Explore the impact of 6G: Top use cases you need to know

The first launch of 6G networks is expected around 2030. 

Many 6G use cases like enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), fixed wireless access (FWA), positioning, and augmented reality (AR) will be enhanced and developed from current 5G technology. Following that, we expect entirely new services extending beyond communication, for example integrated sensing and communication. In 6G, the network as a platform will continue to grow with services made available to application developers and enterprises from a wide ecosystem.

In this blog post, we examine innovative 6G use cases expected to emerge starting in 2030, investigating how the 6G infrastructure needs to support advanced communication while also promoting sustainability, accessibility, resilience, privacy, and security.

Outline of use cases

6G will be a platform that goes beyond communication, offering solutions to a broad set of problems and delivering services end-to-end, serving a wider ecosystem of consumers, enterprises, and societies.

For our selection of seven use case examples, we have summarized key insights in terms of opportunities, driving trends, requirements, and the needed network components.

• Mixed Reality - Immersive shared experiences
  
• Global Internet - Digitalization for everyone everywhere
  
• Autonomous Mobility - Supporting smart transport
  
• Critical services - Priority emergency communication
  
• Spatial Data - Exposing data related to coordinates
  
• Massive Digital Twin - Data collection, management and modeling
  
• AI communication - Super awareness and AI offload
  

6G - a platform for more than communication, able to solve more problems, deliver services E2E and enter new businesses

Mixed reality (MR) – Immersive shared experiences

 

Multiplayer mixed reality (MR) gaming is considered a target use-case for the 2030 timeframe. Consistent user experience such as latency is important for developers and application service providers. Application developers today avoid linking their applications directly to the network. This presents an opportunity for our networks to offer new services such as compute offload, positioning, sensing, and adaptive data rates/communication by exposing APIs.  

For a shared gaming experience, the technical requirements are determined by the upstream of the environment from different players, the downstream of virtual objects, and a game logic that defines the connection between reality and virtual objects for multiple users. 

In terms of latency, the local encoding and processing on the glasses is a major contributor with latencies of ~100ms today. Higher frame rates will determine the lower limits of latency, with latencies of ~20ms envisioned. The bandwidth requirement for an MR scenario is currently around 20Mbps and is expected to increase to 50Mbps downlink per player (for rendering), which includes video and depth in the downlink for occlusion. The current requirement for spatial computing is about 10Mbps per player. This is expected to rise as resolution increases, for example with 4K, and, depending on compression ratios, could land at 50 to 100 Mbps.

Global internet – Digitalization for everyone, everywhere

 

Therefore, the problem is mainly related to providing remote service coverage for basic MBB. Still, such basic services may be the basis of sensitive systems (for example if related to health or surveillance) and therefore, uninterrupted and resilient operation is important.

Expanding network coverage requires significant investments and resources. These costs need to be justified by the benefits of digitalization and the business opportunities that can create. An efficiently shared traffic uptake by a combination of large terrestrial cells and non-terrestrial satellite cells is an attractive solution. Such a system could deliver video-grade speeds anywhere on earth and provide an area traffic in the order of 50kbps per square km. This would provide people even in remote rural areas with sufficient internet access to meet important needs.

Autonomous mobility – Supporting smart transport

 

Today, this is established using GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). The drawback with GNSS positioning is that it can be easily disrupted and is prone to spoofing. Today’s 5G network can be used to detect if the position is spoofed, but the position/area from the mobile network is not good enough to base the navigation on. Positioning in the 6G network will provide accuracy good enough to base navigation on, which will significantly increase safety in the skies.

Critical services – Priority emergency communication

 

Observable parameters are needed to specify the wanted details of any E2E SLA between provider and consumer. Trust is then built by continuously delivering on the SLAs. In the future, more challenging public safety-related SLAs can be delivered upon through improved resilience, fallback, and recovery solutions. Automation will make solutions faster and more flexible.

Anytime and anywhere a critical situation appears, coverage is instantly demanded. However, full terrestrial network (TN) coverage is expensive – especially in very remote locations. Deployable networks can be brought in when needed, but this takes time and adds cost. If non-terrestrial network (NTN) solutions, notably satellites, start to provide wide area coverage, although with limited capacity, then they can be used in line-of-sight areas. However, non-line-of-sight areas, like indoor and underground spaces such as tunnels would still not benefit from this coverage.

Spatial data – Exposing data related to coordinates

 

The spatial information can describe a position, an area, or a three-dimensional space and how objects move. It’s both about connected cars or drones or other connected objects, and about unconnected ones like, for example,  pedestrians or bikes. But it can also relate to the properties and features of a physical environment, or concern the interplay of digital and contextual information and spatial data. 

The spatial data use case is part of expanding the scope of network services beyond communication.

Networks rely on device positioning and network sensing (radar-like ranging of echoes) for collection of spatial data, which is then analyzed. Lastly, the relevant processed data is exposed for consuming services. The good thing is that the network can reuse the equipment for communication to capture spatial data, and still achieve an accuracy in the order of a few meters. But the coverage of such data collection is limited to areas with a line-of-sight link to the base station, which may be the case in denser urban scenarios but not in general. Fusion with data streams from other sensors will be useful for improving the service offered.

