Towards 6G Hyper-Connectivity: Vision, Challenges, and Key Enabling Technologies

Howon Lee, Byungju Lee, Heecheol Yang, Junghyun Kim, Seungnyun Kim, Wonjae Shin, Byonghyo Shim, H. Vincent Poor

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Technology forecasts anticipate a new era in which massive numbers of humans, machines, and things are connected to wireless networks to sense, process, act, and communicate with the surrounding environment in a real-time manner. To make the visions come true, the sixth generation (6G) wireless networks should be hyper-connected, implying that there are no constraints on the data rate, coverage, and computing. In this article, we first identify the main challenges for 6G hyper-connectivity, including terabits-per-second (Tbps) data rates for immersive user experiences, zero coverage-hole networks, and pervasive computing for connected intelligence. To overcome these challenges, we highlight key enabling technologies for 6G such as distributed and intelligence-aware cell-free massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO) networks, boundless and fully integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, and communication-aware distributed computing for computation-intensive applications. We further illustrate and discuss the hyper-connected 6G network architecture along with open issues and future research directions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)344-354
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Communications and Networks
Volume25
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2023
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Information Systems
  • Computer Networks and Communications

Keywords

  • 6G hyper-connectivity
  • cell-free massive MIMO
  • non-terrestrial networks
  • over-the-air distributed computing
  • scalable deep learning
  • terahertz communications

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