Spain gets EU cash to test next gen network, and US 'scrum for 6G' already under way Another European project aims to kick start 6G telecoms technology and help define the scope of this future standard, even as 5G has yet to really deliver on its promise. The ENABLE-6G project is a collaboration between the IMDEA Networks Institute of the Spanish government, Telefónica, NEC, and BluSpecs, a local IT …
Can anyone explain how the futuristic use case scenarios affect the design of the specification?
I can see that video and voice calling means that the various data packets need to arrive consistently in a way that isn't needed for, say, email or web browsing, but once we have a spec that delivers that is there anything to improve beyond reliability bandwidth and latency?
TIA
More devices connected (particularly critical devices like autonomous cars) means there has to be better multiplexing of more signals - more signals overlapping each other without interfering will probably need different modulation schemes. As a minimum, even if it's going to be existing modulation schemes but with greater numbers of modulation depths, those schemes need specifying and codified into standards. Data rates are likely to rise as they always do so there's going to be a greater bandwidth requirement too.
There's an ongoing drive to reduce transmitted power levels, so that will mean more basestations and so the switching between networks and stations becomes more important.
"reliability, bandwidth and latency" all need to improve to meet the future use cases. It's not a simple case of the existing standards being able to meet those future needs.
> particularly critical devices like autonomous cars
They'll sure need to be able to tell you what exciting opportunities you are driving by, while uploading your location and discussions to the manufacturer's marketing servers so the following ads are better targeted to your current mood/needs/location. They also need to constantly check all your car's subscriptions with the manufacturer's license server, to make sure you're still allowed to travel / sit / enjoy a comfortable temperature / see the surroundings / enjoy some entertainment.
All that will require lots of bandwidth...
> More devices connected (particularly critical devices like autonomous cars) means there has to be better multiplexing of more signals - more signals overlapping each other without interfering will probably need different modulation schemes.
But that was obvious when 5G was being drafted, hence this is basically saying 5G isn’t going to deliver against the 5G hype…
> There's an ongoing drive to reduce transmitted power levels…
Doesn’t need 6G, unless there is whizzy novel solution that breaks 4G/5G.
> "reliability, bandwidth and latency" all need to improve to meet the future use cases.
Also nothing here that is specific to 6G, ie. All can be improved without breaking 4G/5G. Remember the big improvement in network latency hasn’t been better “cables” (signals/electrons still travel at the same speed today through the ether as they did in the 1980s), but better/faster silicon in the switches.
Having read the NGMN use case documents, I am under whelmed, particularly as they admit they haven’t done a 5G differentiation ie. Asked the question how can these work over 5G and if not what is novel.
Indeed. Over the course of 2022, while living in France, we enjoyed mobile service (Free Mobile if you must know) that cost us about 20 Euros a month and ran all of our calling, email, data, and even a full-on Zoom based teaching business. We had literally no need for anything else. Now back in Canada we're paying 4 to 5 times as much, and getting significantly less service - especially the paltry data allowance, which means we also pay for home Internet service.
I honestly didn't notice any great jump between 4G and 5G, and seriously doubt that 6G, 7G, or Oh-My-God-We're-Out-Of-Numbers-G service will make any real difference to our lives. A significant price cut would though.
And that, I think, is how I view every new tech development in the last decade - 3D-TV, AI, the Cloud, Slack, anything Google launches - whatever the newest flavour of the month might be. I look at it and ask: is this really a significant improvement on what came before, or just more marketing speak and a leap towards forcing me to dump my existing hardware for something new?
It's not that I don't love and appreciate tech, just that I'm weary of "breakthroughs" that are really just minor upgrades to what already exists.
We initially didn't see any benefit from 4G vs 3G. Later revisions and a more widespread rollout meant we eventually did.
5G will be the same, it it provides more headroom for future improvements that wouldn't be possible on 4G. I'm not rushing out to buy a new 5G phone now, but in a few years time, I likely will.
YMMV. I'm using my 5G connected phone as a hotspot, and download speeds on my connected laptop are excellent, fiber-level excellent.
You don't get that with 4G, and it makes a big difference when traveling: Instead of using some slow and insecure hotel/bar WiFi, you can use your very own, amazingly fast connection. Obviously it only works in some places.
You need to be sure you are comparing like with like.
