The Huddle 2021 - 5G and Beyond: The Wireless World in 2030

About the Event

The 6G vision is starting to take shape, following a huge investment of time, research and money from numerous organisations all over the world.

The release of the ITU Recommendation Framework for IMT-2030 has provided a big step forward in helping to identify the key drivers, design principles and usage scenarios that are going to be fundamental in creating the 6G vision. What is emerging is a vision of near-instant and ubiquitous connectivity that not only transforms how the human, physical, and digital worlds interact, but also delivers positive environmental and social change.

As work now begins towards the implementations of this vision and framework, WWRF’s Huddle will once again provide a collaborative platform to bring together leading policymakers, connectivity and service providers, researchers and other key stakeholders from around the world to discuss the work that lies ahead.

Moving on from discussions that focus on the opportunities that 6G can provide in areas of security, sustainability, inclusivity and digital transformation, this year’s Huddle will look in more concrete terms about how objectives in these key areas can be delivered.

Delivering on the 6G vision is going to require a collaborative approach at each step. Join us for the WWRF Huddle and make sure that you are part of the debate and this journey.

Key Themes

Confirmed Speakers Include

Nigel Jefferies

Nigel Jefferies

Chairman

WWRF​

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Bharat Bhatia

Vice Chairman and President

WWRF | ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI)

Hendrik-Berndt

Hendrik Berndt

Vice President for Europe, Middle East, Africa,

WWRF​

Sudhir Dixit

Dr. Sudhir Dixit

Vice President Americas

WWRF​

Thomas_Magedanz_Copyright_Valeria-Mitelman+Fraunhofer-FOKUS

Prof. Dr. Thomas Magedanz

Head of the Software-based Networks (NGNI) Business Unit

Fraunhofer Institute FOKUS

Dr. Ebtesam Almazrouei 400

Dr. Ebtesam Almazrouei

Director - Artificial Intelligence Cross-Center Unit

Technology Innovation Institute (TII)

Knud_Erik_Skouby

Prof. Knud Erik Skouby

Center for Communication, Media and Information Technologies

Aalborg University-Copenhagen ​

ben addom

Dr. Benjamin Kwasi Addom

Adviser, Agriculture and Fisheries Trade Policy (Digital)

The Commonwealth

Merouane Debbah - Official pic1

Prof. Mérouane Debbah

Chief Researcher, AI Cross-Center Unit and of the AI and Digital Science Research Center

Technology Innovation Institute (TII)​

Alexander Kuhn

Alexander Kuhn

Head of Section International Spectrum Affairs, Spectrum Planning and Innovative Spectrum Usage

BNetzA

Adrian Scrase

Adrian Scrase

Chief Technical Officer (CTO)

ETSI

17 - 18 April 2024

Day 1
2024-04-17
Day 2
2024-04-18
08:30 - 09:00
Registration
09:00 - 09:15
Setting the Scene – Bringing the 6G Vision into Reality
09:15 - 09:25
Keynote Presentation
09:25 - 09:45
Keynote Presentation
09:45 - 10:05
Presentation – The vision for IMT 2030
09:45 - 12:10
Session 1: The developing vision for 6G
10:05 - 10:25
Presentation – Where are we at with 5G and what lessons can be taken forward to the 6G journey?
10:25 - 10:50
Refreshment Break
10:50 - 12:10
Panel Discussion: Balancing realism and ambition – Goals and targets for 6G
  • What is the starting point for 6G development and what early work has been done to formulate the vision?
  • How does the vision put forward by ITU compare to some of the goals, expectations and roadmaps that have been set out by others?
  • How are early visions of 6G ensuring that they are being ambitious with goals and targets but at the same time are remaining realistic in what can be achieved? Is the right balance being found?
  • What has 5G done well and where can achievements be built on and enhanced? Are there areas that haven’t been so successful in which approaches need to be changed?
  • Should we be considering 6G as an opportunity to create an entirely new framework, or should this be considered more as an evolution of existing technologies and to fill some of the gaps of 5G?
  • What role is Open RAN set to play in the development of 6G architecture, and how can this help to lower costs and drive forward innovation? 
  • What new and expanded usage scenarios is 6G expected to bring compared to those of 5G?
  • What new capabilities are expected?
  • What challenges still need addressing in order for 6G to reach 3GPP Standards and what is the likely time frame for this?

