MWC observes that 6G cannot support the future of mobile communications

Visual China.

Text |leitech

In recent years, 5G has spread rapidly in China, and most mobile phone users have experienced faster mobile networks than in the past. As for the future evolution direction of 5G and 6G technology, it is naturally a hot spot at MWC24, with operators and equipment manufacturers from all over the world bringing their own technologies and solutions. Now, let's sense the future in advance.

5G-A, in fact, is the abbreviation of 5G-Advanced, also known as 55g。5G-A is not a new concept, it can be seen from the literal meaning that it is "the evolved version of 5G". According to the standards set by 3GPP, the 5G technology we are using now is in the R17 stage. 5G-A, on the other hand, will enter the second phase of 5G and will meet standards such as R18, R19, and R20. If nothing else, in 2024, the R18 standard will be finalized, becoming the first year of commercialization of 5G-A.

So, since it is an evolved version of 5G, what improvements will 5G-A bring?

Let's first take a look at what operator giant China Mobile has to say.

China Mobile is an important exhibitor at MWC24, and at the 5G-A booth, it proposed the "six-sided capabilities" of 5G-A: immersive communication, integrated synaesthesia, deterministic network, intelligent and lightweight, integrated space and earth, and integrated computing and intelligence. To be honest, these terms are a bit too obscure for the average person, but if we combine them with the actual scene, it is easier to understand.

Source: Produced by Lei Technology's on-site reporting team).

For example, "Intent-Driven and Lightweight" refers to RedCap technology, which can be regarded as a simplified version of 5G, which is mainly used in IoT devices, which can greatly reduce the cost of 5G terminals and accelerate the popularization of 5G。In scenarios such as smart mining farms and unmanned warehousing, IoT devices such as wireless cameras can be deployed with the help of RedCap, which can greatly reduce installation costs and improve efficiency.

Deterministic networks are mainly reflected in millisecond-level latency and centimeter-level positioning accuracy, which can be used in scenarios such as indoor positioning and telemedicine. Xiaolei is still looking forward to it, after all, the concept of indoor positioning has been around for a long time, but the actual effect has not been very good. If 5G-A can popularize this feature to mobile phones and other devices, then in the future, we will not be afraid of losing our way in places like shopping malls, buildings, and parking lots.

The integration of computing and intelligence can be understood as the combination of AI and 5G, where computing power can be aggregated through high-speed networks and computing results can be quickly distributed through the network. After all, as a provider of basic networks, carriers have natural advantages in AI R&D and deployment because they have data and computing power.

Synaesthesia means that the signal can perceive the surrounding physical features during transmission, including the direction, distance, speed and other information of the target, and it can be used in scenarios such as health and medical monitoring and low-altitude monitoring. In layman's terms, then the future 5G-A signal will no longer be one-way transmission, but more intelligent, and has richer capabilities, which can directly interact and connect with surrounding targets.

Among the three major domestic operators, China Mobile is undoubtedly the strongest in terms of comprehensive strength. Moreover, in the deployment of advanced mobile communication technology, China Mobile has always been very active.

At MWC24, China Mobile announced that it will launch the world's largest commercial deployment of 5G-A in more than 300 cities in 2024. I believe that we will soon be able to experience the 5G-A services provided by China Mobile.

In addition to operators, telecom equipment manufacturers are also active promoters of 5G-A.

At MWC24, Huawei launched a full range of 5G-A GIGAGREEN series solutions, which have the core advantage of taking into account both network performance and energy efficiency: "Native GIGA" provides 10 times the performance, and "Native Green" achieves "0 bit and 0 watt" green energy saving.

Huawei and China Unicom also held an innovation conference at MWC24, in which China Unicom said that it is actively promoting 5G-A networking pilots to achieve 10Gbps ultra-large downlink and 1Gbps intelligent uplink. Huawei and China Unicom have also jointly built the Great Wall Seiko 5G-A flexible production line, which is the world's first large-scale commercial 5G-A OT private network. China Unicom also brought Yanfei's 5G RedCap product matrix for applications in office, industrial and other scenarios.

Source: Unicom).

In addition, ZTE also brought its own 5G-A solution to MWC. Among them, ZTE's 5G-A NTN aims to achieve air-space-sea connectivity, and it realizes direct connection of mobile phones to satellite voice, short messages and other scenarios through NTN ground-based base stations. The highlight of ZTE's 5G-A BBU solution is the integration of communication and computing power, and the base station has endogenous AI capabilities and can carry technologies such as AI large models.

To sum it up brieflyCompared with the existing 5G technology, the next stage of 5G-A has stronger capabilities and technical characteristics. Among them, it is easier for users to directly perceive the increase in network speed caused by the increase in data throughput. However, features such as RedCap and synaesthesia are mainly used in TOB scenarios. However, whether it is communication and AI connection, or the deployment of integrated signals in the sky, it will eventually be related to users, and users can indirectly benefit from it.

2024 can be called the first year of the popularization of satellite communication on smartphones. In addition to the pioneer Huawei, many leading brands such as Honor, Xiaomi, and OPPO have launched their own corresponding products. At the same time, at MWC24, we also saw a lot of technical solutions related to satellite communications.

