From 5G to 6G

Key Question Being Explored in This Insight:

Why are high-capacity directional wireless communication networks an active area of research, and what challenges arise in their design and implementation, particularly in terms of pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) systems for both RF and FSO technologies?

View the page of: Mohamed-Slim Alouini

Institution: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

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Image courtesy of interviewee. February 11, 2025

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This video video discusses a conversation about the importance of bridging the digital divide and the potential of connectivity in underdeveloped areas. The speaker highlights the need to focus on global connectivity, addressing the challenges of reaching remote areas, such as energy efficiency and using innovative technologies like non-terrestrial networks and free space optics. This video video emphasizes the benefits of connectivity beyond just improving people's lives directly, including reducing urbanization pressures and enabling smart applications like agriculture. The speaker also underscores the importance of aligning these efforts with UN sustainability goals and emphasizes the advancements in research needed to overcome challenges and optimize global connectivity solutions.

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Key points extracted from the video:

1. The importance of addressing the connectivity divide and digital inequality, particularly highlighted by the impact of COVID-19.
2. Initiatives focused on developing 6G wireless technology to enhance global connectivity.
3. The potential benefits of 6G technology in reaching underserved areas such as rural, suburban, and low-income neighborhoods.
4. Challenges such as the backhaul challenge in extending connectivity to remote areas and the need for innovative solutions like aerial and satellite base stations.
5. The alignment of global connectivity efforts with UN sustainability goals to reduce inequalities and enhance quality of life for individuals globally.

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Some key quotes from the video are:
1. "The problem of the connectivity divide, the digital divide that has been overlooked for many years, if not many decades."
2. "COVID-19 in a way showed us that the connectivity divide is one of the modern phases of inequality between the have and have not in digital convideo."
3. "How can we mitigate the effect of weather, clouds, atmosphere, turbulence in a very interesting techniques out there, adapt optics, site diversity."
4. "How can we be more energy-efficient? Because generating power at this high altitude is not as simple as it is in the ground."

These quotes highlight important discussions related to the digital divide, the impact of technology on connectivity, and challenges in implementing high-altitude connectivity solutions.

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Okay, professor, it's the 10th of October.

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We've just gone past half past nine in London.

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We're talking about connecting the remaining three plus

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billion unconnected, talking

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to Mohammed s Lummi here at Kas

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University over in Saudi Arabia.

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Uh, Mohammed, what was the context about for this study?

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What motivated it?

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Uh, so, basically, I felt that, this is,

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an important problem.

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The problem of the connectivity divide, the digital divide

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that has been overlooked for, many years,

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if not many decades.

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Uh, COVID-19 in a way showed us that, the

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connectivity divide is one of the modern phase of inequality

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between the have and have, not in digital context,

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but actually, I started working on this

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topic a little bit earlier.

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Uh, I realized that there is some interesting research,

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problem to be solved within this context.

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Although typically most research is focused on,

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what I call Olympic records, how we go from 4G to 5G

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or 5G to six G by increasing speed lowering latencies,

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I felt that this is a, again, sometime a neglected problem

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that, requires some attention

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and that actually offers some interesting research problems,

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that one can, can address,

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Right? So first of all, the

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answer is superb. Really good answer.

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But I just wanna say, Mohamed,

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something about your, the visuals.

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I dunno if you can see yourself on the screen. Can you?

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Yes. Can You see the black shadow

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above your head to the right?

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Can you see that when you move?

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So, the only, the only thing is, I know it sounds silly,

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but the only thing is, is that, that's

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because of the, what's it called

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behind your virtual background, isn't it?

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Yeah. Obviously, obviously you've got to be able to move.

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Do you, do you, I mean, can you, are you okay?

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Are you okay with that piece of dark shadow?

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It's just a tiny bit. Yeah,

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It's okay. I mean, people understand.

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No problem.

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Okay, let's, I would try to not move that much.

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You must move. Please move. Okay, let's keep going.

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It's brilliant answer, by the way.

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Anyway, so how will the development then

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of six G Wireless,

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and what even is that for the audience who don't know,

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how will that impact?

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What, where do we stand there?

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So, obviously, now we are still deploying 5G,

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but from research perspective, we have been working on six G

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for the last five, six years.

