Twelve Scientific Challenges for 6G: Rethinking the Foundations of Communications Theory

The research in the sixth generation of wireless networks needs to tackle new challenges in order to meet the requirements of emerging applications in terms of high data rate, low latency, high reliability, and massive connectivity. To this end, the entire communication chain needs to be optimized, including the channel and the surrounding environment, as it is no longer sufficient to control the transmitter and/or the receiver only. Investigating large intelligent surfaces, ultra-massive multiple-input-multiple-output, and smart constructive environments will ultimately contribute to this direction. In addition, to allow the exchange of high dimensional sensing data between connected intelligent devices,…