The new generation of artificial intelligence accelerates the evolution of 6G networks
2024-11-19
In the past few decades, mobile communication networks have undergone an evolution from 1G to 5G. Every evolution has enhanced the functionality of wireless communication networks, and the use of these features has changed the way humans live, work, and produce. Today, 5G has become the norm, and 6G is coming towards us. After the International Telecommunication Union released the "Framework and Overall Goal Proposal for IMT Development towards 2030 and Future", the standardization and technological research and development of 6G have been booming. At this moment, we are full of expectations for 6G. We look forward to 6G bringing faster internet speeds and larger capacity, and we also look forward to the evolution of 6G networks into a new type of network that is deeply integrated with artificial intelligence and sustainably developed. Artificial intelligence is used to reconstruct mobile communication networks. The telecommunications industry was one of the earliest industries to adopt digital technology. As early as the early 1980s, with the use of digital program-controlled telephone exchanges, telecommunications companies began the process of digitization. The use of digital technology became a turning point in the development of the telecommunications industry, followed by rapid growth in the following decades. Now, the telecommunications industry is entering a new turning point, which is the use of artificial intelligence to reconstruct telecommunications networks. Refactoring is the process of making changes to the internal structure of a system, optimizing its internal logic to make it more rational and efficient. We need to use artificial intelligence to optimize the network structure, schedule network resources, control the network, and replace the structure and operating rules of wireless networks designed based on long-term experience. Real time analysis of network conditions through large models, prediction and diagnosis of faults, and repair and self optimization. Refactoring the network requires adjusting the structure and operational logic of the entire network to make it more efficient. For a long time, telecommunications networks have determined network capacity and built networks based on busy hour traffic volume, and then operated at full capacity day and night. Running a low-power fixed telephone network in this way is effective. However, mobile communication networks have a large number of distributed base stations, and as the number of base stations and transmitting and receiving antennas increases, network power consumption continues to grow. After the opening of the 5G network, due to the much higher power of the 5G network compared to 4G, in order to save electricity, operators attempted to implement sleep on some base stations during late night idle hours. After using artificial intelligence to reconstruct the network, it can be expected that the industry will establish a novel way of network operation. Artificial intelligence can not only automatically control the sleep and wake-up of base stations based on predicted busy and idle traffic, but also make this control more precise. Applying artificial intelligence algorithms to network systems, building the entire process of base station transmission, signal transmission, and terminal reception into a deep neural system. The envisioned goal is to utilize the automatic resource scheduling function of artificial intelligence to automatically adjust frequency bandwidth and the number of transmitting and receiving antennas according to actual business needs changes without the base station sleeping. This can significantly improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption. We can compare the operation of traditional networks to the chorus of a band, where all instruments play together at the same time; Comparing the precise control of network operation using artificial intelligence to symphony performance, where each instrument appears only when needed. To achieve the vision of 6G connecting everything intelligently, the network should also have different levels. 6G should meet the needs of both ultra high speed IoT and medium low speed IoT, narrowband IoT, and passive IoT. After the completion of 4G networks, NB IoT emerged, and after the completion of 5G networks, RedCap emerged, both to meet the needs of different levels of the Internet of Things. 6G networks should consider these different requirements in the early stages of standard development. Refactoring the network also involves increasing its functionality. 6G networks will go beyond connectivity, deeply integrating network connectivity with computing power, algorithms, and data to support massive artificial intelligence applications in the future. 6G will also achieve the integration of communication and perception, expanding the functional boundaries of communication networks. After 4G adopted Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) as the modulation method, 5G also continued to use OFDM to overcome technical difficulties. The reason why 5G has faster speeds than 4G is mainly due to the optimization of frame structure, as well as the increase in frequency bandwidth and the number of MIMO transmitting and receiving antennas. 5G-A also adopts the same approach. This method does have an immediate effect on improving network speed, but it also increases the power consumption of base station equipment. In fact, the power of 5G base stations is much higher than that of 4G, and the transmission power of 5G-A base stations is the same as 5G. However, due to the increase in the number of transmitting and receiving antennas from 64 to 128, the actual power consumption has increased by 10% -20%. To significantly accelerate 6G, it is necessary to continue increasing frequencies and transmitting and receiving antennas. In addition, 6G will achieve integrated communication and perception, which may require the addition of new modulation methods (such as linear frequency modulation, LFM) on the basis of OFDM to transmit continuous waves for perception, which will increase the burden of power consumption. After the operation of 5G networks, the energy consumption issue of mobile networks has attracted high attention from the industry. Telecom operators and equipment manufacturers have taken many measures to reduce the energy consumption of 5G networks. Common measures include improving components, optimizing circuit design, reducing air conditioning equipment, and so on. But overall, the effect is not yet significant enough. With the improvement of frequency efficiency, power consumption continues to increase, which is a new challenge encountered in the development of wireless communication so far. To achieve sustainable development in the mobile communication industry, new technological breakthroughs are needed. Semantic communication is a new technology that deeply integrates communication with artificial intelligence. By extracting features from the original signal content, it significantly reduces the number of bytes transmitted and improves network efficiency. This has indeed opened up a new dimension for the development of mobile communication, attracting close attention from the industry. We should strongly support the research and development of semantic communication technology. The