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Uh, the vision is more clear, actually.

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Uh, one of the nice win, for us, those of us

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who are active in this area of connecting the

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and connected, is that, in the last,

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international communion, WRC, that's kind

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of one of the famous conference of the ITU,

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which is United Nation Agency in charge

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of telecommunication.

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So the last meeting happened in Dubai in,

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December, 2023,

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and the vision of six G, was presented there, there.

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And, one of the interesting new user scenario is,

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so-called ubiquitous or global connectivity.

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So indeed, in contrast to the previous generation

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of wireless communication system, which in a way were,

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mainly driven by profit and financial consideration.

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Nothing wrong with that, you need

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to sustainability from a business perspective,

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but I think six g in part will be driven by some

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of the other aspect,

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including this global connectivity aspect.

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Yeah, really good. And how does that feel, sort of,

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support those underdeveloped areas, those areas

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who haven't had, touch 5G?

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Yeah, I mean, when, when we talk about six G, people,

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again thinks about, okay, how can we make things better,

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faster, and so on.

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But actually six G will also have one component,

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which is trying to democratize internet

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and bring connectivity maybe at a lower speed, maybe,

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with some latency to, underserved areas.

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Uh, and here we are talking about rural areas,

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suburban areas, hard to reach areas, refugee camps,

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you know, like low income neighborhood or, areas.

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All of this hopefully will benefit in a way, from some

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of the, s developments.

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And, if you allow me, one of the main challenge

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that we have to solve is the, so-called backhaul challenge.

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So what is a backhaul challenge?

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The backhaul challenge in very simple terms, is,

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the problem that comes from the fact that, you know,

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reaching these remote areas, requires, you know,

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like basically establishing this back hole

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or this connectivity long haul between, you know,

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well connected area like data centers and so on,

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and these, and these remote areas.

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And obviously we know fiber optics has been,

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the backbone of internet success in urban environment,

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typically highly densely populated environments,

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but doesn't make much business sense to dig

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and lay hundred if thousands of kilometer of fiber

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of the cable to reach these, you know, kind of,

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hard to reach, very far sparsely populated,

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often low income areas.

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So there is no return on investment

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and mobile network operator are not really willing,

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to kind of invest,

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because there is no business case.

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But now there is new technologies, new paradigm

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that we're trying to,

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or to kind of, put in place to kind

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of address the, so-called backhaul change as part

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of the evolution beyond 5G and in the six G,

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and again, beyond era.

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But, but what's changed though?

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What's changed then that they mean net now does become

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affordable for these companies.

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So actually, yeah, so how can you address this?

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Uh, this, this challenge is to, basically, kind

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of, not connect things, by fiber optics.

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And how do you do that? By gaining an altitude.

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So in other words, create this backhaul via aerial

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or space, base stations.

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So, I mean, it's, in a way, in a comp a complete,

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different, way of addressing the connectivity problem.

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The way we do it in urban environs, in urban environment,

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we try to, and the jargon, we use is densified

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what has been densified.

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We put too many access points, we go to these small cells

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'cause there is enough people, to, to serve.

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And, and we can aggressively use the spectrum

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when we are talking about the kind of addressing,

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connectivity in this parts operate area.

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Actually what we need is super macro cells, huge cells, so

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that with a single piece of equipment, with a single set

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of antenna or base station, you are able to connect

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opportunistically, you know,

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by look at sending beams in different locations at different

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time, these past appropriate areas.

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How can we get this big coverage

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by basically gaining an altitude?

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How can you gain altitude?

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You cannot keep building tower master and FL towers.

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What you need to do is to start attaching base stations

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to flying platforms.

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So we are talking, for instance, about high altitude

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platform station, or known also

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as high altitude satellite hubs.

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These are,

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flying platform in the stratosphere at roughly 20 kilometer,

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that are going to be, potentially one,

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way to bridge this divide

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by bringing connectivity to micro cells.

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Or you can even go further and start attaching.

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This is, probably in,

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already in the news attach base stations, to satellites,

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like the star link of the world, basically.

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Really well explained, actually. Very good.

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I'm gonna just push you on sustainability goals.

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So how does all of this vision align itself

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with the UN sustainability goal?

