From 5G-Advanced to 6G in 2030: New Services, 3GPP Advances, and Enabling Technologies

The telecommunications systems are in continuous evolution. After voice, video, mobile internet, and Internet of Things, what services will be supported in the near future? In the paper, three envisioned services are highlighted, which will be provided in the coming years by new telecommunication systems: immersive communications, everything connected, and high-positioning. The author provides a comprehensive description of their characteristics and investigates the developments that will be implemented in 3GPP Releases 17, Release 18, and Release 19, including technologies that could be integrated for supporting the three new services. In order to evaluate the performance of the new technologies and services, it is important to define appropriate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The paper reports and proposes new KPIs for network evaluation to support specific new services such as virtual/mixed reality, smart sensors, and gesture recognition, then facilitating the effective design of the next-generation network and its performance assessment optimally. Requirements of the major application fields that will see widespread adoption in the next 3-8 years due to these developments are also investigated. Finally, the paper further outlines the most promising enabling technologies, supporting the three bearer services.