Objectives

The scope of SUSTAIN-6G is to identify the cross-points between the following research questions:

 

    1. What sustainability needs are – understand what sustainability means for stakeholders and which challenges 6G and verticals need to consider.
    2. How can sustainability be qualitatively and quantitatively defined and assessed?
    3. What solutions should 6G provide to make vertical applications sustainable, addressing the challenges?
    4. Which technical enablers make 6G sustainable, and how do they have to be designed to address the challenges?
    5. How can sustainability be implemented in 6G systems?
    6. How can society and economy be impacted to benefit from responsible innovation, in particular through standards and regulation?

 

This project scope leads to the following objectives of SUSTAIN-6G, towards a holistic perspective of sustainability in the context of 6G systems:

 

    • Starting point: Understand the 6G technology landscape addressing sustainability
        • Build a comprehensive SotA inventory of 6G and relevant vertical UCs’ approaches, concepts, technologies, components
        • Describe their relevant KPIs and sustainability indicators

 

    1. Identify and understand sustainability needs and values
        • Review, consolidate and define sustainability goals, values, indicators based on stakeholder requirements
    2. Define methodologies for sustainability definition and assessment
        • Review and enhance concepts, processes, methodologies, and tools for holistically defining and assessing sustainability
    3. Enhance integration of vertical UCs with 6G and enabling technologies to jointly reduce footprint and maximise handprint
        • Analyse, develop and deliver vertical UCs integrating 6G and enabling technologies to improve sustainability values
        • Develop and deliver Sustainability Management Plane (SMP) to enable E2E integrated sustainability-driven operation across network and vertical domains
    4. Enhance 6G technologies to reduce footprint and increase handprint
        • Develop and deliver solutions and enhancements for selected 6G technologies and components towards sustainability improvements, by reducing 6G footprint and increase handprint in vertical sectors
    5. Validate, evaluate, and demonstrate sustainability value
        • Validate 6G technologies on their impact to sustainability (positive / negative)
        • Evaluate and demonstrate methodologies, concepts, and solutions on applicability, implementability, and wrt. sustainability impact
    6. Impact generation, sustainability guidelines and strategic roadmap
        • Consolidate means and measures to create impact from the project work, including guidelines, best practices, business models and a strategic (standardisation and regulation) roadmap, to drive the development of 6G in a sustainability-integrated direction
        • Dissemination, standardisation, and exploitation of project outcomes