Samsung published a White Paper entitled The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All which details its vision of the next generation of communications technology, the one that will eventually be dubbed 6G. The document refers to new services, technological and social trends, requirements, candidate technology, as well as the expected standardization date.
The company is aware that 5G is still in the initial phase, but points out that a generation takes about 10 years from the beginning of the investigation until its commercialization. In this sense, Samsung has already formed the research and development department of 6G technologies, taking advantage of all its experience in working with previous generations. The goal is to lead the next generation of communications, in collaboration with different stakeholders in industry, academia and governments.
In its forecast, Samsung says that the 6G standard will be complete, and ready for its initial commercialization in 2028, with mass selling in 2030. It is interesting that the manufacturer points out that the next generation will be used not only by humans, as machines. As such, it provides advanced services such as an Extended Reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile holograms and digital replicas.
To obtain the expected results, Samsung defines three categories of requirements to implement 6G services: performance, architecture and reliability. For performance, it states that the data peaks must circulate at 1,000 Gbps and that the wireless latency is less than 100 microseconds (s), that is, 50 times higher speed and a tenth of the 5G latency. The manufacturer has published a demonstration diagram which you can see below.
Regarding the architectural requirements for 6G, the manufacturer highlights the resolution of the computational limitations that arise in mobile equipment. In his view, artificial intelligence should be implemented early in the technology's development phase and allow flexible integration of new network entities.
The candidate technology includes the use of a frequency spectrum in terahertz (THz), new technologies related to antennas that can cover high signal frequencies and an evolution in the topology of the network infrastructure. Samsung also mentions the importance of spectrum sharing to increase the efficiency of the use of frequencies, as well as the use of AI in wireless communications.
The White Paper with more detailed technical information can be consulted on its official website.