The Indian government has recently unveiled a Vision Document outlining plans to roll out high-speed 6G Communication Services by the year 2030. An integral part of this plan is the Bharat 6G Project, which seeks to spearhead research and deployment of this next-generation technology in the country. Alongside this endeavour, the ‘Call Before You Dig (CBuD)’ app has been launched with the aim of facilitating coordination between excavating agencies and underground utility owners to prevent any potential damage to utilities.
Understanding the Bharat 6G Project
The Bharat 6G Project is India’s ambitious venture into the world of 6G technology. Set to be implemented in two phases – one from 2023 to 2025 and the second from 2025 to 2030 – the project will be overseen by an apex council. This council will focus on areas such as standardization, identification of the spectrum for 6G usage, creation of an ecosystem for devices and systems, and determining financial strategies for research and development.
A significant aspect of the council’s role will be centred around new technologies like Terahertz communication, radio interfaces, tactile internet, artificial intelligence for connected intelligence, new encoding methods and waveforms chipsets for 6G devices.
Phases of the Bharat 6G Project
In the first phase, support will be given to explorative ideas, risky pathways and proof-of-concept tests. Promising ideas and concepts identified by the global peer community will be supported in their development, establishing their use cases and benefits, and creating implementational IPs and testbeds leading to commercialisation in phase two.
Aims and Significance of the Bharat 6G Project
The overall objective of the project is to place India at the forefront of the global supply chain of intellectual property, products and affordable 6G telecom solutions. The initiative also aims to identify priority areas for 6G research, taking advantage of India’s competitive strengths.
The project holds considerable significance as it will offer a platform for start-ups, researchers, industry and other broadband wireless applications in India like e-Governance, smart cities, rural Broadband or other Digital India initiatives under Atmanirbhar Bharat.
India’s Digital Ecosystem
Currently, India is globally recognised as the second-largest telecom market, boasting 1.2 billion digital subscribers. Over the past nine years, the nation’s digital economy has grown at a rate 2.5 times faster than the national economy, with broadband users increasing from 60 million to 800 million, and internet connections rising to 850 million from 250 million. Both the government and private sector have jointly laid over 2.5 million km of Optical Fiber, making India the most connected democracy in the world.
Understanding 6G Technology
6G (Sixth-Generation Wireless) is set to succeed the currently implemented 5G cellular technology. With capabilities to use higher frequencies than its predecessor, 6G will offer a significantly higher capacity and substantially lower latency. One of its goals is to support one microsecond-latency communication, which is 1,000 times faster – or 1/1000th the latency – than one millisecond throughput.
6G aims to utilise the terahertz band of frequency which is currently unutilised. Residing between infrared waves and microwaves on the electromagnetic spectrum, terahertz waves are extremely tiny and fragile but, offer a vast amount of free spectrum that could potentially allow for impressive data rates.
Last Modified: February 20, 2024