Vision, requirements and network architecture of 6G mobile network beyond 2030

TLDR

The rollout of 5G began in 2019, prompting research into the next generation mobile network aimed at deployment by 2030. The article seeks to identify the vision and requirements for 6G to guide key technology selection and comprehensive system design, thereby stimulating further research. It proposes a logical mobile network architecture that integrates IT, communication, and big‑data convergence, derives performance requirements from emerging application scenarios, and defines 6G features such as on‑demand fulfillment, lite and soft networks, native AI, and native security.

Abstract

With the 5th Generation (5G) Mobile network being rolled out gradually in 2019, the research for the next generation mobile network has been started and targeted for 2030. To pave the way for the development of the 6th Generation (6G) mobile network, the vision and requirements should be identified first for the potential key technology identification and comprehensive system design. This article first identifies the vision of the society development towards 2030 and the new application scenarios for mobile communication, and then the key performance requirements are derived from the service and application perspective. Taken into account the convergence of information technology, communication technology and big data technology, a logical mobile network architecture is proposed to resolve the lessons from 5G network design. To compromise among the cost, capability and flexibility of the network, the features of the 6G mobile network are proposed based on the latest progress and applications of the relevant fields, namely, on-demand fulfillment, lite network, soft network, native AI and native security. Ultimately, the intent of this article is to serve as a basis for stimulating more promising research on 6G.