Industry experts pointed out that 6G will achieve speeds of up to 1Tbps, promote future technological innovation, and will reshape business models. According to the forecast of research institutions, the global 6G market will reach about 1.04 billion US dollars in 2028 and about 40.99 billion US dollars in 2032, with a compound annual growth rate of 150.4%.

6G has the inherent power to provide the ultimate immersive intelligent experience, and the technical potential is obvious. It will blur the lines between physical and online platforms, opening up multiple opportunities. In other words, 6G technology will promote the fusion and collision of the real world and the virtual world, closely connect people's work and life, and freely socially interact in the virtual world.

Despite the huge potential, it will take time for the industry as a whole to predict the arrival of 6G. So, where is the current 6G development?

6G network: Framework agreement is being planned 

There is currently no standard for 6G networks because there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of power consumption and wireless signal transmission. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has set 95GHz and 3THz as the initial research and development frequencies for 6G. 

According to industry media reports, the University of Oulu in Finland has launched the 6Genesis research project, which aims to establish a 6G vision for 2030. The agency also decided to collaborate with Japan's Beyond 5G Promotion Alliance on research on Finland's flagship 6G network. 

In addition, the Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) is experimenting with the terahertz band for 6G. In contrast, Samsung Corp. plans to invest more than $355 billion in chip manufacturing to facilitate the development and advancement of the 6G architecture. 

6G technology: many technologies go hand in hand

Commercialization of 6G technology may be a decade away, as there is still a lot of work to be done. Industry experts must think about delivering faster speeds, greater capacity and lower latency than 5G networks. 

Since the 6G network will facilitate the integration of existing technologies, it will be a multi-interface network. Industry experts are exploring hybrid applications of 6G technology, but infrastructure revamps are required. For example, the bearer network of 6G will need to upgrade the performance of fiber-optic broadband connections to avoid signal loss during transmission of data at terahertz (THz) frequencies.

In its 6G exploration, Japanese telecom firm NTT leverages an end-to-end optical communication architecture called Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN), whose network clusters use photons for fast data transmission without converting data into electrical signals. Compared to traditional methods, NTT claims to improve power consumption, end-to-end latency and transmission capacity by a factor of 100. 

Industry experts point out that 6G technology will facilitate the convergence of WiFi and cellular communication technologies to achieve standardized interoperability. Of course, the vision for 6G and any standardization approach are likely to change before widespread commercial adoption.

Typical Features and Potential Applications of 6G Networks

Industry experts generally believe that 6G networks will change the world due to its wide range of applications. 

• 6G networks will introduce multi-sensory technology to create new ways of socializing and interacting with the environment through all senses. This means that 6G networks will remove physical and time-related constraints by holographic imaging and simplifying the connection between people and machines. At the same time, almost all networks will be powered by artificial intelligence, thus facilitating complete digitalization.
• Terahertz communications (THz), Joint Communications and Sensing (JCAS), Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Reconfigurable Smart Surfaces (RIS) and Visible Light Communications (VLC) are all technological advancements that will transform the 6G era. Joint Communications and Sensing (JCAS) will improve communications through effective beam management, alignment and feedback. It will support new applications including gesture recognition, vulnerable user detection, and human-computer interaction.
• 6G network will include ultra-broadband, low latency, high intelligence and spatialization. These factors will facilitate better communication and allow for immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity holograms and digital replicas to be used without any limitations. Additionally, 6G networks will be built with cloud storage in mind for efficient reprogrammability.
• A strong driver behind 6G networks is the upcoming deployment of Connected Robotics and Autonomous Systems (CRAS), including efficient drone delivery, self-driving cars and autonomous robots. CRAS has latency requirements driven by control systems and a potential need for Enhanced Mobile Broadband (EMBB) transmission of high-definition maps that 5G struggles to meet.
• Authentication solutions will be extremely important for 6G networks. This means that the availability of fast data transfers will allow experts to communicate with each other effectively and detect fraud immediately. In this way, it will allow for rapid local and cross-border communications, enabling law enforcement agencies to conduct effective investigations.

summary

The need for large-scale development and intelligent networks is an important factor in the growth of the global 6G market, and the arrival of 6G technology will solve the problems faced by 5G networks. The use of higher frequency 6G networks for fast data transmission is very attractive to research institutions and the communications industry. Technological progress will promote the exploration and formulation of 6G standards, thereby contributing to the development of 6G.