Feature: Industry 4.0
developed, but now they define the 5G concept. The focus has shifted from people to devices or machines and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Digital twins on the holodeck A digital twin is an interactive, virtual representation of a real object or machine that can be manipulated from the meta world. The ability to operate machines from practically anywhere has potentially far-reaching benefits for the work environment and society at large. Some industrial applications and
harsh environments, such as the oil and gas industry, require merging of real and virtual worlds, which in turn will need VR headsets – and these need more computing and faster communications. If this processing power comes from the cloud, 6G is necessary. Transferring extremely large quantities
of data to VR and AR glasses with video resolutions of at least 8K in stereo requires transport capacities of several hundred gigabits per second, along with signal transit times of a tenth of a millisecond, to enable natural reactions in real time. 5G does not offer this capacity. Networks will also need to allocate computing power intelligently for the various 6G services, and this is where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in. In fact, AI will be ubiquitous in 6G networks.
The real IoT Although the IoT is slowly taking shape, and industrial and transportation applications have already received a boost from 5G, universal connectivity is only possible with 6G. Based on its technical configuration and bandwidth, 6G will integrate many objects and services in industries, road transport and infrastructure and homes, opening networking opportunities not possible before. Embedded radio sensors can monitor
the condition of machines, but also of infrastructure such as bridges and highways, making it easy to keep up with their maintenance. RFID tags commonly used in retail
sales and logistics today can only be read from a short distance; however,
16 September 2023
www.electronicsworld.co.uk
Figure 1: 5G aims to cover three application areas: 1. Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) allows classic mobile applications but with much better performance than LTE; 2. Massive machine type communications (mMTC) support energy-efficient low-performance applications such as sensor networks; 3. Ultra-reliable, low-latency communications (URLLC) focuses on real-time applications that require ensured signal transit times and availability
equipped with special sensors and a longer range, they will be used to monitor food quality. The IoT boost will also change how connected radio sensors are powered,
which presents a huge challenge for their large-scale use. The sheer quantity of these sensors and degree of continued miniaturisation make conventional batteries, which require periodic
Figure 2: Augmented reality (AR) glasses are already merging real and virtual worlds, but the vision with 6G will include all the senses for total immersion
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