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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Serie: Wiley - IEEE
- Sprache: Englisch
Shaping Future 6G Networks Discover the societal and technology drivers contributing to build the next generation of wireless telecommunication networks Shaping Future 6G Networks: Needs, Impacts, and Technologies is a holistic snapshot on the evolution of 5G technologies towards 6G. With contributions from international key players in industry and academia, the book presents the hype versus the realistic capabilities of 6G technologies, and delivers cutting-edge business and technological insights into the future wireless telecommunications landscape. You'll learn about: * Forthcoming demand for post 5G networks, including new requirements coming from small and large businesses, manufacturing, logistics, and automotive industry * Societal implications of 6G, including digital sustainability, strategies for increasing energy efficiency, as well as future open networking ecosystems * Impacts of integrating non-terrestrial networks to build the 6G architecture * Opportunities for emerging THz radio access technologies in future integrated communications, positioning, and sensing capabilities in 6G * Design of highly modular and distributed 6G core networks driven by the ongoing RAN-Core integration and the benefits of AI/ML-based control and management * Disruptive architectural considerations influenced by the Post-Shannon Theory The insights in Shaping Future 6G Networks will greatly benefit IT engineers and managers focused on the future of networking, as well as undergraduate and graduate engineering students focusing on the design, implementation, and management of mobile networks and applications.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Editor Biographies
List of Contributors
Foreword Henning Schulzrinne
Foreword Peter Stuckmann
Foreword Akihiro Nakao
Acronyms
1 Toward 6G – Collecting the Research Visions
1.1 Time to Start Shaping 6G
1.2 Early Directions for Shaping 6G
1.3 Book Outline and Main Topics
2 6G Drivers for B2B Market: E2E Services and Use Cases
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Relevance of the B2B market for 6G
2.3 Use Cases for the B2B Market
2.4 Conclusions
References
Note
3 6G: The Path Toward Standardization
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Standardization: A Long‐Term View
3.3 IMTs Have Driven Multiple Approaches to Previous Mobile Generations
3.4 Stakeholder Ecosystem Fragmentation and Explosion
3.5 Shifting Sands: Will Politics Influence Future Standardization Activities?
3.6 Standards, the Supply Chain, and the Emergence of Open Models
3.7 New Operating Models
3.8 Research – What Is the Industry Saying?
3.9 Can We Define and Deliver a New Generation of Standards by 2030?
3.10 Conclusion
References
4 Greening 6G: New Horizons
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Energy Spreadsheet of 6G Network and Its Energy Model
4.3 Greening 6G Radio Access Networks
4.4 Greening Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 6G Network
4.5 Conclusions
References
5 “Your 6G or Your Life”: How Can Another G Be Sustainable?
5.1 Introduction
5.2 A World in Crisis
5.3 A Dilemma for Service Operators
5.4 A Necessary Paradigm Shift
5.5 Summary and Prospects
References
6 Catching the 6G Wave by Using Metamaterials: A Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Paradigm*
6.1 Smart Radio Environments Empowered by Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces
6.2 Types of RISs, Advantages, and Limitations
6.3 Experimental Activities
6.4 RIS Research Areas and Challenges in the 6G Ecosystem
References
7 Potential of THz Broadband Systems for Joint Communication, Radar, and Sensing Applications in 6G
References
8 Non‐Terrestrial Networks in 6G
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Non‐Terrestrial Networks in 5G
8.3 Innovations in Telecom Satellites
8.4 Extended Non‐Terrestrial Networks in 6G
8.5 Research Challenges Toward 6G‐NTN
8.6 Conclusion
References
9 Rethinking the IP Framework
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Emerging Applications and Network Requirements
9.3 State of the Art
9.4 Next‐Generation Internet Protocol Framework: Features and Capabilities
9.5 Flexible Addressing System Example
9.6 Conclusion
References
10 Computing in the Network: The Core‐Edge Continuum in 6G Network
10.1 Introduction
10.2 A Few Stops on the Road to Programmable Networks
10.3 Beyond Softwarization and Clouderization: The Computerization of Networks
10.4 Computing Everywhere: The Core‐Edge Continuum
10.5 Making it Real: Use Cases
10.6 Conclusion: 6G, the Network, and Computing
Acknowledgments
References
11 An Approach to Automated Multi‐domain Service Production for Future 6G Networks
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Framework and Assumptions
11.3 Automating the Delivery of Multi‐domain Services
11.4 An Example: Dynamic Enforcement of Differentiated, Multi‐domain Service Traffic Forwarding Policies by Means of Service Function Chaining
11.5 Research Challenges
11.6 Conclusion
References
12 6G Access and Edge Computing – ICDT Deep Convergence
12.1 Introduction
12.2 True ICT Convergence: RAN Evolution to 5G
12.3 Deep ICDT Convergence Toward 6G
12.4 Ecosystem Progress from 5G to 6G
12.5 Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
13 “One Layer to Rule Them All”: Data Layer‐oriented 6G Networks
13.1 Perspective
13.2 Motivation
13.3 Requirements
13.4 Benefits/Opportunities
13.5 Data Layer High‐level Functionality
13.6 Instead of Conclusions
References
14 Long‐term Perspectives
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Why Machine Learning in Communication?
14.3 Machine Learning in Future Wireless Networks
14.4 The Soul of 6G will be Machine Learning
14.5 Conclusion
References
15 Managing the Unmanageable: How to Control Open and Distributed 6G Networks
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Managing Open and Distributed Radio Access Networks
15.3 Core Network and End‐to‐End Network Management
15.4 Trends in Machine Learning Suitable to Network Data and 6G
15.5 Conclusions
References
16 6G and the Post‐Shannon Theory
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Message Identification for Post‐Shannon Communication
16.3 Resources Considered Useless Become Relevant
16.4 Physical Layer Service Integration
16.5 Other Implementations of Post‐Shannon Communication
16.6 Conclusions: A Call to Academia and Standardization Bodies
Acknowledgments
References
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 2
Table 2.1 6G use cases for the B2B market.
Chapter 4
Table 4.1 Energy consumption of a macro 4G and a macro 5G BS (the 4G LTE BS ...
Chapter 6
Table 6.1 Summary of key differences among RIS, phased array, and MIMO beamf...
Table 6.2 Difference between RIS and active phased array power consumption.
Chapter 8
Table 8.1 Satellite parameters for system‐level calibration [4].
Chapter 15
Table 15.1 Contribution to federated learning in optimal communication.
Chapter 16
Table 16.1 Summary of message transmission and message identification.
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Major trends toward 6G.