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Oh, yeah. Uh, I mean, of course the link is, is, is,

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is direct, in the sense that of course, as, as, as a,

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as a first kind of, connection is one

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of the SDGs about reducing inequalities.

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So right away actually bringing connectivity

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to these remote areas is going to break prosperity

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benefits in many dimension.

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Education, health, finance, one

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of the thing we always say, as soon as you connect

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and connect it, pretty much you are banking

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and banked people that never have like a bank account

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or not able to do financial transaction, have to go,

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like I'm talking about, fishermen

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or farmers need to rely on middle man, middle

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entities to kind of sell their products.

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As soon as they have the phone and they have an account

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and they can finish transaction, they can gain,

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agility in financial transactions.

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So this is a direct benefit to people to basically make,

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bring prosperity to areas that are basically underdeveloped,

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you know, anywhere in the world.

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But another important aspect that we, we, we tend

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to overlook, when we talk about connected

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and connected, we are not talking only about connecting,

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and connected people, but we are talking about connecting

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and connected areas that are basically maybe not,

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inhabited, but where you can put all kind of machines,

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all kind of sensors, actuators, IOT device.

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Why? Uh, because you need to monitor the environment.

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You need to maybe to use that

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for smart agricultural application, for smart fishing, for,

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monitoring, potential volcano eruption.

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Uh, this all goes with the SDGs.

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You are trying to, basically, you know, kind of,

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mitigate many of the issues that are related

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to climate change, to environmental, kind of,

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condition improvement.

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And IOT is a, is a, is a strong,

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technology for that.

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And, in a nutshell, I always,

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say in my presentation that, we kind

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of typically oversell the concept of, smart building

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and smart, towns and smart cities.

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But actually when connectivity is brought at the global

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level, and we can connect not only cities,

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but also rural areas, hamlets, villages,

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and the seas, which cover 70% of, of the earth,

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we go from just in a way what can become a narrow concept

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of smart, cities to the broader concept of smart living,

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where basically we can monitor

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and we can hopefully improve the

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condition in a global scale.

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Brilliant. So is, and that, And that, that,

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and that's basically, i, i, I hope you agree

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with me in full alignment, with many of the SDCs.

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Absolutely. I just gotta ask the questions in importantly,

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and this is the key bit, is that it's very

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people-centric, isn't it?

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When people talk about technology and connectivity.

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So with people-centric, you've argued

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that it's not, it's more than that, it isn't.

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It's connecting those areas.

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What other benefits do we get from connecting those

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areas as opposed to the people?

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Uh, as I said, basically on the top

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of the fact, people can benefit directly.

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I, I can give you the, I mean, actually an indirect benefit,

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at least a prediction or maybe let's say a projection.

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One of the main problem that we suffer,

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from globally is a, so-called urbanization problem.

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We are seeing this kind of constant,

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I would say even sometime describe

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exponential increase in mega cities.

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And then, and again, we, when we try to smartify them

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to be able to manage their congestion

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and so on, when you bring connectivity to these,

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rural areas, remote areas, first of all, you may kind of,

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stop in a way or less,

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or decrease the interest of people moving from rural areas

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to urban area because they'll have

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opportunity wherever they are.

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Uh, but also you may even incentivize people who would like

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to live in a less polluted, less congested, cheaper,

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I would say environment,

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but still can access, the quality of life there.

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Part two, remotely via, you know,

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very high speed connectivity,

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and I talk about the education, maybe even health services,

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financial transactions,

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remote work can be done also in many ways,

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through this, connectivity.

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So there is this and direct, kind of, benefit

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to people and environment and the city designs

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and so on, by bringing

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connectivity to these remote areas.

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So that's one example.

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And the other example, as I mentioned earlier,

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smart agriculture type of applications can benefit,

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fully from, iot device that can be,

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embedded in the, in the farms

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and in the rural areas.

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Give you in real time,

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indicators on the moisture of the soil.

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Uh, and, and, and similar kind of important parameter for,

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farming at the mass scale.

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Uh, so, you know, and then there is drones

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or satellite that can collect information, can,

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can be brought, via the clouds to, to a dashboard

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and some intelligent decision can be made about,

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you know, maybe, sending extra, type of,

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supplement to some areas and so on.

