In a new report, the NextG Alliance from ATIS looks at 6G spectrum demand based on expected KPIs.
With the telecommunications industry and governments around the world already looking at future 6G systems and the spectrum they may use, how should we think about the amount of spectrum needed for 6G? After all, the technology is not yet standardized, use cases are merely speculation at this point, and “as much as possible, especially in the mid-band range” is not a good enough basis for spectrum policy and planning.
The Coalition for Communications Industry Solutions’ (ATIS) NextG Alliance set out to assess future 6G spectrum needs in a new white paper as part of its roadmap to 6G. The organization acknowledges that there are many unknowns at this point, but in general, it believes that “the inter-generational evolution of commercial mobile broadband will be characterized by continued improvements in spectrum usage efficiency.”
And the amount of spectrum used to support novel and diverse wireless applications is increasing.’ So while the industry is using more and more spectrum with each G, it is using it more efficiently, and both trends are expected to continue with 6G.
“Spectrum is the lifeblood of all commercial mobile broadband,” said MITRE’s Andrew Thiessen, chair of the Next G Alliance Spectrum Working Group. “Without available spectrum, countries’ ability to continue progressing toward ubiquitous connectivity is hindered. This document provides a comprehensive first look at what spectrum will be needed as 6G development begins in earnest.”
The whitepaper focuses primarily on North American conditions and needs and examines potential 6G spectrum needs in terms of key performance indicators and expected speed requirements for a range of use cases, from very slow asset management applications and environmental sensors, to medium-speed use cases such as intelligent transportation and UAVs (note that we are evaluating based on speed KPIs rather than latency), to extremely demanding use cases such as augmented reality, autonomous systems and industrial robotics.
The paper looks to simulate demand for candidate bands 3.1-3.45GHz, 7.125-8.5GHz, and 12.7-13.25GHz (bands broadly considered mid-band and upper-mid-band) based on a wide range of speed categories expected to be required for different use cases. Three cell sizes were simulated: 1,732 meters (approximately one mile), 500 meters, and 250 meters, and a variety of urban and rural deployment scenarios were considered, including public macrocells, and public or private microcell deployments.
ATIS’ conclusion is that, broadly speaking, rural macrocell deployments would require the least amount of spectrum to support a broad range of anticipated 6G use cases, urban macrocells would require the most, and urban microcell deployments would fall somewhere in between. ATIS cautioned that its figures reflect the characteristics of KPIs for different applications, rather than “the practical needs of 6G deployment,” but provided some figures as examples of the amount of spectrum needed per frequency band to achieve those KPIs: an estimated 1,070 MHz in the lower 3 GHz band, slightly less at 1,019 MHz in 7.125-8.5 GHz, and over 2,100 MHz needed to achieve the target KPIs at 12.7-13.25 GHz. For more details on the methodology and assumptions, see the actual white paper.
“Proactively understanding and planning for next-generation spectrum needs is essential for U.S. leadership in critical and emerging technologies,” said David Young, managing director of the Next G Alliance. “Spectrum use decisions depend on many aspects and take time to implement. This white paper provides an understanding of 6G spectrum needs and ensures these needs are taken into account in the development of data-driven policies, regulatory decisions, and technical solutions.”