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Representation of multiple KPIs of 6G use cases and improvements ...
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 IMTs and different generations of mobile network technology.
Figure 3.2 3GPP alignment with IMT‐2030.
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 The EE of ultradense networks with directional transmissions. The...
Figure 4.2 (
left
) Reinforcement learning formulation of BS sleeping control ...
Figure 4.3 Improve the EE via VNF consolidation and SFC migration.
Figure 4.4 Accuracy of the energy‐efficient model aggregation policy propose...
Figure 4.5 An illustration of joint pruning and model partition for co‐infer...
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 Potential applications of “intelligent” reflectors.
Figure 6.2 RIS‐enhanced network coverage.
Figure 6.3 Planar structures classified by homogenization property. Here,
a
...
Figure 6.4 Data rate of RISs and relays versus the transmission distance....
Figure 6.5 Data rate of RISs and relays versus the size of the RIS.
Figure 6.6 The RFocus prototype surface.
Source:
Arun [63].
Figure 6.7 The ScatterMIMO hardware prototype.
Source:
[27].
Figure 6.8 Aalto‐fabricated metasurface.
Source:
[23].
Figure 6.9 DOCOMO prototype of transparent dynamic metasurface.
Source:
[28]...
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 Vision of the EU‐Project 6G‐BRAINS for THz applications in the in...
Figure 7.2 Schematic representation of various approaches to handle the path...
Figure 7.3 A 200 GHz channel measurement result in a meeting room at TU Ilme...
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Satellite access network with 5G NR direct access to VSAT termina...
Figure 8.2 Satellite with on‐board processor, supporting beamforming.
Figure 8.3 ITU‐T Focus Group Technologies for Network 2030 (FG NET‐2030) vis...
Figure 8.4 Heterogeneous network including various different ground, airborn...
Figure 8.5 Total degradation of a single 5G NR downlink carrier over a satel...
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 The media evolution.
Figure 9.2 Evolution of the edge computing architecture.
Figure 9.3 New challenges for the IP network.
Figure 9.4 Technique to guarantee deterministic performance at each layer.
Figure 9.5 Coexistence of multiple namespaces in the Open Generalized Addres...
Figure 9.6 The interconnection of heterogeneous networks with hierarchical a...
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 Automated service delivery procedure.
Figure 11.2 Roles of and interactions between tenants of a multi‐domain serv...
Figure 11.3 Using the IPv6 Address‐Specific Extended Community attribute to ...
Figure 11.4 Multi‐domain service subscription framework with “n” business pa...
Figure 11.5 Interfaces of a business owner’s computation logic.
Figure 11.6 SFC‐based multi‐domain service traffic forwarding.
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 Revolutionary evolution of radio access networks.
Figure 12.2 C‐RAN architecture [12].
Figure 12.3 xHaul split options [17].
Figure 12.4 FH and MH for a 5G gNB [18].
Figure 12.5 Fog arch [24].
Figure 12.6 New framework of radio access network [5].
Figure 12.7 Network function virtualization (NFV) [27].
Figure 12.8 (a) WAIA architecture of wireless big data analytics [29]. (b) O...
Figure 12.9 The application realms and use cases of RAN intelligence.
Figure 12.10 The AI‐embedded RAN architecture.
Figure 12.11 The non‐RT RAN intelligent controller.
Figure 12.12 The near‐RT RAN intelligent controller.
Figure 12.13 O‐RAN overall logical architecture.
Figure 12.14 Open‐source projects for edge and radio access network.
Figure 12.15 Relationship between OSC projects and O‐RAN architecture compon...
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 Technology evolution triggers enabling a new extensive data laye...
Figure 13.2 Major requirements of a 6G data layer.
Figure 13.3 Data layer: a new middleware between the active systems and thei...
Figure 13.4 Major benefits of the 6G data layer.
Figure 13.5 Data layer high‐level functionality.
Chapter 14
Figure 14.1 Collaborative compressive classification, where a scene is perce...
Figure 14.2 Top: Reconstruction of a continuous loss map (right) from a spar...
Figure 14.3 Quantizing three‐dimensional positions of scattering events impl...
Figure 14.4 Strength of field for non‐line‐of‐sight paths visualized on a us...
Chapter 15
Figure 15.1 O‐RAN architecture.
Chapter 16
Figure 16.1 Hierarchical operating complex: message transmission and communi...
Figure 16.2 Communication model for (a) Shannon’s scheme and (b) the identif...
Figure 16.3 Geometric illustration of the classical message transmission. Th...
Figure 16.4 Geometric illustration of the message identification paradigm wi...
Figure 16.5 Geometric illustration of correct identification and type I and ...
Figure 16.6 Illustration of a block code. Messages of
k
symbols are encoded ...
Figure 16.7 Transmission of an identity over a channel.
Figure 16.8 Wiretap channel model. An eavesdropper does not reduce the ident...
Figure 16.9 CR are resources generated by observing a random experiment. The...
Figure 16.10 System model of a sender–receiver pair that communicates over a...
Figure 16.11 In the presence of the post‐Shannon resource of CR, a jammer ca...
Figure 16.12 Transmission concept for the medium is the message as introduce...
Guide
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Editor Biographies
List of Contributors
Foreword Henning Schulzrinne
Foreword Peter Stuckmann
Foreword Akihiro Nakao
Acronyms
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Index
Wiley End User License Agreement
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Shaping Future 6G Networks
Needs, Impacts, and Technologies
Edited by
Emmanuel Bertin
Orange Innovation/Institut Mines‐Telecom
Noel Crespi
IMT, Telecom SudParis, Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Thomas Magedanz
Technische Universität Berlin/Fraunhofer FOKUS
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Editor Biographies
Emmanuel Bertin (PhD) is a Senior Expert at Orange Innovation, France and an Adjunct Professor at Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France. His activities are focused on 5G and 6G, NFV and service engineering, with more than 100 published researched articles. He received a Ph.D. and an Habilitation in computer science from Sorbonne University. He is a senior member of the IEEE.
