Move away from one-size-fits-all...

Wireless technology evolutions for mass markets resulted in solutions with a large, complex feature set and focus on high data rate, capacity and backward compatibility.

Cellular technologies are designed for a small number of extremely large national outdoor networks, resulting in a massively complex design that does not scale down well.

Wi-Fi is transforming into a technology that becomes more reliable and efficient, but mass-market chips behave as closed black boxes and their features cannot be customized to specific use cases.

...to specialized, fit for purpose networks.

Networks may have very specific needs, going beyond ever increasing data rates or very high user densities. For instance, delivering strict latency and reliability might be of utmost importance.

Further, tens of thousands of different networks will be encountered, varying in size, traffic patterns, application requirements, etc.

This necessitates specialized, fit for purpose networks that are tailored and can be customized to the use cases at hand.

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6GSpecNet

Next-generation solutions for wireless (time-sensitive) communication, localization and sensing in stand-alone private networks should focus on specialization, building on top of a solid baseline along with selected features that really matter.

Along with this, a high degree of reconfigurability is key, as well as proven operation by real-life implementations.

We name this vision 6GSpecNet, targeting its realization with openwifi and its TSN extensions, operating either in unlicensed or licensed spectrum.

Guiding principles

A leaner design with specialized features on top of a basic set of common enablers.

1. Specialization

Focus on the essential features, strip irrelevant complexity and fully master the feature set 'light'.

2. Simplification

Early proof and verification, supported by open innovation and more white-box designs.

3. Proof

Definition of proper, time-aware KPIs and benchmarks.

4. Benchmarking

Deterministic behavior at data and control plane, implying flawless ML when used for management time-critical flows.

5. Determinism

An end-to-end notion of time, across wired and wireless domains, down to the end devices, their OS and applications.

6. Time

Co-design of PHY & MAC, of SW & HW, of application & networking, and of communication & compute.

7. Co-design

Standardize feature sets on top of baseline capabilities, e.g. via profiles, leading to e.g. a Wi-Fi TSN flavour, a licensed Wi-Fi flavour, etc.

8. Standardization

Application domains