The sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks will shift from a traditional architecture that focuses solely on high transmission rate to a new architecture that is based on the intelligent connection of everything. This is due to the increasing demand for the intelligent connected services in the internet of things. Semantic communication is an idea that integrates application requirement with the meaning of information into the data processing. Therefore, it is envisaged to become a new core paradigm in the future 6G internet of things industry. There are several challenges and open issues to deploy semantic communication in the 6G infrastucture.
As we revise our study from the 1G to 5G, it is common that the focus was onto optimize the data-oriented classical performance metrics, such as the communication throughput, data rate and the bit error probability, while ignoring the semantic related metrics. For example, 3G focus was on mobile broadband development. The data rate was thousand times more than that of 2G, whereas 4G unlocked the high-speed internet streaming, delivering almost the thousand times the date rate of 3G. The advent of 5G brought a big breakthrough in the telecommunication industry from the past so many years. 5G created the benchmark for various services including edge computing to the internet of things and much more like such as the ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC), massive machine type communications (mMTC), and enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) communications.
In response to 5G, a novel paradigm known as semantic communication (SemCom) is introduced in the brand new technology of 6G to break the former Shannon’s trap theory. SemCom utilizes the meaning of messages of data during the transmission across the network, while Shannon’s theory apply a blind approach during the transmission. SemCom could enable all the intended users in the network to lighten the overall network burden while transmitting and thus transmit the most relevant information for the receivers across the network. With the deployment of SemCom in 6G envisions enhanced reliability and lower latency than the 5G. The SemCom in 6G overcomes the previous traditional communication constraints and would enable unprecedented improvements in the network performane.
