6G - New mobile generation for digital transformation

What is 6G?

6G (6th Generation Mobile Technology) is the next generation of mobile technology after 5G. 6G network technology currently has no clear definition and has not been approved by international organizations to become official mobile technology. However, many countries and organizations around the world have planned to invest and research this new technology.

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The future 6G network will be an extremely intelligent mobile network, integrating mobile and satellite technology to create widespread coverage around the world. The 6G network will use new frequency bands, especially the sub-Terahertz (THz) band with frequencies from 100 GHz to 300 GHz and the THz band with frequencies from 300 GHz to 3 THz to provide extremely high speeds, up to 1 Tegabit/second (Tbps), which is about 100 times higher than the current 5G network speed; extremely low latency, microseconds, which is about 1,000 times lower than the latency of the 5G network.

The goal of the 6G network is to solve the limitations of the 5G network, aiming at the ability to connect space - atmosphere - ground - undersea. The four main directions of connectivity being researched are: Intelligent Connectivity, Deep Connectivity, Holographic Connectivity and Ubiquitous Connectivity. Currently, there are many potential technologies, including future technologies being considered for inclusion in the 6G network such as quantum communications, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), low-orbit satellites (LEO), etc. Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data analysis are also included in supporting the 6G network to ensure network quality of service (QoS) goals.

The 6G technology market is expected to facilitate major improvements in imaging, presence technology, and precise location recognition. Combined with AI technology, 6G computing infrastructure will be able to determine the best place to perform computing, including making decisions about data storage, processing, and sharing.

Key features of 6G technology

As mentioned above, the future 6G network will operate by using high-band radio frequency spectrums such as sub-THz and THz bands to provide users with extremely high data speeds and completely new applications that current 5G mobile technology cannot achieve.

Accordingly, 6G services will have three important new development trends, including the trend of integrating people into a new world (completely virtual world) and then people will almost no longer be aware of the real world around them (immersive trend in the virtual world); smart networks and global coverage along with business application scenarios, including cloud-based extended reality (XR), 3D virtual communication, sensory connection, smart interactive communication, digital copies and global coverage.

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Services based on the trend of integration can be widely applied in fields such as entertainment, medical care, health and industrial manufacturing to support digital transformation and upgrading of industries.

Additionally, the use of orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technology will enable 6G access points to serve more mobile devices simultaneously than 5G networks. Additionally, 6G's higher frequencies will allow for much faster sampling rates than 5G networks.

Some of the features of 6G networks mentioned include:

- Data speed: Download speeds in 6G networks are expected to be no less than 100 gigabits per second (Gbps), which is 10 times faster than the (theoretical) download speeds of 5G networks and 300 times faster than the download speeds that the most advanced 4G networks today can provide.

- Frequency used: It is expected that the frequency spectrum used for future 6G networks will be bands above 100 GHz, which is much higher than the bands that 5G networks are using (mainly in the 2.6 GHz, 3.5 GHz, 26 GHz, 28 GHz and 39 GHz bands).

- Latency: Besides data speed, network latency is an important factor for better user experiences, with latency in 6G networks proposed to be less than 1ms or even just a few microseconds.

- Connection density: The strength of the Internet of Things (IoT) is determined by the number of connected devices and sensors. According to the forecast of the German consumer data and market research company Statista, by 2025, there will be 31 billion connected IoT devices globally, compared to 12 to 13 billion IoT devices today. With the increasing number of IoT devices, the challenge of connection density is getting bigger. And with the advent of the 6G network, it is expected to overcome the above challenges by allowing 10 million connected devices per km², a 10-fold increase compared to the connection density of the current 5G network.

- Energy consumption: Energy efficiency is one of the main challenges of the telecommunications industry. For 6G networks, researchers have set a target of reducing its energy consumption to less than 1 nanojoule/bit, which is considered very low energy consumption compared to currently operating 4G and 5G networks.

6G technology research situation of countries around the world

USA

To promote North American and global leadership in 6G mobile technology over the next decade, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) of the United States proposed the Next G Alliance initiative in October 2020. The Next G Alliance includes 45 information and communications technology companies in the fields of infrastructure, semiconductors, equipment suppliers, mobile operators and other organizations, including those in the research field.

The founding companies of the alliance include Apple, Google, Cisco, AT&T, Bell Canada, Ericsson, Facebook, Microsoft, Nokia, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., Samsung, T-Mobile, Verizon, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, LG Electronics, VMware. The goal of the Next G Alliance is to promote development throughout the entire technology lifecycle from research and development, production, standardization to commercialization of 6G technology.

France

The French Institute for Research in Electronics and Information Technology (CEA-Leti) has announced a new 6G research project called RISE-6G by the European Union on next-generation mobile connectivity.

With an expected duration of 3 years, the RISE-6G project will be piloted by CEA-Leti. The consortium consists of 13 partners from 7 countries representing the academic, research and industrial sectors. Some of the partners include NEC, Orange, Telecom Italia, Greenerwave, SNCF and Centro Ricerche Fiat.