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So, you know, there is, I'm giving you,

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I gave you just two example

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where global connectivity can be beneficial.

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Really good. Right? So final question then.

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So you've just told us about lots

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of future indu industrial work, but what are the conclusions

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and implications from this work,

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which is a takeaway message really?

287
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And then where do you see future research be?

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So obviously there are, a lot of activities,

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in trying to bring, connectivity to these remote areas.

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Uh, I am active in, in few of these, I would like

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to highlight two important topic,

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and I will use the jargon that is used so

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that people can get used, can understand this jargon.

294
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One of the key area is known as non-terrestrial network.

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In short, NTN, how can we use drones, apps

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or high platform,

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this stratospheric platform I talked about earlier,

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even satellites, to bring connectivity

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to these remote areas.

300
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Of course, this comes with challenges

301
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because, this is not like a base station on the top

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of the, 10

303
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or 15 meter, tower on the,

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on the earth, on the ground.

305
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These are base station kind of, a 20 kilometer,

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or few hundred kilometers above the ground.

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There are delays issued to be solved.

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Uh, there are, also issues related to energy efficiency,

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and that's some of folks our study.

310
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Uh, how can we be more energy efficient?

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Because generating power at this high altitude is not

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as simple as, as it is in the ground.

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So we want to do the same kind of maybe techniques,

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methodologies, multiple antenna system

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or MIO system in our jargon, is a very popular way to kind

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of, use the spectrum very efficiently.

317
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We want to replicate that from space or from the air,

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but how can we do that in a more energy efficient fashion?

319
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Because these drone, many of them are solar powered,

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may not have enough energy to be able

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to fully capitalize on the capabilities

322
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of these multiple antenna systems.

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Another important technology in this context is known

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as free space optic

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or a a in a simple way, fiber over the air or in space.

326
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So instead of sending a laser,

327
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transmission over the fiber optic,

328
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you send the laser transmission over the air.

329
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Why do you need that? Because all of these aerial platform

330
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drones, hubs, satellites, at the end of the day,

331
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they're acting as related.

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They're giving access to people

333
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with their usual standard phones,

334
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but then the whole information to be back

335
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via a feeder link from that flying platforms to the ground.

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How can we do that in a spec efficient fashion, given

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that the fact that we are dealing

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or we're operating in a world

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where spectrum is becoming very scarce,

340
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optics is completely different.

341
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Band, is the way to go in the future.

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And that's why we are, many

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of us are very active in this area.

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But then the prompt we solve research wise,

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how can we mitigate the effect of weather, clouds,

346
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atmosphere, turbulence,

347
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very interesting techniques out there, adapt optics,

348
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site diversity, how to,

349
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can displace multiple optical gateway station, with

350
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and channel in multiple locations to guarantee the quality

351
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of service that you would like to, to,

352
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to provide is some of the research interest that the,

353
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the research community in this area is actively working on.

354
00:16:17.625 --> 00:16:21.485
So, you know, this is two of the active area for myself

355
00:16:21.485 --> 00:16:24.205
and many of my colleagues active in this domain.

356
00:16:24.925 --> 00:16:26.885
Brilliant, Mohamed. Brilliant. Really well communicated.

357
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So that's all the time we have of you.

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Lemme see you about your next steps.

Quick Answers

Title: Bridging the Connectivity Divide: Exploring the Evolution from 5G to 6G and Beyond

00:00:00 - I felt that, this is, an important problem. The problem of the connectivity divide, the digital divide that has been overlooked for, many years, if not many decades. COVID-19 in a way, showed us that, the connectivity divide is one, the modern phase of inequality between the have and have not in this digital context. But actually, I started working on this topic a little bit earlier. I realized that there is some interesting research, problem to be solved within this context. Although typically most research is focused on,
00:00:36 - or 5G to six G by increasing speed lowering latencies. I felt that this is a, again, sometime a neglected problem that, requires some attention and that actually offers some interesting research problems, that one can, can address. We are still deploying 5G, but from research perspective, we have been working on six G for the last five, six years. the vision is more clear actually. one of the nice win, for us, those of us
00:01:06 - and connected, is that, in the last, international communion, WRC, that's kind of one of the famous conference of the ITU, which is United Nation Agency in charge of telecommunication. So the last meeting happened in Dubai in, December, 2023, and the vision of six G, was presented there. And, one of the interesting new user scenario is so-called ubiquitous or global connectivity. So indeed, in contrast to the previous generation

