As you would expect, even as 5G standards were being finalized there were already private and academic research labs working on what will come next. So far, some of the vision for 6G includes concepts like:
- Use of higher frequencies between 100 GHz and 1 THz, introducing the world to the idea of terahertz spectrum. The upper end of this range lies between radio waves and infrared light. The FCC just approved research above 95 GHz.
- Researches believe this next generation wireless will be needed to finally enable 3D holograms needed for lifelike telepresence.
- The higher frequencies would also allow for densification and for the simultaneous transmission of multiple large-bandwidth transmissions. Researchers already believe that with the higher frequencies that the capacity of a wireless network could be as much as 1,000 times that of 5G – but even 10 times faster would be a major breakthrough.
- Scientists anticipate within a decade that we’ll have advanced far enough with artificial intelligence to enable AI-powered routing that will choose the best path in real time for each packet and will significantly decrease latency.
- Various researchers from Brown University and universities in Australia have said that 5G will be inadequate to satisfy our future needs for both bandwidth and for the overall number of IoT connections. One of the goals of 6G will be to increase the number of connected devices from a given transmitter by one to two magnitudes.
The higher frequencies will allow for even faster data transmission, as much as 10 times faster than the gigabit speeds envisioned for point-to-multipoint 5G using millimeter wave radios.
There are a number of issues to be overcome with the higher frequencies, the primary being that radio waves at those frequencies won’t pass through any barrier. However, scientists already think there might be strategies for bouncing the waves around obstacles.
The other shortcoming of the frequencies is the short distances before the signal dissipates. This is likely to limit the higher frequencies to indoor use allowing for indoor wireless networks with speeds as fast as 10 Gbps.
Interestingly, researchers in China say that this vision of 6G is the end of the line in terms of major platform upgrades and that there will never be a 7G. After 6G the goal over time will be to improve the performance of the various aspects of the technologies involved. Apparently, the Chinese have never met any AT&T and Verizon marketing staff.
Many of the group researching these topics are already talking about having a 6G set of standards by 2030. But there is a lot of research to be done including fundamental steps like developing chips capable of handling the higher speeds. We also will hit regulatory barriers – governments all regulate the use of radio waves, but it might be harder to regulate the use of the light-like frequencies at the base of the infrared spectrum.