Companies like Qualcomm are leaders in the ongoing transformation of the wireless industry. 5G is a breakthrough for the wireless industry with both speed and low latency. In coming years, 6G will be even faster, with even lower latency and much more. There is also something coming sooner. It’s called 5G Advanced. Let’s take a closer look at what the future will look like for wireless users, companies, handset makers and networks.
The wireless stage is getting larger and deeper. 5G is enabling other industries to use wireless in new ways like automated driving, telemedicine and more. 6G will not only empower these breakthroughs to a higher and deeper degree but also introduce so much more.
As an example, just think how ideas from companies like Uber and Lyft transformed the taxi and limousine industry using 4G and 5G. These transformative ideas will change other industries as well over the next decade using 5G Advanced and 6G.
Just like with Uber and Lyft, new companies and entrepreneurs with new ideas will force existing competitors to rethink the way they deliver their products and services.
Qualcomm, Samsung, University of Texas 6G@UT wireless research center
Qualcomm, Samsung and the University of Texas at Austin just launched 6G@UT. This is a research center where researchers are working on 6G, the next generation of wireless technology.
In fact, while we are still in the early stages of 5G deployment, the next wireless revolution called 6G is being researched and formulated.
Georgia Tech along with other universities have a focus on this as well. I see many such alliances forming over the next decade between researchers in different corners of the industry.
Another group is the 5GAA or the 5G Automotive Association. This is a group of researchers from various competitors in the network, handset and automotive industries world-wide.
They are all working together and have dropped the competitive walls separating them. Within these kinds of groups, we see brilliant minds working together.
This is a real example of where one plus one equals five or 10. Getting these people together is where pure innovation and new solutions to new problems come from.
Tingfang Ji, senior director engineering at Qualcomm on 6G
Tingfang Ji, a senior director of engineering at Qualcomm, says 6G will sense our environments. He is one of the lead 5G researchers at Qualcomm and has more than 800 patents for the company.
Ji is head of the flagship 5G research program at the company. His vision of what 5G Advanced and then 6G will look like is mesmerizing.
He says 5G will continue in its development as 6G does the same, both separately and together. 4G was more limited. It was focused on speed. 5G allows for connecting more devices, more speed and lower latency. 6G will be even faster, with even lower latency and will communicate with more devices all around us.
5G Advanced, 6G, IoT, AI will sense our environment
That empowers things like self-driving cars, automated driving, healthcare, telehealth and so much more. In fact, industry after industry will join this vast transformation.
That means as other industries modernize, the early adopters will have a competitive advantage for a while. Then at some point new technology will be the basic cost of admission.
As this happens, every competitor will jump onboard. Either that or they will fail to deliver what the customer wants, and they will suffer the consequences.
Example: we know about how the new Apple AirTags are valuable to users. However, this kind of technology has been around for a while with companies like Tile.
However, since so many users carry an iPhone, it creates a larger map making it easier to track items giving Apple the competitive advantage.
So, massive companies with huge networks and numbers of customers can create an environment which makes all these new ideas even better.
As we move forward into 5G Advanced and 6G, the Find My feature on the iPhone will not only be able to track the general location of people you know. It will also be able to tell you in more detail where the person you are looking for is in a crowded store, how close they are and in what direction they are walking. That means you can find them easier. Perhaps even what floor they are on with vertical detection.
And this is just the beginning.
Wireless transforms from 5G to 5G Advanced to 6G
I mentioned 5G Advanced which is the next version of 5G that will very likely appear in the marketplace during the next couple years.
5G Advanced will give us another chance to look at the fundamental tradeoffs of 5G and how to strengthen the technology.
Qualcomm is talking about blending ML or machine learning with 5G, so networks can use the Internet of Things devices, Artificial Intelligence and more.
3GPP and 5GAA let wireless researchers work together
As time passes, new groups help expand the reach of wireless.
Groups like 5GAA and 3GPP or 3rd Generation Partnership Project is a group which now has 700 different companies as members. Companies like Qualcomm, Huawei, Apple and many others.
So, you see the wireless world continues its evolution through time. Remember, 4G was just about speed. 5G is about speed and low latency. 5G Advanced moves even further ahead. 6G will be the next generation of wireless technology. And the move forward continues.
Expect to see 5G Advanced talk about more in the next year or two as it gets ready to launch. It will be the next, big advancement in the wireless industry and that is coming in the next few years.
Wireless remains one of the most exciting, fast changing and rapidly growing technology sectors we have ever seen. And we are only still in the very early stages.
Wireless continues to be one of the most important and rapidly growing and changing industries and sectors we have ever seen. And we are still just scratching the surface. This is like the days of the Ford Model T. While it was exciting at the time, there was so much more in store.
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