Toward 6G wireless communications: Vision, applications, and technologies

Abstract

5G is the latest standard for wireless networks that are still being slowly deployed to replace 4G and even 3G networks. Although it brings great improvements beyond 4G, it will not be capable of fulfilling the future requirements driven by the steadily increasing demands of the digital society. Therefore, the focus is now shifting toward the sixth generation of wireless communication systems (6G). Enhanced wireless connectivity that can serve the next decade is the mission of 6G. The latest initiatives have discussed the framework and the required performance capabilities of 6G cellular systems. This paper investigates the concept of the next generation of wireless communications. Therefore, ambitious scenarios of the future of wireless communications are presented. To defend the need for transitioning beyond 5G in the next decade, this paper explores the expectations, the use cases, the key performance indicators (KPIs), and the enabling technologies that will not to be available until 6G networks are deployed.