A Terafactory with 6G 1 Tbs(Terabit per send) wireless at THz frequencies

[TruckElectric]

Thought it sounded good anyway.

Photo: iStockphoto
Advertisement
Editor's Picks
FCC Approves 5G Upgrade Order in an Effort to Speed Rollouts
Terahertz Waves Could Push 5G to 6G
Atom-Thin Switches Could Route 5G and 6G Radio Signals
Amid a 5G rollout that has faced its fair share of challenges, it might seem somewhat premature to start looking ahead at 6G, the next generation of mobile communications. But 6G development is happening now, and it’s being pursued in earnest by both industry and academia.

Much of the future landscape for 6G was mapped out in an article published in March of this year in an article published by IEEE Communications titled “Toward 6G Networks: Use Cases and Technologies.” The article presents the requirements, the enabling technologies and the use cases for adopting a systematic approach to overcoming the research challenges for 6G.

“6G research activities are envisioning radically new communication technologies, network architectures, and deployment models,” said Michele Zorzi, a professor at the University of Padua in Italy, and one of the authors of the IEEE Communications article. “Although some of these solutions have already been examined in the context of 5G, they were intentionally left out of initial 5G standards developments and will not be part of early 5G commercial rollout mainly because markets are not mature enough to support them.”

The foundational difference between 5G and 6G networks, according to Zorzi, will be the increased role that intelligence will play in 6G networks. It will go beyond merely classification and prediction tasks as is the case in legacy and/or 5G systems.

While machine-learning-driven networks are now still in their infancy, they will likely represent a fundamental component of the 6G ecosystem, which will shift towards a fully-user-centric architecture where end terminals will be able to make autonomous network decisions without supervision from centralized controllers.

This decentralization of control will enable sub-millisecond latency as required by several 6G services (which is below the already challenging 1-millisecond requirement of emerging 5G systems). This is expected to yield more responsive network management.

To achieve this new kind of performance, the underlying technologies of 6G will be fundamentally different from 5G. For example, says Marco Giordani, a researcher at the University of Padua and co-author of the IEEE Communications article, even though 5G networks have been designed to operate at extremely high frequencies in the millimeter-wave bands, 6G will exploit even higher-spectrum technologies—terahertz and optical communications being two examples.

At the same time, Giordani explains that 6G will have a new cell-less network architecture that is a clear departure from current mobile network designs. The cell-less paradigm can promote seamless mobility support, targeting interruption-free communication during handovers, and can provide quality of service (QoS) guarantees that are in line with the most challenging mobility requirements envisioned for 6G, according to Giordani.

Giordani adds: “While 5G networks (and previous generations) have been designed to provide connectivity for an essentially bi-dimensional space, future 6G heterogeneous architectures will provide three-dimensional coverage by deploying non-terrestrial platforms (e.g., drones, HAPs, and satellites) to complement terrestrial infrastructures.”
Key Industry and Academic Initiatives in 6G Development:

• Both Samsung Electronics and LG have opened research centers for the development of essential technologies for 6G mobile networks.
• SK Telecom, Nokia, and Ericsson are collaborating together on a 6G-oriented research project.
• In its Canadian research center, Huawei is also looking towards the future in terms of wireless technology and has been reported to have started its own 6G research.
• Sony, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), and Intel have announced plans to work together to develop 6G technology, which they expect could be rolled out as early as 2030.
• Tektronix and French research laboratory IEMN have developed 100 Gbps “wireless fiber” solutions. In a demonstration of the technology last year, they used a single carrier wireless link with a 100 Gbps data rate signal at 252 to 325 GHz, per the IEEE 802.15.3d standard.
• NTT has also demonstrated a 100 Gbps solution, but in its technology the carrier used a new principle, Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) multiplexing, at 28 GHz with MIMO technology.
• In terms of academic and industry research cooperation, Finland has launched a flagship project built around nascent 6G technology, called 6Genesis. Researchers there have led the publication of several whitepapers discussing the key drivers and research questions prompting the development of 6G.
• Keysight Technologies, a provider of test and design solutions for telecommunication as well as other industries, is working on the 6Genesis flagship project.
• From a standardization point of view, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) will start concrete 6G standardization work from Release 20 (expected around 2025), and the European Commission is boosting research towards 5G long-term evolution.
• Among the academic players in this space, the University of Oulu in Finland is heading the already mentioned 6Genesis flagship initiative.
• The NYU Wireless group is another leading academic research center pursuing 6G wireless and generations beyond that with cutting edge work in propagation measurement and modeling above 95 GHz.
• The Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things (WIOT) at Northeastern University is working on several active projects and research collaborations on 6G wireless systems.
• The mmWave Networking Group at the University of Padua has its own 6G research group and they are also working closely with the NYU Wireless Group

Source: IEEE SPECTRUM

Samsung predicts 1Tbps 6G could be available by 2028
By Steve McCaskill a month ago
Samsung believes 6G will lower latency even further, with 1Tbps speeds soon possible

Samsung believes commercial 6G networks could be in operation as early as 2028, delivering speeds of 1Tbps and latency of less than 100 microseconds – making it 50 times faster than 5G with just a tenth of the latency.

The immediate focus in the mobile industry is the rollout of 5G technology but the race to be the leader in the even more nascent field of 6G has already begun. China has already started its research and development activities, while the €251 million 6Genesis programme is already well underway in Northern Finland. The US also has 6G ambitions.