Massive digital twin – Data collection, management, and modeling

 

This connection between the digital and physical realms requires connectivity with different characteristics depending on the use case of the system. In some cases, near real time performance is required to keep critical systems working. In other cases, availability or the possibility of managing a large number of devices or systems, are more important, for example in a smart home or a smart building. 

An important aspect for this use case to take off is cheap and simple to use communication, which, for example, requires low-cost communication modules. In this manner, the systems would be able to maintain contact with the digital system and follow the models or configurations that were customized for the particular use case of the application. The system requires two-way communication and a computational platform hosting the digital twin. To meet near real time communication requirements, a  high priority connection specifically configured for this type of communication needs to be established. 

The use of digital twins for management of the physical realm can be extended to many use cases, including logistics, management of utilities, factories, and even everyday home tasks.

AI communication – Unlocking learning potential through networks

AI services embedded in devices such as smartphones and computers enhance communication and sensory experiences already today. AI provides text suggestions in emails, text messages, and social media posts, as well as noise suppression in voice and video meetings. Additionally, technological advancements that provide assistance to individuals with impairments have become more mainstream. For example, headphones are available to enhance hearing, while accessibility functions like voice control simplify device interactions.

Another area where AI already plays a significant role is in video and video games. Here, it is primarily used to upscale images and videos or otherwise improve image and video quality, allow for image and video manipulation and editing, and enhance video frame rates. 

As AI evolves, it will further improve human communication with people, devices, and surroundings. Examples include hearing aids with complete noise cancellation and the ability to tune in on specific sounds; visual aids enabling recognition beyond normal vision; and communication aids using eye movements or brain interfaces. When it comes to image and video applications, AI will increasingly be used to generate and regenerate images and video, enhance or alter scenarios, convert images to video; 2D video to 3D video, and 3D video to volumetric video. Additionally, AI will integrate video into multimodal content, for example lip syncing and lip reading).

AI-enhanced senses must work seamlessly everywhere and at all times, which places high demands on connectivity. This includes requirements for resilient and trustworthy networks, low latency, and robust security and privacy measures to safeguard sensitive data.

Image and video processing using edge-based AI processing and rendering could become important to reduce battery consumption of wearable devices, such as AR glasses.

Edge-based AI processing and rendering has an advantage over cloud-based processing. It can provide privacy services by removing sensitive data at the edge, ensuring that it is not communicated back to any central service function.

In addition, AI agents in devices such as smart glasses, are believed to increasingly use network-based (edge or cloud) compute for spatial information, to provide “What am I seeing?”-support. This  will significantly increase uplink requirements over time, as smart glasses gradually evolve into full-featured AR glasses.

Moving forward – Standardization and realization

Ericsson’s vision for 6G is to provide means of interaction in an increasingly digitalized cyber-physical world, where people, objects, and processes are tightly connected to intelligence, analysis, and control in the digital domain. A 6G platform will offer these interactions as new services to applications, building on differentiated and programmable connectivity, and beyond-communication functionality. The use cases are end-to-end examples of how services can provide value to users.

One milestone for 6G usage is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) IMT-2030 Framework report released in November 2023, which outlines a vision and the needed capabilities to get there. Since we contributed to this work, Ericsson’s view aligns well with this common global goal. 

Evolution from IMT-2020/5G to IMT-2030/6G

In our work, we start from the needs in the application and usage domain. We then analyze the expected impact use cases would have on users, consumers, society, and the environment. Finally, we evaluate what  network capabilities are required to deliver them. All new network solutions should have a clear purpose, and we need to be mindful of the business and societal values at stake. By working in this manner, we believe that we will achieve a 6G standard centered on useful improvements. 

Ericsson is driving the development of new and evolved use cases for the upcoming 6G era in the 2030s, by actively participating in key fora and preparing for 3GPP standardization. 

In 2024, the first steps have been taken in the standardization of 6G in 3GPP. At a workshop on IMT-2030 use cases in May, industry representatives and stakeholders from the regions had the opportunity to share their view on what 6G should be about, reflecting on the IMT-2030 Framework. There, Ericsson presented the European view, and was also represented through Next G Alliance, among others (for details, links are available at the bottom of this post).

Based on the input from the workshop, 3GPP SA1 has now started its work on 6G use cases and service requirements, marking the official start of 6G standardization. This work will target the IMT-2030 vision and usage scenarios and define a set of use cases for 6G from which service requirements can be drawn. The resulting requirements will then be passed on to 3GPP RAN for the specification of solutions, set to begin in 2025.

Ericsson has also worked towards SA1 performing key value impact assessments on the proposed use cases. Originating in the Hexa-X-II work Environmental and social view on 6G, companies can study the effect of use cases on environmental and socioeconomical factors related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One important possibility is to list mitigation actions to avoid negative impact, which can be formulated as requirements.

3GPP 6G standardization timeline.

Thank you to our colleagues for contributions to this blog post: Ali El Essaili, Edgar Ramos, Michael Björn, Mikael Fallgren, and Morgan Lindqvist.

Read more:

• Visit Ericsson’s 6G page
• Read our 6G white paper
• Download documents from the 3GPP IMT-2030 workshop
  • European view
  • Next-G Alliance view
• Learn more about network APIs
• Explore immersive technologies for 5G