From 5G to 6G: the unstoppable progress of generations

Through a series of articles, this I'MTech collection offers various insights to better understand the technical challenges, as well as the issues of optimization and energy efficiency, that accompany the transition from 5G to 6G. Between the explosion of the IoT, the emergence of the metaverse, and the imperative of energy efficiency, we take a look at the future of telecommunications.

Tags:

# 5G

# mobile telecommunications

# network infrastructure

# slicing

# Space Telecommunication

Editorial

The roll-out of 5G isn’t just about ultra-fast throughput and reduced latency; above all, it symbolizes the emergence of new usages that are gradually reshaping the global economy and our lifestyles. With the expansion of 5G coverage, the array of opportunities is widening: smart factories, surgery robots, self-driving vehicles, safer and more sustainable cities, etc. From behind these promises emerges a major issue: how do we design and manage ever-higher-performing networks while keeping their economic, environmental and societal impacts under control? Through a series of articles, this feature offers insight to help us understand the various technical challenges, as well as the questions relating to optimization and energy restraint that accompany the transition from 5G to 6G.

Olivier Boissier, a Computer Science professor at Mines Saint-Etienne, and Guillaume Lozenguez, a researcher at IMT Nord Europe, take an essential look at connected objects, which are increasingly present in our daily lives. Through the FITNESS project, the two scientists share their vision of the communication protocols of tomorrow and the infrastructures destined to absorb the explosion of sensors. This technological context is also conducive to the deployment of virtual worlds: promising new spaces for exploration. Marius Preda, an Augmented Reality researcher at Télécom SudParis who is involved in the 5GMetaverse project, explains how 5G and immersion technology will support the evolution of collaborative virtual environments for industry.

Boosting tomorrow’s IoT networks

The industry of the future enters the metaverse

The development of infrastructures capable of accommodating such innovations also requires technological enhancements. Djamal Zeghlache, a Networks and Services professor at Télécom SudParis and leader of the NF-MUST project, decodes the concept of ‘slicing’, or virtual network segmentation, a technology that is key to the implementation of multi-sectoral 5G and meets the challenge posed by the variety of large-scale applications. The question of network limitations in terms of energy and the environment is therefore raised quite naturally. For many years, Joe Wiart, a researcher at Télécom Paris who specializes in dosimetry, has been studying exposure to electromagnetic fields generated by 5G infrastructures. He is contributing his expertise to the JEN project, which explores ways to keep these impacts to a strict minimum, while optimizing energy consumption.

No more, no less: energy-efficient networks for 5G

Slicing: a MUST for multisectoral communication

To support such progress, we also have to develop suitable antenna solutions. Christian Person, an IMT Atlantique researcher involved in the YACARI and IPCEI ME/CT projects, is working on a new generation of antennas capable of dynamic beam management to optimize data transmission, especially in very high frequencies. In parallel, Catherine Douillard and Charbel Abdel Nour, also professors at IMT Atlantique, are developing through the complementary PERSEUS project a disruptive approach for lower frequencies: cell-free networks. An architecture in which antennas are no longer grouped together in fixed cells but distributed in such a way as to provide efficient, homogeneous coverage, even in dense environments where standard 5G has shown its limits.

5G & 6G: the antennas that shape networks

PERSEUS makes a breakthrough for cell-free networks

However, even with optimized networks and increasingly high-performing antennas, certain zones remain difficult to cover. To solve this problem, connectivity no longer relies only on terrestrial infrastructures. Thanks to the 5G NTN mmWave project, Philippe Martins, a professor in mobile networks at Télécom Paris, aims to extend 5G coverage to remote or devastated zones by incorporating low-orbiting satellite constellations into terrestrial networks.

5G connecting constellations

These articles offer a mere glimpse of the work carried out at IMT schools on the topics of 5G and the networks of tomorrow. In 2024, the National Center: Networks and Systems for Digital Transformation was launched. Its mission is to coordinate multi-school, multi-disciplinary, and multi-partner activities—in close collaboration with industry—at the Institut Mines-Télécom in the field of future communications networks and distributed systems for digital transformation.

While the challenge of reducing energy consumption, handling a diversity of communications or innovating in the metaverse continues to offer multiple opportunities, the issues surrounding tomorrow’s networks, such as 6G, are vast and provide an endless terrain for research. In 2023, Institut Mines-Télécom was commissioned by the French Ministries of Economy, Finance, Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, and Higher Education and Research to design and pilot the future France 6G platform.