The Research Directions for 6G

Abstract: In this talk, we present our view on 6G technologies, its trends and research directions.  Wireless technology have gone through several major revolutions and it is always the case that the disruptive technologies enable the wireless innovation and market success.

As 5G technology enables the digital transformation of every vertical business, we see a radical paradigm shift from the conventional operator-centric view to an inclusive prosumer-centric view, and the new approach to a federated networking and service provisioning, redefining the smart connectivity infrastructure as a much more dynamic composition of all resources of participating users. This include the spectrum usage reform and infrastructure sharing, we present four fundamental changes in terms of 6G networking and associated research challenges.

The other aspect for 6G is a total unification of mobile, satellite, network, cloud, cloud-edge computing, ML, AI, end-to-end cybersecurity, innovative devices, Industry IoT, cell-less MIMO and Terahertz Communication to support the prosumer-centric model, in this architecture, we list a few technology enablers, such a mmWave-THz sensing, machine learning-training DNN to enable semantic communications as intelligent connectivity, the research in these areas will shape the radio access for 6G.

Since the 6G is future platform to enable new innovations with its state-of-the-art capabilities, we provide an analysis of the key-performance indicators for 6G. In addition, we share our view of the potential impact of Quantum computing, mega-satellite-constellation and neural-center (instead of data center) to 6G.

Bio: Dr. Wen Tong is the CTO, Huawei Wireless. He is the head of Huawei wireless research. In 2011, Dr. Tong was appointed the Head of Communications Technologies Labs of Huawei, currently, he is the Huawei 5G chief scientist and leads Huawei’s 10-year-long 5G wireless technologies research and development.

Prior to joining Huawei in 2009, Dr. Tong was the Nortel Fellow and head of the Network Technology Labs at Nortel. He joined the Wireless Technology Labs at Bell Northern Research in 1995 in Canada.

Dr. Tong is the industry recognized leader in invention and standardization of advanced wireless technologies, he is the key contributor to 3GPP since its inception. Dr. Tong was elected as a Huawei Fellow and an IEEE Fellow. He was the recipient of IEEE Communications Society Industry Innovation Award for “the leadership and contributions in development of 3G and 4G wireless systems” in 2014, and IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Industry Leader Award for “pioneering technical contributions and leadership in the mobile communications industry and innovation in 5G mobile communications technology” in 2018. He is also the recipient of R.A. Fessenden Medal. For the past three decades, he had pioneered fundamental technologies from 1G to 5G wireless and Wi-Fi with more than 450 granted US patents.

Dr. Tong is a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering, and he serves as Board of Director of Wi-Fi Alliance.