Noel Crespi(PhD) holds Masters degrees from the Universities of Orsay (Paris 11) and Kent (UK), a diplome d’ingénieur from Telecom Paris, and a Ph.D and an Habilitation from Sorbonne University. From 1993 he worked at CLIP, Bouygues Telecom and then at Orange Labs in 1995. He took leading roles in the creation of new services with the successful conception and launch of Orange prepaid service, and in standardization (from rapporteurship of the IN standard to the coordination of all mobile standards activities for Orange). In 1999, he joined Nortel Networks as telephony program manager, architecting core network products for the EMEA region. He joined Institut Mines‐Telecom, Telecom SudParis in 2002 and is currently Professor and Program Director at Institut Polytechnique de Paris, leading the Data Intelligence and Communication Engineering Lab. He coordinates the standardization activities for Institut Mines‐Telecom at ITU‐T and ETSI. He is also an adjunct professor at KAIST (South Korea), a guest researcher at the University of Goettingen (Germany) and an affiliate professor at Concordia University (Canada). He is the scientific director of ILLUMINE, a French‐Korean laboratory. His current research interests are in Softwarization, Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things. For more details: http://noelcrespi.wp.tem‐tsp.eu/
Thomas Magedanz (PhD) has been Professor at the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, leading the chair for next generation networks (www.av.tu‐berlin.de) since 2004. In addition, since 2003 he has been Director of the Business Unit Software‐based Networks (NGNI) at the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS (https://www.fokus.fraunhofer.de/usr/magedanz) in Berlin.
For 30 years Prof. Magedanz has been a globally recognized ICT expert, working in the convergence field of telecommunications, Internet and information technologies understanding both the technology domains and the international market demands. He often acts as an independent technology consultant for international ICT companies. In the course of his applied research and development activities he created many internationally recognized prototype implementations of global telecommunications standards that provide the foundations for the efficient development of various open technology testbeds around the globe. His interest is in software‐based 5G networks for different verticals, with a strong focus on public and non‐public campus networks. The Fraunhofer 5G Playground (www.5G‐Playground.org) represents, in this regard, the world´s most advanced Open 5G testbed which is based on the Open5GCore software toolkit (www.open5Gcore.org), representing the first reference implementation of the 3GPP 5G standalone architecture, which is currently also used by many customers for testing against different RAN equipment in different use cases. For three years, he has actively supported the buildup of emerging 5G campus networks based on the Open5GCore considering emerging campus networks as the prime spot for 5G innovation.
His current research is targeting the 5G evolution to 6G, including Core‐RAN integration (including O(pen)RAN integration), Satellite/Non‐terrestrial Networks and 5G/6G integration, as well as AI/ML based 5G/6G network control and management.
For more details and a longer version look here:
http://www.av.tu‐berlin.de/menue/team/prof_dr_thomas_magedanz/
List of Contributors
Zwi AltmanOrange InnovationChâtillonFrance
Alexis I. AravanisCNRS, CentraleSupelec, L2SUniversity of Paris‐SaclayGif‐sur‐ YvetteFrance
Joanna BalcerzakOrange InnovationChâtillonFrance
Yosra Ben SlimenOrange InnovationChâtillonFrance
Emmanuel BertinOrange InnovationCaenFrance
Nikolaus BinderNVIDIABerlinGermany
Holger BocheInstitute of Theoretical Information TechnologyTechnische Universität MünchenMunichGermany
Mohamed BoucadairOrange InnovationCesson‐SévignéFrance
Juan A. CabreraDeutsche Telekom Chair of Communication NetworksTechnische Universität DresdenDresdenGermany
Renato L.G. CavalcanteTU Berlin/Heinrich Hertz InstituteBerlinGermany
Marius CoriciFraunhofer FOKUSBerlinGermany
Noel CrespiIMT, Telecom SudParisInstitut Polytechnique de ParisParisFrance
Isabelle DabadieLaboratoire de recherche en sciences de gestion Panthéon‐Assas (LARGEPA)Université Paris 2 Panthéon‐AssasParis France
Christian DeppeChair of Communication EngineeringTechnische Universität MünchenMunichGermany
Marco Di RenzoCNRS, CentraleSupelec, L2SUniversity of Paris‐SaclayGif‐sur‐ YvetteFrance
Frank H. P. FitzekDeutsche Telekom Chair of Communication Networks. Technische Universität DresdenDresdenGermany
Marco GiordaniDepartment of Information Engineering University of PadovaPadovaItaly
Imen Grida Ben YahiaOrange InnovationChâtillonFrance
Thomas HeynHead of Mobile Communications Group Broadband and Broadcast DepartmentFraunhofer IIS ErlangenGermany
Alexander HofmannDepartment RF SatCom Systems Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated CircuitsErlangenGermany
Jinri HuangChina Mobile Research InstituteBeijingChina
Chih‐Lin IChina Mobile Research InstituteBeijingChina
Christian JacquenetOrange InnovationCesson‐SévignéFrance
Alexander KellerNVIDIA BerlinGermany
Markus LandmannElectronic Measurements and Signal Processing (EMS) DepartmentFraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. IlmenauGermany
Andres LayaEricsson ResearchStockholmSweden
Thomas MagedanzFraunhofer FOKUSBerlinGermany
Marie‐José Montpetit MontrealCanada
Robert MüllerElectronic Measurements and Signal Processing (EMS) DepartmentFraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS. IlmenauGermanyConcordia University
Akihiro NakaoThe University of TokyoTokyoJapan
Zhisheng NiuTsinghua UniversityBeijingChina
Michele PoleseInstitute for the Wireless Internet of ThingsNortheastern UniversityBostonMAUSA
Sahana RaghunandanDepartment RF SatCom Systems Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated CircuitsErlangenGermany
Leszek RaschkowskiWireless Communications and Networks DepartmentFraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI BerlinGermany
Guy RedmillRedmill Communications LtdLondonUK
Rafael F. SchaeferChair of Communications Engineering and SecurityUniversity of SiegenSiegenGermany
Christian ScheunertChair of Communication TheoryTechnische Universität DresdenDresdenGermany
Henning SchulzrinneColumbia UniveristyNew YorkUSA
Sławomir StańczakTU Berlin/Heinrich Hertz InstituteBerlinGermany
Peter StuckmannEuropean CommisionBrusselsBelgium
Soma VelayuthamNVIDIASanta ClaraCAUSA
Marc VautierOrange InnovationCesson‐SévignéFrance
David Zhe LouHuawei Technologies Düsseldorf GmbHMunichGermany
Sheng ZhouTsinghua UniversityBeijingChina
Michele ZorziDepartment of Information Engineering, University of PadovaPadovaItaly
Forewords
Henning Schulzrinne, Columbia University, USA
The first few iterations of cellular networks, 1G through 3G, were largely telephone networks with mobility added on, including the choice of addressing through telephone numbers, signaling through SS7, and emphasis on interoperable voice services. 4G and 5G started the transition to an Internet‐driven architecture, with remnants of the old architecture still clearly visible. But beyond the protocol choices, all existing generations were largely driven by the assumption that networks are operated by a relatively small number of carriers, typically with at least a nationwide service footprint, reliant on licensed spectrum and an assumption of mutual trust. 5G has started to focus more attention on using the same radio technology for both industrial and consumer networks, but the large‐carrier mindset still pervades the design, with a tightly‐coupled set of protocols and entities. This tightly‐coupled model provides some advantages; it bundles a consistent set of features and technologies designed and packaged to work together, relying on a strict user management and authentication framework. However, this model comes also with drawbacks, such as the lack of flexibility to adapt to new technologies or use‐cases, and having to rely on three or at most four carriers in most countries.