Samsung is a minor, but growing, player in telecoms equipment and hopes demand for 5G kit will see its share of the market rise even further. By the time 6G arrives, it could be an even major competitor to the likes of Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia.

Samsung 6G

To support these efforts, Samsung has expanded its telecommunication research team and formed a new group called the Advanced Communications Research Center in the Korean capital of Seoul.

Its new whitepaper, The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All, outlines the technical and societal trends that could have an impact on the development of the 6G standards.


It hypothesises that the 6G will enable advanced services such as truly immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram and digital twins. Central to this applications will the ability of 6G to compensate for current constraints – such as the limited processing capability of mobile devices – and the integration of intelligence into the network.


The publication also suggests candidate technologies that could form 6G. This includes terahertz (THz) spectrum, new antenna technology and optimal network architecture. Samsung suggests that the standard could be finalised in 2028, paving the way for the first networks, with mass commercialisation occurring in 2030.

“While 5G commercialization is still in its initial stage, it’s never too early to start preparing for 6G because it typically takes around 10 years from the start of research to commercialization of a new generation of communications technology,” explained Sunghyun Choi, Head of the Advanced Communications Research Center.


“We’ve already launched the research and development of 6G technologies by building upon the experience and ability we have accumulated from working on multiple generations of communications technology, including 5G. Going forward, we are committed to leading the standardization of 6G in collaboration with various stakeholders across industry, academia and government fields.”

Source: Techradar

Sponsored

 

[TruckElectric]

The 6G Journey Begins with a Bang (and a Launch)

By Salvatore Salamone


6G networks will be more autonomous and self-healing. Achieving these properties can be done by incorporating intelligence into the networks and by using AI.

Is it too early to bring up 6G and its use cases? Maybe not. For a technology that is not expected to be available until 2030, 6G has had an impressive year. China launched the first 6G satellite into orbit. And major communications providers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, along with others, joined the newly formed Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) Next G Alliance, an industry initiative that will advance North American mobile technology leadership in 6G and beyond over the next decade.

How does 6G differ from 5G and other cellular services?

Each successive generation of cellular service has offered benefits over its predecessor. 4G improved over 3G services by adding mobile broadband internet access. Such service enabled mobile web access and mobile IP voice, gaming, and videoconferencing applications.

Similarly, the main advantage of 5G services over 4G is that 5G offers greater bandwidth, resulting in faster transmission and download speeds. 5G’s capabilities enable many new applications. Those include mobile video streaming, intelligent edge, and greater use of the Internet of Things (IoT).

5G is just getting rolled out globally. Many things still need to be evaluated related to its availability, usefulness, economics, and use in specific applications. Still, we know enough about it to use 5G to put 6G into perspective.

6G will be significantly faster than 5G. Both make use of higher frequencies of the wireless spectrum. Higher frequencies allow more data to be transmitted faster. How much faster will 6G be over 5G? A commonly stated goal for 6G is for it to be 1,000 times faster than 5G. That will depend on the transmission technologies and broadcast frequencies used.

Latency differences are another aspect used to compare these services. 4G latency is about 50 milliseconds. Current 5G deployments are touting latencies of less than 30 milliseconds. Still, providers expect to reduce that to 10 milliseconds and lower (some say it could possibly be sub-1 millisecond) using techniques such as network slicing.

The anticipated 6G bandwidth and latency characteristics will spawn uses in a variety of innovative application areas, including augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), holographic telepresence, eHealth (healthcare delivered remotely), autonomous vehicles, Industry 4.0, and robotics.

What obstacles must be addressed?

6G will need new standards from industry and government organizations such as the International Telecommunications Union. And as is the case with any communication service that uses public airwaves, there will be spectrum allocation and regulatory issues that governments must decide on.

The new generation networks also will need new technology. Specially, the industry will need to develop new disruptive communications technologies to enable 6G services. Furthermore, the critical applications envisioned for 6G will require an extremely high level of network and service resiliency and availability. As such, the networks will be more autonomous and self-healing. Achieving these properties can be done by incorporating intelligence into the networks and using artificial intelligence.

About Salvatore Salamone
Salvatore Salamone is a physicist by training who has been writing about science and information technology for more than 30 years. During that time, he has been a senior or executive editor at many industry-leading publications including High Technology, Network World, Byte Magazine, Data Communications, LAN Times, InternetWeek, Bio-IT World, and Lightwave, The Journal of Fiber Optics. He also is the author of three business technology books.

SOURCE: RTInsights

 

[TruckElectric]

Technology
Apple Hiring Engineers to Develop 6G Wireless
By
Mark Gurman
February 18, 2021, 5:00 AM CST

• 
  Company wants to rely less on others for new technology
• 
  Job listings posted for positions in San Diego, Silicon Valley

Apple Inc. launched its first iPhones with 5G wireless speeds a few months ago. Now it’s looking to start work on sixth-generation cellular connectivity, or 6G, indicating it wants to be a leader in the technology rather than relying on other companies.

The Cupertino, California-based company this week posted job ads seeking wireless system research engineers for current and next-generation networks. The listings are for positions at Apple’s offices in Silicon Valley and San Diego, where the company works on wireless technology development and chip design.

“You will have the unique and rewarding opportunity to craft next generation wireless technology that will have deep impact on future Apple products,“ according to the job announcement. “In this role you will be at the center of a cutting-edge research group responsible for creating next generation disruptive radio access technologies over the next decade.”

