By Juan Pedro Tomás
Chinese tech company OPPO has established a pre-research team to conduct preliminary research on yet-to-be-standardized 6G service and technology requirements, key technologies, and system features, the firm said in a release.
The company’s research institute officially released its first 6G white paper, dubbed “6G AI-Cube Intelligent Networking”. The whitepaper analyzes how artificial intelligence (AI) can empower 6G network architecture, OPPO said.
OPPO said that 6G will reshape the way people interact with AI, allowing this technology to become a truly public-serving technology that can be used by everyone. Empowered by 6G, smart devices will become important participants and users of AI, downloading and deploying AI algorithms at different application levels to create new immersive experiences while also constantly collecting data to feed more advanced AI models, the Chinese company said.
OPPO highlighted the case of autonomous vehicles, in which it says future 6G networks will be able to assign the most appropriate AI algorithm and the optimal communication connection based on the location of the vehicle and the current physical environment (e.g., time of day, weather). The vehicle will be able to immediately download and run AI algorithms that have been trained by countless other vehicles and devices, allowing the vehicle to provide the safest and most comfortable journey for the passenger, the company added.
“Technological development must be forward-looking. Mobile communication technology evolves in decade-long periods, and standardization of the next generation of communication technology is expected to begin in 2025, with commercial implementation following in around 2035,” said OPPO’s chief 5G scientist, Henry Tan. “Looking towards 2035, OPPO expects the number of intelligent agents in the world to far exceed the number of humans. Therefore, the next generation of communication technology, 6G, should be able to serve the needs not only of people but of all forms of intelligence and their various interactions. With this end goal in mind, we have carried out the early technical research and system design.”
According to the Chinese tech company, 6G will revolutionize how AI infers, learns, interacts, and is applied, solving many traditional problems faced in AI development, such as data silos and user privacy. To alleviate some of the current limitations of AI algorithms, the white paper proposes dividing AI resources into different domains. Arranged according to specific AI tasks, multiple nodes, and resources under the 6G network will form AI domains, providing optimal strategies for accurate AI model allocation, network resource scheduling, and data sharing, OPPO said.
Chinese vendor Huawei expects 6G technologies to hit the market by around 2030, the company’s rotating chairman, Eric Xu, previously said at the Huawei global analyst conference.
“We think 6G will be on the market by around 2030, but we don’t really know what 6G is yet. Our industry expects to launch something that will contribute to businesses and consumers by around 2030, just like we have done for 4G and 5G,” Xu said.
The Chinese government has already begun researching 6G technology. According to reports by Chinese state media, government ministries and research institutes have had initial meetings with the aim of establishing a national 6G technology research and development group.
