Ultra-Dense Deployments in Next-Generation Networks and Metaverse

Abstract

Early in 2019, fifth-generation (5G) connectivity was commercially released, and it has since begun to permeate our daily lives. A breakthrough wireless transmission paradigm known as “the 6G” to unite the physical, digital, and human worlds to fulfil the UNSD 2030 goals is anticipated by 2030. One terabit per second data throughput and one microsecond latency are the goals of the 6G, which is 1,000 times faster than the 5G’s one millisecond latency. The 6G networks must employ higher frequencies than the 5G networks in the sub THz frequency ranges to deliver significantly higher capacity and much lower latency due to their extraordinary ultra-high capacity and ultra-low latency. As the radio frequency increases, the coverage area will be shortened and it needs more network element deployments to support high-quality services, which leads to the densification of networks, ultimately ultra dense deployment of the networks will happen. 6G ultra-dense networks will face several important challenges, which include interference, mobility, and cost. This chapter deliberates the various 6G data transmission innovations and their system architectures. It provides a comprehensive view of the requirements of 6G networks and the numerous enabling technologies. Especially, the ultra-dense deployments of the planned 6G networks with various scenarios and implementations are discussed in this chapter. This chapter also provides insights into key performance indicators of the 6G networks, its design challenges, and the research directions. Going forward, the metaverse, an embodied version of the internet, will replace the current mobile internet. In the metaverse, the users will start exploring the virtual worlds with the support of augmented reality and virtual reality. The metaverse is going to interconnect billions of users to create a shared world by merging virtual and real worlds. However, due to limitations of available resources, computational power, and sensing devices, The metaverse is yet to realize its full potential of immersion, materialization, and interoperability. The major challenge for realizing the metaverse is addressing the issues of communication and networking implementations and computational power. The fundamentals of the metaverse, its architecture, and the most recent research updates are first introduced in this chapter. To create seamless, ubiquitous, and embodied access to the metaverse, communication and networking challenges, cutting-edge solutions, and concepts can be leveraged into the next-generation communication systems for users to immerse in and interact with embodied models of the metaverse; moreover, to render 3D virtual worlds and run data-hungry artificial intelligence-driven models, high computation, and cloud-edge-end computation. Finally, future research directions are highlighted to achieve the full vision of the edge-enabled metaverse. © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Dr. Abraham George and G. Ramana Murthy; individual chapters, the contributors.