Problems with 5G

“Millisecond latency [found in 5G] is simply not sufficient,” Pouttu said. It’s “too slow.”

One of the problems that will be encountered in 5G overall is related to required scalability, he said. The issue is that the entire network stack is going to be run on non-traditional, software-defined radio. That method inherently introduces network slowdowns. Each orchestration, connection or process decelerates the communication.

It’s a problem in part because the thinking is that “there will be 1,000 radios per person in the next ten years.” That’s going to be because the millimeter frequencies that are being used in 5G, while being copious in bandwidth, are short in travel distance. One will need lots of radioheads and antennas—millions—all needing to be connected. And it is why one needs to think up better ways of doing it at scale—hence 6G’s efforts.

Researchers in the University of Oulu’s 6Genesis program, as well as those in the U.S.’s Center for Converged TeraHertz Communications and Sensing (ComSenTer), which I wrote about in June, say frequencies from 100GHz up to terahertz (THz) are the way to go. Frequency bands will be in the tens of gigahertz in that spectrum, Pouttu said. In other words, it will provide never-before-seen levels of bandwidth in conceivably virtually unlimited amounts.