Huawei has sketched out plans for what it's calling 5.5G, calling for new standards to support high-speed uplinks, drones and hundreds of billions of connections.
Huawei's executive director, David Wang, said there was so far no sign of "5G changing the world," as the popular Chinese saying has it, although it had outperformed 4G in mobile broadband.
But its weaknesses include the lack of high-bandwidth uplink and its ability to handle large-scale and diverse connection scenarios.
"We want to see hundreds of billions of connections on the cellular network, but there's still a big gap. What can we do to change its capabilities?" Wang asked.
During annual Mobile Broadband Forum, Huawei recognizes a “golden decade” of 5G, outlining priorities across industries, while previewing vision for a 5.5G era
Speaking at the Huawei-GSMA Mobile Broadband Forum on Friday, he offered three new potential categories for standards.
The first, Uplink Centric Broadband Communication (UCBC), would deliver a 10x increase in uplink bandwidth.
It would enable massive IoT and industrial control and would accelerate enterprise digital transformation.
Real-Time Broadband Communication (RTBC) would provision for large-bandwidth and low-latency scenarios, making immersive experiences possible, Wang said.
It would aim to deliver 1ms latency to support AR, VR, XR and holographic apps.
The third category was Harmonized Communication and Sensing (HCR), aimed at connecting autonomous cars and civilian drones.
"In the connected car scenario, we need not only high reliability but also precision positioning," Wang said.
Today GPS provides location capability but loses coverage if, for example, a car drives into an underground car park.
In the next decade drones would become a major 5G use case – for example, in food and package delivery.
Huawei's Executive Director David Wang
During annual Mobile Broadband Forum, Huawei recognizes a “golden decade” of 5G, outlining priorities across industries, while previewing vision for a 5.5G era
It would aim to deliver 1ms latency to support AR, VR, XR and holographic apps.