People hired for the positions will “research and design next generation (6G) wireless communication systems for radio access networks” and “participate in industry/academic forums passionate about 6G technology.” Industry watchers don’t expect 6G to roll out until about 2030, but the job listings indicate Apple wants to be involved at the earliest stages in the development of the new technology. A company spokeswoman declined to comment.

Apple’s current swath of iPhones use 5G modems designed by Qualcomm Inc. While the company launched its first 5G devices at an opportune time, several phone makers beat it to market and Apple relied heavily on Qualcomm for connection to the new wireless network, which dramatically improves the amount and speed of data that consumers can download. In order to get 5G into the latest iPhones, Apple settled a contentious lawsuit with the San Diego-based chipmaker. Apple’s early involvement in 6G research and design indicates it won’t wait around for the next major advancement.

ate last year, Apple joined an alliance of companies working on standards for 6G and other next-generation cellular technologies. The standards and timing for 6G are still loosely defined, but some analysts say the technology could enable speeds more than 100 times faster than 5G.

The job listings are another signal of Apple’s continued push into developing more technology in-house. The company has designed main processors for the iPhone and iPad and last year expanded that effort to the Mac. It has also ramped up work on its own custom screens and camera technologies, in addition to wireless chips for AirPods, Apple Watch and precise location data.

Apple last year started developing its first custom modem, the chip that allows phones to connect to wireless networks. In a town hall meeting with employees in December, Johny Srouji, Apple’s custom technology and chip head, said that “long-term strategic investments like these are a critical part of enabling our products and making sure we have a rich pipeline of innovative technologies for our future.”

Though Apple is laying the groundwork to be a key player in 6G, it has much work ahead to take full advantage of 5G, a technology in its infancy. The company hasn’t expanded 5G to other devices like the Apple Watch and iPad, and it sells multiple iPhones that use older 4G technology. It’s likely that Apple’s first modem will be for 5G connectivity.

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

Forget 5G, the U.S. and China Are Already Fighting for 6G Dominance
A contest to deliver the kind of technology that’s long been the stuff of science fiction is underway
By
Shirley Zhao
Scott Moritz
Thomas Seal
February 8, 2021, 3:00 PM CST

Most of the world is yet to experience the benefits of a 5G network, but the geopolitical race for the next big thing in telecommunications technology is already heating up.

For companies and governments, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The first to develop and patent 6G will be the biggest winners in what some call the next industrial revolution. Though still at least a decade away from becoming reality, 6G — which could be up to 100 times faster than the peak speed of 5G — could deliver the kind of technology that’s long been the stuff of science fiction, from real-time holograms to flying taxis and internet-connected human bodies and brains.

The scrum for 6G is already intensifying even as it remains a theoretical proposition, and underscores how geopolitics is fueling technological rivalries, particularly between the U.S. and China.

“This endeavor is so important that it’s become an arms race to some extent,” said Peter Vetter, head of access and devices at Nokia Oyj’s research arm Bell Labs. “It will require an army of researchers on it to remain competitive.”

Years of acrimony under the Trump administration have hit Chinese technology companies hard, but that hasn’t stopped the country from emerging as the leader in 5G. It has the world’s largest 5G footprint, and — despite multiple attempts by the U.S. to take it on — Huawei Technologies Co. towers over rival 5G vendors globally, mostly by offering attractive prices.

Network Innovation
Reflective surfaces may help transmit terahertz signals that don’t travel very far


The development of 6G could give the U.S. the opportunity to regain lost ground in wireless technology.

“Unlike 5G, North America will not let the opportunity for a generational leadership slide by so easily this time,” said Vikrant Gandhi, senior industry director of information and communications technologies at consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan in the U.S. “It is likely that the competition for 6G leadership will be fiercer than that for 5G.”

It’s clear that 6G is already on the minds of policy makers in both Washington and Beijing. Former President Donald Trump tweeted in early 2019, for example, that he wanted 6G “as soon as possible.”

China is already moving ahead. The country launched a satellite in November to test airwaves for potential 6G transmission, and Huawei has a 6G research center in Canada, according to Canadian media reports. Telecommunications equipment manufacturer ZTE Corp. has also teamed up with China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. to develop the technology.

Experimental Band
Terahertz waves could meet 6G’s speed, latency requirements

The U.S. has demonstrated that it has the ability to seriously handicap Chinese companies, as in the case of ZTE, which almost collapsed after the Commerce Department banned it for three months in 2018 from buying American technology. Similar moves could hamper Huawei’s 6G ambitions.

Washington has already started to sketch out the 6G battle lines. The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, a U.S. telecom standards developer known as ATIS, launched the Next G Alliance in October to “advance North American leadership in 6G.” The alliance’s members include technology giants like Apple Inc., AT&T Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Google and Samsung Electronics Co., but not Huawei.


The alliance mirrors the way that the world has been fractured into opposing camps as a result of 5G rivalry. Led by the U.S, which identified Huawei as an espionage risk — an allegation the Chinese giant denies — countries including Japan, Australia, Sweden and the U.K. have shut the firm out of their 5G networks. However, Huawei is welcomed in Russia, the Philippines, Thailand, and other countries in Africa and the Middle East.

The European Union in December also unveiled a 6G wireless project led by Nokia, which includes companies like Ericsson AB and Telefonica SA, as well as universities.

The lack of trust in Chinese companies like Huawei is unlikely to abate with 6G. Democracies are growing increasingly worried about how 5G technology is being used by authoritarian regimes, with fears that 6G could enable technologies such as mass drone surveillance. China is already using surveillance cameras, AI, facial recognition and biometrics such as voice samples and DNA to track and control citizens.