My, now ancient and retired, Samsung galaxy Ace 4 supported connection speeds the networks didn’t provide as they capped speeds to provide a more equitable sharing of network resources between subscribers. So expect those very high download rates to be capped as 5G gains more subscribers.
Probably, but in this case half as fast would still be enough to download an ISO in under a minute. Also, the vast majority of people will only use it for a normal phone use (watching videos at worst), even if it's free and unlimited (which it usually isn't), there is only so much bandwidth you can use on a phone.
It may not matter where you are but in densely populated areas around the world 5G is already mitigating congestion mostly using sub-6 bands, much more rarely mmWave. In some cities where 5G "seems no better" what this really means is that 4G alone by now would have been much slower due to congestion. In other places maybe only one channel on towers run 5G while 2-4 others remain on 4G for the time being (each tower usually have 3-4 frequencies/bands), so 4G simply have better coverage even in 5G areas - something that will change over time.
And network utilization is only increasing so we need 5G to mitigate that congestion that's increasing in many places.
In Canada one of the channels being rolled out for 5G is 600MHz. It doesn't have a lot of bandwidth but very good range and penetration of buildings. So there will be better coverage, which is important here. 3.5GHz and higher is on the way for bandwidth and I believe Telus is testing mmWave which will only be relevant in very dense areas.
So, think of 5G as a more solid network, with more ability to handle load demands, better spectrum management and provisioning, and in some cases more bandwidth for the individual.
But the purpose of 5G was to provide greater network capacity so that the network could support more users each getting a 4G level of service. Ie. The primary purpose of 5G was to benefit the network operators not the subscribers.
The additional frequency bands that got wrapped up with 5G, aren’t really anything to do with 5G, they could have been supported by 2G, 3G and 4G. However, as you note adding these and the better radio/spectrum management does enable a 5G network to get more out of the available spectrum.
"It's necessary for 6G networks to become more adaptable and intelligent to enable the realization of a future vision that will contend with greater levels of complexity, contextualization, and data traffic while consuming less energy and offering stronger security and privacy measures,"
Hell, mobile companies are about to turn off 3G in England with a number of areas on sketchy 4G coverage at best. They need to stabilise their fucking signal coverage before any more bollocks versions!
Spain is still smarting because Catalunya decided to roll out 5G first... So Spain banned that role out until the whole of Spain was ready.
What Spain will do with 6G will probably revolve around people tracking because that's what Spain likes and if it can squeeze a little Pegasus stuff in there it will.
And if you thought 5G was a power slurper, you'll probably need oven mitts to hold a 6G phone.
5G started rolling out in Catalonia in 2020 and received a GSMA award two months ago. More info here and here.
What is this ban you speak of?
"According to Telefónica, one of the chief objectives is to ensure sufficient privacy protections are built into the architecture, because of more precise mapping and sensing capabilities."
...to hear that at least some people involved are thinking of ground-up security from the initial stages of design. Hope that continues right into the end product.
Nah, that's just marketing talk: Of course, it will be secure, and sustainable, and vegan too... Meanwhile in the real world nobody will pay for security, many will rather lobby for increased traceability, so security will just be an afterthought which will finally get squashed by a number of last-minute technical shortcuts.
"Sorry, but don't worry, 7G will be utterly secure, I promise!"
From some presentations I've seen from major Telco's:
<p>A Fully 4G Network has visualised kit at it's core (and edge) to better allow selling capacity to virtual providers eg Tesco Mobile, GiffGaff etc. and to provide dedicated networks eg to the police.</p>
<p>A Fully 5G Network makes use of containers microservices & K8s to bring further efficiencies scaling up and down capacity as needed even to the extent of powering off capacity when there are very few people around eg cell sites servicing a football stadium.</p>
The different frequency bands aren't exclusively the 'G' the the man on the street typically associates to 3G, 4G, 5G
is what I was supposed to see with 5G - large data connections on my phone no matter where in the country I might be. Further - I want to see an actual full nationwide rollout take place before any new generations are allowed. The only time I actually see any 5G coverage is when I'm downtown in the nearby large city, otherwise I'm still stuck with 4G service. If 5G had been rolled out like the advertising claims, I would no longer have an ISP, I'd be hotspotting off my phone again.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
