The vivo Communications Research Institute recently released two white papers, ‘6G Vision, Requirements and Challenges’ and ‘Digital Life 2030+’. In ‘Digital Life 2030+’, the Institute examines possible scenarios for digital life in the 2030s. A second white paper offers a preliminary view of the vision for 6G and its goals while analyzing potential challenges of networks and terminals.
Industry experience shows that the replacement cycle of mobile communication starts every 10 years. 6G is expected to launch around the year 2030.
“The 6G era is still a decade away, so it’s very difficult to give concrete answers right now,” said Qin Fei, head of the vivo Communications Research Institute. “However, as the core features of 4G and 5G are connection and digitalization, we can say with confidence that the core features of 6G will be connection+ and digitization+, as well as intelligence.” Qin emphasized that 6G won’t simply be equal to 5G+AI technology. Instead, 6G will integrate more radio access technologies, cover a wider physical space, provide stronger basic capabilities such as communication, computing, storage and data, and support Information Technology & Computing Technology (ICDT) convergence services.
In a decade from now, what changes will 6G and other ICTs bring to people’s lives? In H1 2020, the vivo Communications Research Institute hosted an event titled ‘Imagining Digital Life in 2030’, in order to better understand and examine scenarios for 6G application. To make the scenario predictions more realistic, the Institute studied forecast reports of related industries for 2030 and the development plans of multiple government institutions for the next 10 years. Their discoveries and a final summary of their work were incorporated into the white paper ‘Digital Life 2030+’.
In this white paper, the Institute analyzed the projected development trends for 11 aspects closely related to people’s lives for 2030 and beyond and then presented more than 20 vivid scenario use cases. In turn, these cases included 60 creative designs of products and services, giving consumers and technicians a vivid image of digital life in 2030 and beyond.
As soon as the 5G standard was released in 2019, vivo established a team to commence research and development in 6G. “The 6G vision we describe is the freely connected fusion of the physical and digital worlds,” said Qin Fei. “As a leading mobile phone brand, vivo aspires to become the bridge connecting those two worlds.” In the future, vivo will continue to focus on information consumption terminals and provide smart products and intelligent services to address the digital requirements of consumers.
