NGMN-6G驱动力与愿景白皮书（英文）-2021.4-13页_710kb

6G Drivers and Vision Summary

Core Content

The NGMN Alliance outlines the vision and drivers for the next generation of mobile networks, 6G, in this white paper. It emphasizes the importance of aligning future technologies with societal, market, and operational needs, building upon the foundations of 5G and aiming to create a more efficient, secure, and sustainable ecosystem.

Main Drivers for 6G

1. Societal Goals

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 6G should support global societal challenges such as environmental sustainability, efficient healthcare delivery, poverty reduction, public safety, and support for aging populations.
• Cybersecurity and Resilience: Networks must be secure and resilient against cyberattacks, natural disasters, and other disruptions.
• Environmental Impact: The ICT industry's environmental footprint must be reduced, with a focus on energy efficiency and the adoption of green technologies.
• Digital Inclusion: Ensuring that all users, regardless of location or economic status, can benefit from new technologies and services.

2. Market Expectations

• Novel and Differentiated Services: New applications and services must be sufficiently distinct from current offerings to avoid functional overlap and support innovative use cases.
• Expanded Market Opportunity: Future technologies should be developed with a focus on market value, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, considering the law of diminishing returns.
• Service Expectations: Delivering services that are accessible, secure, and provide a superior user experience in a cost-effective manner.

3. Operational Necessities

• End-to-End System Automation: Hyper-automation is essential for managing network complexity, reducing operational overheads, and increasing ecosystem resilience.
• System Visibility: Full end-to-end system monitoring and data collection capabilities are needed to ensure rapid response and data security.
• System Efficiency and Management: Addressing challenges in spectrum utilization, energy efficiency, device management, and security is crucial for maintaining operational performance.
• Supply Chain Diversity and Security: Encouraging open trade and global competition to ensure a stable and secure supply chain for future technologies.

Vision of 6G

Key Objectives

• Socio-Economic Transformation: 6G will continue to enable digital transformation and automated industries, beyond the scope of 5G.
• Seamless and Ubiquitous Experience: Providing continuous and reliable service across all environments, including land, sea, and sky.
• Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality: Focusing on energy efficiency, green technologies, and carbon neutrality as core design considerations.
• User Terminal and Service Design: Ensuring user terminals are designed for reusability, repairability, and recyclability, while services are optimized for data efficiency.

Technical and Functional Innovations

• Cognitive and Autonomous Networks: Building on 5G's features, 6G will incorporate cognitive and autonomous capabilities, enabling self-optimizing and self-healing networks.
• Disaggregated and Software-Based Networks: Supporting flexible and scalable network architectures that can be easily upgraded and adapted.
• AI-Driven Ecosystems: Developing AI-based frameworks that support value creation, resource optimization, and sustainable deployment.
• Digital Twin Representation: Enabling the abstraction and distribution of network complexities through AI and digital twin technologies.

Developmental Considerations

• Expanded Scope for SDOs: Standards Developing Organisations must broaden their scope to include new aspects such as system visibility and automation.
• New Standards Evolution Paradigm: Standards development should be more incremental and agile, building on 5G's foundations.
• Global Standards Unity: Preventing duplication and divergence in standards to maintain a unified and globally harmonized approach.
• Differentiated Technology Evolution: Assessing new technologies based on their differentiation from 5G and benchmarking improvements.
• Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation: Encouraging collaboration across disciplines to foster a vibrant and healthy ecosystem.

Recommendations

• Prioritize Key Challenges: Future research and ecosystem development should focus on societal and environmental needs, digital transformation, and AI integration.
• Collaborative Approach: NGMN will continue to engage with future users, including citizens, industries, cities, and communities, throughout the 6G development cycle.
• Holistic Ecosystem Design: Emphasizing a comprehensive approach that includes global standards, service design, user terminal development, and sustainable deployment strategies.

Contributors and Approval

• Contributors: Bell Canada, BT, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, PLDT Smart, TIM, TELUS, US Cellular, Vodafone.
• Approved by: NGMN Board, 13th April 2021.
• Document Type: Final Deliverable (approved).
• Confidentiality Class: P-Public.

Conclusion

The NGMN Alliance outlines a comprehensive vision for 6G, emphasizing the need for a holistic and collaborative approach to meet the evolving demands of society, the market, and the telecom industry. The paper highlights the importance of addressing societal challenges, enabling new services, and ensuring operational efficiency and sustainability. It also recommends a new standards development paradigm that prioritizes flexibility, automation, and AI integration to support the next generation of mobile networks.