Zhang ping
Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Professor with the School of Communication Engineering
In the context of changes in the international situation and the dual-cycle strategy, focusing on the strategic needs of the country's medium- and long-term development, we must take the construction of a smart endogenous, native simplicity (hereinafter referred to as "Wisdom Jane", that is, Intellicise: Intelligent and Concise) mobile communication system as the core concept, carry out intelligent and simple design from the system level, alleviate the problem of high-end chip "card neck" in the short term, realize the original theoretical innovation and new model ecological construction for a long time, and empower the sustainable development of mobile communications.
Mainland China's mobile communications have achieved leapfrog development
Mobile communication is accelerating the deep integration of human physical space and digital space, and is the core driving force for the development of digital economy and digital society.
Opening up independent innovation routes, mainland mobile communications have continuously made major breakthroughs. Starting from 3G, the mainland has adhered to the development route of mobile communications with Chinese characteristics represented by time division duplex technology (i.e., Time Division Duplexing, referred to as TDD), forming a series of major breakthroughs: it has overcome a number of key core technologies, established a large-scale domestic supply chain and market, and changed the technology and product distribution pattern of global mobile communications; The discourse power of 5G international standards has been significantly enhanced, and it is in the first echelon of the world; The world's largest and most technologically advanced 5G independent networking network has been built, with a total of 1.615 million 5G base stations.
Mobile communication empowers thousands of industries and leverages the trillion-scale application value economy. As a leading area of the global digital economy strategy, 5G technology is not only an important evolutionary technology in the field of mobile communications, but also a key technology that empowers thousands of industries. As the first of the new infrastructure, 5G, combined with artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other technologies, is gradually penetrating into various industries and fields of the economy and society, and will realize the digitalization, networking and intelligent reshaping of related industries or fields. It is predicted that by 2030, in terms of direct contribution, 5G will drive the total output of the mainland economy of 6.3 trillion yuan, drive the added value of the economy of 2.9 trillion yuan, and drive the increase of 8 million jobs. 6G technology is the evolution of 5G technology, which will more comprehensively support the digital transformation of the whole society and will also promote the high-quality development of the digital economy more rapidly.
The global 6G race is intensifying, and communication powers are seizing strategic technological high ground. The next 3 to 5 years is a key window period for 6G research and development, and the global 6G competition has been fully launched. The United States began to organize 6G research in 2018, released the RINGS plan, and focused on technical fields such as terahertz and satellite Internet; Japan and South Korea already have first-mover advantages in terahertz technology. At the same time, international cooperation and alliances for 6G research and development are increasing, such as the Next G Alliance led by the United States and the Hexa-X Alliance led by the European Union. Although the mainland is temporarily ahead in the 6G R&D deployment, in the context of the international great game, the mainland's 6G international cooperation is subject to multi-faceted constraints, and it is necessary to further take the initiative to build a win-win ecosystem for 6G international cooperation, and at the same time explore independent innovation technology routes to maintain and expand the mainland's 6G leading edge.
Deeply understand the blockage point of mobile communication development
In the complex international situation and the global industrial environment impacted by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the development of mobile communication technology in the mainland is affected by many uncertain factors, and it is urgent to clarify the blockages in the development of mobile communications in the mainland and form a "double cycle" development pattern of mobile communications under the new situation.
The leading basic theory is lacking, and the future development of mobile communications has encountered fundamental blockages. The mainland has effectively improved its basic theoretical research capabilities in the field of mobile communications, but it still lacks original and leading basic theories with a leading position. Western countries rely on classical information theory to establish traditional ecological advantages from 1G to 5G, and it is difficult for the mainland to form a "peer-to-peer game", which is the fundamental reason for the formation of mobile communication blockages.
The foundation of the necessary support links is weak, and the mobile communication industry is facing key blockages. Due to the serious dependence on the external dependence on the basic support capabilities such as advanced chip manufacturing technology, basic software (EDA design software, etc.), and core devices such as high-end chips for mobile communications, the scale of the domestic 5G mobile phone terminal industry is obviously restricted. At the same time, affected by the international situation, although more than half of the global market of mainland mobile communication enterprises is blocked in overseas markets, the industrial chain cycle of mobile communication supply chain is facing key blockages.
Cutting-edge application platforms are still lacking, and 5G vertical industry applications are facing prominent blockages. The main battlefield of 5G application is to empower the real economy, but the integration and application of 5G and vertical industries is still in the cultivation stage, and there are a series of problems such as difficult cross-field integration, unclear business models, unestablished industrial ecology, and imperfect technical standards and policies, which constitute a prominent blockage in the deepening of 5G applications. In the future, 6G research and development and application need to work together with 5G to jointly break through multiple obstacles such as technologies, models, and policies integrated with vertical industries.
