The Vision for 6G: Merging the Digital and Physical Worlds
6G is the name for the sixth generation of cellular networks, which is expected to deliver truly omnipresent wireless intelligence and become available in the early 2030s. The vision for 6G is built on the desire to create a seamless reality where the digital and physical worlds have merged, providing new ways of meeting and interacting with people, new possibilities for work, and new experiences.
By delivering ever-present intelligent communication, 6G will contribute to the creation of a more human-friendly, sustainable, and efficient society. 6G will make it possible to move freely in the cyber-physical continuum between the connected physical world of senses, actions, and experiences and its programmable digital representation. This includes the metaverse as well as a much closer link to reality, where digital objects can be projected onto physical objects, seamlessly coexisting as merged reality and enhancing the real world.
Future networks will be a fundamental component for the functioning of virtually all parts of life, society, and industries, fulfilling the communication needs of humans as well as intelligent machines. As accelerating automation and digitalization continue to simplify people’s lives, the emerging cyber-physical continuum will continuously improve efficiency and ensure the sustainable use of resources.
The Role of Sensor Networks in the 6G Era
Countless sensors will be embedded in the physical world to send data to update the digital representation in real-time. Meanwhile, functions programmed in the digital representation will be carried out by actuators in the physical world. The purpose of the 6G network platform is to provide intelligence, ever-present connectivity, and full synchronization to this emerging reality.
The Internet of Senses scenario in 6G will deliver the full telepresence experience, removing distance as a barrier to interaction. Extended reality (XR) technology with human-grade sensory feedback will require high data rates and capacity, spatial mapping with precise positioning and sensing, and low-latency end-to-end with edge cloud processing.
One example will be the ubiquitous use of mixed reality in public transport, offering separate virtual experiences for each passenger, enabling them to run virtual errands, get XR guidance, and have games overlaid on the physical world. Personal immersive devices capable of precise body interaction will allow access to experiences and actions far away to better support human communication needs.
Sensor networks will play a crucial role in the 6G era, providing the necessary data to update the digital representation of the physical world in real-time. This synchronization between the digital and physical realms will enable a wide range of innovative applications, from smart cities and connected autonomous vehicles to precision healthcare and digital twin technologies.
Advancing Sensor Network Capabilities for 6G
As 6G networks are expected to support new types of intelligent entities, such as AI-powered machines that need to communicate and solve problems without human involvement, sensor networks must evolve to meet these demands. Devices, sensors, actuators, and context-aware applications will make our digital experiences richer, involving all our senses and ultimately merging the digital and physical worlds.
Key areas of development for sensor networks in the 6G era include:
1. Extreme Performance and Coverage: 6G networks are expected to deliver much faster speeds than today’s 5G networks, with the capability to provide several hundred gigabits per second (Gbps) and end-to-end sub-millisecond (ms) latency in specific scenarios. This will require access to new spectrum bands in the sub-terahertz (sub-THz) and centimeter wave (cmWave) range, in addition to the reuse of today’s 5G mid-bands.
2. Enhanced Connectivity: 6G networks will need to serve an exponentially growing traffic demand in a cost-efficient way, with higher spectral efficiency, access to additional spectrum, and the ability to deploy very dense networks while ensuring overall cost-effectiveness for both users and service providers.
3. Improved Adaptability and Programmability: 6G networks will require enhanced adaptability and programmability to support a vast range of new and evolving services, with capabilities that go beyond classic measures like data rates and latency, including qualitative attributes like resilience, security, and energy efficiency.
4. Trustworthy and Secure Systems: As wireless networks become increasingly critical infrastructure, 6G networks must offer robust resistance against deliberate malicious attacks and be able to provide service when part of the infrastructure is disabled due to natural disasters or local disturbances. Leveraging new confidential computing technologies and improved security identities and protocols will be crucial.
5. Cognitive Capabilities: 6G networks will need the capabilities of dependable compute and AI integration, enabling distributed applications and network functions to be swiftly developed and deployed, with performance guarantees for data and compute acceleration delivered throughout the network.
6. Integrated Sensing and Communication: 6G networks will need to use radio resources efficiently for both communication and sensing, with scalable mechanisms for distributing the results, AI-based interpretation, and security mechanisms to ensure the privacy of the information.
To meet these evolving demands, sensor network technologies will need to advance in areas such as zero-energy sensors and actuators, next-generation AR glasses and haptics, and advanced edge computing and spatial mapping capabilities. The integration of these technologies within the 6G network platform will be crucial for realizing the vision of a fully digitalized and programmable physical world.
