What can we expect from 6G technology? WIoT Institute Director in an interview with The Why
Professor Tommaso Melodia, director of WIoT Institute, explains in an interview with “The Why” the future of 5G and 6G as part of the imminent development of wireless communications.
As part of this conversation, he discusses the rapid but still early-stage development of 6G and the challenges associated with integrating it fully. Among the technological challenges to be overcome are the limitations associated with high-frequency communications, energy consumption, and privacy and security concerns.
Here is the complete interview with The Why from Scripps News:
“Lauren Nagao: This half hour we’ve discussed five G along with its advantages and concerns. But as prevalent as it may be, its replacement is already in the works. Tech execs are saying development of 6G is underway. In fact, this headline says you can expect it to arrive in less than a decade. Tommaso Melodia is the founding director of the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things. And I want to thank you for joining us on the why and ask you off the top. How is 5G different than 4G, and then how will 6G be different than 5G because folks are probably like another number adding on? What’s the difference?
Prof. Tommaso Melodia: So, absolutely, thanks for having me, Lauren. So, four G really is the first technology that gave us ubiquitous high speed connectivity, right? And then, five G is really offered faster data speeds with the ability to download up to, you know, tens and hundreds of megabits per second. And we’re still in the early days of five G and five G hasn’t really delivered yet on the promise of delivering a lot of new applications.
Six G is in the early research and development stages and expected to be deployed in 2030. It will provide us much higher data speeds, potentially reaching 100 gigabyte per second, but it will also give us ultra-low latency.
What does that mean? It means that you will have the ability to interact with physical world in a much more realistic way than what we can do today.
Think of digital holograms. If you’re a fan of Star Wars, like I am, thinking of Princess Leia projected from R two D two, it will also give us connected intelligence as of today, the AI systems that are being developed things. For example, chat GPT is based on centralized computation system running in a data center.
Imagine multiple agents wirelessly connected together, each with different points of view and access to different data and computational resources that work together to achieve a coordinated intelligence goal will be enabled by 6G.
Lauren Nagao: Yeah, I mean, you had me at the Star Wars, Princess Leia; you can have you know these simulations in real-time and in real life. But you also mentioned 5G didn’t really deliver entirely on its promises. So, what limitations might 6G face?
Prof. Tommaso Melodia: Well, 6G will potentially face a lot of technological hurdles. It will require breakthroughs in things like advanced materials, antenna design, signal processing computation at scale. So, developing and integrating all of this technology into products at scale may prove to be challenging.
It is also expected that 6G will be based on high-frequency communications. What experts call sub-terahertz spans hundreds of gigahertz, and these higher frequencies often have more limited propagation, which can lead to reduced coverage, especially in urban environments with obstacles like buildings and foliage. So, this will be challenging to do.
It will have higher energy consumption potentially. The increased capacity speed and complexity of six G may lead to higher energy consumption in both the devices and the network. And this could pose challenges in terms of battery life for mobile devices and for overall energy efficiency.
And I like to mention security and privacy. As more devices become connected and the amount of data exchange increases, there will be a greater need for robust security measures to protect sensitive information and user privacy.
Lauren Nagao: Well, thank you so much, founding director of the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things, Tommaso Melodia. Thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.
Prof. Tommaso Melodia: Thanks for having me, Lauren.”
Transcript from: scrippsnews.com