The vivo Communications Research institute released its third 6G white paper where they explore the 6G framework and enabling technologies.
The third 6G white paper is titled “Building a Freely Connected Physical and Digital Integrated World: 6G Services, Capabilities and Enabling Technologies”. The industry has been gradually forming a consensus on the services that may be provided by 6G and the key capability indicators that need to be achieved. And vivo Communications Research Institute has been actively contributing to shaping the future of 6G. They provided in-depth analysis and evaluation of 6G business models and drivers, application scenarios, system architecture, and enabling technologies.
“As one of the world’s leading smartphone vendors, we are dedicated to empowering consumers by making cutting-edge 5G smartphones affordable and accessible. At the same time, we have set our sights on the future – 6G. At the forefront of R&D, we continue to explore what a 6G world might look like and what technologies we need to develop to get there.”
Said Qin Fei, President of vivo Communications Research Institute.
vivo’s latest white paper on 6G builds on two earlier works that were released in 2020. First is ‘Digital Life 2040+’, which provides insights into some of the many potential of 6G digital scenarios. And ‘6G Vision, Requirements, and Challenges’, which outlines vivo’s vision for 6G.
Services and Capabilities
The white paper proposes that 6G will provide super communication, information, and converged computing services. This becomes a base for an interconnected and converged physical and digital world. As per the analysis, 6G will converge communication, computation, and sensing in a single system. An integrated 6G network will help create a whole new digital world by not only connecting humans to humans, but also humans to machines and machines to machines.
“6G will allow us to bring the next generation of connectivity into every aspect of people’s lives. It will integrate more access technologies, cover a larger physical space, and provide better core capabilities, supporting more services. By seamlessly connecting industries, transportation, workspace, and homes, 6G will contribute greatly to society – from the democratization of professional talent to the enhancement of emergency and disaster response.”
Said Rakesh Tamrakar, 5G Standard Expert at vivo.
6G will support completely new experiences such as immersive mixed reality and holographic and multi-sensory communication. This expands basic telecom services. Its mobile data connectivity services will also continue to improve in capacity, data rate, latency, reliability, and many other aspects. In turn, this will broaden the range of customers and increase the value of services.
Enabling Technologies
To support the new 6G services and achieve integration of sensing and communication, new network functions need to be introduced. It will converge mobile network and computing, cross-domain data interaction, and native AI network. Thus, it will need a brand-new system architecture design.
Integrating sensing and communication taps into a new area of opportunity in cellular networks. 6G native AI would improve network and air interface efficiency, enhance system flexibility, as well as reduce cost. To support intelligent and basic information services, the introduction of an end-to-end cross-layer data plane is essential. Extremely low-power communication reduces the barrier to terminal access, enabling truly ubiquitous connectivity. Currently, the Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) evolution, Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) technology, and new waveforms are some of the exciting research areas, paving the way towards a more efficient and more flexible network that can support more application scenarios, and offer more advanced sensing functions.
The research and development of 6G technology standards is still in its early stage. And the vivo Communications Research Institute is dedicated to refining 6G scenario use cases and technical indicators. They carry out in-depth research and experimental verification of potential 6G technologies, as well as contributing to the development of a globally unified 6G technology standard.
Established in 2016, the institute focuses on 5G technology research and standardization. They have submitted over 8,000 5G proposals to the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to date. It lead to 15 technical features and three technical projects being approved. Their 6G white paper, “Building a Freely Connected Physical and Digital Integrated World: 6G Services, Capabilities, and Enabling Technologies”, is available for download, link below. You can also watch the livestream on the video embedded below.
Source: Press Release
