Advancement of 6G Telecommunications Technology

1. Which specific use cases will benefit from 6G technology initially, and how can the U.S. Government support these innovations?
2. What existing or future policies should the U.S. Government promote to support 6G development beyond spectrum use? What existing or future U.S. Government policies or initiatives could potentially stifle 6G development and deployment, or harm the ability of companies in the U.S. or its like-minded partners to compete in international markets?
3. What new challenges will arise from 6G regarding privacy, equity, and civil liberties? How can the U.S. Government ensure that the benefits of 6G technology extend to all segments of society?
4. How should the U.S. Government cooperate with like-minded countries on enabling 6G success globally? Are there existing international initiatives on 6G that the U.S. Government should consider? Are U.S. companies and those of likeminded countries positioned to be global leaders in 6G development, standardization, adoption, and deployment? What other countries or regions represent the strongest challenges to U.S. leadership in 6G? What can the U.S. Government do to enable success of U.S. companies in the global 6G market?
5. Previous commercial wireless generations have been deployed and operated predominantly by dedicated Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) whose primary business function is deployment and operation of such networks. More recent use cases for 5G-Advanced and 6G, however, envision other types of entities, such as industries and corporate or academic campuses, operating their own non-public networks (NPNs). What barriers need to be addressed to enable 6G adoption in these non-traditional verticals?
6. What is required to develop a domestic workforce capable of designing, manufacturing, deploying, and operating 6G networks and equipment? Will retraining or expansion of the currently wireless industry workforce be necessary for U.S. success in 6G?
7. What public-private partnerships would help enable U.S. leadership in global 6G development?
8. How are standards being set or developed to ensure that 6G supports interoperability between multiple telecommunications infrastructure suppliers?
9. With regard to the transition from 5G to 6G, what can be done now with 5G development to enable 6G success? How should these efforts be prioritized?
10. What supply chain issues currently present in 5G deployment and operation could potentially also impact 6G development and deployment? How will the 6G supply chain, for both hardware and software, differ from the 5G supply chain?
11. What infrastructure issues currently inhibit 5G deployment (e.g. lack of access to high-speed backhaul infrastructure, standalone and non-standalone networks, etc.)? How can infrastructure be improved to enable a smooth and speedy deployment of 6G? Will siting needs for densified network infrastructure and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) backhaul require additional antenna placements on buildings, particularly those owned by public housing agencies or similar? Will these placements require additional site leases?

1. What areas of foundational research will accelerate 6G and beyond technology development? What advances in related technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, satellite communication, energy storage and transmission, semiconductor fabrication, etc., will be essential for successful development and deployment of 6G technologies and those for subsequent generations? Do developments in these or other emerging technologies such as quantum computing have the potential to substantially change the basic functionality or evolution of 6G or subsequent generations?
2. What are the necessary or priority investment areas for 6G testbeds and platforms to help support and accelerate 6G and beyond innovations in the United States?
3. In what areas should the U.S. Government focus its 6G and beyond research? 
4. What standards development organizations, industry consortia, and stakeholder groups have taken up important topics related to 6G?  Conversely, are there industries, stakeholders, or other groups whose perspectives are necessary to help ensure 6G research is interdisciplinary and extends across all necessary industry sectors?
5. What does the intellectual property landscape for 6G technology look like and how does this affect the U.S. Government strategy for 6G development? Do certain companies or regions own a disproportionate share of the Intellectual Property anticipated to be necessary for building 6G systems?
6. What roadmaps for development, standardization, and rollout currently exist? To what extent, if any, do these roadmaps conflict with each other, and how will these conflicts be reconciled?
7. What can the U.S. Government do to more effectively to engage on 6G standards development through IMT-2030?
8. When is 6G technology expected to begin lab and field trials and then become commercially available? What developments in 6G technology could accelerate replacement of obsolete technologies?
9. What new developments should be explored for: 
   1. 6G Radio Interface;
   2. Core and Transport Networks;
   3. User Equipment;
   4. Open Source Software and Open Architectures
   5. Intelligent Architecture/Machines;
   6. Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning;
   7. Security and Privacy;
   8. Non-terrestrial Networks;
   9. Power-efficient and Sustainable Networks;
   10. Wireless Sensing; 
   11. Internet of Things (IoT); and
   12. Spectrum Sharing, including Dynamic Spectrum Access?
   13. Security and Resiliency; and
   14. Semiconductor Technologies.
10. What can be done to enable seamless and ubiquitous access to heterogeneous 6G services across multiple radio access types (e.g. terrestrial radio, non-terrestrial/satellite communication)?
     

1. How could 6G improve network resiliency during disaster and recovery operations, such as in hurricane response and other natural and man-made disasters that impact network performance?
2. How could 6G improve public safety and first responder mission critical communications?
3. Are there challenges in upgrading legacy public safety services (such as Enhanced 9-1-1, E9-1-1) to 5G that could affect 6G deployment? Will 6G exacerbate existing incompatibilities between commercial wireless networks and E9-1-1 service?
4. What impact will 6G have on the migration to Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) by public safety entities? Are there hurdles which will impair the ability of public safety entities to communicate with the general public and first responders as these stakeholders upgrade to 6G?
5. What steps should be taken to ensure that 6G technology can support critical services, e.g. mission critical services used by first responders and other National Security/Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) services, that require secure, highly available, and resilient networks?
6. Are there any concerns about the energy efficiency of 6G equipment and networks? If so, what steps could potentially be taken to reduce the energy consumption associated with this equipment?
7. Much of 6G’s energy costs will come from operating the network. However, manufacturing, installing, and maintaining the physical infrastructure of 6G also has energy and environmental costs. Is the industry taking initiatives to reduce overall energy necessary to build and install 6G network infrastructure, and if so, what are they? Is it feasible to recycle or retrofit legacy network equipment or Open Radio Access Network (RAN) components to cut back on electronic waste? What cybersecurity challenges have been faced in the development and deployment of 5G technology? How can such challenges be prevented in the development and deployment of 6G technology?
    

CSMAC’s 6G report, published in December 2023, addressed a wide array of topics including overarching 6G vision, 6G use cases, 6G technical capabilities, and potential uses for 6G by the government. We seek comment on its findings and recommendations. Are there subjects addressed by the CSMAC report that should be further explored? Is the CSMAC report missing any additional topics of consideration regarding 6G? Have events occurred since publication of the report that affect industry’s understanding of 6G? Do you have additional information or views that you believe would be helpful to NTIA?