Since 3G, branding mobile network generations have had both a technical and a consumer marketing role. The generations provided checkpoints for equipment vendors, and made advances in technology that’s otherwise largely invisible to consumers relevant and marketable. 5G is probably the first iteration where a transition in technology standards became a matter of national pride and an indicator of national or regional competitiveness, with promises of increases in consumer and societal welfare that may be hard to deliver. However, as the digital divide during COVID‐19 illustrated, universal access to affordable broadband, typically at home, mattered more than higher 5G speeds in the downtown business districts and digital transformation is not assured by having nationwide 5G. Thus, technologists and policy makers working on post‐5G efforts should be careful in calibrating expectations, given that wireless network technology may not be the most significant hurdle that prevent addressing key societal challenges.
It seems likely that we will see a much larger variety of operational scenarios in the next decade, from traditional vertical‐integrated carriers to disaggregated carriers and to private or federated enterprise networks. Any future network architecture needs to be sufficiently modular so that it can scale down to unmanaged home networks and scale up to networks where participants have limited trust in each other. This suggests a much more flexible and much simpler authentication and roaming model than we have had in previous network generations. Here, 6G can probably learn from another wireless technology where “generations” have played less of a role – ubiquitous Wi‐Fi.
Developments for IoT during the 5G standardization and deployment phase may also hold lessons that encourage predictive modesty for 6G. Rather than being the universal network that connects billions and billions of IoT devices to create “smart” buildings and cities, cheap home Wi‐Fi and new low‐cost technologies like LoRa, leveraging unlicensed spectrum, have come to dominate, with carrier IoT offerings falling short of expectations – indeed, retaining boring and obsolete 2G often seems to draw more interest than new 5G ultralow latency capabilities.
Previous generations of cellular networks offered their per‐user speed as the headline advantage, but 5G is already showing the limitations of that approach, as few mobile applications are likely to be built that will rely on 1 Gb/s or above speeds. Thus, the key metrics will not be per‐user throughput or latency, but cost per base station month, governing deployment cost in low‐density areas, and cost per bit delivered, i.e., primarily operational costs. Environmental metrics such as energy consumption or electromagnetic fields (EMF) must also be considered. For many years, capital equipment has only accounted for about 15% of revenues of most carriers, i.e., the vast majority of expenses are operational. This argues for a simple, self‐managed, and robust network, with as many commodity components and protocols as possible and as much re‐use of available fiber access networks as possible, rather than infinite configurability or elaborate QoS mechanisms. The largest opportunities for improved operational efficiency and reduced complexity are in the control plane, not the data plane, relying for that on machine learning and automation technologies as detailed in this book. However, since 6G will serve as infrastructure, with concomitant reliability expectations, robustness, predictability and explainability of any use of machine learning will be more important than squeezing out the last percentage points of efficiency.
Despite all the changes in technology, the common thread across mobile technology generations has been a dramatic reduction in the consumer unit cost of mobile data, with new applications enabled simply because they became affordable. Thus, 6G will likely only offer a significant value proposition beyond a marketing tag line if it is engineered to minimize operational complexity, maximizes operational automation and ensures high availability. The Wi‐Fi experience can offer lessons and might even offer an opportunity for convergence, where 6G radio access is just another PHY, with a common upper‐layer stack optimized for a heterogeneous service provider environment that allows a wide variety of industry, academic and government users to rapidly and cheaply create new applications and an even wider variety of entities to offer access to network services. Deciding what to omit from 6G and leave it to other parts of the networking eco system will be as important as deciding what to include.
Research, particularly academic research, should be driven by the urgent needs of society, not just supplying patent‐protected “moats” against competition, whether between companies or nations. 6G offers a unique opportunity to the research community to identify the best engineering approaches that enable universal, affordable, secure and reliable networks. This book provides an initial and valuable exploration of these questions.
Henning Schulzrinne
Columbia University, USA
Peter Stuckmann, Head of Unit, Future Connectivity Systems, European Commission
Recent years and in particular the COVID‐19 crisis have shown us the importance of resilient and high‐speed communications infrastructure. Trust and acceptance in connectivity infrastructure has grown as global societies have discovered its added value and the possibilities for remote working, but also for citizens’ daily lives. Business has understood the critical importance of high‐speed networks and technologies in maintaining operations and processes. The crisis illustrates both the potential that 5G networks have to provide the connectivity basis for the digital and green recovery in the short to mid‐term, and the need to build technology capacities for the following generation – 6G – in the long term.
5G technology and standards will evolve in the next few years in several phases, just as deployment advances. Operators worldwide have launched commercial 5G networks in major cities. This early deployment will build on 4G networks and will aim primarily at enhancing mobile broadband services for consumers and businesses. Huge investments need to be unlocked for the more comprehensive deployment covering all urban areas and major transport paths by 2025. 5G technology is expected to evolve towards new ‘stand‐alone’ 5G core networks enabling industrial applications such as Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) and industry 4.0. These will be a first step towards digitising and greening our entire economy. The growth potential in economic activity enabled by 5G and later 6G networks and services has been estimated to be in the order of €3 trillion by 20301. For such critical services, we need to ensure that 5G networks will be sufficiently secure.
R&I initiatives on 6G technologies are now starting in leading regions world‐wide, with the first products and infrastructures expected for the end of this decade. 6G systems are expected to offer a new step change in performance from Gigabit towards Terabit capacities and sub‐millisecond response times, to enable new critical applications such as real‐time automation or extended reality (“Internet of Senses”) collecting and providing the sensor data for nothing less than a digital twin of the physical world.
Moreover, new smart network technologies and architectures will be needed to enhance drastically the energy efficiency of connectivity platforms despite major traffic growth and keep electromagnetic fields (EMF) under safety limits. They will form the technology base for a human‐centric Next‐Generation Internet (NGI) and address Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as accessibility and affordability of technology.