Title: Bridging the Connectivity Gap: Democratizing Internet Access for Underserved Areas

00:01:41 - mainly driven by profit and financial consideration, nothing wrong with that, you need sustainability from a business perspective, but I think six g in part will be driven by some of the other aspect, including this global connectivity aspect. When we talk about six G, people, again thinks about, okay, how can we make things better, faster, and so on. But actually six G will also have one component, which is trying to democratize internet and bring connectivity maybe at a lower speed, maybe,
00:02:14 - and here we are talking about rural areas, suburban areas, hard to reach areas, refugee camps, you know, like low income neighborhood or, areas. All of this hopefully will benefit in a way, from some of the, developments. And the problem that comes from the fact that, you know, reaching these remote areas, requires,
00:02:43 - or this connectivity long haul between, you know, well connected area like data centers and so on. And these, and these remote areas. And obviously we know fiber optics has been, the backbone of internet success in urban environment. Typically highly densely populated environments, but doesn't make much business sense to dig and lay hundred if thousands of kilometer of fiber of the cable to reach these, you know, kind of,

Title: "Addressing the Connectivity Challenge: Innovations in Backhaul Technology Beyond 5G"

00:03:14 - often low income areas. So there is no return on investment and mobile network operator are not really willing, to kind of invest because there is no business case. But now there is new technologies, new paradigm that we're trying to, or to kind of, put in place to kind of address the so-called backhaul challenge as part of the evolution beyond 5G. And in the six G, and again, beyond era, this challenge is to, basically,
00:03:48 - by fiber optics. And how do you do that by gaining an altitude. So, in other words, create this backhaul via aerial or space, base stations. So I mean, it's, in a way, in a comp a complete, different, way of addressing the connectivity problem. The way we do it in urban environs, in urban environment, we try to, and the jargon, we use is densified what has been densified.
00:04:17 - 'cause there is enough people, to, to serve. And, and we can aggressively use the spectrum when we are talking about the kind of addressing, connectivity in this pars of operate area. Actually, what we need is super macro cells, huge cells, so that with a single piece of equipment, with a single set of antenna or base station, you are able to connect opportunistically, you know, by look at sending beams in different location, at different time, these parts, appropriate areas.

Title: "Bringing Connectivity to Remote Areas through High Altitude Platforms and Satellites"

00:04:46 - by basically gaining an altitude? How can you gain altitude? You cannot keep building tower ma and FL towers. What you need to do is to start attaching base stations to flying platforms. So we are talking, for instance, about high altitude platform station, or known also as high altitude satellite hubs. These are, flying platform in the stratosphere at roughly 20 kilometer, that are going to be, potentially one,
00:05:21 - by bringing connectivity to micro cells. Or you can even go further and start attaching. This is, probably in already in the news attach base stations, to satellites like the star link of the world. Basically, the link is, is, is, is direct, in the sense that of course, as, as, as a, as a first kind of, connection is one of the SDGs, but reducing inequalities. So right away actually bringing connectivity to these remote areas is going to break prosperity
00:05:53 - Education, health, finance, one of the thing we always say, as soon as you connect and connected, pretty much you are banking the unbanked. People that never have like a bank account or not able to do financial transaction have to go. like I'm talking about, fishermen or farmers need to rely on middle man, middle entities to kind of sell their products. As soon as they have a phone and they have an account and they can finish transaction, they can gain,

Title: "Connecting the Unconnected: Leveraging IoT for Environmental Sustainability and Prosperity Worldwide"

00:06:24 - So this is a direct benefit to people to basically make, bring prosperity to areas that are basically underdeveloped, you know, anywhere in the world. But another important aspect that we, we, we tend to overlook, when we talk about connected and connected, we are not talking only about connecting, and connected people, but we are talking about connecting and connected areas that are basically maybe not,
00:06:56 - all kind of sensors, actuators at iot device. Why? because you need to monitor the environment. You need to maybe to use that for smart agricultural application, for smart fishing, for, monitoring, potential volcano eruption. this all goes with the SDGs. We are trying to, basically, you know, kind of, mitigate many of the issues that are related to climate change, to environmental, kind of,
00:07:26 - And iot is a, is a, is a strong, technology for that. And, in a nutshell, I always say in my presentation that, we kind of typically oversell the concept of, smart building and smart, towns and smart cities. But actually when connectivity is brought at the global level, and we can connect not only cities, but also rural areas, hamlets, villages, and the seas, which cover 70% of, of the earth,

