6G — What Does It Mean For The Future?

Engineers from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and LG have recently successfully transmitted 6G signals over a distance of 100 meters, a new record. As small as that sounds, this tech has massive implications for the future.

Since the 1980s, mobile networks have been helping us communicate faster, clearer, and in a more convenient fashion. Since then, the evolution of these networks has been represented as five different generations: 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, and the new 5G. This history generally shows a new ‘G’ developing almost every decade. In fact, you have probably heard about all the major network companies such as T-Mobile and Verizon expanding their new 5G networks, and all of the major phone companies making their phones ‘5G-ready’. This basically means that we will all soon be streaming videos, transferring data, and having record-low latency on mobile connections.

However, some companies have already been developing ‘6G technology’, with speeds many times faster than our 5G infrastructure that is still being put together. For example, the tech giant Samsung which is working on this supposed ‘6G’ has said:

‘…the completion of the 6G standard and its earliest commercialization date could be as early as 2028’

Additionally, we have seen engineers from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and LG have recently successfully transmitted 6G signals over a distance of 100 meters, a new record. As small as that sounds, this tech has massive implications for the future. So, with 5G technology already showing promising results in running our day-to-day tasks, what will 6G do for us around a decade from now?

What Could Be Some Implications of 6G?

An Approaching Metaverse

We have been hearing a lot about the ‘Metaverse’, a network of 3D virtual worlds where we could work, play, shop, and travel all by putting on a set of VR headsets on your couch. The idea of this has been around long before tech CEOs such as Mark Zuckerberg have tossed the term around. Many have even compared it to Ernest Cline’s famous book Ready Player One.

While we make rapid advancements in virtual reality towards a Metaverse, many ask, “Is our internet infrastructure prepared for something like this?”. This is a fair point, since the world’s population increasing means we will need a faster and more efficient network, as we would needs to connect billions of people to the ‘Metaverse’ all at once. As we are start to build 5G (and even 4G in some places) networks across the world, the answer to this question might become more clear.

6G just may be the thing that enables us to experience these virtual worlds, as experts predict that the top speeds of 6G could beat 5G speeds a hundred-fold.,

‘Zero-Latency” Machine Operation

Over the past few years, we have seen the rise of more and more machines being integrated into society. With 6G, many say that wireless operations with machines could have a latency very close to zero (hence the quotes).

However, how could this help us? With our homes becoming ‘smart’ with the addition of devices such as Amazon Echos, much less latency could mean could mean controlling our smart homes from afar in pretty much real time.

Additionally, we could also see more consumer-friendly robotics pop up in the market in the future. This might mean that we will start seeing robotic arms in our kitchens, desks, or even dining tables, and that 6G could enable us to control these robots (and therefore, our homes) with almost no lag time.

Do We Really Need It, Though?

That was the question I kept asking myself when writing this article.

We have already seen the development of 5G result in higher streaming quality and download speeds in some places, so why are we already developing this new kind of network when we are still working on our current one? However, then I realized the answer was simple: It’s for the future.

Many asked this exact question when we saw 5G developing back in the early 2010s, but our current society’s needs say it all. While these generations of wireless communication might not have been needed when they were first being developed, our future selves needed them. Things such as AI and online streaming that are important in the tech world could use 5G to make new strides in their fields. This principle could be applied to 6G. We might not need it now, but we certainly will later on, and I’m interested to see its implications in our future.