While fifth-generation (5G) communications are being rolled out around the world, sixth-generation (6G) communications have attracted much attention from both the industry and academia. Compared with 5G, 6G will have a wider frequency band, higher transmission rate, spectrum efficiency, greater connection capacity, shorter delay, wider coverage and stronger anti-interference capability, so as to meet the various network requirements for industries. In this paper, we present a survey of potential essential technologies in 6G. In particular, we will introduce artificial intelligence, intelligent surfaces, terahertz communications technologies in detail, while giving a brief introduction to other potential technologies, including visible light communications, Blockchain-enabled wireless network, advanced duplex and holographic radio.
5G wireless communications technology is being launched, with many smart applications being integrated. However, 5G specifications merge the requirements of new emerging technologies forcefully. These include data rate, capacity, latency, reliability, resources sharing, and energy/bit. To meet these challenging demands, research is focusing on 6G wireless communications enabling different technologies and emerging new applications. In this report, the latest research work on 6G technologies and applications is summarized, and the associated research challenges are discussed.
In this paper, we critically review the potential of today's terrestrial wireless communication systems including wireless cellular technologies (GSM, UMTS, LTE, NR), wireless local area networks (WLANs), and wireless sensor networks (WSNs), for estimating channel state information (CSI), the ratio between training and information symbols and the rate of channel variation, and the potential use of CSI in environment aware wireless communications. The research reveals, that early communication systems provide means for narrowband channel estimation and the CSI is only available as channel atten…
During the last few years, intensive research efforts are being done in the field of brain interfaces to extract neuro-information from the signals representing neuronal activities in the human brain. Recent development of brain-to-computer interfaces support direct communication between animals' brains, enabling direct brain-to-brain communication. Although these results are based on binary communication with relaxed requirements of latency and throughput, the fast development in neuro-science technologies indicates potential new scenarios for wireless communications between brains. In this p…
Fifth-generation (5G) communication, which has many more features than fourth-generation communication, will be officially launched very soon. A new paradigm of wireless communication, the sixth-generation (6G) system, with the full support of artificial intelligence is expected to be deployed between 2027 and 2030. In beyond 5G, there are some fundamental issues, which need to be addressed are higher system capacity, higher data rate, lower latency, and improved quality of service (QoS) compared to 5G system. This paper presents the vision of future 6G wireless communication and its network a…
During the last few years, intensive research efforts are being done in the field of brain interfaces to extract neuro-information from the signals representing neuronal activities in the human brain. A recent development of these interfaces is capable of direct communication between animals' brains, enabling direct brain-to-brain communication. Although these results are new and the experimental scenario simple, the fast development in neuroscience, and information and communication technologies indicate the potential of new scenarios for wireless communications between brains. Depending of t…
Comprehensive Review of Advances and Challenges in Next Generation Wireless Networks: From Novel Hardware Technologies to Learning Based Resource Allocation in 6G
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering College of Engineering, University of Tehran（德黑兰大学工程学院电气与计算机工程学院）
Techno-economic assessment is a fundamental technique engineers use for evaluating new communications technologies. However, despite the techno-economics of the fifth cellular generation (5G) being an active research area, it is surprising there are few comprehensive evaluations of this growing literature. With mobile network operators deploying 5G across their networks, it is therefore an opportune time to appraise current accomplishments and review the state-of-the-art. Such insight can inform the flurry of 6G research papers currently underway and help engineers in their mission to provide …
Terahertz communications are envisioned as a key technology for 6G, which requires 100+ Gbps data rates, 1-millisecond latency, among other performance metrics. As a fundamental wireless infrastructure, the THz communication can boost abundant promising applications, including next-generation WLAN systems like Tera-WiFi, THz wireless backhaul, as well as other long-awaited novel communication paradigms. Serving as a basis of efficient wireless communication and networking design, this paper highlights the key THz channel features and recent advancements in device technologies. In light of thes…
Reconfigurable Antennas for Next-Generation Wireless Communications: Technologies, Prototypes, Architectures, and Signal Processing
School of Engineering, the University of British Columbia（不列颠哥伦比亚大学工程学院）；CEMSE, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology（阿卜杜拉国王科技大学计算机、电气和数学科学与工程学院）
