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6G Networks & Technology- 6G (sixth-generation wireless) is the successor to 5G cellular technology. 6G networks will be able to use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide substantially higher capacity and much lower latency. One of the goals of the 6G internet will be to support one microsecond-latency communication. This is 1,000 times faster — or 1/1000th the latency — than one-millisecond throughput.
6G Market:
The 6G technology market is expected to facilitate large improvements in imaging, presence technology and location awareness. Working in conjunction with artificial intelligence (AI), the computational infrastructure of 6G will autonomously determine the best location for computing to occur; this includes decisions about data storage, processing, and sharing.
6G internet is expected to launch commercially in 2030. The technology makes greater use of the distributed radio access network (RAN) and the terahertz (THz) spectrum to increase capacity, lower latency, and improve spectrum sharing. While some early discussions have taken place to define 6G, research and development (R&D) activities started in earnest in 2020.
How will 6G networks & technology work?
It’s expected that 6G wireless sensing solutions will selectively use different frequencies to measure absorption and adjust frequencies accordingly. This method is possible because atoms and molecules emit and absorb electromagnetic radiation at characteristic frequencies, and the emission and absorption frequencies are the same for any given substance.
6G will have big implications for many governments and industry approaches to public safety and critical asset protection, such as:
threat detection;
health monitoring;
feature and facial recognition;
decision-making in areas like law enforcement and social credit systems;
air quality measurements; and
gas and toxicity sensing.
Improvements in these fields would also benefit mobile technology, as well as emerging technologies such as smart cities, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
The Real need of 6G:
The sixth generation of cellular networks will integrate a set of previously disparate technologies, including deep learning and big data analytics. The introduction of 5G has paved the way for much of this convergence.
The need to deploy edge computing to ensure overall throughput and low latency for ultra-reliable, low-latency communications solutions is an important driver of 6G. The need to support machine-to-machine communication in the internet of things (IoT) is also a driving force.
Furthermore, a strong relationship has been identified between 6G and high-performance computing (HPC). While edge computing resources will handle some of the IoT and mobile device data, much of it will require more centralized HPC resources to do the processing.
The diagram illustrates some of the capabilities that 6G is expected to provide.
Who is working on 6G technology?
The race to 6G will draw the attention of many industry constituents, including test and measurement vendor Keysight Technologies, which has committed to its development. This may well make the race to reach 5G look minor compared to the wait to see which countries dominate the 6G technology market and its related applications and services.
Future scope of 6G networks
About 10 years ago, the phrase “Beyond 4G (B4G)” was coined to refer to the need to advance the evolution of 4G beyond the LTE standard. It was not clear what 5G might entail, and only pre-standards of R&D level prototypes were in the works at the time. The term B4G lasted for a while, referring to what could be possible and potentially useful beyond 4G. Ironically, the LTE standard is still evolving, and some aspects will be used in 5G.
Similar to B4G, Beyond 5G (B5G) is seen as a path to 6G technologies that will replace fifth-generation capabilities and 5G applications. 5G’s many private wireless implementations involving LTE, 5G and edge computing for enterprise and industrial customers have helped lay the groundwork for 6G.
Next-generation 6G wireless networks will take this one step further. They will create a web of communications providers — many of them self-providers — much in the way that photovoltaic solar power has brought about co-generation within the smart grid.
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