In line with the principle of "use one generation, research one generation, reserve one generation", since 5G began commercial use globally in 2020, the strategic layout for 6G research and development has been put on the agenda.  Although the industry generally predicts that 6G will be commercialized around 2030, for now, 6G is still in the prediction stage. Whether it is from the demand or the technical direction, talking about 6G is a bit like seeing flowers in a fog.

For personal mobile phones, many people think that the current 4G is enough, but the applications of 5G and 6G go far beyond personal mobile phones.  The slogan "4G changes life, 5G changes society" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people , so what can 6G change? 5G technology has already performed brilliantly in telemedicine, military and other fields, and the application of 6G will be wider than 5G.  The industry has some consensus on the vision of 6G, which is mainly reflected in three aspects : larger bandwidth, wider coverage and more intelligence.  It is foreseeable that the future 6G network will not only be a breakthrough in simple network capacity and transmission rate, but will also meet the needs of new applications such as 6G holographic communication and metaverse in the future.

6G R&D ushered in a critical window period

The 6G commercialization in 2030 is still in the stage of vision demand research and concept formation. The 6G technology direction and solution are still being explored. The next 3-5 years will become a window period for 6G potential key technologies, which is to seize the technical commanding heights in the communication field and cultivate industries. The key to the foundation.  At present, many countries have launched 6G research.  In 2020, the United States will open the 95 GHz to 3 terahertz frequency band as a test spectrum, and officially start the research and development of 6G technology.  The EU launched the 6G flagship research project Hexa-X in January 2021, with Nokia as the lead.  South Korea and Japan are also stepping up the deployment of 6G. However, although 6G is already a hot word in the news, it is still far away from commercial use in practice.  According to the plan of the International Organization for Standardization 3GPP, the organization will start research on 6G in 2023, standardize 6G in the second half of 2025, complete the 6G standard in the first half of 2028, and have 6G equipment products in the second half of 2028.

Recently, the 2nd "Global 6G Technology Conference" was held. Many heavyweight experts spoke out and gave more detailed elaboration on the technology and direction of 6G.  6G is no longer an ethereal concept, but a prospect to begin to pursue.  6G is by no means a castle in the air, but is built on the strong infrastructure and commercial success of 5G, and will develop on the shoulders of 5G.

The road to realization is difficult

Regarding the research of 6G, there have always been two opposing views in the world: some people think that it is too early to start 6G research, and some people think that it is too hasty to study 6G before 5G has recovered its cost.  The "White Paper on 6G Overall Vision and Potential Key Technologies" pointed out that 6G will further expand from serving people, people and things to support the efficient interconnection of intelligent bodies on the basis of 5G, realizing the transition from the Internet of Everything to the Intelligent Connection of Everything, and finally helping human beings The society realizes the beautiful vision of "intelligent connection of all things, digital twin". The vision of 6G is very good, but the road to realization is full of difficulties, and the realization of commercial use must pass four thresholds:

1) Information security issues:  The 6G network carries the transmission and processing of massive amounts of data. Once it is stolen or tampered with, it will have a greater impact.  Compared with the "plug-in" network security system in the past, The ubiquitous nature of 6G network requires the network to have endogenous security capabilities, which requires the help of technologies such as artificial intelligence.

2) The problem of realizing "dual carbon" low power consumption:  6G has a higher frequency band, denser cells, and consumes more energy than 5G. Carbon reduction will be a difficulty in 6G research.  Industry insiders generally believe that under the existing network architecture, the energy saving and carbon reduction of 6G technology has a ceiling, and it is urgent to clarify the standards and make breakthroughs in the infrastructure.

3) Reconstruction of the network architecture:  Due to the high transmission rate and low latency of the 6G network, the problem of information "packet loss" in the traditional network TCP/IP protocol is prominent, which needs to be solved by the reconstruction of the network architecture.

4) Key technology research and development challenges:  Terahertz wireless communication is generally considered to be the core component of the future 6G mobile communication system.  Traditional electronic terahertz technology is limited by the inherent properties of electronic devices. The parameters of high-frequency electronic devices are gradually approaching the theoretical limit, and they are faced with a series of difficult challenges such as large transmission loss, limited frequency and bandwidth.

How far is it from the commercial landing?

After 6G is commercialized, it will bring more intelligent applications, and the market scale will far exceed 5G, which will help my country's new infrastructure, digital industrialization, and industrial digitization strategies to be implemented.  China's "14th Five-Year Plan" clearly proposes a forward-looking layout of 6G network technology, which is expected to accelerate the research on 6G candidate frequency bands and breakthroughs in key 6G technologies, so as to master the leading and discourse power of standards.  So from prediction to landing, what is the key to 6G technology?

At the Global 6G Technology Conference, Liu Yulin, a first-level inspector of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out that the current 6G development is at a critical period in which the vision and demand are formed, and all parties need to work together to form a joint force.  The first is to focus on the research on vision needs and to form a broader consensus; the second is to accelerate key technological innovations and lay the foundation for 6G development technology; the third is to deepen international exchanges and cooperation and maintain global unified 6G standards; the fourth is to coordinate the development of 5G and 6G and fully release 5G Development potential.

Conclusion: Although 6G is still in the research stage, it will take time to break through many technical difficulties, but my country has performed well in international 6G research and development, which has laid the foundation for industry competition in the next decade.