Part 2 How to develop the 6G mobile

network that people need:Research and Standards

Dr Nigel Jefferies

Chairman, Wireless World Research ForumDirector, Montreal Consulting Ltd

Senior Wireless Consultant, Huawei Technologies

Email: chairman@wwrf.ch

Presentation Outline• This is Part 2 of a two-part webinar

– Mobile telephony has passed through a number of generations since its introduction in Japan in 1979 in thecontext of 1G, the first automatic analogue cellular system

– The majority of mobile phone users around the world are at 4G/5G except in some least developingcountries at 3G

– Each G has occurred in roughly 10 year intervals.

– 6G is on the horizon with standards currently under development.

• Part 1:

– A brief overview of the history of wireless radio communications and in particular the various ‘generations’over the past 40 some years

– WWRF History

– A review of how the standards for the latest generations of mobile telephony are developed today.

• Part 2:

– The ideas behind the global research efforts for 5G and 6G

– How will 6G be standardized?

– 6G is being developed to meet the United Nations 2030 Sustainability Goals

A little about me

What is WWRF?

• Founded in 2001– Through WSI an EU-funded research landscaping project

• Based in Switzerland• Independent and owned by its members• Promoting visions of the wireless future

WWRF Vision

• to encourage global research that will achieve unbounded communications to address key societal challenges for the future

• The term “Wireless World” is used in a broad sense to address the support of innovation and business, social inclusion and infrastructural challenges.

• This will be achieved by creating a range of new technological capabilities from wide-area networks to short-range communications, machine-to-machine communications, sensor networks, wireless broadband access technologies and optical networking, along with increasing intelligence and virtualization in networks.

• This will support a dependable future Internet of people, knowledge and things and the development of a service universe

“G” Waves

• 2G: Mobile for Voice • 3G: Mobile for Visio-phony • 4G: Mobile for Internet• 5G: Mobile for Things • What next!

In 2026 there will be 3.5 billion 5G subscriptions

220m220 million 5G subscriptions expected end of 2020.

>100More than 100 service providers around the world have launched 5G.0

5G subscription uptake expected to be significantly faster than for LTE

40%In 2026, 5G subscriptions will account for around 40 percent of all mobile subscriptions.

80 percent of mobile subscriptions for 5G in North America in 2026

Standardization timelines in 3GPP*From 5G to the foreseen 6G activities

Rel15 Rel16 Rel17 Rel18 Rel19 Rel20 Rel21

4G evo 4G evo 4G evo

5G basiceMBBBasic URLLC

5G evoV2X, NR-U, IIoT/TSN, IAB, positioning

5G evoeMBB, URLLC, mMTC features

5G evoTBD

5G evo...

5G evo5G evo

6G SI 6G WIBasic 6G

6G requirements

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028

WRC

‘27

* dates beyond 2022 are current best guesses not confirmed by 3GPP

“5G Advanced”?

THE TIME JOURNEY for 5G/IMT-2020Detailed specifications for the terrestrial radio interfaces

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Recommendation: Vision of IMT beyond 2020 (M.2083)

Report: IMT feasibility above 6 GHz (M.2376)

Circular Letters & Addendum

Technical performance requirements

(M.2410)

Modifications of Resolutions 56/57

Evaluation criteria & method (M.2412)

Workshop

Proposals IMT-2020

Evaluation

Consensus building

Outcome & decision

IMT-2020 specifications

Requirements, evaluation criteria, & submission templates

(M.2411)

Report: Technology trends

(M.2320)

Background & process

WRC-15 WRC-19

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Definition

Requirements

Evaluation of ProposalsOutcome

(three years) (two years) (one year) (two years)

Initial work started in ITU-R WP5D towards “beyond IMT-2020”

2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028

WRC-23 WRC-27

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2021

Development of a new Recommendation on a Vision of systems beyond IMT-2020

Modifications of Resolutions

56/57 (if needed)

ITU Report FutureTechnology

trends

?

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2029 2030

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Spectrum to be identified to IMT?

Discussion: AI on IMT for WRC-27

?