“Currently China seems to be doing everything in terms of surveillance and suppression to make sure that they lose future markets in the U.S. and Europe,” said Paul Timmers, a senior adviser at Brussels-based think tank European Policy Centre and former director of digital society and cybersecurity at the European Commission. “This indicates that the technical approach to 6G cannot be trusted to be decoupled from state ideological objectives.”

While commercial 5G was introduced around 2019, countries are still rolling out networks and developing applications that could attract businesses and turn the technology profitable. Likewise, 6G may not reach its potential at least 15 years from now, said Gandhi of Frost & Sullivan. Only about 100 wireless carriers worldwide offer 5G services in limited areas right now.

But researchers have an ambitious vision for what the next-generation network could offer. At a potential rate of 1 terabyte per second, 6G is not only much faster, but also promises a latency — which causes lags — of 0.1 millisecond, compared to 1 millisecond, or the minimum for 5G. To achieve that, scientists are focusing on the super high frequency terahertz waves that could meet those speed and latency requirements, though there is not yet a chip capable of transmitting so much data in a second.

It still remains too early to tell whether the envisioned futuristic world defined by 6G will eventually materialize. In that theoretical world, everything in our environment will be connected to the 6G networks — not only can people communicate with things like furniture and clothes, but those gadgets can also communicate among themselves.

Major scientific obstacles abound — for example, researchers must solve the question of how airwaves traveling extremely short distances can easily penetrate materials such as water vapor or even a sheet of paper. Networks may need to be ultra-dense, with multiple base stations installed not only on every street, but also in each building or even each device people use to receive and transmit signals. That’s set to raise serious questions over health, privacy and urban design.

“Technological advances, especially those as futuristic and complex such as 6G radio communication should be developed carefully,” said Gandhi. “We believe that countries cannot start soon enough. The private sector cannot start soon enough. And that is why we already have initiatives such as the Next G Alliance.”

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

 

[TruckElectric]

6G Cellular Networks and Connected Autonomous Vehicles
Jianhua He, Kun Yang, Hsiao-Hwa Chen

With 5G mobile communication systems been commercially rolled out, research discussions on next generation mobile systems, i.e., 6G, have started.

On the other hand, vehicular technologies are also evolving rapidly, from connected vehicles as coined by V2X (vehicle to everything) to autonomous vehicles to the combination of the two, i.e., the networks of connected autonomous vehicles (CAV).

How fast the evolution of these two areas will go head-in-head is of great importance, which is the focus of this paper. Based on a brief overview on the technological evolution of V2X to CAV and 6G key technologies, this paper explores two complementary research directions, namely, 6G for CAVs versus CAVs for 6G.

The former investigates how various 6G key enablers, such as THz, cell free communication and artificial intelligence (AI), can be utilized to provide CAV mission-critical services. The latter discusses how CAVs can facilitate effective deployment and operation of 6G systems. This paper attempts to investigate the interactions between the two technologies to spark more research efforts in these areas.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2010.00972.pdf

SOURCE: arxiv.org


6G for Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Communications: Enabling Technologies, Challenges, and Opportunities

• December 2020

Authors:

Md Noor-A-Rahim

• University College Cork

Zilong Liu

• University of Essex

Haeyoung Lee

• University of Surrey

Mohammad Omar Khyam

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Jianhua He


Dirk Pesch

• Cork Institute of Technology

Klaus Moessner

• University of Surrey

Walid Saad

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

H. Vincent Poor

• Princeton University

https://www.researchgate.net/public...ing_Technologies_Challenges_and_Opportunities



SOURCE: RESEARCHGATE.NET

 

[Crissa]

Ouch.

This is not 'a proposal for a protocol called ethernet' but it wants to lay out the framework for such a groundbreaking thing.

-Crissa

 

[TruckElectric]

Huawei set to launch test satellites for 6G technology verification: report

By Global Times Published: Apr 24, 2021 08:03 PM

Photo: Courtesy of Galaxy Space

Chinese technology giant Huawei is reportedly set to launch two satellites together with two Chinese partners in July this year, with aims including the verification of the 6G network technologies that the company has taken the lead in the research and development (R&D) around the world.

The satellite launch, with the cooperation of Chinese network operator China Mobile and a national space firm, which has no details unveiled, has great significance for China's core technologies such as networking and switching, according to a post on Friday by an independent digital blogger named Chang'an Shumajun, who claims having close relations with Huawei.

A Huawei PR told the Global Times on Saturday that he has not obtained such information so far.

China Mobile did not respond to the Global Times as of press time.

The satellite move is natural as Huawei pushes ahead its layout on 6G networks, which is 50 times faster than 5G, Ma Jihua, a senior tech industry analyst based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Compared with the construction of 5G networks that rely on base stations to transmit signals, 6G networks, conveying higher frequencies, need using satellite for communications instead of base stations where there will be low penetrability, Ma explained.

Huawei's rotating chairman Xu Zhijun announced at Huawei global analysts conference held earlier this month that the Chinese tech giant will launch its 6G networks in 2030, and it will release a 6G white paper soon to explain to the industry what 6G is.

Actually back in 2019, Huawei proposed its vision to launch more than 10,000 small satellites to provide 6G services covering the world, during a global 6G summit.

China has made the largest 5G footprint around the world and is likely further along into the 6G development with efforts from such bellwether as Huawei, whose 5G is already significantly ahead of its rivals, and has also taken the lead in 6G R&D despite the US' groundless crackdown on its chip supply.

