Interview with Zhang Ping, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and 
professor of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications 

A report from Science and Technology Daily | IUSTC: 

5G is one of the most dynamic areas in this decade, and China is a 
well-deserved leader in 5G technology and industry. According to the latest 
statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of the 
end of September, 690,000 5G base stations have been built in China, and 5G 
network coverage has been completed in areas like Beijing, Shanghai, and 
Guangzhou. The cumulative number of terminal connections has exceeded 160 
million.

In Zhang Ping's view, the speed of China's network construction and the network 
user increment is one step faster. The construction of the 5G network and the 
implementation of the 5G industry are moving forward step by step. However, 
China still needs a more ideal solution in the field of industrial 
interconnection.

Obviously, he paid more attention to find the solution of industrial 
interconnection. On November 26, the second World 5G Conference will be held in 
Guangzhou. In an exclusive interview with Science and Technology Daily, Zhang 
Ping said: "When everyone discusses 5G technology, on the one hand, they should 
discuss not only achievements and experience, but also questions about how to 
deploy stations, how to deal with interference between existing stations, and 
how to increase the speed of users. On the other hand, it is more critical to 
discuss how to better integrate ICT technology and manufacturing so that 
'cyberpower' can promote' manufacturing power'.

Industrial Internet cannot copy the Internet Development Model

On June 30th, the 14th meeting of the Central Committee for Deepening Overall 
Reform deliberated and approved the "Guidelines on Deepening the Integrated 
Development of New Generation Information Technology and Manufacturing". The 
meeting emphasized that the integration of new generation information 
technology and manufacturing should be accelerated. 

It is necessary to comply with the new round of technological revolution and 
industrial transformation trends and speed up the innovative development of the 
Industrial Internet. 

We also need to accelerate the fundamental transformation in production mode 
and enterprise form in the manufacturing industry, as well as improving the 
level of digital, networked, and intelligent development of the manufacturing 
industry.

"5G is an enabling technology. 20% of the market is on the consumer side and 
80% on the industrial side. That is the blue ocean of 5G applications." Zhang 
Ping said. And for industry users, their demand for 5G networks is nothing more 
than two points-cheap and user-friendly. However, to lay out the Industrial 
Internet by adopting the idea of consumer Internet has natural drawbacks-high 
cost and complicated technology.

More importantly, each industry and even each company has its own needs and 
characteristics, resulting in the great difference in requirements for 
communication. "The traditional model is to meet all needs through a single 
network. This can be achieved in the consumer Internet. However, in terms of 
industry applications, it is impossible to solve all industry problems with a 
single communication network, and it is not necessary." Zhang Ping emphasized.

Therefore, in his opinion, the Industrial Internet should abandon complex 
methodology and start with distributed networks to solve the specific and 
single scenario needs of industry enterprises. "In order to accelerate the 
integration of 5G technology and entity economy, we need to continuously dig 
deeper into the demand of industry scenario for information technology, combine 
enabling technologies like edge computing and artificial intelligence and 
develop wireless private networks and convergent networking through new ideas 
such as frequency coordination,." Zhang Ping said.  And this also requires an 
impressive platform to play a penetrating and leading role and empower 
thousands of industries.

New communication iterations are driven by scenarios, not rates

Zhang Ping said that mobile communications have been rapidly iterating for the 
past 30 years, and the need to increase the communication speed is the main 
driving force behind it. This logic has also accompanied the development of 
each generation of mobile communications. However, 5G has a revolutionary 
difference. 5G not only represents a pure rate increase, but also establishes 
three scenarios, i.e. enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine communication 
and ultra-high reliability and low latency, thus opening up a new era of 
communications as everything is to be connected.

"The driving force for the evolution of mobile communications will be 
transformed from the single rate requirement of the 1G/2G/3G/4G era through the 
three scenarios of 5G, and finally transformed into the basic evolution 
paradigm driven by scenario." Zhang Ping believes that in the process of the 
evolution to 6G, the traditional technical route of following the stacking 
processing mode and adopting complexity in exchange for performance gains is 
not sustainable, and new theoretical innovations are urgently needed. "6G 
should not only increase the speed and expand the space, but also improve the 
wisdom and research on a new system for the interrelationship among 
intelligence, communication and the future of mankind." Zhang Ping said that in 
the 6G system, people and network nodes can interact more deeply through 
semantics, be integrated and evolve together. Last year, they have launched the 
first 6G international cooperation project in China.

"Communication is always a rigid need of human society. Through the flow of 
information, the problem of uncertainty would be solved as well as human 
intelligence enhanced." Zhang Ping said that the future of 5G+ is an ideal 
vision. How to implement it requires further exploration and planning by the 
government, academia, and industry. 

SOURCE  Science and Technology Daily | IUSTC