Virtue

The German government plans to provide up to 700 million euros in funding for 6G technology research by 2025 and launch Germany's first research initiative on 6G technology in April 2021.

The research project will be carried out from the development, setup and testing phase in the laboratory to the rapid transfer of 6G technology into innovative products. In the first phase, 6G research centers will be established, with the aim of strengthening cooperation with research institutes and universities in the field of 6G.

Finland

In 2019, Indian digital transformation, consulting and corporate restructuring services and solutions provider Tech Mahindra signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Business Finland, a government agency of Finland, to conduct research and development on 5G and 6G technologies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Tech Mahindra will set up an innovation lab in Finland to promote the development, piloting and deployment of cutting-edge digital products and services in the 5G and 6G space.

In 2019, Finland's Oulu University of Technology also published the world's first 6G White Paper, which outlined the key drivers, research requirements, and challenges for the technology.

United Kingdom

In July 2022, the UK Government announced that it would provide investments of up to £25 million to fund research and development of future 5G and 6G network equipment. This investment will be allocated to universities, research centers and companies to promote the development of the UK's telecommunications network in general and new generation mobile networks such as 5G and 6G in particular.

Korea

South Korea has begun preparing for 6G technology in full swing. In August 2020, Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun finalized the government's strategy to promote research and development (R&D) for the future mobile telecommunications sector. To implement this plan, the government will invest 200 billion won (nearly 182 million USD) over five years from 2021 for 6G technology R&D. The Korean government expects 6G services to be commercially available in Korea between 2028 and 2030.

South Korea's leading electronics company Samsung has also outlined its vision for the 6G mobile generation. Samsung's vision for 6G is to bring next-generation hyper-connected experiences to every corner of life. To accelerate research for 6G, Samsung Research established the Advanced Communications Research Center in mid-2019.

Japan

In Japan, discussions on 6G began in early 2020. To realize the goal of developing and commercializing 6G technology, the Japanese government will invest 50 billion yen (about 482 million USD) to promote R&D of this new technology. The goal set by the Japanese government is to develop core network technologies for 6G systems by 2025 and commercially deploy this technology by 2030.

China

According to an announcement by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, in November 2019, the Chinese government established a national 6G research and development task force and expert group to promote the development of 6G technology.

And in May 2020, telecommunications equipment supplier ZTE Corporation and mobile operator China Unicom signed a strategic cooperation agreement on 6G. Accordingly, ZTE and China Unicom will carry out cooperation on 6G technology and standard innovation and actively promote the in-depth integration of 6G with satellite networks, the Internet of Things (IoT), the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) and the Industrial Internet (IIoT).

China's leading telecommunications equipment supplier Huawei has also embarked on 6G research and is studying the basic theories of 6G, including research on new air interface technologies, new network architectures, and possible technologies that can be used in 6G networks. Huawei is working to build consensus on 6G by collaborating with other companies in the telecommunications industry.

Singapore

The Singapore government has invested in the Future Communications Research & Development Programme worth 49.7 million USD to promote research and testing of new future technologies, including 6G. Accordingly, in September 2022, the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) collaborated with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) to launch the first 6G technology research and development (R&D) laboratory in Southeast Asia.

Europe

To promote 6G research and development, the European Commission (EC) has also built a project called Hexa-X. This is considered the EC's leading project in the overall research and development of 6G technology, led by Finnish telecommunications equipment supplier Nokia.

The project objectives include creating unique 6G use cases and scenarios, developing fundamental 6G technologies, and defining a new architecture for a smart fabric that integrates 6G technology-enabled elements.

The Hexa-X project has been funded by the European Commission under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. In addition to Nokia, the project also involves leading European technology companies and mobile operators such as Ericsson, Atos, Intel, Orange, Siemens, TIM and Telefonica.

In our country, on January 7, 2022, the Minister of Information and Communications signed and issued Decision No. 12/QD-BTTTT on the establishment of the Steering Committee to promote research and development of 6G mobile information technology. Accordingly, the task of the Steering Committee is to research and propose to competent authorities on policies, strategies, mechanisms, and policies to create a legal environment, promote research and development on standards, applications, information security, production and commercialization of 6G mobile information equipment and services in Vietnam.

Research contributes to the activities of international organizations in research and development of 6G mobile information technology standards on the basis of supporting and facilitating the production of equipment and commercial deployment of 6G mobile information services by Vietnamese enterprises.

Monitor and synthesize the research and development situation on standards, production and commercialization of 6G mobile information equipment and services of international organizations and advanced countries in the world; combine research and forecast development trends of domestic and international telecommunications markets. On that basis, propose a roadmap for research, production and commercialization of 6G equipment, a roadmap for testing and commercialization of 6G services; solutions to support Vietnamese enterprises in the production and commercialization of 6G equipment and services.

Phan Van Hoa