Title: Connecting Remote Areas for a Global Shift Towards Smart Living

00:08:01 - of smart, cities to the broader concept of smart living. where basically we can monitor and we can hopefully improve the condition in a global scale, an indirect benefit, at least a prediction or maybe let's say a projection. One of the main problem that we suffer, from globally is a so-called urbanization problem. We are seeing this kind of constant, I would say even sometime describe exponential increase in mega cities.
00:08:32 - to be able to manage their congestion and so on. When you bring connectivity to these, rural areas, remote areas, first of all, you may kind of, stop in a way or less, or decrease the interest of people moving from rural areas to urban area because they'll have opportunity wherever they are. but also you may even incentivize people who would like to live in a less polluted, less congested, cheaper, I would say environment,
00:09:04 - remotely via, you know, very high speed connectivity. And I talk about the education, maybe even health services, financial transactions. remote work can be done also in many ways, through this, connectivity. So there is this indirect, kind of, benefit to people and environment and city designs and so on, by bringing connectivity to this remote area. So that's one example. And the other example, as I mentioned earlier,

Title: "Revolutionizing Agriculture and Connectivity in Remote Areas through Innovative Technologies"

00:09:34 - fully from, IO OT device that can be, embedded in the, in the farms and in the rural areas. Give you in real time, indicators on the moer of the soil. and, and, and similar kind of important parameter for, farming at the mass scale. so, you know, and then there is drones or satellite that can collect that formation can, can be brought, via the clouds to, to a dashboard
00:10:05 - you know, maybe, sending extra, type of, supplement to some areas and so on. There are, a lot of activities, in trying to bring, connectivity to these remote areas. I am active in few of these. I would like to highlight two important topic, and I will use the jargon that is used so that people can get use, can understand this jargon. One of the key area is known as non-terrestrial network.
00:10:39 - or high platform, these stratospheric platform I talked about earlier, even satellites, to bring connectivity to these remote areas. Of course, this comes with challenges because, this is not like a base station on the top of the, 10 or 15 meter, tower on the, on the earth or on the ground. These are base station kind of, a 20 kilometer, or few hundred kilometers above the ground. There are delays issued to be solved.

Title: Enhancing Energy Efficiency and Optimal Data Transmission in High-Altitude Communication Systems

00:11:09 - and that's some our folks, our study, how can we be more energy efficient? Because generating power at this high altitude is not as simple as, as it is in the ground. So we want to do the same kind of maybe techniques, methodologies, multiple antenna system or MO system in our jargon, is a very popular way to kind of, use the spectrum very efficiently. We want to replicate that from space or from the air, but how can we do that in a more energy efficient fashion?
00:11:40 - may not have enough energy to be able to fully capitalize on the capabilities of these multiple antenna systems. Another important technology in this context is known as free space optic or a, in a simple way, fiber over the air or in space. So instead of sending a laser, transmission over a fiber optic, you send a laser transmission over the air. Why do you need that? Because all of these aerial platform
00:12:11 - they're acting as relate. They're giving access to people with their huge standard phones, but then the whole information is to be back hauled via a feeder link from that flying platforms to the ground. How can we do that in a respectively efficient fashion, given that the fact that we are dealing or we're operating in a world with spectrum is becoming very scarce. Optics is completely different. Band, is the way to go in the future, and that's why we are, many of us are very active in this area.

"Mitigating Weather Effects in Connectivity: Current Research Challenges and Innovations"

00:12:41 - how can we mitigate the effect of weather, clouds, atmosphere, turbulence, very interesting techniques out there, adapt optics, site diversity, how to, can displace multiple optical gateway station, with anchor related channel in multiple locations to guarantee the quality of service that you would like to, to, to provide is some of the research interest that the, the research community in this area is actively working on. So, you know, this is two of the active area for myself
00:13:12 -

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