China has successfully launched the world's first 6G test satellite
1. Overview and significance of satellites
On February 3, 2024, China successfully launched the world's first 6G test satellite, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. This satellite is equipped with a domestically developed terahertz communication payload, and will carry out space technology verification tests in the terahertz frequency band in orbit, which is the world's first practical test of terahertz communication technology in the space environment.
Terahertz communication technology is considered to be one of the key technologies to realize 6G networks. Compared with the widely used microwave and millimeter wave communications, the terahertz band has higher frequencies and shorter wavelengths, which can provide larger spectrum resources and higher transmission rates. Theoretically, the peak transmission rate of terahertz communication can reach terabits per second, which is hundreds of times faster than that of 5G networks.
The successful launch of the "University of Electronic Science and Technology of China" satellite marks a breakthrough in the field of 6G key technologies in the mainland. This major achievement not only fills the technological gap in the mainland's terahertz communication space application, but also demonstrates China's innovative strength in the field of aerospace science and technology to the world. As the pioneer and leader of 6G communication technology, China will occupy a more favorable position in the future development of information technology.
2. Advantages of terahertz communication technology
The terahertz band is a kind of electromagnetic wave between microwave and infrared light wave, with a frequency range of about 0.1~10THz. Due to their extremely high frequencies and extremely short wavelengths, terahertz waves offer a number of unique advantages in the field of wireless communication:
The frequency resources used in terahertz waves are abundant. At present, the radio spectrum in the microwave and millimeter wave bands is saturated, while the terahertz band has a large number of untapped "white space resources". According to ITU's frequency allocation, the terahertz band has up to 252 GHz of frequency resources available for wireless communications, which is dozens of times the frequency used by all current wireless communication systems.
Terahertz waves have an extremely high transmission rate. According to the Shannon formula, the channel capacity is proportional to the available spectrum width, so terahertz waves, with their huge spectrum resource advantages, can theoretically achieve ultra-high-speed transmission capacity of terabits per second, which is hundreds of times faster than 5G networks. This will greatly meet the demand for ultra-large bandwidth for future applications such as virtual reality and holographic communication.
The terahertz wave beam is very narrowly focused, which can achieve high-precision spatial diversity, thereby supporting large-scale spatial multiplexing, and a large number of data streams can be transmitted in parallel in the same time and space, further improving the efficiency of spectrum utilization.
The high-frequency nature of terahertz waves also makes them potentially promising in imaging radar, biomedical detection, and other fields.
Terahertz communication technology is considered to be one of the key technologies for the realization of 6G network and will play an important role in the development of the information society in the future due to the advantages of abundant spectrum resources, high transmission rate and strong space reuse ability.
3. The competition between China and the United States for 6G technology has intensified
In the field of 6G cutting-edge technologies such as terahertz communications, China is not alone. The United States and other Western countries are also accelerating the research and development of 6G technology and industrial layout, especially vigorously developing satellite Internet, in order to maintain a dominant position in the future 6G era.
In recent years, the U.S. government and tech giants have invested heavily in commercial space programs, planning to launch tens of thousands of small satellites into low orbit in the next few years to build a massive satellite Internet constellation. These low-orbit satellites can not only provide Internet access services for remote areas, but more importantly, they can be used as important space nodes of the 6G network, and together with ground base stations, they can build a 6G space-ground integrated network architecture.
The United States is also vigorously promoting the research and development of 6G technology. In 2023, the U.S. government launched the "6G Next Generation Network Promotion Plan", allocated $10 billion for key 6G technology research, and established the 6G Alliance to work with the industry to jointly formulate 6G technology roadmaps and standards. In the field of 6G key technologies such as terahertz communications, artificial intelligence, and quantum communications, American technology companies and research institutions have made a series of breakthroughs.
It can be seen that in the tug-of-war in the 6G era, China and the United States are engaged in unprecedented fierce competition. This is not only a scientific and technological race, but also a battle for resources, the core of which is the struggle for control of space resources. Whoever can control the space communication network will be able to dominate the 6G era and then the future development of science and technology.
China's successful launch of the world's first 6G test satellite not only marks a breakthrough in the field of key 6G technologies on the mainland, but also has great strategic significance. This is an important step in declaring to the world the mainland's space strength, and it is also a key move to ensure the security of national information technology and safeguard space rights and interests. In the contest between China and the United States as major technology countries, we are trying to narrow the gap and strive to win the dominance of the 6G era.