Industry leaders talk about the 6G vision: the smart connection of all things, the digital twin
As the construction of 5G networks accelerates, related
applications are beginning to blossom everywhere, reaching a wide range of
industries. In line with the development rhythm of the mobile communication
industry of "use one generation, build one generation and develop one
generation", the global industry has started to explore and research the
next generation of mobile communication (6G).
Recently, the Future Mobile Communications Forum hosted the Global 6G Technology Conference, aiming to build a global technology cooperation platform and a bridge for collaborative innovation, form recommendations to promote 6G research and development, promote the cultivation of a globally consistent 6G concept, work together to create a good environment for global 6G development, and contribute to the formation of a global unified 6G standard and the sustainable development of the information The conference will contribute to the formation of a global unified 6G standard and the sustainable development of the information and communications industry.
On the first day, a forum on "6G Vision and Technology
Needs", chaired by Wang Zhiqin, Vice President of the China Academy of
Information and Communications Technology, featured scholars and experts from
industry, academia, research and application to discuss how 6G will change the
world.
Beyond communication: endogenous intelligence and security,
external sensing and experience
Zhang Ping, academician of the Chinese Academy of
Engineering and professor of Beijing University of Posts and
Telecommunications, said 4G will change life, 5G will change society and 6G
will change the world. "6G will lead to a ubiquitous and simple network
where people, machines and things are fully connected, where reality is
combined with reality, and where wisdom emerges." 6G and the simplest wireless
network will strongly support the digital twin, which will further provide
continuous autonomous endogenous optimisation for the evolution of the simplest
network.
According to Xu Wei, a professor at Southeast University,
the future development trend of 6G technology is to provide wider coverage in
more frequency bands, wider bandwidth and deeper dimensions, ultimately
achieving faster rates, more stable transmission, and a more dual-carbon,
intelligent fusion of smart networks.
Cui Chunfeng, Director of the Green Communication Research
Centre of the China Academy of Mobile Communications, highlighted the vision of
6G as a "digital twin and smart ubiquitous". He pointed out that
typical use cases for 6G include holographic interaction, digital twin,
connectivity, intelligent transportation, smart production and meta-universe,
etc. These use cases place higher demands on 6G networks: firstly, extreme
capabilities, secondly, software-defined distributed networks, thirdly, full
domain coverage, fourthly, smart ubiquity and fifthly, endogenous security.
"For operators, we want to achieve a digital twin operation, zero-touch,
automated O&M network that reduces costs while improving efficiency and is
'self-perpetuating and self-evolving'."
Wang Qingyang, Director of the Institute of Mobile
Communications of the China Academy of Telecommunications Research, said that
the future IMT2030 is a new system of endogenous intelligence and security,
outward sensing and experience, building a new type of intelligent interconnection
of people, machines and things, and an engine for the harmonious development of
human society and the natural environment. Therefore, the innovation and
development of 6G technology should be based on the basic principle of green
energy saving, improving the energy efficiency of the system and implementing
ecological operation; at the same time, it should also consider how 6G
technology can empower thousands of industries, help deepen the digital
transformation of various industries and achieve green and low-carbon
development.
Changing the world: everything is connected, the digital
twin
Wang Jun, a technical expert at Huawei's Wireless Technology
Lab, said that 6G will further develop capabilities beyond communications,
expanding the two major application scenarios of artificial intelligence and
communications awareness on top of the three major application scenarios of 5G.
As to how 6G will integrate the physical and digital worlds, Wang Jun
introduced: from the physical world to the digital world is a typical downward
channel, where AI capabilities such as deep learning, machine learning and big
data analysis are delivered to users through immersive experiences such as
AR/VR; from the physical world to the digital world is a typical upward
channel, where full-scene sensing and machine-learning-oriented big data
collection are mainly applied to enhance the digital The 6G will be a key
bridge in this process by integrating connectivity, perception and AI
capabilities.
According to Sun Bo, senior expert in wireless technology at
ZTE, 6G will provide full-service capabilities, including ultra-high
performance, service awareness, intelligent interaction, agile automation and
global coverage, to build a network that intelligently connects everything.
Through the gradual evolution of 5G to Advanced to 6G, mobile communications
will continue to improve computing and storage capabilities, thereby enhancing
services such as endogenous AI, endogenous perception and content security,
while also providing better energy efficiency and transcending the current ICT
system deployment and application boundaries to serve more markets and
verticals.
Howie Xu, Head of R&D at Qualcomm China, pointed out
that the question of how to define the scope of 6G technology and 5G technology
is a very important one. Some of the 6G technologies that are mostly being
discussed now are also being discussed in 5G, such as artificial intelligence,
massive antennas, expansion to higher spectrum, millimetre wave, etc. As to
what kind of technologies should be left to 6G development and what kind of
technologies need to be developed in the 5G phase, from Qualcomm's perspective,
as long as they can be applied in the 5G range now, they will continue to
advance in 5G Advanced and draw lessons from the current experiments and
applications to provide guidance for the future direction of 6G research.
Qin Fei, Director of Vivo's Institute of Communications,
said that Vivo defines 6G requirements as "3+3+N", i.e. "3 key
enablers, 3 types of terminals and N types of IoT". The "3 key
enablers" include service capabilities for converged computing, strong sensing
and interaction capabilities, and a superb communication system; the "3
types of terminals" are XR, smart robots and smartphones; and the "N
types of IoT The "N class IoT" includes a wide variety of sensors,
"is to make our world a better digital all".
Sun Chengjun, senior director of Samsung Electronics, said
that in the 6G era, the number of connected machines will grow and is expected
to be equivalent to 60 times the world's total population. Machines have a
higher resolution relative to humans, so there is a higher demand for data
transmission rates. Samsung's 6G vision is thus to provide a higher-order
connectivity experience for humans and machines, including immersive XR
services, as well as high-fidelity and digital twin services.
In the final roundtable discussion, Wang pointed out that
all sectors of industry, academia, research and application are continuously
refining each dimension to define 6G, and are also actively looking for key
potential technologies that can support 6G development. The current 6G vision
of "everything connected, digital twin" has basically formed an
industry consensus, which focuses more on intelligence and sensing technologies
on top of the traditional connectivity indicators. In addition, green, energy-saving,
trustworthy and secure technologies, as well as computing power and storage,
are also common concerns in the industry.