the path to 6gcontent.6gsummit.com/alainmourad_keynote.pdf · 6g summit, levi, 17-20 march 2020....

© 2020 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Path to 6G:Performance Targets and Technology EnablersDr Alain Mourad6G Summit, Levi, 17-20 March 2020

Outline

• 6G: The Why, What and How?• Why do we need 6G?

• What performances shall we target?

• How do we get there?

• Insights from EMPOWER B5G Roadmap Consultation• KPIs Evolution

• Technology Trends

• Take-aways

© 2020 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved.2


6G: The Why, What and

How?

6G: The Why (1/2)

• Political view: Far more powerful, faster, and smarter• Many governments already launched

6G research agendas (e.g. EU, USA, Japan, China, South Korea).

• Societal view: Greener, smarterand sustainable• United Nations (UN) already announced

17 global sustainable development goals towards 2030.


6G: The Why (2/2)

• Economical view: Growth through smarter all-digital economy• Digital transformation agendas including Artificial

Intelligence (AI) underpin growth strategies in various sectors of the economy.

• Technological view: Innovation continues to always do better and smarter• This isn’t to say that 5G is broken and we need to fix

it. This is rather the engineering instinct to create, innovate and continuously advance the state of art.


6G Vision


A Smarter Generation fusing Wireless and AI in

support of 2030’s Global Societal and

Economical Goals

The generation with a sixth sense!

Towards 6G – Use Cases (1/2)


5GLong-term EVO

(6G)Short-term

EVOMid-term

EVO

A constant expansion of the USER and VERTICAL use cases towards a blend of extreme requirements

eMBB

URLLCmMTC

2020 2022 2025 2030

Towards 6G – Use Cases (2/2)


Volumetric media streaming

Multi-sensory extended reality and haptics

Connected industries and automation

Autonomous vehicles and swarm systems

Aerial and satellite networks and platforms

1

2

3

4

5

Towards 6G – Key Requirements (1/2)

• Spectrum with leap jumps above 100 GHz all the way up to THz

• Bandwidth expansion from 500 MHz today up to 10 GHz

• Peak data rate moving to a few 100s of Gbps

• User data rate scaling up to a few Gbps

• Connections density doubling to 2 devices per sqm


5G5G5G

Spectrum(GHz)

Bandwidth(GHz)

Peak data rate (DL)(Gbps)

User data rate (DL)(Mbps)

Peak spectral efficiency (DL)

(bps/Hz)

Density(device/sqm)

Area traffic capacity

(Mbps/sqm) 50

250

500

1000

0.52.5

510

20 100200400

30

40

50

60

100

500

1000

2000

11.31.72

1050

100200

5G

5G SEVO

5G MEVO

5G LEVO

Spectrum & Density

KPIs

[Source: EMPOWER – www.advancedwireless.eu]

http://www.advancedwireless.eu/

Towards 6G – Key Requirements (2/2)

• Reliability gradually increasing to reach highs of up to 9 nines

• U-plane latency down to a fraction of millisecond

• Energy efficiency (both network and terminal) improving towards 100% gains vs 5G today

• Positioning accuracy to few cms

• Mobility up to 1000 km/h


5G5G5G

Reliability(# of nines)

U-plane latency

(ms)

C-plane latency (ms)

Terminal Energy Efficiency(% gain)

Network Energy Efficiency (% gain)

Mobility(Km/h)

Positioning accuracy

(cm) 5

6

8

9

10.5

0.20.1

20 10 4 2

30

70

100

30

70

100

5005001000

10030

101

5G

5G SEVO

5G MEVO

5G LEVO

Reliability, Latency, Energy, Mobility and Positioning

KPIs500

[Source: EMPOWER – www.advancedwireless.eu]


Towards 6G – Technology Trends

Circuits and devices at nanometers level with node scaling targets of Power-Performance-Area-Cost (PPAC) breaking through the limits of Moore’s Law

Radio transceivers supporting extreme requirements at Tbps data rates, sub-ms latency, and sub-mWatts power

Radio system expanding to integrate (un)licensed, (non)terrestrial, and (non)comms sub-systems, in a 3-D space with fluid topologies

Network protocols catering for the requirements of next generation internet including determinism, time-sensitivity, and automation

Data (small and big) driven E2E optimizations with pervasive collaborative intelligence distributed across terminals, edge, fog and cloud


Focus

next

1

2

3

4

5

Towards 6G – Enabling Technology (1/3)SE

VO Transceivers at

frequencies up to 250GHz M

EVO Transceivers at

frequencies up to 500GHz

LEV

O Transceivers at frequencies up to 1THz


SEV

O Massive MIMO with arrays of 256elements M

EVO Massive MIMO with

arrays of 512elements

LEV

O Massive MIMO with arrays of 1024elements

SEV

O Multi-RATs integration across licensed and unlicensed spectrum M

EVO Energy efficient

waveforms and modulations for low and high spectrum LE

VO Cognitive Multi-WATs

access across cellular and non-cellular (WiFi/LiFi)

