Abstract
The global push for sustainability is driving a new era in mobile communications, demanding that future networks be not only faster and smarter, but also greener. Thus, it's crucial to explore a comprehensive roadmap for building a sustainable 6G ecosystem by tackling two critical challenges: energy efficiency and environmental impact.
In mobile networks, the energy efficiency of mobile devices has been widely investigated due to battery life limitations. Since the LTE system, Discontinuous Reception (DRX) has been a critical power-saving mechanism, successfully extending mobile device battery life. Furthermore, in 5G NR systems, more technologies such as Bandwidth Part (BWP) switching are applied to further enhance power efficiency. Meanwhile, we also identified possible issues while integrating all these power-saving mechanisms.
However, in future 6G networks, internet service providers will care about energy efficiency on the network side, including the radio access network and core network. Moreover, based on the UN sustainability goals, global device manufacturers and communication and network enterprises have started to study carbon footprint issues in manufacturing and running network systems. Therefore, we need to extend our foundations in energy saving to eliminate carbon emissions so that we can contribute to a net-zero wireless future.
In mobile networks, the energy efficiency of mobile devices has been widely investigated due to battery life limitations. Since the LTE system, Discontinuous Reception (DRX) has been a critical power-saving mechanism, successfully extending mobile device battery life. Furthermore, in 5G NR systems, more technologies such as Bandwidth Part (BWP) switching are applied to further enhance power efficiency. Meanwhile, we also identified possible issues while integrating all these power-saving mechanisms.
However, in future 6G networks, internet service providers will care about energy efficiency on the network side, including the radio access network and core network. Moreover, based on the UN sustainability goals, global device manufacturers and communication and network enterprises have started to study carbon footprint issues in manufacturing and running network systems. Therefore, we need to extend our foundations in energy saving to eliminate carbon emissions so that we can contribute to a net-zero wireless future.
Bio
Kuang-Hsun Lin obtained his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University in 2015 and his Ph.D. degree in Communication Engineering from GICE at National Taiwan University in 2022. Since 2015, he has been working under the supervision of Prof. H.-Y. Wei at the Wireless and Mobile Networking Laboratory. He completed summer internships with MediaTek in 2015 and 2018. His research interests include wireless mobile networks, power-saving mechanisms for devices and networks, mobility management, and MAC protocol design. Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Researcher at GICE, National Taiwan University, and also serves as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant for Taiwan's NSTC 6G Program Office.