6G has yet to be defined or standardized, but there is already a global effort going on to establish the fundamental research that will eventually define the technology, what spectrum might be used to support the next generation of wireless and most importantly, what new or improved experiences 6G might support that make a business case for future investments.
During last week’s 6G Symposium in Washington, D.C., panelists discussed some of the possibilities and probabilities around what the 6G experience might be like, as well as the challenges that have to be addressed as industry and regulators look to even more advanced wireless systems.
Cathy Hackl, founder and chief metaverse officer of Journey, sees an evolution toward an ability to combine people, spaces and assets in a virtual environment—but that virtual environment must eventually result in real changes in the physical world, she noted. The AR/VR metaverse has not yet arrived in its full form and is still being developed, but 6G is already seen as a key technology to enable immersive, tactile digital environments. Hackl highlighted her company’s own experiences, like a metaverse-based ringing of the Nasdaq opening bell and leading the creation of WalMart Land in Roblox, as well as concert and live entertainment within video games that use motion-capture and advanced movie-making techniques, as the type of experiences that will become more common.
One of the most interesting questions on the road to 6G is, she added, is the “race to replace the mobile phone with something else”—probably something wearable, with more visual input ability. She also cautioned that the scale of compute power needed to support many, many real-time users of instances of VR worlds is far beyond any current capabilities, where even most video games don’t support group play with more than more than a maximum of 15 to 30-some simultaneous players.
Chris Sherrick, senior product manager of new business incubation at Verizon Robotics, also echoed that sentiment, saying that connectivity now has a “job statement” and that it is “no longer a cell phone world”, particularly in fields like healthcare. However, he also said that when it comes to the state of the art in robotic tech, development needs to drive toward a future where machines and humans work together symbiotically—but, due to commercials and demonstrations, most people probably think that current robotics use and technology is further along than it is. He added that more agility has to become part of tech development related to 6G as well.
Venkatesh Ramaswamy, chief technologist at federally funded research non-profit MITRE, said that automation will be a key component of advanced wireless systems and that it will be necessary to reduce complexity with zero-touch automation in order to get future 6G (and even 5G) adopted on the large scale that is being envisioned.
And Mari Silbey, senior director of outreach and partnerships for US Ignite, which administers the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research testbeds, pointed out that as the tech and telecom world become more software-centric and focused on delivering all things as-a-service, there is tension around who will control the platform by which experiences are delivered. A much more open wireless ecosystem will be needed, she says, in the same way that the internet (which is not controlled by one company) became the platform for digital innovation.
One thing that they all agreed on: No single company will provide either 6G or the metaverse to come, so a wide variety of companies will have to be part of the ecosystem that works toward solving these challenges.