SEVO: Short-Term Evolution MEVO: Medium-Term Evolution LEVO: Long-Term Evolution


VO Extended support of

NR-light (mid-range) devices

MEV

O Support of UAVs/drones as UEs, gNBs, and relays LEV

O Support of intelligent swarms of heterogeneous devices


SEV

O Support of Non-Terrestrial Networks

MEV

O Integration of Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Networks LE

VO Support of Massive

VLEO satellites and HAPs

SEV

O Device and network power savings enhancements

MEV

O Ultra-low energy devices supporting energy harvesting LE

VO Battery-less devices

and nodes supporting wireless power transfer


VO Communication-

based positioning accuracy <30 cm

MEV

O Joint sensing and communicationincluding position accuracy <10 cm LEV

O Integrated sensing and communicationincluding position accuracy <1 cm


SEV

O Data Collection from the core, RAN and UE to enable fusion with AI/ML M

EVO Wireless Fusion with

AI/ML limited to C-plane and higher layers in the U-plane LE

VO Wireless Fusion with

AI/ML in every plane and every layer including PHY


Insights from EMPOWER B5G

Roadmap Consultation

H2020 EMPOWER B5G Roadmap Consultation

• Public consultation on 5G evolution towards 6G open from 03 Feb. 2020 until 20 Mar. 2020

• Targets gathering the wireless research community feedback towards a B5G roadmap including:

• KPIs evolution

• Technology trends

• Experimental challenges


https://www.advancedwireless.eu/index.php/participate-at-the-empower-roadmap-consultation/

Have your say, it is still open for more responses!

https://www.advancedwireless.eu/index.php/participate-at-the-empower-roadmap-consultation/

Demographic of the Respondents so far

• So far, the consultation collected some 60+ views from experts in the Industry and in Academic Research

• Respondents have the choice to either stay anonymous or share their affiliations

• Nearly half of the respondents (34) have chosen to share their names and affiliations• A good mixture of Industry(14 respondents) and Academic research

(20 respondents)• A good geographic distribution from Europe, UK, Norway, USA,

Canada, China, Taiwan

• Extrapolating to all respondents, a good mixture of stakeholders ( 40% Industry – 60% Academia) and geographic distribution across Europe, North America, and South East Asia



Insights on KPIs Evolution

Insights – Spectrum

• Spectrum will evolve over the next 10 years to reach THz frequencies?

• Majority (53%) think we will break the cap of 100 GHz and evolve up to the limit of 500 GHz

• Going above 500 GHz has a limited support (<20%)

• A minority (10%) think we will not break the bar of 100 GHz


19,30%

52,63%

10,53%

17,54%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%

Up to 1000 GHz

Up to 500 GHz

Up to 100 GHz

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Spectrum Evolution

Insights – User Data Rate

• User data rate will evolve over the next 10 years to reach a few Gbps in downlink and uplink?

• 98% of responses think the user data rate will range from few 100s Mbps (48%) to a few Gbps (50%)

• No one think it will stay below 100 Mbps as in 5G today


50,00%

48,15%

0,00%

1,85%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%

Above 1 Gbps

Few 100s Mbps

Below 100 Mbps

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

User data rate Evolution

Insights – Density

• Density will evolve over the next 10 years to reach above 2 million devices per km2 (= 2 devices per sqm)?

• Majority (56%) think it will reach way above 2 devices per sqm

• A third (33%) think it will evolve but to less than 2 devices per sqm

• Almost no one think it will stay below 1 device per sqm (5G target)


33,33%

55,56%

3,70%

7,41%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%

Above 2 per sqm

Up to 2 per sqm

Below 1 per sqm

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Density Evolution

Insights – Reliability

• Reliability will evolve over the next 10 years to reach 9 nines?

• Majority (67%) think reliability will improve up to 8 nines

• A few (11%) think it might go as high as 9 nines

• Very few think it will stay below 6 nines (like 5G today)


11,11%

66,67%

5,56%

16,67%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%

Above 9 nines

Up to 8 nines

Below 6 nines

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Reliability Evolution

Insights – Latency

• Latency will evolve over the next 10 years to reach 0.1 ms in U-plane?

