Forward to 6G! Challenges & Opportunities of Beyond 5G Networks
While digital transformation represents a pivotal development of our society, converging the communication technologies within a single mainstream technology, gradually connecting everything and everywhere, the 5G deployments have still to overcome the economic challenges and to prove their exceptional qualities across the world.
In this context it is time to look beyond the 5G network towards what the telecommunication system would look like in 2030. Commonly referred to as 6G, the network of 2030 is driven by the pervasive adoption of AI, both within the individual network layers and holistically across the system, as well as the need for energy efficiency, decomplexification, extensive trust, and security to deliver on the promise of digitization across a wide variety of use cases and deployments.
In addition, the standardization community is in full swing towards full network flexibility, aiming to provide ultra-low latency, dedicated fixed, nomadic and mobile campus networks, and alternatively global networks. The time has come to prove the full potential of campus networks, build a corresponding provider ecosystem, and deliver on the promise of 5G by complementing the operator deployments with a myriad of highly customized, yet convergent, vertical networks.
Starting from 3GPP Release 18 and beyond, the amazing customization features of fully software networks – open, serverless, cloud-native and organic – are leading the new service developments on top of the 5G Service-Based Architectures (SBA). The same trend of software-based services is pushing forward the RAN flexibility and scalability, gradually expanding the telco ecosystem.
The conference will feature short, stimulating presentations followed by highly interactive panels to discover and discuss the latest trends. Interactive demos alongside the conference during the breaks will provide hands-on inspiration and illustrate the beyond 5G and 6G technologies.
Greetings from BMBF Dirk Ziemann, Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany
Greeting from the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Walter Mattauch, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), Germany
Welcome Thomas Magedanz, Fraunhofer FOKUS / TU Berlin, Germany
09.30 - 10.30 SESSION 1 | PRESENTATION
What Should 6G Achieve?
Chair: Thomas Heyn, Fraunhofer IIS, Germany
SA1 Status: Our Road Towards 6G José Almodovar, TNO / 3GPP SA1, The Netherlands
The ETSI Approach to Research & Innovation and Thoughts on ... "What Should 6G Achieve"? David Boswarthick, ETSI, UK
Developing a Holistic Sustainability Framework for Future Communication Systems Anastasius Gavras, Eurescom GmbH, Germany
AI-Driven DSM and SCMs: Unlocking the Potential of FR3 for 6G Ivan Seskar, Rutgers University/WINLAB, USA
10.30 - 11.00 COFFEE BREAK & DEMOS
11.00 - 12.30 SESSION 2 | PRESENTATION
Operator Perspectives Going Beyond 5G
Chair: Guy Redmill, Redmill Marketing Associates
Towards 6G or the Story of a Boat Markus Amend, Deutsche Telekom AG, Germany
5G Evolution and 6G Takehiro Nakamura, NTT Docomo, Japan
6G Challenges & Opportunities Ryan Husbands, British Telecom, UK
Key Learnings from 5G Pilots in Belgium Eric Smekens, Citymesh, Belgium
Unleashing the Next Wave in Interoperable Smart Public Networks and Services Håkon Lønsethagen, Telenor, Norway
12.30 - 13.00 PANEL
6G for All
Chair: Thomas Magedanz, Fraunhofer FOKUS / TU Berlin, Germany
Alfonso Ehijo, University of Chile Bessie Malila, University of Cape Town, South Africa Hakima Chaouchi, Institut Mines-Télécom, France Ivan Seskar, Winlab/Rutgers University, USA Maria Guta, ESA, The Netherlands Markus Amend, Deutsche Telekom AG, Germany Serge Fdida, Sorbonne University, France Takehiro Nakamura, NTT Docomo, Japan
13.00 - 13.40 LUNCH
13.40 - 14.00 DEMO SESSION
14.00 - 15.30 SESSION 3 | PRESENTATION
Industries' Perspectives on Beyond 5G Networks
Chair: Anastasius Gavras, Eurescom GmbH, Germany
What Automotive Needs from 5G and Beyond Johannes Springer, Deutsche Telekom / T-Systems, Germany
6G - Separating the Wheat from the Chaff Andreas Müller, Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany
Can Societies Depend on 6G? TCCA 6G Position Joakim Åkesson, Ericsson / The Critical Communications Association (TCCA) 6G Taskforce, Sweden
Unified 3D Networks - A Research Perspective Dirk Wübben, University of Bremen, Germany
Towards 6G! National Programs and Research Directions
Chair: Serge Fdida, Sorbonne University, France
Direction and Status of Beyond 5G and 6G R&D Activities in Japan and NICT Kentaro Ishizu, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan
Metaverse Cyber Studio with Future Multi-Sliced Connectivity Supporting Industry x.0 Ari Pouttu, University of Oulu, Finland
SLICES, Assisting Scientist in Digital Infrastructures to Measure the Subject of their Investigations Serge Fdida, Sorbonne University, France
6G Revolution in South Africa: Progress, Challenges, and Future Research Directions Bessie Malila, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Task-Oriented Communication Meets Next-Generation AI Slawomir Stanczak, Fraunhofer HHI, Germany