FOREWORD
6G: why now? Today, we are in quite early stages of 5G’s rollout, and we still have a long way to go for the technology to mature. However, this is the ideal time to plan for the future and ask ‘what’s next?’.
Emerging use cases beyond 5G and 6G seem to be taking shape. In fact, 5G’s emerging use cases are likely to lay the foundations for future 6G ones. For example, technologies like disaggregated networks and software defined systems are significantly different from how networks were structured under 4G, but will now evolve with 6G.
If we look back at any of the mobile standards (3G, 4G or 5G) – it took about a decade for any specification to be nailed down – and deployments to happen. So, 6G is at least five years away – but in the interim, we will see advanced features and capabilities developed under the umbrella of 5G – these will ultimately be rolled into any future 6G standard/specification. The next few years will indeed be pivotal.
6G needs you6G is currently more of a research topic than an infrastructure plan. That means that we, as an industry, have a chance to shape its development through strategic collaboration and knowledge sharing.
6G will require a wide variety of technical expertise and problem solving skills to become a reality. In this whitepaper, we intend to provide you with a broad understanding of the current state of 6G; how it got here, its use cases, how it works, its main challenges and – perhaps most importantly – its opportunities.
We hope you enjoy this whitepaper and I invite you to connect on LinkedIn with myself, Sandip, José and Capgemini Engineering as we work together, as an industry, to make 6G a reality.
Thank you.
-Subhankar