All parts of the world are starting to be heavily engaged in 6G developments. There will be opportunities and challenges concerning new business models and players through software networks with architectures such as Open‐RAN2 and the convergence with new technologies in the area of cloud and edge computing, AI, as well as components and devices beyond smartphones.
Firstly, success in 6G will depend on the extent regions will succeed in building a solid 5G infrastructure, on which 6G technology experiments and, later, 6G deployments can build. In this context, building 5G ecosystems will be of key importance, also because industry R&I investments tend to relocate where markets are more advanced.
Secondly, 6G will require taking a broader value chain approach, ranging from connectivity to components and devices beyond smartphones with the massive development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected objects like cars or robots. They also exist on the service side, with edge computing integrated in connectivity platforms and cloud computing enabling advanced service provisioning, e.g. for big data and AI.
One important success factor to create and seize such opportunities is to be a standard setter in 6G and the related technology fields. Both future users and suppliers need to shape key technology standards in the field of radio communications, but also in next‐generation network architecture to ensure the delivery of advanced service features, e.g. through the effective use of software technologies and open interfaces, while meeting energy‐efficiency requirements.
Spectrum resources are another key factor that will determine success in 6G. Whereas bands currently allocated for mobile communications will be reused for 6G, new frequency bands will be identified and harmonised. Industry and governments need to identify the opportunities related to spectrum that can be suitable for 6G and be made available with the potential to be harmonised at global level. 6G technology will also have the potential to make a further step towards a multi‐purpose service platform replacing legacy radio services for dedicated applications. This could help the progress in defragmenting the radio spectrum and drastically enhance spectrum efficiency that will in turn free up new bands for 6G or other purposes.
Such outcomes in global standardisation and spectrum harmonisation need to be prepared by proactive and effective international cooperation at government and industry‐level. This includes regular dialogues with leading regions and possible focused joint initiatives in R&I, standardisation or regulation.
I am looking forward to the creativity and ambition of the global research and innovation community to shape the new generation of communication technology throughout this decade.
Let’s kick this off!
Peter Stuckmann
Head of Unit, Future Connectivity Systems, European Commission
Notes
1
McKinsey Global Institute, 2/2020, Connected World – An evolution in connectivity beyond the 5G revolution
2
More open and interoperable interfaces in Radio Access Networks (RAN)
Akihiro Nakao, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Mobile network systems have evolved from communication infrastructures to critical and indispensable social infrastructures over the generations. The 5th generation mobile network system (5G) has been getting deployed commercially since 2019 and is bringing new innovations, both in terms of technology and business models. New models of 5G private network deployments are indeed emerging, and the connectivity landscape appears to be more and more split between various players and domains. Beyond 5G networks are expected to be deployed around 2025 onward, and studies on standardization of 6G have already begun.
6G networks and services are expected to play a central role as the backbone of our future societies by tightly integrating virtual and physical spaces. Japanese governmental agencies have forged the term Society 5.0 to designate this future society that Japan should aspire to be. Following the hunting society (Society 1.0), agricultural society (Society 2.0), industrial society (Society 3.0), and information society (Society 4.0), Society 5.0 should achieve a high degree of convergence between cyberspace (virtual space) and physical space (real space). In this future Society 5.0, huge amounts of information from sensors in physical space are accumulated in cyberspace and analyzed by artificial intelligence (AI) to provide intuitive and near‐real‐time feedback to humans in physical space. This vision first drawn by science fiction authors in the early 1980s is about to become a reality. “Cyberspace… Data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity.” wrote William Gibson (who coined the term of cyberspace) in his 1984 novel Neuromancer.
The recent COVID‐19 misfortune might appear as a new step toward this Society 5.0, as we have re‐recognized the need for enhancing and upgrading information communication infrastructure to ensure the continuity of our social activities, as well as the growing blurring between virtual and real relationships. On this road, it is essential not only to promote research and development of technology but also to consider the global environmental impacts (such as carbon neutral and green recovery), the social inclusiveness so that no one will be left behind, and the ethics and social acceptability of these forthcoming technologies.
This wish for a future better and enhanced society shall be and remain the underlying foundation for designing future 6G networks. It should bond all the stakeholders engaged in research and development of next‐generation cyber infrastructure, 6G mobile network systems, to globally unite forces to define new requirements, use cases, and fundamental theories and technologies that must be realized for the next decade. These researches are also a way to progress for accomplishing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations in 2015, where one of the sustainable development goals is about building resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.
Although it is just the very beginning of our journey for developing 6G mobile networking, we can assume that the next‐generation cyber infrastructure will bring us communications features very close to human capability, such as ultralow latency, ultra‐high capacity, ultra‐large number of connected devices, ultralow power communication, stringent security and privacy, autonomy enabled by machine learning and AI, and ultra‐coverage and extensibility including non‐terrestrial networks, underwater communication, etc.
This journey will not only be driven by the telecom industry. Many countries have allocated frequency white space to private 5G usage and made open to non‐telecommunication companies so that they can operate their own customized 5G networks. We believe that this “democratization” (i.e. making something accessible to anyone) of 5G networks will open a door to new innovations coming from the civil society as well as from industrial players. 6G will thus be the opportunity to conciliate various types of innovations: grassroots innovations coming from local players with new use cases and ad hoc solutions, radio and core layer innovations coming from Telco players, and also real‐time software innovations coming from Internet player. Besides the regular migration path from 5G to 6G promoted by telecommunication operators and vendors, there is another evolution avenue possible, from private 5G to private 6G and then to public 6G because a lot more stakeholders may participate in the game of developing custom solutions tailored for their real use cases that may be eventually distilled and adopted as viable 6G technologies to be standardized.
Along with the editors, I hope that this book serves as a navigating compass in our endeavor for developing 6G infrastructure for the next decade, by providing the insights from internationally known distinguished experts.
