[ad_1]
The satellite was launched aboard the Long March-6 aircraft. Source: YouTube
Chinese scientists launched a satellite containing experimental 6G technologies into orbit earlier this month.
The Tianyan-5 satellite, sent with 13 other satellites on November 6, will test terahertz (THz) communications in what the BBC described as a “world first” test of 6G technology in space.
But with Australia’s 5G network it is still developing slowly, why are we already thinking about 6G?
Dr Diep Nguyen, a senior lecturer at Sydney University of Technology’s School of Electrical and Data Engineering, said businesses and academics have already begun to think about the next stage in telecommunications.
“There’s a lot of back and forth that needs to happen between research and industry before the next technology is standardized and hits the market,” said Dr. Nguyen It was information.
“Now that 5G has been commercialized, we are talking about the next phase of the life cycle.”
Whatever the sixth generation of wireless networks, there is a global race to develop and patent technologies that will form the new standard for years to come.
THz frequencies, such as those tested by the Tianyan-5 satellite, are likely to play an important role as German researchers recently presented a proof-of-concept for a low-cost THz receiver which they claim to have seen transmission speeds of 115 Gbps.
That’s more than 10 times the maximum speed of 5G and it’s still in its infancy.
While speed will undoubtedly be a feature of 6G, Dr Nguyen said it won’t be the goal of the next generation. Instead, it chose four main areas in which researchers will seek to improve wireless technology: accessibility, reliability, latency and efficiency.
“Reliability is particularly important for industrial automation,” he said.
“When machines talk to each other, it requires very strict latency and 6G will improve that even further.
“Plus, when you think about existing infrastructure like data centers and the amount of energy they use, 6G will be more energy efficient and that will help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we produce.”
Dr Nguyen also expects that the next generation will bring us closer to high-speed, low-latency satellite broadband that will provide greater coverage to people outside of urban areas – something Elon Musk’s Starlink company is already striving to achieve. through constellations of small communications satellites scattered throughout the earth’s orbit.
Experiments using China’s Tianyan-5 satellite will test THz in space and help kickstart the process.
But we’re still a long way from seeing a 6G compatible iPhone.
“Based on 5G, which was talked about in 2013-14, I would say there are about five or six years before the next generation,” said Dr. Nguyen.
“It still has people coming up with new ideas and it’s at the beginning of standardization.”
[ad_2]
Source link
