6G (IMT-2030) is the next generation of mobile standards, currently in the research and requirements phase at 3GPP and ITU-R (International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication sector), with initial specifications expected from 2028. 5G-MAG actively contributes media-specific requirements and use cases to the 6G standardisation process, covering media delivery at extreme data rates, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-native network management for media traffic, immersive and haptic experiences, and the evolution of broadcast and multicast. For acronyms used here, see the Glossary.
In parallel, the 5G-MAG 6G Testbed provides an early experimental platform for AI-driven media traffic classification and optimisation over 5G networks, informing future 6G design. The testbed produces labelled traffic datasets and classification results that 5G-MAG uses to shape its requirement inputs to 3GPP.
Key standardisation bodies: ITU-R IMT-2030 (framework), 3GPP working group SA1 (requirements), 3GPP working groups SA2 and SA4 (architecture and media aspects). No normative 6G specifications exist yet.
Reference tools: An experimental testbed is available on the developer portal under AI Traffic Characterization.
Go deeper
Technology & Analysis
The IMT-2030 usage scenarios, standardisation timeline, and why an experimental testbed matters at the study stage.
Standards Tracking
5G-MAG's standards-tracking view of 6G study items and media requirements.
Software Tools
An experimental testbed for AI-driven media traffic classification and optimisation.
Technical Documentation
The following resources are available:
Inputs from 5G-MAG to 3GPP Workshops on 6G
Each link below downloads a ZIP contribution package (the submitted document and its supporting files) from the 3GPP file server.
- 3GPP Workshop on 6G - 6G & Media: General views & priorities: 5G-MAG's overall views and priorities for media in 6G.
- 3GPP SA1 IMT-2030 - Views from 5G-MAG towards IMT-2030: 5G-MAG's requirements-stage input to the SA1 IMT-2030 use-case workshop.
The IMT-2030 usage scenarios and where media sits
The global 6G framework is Recommendation ITU-R M.2160-0 (November 2023). It defines six usage scenarios. The table below maps them to their 5G (IMT-2020) origin and to media relevance.
| IMT-2030 usage scenario | Origin | Media relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Immersive communication | Evolves eMBB | Primary scenario for high-rate and immersive media (volumetric, XR, high-resolution) |
| Massive communication | Evolves mMTC | Sensor and device data; indirect (metadata, telemetry) |
| Hyper-reliable and low-latency communication (HRLLC) | Evolves URLLC | Interactive and real-time media, remote production, haptics |
| Ubiquitous connectivity | New | Broadcast/multicast reach, non-terrestrial delivery |
| AI and communication | New | AI-native traffic management for media; AI/ML model and inference traffic as a workload |
| Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) | New | Context capture for media applications; not a delivery path in itself |
M.2160 also states overarching design principles (sustainability, security and resilience, connecting the unconnected, and ubiquitous intelligence) and extends the 5G capability set with new capabilities. These are targets, not specifications: the numeric values and the mechanisms to reach them are the subject of the 3GPP work below.
Standardisation timeline and where the work is
6G in 3GPP is a Release-21 target. The current activity is study-stage in Release 20.
- ITU-R completed the framework (M.2160) in 2023 and is progressing the detailed technical performance requirements and evaluation methodology for IMT-2030 through Working Party 5D.
- 3GPP SA1 produced TR 22.870 (Study on 6G Use Cases and Service Requirements) at the study stage; the normative Stage 1 6G requirements are expected in Release 21.
- 3GPP SA2 and SA4 are running architecture and media studies. SA4's media study is TR 26.870.
- Initial 6G specifications are expected around 2028.
No normative 6G specification exists yet. Everything on this page that concerns 6G behaviour is study-stage and provisional. Where a number or requirement is not yet decided in 3GPP or ITU-R, it should be treated as an open question rather than a settled value.
Study items relevant to media in 6G
The following studies are the current primary sources. TR 22.870 and TR 26.870 are the 6G studies; the AI/ML studies are 5G Advanced work that the 6G media work builds on.
| Study | Group | Track | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| TR 22.870 | SA1 | 6G Stage 1 | 6G use cases and candidate service requirements, clustered around the IMT-2030 usage scenarios |
| TR 26.870 | SA4 | 6G media | Media aspects of a 6G system: media services, formats, traffic and delivery |
| TR 26.847 | SA4 | 5G media AI/ML | Evaluation of AI and ML in 5G media services; evaluation testbeds, scenarios and metrics |
| TR 22.874 | SA1 | 5G AI/ML | Traffic characteristics and performance requirements for AI/ML model transfer in 5GS |
TR 26.847 and TR 22.874 matter for 6G because two of the new IMT-2030 scenarios (immersive communication and AI and communication) drive traffic that these studies already characterise: high-rate media flows on one side, and model transfer flows on the other. See the Standards: AI/ML in 5G Media page for the interface and procedure detail.
Why an experimental testbed at the study stage
Standardisation at the study stage is requirement-driven, and requirements are stronger when backed by measurement. AI workloads (large language models, image and video generation, agentic multi-step tool calling, real-time multimodal interaction) produce traffic patterns that differ from classic media streaming. These include bursty request/response cycles, asymmetric uplink/downlink ratios, long-lived sessions with variable think-time, and sensitivity to time-to-first-token as well as to sustained throughput. The 5G-MAG 6G Testbed exists to characterise these patterns under controlled, reproducible network conditions.
Concretely, the testbed:
- Emulates realistic network conditions on a single machine using Linux Traffic Control (
tc) withnetemand Hierarchical Token Bucket (HTB), including profiles derived from 3GPP 5QI values (see TS 23.501, the standardised 5QI to QoS-characteristics mapping) and candidate 6G conditions (for example a hyper-reliable low-latency profile). - Runs AI and media workloads over those conditions and captures traffic at L3/L4 (via tcpdump) and optionally L7 (via mitmproxy).
- Logs metrics for large-scale, reproducible analysis, producing labelled datasets and classification results.
These outputs are what 5G-MAG uses to ground its media and AI-traffic requirement inputs to 3GPP. Full detail, including the emulator YAML profile schema and the AI characterisation architecture, is on the 6G Testbed developer scope page.
Related
- 5G Multicast Broadcast Services (MBS): 5G-native MBS, one of the delivery mechanisms expected to evolve towards 6G.
- 5G Broadcast: LTE-based broadcast delivery and its evolution.
- Standards: Towards 6G Media: the standards-tracking view of this topic.
Refer to the Tech repository to contribute to this documentation.