Akihiro Nakao
The University of Tokyo, Japan
Acronyms
Abbreviation
Explanation
3GPP2
3rd Generation Partnership Project 2
5G
5th Generation
5GAA
5G Automotive Association
5GC
5G Core
5G‐NTN
5G Non‐Terrestrial Network
6G
6th Generation
AD
Anomaly Detection
AFL
Agnostic Federated Learning
AI
Artificial Intelligence
AIaaS
AI‐as‐a‐Service
API
Application Programming Interface
APS
Angular Power Spectrum
APSM
Adaptive Projected Subgradient Method
ARCEP
Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et des Postes
ARIB
Association of Radio Industries and Businesses
AS
Autonomous System
ASIC
Application‐Specific Integrated Circuit
ATIS
Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions
B2B
Business‐to‐Business
B2C
Business‐to‐Consumer
B5G
Beyond 5G
BBUs
Baseband Units
BGP
Border Gateway Protocol
BN
Boundary Nodes
BOM
Business, Operation, and Management
BS
Base Station
BSS
Business Support System
BW
Bandwidth
CAPEX
Capital Expenses
CBRS
Citizen Broadband Radio System
CCNx
Content‐Centric Networking
CCSA
China Communications Standards Association
CDMA
Code Division Multiple Access
CeTI
Centre for Tactile Internet with Human‐in‐the‐Loop
CFN
Computer‐First Networking
C‐ITS
Cooperative Intelligent Transport System
CN
Core Network
COINRG
Computing in the Network Research Group
COTS
Commercial Off The Shelf
CP
Control Platform
CPM
Collective Perception Message
CPNP
Connectivity Profile Negotiation Protocol
CPU
Central Processing Unit
CR
Common Randomness
C‐RAN
Cloud‐RAN
CSAE
China Society of Automotive Engineers
CS
Channel Sounder
CSI
Channel State Information
CSI
Channel Side Information
CU
Centralized Unit
CUPS
Control User Plane Separation
D/A
Digital to Analogue
DCAE
Data Collection, Analytics, and Events
DC
Data Center
DDoS
Distributed Denial of Service
DetNet
Deterministic Networking
DFG
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
DI
Deterministic Identification
DINRG
Decentralized Internet Infrastructure
DMC
Discrete Memoryless Channel
DNN
Deep Neural Network
DoS
Denial of Service
DPI
Deep Packet Inspection
DRL
Deep Reinforcement Learning
DSCP
Differentiated Services Code Point
DU
Distributed Unit
EE
Energy Efficiency
EI
Enrichment Information
eLSA
Evolved License Shared Access
EM
Electromagnetic
eMBB
Enhanced Mobile Broadband
EROI
Energy Return on Energy Injected
ETSI
European Telecommunications Standards Institute
FD
Full Duplex
FDM
Frequency Division Multiplexing
FH
Fronthaul
FL
Federated Learning
FLOP
Float Point Operation
FPGA
Field‐Programmable Gate Array
FR2
Frequency Range 2
FSS
Fixed Satellite Service
FSS
Frequency Selective Surface
GDPR
General Data Protection Regulation
GEO
Geostationary Earth Orbit
gNB
Next‐Generation NodeB
GPP
General‐Purpose Platform
GPU
Graphics Processing Unit
GSM
Global System for Mobile Communication
GSMA
GSM Association
GTP
GPRS Tunnel Protocol
HAP
High‐Altitude Platform
HD
Half Duplex
HDFS
Hadoop Distributed File System
HDS
High Impedance Surface
HFT
High‐Frequency Trading
HMD
Head‐Mounted Device
HRV
High‐Risk Vendor
HTS
High Throughput Satellite
ICDT
Information, Communication, and Data Technology
ICT
Information and Communication Technology
IDF
Identification with Feedback
IMT
International Mobile Telecommunications
IoE
Internet of Everything
IoT
Internet of Things
IP
Intellectual Property
IPFS
Interplanetary File System
IRTF
Internet Research Task Force
ISL
Inter‐Satellite Link
ISTN
Integrated Space and Terrestrial Network
IT
Information Technology
ITU
International Telecommunication Union
JCSS
Joint Communication Sensor Systems
KPI
Key Performance Indicator
K‐V
Key Values
LEO
Low Earth Orbit
LF
Linux Foundation
LISP
Locator/ID Separation Protocol
LPWAN
Low‐Power Wide‐Area Network
LTE
Long‐Term Evolution
M2M
Machine‐to‐Machine
MAC
Media Access Control
MAMOKO
Molecular Communication
MC‐CDMA
Multi‐Code CDMA
MCTS
Monte Carlo Tree Search
MDA
Mandate‐Driven Architecture
MDAS
Management Data Analytics Service
MEC
Mobile Edge Computing
MEO
Medium Earth Orbit
mHealth
Mobile Health
MIMO
Multi‐Input Multi‐Output
MIoT
Massive IoT
ML
Machine Learning
M‐MIMO
Massive MIMO
MMSE
Minimum Mean Square Error
mMTC
Massive Machine Type Communications
MSS
Mobile Satellite Service
NAS
Non‐Access Stratum
NAT
Network Address Translator
NCSC
National Cyber Security Centre
NDN
Named Data Networking
NF
Network Function
NFV
Network Function Virtualization
NGP
Next‐Generation Protocols
NIA
Network Index Address
NIC
Network Interface Controller
NIN
Non‐IP Networking
NN
Neural Network
NOMA
Non‐Orthogonal Multiple Access
NRI
Non‐Randomized Identification
NRT
Non‐Real‐Time
NRT‐RIC
Non‐Real‐Time RAN Intelligent Controller
NSF
National Science Foundation
NWDA
Network Data Analytic
NWDAF
Network Data Analytics Function
OAM
Operation and Management
OBO
Output Back‐off
OBP
On‐Board Processor
OFDMA
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
OPEX
Operational Expenditure
O‐RAN
Open Radio Access Network
OSC
O‐RAN Software Community
OT
Operation Technology
OTF
Open Testing Framework
OTIC
Open Testing and Integration Center
OTN
Optical Transport Network
P4
Programming Protocol‐Independent Packet Processors
PAPR
Peak‐to‐Average Power Ratio
PCE
Path Communication Element
PCF
Policy Control Function
PE
Provider Edge
PFNM
Probabilistic Federated Neural Matching
PHY
Physical
PISA
Protocol‐Independent Switch Architecture
PLC
Programmable Logic Control
PN
Pseudo‐Noise
PS
Public Safety
PSCE
Public Safety Communication Europe Forum
QoE
Quality of Experience
QoS
Quality of Service
RAN
Radio Access Network
RANDA
Radio Access Network Big Data Analysis Network Architecture
rApp
Radio Application
RCA
Root Cause Analysis
ReLU
Rectified Linear Unit
RI
Randomized Identification
RIC
Radio Intelligent Controller
RIC
RAN Intelligent Controller
RIS
Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface
RKHS
Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces
RLNC
Random Linear Network Coding
RRC
Radio Resource Control
RT
Real‐Time
SA
System Aspect
SBA
Service‐Based Architecture
SBI
Service‐Based Interface
SDL
Shared Data Layer
SDN
Software‐Defined Networking
SDO
Standard Development Organization
SDR
Software‐Defined Radio
SE
Spectrum Efficiency
SFC
Service Function Chaining
SFP
Service Function Path
SGD
Stochastic Gradient Descent
SLA
Service‐Level Agreement
SLA
Service Layer Agreement
SNR
Signal‐to‐Noise Ratio
SOM
Service Order Management
SRv6
Segment Routing Based on IPv6
TCO
Total Cost of Ownership
TDM
Time Division Multiplex
TDMA
Time Division Multiple Access
TIP
Telecom Infrastructure Project
TSDSI
Telecommunications Standards Development Society
TSN
Time‐Sensitive Networking
TTA
Telecommunication Technology Association
TTC
Telecommunication Technology Committee
TTI
Transmission Time Interval
UAV
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
UDN
Ultradense Network
UMTS
Universal Mobile Telecommunication System
UN IPCC
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
UP
User Plane
UPF
User Plane Function
URLLC
Ultrareliable Low‐Latency Communication
V2X
Vehicle to Everything
VHTS
Very High Throughput Satellites
VM
Virtual Machines
VNA
Vector Network Analyzers
VNF
Virtual Network Function
VPN
Virtual Private Network
VRU
Vulnerable Road User
VSAT
Very Small Aperture Terminals
WBD
Wireless Big Data
WWW
World Wide Web
YOY
