Shaping Future 6G Networks. Группа авторов
respect to C‐ITS requirement, data can be exchanged as collective perception messages (CPM) [5] where an average payload of 900 bytes generated at 1–10 Hz can be assumed depending on sensors, speeds, and traffic density. The download requirements will depend on the number of vehicles and other relevant user equipments (UEs) in proximity. A very important requirement will be the possibility to enable accurate positioning for moving objects, where 1 m–10 cm is the commonly referred range depending on the use case (which corresponds to 30–3 ms latencies at 120 km/h).
In this perspective, even a significant increase in the channel capacity may not be enough to satisfy the boldest service requirements of future automotive applications. One possible solution is to realize a fully distributed user‐centric architecture in which end terminals make autonomous decisions, “disaggregated” from the network. This approach removes the burden of communication overhead to and from centralized network entities, thus achieving quasi‐real‐time latency, e.g. yielding more responsive driving decisions.
2.3.5 Public Safety
Communications are a primary enabler of critical PS operations. First responders need to be aware of their surroundings and of the activities of the other personnel in the field. Moreover, communications are essential to deliver information and orders throughout the chain of command, i.e. between emergency operators in the incident area and the command station that is often remote. While traditionally the technologies for PS communications have focused on voice, data services can significantly improve the experience and safety of first responders. Notably, enhanced monitoring capabilities could allow a real‐time 3D rendering of the incident scenario at the command station or in head‐mounted headsets for the first responders. This can be done through video, from body cameras, or from flying platforms and with additional sensors such as lidars, 3D cameras, and thermal cameras, among others. Moreover, health and position sensors on PS operators could continuously stream telemetry data to other first responders and to the command station. Finally, the communications will not only be human‐to‐human but also extend to machine‐type traffic, to networking among vehicles (e.g. ambulances, fire trucks), and to remotely controlled devices. Remote control operations are indeed fundamental in several PS scenarios, where robots (e.g. wheelbarrow robots) are used to remotely defuse bombs, inspect incident locations, and perform operations in conditions that would be dangerous for first responders (e.g. during chemical leaks).
Given the importance of the related scenarios and use cases, PS networking has thus been at the forefront of standardization and research efforts throughout different generations of cellular networks, with notable examples in the device‐to‐device communications and proximity services introduced in long term evolution (LTE) Release 12 [6] and the development of FirstNet using LTE technologies. Following this trend, 5G research has focused on how to improve the throughput of data services in emergency scenarios, relying on the new spectrum bands (i.e. mmWaves) and mobile communication platforms (i.e. vehicular communications and drones). As discussed in [1], however, it is not clear whether 5G technologies will be capable of delivering the improved quality of service (QoS) (e.g. the ultrahigh throughput) with the high reliability level and the ubiquitous coverage required to support PS services.
Therefore, there is a case for further developing promising 5G innovations and bringing them to full fruition in 6G networks, focusing on reliability and coverage, with possible improvements in throughput and latency. Notably, the integration of non‐terrestrial (e.g. with satellites, balloons, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and terrestrial networks in 6G will increase the coverage of the network, allowing connectivity of a staggering 107 devices per square kilometer. PS communications will also benefit from the increased throughput, to provide teleportation‐like experience between the command station and the incident site. Moreover, orchestration and remote control of robots requires end‐to‐end ultralow latency, thus pushing the over‐the‐air latency requirement into the sub‐milliseconds region and placing tight constraints on the latency budget of the rest of the network. An important requirement of PS networking is related to the sustainability and autonomy of the infrastructure, which should strive to consume as little power as possible to improve battery life in off‐grid infrastructures and mobile devices. To this end, 6G is expected to increase the energy efficiency by a factor of 10 with respect to 5G, with improvements in both the device battery lifetime and the overall network consumption.
2.3.6 Health and Well‐being
The global increase in the cost of providing healthcare services to a continuously ageing and growing population is rapidly becoming unsustainable. In this context, 6G is positioned to foster the healthcare revolution by eliminating time and space barriers through telemedicine, achieving healthcare workflow optimizations, and guaranteeing patient access to increasingly more efficient and affordable health assistance.
On one side, 6G connectivity solutions should enable the transition from a traditional provider–patient relationship toward a “care outside hospital” paradigm, where primary care services will be delivered by health professionals directly to the patients at home. Moving care outside clinics and health facilities will not only promote more individualized and personalized assistance but also empower preventive care while avoiding that fragile patients with limited mobility capabilities need to travel. From a business‐oriented perspective, home care guarantees the most efficient use of healthcare resources (e.g. preventive care can drastically reduce the need for expensive treatments for patients with chronic conditions) and a significant reduction of management and administration costs for institutional care centers [7].
Cost savings in the healthcare industry will also increase the reach and accessibility to healthcare assistance to the most unprivileged and least developed countries in the world, thus making it possible for an estimated billion extra patients globally to receive quality treatment [8]. The goal is to achieve healthier life years and more efficient health and social care for a larger population [8, pp. 5–6].
Moreover, the development of 6G technologies, together with the digitalization of healthcare services, will allow more granular and higher quality data to be collected on patients, thereby improving clinical analyses and reducing health costs associated with treatments of diseases.
Furthermore, 6G innovations should drive the design and adoption of new use cases in the healthcare sector. VR‐ and AR‐based technologies will facilitate remote patient monitoring, while artificial intelligence and tactile sensing will enable even more invasive healthcare assistance through robotic telesurgery, i.e. remote surgery where surgeon and patient are geographically separated. Robotics and automation advancements will empower connected ambulances, while holographic solutions combined with the transmission of important health indicators (collected through wireless body sensors) will make it possible to improve healthcare assistance via virtual patient consultation and monitoring.
Due to technology limitations in today’s wireless networks, future healthcare applications are calling for the design of new wireless communication systems that support continuous interaction with mobile end users. Besides the high cost and the lack of medical professionals and infrastructures in today’s healthcare industry, the current major limitation is the lack of real‐time tactile feedback. Moreover, the explosion of advanced eHealth and mobile Health (mHealth) services challenges the ability to meet their stringent QoS requirements. For reliable remote surgery, for example, the latency demands will be in the order of sub‐milliseconds, which are not yet achievable with upcoming 5G innovations. Even for less latency‐critical use cases, e.g., digital healthcare assistance enabled through VR/AR technologies, combined with holographic communication, will pose very strict requirements in terms of end‐to‐end throughput will need to be satisfied (for 3D MediVision products, a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixel and a frame rate of 120 fps for 3D displays will require multi‐Gbps data rates to be supported [9]). Extremely high reliability (>99.99999%) will also be needed due to the potentially catastrophic consequences of a communication failure. It is estimated that the increased spectrum availability, combined with the refined intelligence of 6G networks, will guarantee these