Fifth Generation (5G) has been widely hailed as the next generation of mobile internet connection.

It has the potential to change the way that we do things forever.

Whatever you currently do on your tablet, smartphone, PC or laptop, will be turned up to 11, opening up new avenues for tech development. 

It’s already live in parts of Johannesburg and Tshwane with plans to expand the network across South Africa. Rumour has it that Cape Town is next.

Lightning-fast internet? Yes, please. Trusting our government to roll this out in time? Now we wait.

While we all wrap our heads around 5G, and commercial cellphone providers and equipment vendors work tirelessly to expand the network across the globe, researchers haven’t been idle.

According to CNN, they’ve been working on the next, next-generation network, 6G.

What is 6G? No one quite knows yet, and the international standards bodies, made up of hundreds of companies around the world, will figure that out over the coming decade. But work at New York University shows that by 2035, 6G will usher in the ability to send wireless signals at the rate of human computation.

They’re calling it “wireless cognition”, which means that human intelligence could eventually be sent over the air instantaneously.

This will level up current research into artificial intelligence, enabling AI with human-like capabilities in 6G cellphones.

I’m pretty sure Siri is already halfway there. She gets salty if I ask her too many stupid questions.

By using electromagnetic frequencies above 95 Gigahertz, future cellphones will be able to use massive channel bandwidths and highly directional antennas that allow excellent coverage and enable new applications. These frequencies, which are 20 times greater than today’s 4G cellphone frequencies, and three to four times greater than the new 5G frequencies, were just made available for commercialization by the Federal Communications Commission last year.

The new frequencies in the sub-Terahertz bands will transmit super-fast computations over a wide range of frequencies.

A 6G phone will be able to perform tasks like testing the air around you for allergens, explosives, or toxic chemicals. It will help you see in the dark using night vision and render images unlike any that we’ve seen before.

Research also shows that 6G phones will be able to see behind walls by building up maps of the local surroundings and combining the signals received from the environment with the highly directional, steerable antennas on the phone. This could come in handy if you want to know if someone is in the room next to you.

If you’re thinking that none of this could possibly happen in your lifetime, get ready.

Experts predict that 6G could be in full effect by 2030.

[source:cnn]