Year over Year
ZB
Zettabytes
ZSM
Zero‐Touch Network and Service Management
1Toward 6G – Collecting the Research Visions
Emmanuel Bertin1, Thomas Magedanz2,, and Noel Crespi3
1 Orange Innovation, France
2 Fraunhofer FOKUS, Berlin, Germany
3 IMT, Telecom SudParis, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Paris, France
1.1 Time to Start Shaping 6G
During the past 30 years, the successive generations of mobile communication networks have enabled major steps toward a more digital world. Each generation has featured comprehensive cellular network architecture, including radio access technology, access and core network routing, and a set of associated services (such as authentication and access control, mobility management, data transfer, or voice and messaging services). The 2nd generation (2G) brought the first fully digital mobility solution, giving birth to the mobile phone as a portable personal device and to the rise of text messaging. The 3rd and 4th generations (3G and 4G) introduced the use of multimedia services in mobility and enabled the advent of the iPhone and all the digital industry and services relying on smartphones (e.g. mobile Internet, applications, and marketplaces). The 5th generation (5G) should accompany the emergence of a nest of communicating objects, along with new devices enabling augmented reality, for both the consumer and the enterprise market. The path is already drawn for the deployment of 5G non‐standalone (5G NSA) networks starting from 2019 (where only the radio part of 5G is deployed as a new access network) and then of standalone 5G networks (5G SA) starting from 2023 (where a new 5G core network is also deployed).
It may seem strange to start shaping the 6th generation (6G) of mobile communication networks while 5G is just starting to be deployed around the globe – given we are still witnessing a big gap between the high expectations surrounding the capabilities of new 5G networks and the functional limitations of initial 5G products and solutions. Moreover, 5G is quite different from previous mobile network generations in regard to its technological innovations, complexity, and targeted broad spectrum of applications, ranging from energy‐efficient massive Internet of Things (IoT) and massive broadband multimedia to low‐latency communication. In addition, every new network generation (including 5G) must strike a compromise between backward compatibility, disruption, innovation, and ability to enable completely new applications. This complexity takes time for the telecom industry to fully master.
In this context, should we focus on building 6G or first draw the lessons from 5G deployments and use cases? Every new network generation deserves around 10 years of research. The first generation of digital cellular network (2G) was commercially launched in 1991, followed by 3G in 2001, 4G in 2009, and 5G in 2019. Thus, now is the time to shape 6G, with a target launch in 2028–2030. Research on 6G effectively started around the globe in 2020.
1.2 Early Directions for Shaping 6G
1.2.1 Future Services
So, what will 6G look like? Will there be a killer application? This book discusses some future possible use cases, such as teleporting and digital twin; smart and autonomous transportation; digital services in cities, farming, and warehousing targeting environmental monitoring, traffic control, and management automation; or a fully digital commerce and payments experience, featuring resolution digital signage with facial recognition in retail, and augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR)‐enabled e‐commerce. Some of those use cases were also discussed for 5G. Before we can clearly assess the use cases, though, we have to see what emerges in the next few years, as 5G evolves and gains acceptance in different vertical markets.
Do we need a predefined mind‐blowing application driver before shaping 6G architecture? That was not the case for previous generations, and uses like text messaging (for 2G) and smartphone‐based mobile Internet (for 3G and 4G) emerged without strong support from the telco industry. So 6G should probably be seen more as the infrastructure on which innovative actors will build new digital services. Modularity, flexibility, and openness are key requirements.
1.2.2 Moving from 5G to 6G
5G is already a software‐based end‐to‐end communication system, allowing the addition of new access and backhaul networks as well as new control and management functionalities and virtual network functions (VNFs). So, should the industry start building a new generation instead of perfecting the existing one? It is likely that similar to previous even network generations (i.e. 2G and 4G), which perfected preceding network generations, 6G will finally deliver what was promised years ago for 5G. Many research topics currently performed in the context of 5G evolution will also pave the way toward 6G. Therefore, most researchers may consider the need for 5G evolution as the driving force toward 6G. In fact, at the end of the decade, which represents the typical life span of a mobile generation to deliver innovations, 5G may have become an open extensible and customizable communications platform, representing a toolbox to build public as well as private mobile communication networks for any kind of vertical application domain.
While it might be realistic to assume that 6G will be an evolution of 5G, there are also voices who propose that 6G should be much more disruptive and revolutionary, due to the exploitation of new enabling technologies. New concepts like the post‐Shannon theory and the use of emerging quantum computing technologies are just two examples of this line of thinking. To provide a scientific look beyond the rim, we address one of these topics at the end of the book (Chapter 16).
Moreover, while defining a new generation of cellular system every 10 years has a lot of advantages, as it enables deployment of a consistent set of features and technologies where all elements have been designed and packaged to work together, this model comes with a major drawback: the various components and technologies are tightly linked. It is therefore difficult to redesign one piece of the puzzle without touching the others. In a world being eaten by software, this may appear a bit old‐fashioned, as modern software engineering relies on decomposing systems into loosely coupled entities. So, 6G could also be the opportunity to extend 5G into an even more modular framework where various parties can more easily add different components, keeping in mind the necessary trade‐off among openness, reliability, and security, in order to achieve a highly trustworthy architecture. This would imply breaking or at least weakening the link between the radio access part and the core network part in the definition of this new generation, inspired perhaps by the idea of other wireless technologies, relying on unlicensed spectrums, such as Wi‐Fi and LoRaWAN. Finally, 6G is also an opportunity to continue decreasing operational costs, using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to extend automated network planning, deployment, and operation; the ultimate target being to enable real self‐organizing networks.