Foreseen timeline on work towards “IMT-2030”

2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028

Circular Letter (and later addenda)

Inside of ITU

Technical performance requirements

Evaluation criteria & method

Submission templates

Outside of ITU

Technology Proposals for “IMT-2030”

Background & process

WRC-23 WRC-27

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Development of a new Recommendation on a Vision of systems beyond IMT-2020

Modifications of Resolutions

56/57 (if needed)

ITU Report FutureTechnology

trends

?

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2029 2030

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Outside and inside of ITU

Evaluation

Consensus building

Outcome & Decision

“IMT-2030” specifications (including results from WRC-27)

Workshop?

Comparison between 4G and 5G

4 times more Efficient

- By end of Mar. 2021, 14.5 Mn. 5G Subscribers

- 20% of Total Mobile Subs.

- 1 Mn. Increase per months,

- Monthly 5G data consumption per user is 26.5GB , 4 times bigger than 4G LTE

- 2G cdma2000 will be shutdown soon.

5G/B5G Status inKorea

Jan 2020 Mar 2020 May 2020 Jul 2020 Sep 2020 Nov 2020 Jan 2021 Mar 2021

2G 990,837 914,453 861,285 649,024 581,302 535,461 453,372 372,311

3G 7,365,939 7,080,422 6,677,844 6,349,027 6,054,286 5,765,760 5,471,114 5,072,910

4G 55,636,477 55,280,009 55,028,653 54,949,795 54,330,477 53,252,376 51,895,599 51,181,120

5G 4,958,439 5,881,177 6,876,914 7,857,205 9,248,865 10,932,363 12,869,930 14,476,018

total 68,951,692 69,156,061 69,444,696 69,805,051 70,214,930 70,485,960 70,690,015 71,103,359

29,00028,00027,00026,00025,00024,00023,00022,00021,000

20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 20.10 20.11 20.12 21.01 21.02 21.03

Traffic per 5G subscriber (MB)

0

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300,000

400,000

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Total 5G Traffic (TB)

/21/ 2120

Korean 6G R&D Strategy Committee

• MIC started acceptance of applications for new bands of local 5G from December 2020.

ApplicantsThe number of applicants

4.6-4.9 GHz 28.2-29.1GHz

Manufacturers 7 9

TVStations (CableTV)

9 7

Communication Carriers

5 4

Consultant 0 1University 1 2

Municipalities 3 2Total 25 25

As of December 24, 2020

5G/B5G Status in Japan: Local 5G

Applications

ApplicantsThe number of applicants

4.6-4.9 GHz 28.2-29.1GHzManufacturers 12 11

TVStations (Cable TV)

9 8

Communication Carriers 5 5

ConsultantTrading company

FinancialInstitution

2 1

University 2 3Municipalities 4 2

Total 34 30

As of April 19, 2021

5G/B5G Status in Japan: B5G PromotionConsortium

Beyond 5G Promotion Consortium was established on 18 Dec. 2020 , as Industry- Academia-Government Collaboration Platform(Will Organize Global Conference)

Beyond 5G Promotion System

Domestic and Global Societies, Univ,

Domestic and Global Organizations

Support

Beyond 5G Promotion TF(Multiple Dept. in MIC)

Collaboration, Alliance

Promotion Forum（5GMF）

ExistingBeyond 5G Promotion Consortium

·Professor, etc.• Industries• R&D organizations etc.

·Officials ·5GMF·Public Organizations, etc.

Individual Member Special memberCollaboration

General AssemblyCh: Prof. Konokami, President, Univ. of Tokyo, 8 VCs from CEOs

International CommitteeCh: Prof. Nakao, Univ. of Tokyo

Beyond 5G Promotion Information gathering, dissemination, etc.

Collaboration

Collaboration 5G Mobile

New

Planning & Strategy CommitteeCh: Prof. Morikawa, Univ. of TokyoBeyond 5G Promotion Strategy, White papers, etc.

B5G WP WGCh: Nakamura (DoCoMo)

Regular member

Beyond 5G New Business Strategy Center(IPR, Standard Strategy etc.Will be established) Co Ch.:Prof. Morikawa,Univ. of TokyoProf. Yanagawa, Univ. of Tokyo VC: Prof. Harada, Kyoto Univ.

