4G dead, 5G is here. What about 6G? 7G?

Science and technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth frame our response.

Arthur M. Schlesinger

The 3 core problems of modern communication is ability to 1) talk and listen directly to a specific person 2) communicate on the move, 3) communicate securely.

Radio allowed humans 1 way communication over vast distance, without security. 2-way Radios like a WalkieTalkies, allowed us to talk while on the move by broadcasting over small distances (miles) but not directly, as frequencies can be monitored or indeed transmitted by anyone in the broadcast range. Landlines (telephones) allowed us to call and talk directly to another specific person (initially via switchboards) from your fixed point (your home, or work).These all became widely used around the 1900's. Cordless phones in the 1970's used radio and landline technologies so we were a little mobile (mostly just around the house), but the calls were unencrypted and could be heard by anyone (unknown to most) who knew the frequency. Cellular phones in the 1980's allowed us to take the best of all these worlds: Talk directly to anyone, over any distance, securely, all while on the move.

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Let us look at all the mobile technology “Generations” Past, Present and Future.

1G 1980's

1G (first generation) got us mobile voice calls on the move (moving on the road or walking across the city was the technology it provided) , to specific person (a phone number). This is the technology to have a calls moving from cell tower to another to cell. Its were we get the word Cellular from. Imagery : think of a bees HoneyComb across a city and you are in one of these 'cells'. One tower owns a cell, and talks to everyone in that cell. As you move bwteeen cells, the 1G (first generation) technology passes ownership of that call from one tower to another. Each tower were many miles apart. First generation brought us a phone you Take, Talk AND Travel with you. 1G highlights : Analog Mobile Calling, Bulky, Dropped calls, 1980s.

2G 1990's

2G got us the inevitable move to digital in the 1990's, and then added messaging (SMS and MMS) with optional encryption of the data. We can now talk about download data rates (this article doesn't talk about upload speeds). Release of 2.5G-2.75G finally got got us data over the network. That is SLOW data over the cell network. And mostly you could not move around cell towers because moving between cells caused data problems. But yes, you could access to the web from your phone. If you don't move between cell-towers, you might get 1 or 2 Mbps. Moving data rates (in car or train) were more like 0.2Mps. So standing still, a very low resolution picture every second or moving in car every 10-20 seconds. Towers had to be a couple of miles apart maximum. Towards the end of the 90's his is where the first battles of the communication technology powers started like : Edge, GSM, CDMA, and the like. 2G highlights : Digital, reliable calls, Messaging SMS/MMS, Slow internet, 1990s

3G 2000's

3G gave us low-resolution video calls in 2000's, and mobile broadband. Stationary rates were around 100 Mbps, while moving we could expect to see 0.3Mbps (which is not video call rate capable). Sort of the first mostly useable full internet, and basic useable video functionality. 3G highlights: Video, More towers, FaceTime, reasonable full Internet access, 1.8 – 2.5 GHz, 2000's

4G 2010's

4G before 2010 brought us Mobile High Definition video and TV, 2-way (and more) video conferencing and stionary data rates of up to 1000 Mbps, with moving data rates of 100Mps (a few minutes for an HD Movie, or an instantaneous high res picture). 4G highlights : HD-TV, and Video, realtime gaming, 2 – 8 GHz, 2010's

5G 2020's

5G is giving us 2 big things and fully coming about in 2020’s). First, as we move to a new faster/smaller frequency (30-300 Ghz) we yet again faster data rates (HD movie download in seconds fast). But second, and actually more importantly is that the LATENCY is massively reduced. The response time - the time from when you click to you start getting something back. While this is a nice-to-have for a general use and very cool for a multi-user gaming experience, this low latency will be important for empowering new technologies like autonomous vehicle accident protection (inter-car communication), air/ground traffic control, and remote robotic human surgery in all parts of the world. The problem with this new frequency is range is very small. Towers are needed every couple hundred yards or closer. Trees, buildings-and rain affect performance. NewYork City will need 10,000 antenna alone - Millions across the states - Billions across the world. You will see them everywhere. 5G highlights : Low Latency (autonomous cars, remote surgery), no noticeable user data rate limit. antennas every couple hundred meters, 2020's.

6G 2030's

6G is in the works - yes, believe it on not. Maybe coming the 2030's given the historical trends. The two questions of course are the What is it and the Why do it. The what will be ultra-dense cell networks (all over your house and city), Millimeter Waves (so very fast, low latency, but Very short range) for general user access. The why might be Full-Immersive Virtual and Augmented Reality experience technologies (not like goggles of today), pervasive real-time visual and audio sensors for all major cities, a fully deployed IoT down to your shoes, fork, and eyeglasses. Maybe even your medication (yes swallowing a radio pill). Also, intelligent networking to allow specialized communication between appropriate groups of all Internet-of-Things. 6G will communicate at extreme speeds and distances of a maybe a maximum of a dozen meters (. We probably won’t have towers or antenna like today but will have to move to a Mesh strategy (your shoes talk to the table with talks to the building which connects to the world). The world will be watching your face, gestures, and stance as well listening to your every word and its emotional tones and trying to help you. We will be moving the concepts of AI from your computers to the grid or your coffee grinder. (sounds worse than SkyNet). 6G highlights : VR/AR as everyday life, all things are the antennas, Very short communion distnaces (meters), everything talks to everything 2030's.

7G 2040's

7G Coming to you in 2040's. Well, this is futuristic thinking and in only a few people thoughts for now but be not it is being thought about and in planning. Our would will require very high bandwidth, and nearly non-existant latency, and pervasive integration. Certainly we humans are becoming more machine integrated, and this phase may be the beginning of that world. So, maybe direct person to computer information exchange? Possibly a rudimentary thinking interface with the technology world (think about a cup of coffee, and it is made for you). 7G highlights : Human/person interface, Thinking communication to the technical world (but only 1 way), 2040's.

8G 2050's

8G possibly coming in the 2050's. This will be in the minds of futurists and of course is highly speculative. We may not be calling it “g” by this time. Indeed people born today will be in their 30’s when deployments happen. But the concepts of communication via air and limitations of physics drive interesting limitation and potential benefits.

8g will be hyper-fast and hyper local (inches to feet), powered by wireless power. Possible integrations with thinking? There is future event or point in time , often called the technological singularity (or, the singularity) at which an intelligence explosion, an upgradable intelligent agent would enter a phase of self-improvement cycles, not controlled by humans. This is more about How things work with another than the ability to think better than us (in many cases they already do). 8G may be the method of communication for this event. Mesh networking (everything talks to everything) will likely be more important the current Hub-and-spoke architecture. Communication 8G will be as different to 4G (current standard) as the 1G was to now. 8G highlights : Duplex technology/human thinking and decision making, 2050's.