Speech at 6G Symposium 2022 Spring.

1. Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
Technology Deep-Dives – 6G Networks
Future Internet Protocol Evolution for 5G/B5G/6G
Richard Li
Chief Scientist, Network Technologies
Futurewei, USA
May 6, 2021

2. 2
What is going beyond 5G?
eMBB
mMTC uRLLC
(Mobile Video, AR/VR)
HCS
Harmonization of Communication and Sensing
RTBC
Real-Time Broadband Communication
(RedCap, NB-IoT) (CI&A, High Precision Communications)
UCBC
Uplink Centric Broadband Communication
(HD Video Upload, Machine Vision)
(Holographic Type Communications, XR-Pro)
(Positioning, V2X)

3. 3
Do we have a good internet protocol for 5G/B5G/6G?
eMBB
mMTC uRLLC
UCBB RTBC
HCS
eMBB
mMTC uRLLC
6G
2030s
4G
2010s 2020s 2025
1961
Packet
Switching
TCP/IP
Paper IPv4 IPv6
1974 1981 1995
Internet
Evolution
5G
B5G
? ? ? ? ? ?
Do we have any
other choice?

4. 4
Bandwidth
Sensing
Latency
Device Variety
Reliability
Antinomy: Multi-Dimensional Requirements and Challenges

5. 5
IPv4/v6 does not work well for 5G/B5G/6G！
IP TCP Application
PL
Datagram1
Segment 1
ACK 1
ACK 1
Datagram 2Segment 2
ACK 2
ACK 2
IP TCP Application
PL
Destination
Message
Application TCP IP PL PL IP PL IP PL
Message Segment 1 Datagram1
Signal
Stream 1
Datagram1
PL
Datagram1
Datagram1 Datagram1
Signal
Stream 1
ACK 1
ACK 1
ACK 1
ACK 1
ACK 1
ACK 1
ACK 1
ACK 1
Segment 2
Datagram2
Signal
Stream 2
Datagram2Datagram2
waiting time
Segment 2 Datagram 2
Signal
Stream 2
Datagram 2Datagram2
Datagram 2 Datagram 2
Signal
Stream 2
ACK 2
ACK 2
ACK 2
ACK 2
ACK 2
ACK 2
ACK 2
ACK 2
Application TCP IP PL PL IP PL IP PL
PL
Source
Intermediate
Router 1
Intermediate
Router n
Signal stream 1
ACK 1
This segment is lost
Signal Stream 2
ACK 2
x
▪ No support to guaranteed KPI (latency, packet loss, etc)
▪ Addressing flexibility for machine varieties is not allowed
▪ “Reliability” is not really reliable: If a packet arrives too late, it
may not be usable for mission and life critical applications
▪ No programmable flexibility for new features
▪ “One Size Fits All” does not always fit all in reality
▪ No sufficient guarantee for security and privacy

6. 6
IPv4/v6 vs Classical Postal Mail
IEEE ComSoc
3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10016-5997
Richard Li
Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
Santa Clara, CA 95050
Source
Address
Destination
Address
User Data
Packet Header Payload
Classical Mail
IP Packet

7. 7
New IP vs Modern Courier Service
Source
Address
Destination
Address
User Data
Contract
x
x
x
• KPI
• Sender’s Intent
* FedEx is a trademark of FedEx Corp.

8. 8
Manifest Payload
Addressing Contract
Addressing Pointer
Contract Pointer
Payload Pointer
Addressing
- Free-Choice Addressing
▪ Flexible Addressing System
▪ Semantic Addresses
▪ Existing IPv4, IPv6
▪ Any others
- Mix and Match
Contract
- KPI (latency, packet loss, etc)
- Sender’s Intent
- In-Band OAM and Telemetry
- Network Programmability
Payload
- Native Stream of Bits and Bytes
- Structure of Bits and Bytes
- Entropy-Based
- Semantics-Based
Reference:
(1) New IP: A Data Packet Framework to Evolve the Internet, IEEE HPSR 2020, 2020
(2) New IP: Enabling the Next Wave of Networking Innovation, in Design Innovation and Network
Architecture for the Future Internet: Computer Science & IT Books | IGI Global (igi-global.com)
What Does a New IP Packet Look Like?
<Contract> := <Contract Clause> | <Contract Clause> AND <Contract>
<Contract Clause> := <Contract Item> | <Contract Item> OR <Contract Clause>
<Contract Item> := <Meta Data>
| <Event, Condition, Action> |
| <Event, Condition, Action> <Meta Data>
<Event, Condition, Action> := <Action> | <Condition> <Action> | <Event><Condition><Action>

