6G may seem like a world away right now as Telecom operators deploy 5G but its not too early to think about the mix of technology, innovation and lessons that can be learned from 5G. These were some of the topics in discussion at the 6G symposium in London and the University of Surrey last week. Organized by 6G World it brought together vendors, standards experts and operators in informal discussion. Enea was in the mix too on the panel discussion “Bridging the gap 6G Standards and Services”.

There was a large RF focus, looking at efficiencies both in transmission antennae but also in building technology. As an example a researcher demonstrated a glass window with nearly invisible metal inserts which enhanced the spatial aperture of a radio signal from outside into the room. Developments in beam forming, combining it with artificial intelligence was also a promising approach, but as of today, the compute power to steer the beam requires more energy that what is being saved. During the panel discussion, moderated by Teresa Cottam [Chief Analyst, Omnisperience] we connected AI and energy savings directly “AI is used to dynamically optimize radio power levels according to subscribers in a tracking area”.

The open discussions about what can be learned from 5G – by considering the value and use cases more prior to the development of ‘Another G’, with the panel chair urging that innovation should be organic, “Do not try to invent use cases. Do not underestimate power of user to create themselves”.

No discussion in the standards and deployment space would be complete without an active discussion on Cybersecurity – which was of particular interest to us as we move to IETF/Internet protocols aka REST, security becomes even more important as even script kiddies could, protocol-wise, hack a network.

With over 800 people attending the event both online and in person its clear that momentum in discussions on 6G is building.