The potential of 6G technologies is something that none government or firm could ignore despite the fact that it is still at the early R&D phase, according to Ma.

Satellite communications have been attached to increasing importance since last year with the proposal of "new infrastructure." "We need to know the constellation communication as the nation pushes forward is different from Huawei's 6G move although they both use satellites," Ma noted.

China's satellite constellation, as current projects Hongyun and Hongyan have been involved in, aims to enable broader online access for people and businesses in China's remote and poorer areas. While, the 6G satellite is more used for tests and providing data in popular urban areas, Ma added.

Late last year, China launched world's first 6G experiment satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi Province, marking a breakthrough in the exploration of terahertz space communication technologies in China's space field.

The satellite, carrying a terahertz satellite communication load, planned to establish a transceiver link on the satellite platform and carry out terahertz load tests.

SOURCE: Global Times




Huawei and China Mobile ‘to launch 6G satellites’, says Communist Party paper

China Mobile and Huawei are planning to launch two 6G test satellites in July, according to sources close to the Chinese state.

Global Times, an English-language publication associated with the Communist Party of China’s official publication, the People’s Daily, said the satellites would test 6G network technologies.

The newspaper admitted that a Huawei spokesman it had contacted had “not obtained such information so far”, and said China Mobile had not responded.

Global Times said China Mobile and a national space firm were working with Huawei, citing “an independent digital blogger named Chang'an Shumajun, who claims having close relations with Huawei”.

Global Times said Ma Jihua, a senior tech industry analyst based in Beijing, had told it that the satellite move “is natural as Huawei pushes ahead its layout on 6G networks”.

The paper says: “Huawei’s rotating chairman Xu Zhijun announced at Huawei global analysts conference held earlier this month that the Chinese tech giant will launch its 6G networks in 2030, and it will release a 6G white paper soon to explain to the industry what 6G is.”

SOURCE: Capacity Media



Huawei Will be Launching 6G by 2030 and It Will Be 50 Times Faster Than 5G
By Furqan Shahid

Huawei's chairman Xu Zhijun has announced on Monday that the company will launch its 6G networks sometime in 2030, and according to the chairman, it will be 50 times faster than 5G. This certainly comes as a surprise as we see 5G slowly growing and becoming more and more popular as time goes on.

Xu has made these remarks at Huawei's global analyst conference in Shenzen, south China's Guandong Province. For Huawei, communication has always been one of their biggest strengths. Their 5G is already miles ahead of what the competition is offering, which means that the company already has a good lead when discussing the research and development that has gone into 6G.

Huawei Could Change the Mobile Networking by Introducing 6G
According to Xu Zhijun, the 6G networks will be introduced to the market around 2020, and Huawei is also going to release a 6G white paper that will help the industry understand what 6G is.

Cui Baoguo, the deputy dean of the School of Information at Tsinghua University, has predicted that the 6G network speed could reach up to 1,000 gigabytes per second and a delay of 100 us-microseconds. The speed of 6G is 50 times higher than the speeds that we see on 5G networks, and the delay is only one-tenth of the latter. Needless to say, 6G is way more superior to the 5G network in terms of the peak rate, delay, traffic density, as well as connection density, mobility, spectrum efficiency, and positioning capabilities.

It is also important to understand that a super-speed network is only a branch of 6G. According to experts, a proper 6G network will result in a connected world of terrestrial wireless and satellite communication integration which will result in a seamless global coverage through satellite communication integration.

Moreover, having a 6G network will also result in the overcoming of the current 5G weaknesses, which result in poor connections in high-speed situations. The supported speed exceeds 1,000 kilometers per hour, which means that traveling with 6G will be a lot more convenient.

Needless to say, Huawei might be going through a tough time. Still, if the company successfully manages to bring 6G in the market before the competition does, it will only gain a better competitive edge over the others.
Source: CGTN

SOURCE: Wccftech

50 times faster than 5G, Huawei's 6G launch set for 2030
CGTN

Huawei's rotating chairman Xu Zhijun announced on Monday that the Chinese tech giant will launch its 6G networks in 2030, which is 50 times faster than 5G.

Xu made the remarks at Huawei global analysts conference in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. Communication has always been one of Huawei's strengths. Its 5G is already significantly ahead of its rivals, and the company has also taken the lead in 6G research and development.

Xu Zhijun said 6G networks will be introduced to the market around 2030, and Huawei will release a 6G white paper soon to explain to the industry what 6G is.

Cui Baoguo, deputy dean of the School of Information at Tsinghua University, once predicted that 6G network speed could reach 1,000 gigabytes per second, with a delay of under 100 us-microseconds (0.1 ms-meter per second). The speed of 6G is 50 times that of 5G networks, and the delay is only one-tenth of the latter. 6G is far superior to 5G in terms of peak rate, delay, traffic density, connection density, mobility, spectrum efficiency and positioning capabilities.

However, the ultra-high network speed is only a subsidiary product of 6G. Experts say the 6G network will lead to a fully connected world of terrestrial wireless and satellite communication integration, which can achieve seamless global coverage through satellite communication integration.

In addition, the 6G network will also overcome the current 5G weakness of problematic connection under high-speed movement. The supported speed exceeds 1,000 kilometers per hour. Not only is the high-speed rail stress-free, but traveling by air would be more convenient with 6G.

In the first three quarters of 2020, the company's market share topped the global 5G communications equipment market and reached 32.8 percent of world's total, according to Dell'Oro, a market research firm.

