Samsung, LG take major steps forward in 6G commercialization

“It’s never too early to start preparing for 6G,” said Samsung Electronics Co. last July in releasing The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All, its official white paper on 6G communication system.  

The paper projected that the earliest commercialization date of the 6G standard could be in 2028, while mass commercialization will likely occur around 2030.

While 5G commercialization is still in its initial stages and 6G seems a decade away, South Korea’s leading network systems companies Samsung and LG Electronics Inc. are acting fast to get ahead of global competitors in the segment.

SAMSUNG MAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS 6G COMMERCIALIZATION

Samsung said on June 16 that it succeeded in demonstrating the 6G Terahertz (THz) wireless communication prototype in collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

The prototype system created by the researchers of the company and the university achieved a throughput of 6.2 gigabits per second (Gbps) over a 15-meter distance using an end-to-end 140 GHz wireless link.

1 Gbps means 1 billion bits of data can be transmitted per second and 6.2Gbps is fast enough to download a 4-gigabyte (GB) movie within four to five seconds.

Samsung commented that the demonstration marks a “major milestone” for the company as it successfully transmitted data in the THz frequency range.

The THz spectrum of bandwidth, considered necessary for 6G communications, refers to frequencies between 100 GHz (0.1 THz) and 10 THz. Samsung’s 140 GHz wireless link used this time is equivalent to 0.14 THz.

Only a handful of major global companies, such as Huawei and Nokia, succeeded in demonstrating data transmission above the 100 GHz range. In comparison, the 5G network systems operate within the range of 3.5-28 GHz.

“This demo can be a major milestone in exploring the feasibility of using the THz spectrum for 6G wireless communications,” said Samsung Research’s Head of the Advanced Communication Research Center Choi Sung-hyun.  

The mass commercialization of 6G will accelerate the blurring of physical and digital worlds and create an integrated metaverse, just like in the Spielberg movie Ready Player One. The 6G technology is also necessary to enable the operation of millions of autonomous vehicles within a single metropolis.

“Samsung’s recent demonstration with USCB is important in that it achieved to transmit multiple Gbps of data above the 100 GHz frequency range,” said Ko Young-jo, the director of 6G wireless transmission at South Korea’s state-run Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).

But some other experts note that Samsung’s recent test is only one of the first few steps towards 6G commercialization.

They say that the 15-meter distance in Samsung’s demonstration is too short and that the data transmission rate of 6.2 Gbps falls even short of the theoretical maximum rate of 5G at 20 Gbps. The 6G network system, in theory, can be 50 times faster than 5G by transmitting up to 1,000 Gbps.  

“Going forward, we are committed to leading the standardization of 6G in collaboration with various stakeholders across industry, academia and government fields,” said Samsung.

LG TO HEAD A KEY DIVISION WITHIN US-LED 6G ALLIANCE

Samsung’s long-time rival LG Electronics is also strengthening 6G presence in its own way, despite its recent exit from the loss-making mobile phone business.

LG Electronics plans to continue building on its technological capabilities in the network systems sector as most of its future focus areas such as the internet of things (IoT) and autonomous vehicles require 6G networks.

According to the company on June 15, it will be heading a key division within the Next G Alliance, founded by the US Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS).

ATIS is an American industry association that aims to advance the business priorities of US-based information and communication technology (ICT) companies. Its members include Apple, AT&T, Google and Verizon.

ATIS established the Next G Alliance in October last year, as an initiative to advance North American mobile technology leadership over the next decade, according to the association.

The members of Next G Alliance include 48 major players of the global telecom network industry, such as AT&T, Nokia, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Qualcomm and Verizon.

LG will be heading the Application Division, one of the six divisions of the Next G Alliance, after the election of its researcher Lee Ki-dong as the division’s chairman.

The Application Division addresses the 6G-related application needs that will drive innovation and development for consumers, according to the alliance. The vice chairmen of the division include Andrew Herson at Verizon and Mitch Tseng of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

LG Electronics says that it is the only Asian company to head a division at the Next G Alliance. LG added that the fact that it possesses the largest number of 4G technology patents in the world, as well as the third-largest number of 5G patents, seems to have been taken into account in the election.

“Our company will win the global leadership in 6G standardization and commercialization processes,” said LG Electronics Head of Future Technology Center Kim Byung-hoon.

Write to Min-jun Suh at morandol@hankyung.com
Daniel Cho edited this article.