Integrated Terrestrial/Non-Terrestrial 6G Networks for Ubiquitous 3D Super-Connectivity

Abstract

Since the development of the 4G LTE standards around 2010, the research communities both in academia and industry have been brainstorming to predict the use cases and scenarios of 2020s, to determine the corresponding technical requirements, and to develop the enabling technologies, protocols, and network architectures towards the next-generation (5G) wireless standardization. This exploratory phase is winding down as the 5G standards are currently being developed with a scheduled completion date of late-2019; the 5G wireless networks are expected to be deployed globally throughout 2020s. As such, it is time to reinitiate a similar brainstorming endeavour followed by the technical groundwork towards the subsequent generation (6G) wireless networks of 2030s. One reasonable starting point in this new 6G discussion is to reflect on the possible shortcomings of the 5G networks to-bedeployed. 5G promises to provide connectivity for a broad range of use-cases in a variety of vertical industries; after all, this rich set of scenarios is indeed what distinguishes 5G from the previous four generations. Many of the envisioned 5G use-cases require challenging target values for one or more of the key QoS elements, such as high rate, high reliability, low latency, and high energy efficiency; we refer to the presence of such demanding links as the super-connectivity.