9. 9
Field Devices
Sensors, Actuators, Measuring instruments
PLC SCADA MES ERP
URLLC: Connected Industries and Automation
Source Address Destination Address Control Command
Contract
On-Time Latency
= 10 ms
◼F
Field Devices
PLC
Programmable Logic Controller
SCADA
MES
ERP
Classical Automation Pyramid
New IP
Modern and Future Connected Industries and Automation

10. 10
RTBC: Connected Vehicles and Cloud Driving
1
2
3
4
Photo by Sebastian Unrau on Unsplash
Photo by Razvan Mirel on Unsplash
1 2 3 4
If a router is congested, the whole packet is dropped
4 1 2
3
On being congested,
wash in the order of
2, 3, 1, 4
Payload
Contract
If a router is congested, the less significant chunks are dropped. Camera images,
AR/VR, and holograms are usually very large. The packet may still arrive at the
destination with the most significant chunks. This is still better than nothing for
many applications that do not require an exact copy of information
IPv4/IPv6
New IP

11. 11
RTBC: Qualitative Communications with New IP
4-1 1-1
3-
1
2
-
1
4-2 1-2 3-2 2-2
4-
3
1-3
3-
3
2-3
4-1 1-1
3-
1
2
-
1
4-2 1-2 3-2 2-2
4-
3
4-1 1-1
3-
1
2
-
1
4-2 1-2
4-1 1-1
3-
1
2
-
1
Camera 4 Image,
30% Quality Level
Camera 1 Image
20% Quality Level
Camera 2 Image,
7% Quality Level
Camera 3 Image,
10% Quality Level
4 1 2
3
4-1 4-2 4-3 1-1 1-2 1-3 3-1 3-2 3-3 2-
1 2-2 2-3
On being congested,
wash in the order from the
tail
contract payload
On being congested,
wash in the order from the
tail
(1)The image is structured into different pages/chunks with different
entropy values; (2) The pages with smaller entropy values will be washed
away when congestion arises; (3) Even when the network is congested,
the packet still arrives at the destination mostly with lower but acceptable
quality; (4) No retransmission is required; (5) This is especially useful for
Holographic Teleport, Holographic Type Communications, Real-Time
Broadband Video Communications, where latency is more important than
partial loss of information
Ref:
▪ A Framework For Qualitative Communications Using Big Packet Protocol, Proc. of ACM
Sigcomm Workshop on NEAT 2019, ACM, 2019, pp. 22–28
▪ Qualitative Communication Via Network Coding and New IP, IEEE HPSR 2020

12. Page 12
N6
Pre
AGG
AGG Core
5G Virtualized
Control Plane
Core Cloud/CDN
(Industrial APPs, NFs)
Edge Cloud
(Industrial APPs, NFs)
5G-UPF
5G-UPF
New IP
(from gNB to Core)
New IP
OT:
Industrial
Automation
Vehicular
(V2X,
V2V)
New IP
IPv6
IPv4
ICT
ICT
F1
FlexE
Domain
FlexE
Inside
ACCESS
CSR
5GC
Deployment of New IP for 5G/B5G/6G
N3 Internet
New IP
(from gNB to MEC)

13. 13
Summary
eMBB
mMTC uRLLC
UCBB RTBC
HCS
eMBB
mMTC uRLLC
6G
2030s
4G
2010s 2020s
2025
IPv4/v6
New IP
5G
B5G
▪ IPv4/v6 does not work well for 5G/B5/6G
▪ New IP perfectly fits for 5G/B5G/6G
IPv4/v6

14. 14
Thank You