SOURCE: CGTN



US and Japan to invest $4.5bn in next-gen 6G race with China
Open-RAN to enable communication less dependent on 5G leaders like Huawei

An engineer stands under a base station 5G antenna in a Huawei manufacturing center in Dongguan, China. Japan and the U.S. have teamed up to invest in 6G technology. © Reuters
Nikkei staff writersApril 18, 2021 01:18 JST

TOKYO/WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga have agreed to jointly invest $4.5 billion for the development of next-generation communication known as 6G, or "beyond 5G."

The two countries will invest in research, development, testing, and deployment of secure networks and advanced information and communications technology, according to a fact sheet released after the two leaders met in Washington on Friday.
"The United States has committed $2.5 billion to this effort, and Japan has committed $2 billion," it said.

The call for "secure and open" 5G networks, including advancing Open Radio Access Networks (Open-RAN), reflects the leaders' intent of creating an alternative to a China-led communications network.

Open-RAN is an open-source platform where network operators can mix and match hardware from different vendors, without having to own entire systems of antennas and base stations.

As of now, Chinese companies such as Huawei Technologies and ZTE hold a roughly 40% share of base stations. European players Eriksson and Nokia, as well as South Korea's Samsung Electronics are the other heavyweights, together accounting for a 90% market share. American and Japanese enterprises lag behind.

In terms of 5G patents, U.S. leader Qualcomm owns roughly 10% -- on par with Huawei -- but Japan's top player NTT Docomo only has about 6%.

The Chinese leadership under President Xi Jinping gained confidence after catching up with advanced countries in the 5G development race. Now it is determined to repeat the success in sixth-generation technology. The new five-year plan adopted at the National People's Congress, China's parliament, in March also included the development of 6G.

Japanese government officials lament the country's late start in the 5G race. "Even if we had better technology, we couldn't win the race to win market share," one official said.

To avoid the same mistake, Tokyo is determined to play on the international field from the get-go in 6G. With a goal to elevate Japan's share of patents to 10%, a joint industry-government-academia organization was set up late last year.

Japan believes that global standards setting will be crucial to the development of next-gen communications, and therefore sees cooperation with the U.S. to help in this regard.

One of the goals stated in the fact sheet is to extend the U.S.-Japan cooperation on communications to "third-countries" to promote secure connectivity. Adding partners to the U.S.-Japan led initiative should help in the competition with China to set global standards.

The fact sheet also advocated cooperation on sensitive supply chains, including semiconductors. Here the response in the Japanese industry is divided.

One official at a chipmaker welcomed the announcement, saying that if the governments prepare subsidies to strengthen supply chains in like-minded countries, it could bring down the cost to establish facilities inside Japan.

But an official at a chip-manufacturing equipment maker said, "if the U.S. expands sanctions on China, it will be difficult to grow our business in China," which is a major market for Japanese equipment makers.

Yuichi Koshiba, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group in Tokyo, said extensive government intervention in the chip market would have a negative effect on the industry. "Governments should not try to control global supply chains to fit their own country's interests," he said.


SOURCE: NIKKEI Asia

 

[TruckElectric]

Hologram wars: The race to 6G
Geopolitics creeped into 5G. It’ll be baked into the sixth generation of mobile networks.

Governments are already working with their industries to get a head start on 6G | Image via iStock

BY LAURENS CERULUS AND JOHN HENDEL

Europe and the U.S. are still rushing to deploy 5G coverage in major cities — but that's not stopping them from trying to get ahead of trading rivals like China for the next big leap in telecommunications.

The race to develop so-called sixth generation technology, or 6G, is already under way even as the most optimistic of timelines put it at least a decade away. Tech powerhouses like China, as well as Korea, Japan and others are also in the mix to get there first.

As Western countries grapple with a halting 5G rollout and the emergence of Chinese companies like Huawei as dominant forces, they don't want to be caught napping twice.


“5G was the wake up call, the holy crap moment. China is setting the standards for the future," U.S. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, told POLITICO.

While Europe houses Swedish Ericsson and Finnish Nokia — leading 5G equipment makers in their own right — Warner said the West won't win the next battle without teaming up, especially since the U.S. itself does not have equivalent telecom manufacturers: "It’s not like Sweden or Finland has the economic might to compete. No Western company alone can compete with the Chinese model. We shouldn’t push company winners, but we need to pick technologies and make joint investments."

Already, governments are working with their industries to get a head start, according to half a dozen interviews with industry executives.

While 5G promises to facilitate a world of near-constant interaction between humans and machines — think driverless cars, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things — 6G would help build a digital world that mirrors real life, allowing computer models to control and predict even more daily events. Industry officials imagine things like internet-connected gloves to control virtual or distant objects and computer-brain interfaces. Another visceral application could be hologram calls, like those in Star Wars (despite its events having taken place "a long time ago").

“In 5G, it was about connecting humans and machines, and machines with machines. … What we now see in 6G is about connecting humans and machines with digital worlds,” said Peter Vetter, telecoms giant Nokia’s point person on 6G, who predicted that physical spaces will be crammed with sensors fueling artificial intelligence models that predict and analyze behavior.

The world’s largest economies — the same ones that fought for control over 5G’s intellectual property and economic benefits — are betting on 6G to win the next round. But with the technology still in its development phase, the path to victory is less assured.


“The war for 6G is not just having wireless or antenna or base station — it’s much bigger, much more complex and much more strategic,” said John Roese, the global chief technology officer for Dell Technologies.

