6G Architecture – European View
Thursday, 8 June 2023, 11:00-12:30, Room H1
Session Chair:
- Marco Gramaglia (University Carlos III of Madrid, ES)
- Ömer Bulakci (Nokia, )
- Xi Li (NEC Laboratories Europe, )
- Anastasius Gavras (Eurescom, )
- Mikko Uuistalo (Nokia, )
- Patrik Rugeland (Ericsson, SE)
- Mauro Boldi (TIM, )
The 5G networks have been deployed globally in large part of the world today and initial learnings have been derived from these commercial networks. The need for continuous evolution of 5G networks to enable support for new features and use cases has prompted 3GPP to begin standardization related to 5G Advanced
systems starting from Release 18. 5G Advanced builds on the 5G baseline defined by 3GPP in Releases 15, 16, and 17, and provides corner stones in areas that will influence the future 6G system and, thus, bridges 5G with 6G. In parallel to 5G and 5G Advanced standardization efforts, the 5G Public Private-Partnership (5G PPP) in the scope of the European Framework for Research and Innovation is currently concluding, having linked around 100 projects in all relevant areas of 5G, while paving the way towards 6G. At the same time, the European networking research community has started a new program along with 33 projects on the Smart Networks and Service (SNS) programme that will focus on 5G advanced and 6G. The 5G PPP Architecture Working Group (WG) has issued several white papers; being the last one focusing on the topics that are the target of this workshop: the architectural evolution towards 6G that goes beyond the efforts targeted by the current 5G/5GA standardization. The goal of this special session is two-fold. On the one hand, the session will discuss novel key architectural innovations required for future 6G mobile and wireless networks. On the other hand, it will provide the key consolidated highlights emerging from the latest generation of projects in Europe and peer projects worldwide, which are working on formulating research items toward the 6G system. The focus of the thematic topics will be on technology enablers and design recommendations that will allow to move from 5G and beyond towards a fully-fledged 6G architecture.
Program:
The special session is structured in the following way:
– Key European activities on the 6G Architecture (15 minutes)
Presenter: Ömer Bulakci (Nokia) / Xi Li (NEC)
In this presentation, the Architecture WG chairs will present an overview of the European Funded Activities in the field of 6G Network Architecture design. The presentation will discuss the main research areas on the different network domains and the pre-standardization efforts.
– 6G Architectural Pillars and Technology Enablers (30 minutes)
Presenters: Patrik Rugeland (Ericsson), Mårten Ericson (Ericsson), Bahare Masood Khorsandi (Nokia)
This presentation will provide a bird’s eye view on the current technical activities in 6G network architectural research. The presentation will be structured along the following topics:
- Efficient Access
- Precise Positioning
- Intelligent Networks
- Sustainable Networks
- Programmable Networks
- Secure Networks
– Panel: The pathway towards 6G Architecture (45 minutes)
In this panel we will focus on the main 6G architectural topics that were also reviewed in the previous presentation, allowing an open discussion with the audience. The panellists will be:
- Ömer Bulakci (Nokia)
- Xi Li (NEC)
- Patrik Rugeland (Ericsson)
- Anastasius Gavras (Eurescom)
- Marco Gramaglia (University Carlos III of Madrid)
- Chair: Mikko Uuistalo (Nokia)
