October 19, 2020

1975 words 10 mins read

What Will 6G Look Like in a Geopolitical Divided World

What Will 6G Look Like in a Geopolitical Divided World

A recent session of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and the Australian Smart Communities Association (ASCA) masterclass on 5G, featured Dr. Ian Oppenheimer, the NSW Government’s Chief Data Scientist and one of the country’s most respected experts in radio technology. Ian is also the Chair of the scientific advisory board of the 6G Flagship organization, a global research organization based i

n Finland. This organization has just published a range of fascinating research papers on 6G.

If we look at previous mobile generations and perhaps start at 3G, we can see that with this technology, it became possible to access the Internet however that was far from adequate for the technology explosion that happened around smartphones in the late 00s.

Later, 4G was developed to improve that and there would be few people complaining about their use of the 4G service. With the increase in the use of apps and video and the move towards machine to machine (M2M) and the Internet of things (IoT), it was necessary to further develop mobile technology in relation to broadband capacity (and the increase in devices and sensors that are needing to provide access). This resulted in the 5G technology that is currently being deployed.

New mobile generations appear roughly every decade. Add to this the overall increase in population, and the mobile industry is facing some interesting challenges in providing its services nationwide. This coincides with a massive demand for mobile services across the globe. The 6G Flagship organisation is therefore linking the development of 6G very closely to the United Nations' (UN) Sustainable Developments Goals.

I can proudly state that I was able to contribute to those goals as co-initiator of the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development. Within this organization, we championed the use of technologies to be used as tools in achieving these UN goals.

Some of the key fundamental issues that 6G will have to address include higher system capacity, higher data rate, lower latency and improved quality of service (QoS). While these issues are presented as a linear improvement of 5G, the reality is that these outcomes cannot be achieved by just improving the underlying network, software and spectrum technologies. In many areas, totally new technologies will need to be developed to make this happen.

Take, for example, the spectrum one of Ian Oppenheimer’s special areas. For 6G, it is the option to move into much higher frequencies, even beyond the terahertz (THz) level. The physical aspects of that spectrum are radically different, and our current technologies will not be able to use that spectrum. Higher frequencies also mean even shorter distances. New technologies are under development to overcome that problem.

It is also impossible to manage a 6G network in a central way. The trend is already towards edge networks, and this will have to be the norm for 6G. While this makes it ideal, for example, for city networks, smart energy networks and other specialised applications, it will require totally new business models.

Telcos will not be able to control a 6G network in the same way as they have controlled previous generations. Instead, they will have to take on more of a broker’s position. This will open the door to a range of new service providers as well as great opportunities for competition.

The recent move from Telstra to split itself up to better face future challenges can also be viewed in this context. However, at the same time, such over-the-top (OTT) models have also brought us near-monopolies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, for example. As a society, we need to stimulate innovation but at the same time make sure that 6G will be used for the betterment of people and society in general, and not just for the profits of a few.

A warning of caution here. As we have seen with 3G, 4G and 5G, there is an enormous amount of hype attached to these technologies, especially in the early days driven by the manufacturers, who of course have a lot to gain by the operators buying their gear. Take 5G and its hype; we still must see any good business case beyond just a replacement of 4G because of the network’s need for extra capacity.

Another aspect of 5G and 6G is that it basically can only be used in an economic sense in densely populated areas. In a previous Independent Australia article, l talked about satellites as their importance will be growing, together with laser technologies especially for rural and remote areas.

However, the most challenging element of 6G will, in my opinion, be around issues of trust, privacy and security.

6G is a data-centric technology. Data will be its lifeblood. It is not too difficult to see that by the time 6G starts to arrive in the 2030s, data analytics, cloud computing and artificial intelligence will have seen exponential growth.

If we talk about 6G as a data-driven technology, what that means is that it will be highly intelligent. It will be able to bring together enormous amounts of data from us, the people, our environment and many other sources. 6G technologies will be able to provide data outcomes about people far beyond what these people know about themselves. 6G will be a vastly human-centered network, with highly personalized services. The big question here will be how we are going to manage this and make sure that this will be for the betterment of us and our society.

Now, also put these developments in the current context of geopolitical polarisation and forever growing cyberwarfare. If we look at the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (which were published in 2015, when the world was a different place), how will we achieve those positive global outcomes in a rapidly dividing world? And can we still use 6G for those positive developments, or will 6G be used as yet another tool in political cyberwars?

While I admire the technical work the 6G Flagship is undertaking, at the same time, I think that society needs to start thinking about all those other “soft” issues as well. The way that developments are moving at the moment, it looks more likely that we are going to see rather different 6G developments based on geopolitical islands around China, Russia, USA and Europe, and further splintering in countries such as Turkey, Iran and North Korea, for example.

