5G has become a battleground not only for smartphone makers, but also for governments. But now that the technology is established, the focus is shifting to what comes next: 6G. What is 6G?
Some performance requirements include a peak data rate of 1 Tbps (which is 1,000 times the bandwidth of a typical Ethernet port) and a latency of less than 100 µs (one ten thousandth of a second). Compared to 5G, 6G aims to deliver 50x faster peak data rates and 10x lower latency.
Below is a chart from Samsung comparing 5G (blue) and targets for 6G (blue):
As mentioned, it’s not just the company, the South Korean government has a key interest in being a major player in the next era of mobile networks. The Presidential Transitional Committee said:
“When it comes to future drivers of economic growth, the current government is focusing on non-memory chips, future cars, biotechnology and healthcare. The new government has plans to add 6G communications, secondary battery, display, defense and aerospace, advanced nuclear power plant and digital content ”.
The goal is to have 6G prototypes ready in 2026, so that the technology can be ready for commercialization in the late 2020s or early 2030s. The government wants it done as soon as possible.
There is still a lot of work to be done, however, things appear to be progressing rapidly. Last year Samsung demonstrated a transmission at 15 meters. LG improved it and managed to transmit a signal 100m between buildings. Both used signals above 100 GHz, significantly higher than current mmWave implementations.
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