 

12:10 - 13:05
Lunch
13:05 - 14:25
Session 2: Achieving the goal of a ubiquitous 6G – the importance of a collaborative approach to ensure that nobody is left behind
  • How realistic is the aim for 6G connectivity to be fully omnipresent and how important is collaboration between different technologies in order to achieve these key goals?
  • What innovative new partnerships, alliances and collaborative business models involving different technology providers could be key in shaping a future 6G ecosystem and ensuring that its benefits are felt by all?
  • How are non-terrestrial networks, WiFi and other key technologies evolving, and what role are these set to play in delivering a future 6G ecosystem? Are there other emerging technologies that have the potential to also become part of the connectivity mix as ecosystems develop?
  • How can different technologies come together to deliver the synchronisation of physical and digital worlds that is promised by 6G?
  • What are likely to be the specific challenges of delivering 6G services to the most challenging unserved areas in the region? What innovative new initiatives, funding models and technology mixes are being seen to bring 5G to rural and other harder to reach areas?
  • How can it be ensured that 6G benefits developing countries and societies as well as those more developed regions, and that it helps to narrow not widen gaps between the digital haves and digital have-nots?
14:25 - 15:25
Session 3: Showcase Session: Emerging Technologies – Science Fiction or 6G Reality?

A series of presentations showcasing some of the new connectivity technologies that may become part of the 6G ecosystem. After the presentations there will be a short Q&A, and then the audience will vote on whether they consider each technology as ‘science fiction or 6G reality’?

14:25 – 14:35 Visible Light Communication

14:35 – 14:45 Terahertz connectivity technologies

14:45 – 14:55 Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS)

14:55 – 15:05 Drones and Non Terrestrial Networks

15:05 – 15:25 Q&A and Audience Vote

15:25 - 15:55
Refreshment Break
15:55 - 17:15
Session 4: Driving Sustainability through 6G
  • There is a lot of talk about ensuring that sustainability remains central to 6G. What does this actually mean in concrete terms across environmental, social, and economic sustainability domains
  • In what areas can this happen, and what should be the targets in order to make sure that 6G delivers on its potential to drive forward sustainability? 
  • How will the way in which 6G networks are built have to differ from previous generations in order to minimise their environmental footprint whilst also optimising performance?
  • How are technology advancements, energy-saving solutions and intelligent management already being applied to reduce energy consumption of networks and how can the emergence of 6G further continue this welcome trend? What role can AI help to play in this?
  • What impact can 6G have on driving sustainability in key industries such as transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, energy and more?
  • How can it be ensured that sustainability, users and society more broadly are kept at the heart of 6G development throughout its development journey?
09:00 - 10:20
Session 5: Security & Privacy Requirements and Challenges of 6G
  • What limitations in security architectures have been observed as 5G has become more mature and deployments more widespread, and what lessons can be taken from this as we move towards 6G?
  • What new security and privacy risks could emerge based on prospective technologies that are set to be part of 6G in the physical, connectivity and service layers? 
  • With 6G expected to continue moves towards cloud and edge native infrastructures, how is this likely to influence network security architecture planning? 
  • How can privacy preservation be ensured at both the operator level and user level?
  • Machine learning and AI can be used to make safer systems, but it also enables increasingly dangerous attacks. How can the potential benefits be maximised and the risks and challenges be overcome?
10:20 - 10:45
Refreshment Break
10:45 - 12:10
Session 6: Breakout Huddles – A discussion around the overarching design principles of 6G

The breakout huddles this year will be based around the 4 overarching aspects that have been identified in the ITU’s 6G Vision as essential design principles that are applicable to all areas of 6G development and future usage scenarios. 

