Issue link: https://resources.system-analysis.cadence.com/i/1339384
5G Evolution Supports a New Wave of Wireless Devices The release of each new generation of wireless technology every decade or so has enabled mobile communication to progress considerably since the first portable phones appeared in the 1980s. Technical advances have created new services and business opportunities, driving what's being referred to as the third wave of communications. The evolution made possible through 5G and future 6G technology will support even more new services for industry and society, well into the 2030s and beyond. 5G represents the first step toward this next wave of services with expanded connectivity and a significant upgrade in multimedia capabilities combined with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and the internet of things(IoT). 5G will be the first generation of mobile commu- nications to utilize millimeter-wave (mmWave) band frequencies, supporting bandwidths of several hundred megahertz and actualizing ultra-high-speed wireless data communications of many gigabits per second. This article examines the expansion of 5G/6G wireless communications to new areas of service that will drive another industrial wave and offer greater business value for industry and society. The Third Wave of Wireless Communications 5G and future systems will close the gap between the physical and cyber worlds. Today, mobile consumers use wireless connectivity to access the web from almost any location. In the future, high-speed coverage will be more widespread and faster, with greater emphasis on uplinking information from real-world events, either human and/or IoT, to the internet. Once this information is in the cloud, AI could reproduce the real world in cyberspace and emulate it beyond physical, economical, and time constraints, so that "future prediction" and "new knowledge" can be discovered and shared. The role of wireless communications in this cyber- physical fusion is assumed to include high-capacity and low-latency transmission of real-world images and sensing information, and feedback to the real world through high-reliability and low-latency control signaling. Radio communications in this cyber-physical fusion scenario correspond to the role of the nervous system transmitting information between the brain and the body. FEATURE STORY Communications convert real-world events to the cyber world through enhanced uplink capabilities and provide feedback information to humans and devices through low-latency downlink functionality. 6G Performance Goals 6G will implement many different technologies to achieve its performance goals. Among them will be new topologies of overlapping cells with distributed networks of beamforming antenna controlled by AI and ML to dynami- cally select optimum transmission paths. The next wave of communications focuses on three areas of service, shown in the figure. Conclusion A key goal of 5G has been to expand the reach and value of wireless technology beyond the individual mobile subscriber in support of mMTC and URLLC. Expanding connectivity to include network-to-smart device communi- cations, combined with AI and IoT, will usher in a new indus- trial wave and offer greater business value for both industry and society. 2 www.cadence.com/go/awr