The EU COST Action NEWFOCUS is focused on investigating radical solutions with the potential to impact the design of future wireless networks. It aims to address some of the challenges in OWC and establish it as an efficient technology that can satisfy the demanding requirements of backhaul and access network levels in 5G networks. This also includes the use of hybrid links that associate OWC with radiofrequency or wired/fiber-based technologies. The focus of this White Paper is on the use of optical wireless communication (OWC) as enabling technology in a range of areas outlined in HE's Pilla…
This paper looks at various aspects of Machine Learning (ML) applications in wireless communication technologies, focusing mainly on fifth-generation (5G) and millimeter wave (mmWave) technologies. This paper includes the summaries of 3 papers on machine learning applications in wireless communication technology. The paper deals with the need for integration of machine learning in wireless communication, types of machine learning techniques used in wireless communication, advantages and potential of ML in wireless communication, and implementation parameters of ML in wireless communication, as…
In recent years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has grown to include the tracking of devices through the use of Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) and Location Based Services (LBS). When designing an IPS, a popular approach involves using wireless networks to calculate the approximate location of the target from devices with predetermined positions. In many smart building applications, LBS are necessary for efficient workspaces to be developed. In this paper, we examine two memoryless positioning techniques, K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), and Naive Bayes, and compare them with simple trilateration, in …
Wireless communications are envisioned to bring about dramatic changes in the future, with a variety of emerging applications, such as virtual reality (VR), Internet of things (IoT), etc., becoming a reality. However, these compelling applications have imposed many new challenges, including unknown channel models, low-latency requirement in large-scale super-dense networks, etc. The amazing success of deep learning (DL) in various fields, particularly in computer science, has recently stimulated increasing interest in applying it to address those challenges. Hence, in this review, a pair of do…
The increase of cyberattacks using IoT devices has exposed the vulnerabilities in the infrastructures that make up the IoT and have shown how small devices can affect networks and services functioning. This paper presents a review of the vulnerabilities of the wireless technologies that bear the IoT and assessing the experiences in implementing wireless attacks targeting the Internet of Things using Software-Defined Radio (SDR) technologies. A systematic literature review was conducted. The types of vulnerabilities and attacks that can affect the wireless technologies that stand the IoT ecosys…
Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence(AI) have become alternative approaches in wireless networksbeside conventional approaches such as model based solutionconcepts. Whereas traditional design concepts include the mod-elling of the behaviour of the underlying processes, AI basedapproaches allow to design network functions by learning frominput data which is supposed to get mapped to specific outputs(training). Additionally, new input/output relations can be learntduring the deployement phase of the function (online learning)and make AI based solutions flexible, in order to react to…
With the commencement of the 5G of wireless networks, researchers around the globe have started paying their attention to the imminent challenges that may emerge in the beyond 5G (B5G) era. Various revolutionary technologies and innovative services are offered in 5G networks, which, along with many principal advantages, are anticipated to bring a boom in the number of connected wireless devices and the types of use-cases that may cause the scarcity of network resources. These challenges partly emerged with the advent of massive machine-type communications (mMTC) services, require extensive res…
While fifth-generation (5G) communications are being rolled out worldwide, sixth-generation (6G) communications have attracted much attention from both the industry and the academia. Compared with 5G, 6G will have a wider frequency band, higher transmission rate, spectrum efficiency, greater connection capacity, shorter delay, broader coverage, and more robust anti-interference capability to satisfy various network requirements. This survey presents an insightful understanding of 6G wireless communications by introducing requirements, features, critical technologies, challenges, and applicatio…
The Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly becoming an integral part of our life and also multiple industries. We expect to see the number of IoT connected devices explosively grows and will reach hundreds of billions during the next few years. To support such a massive connectivity, various wireless technologies are investigated. In this survey, we provide a broad view of the existing wireless IoT connectivity technologies and discuss several new emerging technologies and solutions that can be effectively used to enable massive connectivity for IoT. In particular, we categorize the existing wire…
The ambitious high data-rate applications in the envisioned future B5G networks require new solutions, including the advent of more advanced architectures than the ones already used in 5G networks, and the coalition of different communications schemes and technologies to enable these applications requirements. Among the candidate schemes for future wireless networks are NOMA schemes that allow serving more than one user in the same resource block by multiplexing users in other domains than frequency or time. In this way, NOMA schemes tend to offer several advantages over OMA schemes such as im…
