6G Enabled Smart Infrastructure for Sustainable Society: Opportunities, Challenges, and Research Roadmap

The 5G wireless communication network is currently faced with the challenge of limited data speed exacerbated by the proliferation of billions of data-intensive applications. To address this problem, researchers are developing cutting-edge technologies for the envisioned 6G wireless communication standards to satisfy the escalating wireless services demands. Though some of the candidate technologies in the 5G standards will apply to 6G wireless networks, key disruptive technologies that will guarantee the desired quality of physical experience to achieve ubiquitous wireless connectivity are expected in 6G. This article first provides a foundational background on the evolution of different wireless communication standards to have a proper insight into the vision and requirements of 6G. Second, we provide a panoramic view of the enabling technologies proposed to facilitate 6G and introduce emerging 6G applications such as multi-sensory–extended reality, digital replica, and more. Next, the technology-driven challenges, social, psychological, health and commercialization issues posed to actualizing 6G, and the probable solutions to tackle these challenges are discussed extensively. Additionally, we present new use cases of the 6G technology in agriculture, education, media and entertainment, logistics and transportation, and tourism. Furthermore, we discuss the multi-faceted communication capabilities of 6G that will contribute significantly to global sustainability and how 6G will bring about a dramatic change in the business arena. Finally, we highlight the research trends, open research issues, and key take-away lessons for future research exploration in 6G wireless communicatio

Towards a 6G embedding sustainability

From its conception, 6G is being designed with a particular focus on sustainability. The general philosophy of the H2020 Hexa-X project work on sustainability in 6G is based on two principles: to reduce direct negative life cycle impacts of 6G systems as much as possible (Sustainable 6G) and to analyze use cases that maximize positive environmental, social, and economic effects in other sectors of society (6G for Sustainability or its enablement effect). To apply this philosophy, Hexa-X is designing 6G with three sustainability objectives in mind: to enable the reduction of emissions in 6G-powered sectors of society, to reduce the total cost of ownership and to improve energy efficiency. This paper describes these objectives, their associated KPIs and quantitative targets, and the levers to reach them. Furthermore, to maximize the positive effects of 6G through the enablement effect, a link between 6G and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) framework is proposed and illustrated by Hexa-X use case families.Comment: IEEE ICC 2023 Second International Workshop on Green and Sustainable Networking (GreenNet), May 2023, Rome, Ital

Sustainability Transition and 6G Mobile Communications

This chapter aims to academically highlight the link between 6G mobile communications and the transition to sustainability. Using both theoretical arguments and practical examples, the current chapter applies a multi-level perspective (MLP) to the sustainability transition to highlight the specificities of niches, socio-technical regimes, and exogenous socio-technical landscapes of 6G technology in relation to the sustainability transition. Moreover, the current chapter is one of the rare studies that focuses on the larger picture in the 6G and sustainability debate by highlighting specific UN SDGs which can be achieved by the sustainability transition and the role of both endogenous and exogenous factors using an MLP lens. Finally, this chapter offers specific theoretical, practical, and policy implications.© 2024 The Author(s). This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Minimizing Energy Consumption in MU-MIMO via Antenna Muting by Neural Networks with Asymmetric Loss

Transmit antenna muting (TAM) in multiple-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) networks allows reducing the power consumption of the base station (BS) by properly utilizing only a subset of antennas in the BS. In this paper, we consider the downlink transmission of an MU-MIMO network where TAM is formulated to minimize the number of active antennas in the BS while guaranteeing the per-user throughput requirements. To address the computational complexity of the combinatorial optimization problem, we propose an algorithm called neural antenna muting (NAM) with an asymmetric custom loss function. NAM is a classification neural network trained in a supervised manner. The classification error in this scheme leads to either sub-optimal energy consumption or lower quality of service (QoS) for the communication link. We control the classification error probability distribution by designing an asymmetric loss function such that the erroneous classification outputs are more likely to result in fulfilling the QoS requirements. Furthermore, we present three heuristic algorithms and compare them with the NAM. Using a 3GPP compliant system-level simulator, we show that NAM achieves $\sim73\%$ energy saving compared to the full antenna configuration in the BS with $\sim95\%$ reliability in achieving the user throughput requirements while being around $1000\times$ and $24\times$ less computationally intensive than the greedy heuristic algorithm and the fixed column antenna muting algorithm, respectively.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technolog

Architecture landscape

The network architecture evolution journey will carry on in the years ahead, driving a large scale adoption of 5th Generation (5G) and 5G-Advanced use cases with significantly decreased deployment and operational costs, and enabling new and innovative use-case-driven solutions towards 6th Generation (6G) with higher economic and societal values. The goal of this chapter, thus, is to present the envisioned societal impact, use cases and the End-to-End (E2E) 6G architecture. The E2E 6G architecture includes summarization of the various technical enablers as well as the system and functional views of the architecture

Behind the Targets? The Case for Coherence in a Multi-Scalar Approach to Carbon Action Plans in the Transport Sector

The Paris Agreement requires radical action across all policy sectors and at all scales of government. This paper argues that without a clear framework for sectoral budget setting which takes account of interactions across spatial scales, incoherent and inadequate policy responses will result. Using a case study of the transport sector within the UK, which has committed to a zero carbon pathway in law, we look at three key elements which have to be considered in setting out a new framework: budget coherence, accounting coherence and policy coherence. Using top-down and bottom-up examples emerging from practices today in the UK, we demonstrate that there are no ‘optimal’ solutions but a set of choices, all of which appear to be better than the patchwork of approaches emerging in the absence of a framework. A multi-scalar approach is essential as transport crosses spatial boundaries and the policy system places different levers at different scales. Transparency will be beneficial for honesty with the public and the difficult politics this rapid transition necessitates. It will also mitigate against blame shifting across governments between and within scales and the resultant inaction which characterized the previous decade of supposed ‘climate action

Sustainability in 6G networks: vision and directions

In this paper, we present a vision of sustainable sixthgeneration (6G) networks. Sustainability has become inevitabledue to the strain on natural resources including materials andenergy and increase in greenhouse emissions. The energy consumption and the resulting carbon emissions into the environmentwill be a serious concern. We cannot expect that the presentexponential development will continue because of fundamentallimits of nature. We first present a brief summary of system-levelprinciples for future networks. Intelligence will be implementedusing feedback loops that should be almost isolated from eachother implying loose coupling and fast convergence. We next focuson sustainability challenges, including network management,network security, and network hardware. Several approachesand algorithms are highlighted for the goal-directed distributednetwork management perspectives of 6G sustainability. Resourceconsumption in network security can be minimized with enablingsleep mode in idle times, moving towards software-based securityfunctions instead of hardware-based systems, and rethinking ofencryption techniques in view of sustainability through codeoptimization and load fragmentation. High-efficiency antennascan incorporate biodegradable materials to build sustainablenetwork hardware. We also introduce a new research thrustfor total control of electromagnetic waves by the modularmetasurface antennas making sustainable 6G radio coveragepossible in various communication scenarios, e.g., small cell basestations and holographic radio coverage areas