According to a report on the Voice of America website on August 22, the sixth-generation mobile communication (6G) technology will have a revolutionary impact in the economic and military fields, and the competition among countries in the 6G field will become more intense.
China, Finland, Japan, South Korea and other countries have joined the ranks of 6G research and development, and US officials have also stated recently that the United States intends to increase investment in the higher-end 6G wireless communications field to "leapfrog development" over China's Huawei in the 5G field. .
6G will bring major changes to the military field
According to the VOA website, the industry predicts that the performance of 6G mobile communication will be 10 to 100 times that of 5G; the data transmission rate will reach 100GB/sec, or even as high as 1TB/sec, and the transmission frequency band will also enter "THz" field.
Abishur Prakash is the co-founder of the "Innovative Future Center" headquartered in Toronto, Canada. He told VOA that 6G will greatly benefit many areas. For example, 6G can enable applications such as vehicle autonomous driving, medical system automation, drone transportation, and police forecasting.
Coincidentally, South Korea's Samsung company published a 6G white paper in July this year, predicting that 6G applications may debut in 2028 at the earliest. The white paper says that hyper-realistic extended reality, high-fidelity mobile holographic display will be a way for 6G commercial use. In addition, possible applications of 6G include centimeter-level precision positioning, imaging technology positioning, realizing virtual reality, augmented reality, and solving the technical problems of communication, safety, positioning and navigation that still exist in autonomous driving technology under 5G conditions.
In addition, Prakash also said that 6G will be a battleground for future military strategists and is expected to bring major changes to the military field.
"China National Defense News" published an article titled "If 6G is used in future operations" in April this year, claiming that the introduction of 6G technology into the military field will have "a significant impact on military practices such as the form of war, equipment development, and battlefield communications."
The article predicts that 6G has great potential for military applications. If it is applied in the military field on a large scale, it can greatly improve the level of unmanned intelligence reconnaissance, intelligent command and control, visual combat operations, and precise comprehensive support. This may be the future for the military to adapt to new military changes. One of the important concerns.
The United States intends to "leapfrog" into 6G
In view of the fact that 6G has such a huge magic power to change the society, all countries favor it.
According to a report on the Voice of America website, the US government has always been concerned about the leadership it has lost in the 5G field. US President Trump once tweeted in February 2019 that he hoped to see 5G and even 6G technology in the United States as soon as possible. He said: "American companies must step up their efforts or they will fall behind."
US officials recently stated that the United States intends to surpass China's Huawei in the 5G field by bypassing 5G and increasing investment in 6G through "leapfrog development."
On August 9, Adam Boller, CEO of the International Development Finance Corporation, a foreign financial investment cooperation agency established by the US government last year, said in an interview with the news website "This is News": "We are more interested in the next trend. What, we are interested in 6G, which is our investment field."
The United States has already deployed in 6G-related technical fields. Terahertz is considered one of the key technologies for 6G data transmission. The Advanced Research Projects Agency under the US Department of Defense has established a cooperative investment group with more than a dozen private technology companies since 2016. In January 2018, it officially announced funding for the "University Joint Microelectronics Project" composed of more than 30 American universities. , Plans to invest about 200 million US dollars within 5 years for the innovation and development of microelectronics, including the "THz and Perception Fusion Technology Research Center (ComSenTer)" sub-project.
The project’s New York University team leader and professor of electronic and computer engineering Sandip Ruangan told VOA Radio that the US Department of Defense’s investment in microelectronics cutting-edge projects may focus on military applications of terahertz technology. However, he also emphasized that the future development prospects of 6G depend on its commercial success.
In addition, the US Army is also cooperating with Carbonics and the University of Southern California to develop carbon nanotube technology, aimed at improving the performance of military reconnaissance equipment, with the goal of making the propagation speed of radio frequency applications exceed 100G Hz.
According to a report on the Voice of America radio website, Han Fang, an engineer at the Shanghai Integrated Circuit Technology and Industry Promotion Center, wrote in an analysis that the U.S. Department of Defense collaborates with industry to "significantly improve the performance, efficiency and efficiency of commercial and military electronic systems. Ability to provide absolute superior technical support for the Ministry of Defense in radar, communications, and weapon systems."
Many countries join the 6G R&D array
In addition to the United States, traditional communications technology powerhouses such as China, Japan, South Korea, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and the United Kingdom have all joined the ranks of 6G technology research and development.
According to the VOA website, in November 2019, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Natural Science Foundation of China announced the launch of the "National 6G Technology Research and Development Promotion Working Group."
Since April 2018, the University of Oulu in Finland has been cooperating with Nokia and the Finnish National Technology Research Center on a 6G R&D project, which received a total of 250 million euros in funding; in November 2019, Japan announced a US$2 billion technology research and development project Stimulus projects, including 6G development; South Korea's Samsung and LG Electronics have also established 6G research centers in 2019.
How 6G technology can break through 5G and achieve leapfrog development is still inconclusive. Analysis believes that 6G may be based on 5G base stations and enhance communication efficiency, and new generation communication methods such as satellites, drones, and even visible light can also be used.
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, advocated the use of satellites to provide high-speed Internet services and launched the "Starlink" project. Some analysts believe that similar satellite Internet may make the United States' 6G deployment even more powerful.
Prakash said: "Whether it is SpaceX, Starlink, or Amazon, the space Internet will soon become a reality. Therefore, satellites may soon have 6G capabilities, which will also change the way countries build telecommunications infrastructure. ."
Our reporter Liu Xia