Bharat 6G

Introduction

Communication technology is ever evolving, from the early Executive Summary 12 days of fourth generation (4G), when the newfound gaming graphics bowled the world over, to the recent promise that 5G brings to us in terms of heightened connectivity. Today, as India embarks upon its own unique 5G journey, the global telecom sector has already initiated strides towards creating 6G or sixthgeneration communication technology as the next big thing on the communication horizon.

6G will build upon 5G technology and provide more reliable, ultra-low latency and affordable solutions with speeds almost 100 times faster than 5G to enhance and drive new communication applications. 

The Ministry of Communications has evolved a Bharat 6G Vision document, the details of which are given below.

Vision

Design, develop and deploy 6G network technologies that provide ubiquitous intelligent and secure connectivity for high quality living experience for the world

Pillars of 6G Vision

To further explore the impact of 6G in India and to investigate how India can realise its Mission of becoming a global leader in this space, the Technology Innovations Group set up six task forces in India to explore the major pillars of the 6G Vision.

1. Multi-platform Next Generation Networks
2. Multi-Disciplinary Innovative Solutions
3. 6G Spectrum
4. 6G Devices
5. International Standards Contribution
6. R&D Finance

The Task Forces’ key recommendations to pursue to enable the 6G Mission have been summarised below:

• Innovative funding mechanisms to support industry, startups, academia, and national laboratories to undertake R&D and pursue select risky pathways in search of breakthroughs with clear KPIs and roadmap and partnerships for commercialization
• Innovative solutions through startups and CoEs that leverage the emerging 6G technologies to address key verticals such as transport, water, power grid and renewables, healthcare, education, digital twins and smart cities
• Shared use of spectrum, particularly in the higher frequency bands where the propagation is more akin to that of light
• Reassessment and rationalisation of congested spectrum bands, and adoption of captive networks for Industry 4.0 and enterprise use cases in hitherto less used bands
• New multi-sensor man-machine interfaces and devices leveraging edge cloud computing resources and AI to deliver tactile Internet, ambience awareness and realistic 3D experiences
• mmWave and (Sub-) Terahertz (THz) wireless communications at scale and very high data rates along with adaptive radio interfaces, advanced/ novel antenna techniques (Ultra massive MIMO) and increased virtualisation
• Participation and contribution to global standards forums to ensure interoperability and global reach of our innovation 
• Fiber-broadband to every home and integrated dense wireless and optical network, with wireless communications primarily serving mobile users
• Tactile Internet and Remote Operations of machines/ robots, along with near-realistic  3D rendering of virtual participants in meetings • Space-Terrestrial Integration for ubiquitous coverage
• Combined communication and sensing in (Sub-) Terahertz bands
• SoCs for modems, radios, AI processors

Global Initiatives on 6G

Worldwide interest has also started among the industry members on aligning research outcomes to the standards development processes.  

• North America: NextG Alliance
• Europe: 6G IA
• China: IMT 2030PG initiative Future Forum 
• Japan: B5G Consortium 
• Korea: 5G Forum (MoU with Next G Alliance)
• India: TIG-6G (in the formation stage)

A key to fast and seamless adoption of new technologies across the globe is a timely and effective standardization, performed by Standards Developing Organizations (SDO), aligned among all relevant stakeholders. Several SDOs are expected to work on 6G, e.g., 3GPP, ETSI, IETF and IEEE, in a much tighter way than they did for 5G, as 6G intends to merge and make work together different technologies, which have been taken care of, so far, by different SDOs. 

Bharat 6G Mission

The Mission can be divided into two phases:

• Phase 1 from 2023-2025 (2 years)
• Phase 2 from 2025-2030 (5 years).

In Phase 1, support will be provided to explorative ideas, risky pathways, and proof-of-concept tests. Further, ideas and concepts that show promise and potential for acceptance by the global peer community will be adequately supported to develop them to completion, establish their use cases and benefits, and create implementational IPs and testbeds leading to commercialization as part of Phase 2. 

The second phase will be dedicated to conceptualizing and delivering potential technology solutions to serve India and the global community. 

An apex body is to be constituted to lay down the Phase-wise objectives, select the research and innovation pathways to be explored, and approve financial support for them. 

To access the complete Vision document, click here.

Source : Ministry of Communications