Sensor Network Security and Energy Management in the 6G Era
As sensor networks become more prevalent and critical to the functioning of society, their security and energy efficiency will be paramount concerns in the 6G era.
Security: 6G networks must be able to provide service when part of the infrastructure is disabled due to natural disasters, local disturbances, or deliberate malicious attacks. They must also offer robust resistance against such attacks and leverage new confidential computing technologies, improved security identities, and end-to-end assurance protocols.
Additionally, the expansion of open interfaces, API, and open-source network functions from the core to the radio access network (RAN), combined with the virtualization of network functions and their interconnections into cloud and edge computing, will require a different approach to authentication and authorization. The network’s awareness of the applications in use will also drive an unprecedented ability to track individuals’ locations and behaviors, necessitating robust privacy and data ownership mechanisms.
Energy Management: The expected massive increase in traffic must not lead to a corresponding increase in energy usage. 6G networks will need to achieve high energy performance, with energy usage close to zero when there is no traffic within a node. Advancements in areas such as power-efficient hardware, intelligent power management algorithms, and renewable energy integration will be crucial to ensuring the sustainability of 6G sensor networks.
Maintaining the security and energy efficiency of sensor networks in the 6G era will require close collaboration between industry, academia, and policymakers to develop the necessary standards, guidelines, and regulatory frameworks. Proactive measures, such as the integration of privacy-enhancing technologies and energy-efficient network architectures, will be essential to realizing the full potential of sensor networks in the 6G ecosystem.
The Path from 5G to 6G: Evolutionary and Revolutionary Advancements
The evolution from 5G to 6G will build on the strengths of 5G, but it will also provide entirely new technology solutions. Around 2030 is a reasonable timeframe to expect the very first 6G networks to appear, by which time society will have been shaped by 5G for 10 years, with lessons learned from 5G deployment and new needs and services emerging.
Even with the built-in flexibility of 5G, there will be a need for expanding into new capabilities that must be addressed for the 6G era. This calls for further evolution, following the pull from society’s needs and the push from more advanced technological tools becoming available.
5G Evolution to 5G Advanced: The 5G New Radio (NR) and 5G Core (5GC) evolution is continuing in 3GPP toward 5G Advanced, ensuring the success of 5G systems globally and expanding the usage of 3GPP technology by supporting different use cases and verticals. Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) will play an important role in 5G Advanced systems, in addition to other technology components, to provide support for extended reality (XR), reduced capability (RedCap) devices, and network energy efficiency.
Transitioning to 6G: While 5G Advanced will serve as an important stepping-stone, 6G networks will need to enable higher achievable data rates and lower latency in all relevant scenarios, including the possibility to provide several hundred Gbps and end-to-end sub-millisecond latency. Additionally, 6G networks should be able to serve an exponentially growing traffic demand in a cost-efficient way, with higher spectral efficiency, access to additional spectrum, and the ability to deploy very dense networks.
Other key requirements for 6G include continuing the expansion of wireless communication toward full global coverage, supporting a dramatically higher number of devices, ensuring overall cost-effectiveness, and achieving high network energy performance to avoid a corresponding increase in energy usage with the expected massive traffic growth.
The core elements of 6G will form one seamless system with all the capabilities necessary to empower the vision of ever-present intelligent communication connecting a cyber-physical world. With a foundation of trustworthy systems and a highly efficient compute fabric with built-in cognition capacities, the networks of the future will deliver limitless connectivity for upcoming applications and services, making 6G a broad platform for innovation and the information backbone of society.
Conclusion: Sensor Networks Shaping the 6G Landscape
Sensor networks will be a crucial component of the 6G ecosystem, providing the necessary data and intelligence to enable the seamless integration of the digital and physical worlds. The advancements in sensor network capabilities, including extreme performance, enhanced connectivity, improved adaptability, trustworthy security, and cognitive capabilities, will be essential for realizing the full potential of 6G networks.
As sensor networks become more prevalent and critical to the functioning of society, their security and energy efficiency will be paramount concerns in the 6G era. Collaborative efforts between industry, academia, and policymakers will be necessary to develop the standards, guidelines, and regulatory frameworks required to ensure the safe and sustainable operation of sensor networks in the 6G landscape.
The transition from 5G to 6G will build on the strengths of previous generations while introducing entirely new technology solutions. By understanding the evolving requirements and the path forward, sensor network developers and IoT practitioners can position themselves to play a vital role in shaping the future of connectivity and transforming the way we interact with the world around us.