The Evolution of Networks and Management in a 6G World: An Inventor’s View

The onset of the 6G era in telecommunications, touted to launch in 2030, is hoped to serve many masters and deliver an unparalleled improvement in capabilities, applications, intelligence, and indeed liberate human potential. The vision of 6G incorporates new radio frequencies and technologies, the integration of sensing, cognitive methods defining both network functions and their management, and new networking approaches for a broader scope of applications and distribution. The challenges for inventors lies in both physical devices and a substantive improvement in the development of functions implemented by, and managed, with software. The algorithms (including dynamic solutions based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning), protocols, and architecture evolutions will bring together the most advanced software systems ever imagined for telecommunications. Yet, the business of companies building and operating these next generation platforms requires a huge investment, and 6G will exceed all others with its breadth and complexity. This paper outlines one possible timeline of technological impact based on the pace of invention, investment, global context, and the broad goals of 6G. From this, follows a vision of the critical methods in automation, security and networking that we believe will be central to bringing the dream of 6G to a reality.