Delegates will have the opportunity to choose one of four interactive discussions to participate in:

  • Sustainability
  • Intelligence in the network
  • Security/privacy/resilience
  • Ubiquitous communications to connect the unconnected

 

12:10 - 13:05
Lunch
13:05 - 13:50
Outcomes from breakout huddles
13:50 - 15:10
Session 7: Delivering the required connectivity for 6G – key bands and connectivity models
  • What are expected to be the connectivity requirements for the numerous use cases that are set to be enabled by 6G? How may these differ from those which are seen for 5G, and what are regulators and connectivity providers going to need to do in order to deliver these?
  • How crucial is WRC-27 set to be in deciding the key bands for initial rollout of 6G networks?
  • What decisions were taken at the CPM27-1 in Dubai in terms of setting the key agenda items and bands to be studies ahead of WRC-27?
  • What work is taking place at a regional level to develop roadmaps for 6G connectivity? 
  • In Europe, what were the key findings and recommendations from the RSPG opinion, and what now need to be the next steps in order to ensure Europe has the building blocks in place to deliver on its 6G ambitions?
  • How much focus is there set to be on the 7-15GHz range when it comes to finding the required bandwidth for initial 6G rollout? Are there specific candidate bands in this range that offer the most potential? 
  • What role can sub-terahertz spectrum play in the long-term 6G connectivity ecosystem and what technical and regulatory challenges need to be overcome in order to free up spectrum in these ranges?
  • How can regulators balance the need to find spectrum for 6G with the need to also consider growing needs of other future technologies?
15:10 - 15:30
Refreshment Break
15:30 - 16:50
Session 8: The evolution of mobile – how will the shift towards 6G impact the network and device ecosystem?
  • How is the mobile network ecosystem set to change as we move towards 6G, and to what extent are new entrants, hyperscalers and systems integrators set to increasingly play a role in future markets?
  • What impact could this have on mobile operators, their business models and how they operate? What differences are likely to be seen in the mobile operator of 2030 compared to the mobile operator of today?
  • How is the device ecosystem set to change as we move towards 6G? How can operators and vendors ensure that the essential ‘ABCD’ device evolution of Antenna, Battery, Chip and Display keep pace with evolving use cases and markets to deliver the next generation of handsets and devices?
  • Will the smartphone as we know it still exist in a 6G world, or could the rise of VR, AR and other technologies facilitate a shift towards wearables and other more interactive future connectivity devices?
  • How can technology providers ensure that they are building flexible and resilient solutions and long lasting and sustainable business models?
16:50 - 17:00
Closing Remarks
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WWRF Workshops

16 April 2024

More information on the workshops, including location and time, will be available in the comings weeks. In the meantime, you can express your interest below to be informed once registration opens.

AI/ML Enabled Connected and Autonomous Vehicles in the era of 6G and Beyond

Date: 8 May 2023
Time: 10:00 - 13:00 SGT
Location: Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) Campus, 8 Somapah Rd, Singapore
The Wireless World Research Forum is proud to announce that we are holding the Workshop, on "AI/ML Enabled Connected and Autonomous Vehicles in the era of 6G and Beyond". This Workshop will address the impact of machine learning and their applications to CAV with several use cases. This event will take place at the SUTD Campus, 8 Somapah Rd, Singapore on 8th May 2023.
REGISTER AND FIND OUT MORE

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Previous Editions

The Huddle is hosted annually by the Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF). Since its inception in 2014, it has brought key 5G & 6G stakeholders together in various locations across the globe including the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, South Africa, Japan, India and, most recently, Singapore with each edition addressing the next step of the 5G & 6G ‘journeys’. 

Venue

The Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS

Address: Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 31, 10589 Berlin, Germany

Contact Us

For more information on any aspect of this event, please contact us using any of the details below.

Lorena Rodriguez
Senior Event Manager
Forum Europe
wwrfhuddle@forum-europe.com

#WWRFHuddle