As the world is beginning to enjoy the benefits of 5G, the “fifth generation” of wireless cellular technology,
the industry is starting to plan for the future set of requirements needed for its continued evolution, as
well as for the next generation of mobile communications. Additional enhancements and evolution of the
current IMT-2020 (5G) technology standards continue to be expected from the industry, just like it has
been with all the previous “G’s”. For this reason, 5G Americas has reviewed “6G” concepts from Asia and
Europe and is starting to review early 6G work in the United States. This white paper details this global
work, comments upon it as appropriate, and presents some of the current use cases and technologies for
consideration for the evolution of 5G towards the next G.
From a use case standpoint, 5G Americas has identified early specifications and requirements for
autonomous driving and VR/AR (“virtual reality / augmented reality”) uses. We expect to see continued
growth and demand for these types of applications. Additional technologies such as edge computing,
cloud services, and network virtualization are also already augmenting IMT-2020-based deployments and
will continue to develop as new use cases and higher demands on the network are required. 5G and its
evolution to the next G is a transformational technology working in concert with other enabling technologies
to change the world of connectivity. Moreover, 5G Americas is also seeing the emergence of holographic
communications, imaging and sensing, evolutions of massive IoT (mIoT), smart agriculture, and first
responder services
Executive Summary...........................................................................................................................................5
1. Introduction....................................................................................................................................................7
2. Activities in North America...........................................................................................................................9
2.1 ATIS Call to Action................................................................................................................................10
2.2 Next G Alliance.....................................................................................................................................10
3. Review of Global Activities ...........................................................................................................................13
3.1 China 6G Efforts..................................................................................................................................13
3.2 Japan 6G Efforts..................................................................................................................................13
3.3 European 6G Efforts ...........................................................................................................................14
3.3.1 European Commission.............................................................................................................14
3.3.2 6G Genesis Flagship................................................................................................................14
3.4 Korea Efforts........................................................................................................................................15
3.5 Taiwan Efforts......................................................................................................................................15
4. How will Future Communications Change Beyond the 2020s?................................................................17
4.1 Use Cases ...........................................................................................................................................17
4.1.1 Holographic Communications .................................................................................................20
4.1.2 Tactile/Haptic Communications..............................................................................................20
4.1.3 Ubiquitous Services (Land, Air, Space, Sea) ..........................................................................21
4.1.4 Medical/Health Vertical...........................................................................................................21
4.1.5 Government/National Security................................................................................................22
4.1.6 Use Case: Imaging and Sensing..............................................................................................24
4.1.7 First Responder/Emergency Services ....................................................................................25
4.1.8 Cyber-Physical Systems/Manufacturing.................................................................................26
4.1.9 Transportation Vertical ............................................................................................................27
4.2 Use Case Analysis – Technology Requirements................................................................................28
4.2.1 Very High Bandwidth................................................................................................................28
4.2.2 Very Wide Coverage .................................................................................................................28
4.2.3 Enhanced Reliability ................................................................................................................29
4.2.4 High Density of Endpoints .......................................................................................................29
4.2.5 Synchronization of Multiple Flows to Multiple Devices..........................................................30
4.2.6 Time Sensitive Operations (Bounded Latency and Jitter)......................................................30
4.2.7 Precise Location Tracking ........................................................................................................30
4.2.8 Extremely Low Power and Resource Constrained Devices....................................................30
4.2.9 General Industry Requirements ..............................................................................................31
4.2.10 Summary: Use Cases to Tech Requirements ......................................................................32
5. Technology Enablers for Fulfilling the Vision ..............................................................................................35
5.1 Artificial Intelligence at the Network Edge .........................................................................................35
5.2 AI/ML in the RAN.................................................................................................................................36
5.3 Fully Service Based – Cloud Native Networking and RAN-Core Convergence ................................36
5.4 mmWave and THz Radio Technologies .............................................................................................37
5.5 Communications and Sensing co-design...........................................................................................40
5.6 Spectrum Migration.............................................................................................................................41
6. North American Leadership .........................................................................................................................43
6.1 Goals and Ongoing Activities ..............................................................................................................43
6.2 Public-Private Partnerships ................................................................................................................43
6.3 Standards.............................................................................................................................................44
7. Regulators in North America Help Industry Maintain Leadership ............................................................47
Conclusion and Recommendations.................................................................................................................49
Appendix.............................................................................................................................................................51
Additional Use Cases .................................................................................................................................51
Wireless Networks in Data Centers ..................................................................................................51
Digital Twins........................................................................................................................................51
Telesurgery .........................................................................................................................................52
Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality/Mixed Reality............................................................................52
Massive Scale IoT Networks..............................................................................................................54
Smart Agriculture & Livestock...........................................................................................................54
Acronyms ....................................................................................................................................................56
References..................................................................................................................................................57
Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................................................60
20
发表于 2021-1-7 10:56:32