What is certain is that satellite communication is already one of the important features of 5G-A. MediaTek demonstrated the 5G-A NR-NTN satellite test chip at MWC24, which can provide a 100Mbps network for mobile phones, cars and other terminals. Qualcomm also demonstrated 5G communication in space over non-terrestrial networks, and also simulated the call between satellites and ground terminals.

Broadcom also showcased an ambulance with a built-in 4G 5G satellite convergence communication device, which can maintain emergency communication with the outside world in a variety of complex situations.

Source: Produced by Lei Technology's on-site reporting team).

Similarly, in the future of 6G, satellite communication is also an important technology that cannot be ignored. The existing ground signal can achieve two-dimensional coverage of the earth's surface, while satellites can extend the signal coverage to the three-dimensional space of the entire earth, greatly enhancing the coverage of 6G networks. There may be many new features of 6G, and wider spatial signal coverage is likely to be one of them.

Private network can be realized through 5G and WiFi. At MWC24, Intel demonstrated the ** broadcast technology based on private 5G. The whole system runs in a private 5G signal, which is isolated from the outside Internet to ensure security. It can broadcast 4K signals within the coverage area, allowing terminals such as mobile phones to receive and **Ultra HD**.

MediaTek also demonstrated the home virtual private network technology, in the home scenario, all IoT devices, mobile phones, PCs, etc., can be connected and collaborated with each other without connecting to an external network. It is worth mentioning that in this virtual private network environment, the computing power technology of different devices is focused together through high-speed connections to produce greater power.

Source: Produced by Lei Technology's on-site reporting team).

If nothing else, private networks will also become an important feature of 6G. It helps users build a more private and secure network environment, while allowing the different devices it covers to be wirelessly connected together for greater synergy. It also allows enterprises to tailor various parameters of the network to suit specific business scenarios according to their own needs.

At present, the AI technology we are familiar with can be roughly divided into cloud and local ends, the former is based on cloud servers, all kinds of voice assistants, ChatGPT, etc., are cloud AI; The latter is realized through local devices, for example, some mobile phones and PCs now have the ability of device-side AI.

At MWC24, we can see a closer connection between AI and communication. For example, the base station will have its own computing power, which can directly process AI tasks and quickly deliver the results to users. The "6G Terminal Vision" released by GSMA also mentions that terminal endogenous intelligence will be a typical capability of 6G terminals, and computing power collaboration can also be achieved on the device side and server side. There is no doubt that 6G will be an important catalyst for the further widespread adoption of AI.

Source: Produced by Lei Technology's on-site reporting team).

In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about 6G, the next generation of mobile communication networks. Truth be told, while 5G technology is still evolving, 6G is still an undefined and somewhat illusory concept.

However, at the annual top mobile communication exhibition MWC, we can get more professional sharing from the industry and the industry, and see some more reliable technical solutions. They may not represent the whole picture of the entire 6G in the future, but they can also get a glimpse of some cutting-edge technologies that will really be realized in the future.

Overall, 6G is still a distant future technology. The standards and content related to 6G have not yet been determined, and the technical solutions released by various manufacturers and the products displayed by various manufacturers at MWC24 are the results of the exploration stage, and may not be able to match the truly determined 6G technology in the future. However, what is clear is that compared with 5G, 6G will have richer and more powerful features and capabilities. At the same time, 6G will inherit and enhance a large number of features of 5G, especially 5G-A, including satellite communications, private networks, etc.

At MWC24, we have seen a large number of technological achievements in the field of mobile communications, bringing 5G to the next stage of 5G-A, which will help thousands of industries with new capabilities, deepen the digital upgrade of various industries, and bring a better network experience to ordinary users.

As for 6G, Xiaolei is still in the fog, but more and more exploration results have appeared, constantly shortening the distance between us and this future technology.

The MWC theme is mobile communications, but judging from the changes in MWC over the years,Terminal-side, application-layer, and industry-end applications have become the focus of MWC's exhibition. Compared with when 6G will arrive, it is more important to pay attention to how to solve the communication problems on the terminal side, application layer, and industry side.

For example, in the era of large AI models, computing clusters have become the core infrastructure, but the network communication between different computing power modules has become a major bottleneck. In 2020, Nvidia spent $6.9 billion to acquire Mellanox, an Israeli network chip company, to solve the communication bottleneck of computing clusters. In addition to the cloud, on MWC24, Lei Technology even observed that on the terminal side, MediaTek is solving the problem of computing power shortcomings of AI on the device side through the mode of multi-terminal shared computing.

Another example is the operation of autonomous driving, which is inseparable from the real-time Internet of Vehicles, vehicle-road coordination and vehicle-cloud collaboration networks, and the current network cannot well support the automobile and transportation networks in the intelligent era.

All in allRather than looking forward to the illusory 6G, we should pay more attention to the combination of mobile communication technology and scenarios, as well as the innovative communication solutions that have emerged under the pressure of scene applications, which are the core content of MWC's exhibition.