Jostling for the future
The technology is still some ways away, but policymakers and industry are fighting over it now.

In the U.S., former President Donald Trump in 2019 said he wanted 6G “as soon as possible.” In the EU, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has pushed the notion for over a year. The European Commission included 6G in its 2030 digital targets strategy, alongside technologies like quantum computing and semiconductors.

6G is also likely to add to the rivalry between the West and China in the coming years, experts said.

Magnus Frodigh, head of Ericsson’s research department, said the current geopolitical landscape “is a completely different world” compared to when 5G was being developed. “It's much hotter, it really is up to [the level of] national security, national positioning, geopolitical competition,” he said.

In the U.S. and Europe, calls to make the next-generation networks better-secured and protected will likely be at odds with China's view to ease government access to networks and the data they move.

“You can already see how the different blocs have different views on the need of security and privacy,” said Frodigh, adding this could influence applications and even the architecture of 6G networks in the future.

What unites many of these Western interests is “values, ultimately,” said Wassim Chourbaji, senior vice president for government affairs at chip designer Qualcomm in Europe, such as the Western emphasis on environmental standards in 6G. “What you will see is governments trying to make sure that technology developments do meet their political and social values."

6G World Cup
National and international initiatives are already starting up.

Several Western companies including AT&T, Nokia and Qualcomm launched the Next G Alliance last October through a U.S.-based standards group called the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. At the end of March, the coalition announced a working group devoted to producing a 6G roadmap.

In Europe, companies kicked off the Hexa-X project in January, which includes industry and researchers to design and develop 6G. The project is led by Nokia and supported by Ericsson, and has 25 organizations from nine EU countries involved.

In China, state officials last month selected 6G as a top priority in its most recent “five-year plan.” Industry leaders like Huawei, ZTE and the country's telecoms operators have launched their own research projects too.


Korean national champion Samsung is taking the country's lead on 6G research, while in Japan the government has earmarked 50 billion yen ($450 million) in research funding to come up with 6G showcases at the 2025 Osaka World Expo event.

Still, not at all countries are coming from a standing start.

European policymakers are betting on the Old Continent’s strength on research — often touting its pioneering role in setting GSM standards decades ago.

“The part where Europe is usually pretty okay is the actual research. The aspect where there's a lag is how we mobilize the development side well enough,” said Maikel Wilms, a partner at Boston Consulting Group, which recently published a report on 5G rollout in Europe.

But Europe also lacks the players to control the development of the technology, Wilms added: “None of the European players today … are meaty enough, sizeable enough to pull this off and really have a substantive enough contribution to the definition of the standard.” While influential, neither Ericsson nor Nokia don't have the clout or deep pockets like the Amazons and Apples.

Despite having the biggest and richest tech companies in the world, the U.S. is not the world leader in telecommunications hardware. The country's betting on the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Google, which are also looking for a piece of the 5G pie by offering cloud infrastructure to run networks and applications. Apple in particular is looking to push ahead with investments into future networks, and in February announced it was hiring wireless engineers in San Diego, California, to focus on 6G.

But the U.S. does not have homegrown telecom hardware providers like Nokia, Ericsson or Huawei — what Dell's Roese calls “at-scale players” necessary for some of the core 6G industry activity. While Big Tech has the resources, it still needs to catch up and beat the telecoms vendors at their own game.

“If you want to win at 6G, the prerequisite is you better have some 6G companies,” Roese said, adding: “All these other technologies, even if we innovate on them, all they’ll be is accessories for a Chinese solution or a European solution at best.”

Collaborating, then, would be Europe and the U.S.'s best bet. Policymakers in the West will need to ramp up partnerships with the private sector far more aggressively and focus on “the same North Star,” Roese said. Some of that support could come from U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposed $2 trillion infrastructure package, which Biden explicitly framed as a way to compete with China.

The looming standards war
Researchers estimate the work on 6G standards — which will determine how 6G devices should be designed — would begin around the middle of the decade.

Europeans and Americans have traditionally been at the helm of such endeavors — they designed modern-day internet infrastructure — but recent efforts by China to increase its control over internet standards, including its pitch for a new kind of internet infrastructure known as “New IP,” has Western policymakers spooked.

A competition in standards could shake up ordinarily staid international forums like the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the industry’s standards group 3GPP.

At these forums, officials and executives are likely to propose competing political and commercial visions for the technology, which they want to be reflected in globally-used standards. They will have to settle issues like what airwaves to unlock for new 6G technology and how to protect intellectual property to ensure firms get a return on the billions they will inevitably spend in getting the tech to market.

Given the geopolitical climate in 2021, it's still unclear if diplomats will be successful in hammering out unified 6G standards that work across the globe in a few years' time.

Huawei's chief representative at the EU Abraham Liu was optimistic.

“The lessons we have learned in the recent past is the importance of global cooperation. Only if the U.S., Europe, China and others work together we are able to achieve one single, unified standard for 6G,” Liu said, adding “we hope this kind of cooperation will not be interrupted by the political conflict.”

Mark Scott contributed reporting.


SOURCE: POLITICO.EU

 

[TruckElectric]

6G and Beyond: Silicon Multiplexer Chip Will Drive Next Generation Communications

Schematic of the integrated multiplexer, showing broadband terahertz wave being split into four different frequencies, where each is capable of carrying digital information. Credit: Osaka University

A new design of ultra-small silicon chip called a multiplexer will effectively manage terahertz waves which are key to the next generation of communications: 6G and beyond.

