At the World Economic Forum, Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark said he expects 6G, or sixth-generation mobile networks, to be operational by the end of the decade.
But he doesn’t think the smartphone will be the most common interface by then.
Nokia and other tech companies like Huawei expect 6G technology to be in the market around 2030. They also predict that by then the world will shift from using smartphones to using smart glasses. and other face-worn devices. Some of these things, Lundmark said, would even be built right into our bodies.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink is working to produce electronic devices that can be implanted in the brain and used to communicate with machines and other people. Another possibility is to implant chips in people’s fingers and use them to unlock items.
US tech giants such as Meta, Google and Microsoft are working on new augmented reality headsets that could replace the smartphone, according to a report from cnbc.com.
And all of this, the article notes, is happening as the world is just beginning to master 5G, which refers to next-generation mobile networks that deliver super-fast data speeds that promise to support technologies like as driverless cars and virtual reality.
In the same forum, Google’s chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, said things like having glasses and being able to translate while you talk with glasses are very close.
By 2030, Nokia’s Lundmark said there will be a digital twin of everything that would require massive computing resources, but to transmit all the computing bits the metaverse will need, the networks will need to be at least 100, even 1,000 times faster than they are today.
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What is 6G exactly?
According to a research paper published on ericsson.com, 6G will enable movement across a cyberphysical continuum, between the connected physical world of senses, actions and experiences, and its programmable digital representation.
He explains that compared to the metaverse which is a virtual reality/augmented reality world where avatars interact, the cyberphysical continuum will provide a close connection to reality, where digital objects are projected into physical objects which are digitally represented, allowing them to coexist seamlessly as merged reality and enhance the real world.
For example, a digitized, programmable world provides interactive 4D maps of entire cities that are position and time accurate and can be viewed and edited simultaneously by large numbers of humans and intelligent machines for detailed business planning, notes the document. These cyber-physical service platforms, he said, can issue commands to large-scale steerable systems, such as public transport, waste management or water and heating management systems.
Another possible application, he said, would be in healthcare. The report explains that the advent of precision healthcare, enabled by miniature nodes measuring bodily functions and devices delivering medication and physical assistance, will be supported by a continuously analyzed online digital representation. This would require devices that can be safely integrated virtually anywhere and without maintenance.
The report also indicates that real-time 4D maps are needed to manage the heavy traffic of future cities with autonomous vehicles on the ground and in the air. A network sensor fabric, where precise measurements and global data are aggregated from sensing base stations and vehicle-borne sensors and then shared with trajectories, can be used to guide safe, clean and efficient transportation. .
Lifewire.com quoted Marcus Weldon of Nokia Bell Labs as saying that 6G will be a sixth sense experience for humans and machines where biology meets artificial intelligence or AI. Japan’s NTT Docomo predicts that 6G will enable cyberspace to support real-time human thought and action through wearables and microdevices mounted on the human body.
For its part, Huawei says 6G will go far beyond communications – it will serve as a distributed neural network that will provide communication links to merge the physical, cyber and biological worlds.
As someone pointed out, 6G technology will essentially make today’s science fiction an everyday reality.
“Imagine being able to see, hear, touch, smell and taste your virtual reality experience. Sounds fantastic for gaming, but imagine it applying to prosthetics. Prosthetic users could have seamless, perhaps even neurological, integration with their devices and instant response, perhaps using WiFi implants… Think super-efficient manufacturing or ports, or flow maintenance variable traffic depending on minute-by-minute traffic conditions… Autonomous or unmanned vehicles, planes are perhaps with the type of network coverage, data capacity and low latency in question”, according to an article on netscout .com.
Techmonitor.ai reports that mobile network operators around the world are investing heavily in 6G and that, according to GSMA Intelligence, around 10% of operators worldwide are conducting 6G research and development programs. Telecom company NTT has announced a pilot of 6G networks by 2025 while the South Korean government plans to launch its own 6G network in 2026. The EU has launched its large-scale 6G research and innovation program while other countries like the United States and Japan have expressed and invested in their own 6G research initiatives, the same report reveals.
Samsung Electronics for its part announced that it was setting out its vision for securing global frequency bands for 6G.
Meanwhile, the Oppo Research Institute said it believes 6G will reshape the way people interact with AI like never before, enabling AI to become a true technology in the service of the public that can be used by everyone.
Through 6G, he said smart devices will become important participants and users of AI, downloading and deploying AI algorithms at different levels of application to create new immersive experiences while constantly collecting data. to power more advanced AI models. For example, Oppo said that in the case of autonomous vehicles, 6G networks will be able to assign the greatest number of AI algorithms and the optimal communication connection depending on the location of the vehicle and the current physical environment. , such as time of day and weather. The vehicle will be able to immediately download and run AI algorithms that have been trained by countless other vehicles and devices, enabling the vehicle to provide the safest and most comfortable journey for the passenger.
Technology should be our slave and should not enslave us humans. Current technology may have reached its limits in terms of providing solutions to everyday problems. 6G and its applications may be exactly what we need.
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