Vertical industry segments will be critical to the success of 6G as the communications industry adapts to the commercial opportunities from defense and industrial sector users. That makes it essential for the industry to engage with sectors that are exploring their own multi-year developments in the context of communications technologies as a powerful enabler.
In 2022, the NextG Alliance (NGA) conducted extensive interviews with stake holders from eight industry verticals. Their aim was to understand the long-term drivers of change in those verticals and how these might influence 6G research, standardization, and pre-commercial activities. The eight verticals are as follows:
- Agriculture
- Automotive
- Education, Gaming, and Entertainment
- eHealth
- Industry and IoT
- Mining
- Public Safety
- Smart Cities
Industry experts provided valuable and long-term insights into their sector dynamics. For example, health sector strategists highlighted workforce shortages (physicians, nurses, and other care workers), rising costs associated with healthcare for an ageing society, and the likelihood that the elderly would need care (e.g., requiring regular physical exercise and social interaction) at home.
None of the industry experts expressed their future communications needs in communications technology terms. No one is thinking about bandwidth or latency, for example. Instead, their needs described vertical-domain use cases and enabling applications to serve their users.
Three key conclusions arose from the vertical industry research.
- Cross-industry coordination is as critical as technology. There is value in synchronizing cross-industry activities for long term planning. The multi-year planning horizon of industry-specific products and services (e.g., devices and care protocols for long-term care in the heath sector, farming machinery in the agriculture sector) are comparable to those for 6G.
- Vertical industry representatives expressed two sets of needs: one related to technology connectivity, and the second to technologies that enable new services. There are nuances in connectivity with requirements framed as “extreme connectivity,” “limitless connectivity,” and “on-demand connectivity.” Enablers of new services refers to technology interdependencies. A building-block approach, for example, makes it easier for developers to bring together communications, connectivity, devices, and trustworthiness, for example. That implies the need for technical interoperability and developer-support capabilities.
- The range and diversity of vertical industry needs span a mix of evolutionary and revolutionary technologies. Evolutionary topics continue themes that are integral to the existing 3GPP roadmap and research commitments. Revolutionary topics encompass breakthrough technologies and research that are likely to require new funding sources and new initiatives. They have the potential to unleash completely new use cases and industry applications.
As illustrated below, the NGA’s categorization of vertical industry needs places evolutionary topics to the left-hand side and revolutionary ones to the right. The vertical positioning of items approximates the technology stack with application-oriented enablers positioned near the top.
Three groupings are evident. One focuses on improvements to existing technologies. A second highlights the value potential from revolutionary technologies. The third category highlights the importance packaging innovation and service offerings in ways that make it easier to drive adoption.
Source: NextG Alliance – 6G Roadmap for Vertical Industries (April 2023)