It might all seem rather premature - what with the roll-out of 5G yet to get into its stride - but the paper, “Key Drivers and Research Challenges for 6G Ubiquitous Wireless Intelligence” is based on the views of 70 experts and comes out of a special workshop at the first 6G Wireless Summit in Finnish Lapland that was held back in March 2019.
The publication focuses on the key drivers, research requirements, challenges and research questions around the development and roll-out of 6G.
According to the report's authors while 5G research continues to mature now is the time to engage in mapping what 6G could become at its 'boldest' and that focus appears to be on data. The way in which data is collected, processed, transmitted and consumed within the wireless network.
Data is set to be the driver of 6G and the report paints a strong vision of ubiquitous wireless intelligence for 2030, intelligence that will follow users seamlessly.
While data is central to 6G other themes have also been identified.
Among them: how the move to a data sharing /data market economy will raise issues with data ownership; how smart phones are likely to be replaced by pervasive XR experiences through lightweight glasses delivering unprecedented resolution, frame rates, and dynamic range; how the industry is going to address the challenge of transmitting up to 1 Tbps per user and how the 6G network should provide proper mitigation and protection from attacks.
6G and beyond - the planning needs to start now.
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