China has begun real-world testing of key 6G technologies in select environments ahead of commercial deployment, demonstrating significant progress in integrated communication and sensing systems.
The 6G Proof-of-Concept Center at the Purple Mountain Laboratories in Nanjing City, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, is the world's first outdoor 6G test site to achieve integrated communications and sensing. It has been in operation since April.
Roughly the size of a standard football field, the facility includes dedicated zones for drone operations and embodied robot training, and is equipped with distributed base stations and smart antennas.
Mounted on four poles surrounding the site, each set of smart antennas performs two functions at once of communications and sensing. According to researchers, in the past, enabling both functions for drones required two completely separate systems -- base stations and dedicated radar equipment. With 6G technologies, the two features are now integrated into a single device, greatly simplifying the overall system architecture.
The integrated communication and sensing technology is expected to play a significant role in emergency response and safety monitoring. Having progressed beyond the laboratory settings into real-world trials, it is expected to achieve scaled deployment in key sectors within the next two to three years. One example is an emergency communications vehicle operating near Taihu Lake in eastern China, which is equipped with a 6G trial network. Drones can conduct monitoring missions over distances exceeding more than 30 kilometers, transmitting uninterrupted real-time high-definition video.
Taihu Lake's vast expanse makes base stations deployment challenging, causing 5G drones to frequently lose connection. By contrast, a single 6G base station covers more than 10 times the area of its 5G counterpart, easily spanning large bodies of water.
As the technology matures, 6G will achieve full coverage of Taihu Lake, enabling precise detection of illegal fishing and other anomalies, strengthening law enforcement and enhancing environmental protection.
China conducts real-world testing of 6G applications
China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao outlined the key priorities of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, which opened on Friday in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.
In an interview with CGTN ahead of the two-day meeting, Wang said free trade, digital cooperation and green economy are high on the agenda of the meeting.
"The key areas include advancing regional economic integration and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, supporting the World Trade Organization (WTO) in strengthening digital cooperation and developing green economy. At present, the international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and chaos, with intensified geopolitical instability. The rise of unilateralism and protectionism poses serious challenges to the international economic and trade order, disrupting global and Asia-Pacific development. Against this backdrop, all parties have higher expectations for this trade ministers' meeting, hoping that it can build consensus and deliver outcomes," Wang said.
This year marks China's third time hosting the APEC meetings and the 35th anniversary of its membership.
By 2025, China had become the largest trading partner of 13 APEC economies. Trade between China and APEC economies reached 3.7 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 57.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has signed 24 free trade agreements or economic and trade arrangements with 31 countries and regions, including 15 APEC economies. In recent years, China has also completed upgrades of free trade agreements with APEC economies such as Singapore and Peru.
The minister said that China has always been a firm supporter and an important contributor to APEC.
"We have actively shared our vast market and development opportunities with all parties. China's door to the world will only open wider and wider. Facing the common challenges, China will continue to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country, further deepen reform, expand high-standard opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region and the world with its new achievements in Chinese modernization," the minister said.
China's Commerce Minister outlines priorities for 32nd APEC trade ministers' meeting