Researchers from Osaka University, Japan, and the University of Adelaide, Australia have worked together to produce the new multiplexer made from pure silicon for terahertz-range communications in the 300-GHz band.

“In order to control the great spectral bandwidth of terahertz waves, a multiplexer, which is used to split and join signals, is critical for dividing the information into manageable chunks that can be more easily processed and so can be transmitted faster from one device to another,” said Associate Professor Withawat Withayachumnankul from the University of Adelaide’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

“Up until now compact and practical multiplexers have not been developed for the terahertz range. The new terahertz multiplexers, which are economical to manufacture, will be extremely useful for ultra-broadband wireless communications.

“The shape of the chips we have developed is the key to combining and splitting channels so that more data can be processed more rapidly. Simplicity is its beauty.”

Experimentation with the multiplexer, showing connection to external systems. The multiplexer does not have any form of supporting substrate. Credit: Osaka University

People around the world are increasingly using mobile devices to access the internet and the number of connected devices is multiplying exponentially. Soon machines will be communicating with each other in the Internet of Things which will require even more powerful wireless networks able to transfer large volumes of data fast.

Terahertz waves are a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that has a raw spectral bandwidth that is far broader than that of conventional wireless communications, which is based upon microwaves. The team has developed ultra-compact and efficient terahertz multiplexers, thanks to a novel optical tunneling process.

“A typical four-channel optical multiplexer might span more than 2000 wavelengths. This would be about two meters in length in the 300-GHz band,” said Dr Daniel Headland from Osaka University who is lead author of the study.

“Our device is merely 25 wavelengths across, which offers dramatic size reduction by a factor of 6000.”

Photographs of the silicon multiplexer. Credit: Osaka University

The new multiplexer covers a spectral bandwidth that is over 30 times the total spectrum that is allocated in Japan for 4G/LTE, the fastest mobile technology currently available and 5G which is the next generation, combined. As bandwidth is related to data rate, ultra-high-speed digital transmission is possible with the new multiplexer.

“Our four-channel multiplexer can potentially support aggregate data rate of 48 gigabits per second (Gbit/s), equivalent to that of uncompressed 8K ultrahigh definition video being streamed in real time,” said Associate Professor Masayuki Fujita, the team’s leader from Osaka University.

“To make the entire system portable, we plan to integrate this multiplexer with resonant tunneling diodes to provide compact, multi-channel terahertz transceivers.”

The modulation scheme employed in the team’s study was quite basic; terahertz power was simply switched on-and-off to transmit binary data. More advanced techniques are available that can squeeze even higher data rates towards 1 Terabit/s into a given bandwidth allocation.

“The new multiplexer can be mass-produced, just like computer chips, but much simpler. So large-scale market penetration is possible,” said Professor Tadao Nagatsuma from Osaka University.

“This would enable applications in 6G and beyond, as well as the Internet of Things, and low-probability-of-intercept communications between compact aircraft such as autonomous drones.”

This study, which is published in the journal Optica and was financed by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) CREST funding program, KAKENHI grant, and an Australia Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant, builds on the team’s work in 2020 when they created substrate-free, metal-free, silicon micro-photonics for efficient integrated terahertz devices. This innovation opened a pathway to convert existing nanophotonic multiplexers into the terahertz realm.

SOURCE: SciTechDaily





China racks up 6G patent filings but foreign firms dominate

Who's winning the 6G race?

According to the very rudimentary method of counting up patent applications, it's China, accounting for a third of all filings.

A report by China's National Intellectual Property Administration has calculated that of the 38,000 6G-related patent applications lodged worldwide, more than 13,000 are from China.

Of course raw patent filings say nothing about the value or importance of the technology, especially at this stage. But they are an interesting indicator of early interest and effort.

They also reveal that despite the scale of China's enthusiasm, only one of the top ten applicants is from China. The rest are US, Korean and Japanese companies like NEC, Samsung, Qualcomm and NTT.

Unseen academicals

The sole Chinese representative is not one of the PRC's tech heavyweights but the little-known University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

The report points out that China's domestic 6G patent applications are also dominated by research institutions, with not a single commercial company in the top ten.

It doesn't offer an explanation, but the most likely reason is these state-backed organizations are racking up patent filings for visibility and prestige in order to receive further funding.

The report also offers a handy breakdown of filings by technology area.

China accounts for about 40% of the 7,737 filings related to terahertz radio tech, with the US in second place with 20%.

China is also the largest contributor in a second category, space-air-ground-ocean communications, representing 31% of filings.

In the area of deterministic network tech, the US is the biggest applicant, accounting for 55% of filings worldwide.

Phone a friend

At a forum this week, Wang Lei, one of the NIPA researchers who prepared the report, said Chinese firms should seek cooperation with Japanese and Korean companies in order to reduce dependence on the US and Europe.

It is a little unusual for Huawei to be so low-profile in a key new technology, although the same could be said for a number of other vendors and operators. It has been promising a 6G white paper, but it has yet to see the light of day.

A report surfaced last week that Huawei has been working with China Aerospace and China Mobile on prepping a satellite for launch in July. Details are sparse, but given the importance of satellite to 6G, this is widely presumed to be a 6G project.

Besides Huawei, the China Academy of Communications Technology, ZTE, handset firm Oppo and the three operators are all working on 6G plans.

China also has a formal national 6G effort underway, led by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Known as the IMT-2030 promotion group, it has 37 universities, research bodies and commercial companies taking part.

SOURCE: LightReading

Sponsored