Will be soonBeyond 5G R&D

Promotion Platform(Test bed, R&D support)

5G/B5G Status in China: IMT-2030Promotion Committee

Economy and Society WG is newly established.

5G/B5G Status in Taiwan:Private 5G

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5G Spectrum Auction Results21/02/2020 Taiwan 5G auction

raises TWD138 billion (4.9 Bn. US$)

Spectrum Released: 3.3-3.57 GHz, 27.5-29.5 GHz

20% Coverage by the end of 2021, mainly in 6 metropolitan areas and hot spots in other cities

- 5G Program Office under Dept. of ICT in Ministry of Economic Affairsrenamed as 6G Program Office on End of 2020

-Conducting several EU-Taiwan Joint R&D projects for 5G and B5G

‘Advance North American global leadership over the 5G evolutionary path and 6G early development’

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Does not critically look at the ground reality of developing regions

Rural Connectivity thinking in 3GPP

Models a high-speed vehicle passing through non-urban areas, Driverless Vehicles& Critical Surgeries by Robots - Very futurisitic and away from ground reality ofrural and remote areas.

Engrossed in solving the future problem of urban connectivity and not theimmediate problem of rural Connectivity.

Rural Broadband Connectivity – Main Characteristics

Low Income – Low

Affordability

Populations in small

clusters with vast open areas in between

Difficult Terrain

High Capital Expenditure

Relatively Smaller

Population Density

Unreliable Grid Power Availability

Challenges in Connecting Rural India

Low Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) - Affordability

Unavailability of reliable high speed Backhaul

Unreliable Availability of Grid Power

Rethinking 5G Requirements for Rural

Low Cost Solutions Low Device Costs

• Simpler Hardware and RF Design reducing the device costs –make locally

Low cost Connectivity / backhaul solutions• Using wireless backhaul/ middle mile in complementation of fiber

Lower spectrum cost• Using network sharing options to share spectrum across Radio

Access• More licence-exempt spectrum (5Ghz, 6 Ghz,60 Ghz)

Limited mobility support Mobility is required but not at super high speed Fixed/ Nomadic primary broadband access is the key

Technology Trends• AI-assisted new air interfaces• Integrated sensing and communication• Spectrum-sharing technologies• Zero-energy IoT• Energy-efficient base stations• New multiple-access schemes• Advanced antenna techniques (MIMO – massive, extreme,

cell-less, AI-assisted, backhaul/access integration)• Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces• Frequency selective surfaces (FSS) based on metamaterials• Intelligent RAN slicing

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what does it take to be the next Wireless Frontier ?

Ambitious but tangible vision translated into well-defined use cases, challenges and KPIs

HW+SW, system integration, impairments,real-time processing, reliability

Channel/interference/systemmodels, network informationtheory, waveform design

THz communications network use cases and architecture

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Re-thinking wireless fundamentals

Path loss, extreme bandwidths and simplified THz channel model

Environmental and weather parameters impact

Distance-dependent bandwidth, information and communication theory metrics

Pencil-beam wireless fundamentals

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Re-thinking wireless design

Misalignment and blockage-aware wireless access algorithms

Pencil-beam based Air Interface, Initial Access, MAC, multiple access, RRM

Caching for latency and load balancing improvements

Are we there yet?THz major challenges tackled?

• Does addressing THz particularities make THz the next wireless frontier?

• Sufficient to ‘define’ communications in 2030+?

• Is a THz communications network a qualifying system concept or just another technology enabler?

• Shall we look for help in the applications domain and/or call math and physics to the rescue?

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Distance and frequency dependent performance

Long range connectivity

Pencil-beam based PHY, MAC, wireless access

Co-design of signals and protocols

Co-design of wireless and optical

HW impairments and constraints

Real-time processing Agility

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what does it really take to be the next WirelessFrontier?

