6th Super Smart Society Promotion Forum examines international perspectives on 6G communications

In his talk, Professor Hiroyuki Morikawa first introduced the changes in social and global views amidst COVID-19 and the role of digital technologies during the pandemic. He then described how to confront 5G/Beyond 5G/6G from three perspectives &emdash; entering the 5G arena, the importance of diversity, and the expansion of stakeholders. He emphasized that, with the increase in intangible assets, it is important to involve people from diverse backgrounds to identify problems, create new value, and facilitate innovations. He also touched on the importance of corporate transformation (CX) in relation to the advancement of 5G/Beyond 5G/6G.

Satoshi Nagata described the importance of industry-academia-government collaboration, which connects the communication industry with all other industries, using logistics as one prime example. He then highlighted the need for reviewing 5G technology, the pros and cons of 5G standardization, and the strengths and weaknesses of 5G commercialization. He also spoke about the objectives of 6G technology, the latest 6G research, and NTT DOCOMO's activities in areas such as non-terrestrial networks, intelligent reflecting surfaces, and the extension of the 6G frequency spectrum.

Takanori Iwai first described the importance of information network technology as the infrastructure to realize digital transformation, the role of 5G/6G networks, and end-to-end quality of experience (QoE) control. He then introduced NEC's AI-based intelligent wireless communication control technology, offering three examples: application identification technology with which the application can be identified by analyzing the feature parameters of traffic flow without seeing the content, application-aware RAN optimization with which the RAN can be automatically controlled according to the conditions of the application and network, and a remote vehicle monitoring system which can detect critical areas and send alert notifications.

At the end of the morning session, Professor Nobuyuki Iwatsuki, chair of the Consortium Steering Committee, gave a briefing on the progress of the consortium's activities.

A technology exhibition by the consortium's participating institutions was held at Tokyo Tech Front on Ookayama Campus during the lunch break. Each of the 12 SSS partners set up a booth and gave a presentation on their technology, with some institutions including both poster displays and actual exhibits. In front of the Ookayama Campus Main Building, a company conducting joint research with Tokyo Tech demonstrated a new service using 5G terminals. A live camera report of the exhibition was also available for online participants. Exhibition participants included the following organizations and teams:

Tokyo Tech Professor Kei Sakaguchi explained the current status of 5G, and then presented his vision for Beyond 5G and 6G. He also introduced the concept of the SSS Service Platform, which integrates a wide range of technologies such as digital twin technology, multi-access edge computing, cloud technology, sensors, and actuators with 5G/6G as one element. He also introduced the Beyond 5G Test Field and Super Smart Town Ookayama built on Ookayama Campus together with the research outcomes obtained based on these creations.

DIrector Kentaro Ishizu introduced the Beyond 5G/6G White Paper, in which technical issues were extracted by backcasting from the ideal state of telecommunications and society in the 2030s. First, four specific scenarios of people's lives in the future were presented, and a list of key technologies to realize these scenarios was clearly shown. A vision of the architecture that Beyond 5G should aim for was also presented. Ishizu also stressed the importance of discussions among people from different organizations and specialized backgrounds.

CTO Masanobu Fujioka introduced the paradigm shift from 5G to 6G, and enumerated the technical challenges to realize this shift. He then introduced Ericsson Japan's specific efforts to solve such challenges. In particular, he emphasized the Cognitive Network that automatically configures desirable connections, the Network Computer Fabric that is an advanced technology of edge computing, network reliability and resilience, and joint communication and sensing as important future research issues.

RWTH Aachen's Professor Haris Gacanin introduced the 6GEM project that he is leading. He began by describing the five research areas, six test fields, and the team composition for the project. Next, he presented the need for metaverse-ready networking technology and the technical challenges regarding its realization. He then spoke about 6GEM's efforts to solve these issues and touched on test fields for rescue robots. During the Q&A session, future collaboration between the SSS Promotion Consortium and the 6GEM project was confirmed, and concrete initiatives were discussed.

John Reynolds first introduced the Digital Twin Consortium, and explained the importance of digital twins and the current situation surrounding this technology. He then offered some examples of digital twin success stories. He also gave a detailed explanation of the Digital Twin Composition Platform, which enables the end-to-end construction of a digital twin. In addition, he introduced activities for integration of the technology in the telecommunications field.