The 6G Architecture Landscape

This white paper summarizes the main findings from the European research landscape on the vision of the 6G architecture. At present, the European networking research community has started a new program along with 33 projects on the Smart Networks and Service (SNS) program that will focus on 5G advanced and 6G. The 5G/B5G Architecture Working Group (WG), as part of the 5G PPP Initiative, is identifying and capturing novel trends and key technological enablers for the realization of the 5G and 6G architecture.The main findings and results of the Architecture WG are now captured in this white paper, which presents a consolidated view from European perspective on the technical directions for the architecture design in the 6G era.

The white paper starts with an analysis of the societal, economic, regulatory and technological trends on the design and development of future 6G networks towards 2030 and beyond. Infused by emerging and disruptive digital technologies on the horizon, wireless networks are and will be the keystone for enabling a transformation of the global economy and the evolution of human society. The evolution journey will carry on in the years ahead, driving a large scale of adoption of 5G and 5G-Advanced use cases with significantly decreased deployment and operation costs, and enabling new and innovative use-case-driven solutions towards the 6G with higher economic and societal values.