.
Some organizations are preparing their content for 6G. For example, Immersive XR focus on augmented reality, virtual reality, 360 videos, gamification, app development, and live events, offering strategic planning consultations to turnkey deployments globally.
According to another leading technology company Ericsson, “The preparation will handle aggregation, filtering, and fusion of the data streams. Processes are monitored in real-time, and actuators will enable autonomous operations.
To further improve observability, the network will generate sensory data such as identity, positioning, timestamps, and spatial mapping information. While 5G enables the basic functions, 6G will provide enhancements across these domains.”
There is a significant focus in the US, China, and Europe on the 6G vision. In addition, many large organizations have plans to participate in 6G research and development. For example, Apple is investing and searching for engineers for research and development in the 6G field.
Conclusions and Takeaways
We must understand the distinguishing factors and features between 6G and 5G. The key points are reliability, reduced latency, spectral efficiency, energy efficiency, connection density, and improved user experience with improved data communication rates.
The primary goal is to transfer massive data with almost no latency, such as the need for transmitting large-size holograms. Ubiquitous data generated by nanoscale IoT devices in mesh network topology will require 6G capability.
In addition, if Elon Musk’s Super AI and Neurolink become a reality, we indisputably need the planned capabilities of 6G for its success. There are many more sci-fi scenarios like wearable and indigestible technologies that might become a reality within the next decade.
While designing technologies, we also need to consider environmental constraints. Power consumption for each generation of communication protocols becomes an essential issue for sustainability.
Consumption of electricity is a vital ecological concern. The thought leaders speculate that 6G could address the energy consumption issue.
Some people seemed concerned as we haven’t even transformed from 3G/4G to 5G networks yet. Of course, this is a valid economic and societal concern.
However, it is not too early to start defining 6G networks, developing mathematical models, and creating solid frameworks to prepare for the 2030 technology revolution from a planning perspective.
Besides, we need more sustainable technologies for our environment and climate change. Therefore, 6G seems to create value propositions for the perceived technology revolution and environmental care for the future of society evolving towards being transhumans.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
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