By ZHONG Jianli

China has established the world's first 6G field test network that brings together communication and intelligence, demonstrating that the current 4G and 5G setups can achieve 6G transmission capabilities.

This breakthrough was made by a team from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. Researchers from the team presented their initial findings on the operation of the test network at a conference held in Beijing on July 10.

Traditional communication used to work in a "modular" style, piling up resources to boost network performance. But the new technologies do things differently. Instead of making things complicated as the performance improves, they optimize resources in an "end-to-end" manner to streamline the network structure for better overall performance.

Compared to 5G, 6G has faster speed, lower latency and greater connection density, and can integrate communication, AI, and smart sensing.

AI will improve communication perception and semantic understanding abilities, while 6G can widen the scope for AI in all areas, team leader Zhang Ping said. Zhang is also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

The synergy between AI and 6G will expedite the emergence of new digital economy models, Zhang added.

China is working to commercialize 6G by around 2030, while 6G standards are expected to be set in 2025.