Potential Key Technologies for 6G Mobile Communications

TL;DR

This paper explores potential groundbreaking physical layer technologies for 6G wireless communications, highlighting revolutionary concepts like holographic radio and terahertz communication, and discussing their scientific exploration stage and future opportunities.

Contribution

It identifies and discusses several fundamental breakthrough technologies at the physical layer for 6G, emphasizing their innovative and exploratory nature compared to prior focus on use cases and architectures.

Findings

Holographic radio and terahertz communication are of revolutionary nature.

Many technologies are still in scientific exploration stage.

Advanced channel coding and visible light communication may find new opportunities in 6G.

Abstract

The standard development of 5G wireless communication culminated between 2017 and 2019, followed by the worldwide deployment of 5G networks, which is expected to result in very high data rate for enhanced mobile broadband, support ultra-reliable and low-latency services and accommodate massive number of connections. Research attention is shifting to future generation of wireless communications, for instance, beyond 5G or 6G. Unlike previous papers, which discussed the use cases, deployment scenarios, or new network architectures of 6G in depth, this paper focuses on a few potential technologies for 6G wireless communications, all of which represent certain fundamental breakthrough at the physical layer-technical hardcore of any new generation of wireless communications. Some of them, such as holographic radio, terahertz communication, large intelligent surface, and orbital angular momentum, are of revolutionary nature and many related studies are still at their scientific exploration stage. Several technical areas, such as advanced channel coding and modulation, visible light communication, and advanced duplex, while having been studied, may find more opportunities in 6G.