shortage of frequency resources is also an unavoidable problem for the future development of mobile communication. Although the frequency range of 6.425-7.125 GHz has been designated as a new mobile communication frequency for 5G and 6G by the 2023 World Wireless Radio Conference, it is clearly unable to meet all the frequency requirements of 6G. The frequencies in the middle and low frequency bands are severely scarce, while the high-frequency band has abundant frequency resources and many performance advantages. However, due to the weaker diffraction ability of radio waves at higher frequencies, if millimeter waves or high-frequency centimeter waves are used to construct cellular mobile communication networks, there is a problem of too small base station coverage, let alone terahertz waves. Ten years ago, during the development phase of 5G, many manufacturers and operators focused on millimeter waves. I remember in those years at the Barcelona Mobile Communications Exhibition, almost all exhibitors showcased 5G systems using millimeter waves. At that time, I was thinking that the coverage area of millimeter wave base stations was so small that it could be used as a private network without any problems, but using millimeter wave to build a public network would incur high costs that operators may not be able to afford. Sure enough, in the early stages of 5G construction, some international operators used millimeter wave to build 5G public networks. However, due to the high cost of network coverage, they later participated in frequency auctions and switched to building networks in the mid to low frequency band. Some operators have already obtained millimeter wave frequencies, but due to concerns about high costs, they have been slow to start operating, and these frequencies have been reclaimed. However, due to the scarcity of mid to low frequency band resources, in order to further develop mobile communication, we have to face the problem of using high frequency band to build networks. The International Telecommunication Union's recommendation states that "IMT-2030 requires extensive use of multiple frequency bands between 1 GHz and the Asia Pacific Hertz frequency band, covering low frequency, centimeter wave, millimeter wave, and Asia Pacific Hertz frequency bands. Many future deployment scenarios (including wide area deployment) may require larger channel bandwidth to meet the needs of new services and applications, and existing spectrum and subsequently newly allocated and discovered spectrum need to coexist harmoniously." The main goal is to solve the problem of reduced coverage of high-frequency base stations due to weak radio wave diffraction ability. There will always be a solution, and there are already some solutions available. For example, intelligent metasurfaces (RIS) can guide incident electromagnetic signals to the desired direction through reflection and transmission, covering the signal beyond line of sight, which may be an effective method to solve the weak diffraction ability of high-frequency radio waves. I have watched a demonstration of RIS at the experimental site before, and the effect was significant. RIS looks a lot like a reflector used by professional photographers, but of course it is much more complex than a reflector. At present, RIS still has many unresolved issues in cost control, power consumption control, and interference avoidance. I believe that in the process of 6G standardization, RIS should be given the same importance as base stations. The International Telecommunication Union has listed RIS as a technology trend for 6G, known as multidimensional physical transmission technology. The breakthroughs in this type of technology are of great practical significance and deserve strong support. Expanding operator co construction and sharing networks has always been a competition among multiple operators in the mobile communication market around the world, with each operator independently building their own mobile communication network. This market competition pattern has accelerated the development of mobile communication, reduced tariffs, improved services, and benefited consumers. However, the market environment for mobile communication has undergone significant changes. On the one hand, due to the standardization of mobile communication technology, the technological gap between networks has narrowed, and the content of network services is also similar. The competition among operators has become a homogeneous price competition; On the other hand, as the bandwidth required for mobile networks increases, there is a severe shortage of frequency resources. In addition, with the frequent upgrading and replacement of mobile communication networks, the capital expenditure of telecommunications operators remains high. Therefore, in the capital market, the valuations of telecommunications operators are generally low. In this new market environment, there are two trends in the international telecommunications industry: one is to reduce the number of telecommunications operators, usually through commercial mergers and acquisitions; The second is the joint construction and sharing of networks by telecommunications operators. Telecom operators began to jointly build and share networks during 3G, but the scope of sharing was relatively small at that time, mainly focused on site sharing. After entering 5G, the scope of network co construction and sharing among telecom operators has expanded and become a trend. Chinese telecommunications operators have achieved great success in jointly building and sharing 5G networks, and have won praise from their global counterparts. The co construction and sharing of 5G networks not only significantly reduces construction and operation costs, reduces energy consumption, but also increases wireless bandwidth due to the sharing of frequency resources, thereby improving the technical performance of the network. The co construction and sharing of 5G networks usually takes the form of agreements signed by all parties involved. Internationally, there is also a way to establish joint ventures, where each operator holds shares and forms a joint venture company, which is specifically responsible for the construction and maintenance of 5G networks for use by the contributing operators. Undoubtedly, network co construction and sharing will continue in 6G and will also expand. Therefore, in the standardization process of 6G, it is necessary to consider how to provide more convenience for operators to jointly build and share networks. Based on the practical experience of 5G co construction and sharing, improve technical specifications. When formulating new technical specifications, it is necessary to take into account various forms of operator network sharing, including cross network roaming mode sharing, wireless access network sharing, wireless access network and partial core network sharing, virtual operator sharing, etc. The large-scale co construction and sharing of telecom operators on 5G networks has proven that decoupling the construction and maintenance of telecom networks from telecom business operations is not only feasible but also significantly beneficial. Two operators jointly use a 5G network, which makes more rational use of resources and reduces costs
Edit：Yao jue Responsible editor：Xie Tunan
Source：XinhuaNet
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