Overview of Prospects for Service-Aware Radio Access towards 6G Networks

The integration of space–air–ground–sea networking in 6G, which is expected to not only achieve seamless coverage but also offer service-aware access and transmission, has introduced many new challenges for current mobile communications systems. Service awareness requires the 6G network to be aware of the demands of a diverse range of services as well as the occupation, utilization, and variation of network resources, which will enable the capability of deriving more intelligent and effective solutions for complicated heterogeneous resource configuration. Following this trend, this article investigates potential techniques that may improve service-aware radio access using the heterogeneous 6G network. We start with a discussion on the evolution of cloud-based RAN architectures from 5G to 6G, and then we present an intelligent radio access network (RAN) architecture for the integrated 6G network, which targets balancing the computation loads and fronthaul burden and achieving service-awareness for heterogeneous and distributed requests from users. In order for the service-aware access and transmissions to be equipped for future heterogeneous 6G networks, we analyze the challenges and potential solutions for the heterogeneous resource configuration, including a tightly coupled cross-layer design, resource service-aware sensing and allocation, transmission over multiple radio access technologies (RAT), and user socialization for cloud extension. Finally, we briefly explore some promising and crucial research topics on service-aware radio access for 6G networks.