Even as India rings in 5G, the world has already started work on 6G, the increasingly fast sixth generation of wireless technology aimed at providing unlimited connectivity. From accurate rain prediction to seamless supervision of welfare schemes to streamlining logistics chains, 6G could prove to be a game-changer for the Indian economy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to make India one of the early adopters of 6G, although the technology is expected to become a reality globally only by 2030.
What is 6G?
The data speed on 6G is expected to be around 100 times faster than on 5G. While 5G can handle one million connected devices per square kilometer simultaneously, with 6G the number rises to 10 million. With very low latency and super-fast data, 6G could catalyze an explosion in AI-enabled applications. 6G is expected to transform our world by optimizing and simplifying many processes and operations, as well as reducing the need for human involvement and supervision. China, America, Japan, South Korea and some European countries have already started work on 6G.
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What will 6G give to the world
Network and telecommunications giant Ericsson believes 6G will make it possible for the world to transition to a “cyber-physical continuum”, blurring the boundaries between the real and digital worlds. It says that 6G “should not only connect humans and machines but be able to blend realities perfectly to allow for seamless and immersive experiences”. This will make it possible to analyze and simulate events and processes, thereby enabling predictions with precision and accuracy. This would be sensed by sensors in the physical world sending the data for digital representation in real time. “Actuators in the real world take orders from intelligent agents in the digital world,” says Ericsson.
How 6G will change our world
Opening up many possibilities in a developing economy like India, 6G is expected to find use cases in agriculture, health, education, logistics, urban and rural management. Sensing capabilities, in particular, will be a unique and path-breaking feature of future 6G systems. The sensing is based on the analysis of how radio wave propagation is affected by the environment and will have wide applications ranging from detection of weather patterns and precipitation to traffic management. The sensing could be transformative for agriculture in India, perhaps helping to predict the course and intensity of monsoons, helping shape crop sowing and harvesting. Advanced weather forecasting can help prepare for natural disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes in some US coastal areas.
Unlimited connectivity over land, sea and air, 2D to 3D, and the ability to seamlessly manage data at ultra-high speeds will make 6G a transformative technology. It will be able to connect to a wide variety of devices, from drones to high-altitude platforms (HAPS) to low-Earth orbit satellites. For India, it will be useful in improving public distribution systems and platforms, much better, in managing, supervising and monitoring various welfare schemes from MGNREGA to Ayushman Bharat.
The new technology could also frame 4D images of cities, automate the actions of vehicles and entire metropolises, advance remote health services and ring in brain-computers to help with urban planning.
6G. Finding the spectrum for
However, finding enough spectrum for 6G can be a challenge. Consumer electronics giant Samsung argues that given the expected explosion in demand, all bands should be made available for 6G, “from low-band under 1 GHz, mid-band in the 1–24 GHz range and up to hi-band in the 24-.300 GHz range”. It also suggests changing the existing bands used for 3G, 4G and 5G networks to 6G, which is another way to get all the spectrum needed for 6G. Ericsson also believes that 6G needs new spectrum considerations, given “trillions of embeddable devices … and a host of powerful, sensory use cases”.
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