4G changes life, 5G changes society, so what does 6G change?

4G changes life, 5G changes society, so what does 6G change? In fact, the intention of this article is to talk about vRAN, vRAN will change the telecom industry, but just rub the "gimmick" of 6G. vRAN and 6G are not necessarily related, they only slightly overlap in the development time. vRAN is currently in full swing overseas (domestic due to some reasons are difficult), its impact is very far-reaching, so you need to understand vRAN. The answer is: 6G will change the telecom industry. In fact, the intention of this article is to talk about vRAN, vRAN will change the telecom industry, but only to rub the 6G "gimmick", vRAN and 6G are not necessarily related, the two only slightly overlap in the development time, vRAN is currently in full swing overseas development (domestic due to some reasons to hold back), its impact is very far-reaching, so you need to understand vRAN. vRAN is a virtualized wireless access network, the current 4G/5G cellular mobile communication system wireless access network RAN is mostly constructed using proprietary black box equipment, usually manufactured by Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, ZTE, Samsung and other telecom system equipment vendors, although the RAN network is split into RRU/RRH/AAU, DU, CU/BBU and other unit components, but usually these devices are The RAN network is divided into RRU/RRH/AAU, DU, CU/BBU and other unit components, but usually these devices are integrated hardware and software boxes, and their external interfaces are private, so it is impossible to realize mixed networking of unit components from different manufacturers. The functions of black box devices are also proprietary, and it is difficult to upgrade the software of these 4G boxes purchased in the early days to make them support 5G functions, because most of them use ASIC dedicated integrated circuits with solidified processing logic inside, and if an ASIC chip does not support certain protocols or algorithms necessary for 5G, the device cannot support 5G functions. If a carrier wants to build a 5G network, it must purchase a new 5G-enabled device to replace the old one and install it in the network, thus, each network upgrade will result in a waste of old devices. At the same time, once the operator selects a certain vendor's equipment, it will be locked in by that vendor, and will be completely dependent on that vendor for future component function upgrades and feature development. Since the network functions are implemented using ASIC chips, the network protocol must be carefully designed before the device is manufactured and cannot be easily modified afterwards, otherwise the manufactured device will be forced to be scrapped, which is unacceptable. Operators hope to dismantle these wireless access network black box equipment, the realization of the components are purchased from different vendors, each following the standard interface, interoperable, which is O-RAN. operators also hope that the RAN equipment hardware and software to further decouple, the hardware and software are purchased separately, by purchasing a common architecture computer as the hardware platform, which runs special software to achieve the RAN components, which is vRAN. This is vRAN. O-RAN is not necessarily vRAN, O-RAN although the realization of component decoupling, interoperability of components of different vendors, but does not emphasize the components themselves must achieve hardware and software decoupling. vRAN compared to O-RAN more emphasis on the emphasis on hardware and software decoupling, of course, the interface between the components of vRAN is usually open, interoperable docking of different vendors. The driving force for operators to try vRAN technology is that they believe it can fully break away from the lock-in of traditional telecom equipment manufacturers, improve the utilization of hardware equipment, reduce the OPEX operation cost of the network, and enhance the flexibility of the network and shorten the cycle of developing and deploying new features. We believe that the greatest value of vRAN is the ability to truly implement software radio. The concept of software radio has been mentioned for many years, but it was not until the emergence of vRAN that we saw the hope of large-scale implementation. Of course, the current development stage of vRAN is still very early, especially, at present, the main work of vRAN are focused on the network side, the terminal side of the software radio has not yet started, the terminal radio network access equipment is still using ASIC chips to achieve. However, we have reason to believe that once software radio is effectively progressed on the network side, the terminal devices supporting software radio will follow soon. Ultimately, once software radio is implemented on both the network side and the terminal side, the mobile communications industry will undergo tremendous changes, and the radio spectrum, an important communications resource, will be utilized more flexibly and fully. vRAN vendors can revise their communications protocols at any time according to user needs, as long as the equipment on both ends of the communications spectrum is synchronized with software upgrades and adaptations. The industry will no longer rely on standardization organizations (e.g., 3GPP) to develop and revise uniform communication protocols (especially the air interface protocol, which is the interface between the network and the terminal) based on a lengthy and tedious process. As the hardware and software of communication devices are decoupled, communication hardware vendors will focus on providing radio terminal module platforms and radio network equipment platforms with generalized architecture, standardized specifications, and open interfaces, which may be based on generalized COTS computer clusters to construct network equipment; communication software vendors will focus on providing radio protocol software that can run on radio modules on the terminal side and radio equipment on the network side; and radio infrastructure software will focus on providing radio protocol software that can run on radio modules on the terminal side and radio equipment on the network side. Communication software vendors are specialized in providing communication protocol software that can run on radio modules on the terminal side and radio equipment on the network side; radio infrastructure operators are specialized in investing in building and maintaining radio network infrastructure, such as antennas, RF transceivers, forward and mid-transmission backhaul networks, and baseband cloud servers. At this time, the business model of the telecom operation industry will change dramatically compared to the current one. For public mobile communication networks, the infrastructure operators will probably no longer need to face the end-users directly, but will provide facilities rental services to communication software vendors, who will face the end-users. For the enterprise's proprietary (private) wireless communication network, the enterprise will invest in the construction and maintenance of its network infrastructure, and the communication software will be purchased from the communication software vendor, and the enterprise will manage the end-users of the proprietary (private) radio network itself. This is somewhat similar to the current cloud computing model (IDC infrastructure provider - public cloud vendor - end user). Of course, the current public cloud vendors will also build and operate part of their own IDC infrastructure. So after the software radio is popularized, it is likely that the communication software vendor will also personally invest in the construction and operation of a part of the radio network infrastructure. Eventually, a few communication software vendors will replace the current traditional mobile communication network operators and become the public mobile communication network giants across many countries around the world, they realize the integration of technology research and development and network operation in the field of mobile communication, 3GPP will then lose its value of existence, 6G will naturally cease to exist, and the evolution cycle of mobile communication networks will be reduced from the current 10 years to 10 days at that time.