The open source industry ecology is not yet complete, and mobile communications may form a new blockage in the future. Major countries and organizations in the world attach great importance to the construction of open source ecosystems for mobile communications, and have established open source organizations such as the Open Radio Access Network Alli-ance , referred to as the O-RAN Alliance ) and the Open Ran Policy Alliance ( open RAN Policy Coalition , referred to as the Open RAN Policy Alliance ) . At this stage, the domestic open source industry ecology is not yet complete, and the technology and talent reserves of upstream and downstream enterprises in general chips and basic software are insufficient; Traditional foreign general devices and platform equipment manufacturers have long-term technical accumulation and market advantages, and through participation in standard formulation, acquisition and product updates, they may cause new blockages to the development of mainland mobile communications.
Unswervingly take the route of technological innovation with Chinese characteristics
In view of a series of blockages restricting the development of mobile communications in the mainland, on the one hand, it is necessary to maintain strategic determination, unswervingly follow the route of technological innovation with Chinese characteristics, give play to institutional advantages, organize forces to overcome difficulties in basic theories and major technical bottlenecks, and establish a strong and independent mobile communications industry system; On the other hand, adhere to the path of open development, create a more open and stable new type of "competition and cooperation" relationship with technical strength and international influence, and occupy a favorable position in the international industrial division of labor system.
Implement the "government + market" two-wheel drive model, and build a new national system to dredge the blockages. Drawing on the innovation experience of the "integrated system" of time and division in the 3G/4G era, we will build a mobile communication core technology innovation consortium led by the government, market-oriented, and win-win for all parties, promote the organic connection between the "0 to 1" original innovation of universities and research institutions, the "1 to 10" industry landing of enterprises and the "10 to 100" application innovation of the industry, and realize the collaborative breakthrough of basic research, major technologies, innovative applications and other series of blockages. Make good use of the "government + market" two-wheel drive model, give play to the role of the government in clarifying the technical route, dispatching innovative resources, and innovating in the institutional environment, rely on the huge volume advantage of the mainland market, guide enterprises to take the national interests and national strategy as the first, take the initiative to cultivate a safe and credible technology and product ecology, form an industrial cluster with close coordination between upstream and downstream, and strongly promote the efficient operation of the internal cycle.
Establish a broad and open science and technology alliance to reshape the international environment for breaking through blockages. Forward-looking layout of 6G core technology research and development, spectrum planning, standard development, etc., the formation of core patents, system performance and other multi-level core capabilities. Strengthen the multilateral win-win cooperation mechanism, build a new type of "competition and cooperation" relationship with technical strength and international influence, and maintain and expand the discourse power of international standards in the process of determining 6G standards by international organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union and the Third Generation Cooperation Project (3rd Generation Partnership Project, referred to as 3GPP). Constantly open up new channels for international scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation, and form an open source technology ecology of "you have me, I have you". Give full play to the advantages of the mainland in mobile communication products, system integration and operation, and realize the mutual promotion of international and domestic dual cycles.
Maintain strategic determination and scientific and technological self-confidence, and take the "smart and simple" independent innovation route. With the construction of a "smart and simple" communication system as the core concept, we will promote the overall promotion from the basic theoretical innovation, vertical application innovation, standardized layout and other levels, promote the efficient connection between the innovation chain and the industrial chain, and empower the sustainable development of mobile communications.
The first is to improve the "wisdom and simplicity" basic theoretical innovation system. In order to break through the traditional ecological advantages established by Western countries based on classical grammatical information theory, the mainland urgently needs to find another way, expand the research level of communication problems from grammatical information to semantic information, and take multidisciplinary theories such as information theory, artificial intelligence theory, system theory, and complexity science theory as cross-guidance to build a "smart and simple" communication theory system, that is, based on the integration of artificial intelligence and next-generation information communication and network technology, explore and use new intelligent origins, and take system entropy reduction as the overall optimization goal to organize information 2. Comprehensive and simple reshaping of network structure to achieve "intelligent endogenous and native simplicity" of information and network, thereby enabling the transformation of the traditional development route of mobile communications.
The second is to strengthen the innovation of "smart and simple" 5G vertical applications. Focus on the differentiated needs of vertical industry applications, and drive the rapid development of the digital economy with 5G full capabilities and full terminals. With the concept of intelligent and simple industry integration, the minimalist system is built with on-demand matching, the network structure redundancy and high-end chip dependence brought by the "large and complete" system are reduced, and the cutting-edge "smart and simple" platform is formed to support the digital application of thousands of industries. Seize the new opportunities of the 5G Internet of Everything, carry out intelligent and simple design from the system level, develop safe and trusted IoT terminals for vertical applications, expand the new track of "5G IoT smart and simple terminals", carry out reform and innovation from the supply side, and create a market blue ocean based on high-level independent technology.
The third is to promote the "smart and simple" 6G standardized layout. Faced with the vision requirements of 6G full coverage, full spectrum, and full application, the design and implementation of "large and complete" systems face great challenges. It is necessary to guide the research and development and standardization of 6G with the independent innovation concept of "Zhijian", build a "Zhijian" technology system and innovation ecology with Chinese characteristics and core competitiveness, and strengthen the mainland's global leading position in the field of mobile communications.
Author: Zhang Ping is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at the School of Information and Communication Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications; Xu Wenjun is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Artificial Intelligence of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Source: China Netinfo, No. 3, 2022
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