Sixth Generation (6G) Wireless Technology: An Overview, Vision, Challenges and Use Cases

Abstract

Sixth Generation (6G) research has already begun in academia and industry since 2019 which is considered as ‘year zero’ for 6G research. The technology is expected to be available for commercial deployment from 2030, following the pattern that every decade a new generation of wireless technology is introduced. Currently, i.e. from 2020, telecom operators around the world has started deploying 5G technology in their networks. There are a number of conceptual papers on 6G and its related technologies available with some research groups working actively on this new wireless communication generation. It is yet to be seen that what benefits 6G will bring for society, however, one thing is sure that Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in smart cities will play key roles in 6G technology. Therefore the innovative applications raise the quality of life (QoL) for the citizen by monitoring, analyzing, planning, and executing with the integration of various components. We further anticipate that the sixth generation (6G) of the wireless network should be fully autonomic to deliver the quality of services (QoS) and network performance. In this paper, we review what is the current state-of-the-art in 6G. Our aim is to provide readers a starting point in 6G research and to provide an overview of how 6G will be used to build the applications using cutting-edge technologies-SC, AI and ML. We also conceptualise and identify the role of 6G technology with its vision and future challenges. In addition, we have discussed the availability of 6G at the network and user side, along with various future potential use cases for 6G.