What should 6G be?

Abstract

As the standardization of fifth generation (5G) communications has been completed, and the 5G network will be commercially launched in 2020, the research visioning and planning of sixth generation (6G) communications are being initiated. 6G communications are expected to be the next focus in wireless communication and networking and aim to provide remarkable communication services to meet the future demands in the 2030s. We believe that the human-centric mobile communications will still be the most important application of 6G and 6G network should be human-centric. Following this rationale, high security, secrecy, and privacy are the all-important features of 6G, which shall be paid special attention from the wireless research community. To promote the research and the human-centric design ideology for 6G communications, we imagine in this article a comprehensive and systematic framework of 6G with five slices, key features, and enabling technologies. Furthermore, we briefly discuss the issues of 6G beyond communication technologies. Overall, the article aims to provide an envisioned picture of 6G and serve as a research guideline in the post-5G era.To promote this research and design ideology for 6G communications, we imagine a comprehensive and systematic framework of 6G in this article. Specifically, we first anticipate the potential application scenarios of 6G and propose five supporting slices in 6G. Following that, we summarize the key features of 6G with enabling communication technologies. Furthermore, we also briefly discuss issues beyond the communication technologies that might significantly affect the research and deployment of 6G in the 2030s. Overall, we aim to write this article to provide an envisioned picture of 6G and introduce it as a research guideline in the post-5G era. I. BACKGROUNDBefore detailing our own thoughts, we first present the background to justify our motives, which covers the retrospect of the network evolution from 1G to 4G, the 5G status quo, and the current research progress towards 6G. A. Brief Retrospect of the Network Evolution from 1G to 4GWireless communication stems from Marconi's pioneering demonstration of wireless telegraphy in the nineteenth century and was theoretically constructed based on information theory formed by Shannon in 1948. In the 1980s, the 1G analogue wireless cellular network was in use to allow mobile communications of voice, which was then replaced by the 2G digital cellular network in the early 1990s. Because of digitalization, 2G was capable of providing encrypted services and data services in addition to the traditional voice services, e.g., short messaging service (SMS). Walking into the twenty-first century, 3G, represented by wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA2000, time-division synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA), and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), enabled various data services, including Internet access, video calls, and mobile television [8]. In 4G/Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks initialized in 2009, multiple-input and multip...

Evaluating Sensitivity and Stability in Secure Deep Learning Based Channel Estimation for NextG Networks with Defensive Distillation

“…Furthermore, various research groups within the wireless research community have addressed the significant security concerns associated with AI-based algorithms, particularly model poisoning [15], [16]. Moreover, [17] and [18] conducted an extensive examination of NextG wireless networks, exploring opportunities and addressing security and privacy challenges, along with suggesting solutions.…”

Telemedicine and Smart Healthcare—The Role of Artificial Intelligence, 5G, Cloud Services, and Other Enabling Technologies

“…Based on the above applications scenarios, and as analyzed in [65], we anticipate five application scenarios supported by 6G communications: enhanced mobile broadband plus, big communications, secure ultra-reliable low latency communications, three-dimensional integrated communications, and unconventional data communications.…”

Prospect Theory for Human-Centric Communications

“…On the other hand, due to the rapid emergence of end-user controllable and programmable devices in communication networks, quality of experience (QoE) and user experience (UE) have increasingly attracted researchers' attention in both academia and industry in recent years [1]- [5]. Furthermore, the development of human-centric communications in the 6G network requires not only technological factors but also UE to be considered when modeling, analyzing, and optimizing communication systems [6]. This paradigm shift necessitates the interdisciplinary collaboration among telecommunications, economics, and psychology.…”