• Majority (62%) think latency will need to go below 0.5 ms

• A quarter (25%) think it might evolve to less than 0.1 ms

• Almost no one think it will stay in the 1 ms (5G target)


25,45%

61,82%

3,64%

9,09%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%

Below 0.1 ms

Below 0.5 ms

Below 1 ms

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Latency Evolution

Insights – Energy Efficiency

• Energy Efficiency will evolve over the next 10 years and reach 100% improvements compared to today’s figures both in the network and in the terminal?

• Majority (91%) think it will improve compared to 5G with (60%) seeing gains from 30-70% and (31%) seeing gains above 100%

• Almost no one think it will stay or decrease vs 5G today


31,48%

59,26%

3,70%

5,56%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%

Above 100%

Some 30%-70%

No gain (loss)

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Energy Efficiency Evolution

Insights – Positioning Accuracy

• Positioning Accuracy will evolve over the next 10 years to reach below 1 cm?

• Majority (63%) think positioning accuracy will improve to below 10 cm

• Nearly a quarter (24%) think it will go as low as below 1 cm

• Almost no one think it will stay below 100 cm (5G target)


24,07%

62,96%

1,85%

11,11%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%

Below 1 cm

Below 10 cm

Below 100 cm

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Positioning Accuracy Evolution

Insights – Target KPIs Refinement

KPI 5G NR (today) Target KPI in 6G (2030’ish) from EMPOWER

Reference [DOCOMO’s 6G Vision Whitepaper]

Spectrum 52.6 GHz Up to 500 GHz Up to 500 GHz

User data rate 100 Mbps Above 1Gbps NA (Peak data rate >100 Gps vs. A few 100 Gbps from EMPOWER)

Density 1 device per sqm Significantly above 2 devices per sqm

10 devices per sqm

Reliability 5 nines Above 8 nines Up to 7 nines

U-plane latency <1 ms <0.5 ms <1 ms

Energy efficiency NA 50%-100% gains vs 5G (Rel.16) Qualitative: Extreme low power including alternative charging

Positioning accuracy <1 m <10 cm NA



Insights on Technology

Trends

Insights – Massive MIMO

• Massive MIMO will evolve over the

next 10 years to include many more

antenna elements utilizing AI-based

beamforming enabling significantly

higher spectrum utilization?

• Nearly 90% majority see Massive MIMO using some form of AI-based beamforming, with antenna array sizes from a few hundreds (47%) to the thousands (43%)

• Very few (8%) think it will have limited improvements compared to 5G today


43,14%

47,06%

7,84%

1,96%

0,00%5,00%10,00%15,00%20,00%25,00%30,00%35,00%40,00%45,00%50,00%

Mature AI-based MIMO with 1000s elements

Simple AI-based MIMO with a few 100selements

Very limited or no MIMO improvements

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Massive MIMO Evolution

Insights – Waveforms

• During the next 10 years, the

transmitted waveform will adapt to

the propagation scenario and

application in real-time with short

latencies?

• Majority (47%) think it will continue to be OFDM-based with evolved numerology

• Nearly a third (34%) think there will be new agile waveforms

• No one think that the waveform will not evolve in some sort


33,96%

47,17%

0,00%

18,87%

0,00%5,00%10,00%15,00%20,00%25,00%30,00%35,00%40,00%45,00%50,00%

New agile waveforms adapting in real-time

More flexible OFDM-based with evolvednumerology

No evolution needed

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Waveform Evolution

Insights – Integrated Access and Backhaul

• During the next 10 years, Integrated Access and Backhaulwill be the preferred transmission concept in wireless networks?

• Majority (64%) think there will be some use of IAB, but it will remain complementary (not dominant)

• A minority (18%) think IAB will mature and be widely used

• Very few (3%) think that IAB will not gain momentum


17,86%

64,29%

3,57%

14,29%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00% 70,00%

IAB mature and largely preferred

Some use of IAB but not dominant

IAB will not gain momentum

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

IAB Evolution

Insights – Power consumption/saving

• Battery-less low power devices and sensors will in 10 years be supported together with significant advances in power saving?

• Majority (56%) think ultra-low power devices using energy harvesting will be supported

• A third (31%) see more disruptive battery-less devices including support for wireless power transfer

• No one see only limited improvements in power saving


31,48%

55,56%

0,00%

12,96%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%

Battery-less devices including WPT support

Ultra-low power devices using energy harvesting

Limited improvements in power saving

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Power Consumption/Saving Evolution

Insights – Multi-Connectivity

• Multi-connectivity across cellular and non-cellular technologies will reach maturity in 10 years and be implemented in networks and devices?