1.2.3 Renewed Value Chain and Collaborations
Besides technologies and services, the business models of mobile communication networks are also evolving and will continue to evolve rapidly in the forthcoming years. Due to the ongoing fixed‐mobile network convergence and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) convergence, future communications will be tightly integrated in enterprise applications. The global rise of 5G campus networks should be considered just the start toward 5G enterprise networking and the emergence of new business models and ecosystems. This also raises questions on the role of international standards and rise of open software stacks paving the way toward a new telecommunications ecosystem, in which virtualized network functions from different developers and providers can be dynamically orchestrated and integrated in a secure, reliable, and energy‐efficient manner. The work on OpenRAN and the involvement of new players (e.g. Facebook Magma) can be considered a foretaste of these changes in the value chain of the entire mobile industry.
In mobile technologies, as in many other areas, geopolitical factors might mean a more fragmented future for the world. In their desire for digital sovereignty, different governments push national academic and industry researchers to generate as many intellectual property rights as possible while shaping 6G. Prefaced by insightful tech leaders from America, Asia, and Europe, with authors from all around the world, this book is an attempt to promote the collaborative approach used to enable academic and industry players with different interests to work together to shape a common future.
With this book, we aim to provide students, researchers, senior executives, managers, and technical leaders with a snapshot of current international thinking on the major 6G research aspects. Similar to 5G, 6G also represents an aggregation of different technology innovations into an overall complex system architecture. We do not have the ambition to catch every technology trend, but we believe that we are quite comprehensive with our present collection of expert views in 2021.
1.3 Book Outline and Main Topics
1.3.1 Use Cases and Requirements for 6G (Chapter 2)
The first point we address in the following chapters concerns the prospective services and use cases that could require a new generation of mobile communication networks. For defining 5G, enterprise needs – rather than the consumer market – have been the main driver. By the way, the rise of private 5G is a good illustration of the growing importance of the business‐to‐business (B2B) market for mobile networks. We believe these B2B needs will also be the primary driver for the evolution of 5G and the definition of 6G. Innovation in mobile networking will be pushed more and more by companies for their own needs, either by using carrier networks (e.g. with slicing solutions) or through innovative private 5G deployments. In Chapter 2, the authors introduce a collection of potential 6G services for the B2B market, in order to understand potential 6G drivers and the associated requirements. Authors consider services in eight different application domains: digital transformation of manufacturing, teleporting with holography, digital twin, smart transportation, public safety, health and well‐being, smart IoT for life quality improvement, and transformation of the financial sector. The authors then derive the key networking requirements induced by these services.
1.3.2 Standardization Processes for 6G (Chapter 3)
The second question we investigate is how and by whom can 6G be defined. Previous generations have been framed under the leadership of the telco industry grouped in standardization bodies (e.g. 3GPP). However, new bodies are emerging, for example, with the OpenRAN alliance to improve openness in radio access networks of next generation wireless systems. De facto standards are more and more driven by providing software implementation within open‐source communities, rather than by submitting written contributions to international standardization bodies. New actors are also emerging alongside the telco industry (e.g. Facebook with Magma), which is being reduced more and more to a few suppliers, and industry verticals are more frequently pushing their own needs and solutions (e.g. 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation [5G‐ACIA]). In Chapter 3, authors investigate this evolving role of standards for 6G. They also discuss the impact of the shift started in 5G from a standardization based on functional entities to a standardization based on Application Programming Interface (API). Finally, they raise the question of economic as well as political pressures on industry players that might lead to a fragmented ecosystem.
1.3.3 Energy Consumption and Social Acceptance (Chapters 4 and 5)
Lower energy consumption was already an important design criterion in the course of 5G research and development. But with climate change progressing, this requirement is becoming even more important for the design of 6G. Thus, another question to address is the environmental sustainability of 6G. We discuss this topic in two different chapters, showing two complementary viewpoints. In Chapter 4, authors look at technical solutions to provide more sustainable cellular networks, relying on an intensive use of AI mechanisms. First, they identify the main factors of energy consumption in mobile networks. They then provide a holistic approach for defining a more sustainable 6G based on AI training executed at the edge of the network. Authors of Chapter 5 argue that reducing network energy consumption per byte transferred is not a sufficient path when the bandwidth consumption is continuously increasing (rebound effect). The question of sustainability is therefore not only a technical question but also a social and societal issue. Here, marketing will be an important point, along with consumers’ rising awareness of the impact of information technologies on global warming. Beside the eco‐design of networks and services, the question of changing the way we consume network and service offers should be addressed, with a possible trend toward more digital sobriety.
1.3.4 New Technologies for Radio Access (Chapters 6–8)
Every new mobile generation features a new radio technology, which typically pushes for higher frequencies and, thanks to new coding and signal processing algorithms, enables much higher data rates and communication capacities to mobile users. In city centers, the deployment of new antenna systems for ever smaller cell sizes operating in ever higher frequencies is facing limitations with signal distribution through walls and windows, representing big challenges. Chapter 6 provides an overview of the development of new reflective materials to enhance coverage of urban areas, introducing the technology and the challenges of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) for smart radio environments.
In 6G, terahertz (THz) communications represent this next big radio access network innovation. Chapter 6 describes the new technical capabilities and the research challenges to be mastered to exploit these capabilities. In particular, THz base stations will enable the seamless integration of sensing, localization, and communications, making new types of applications possible. At the same time, they put immense requirements on the core network to utilize these new capabilities.
While THz access networks feature small cell sizes and are likely used for indoor use cases, satellite networks have already gained momentum in the context of 5G evolution for outdoor coverage in rural environments, the maritime environment, and the sky. Besides satellites at different orbit levels, drones and high‐altitude platforms have also emerged as so‐called non‐terrestrial networks in the recent past. The authors of Chapter 8 address opportunities and technical challenges to master the upcoming 6G network architectures, including the need for new mechanisms for dynamic access and backhaul network integration, as well as challenges in roaming and handovers in between moving cells and networks.
1.3.5 New Technologies for Network Infrastructure (Chapters 9 and 10)
Beside the radio technologies, a new mobile network generation is also an opportunity to reframe the underlying mechanisms of access and core networks. Chapters 9 and 10 discuss new requirements to address by the network infrastructure (especially on the routing
