What is 6G?

 

Although the 5G mobile communications standard is still in the early days of its deployment, ideas are starting to come to the fore to consider what the next generation, i.e. 6G mobile communications might look like.

It is perfectly normal to start looking at what 6G technology might include because the technology for 6G will take some while to develop.

If 6G is to be able to meet the needs of the mobile communications when it is launched and for some while afterwards, then it will need to use up to the minute technology - technology which is not available at the moment.

 

However the has been talk that 5G will be the last mobile standard released as such: this will be updated to provide the required performance improvements and in this way it overcomes the huge investment required to launch a completely new system. If this idea catches hold then 6G will not be named as such, but instead it will be a major improvement in 5G performance to meet the needs of the ongoing mobile communications or wireless communications users.

What is 6G mobile communications technology - definition

In terms of a definition of what 6G technology might be, it is probably a little early to give an exact definition.

What can be said is that 6G, or the sixth-generation wireless communications system is the successor to 5G cellular technology. It is anticipated that 6G networks will be able to use higher frequencies than 5G networks and this will enable higher data rates to be achieved and for the 6G network to have a much greater overall capacity. A much lower latency levels will almost certainly be a requirement.

Overall it is expected that 6G mobile technology will be to support one micro-second or even sub-microsecond latency communications, making communications almost instantaneous.

Timescales for 6G

5G started its deployment in 2019, and it is anticipated that it will be the major mobile communications technology up until at least 2030. Initial 6G deployments might start to appear in the 2030 to 2035 timescales, although this is very much a rough estimate.

However these timescales for 6G roughly fall in line with those for previous generations: 1G was available in approximately the 1980s, 2G in the 90s, 3G started deployment around 2003, and 4G initial deployments started in 2008 and 2009, and finally 5G in 2019.

In order that 6G technology is available in time, initial ideas need to start coming together about now.

6G technology developments

There are already a number 6G technology research projects looking into what might be possible and also what might be needed.

The actual format for 6G will depend on how 5G develops and where its shortfalls appear to be. Currently there are many different use cases that have been put forwards and only time will tell what the uptake is and how 5G is used. It is expected that it will be used increasingly for the Internet of Things, IoT, as well as inter-vehicle communications for autonomous vehicles. The way all of this pans out remains to be seen.

If there are shortfalls in 5G, then these can be included in the 6G proposals.

In addition to this, one of the areas that is expected to be a key element of 6G is TeraHerz communications. Using these exceedingly high frequencies, huge bandwidths will become available, although the technology is not available to make this happen.