With technology becoming one of the most dominant global issues, the technology itself becomes less important as the developments that will be driven by politics. Technologies will be used to specifically facilitate political systems and the societies where they will be deployed.

This is an area where far more discussion is needed before we see the implementation of 6G or, for that matter Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics, robotics and massive new satellite systems, for example. It is important that humanity stays in control, not technology. Written by Paul Budde, Managing Director of Paul Budde CommunicationFollow CircleID on TwitterMore under: Access Providers, Broadband, Mobile Internet, Telecom, Wireless

Author: Paul Budde

Date: 2020-11-27

URL: http://www.circleid.com/posts/20201127-what-will-6g-look-like-in-a-geopolitical-divided-world/

circleid.com

First RIPE NCC “Seizure of IPv4 Addresses” – Is This the Beginning of IPv4 as Collateral? (2020-11-25) In a publication released on October 2 2020 RIPE NCC reported its first seizure of IPv4 registration rights pursuant to a Dutch court order Pursuant to the order RIPE NCC effectuated a transfer of the IP Addresses from the liquidating debtor to its creditor Although these IP Addresses could not be owned they were apparently not legacy Thus they conferred no property rights the registration rights ..
What Does an Administration Change Mean for the FCC? (2020-11-17) Just as the last change in administration changed the course of the FCC so will the swing back to a Democratic administration If youve been reading me for a few years you know I am a big believer in the regulatory pendulum Inevitably when a regulatory agency like the FCC swings too far in any direction its inevitable that it will eventually swing back the other way If I had to characterize the cur.. What Does an Administration Change Mean for the FCC?
Backlash Over Potential Firing of U.S. Election Cybersecurity’s Top Official (2020-11-17) CISA Director Chris Krebs on the ongoing effort to secure the 2020 election and rumor control The Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF along with over forty other cybersecurity experts and organizations are urging the White House to keep politics out of securing this months election in the US The concern arose following a Reuters report that the top US cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs Homela..
Authenticated Resolution and Adaptive Resolution: Security and Navigational Enhancements to the DNS (2020-11-19) The Domain Name System DNS has become the fundamental building block for navigating from names to resources on the internet DNS has been employed continuously ever since its introduction in 1983 by essentially every internet-connected application and device that wants to interact online Emerging from an era where interconnection rather than information security was the primary motivation DNS has g..
Another ICANN Meeting Concluded With No Action on DNS Abuse or Privacy/Proxy Policy (2020-11-04) Co-authored by Russell Pangborn and Syed Abedi of Seed IP Law Group The ICANN 69 meeting has come to a close with no progress on DNS abuse or implementation of the Privacy/Proxy Services Accreditation policy PPSAI While ICANN is uniquely positioned to do so it refuses to do anything proactive about DNS abuse with its executives overtly attempting to limit its role to data collection Moreover its r..
Internet Governance and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Part 6: Articles 18-19 (2020-12-01) Articles 18-19: Freedoms of Thought and Opinion Co-authored by Klaus Stoll and Prof Sam Lanfranco1 Internet Governance like all governance needs guiding principles from which policy making and acceptable behavior are derived Identifying the fundamental principles to guide Internet ecosystem policy making around digital citizenship and around the integrity of digital practices and behavior can and ..
SpaceX Starlink Is on a Roll (2020-10-24) Why Elon is smiling captured from an interview during the virtual convention of the Mars Society Oct 16 2020 This is an impressive list of achievements but bear in mind that we are still in the early days of a yet-unproven technology and market in a complex geopolitical environment The last two months have seen a flurry of Starlink activity including the following: Bill Gates has a history of inte.. SpaceX Starlink Is on a Roll
An Investigative Analysis of the Silent Librarian IoCs (2020-11-12) The Silent Librarian advanced persistent threat APT actors have been detected once again as the academic year started in September With online classes increasingly becoming the norm the groups phishing campaigns that aim to steal research data and intellectual property could have a high success rate Dozens of phishing domain names have been reported although some may have already been taken down S..
IoT From a Network Perspective: Learning to Navigate the New Realms (2020-10-27) Lets play the analogy game The Internet of Things IoT is probably going end up being like a box of chocolates because you never do know what you are going to get? a big bowl of spaghetti with a serious lack of meatballs? Whatever it is the IoT should have network folks worried about security Of course there is the problem of IoT devices being attached to random places on the network exfiltrating p.. IoT From a Network Perspective: Learning to Navigate the New Realms
AI Initiatives at the US Post Office: Final Rethink Before We Dissolve It! (2020-10-18) MIT released a comical study in May of 2020 on the historical innovation accomplishments and the potential logistical endeavors brought to light by the beleaguered United States Postal Service The apparent scholarly article cited several technological implementations and employee empowered frameworks that could define the USPSs plight over the next five years These frameworks through FY2025 mentio..