• Majority (82%) see multi-connectivity widely supported with some level of integration across wireless accesses

• A third (30%) see fully integrated multi-access using cognitive schemes

• No one see multi-connectivity continuing to be limited to within cellular multi-RATs only


30,36%

51,79%

0,00%

17,86%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%

Full integrated access using cognition

Some level of integration between Multi-RAT andWiFi

Limited to cellular multi-RATs

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Multi-connectivity Evolution

Insights – Non-Terrestrial Networks

• Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN)like low-orbit satellites (LEO) and high-altitude platforms (HAP) will in 10 years be operational and integrated and supported?

• Majority (75%) foresee NTNs integrated with terrestrial networks either partially (44%) or fully (31%)

• Almost no one (2%) think that NTNs will continue to be segregated from terrestrial networks


31,48%

44,44%

1,85%

22,22%

0,00% 5,00% 10,00% 15,00% 20,00% 25,00% 30,00% 35,00% 40,00% 45,00% 50,00%

Fully integrated in one system

Limited integration for specific use

No integration, separate systems

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

NTNs Evolution

Insights – Wireless AI fusion

• In 10 years, Wireless AI fusion based on data collection and analytics rom the core, RAN and UE will be pervasive?

• Majority (83%) see wireless AI fusion happening, with (50%) foreseeing it will be pervasive in every plane and every layer including PHY, whereas (33%) foreseeing it will be limited to C-plane and U-plane higher layers

• Almost no one (2%) think that Wireless AI fusion will be limited to some data analytics in Core and RAN


50,00%

33,33%

1,85%

14,81%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%

Pervasive to C/U-plane and every layer inc. PHY

Limited to C-plane and U-plane higher layers

Limited to data analytics from Core and RAN

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Wireless AI Fusion

Insights – Sensing and communications

• In 10 years, wireless networks will integrate sensing, imaging and radar to improve tracking, monitoring and positioning?

• Majority (91%) think sensing will be integrated in the network in some form, limited (48%) or full (43%)

• Almost no one (2%) think sensing will not be a function or service embedded in the network


42,86%

48,21%

1,79%

7,14%

0,00% 10,00% 20,00% 30,00% 40,00% 50,00% 60,00%

Full integration

Limited integration for specific functions

No integration (not a network function)

Neutral

Percentages

Vie

ws

Sensing and Communications

Insights – Top 10 technology trends

1. Wireless AI fusion (18%)

2. Sub-THz technology (14%)

3. Ultra-low power (12%)

4. Multi-access (10%)

5. Flying UEs/Nodes (8%)

6. Positioning (7%)

7. Holographic MIMO (7%)

8. IAB (6%)

9. Sensing and Comms (5%)

10.Advanced waveforms (5%)


13,73%

6,54%

5,23%

3,92%

10,46%

5,88%

7,84%

12,42%

1,96%

17,65%

7,19%

5,23%

1,96%

0,00% 2,00% 4,00% 6,00% 8,00% 10,00% 12,00% 14,00% 16,00% 18,00% 20,00%

Sub-THz technology

Holographic MIMO

Advanced waveform

Unlicensed technology

Multi-access integration

Integrated Access and Backhaul

Flying UEs and nodes

Ultra-low power

NTN integration

Wireless AI fusion

Positioning

Sensing and communication

Other

Percentages

Vie

ws

Technology Trends by Popularity


Take-aways

Take-aways

• The journey of 5G evolution has already begun in 3GPP!

• Visions for 6G are being laid out, performance targets and

technology trends are emerging

• Consensus emerging on 6G targeting extreme KPIs vs 5G today

(e.g. 500 GHz spectrum, 100s of Gbps peak rate, Gbps user rate,

0.5 ms latency, 8 nines reliability, etc.)

• Technology trends are emerging with noticeable popularity to

Wireless-AI fusion, Sub-THz, and Ultra-low power

• As ITU-R finalizes its IMT-2020 recommendations this year, it may be

timely to kick start ITU-R IMT-2030 planning now with the aim to set

a global vision and requirement for 6G by 2023

38 © 2020 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Key References

1. EMPOWER project, www.advancedwireless.eu

2. A. Mourad, R. Yang, P.H. Lehner, and A. De La Oliva, “A Baseline Roadmap for Advanced Wireless Research Beyond 5G”, Electronics 2020, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9020351

3. NTT DOCOMO, “5G Evolution and 6G”, Whitepaper, January 2020, DOCOMO_6G_White_PaperEN_20200124.pdf



https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9020351

https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/binary/pdf/corporate/technology/whitepaper_6g/DOCOMO_6G_White_PaperEN_20200124.pdf

Acknowledgment to our Partners

40

www.advancedwireless.eu



Thank You – Q&A

Alain MOURAD, PhDDirector Engineering R&D

InterDigital Europe Ltd.64 Great Eastern StreetLondon, EC2A 3QRUnited Kingdom

Contact:[email protected]

41 © 2020 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

mailto:[email protected]

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