Re-thinking fundamentalsBeyond Shannon

Technology breakthrough integrationReconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

Next Wireless Frontier

INTELLIGENCE

Novel System Concept

AI and RIS BASED 6G vision:use case and network architecture

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Beyond Shannon Communication Theory

37Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.09352

By jointly optimizing the transmitter, thereceiver, and the environment, the channelcapacity of a point-to-point wirelesscommunication system can be further improved.

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

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RIS can introduce an intelligent filter offering: Power transfer / relaying Reliable NLoS (indirect link) Interference mitigation Diversity Beamforming (any filter ‘synthesized’ by the surface EM functionalities)

AI/ML could potentially ‘engineer’ the INTELLIGENCE in THz networks

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Examples include:- Channel modeling Estimating channel parameters Profiling adverse effects of weather on channels

- Beamforming and tracking- Modeling RIS behavior, artificially intelligent metasurfaces- Network optimization Resource allocation or route finding/scheduling Placement of radio network components Optimizing with and without RIS (for indoor beamforming cases). Artificial

IntelligenceMachine

Learning

Deep Learning

Data Scienceincl. Data Prep

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Intelligent THz Communications: the next Wireless Frontier

Re-thinking fundamentalsBeyond Shannon

Technology breakthrough integrationReconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

Next Wireless Frontier

INTELLIGENCE

Novel System Concept

HAPS: High Altitude Platform Station (High Altitude Pseudo Satellite)

Article 1.66A of ITU’s Radio Regulations: “A station on an object at an altitude of 20 to 50 km and at a specified, nominal, fixed point relative to the Earth".

Zephry (Airbus)

Stratobus (Thales)Loon (Alphabet)

• Strong interest in ITU since 1990s HAPS spectrum allocations: WRC 1997, …, WRC 2019

• High profile projects and prototypes: Loon (Google, 2001–2021) Stratobus (Thales), Zephyr

(Airbus) Sunglider (HAPSMobile | SoftBank)SPL + Cambridge Consultants (Deutsche Telekom)

• HAPS Alliance (telecom + aerospace)

HAPS: A Concept Whose Time is Coming

• Scalable; no big upfront investment; can start with 1 HAPS, no need for 1000s of LEOs • Easy to launch (just an open field)• Deploy wherever necessary

• Evolutionary; logical next level in multi-tier (V)HetNets, easy integration• Owned by MNO, same/similar eco-system• xG cellular air-interface (no need for dedicated air-interface)

• Geostationary• No tracking on the ground• No networking concerns (handoff, routing, addressing difficulties)

• Closer to earth• Low latency• Low pathloss: Direct link to UE• Outdoors and indoors• mmWave up to 100 GHz (high rates)

• Legislation-friendly; no data privacy concerns• No international agreements, regularity barriers, spectrum rights

HAPS Advantages

“UFO on a stick”Starlink user dish

State of the Art: Cambridge Consultants + SPL (Deutsche Telekom)

480 individually steerable beams

Capacity > 100 Gbps

Target: 2024

Satellite – HAPS Integration: Best of Both Worlds

• No of cities with population 1M+ (2030): ~700

• Complement 10,000 LEOswith 1,000 HAPS

• Reach out to 2B people in metro areas ($$$)

• Mature technology will also help rural & remote

So this may be 6G?

Driving forces for future technology

... at an affordable cost

TrustworthinessTrusted communication and computing for

industry and society relying on critical information

Application demandsXR/VR, gaming, smart sensors,

internet-of-sense, digital twins, …

“Limitless connectivity"

Simplified lifeMassive use of data & AI across systems

Communicating intelligent machines further stretching the demands

A sustainable worldCommunication and networking as an enabler

for a sustainable society

Coming to Canada Next Year!

Also featuring a workshop in Thunder Bay on implementing health services in remote and rural regions

Thanks for your attention!

• Any further questions?– Happy to discuss now, or– Check our website at www.wwrf.ch– Contact me at chairman@wwrf.ch

• Thanks to all contributors, including– Dr Hyeong-Woo Lee, Dangkook U– Vino Vinodrai– Angela Alexiou, U Piraeus– Halim Yanikomeroglu, U Ottawa– Hakan Ohlson, Ericsson– And many more!