In the last years, we have experienced the evolution of wireless localization from being a simple add-on feature for enabling specific applications to become an essential characteristic of wireless cellular networks, as for sixth-generation (6G) cellular networks. This paper illustrates the importance of radio localization and its role in all the cellular generations, from first-generation (1G) to 6G. Also, it speculates about the idea of holographic localization where the characteristics of electromagnetic (EM) waves, including the spherical wavefront in the near-field, are fully controlled a…
Social distancing plays a pivotal role in preventing the spread of viral diseases illnesses such as COVID-19. By minimizing the close physical contact among people, we can reduce the chances of catching the virus and spreading it across the community. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive survey on how emerging technologies, e.g., wireless and networking, artificial intelligence (AI) can enable, encourage, and even enforce social distancing practice. To that end, we first provide a comprehensive background of social distancing including basic concepts, measurements, models, and propose va…
The advent of the wireless communications systems augurs new cutting-edge technologies, including self-driving vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, autonomous robots, Internet-of-Things, and virtual reality. These technologies require high data rates, ultra-low latency, and high reliability, all of which are promised by the fifth generation of wireless communication systems (5G). Many research groups state that 5G cannot meet its demands without artificial intelligence (AI) integration as 5G wireless networks are expected to generate unprecedented traffic giving wireless research designers acces…
The recently commercialized fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication networks achieved many improvements, including air interface enhancement, spectrum expansion, and network intensification by several key technologies, such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), millimeter-wave communications, and ultra-dense networking. Despite the deployment of 5G commercial systems, wireless communications is still facing many challenges to enable connected intelligence and a myriad of applications such as industrial Internet-of-things, autonomous systems, brain-computer interfaces, digital …
In this article, we first present our vision on the application scenarios, performance metrics, and potential key technologies of the sixth generation (6G) wireless communication networks. Then, 6G wireless channel measurements, characteristics, and models are comprehensively surveyed for all frequency bands and all scenarios, focusing on millimeter wave (mmWave), terahertz (THz), and optical wireless communication channels under all spectrums, satellite, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), maritime, and underwater acoustic communication channels under global coverage scenarios, and high-speed trai…
Chalmers University of Technology（查尔姆斯理工大学）；Ericsson Research（爱立信研究）；European Space Agency（欧洲空间局）；Magna Electronics Sweden AB（麦格纳电子瑞典有限公司）；Lund University（隆德大学）
Wireless power transfer (WPT) is an emerging paradigm that will enable using wireless to its full potential in future networks, not only to convey information but also to deliver energy. Such networks will enable trillions of future low-power devices to sense, compute, connect, and energize anywhere, anytime, and on the move. The design of such future networks brings new challenges and opportunities for signal processing, machine learning, sensing, and computing so as to make the best use of the RF radiations, spectrum, and network infrastructure in providing cost-effective and real-time power…
Many emerging technologies, such as ultra-massive multiple-input multiple-output (UM-MIMO), terahertz (THz) communications are under active discussion as promising technologies to support the extremely high access rate and superior network capacity in the future sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems. However, such technologies are still facing many challenges for practical implementation. In particular, UM-MIMO and THz communication require extremely large number of radio frequency (RF) chains, and hence suffering from prohibitive hardware cost and complexity. In this article, we …
Internet-of-Everything (IoE) has gradually been recognized as an integral part of future wireless networks. In IoE, there can be an ultra-massive number of smart devices of various types to be served, imposing multi-dimensional requirements on wireless communication, sensing, and security. In this article, we provide a tutorial overview of the promising intelligent reflection communication (IRC) technologies, including reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) and ambient backscatter communication (AmBC), to support the requirements of IoE applications beyond the fifth-generation (5G) wireless …
The fifth generation (5G) wireless communication networks are currently being deployed, and beyond 5G (B5G) networks are expected to be developed over the next decade. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and, in particular, machine learning (ML) have the potential to efficiently solve the unstructured and seemingly intractable problems by involving large amounts of data that need to be dealt with in B5G. This article studies how AI and ML can be leveraged for the design and operation of B5G networks. We first provide a comprehensive survey of recent advances and future challenges that re…
