With the advent of the multimodal immersive communication system, people can interact with each other using multiple devices for sensing, communication and/or application level control either onsite or remotely. As a breakthrough concept, a distributed sensing, computing, communications, and control (DS3C) fabric is introduced in this paper for provisioning 6G services in multi-tenant environments in a unified manner. The DS3C fabric can be further enhanced by natively incorporating intelligent algorithms for network automation and managing networking, computing, and sensing resources efficiently to serve vertical use cases with extreme and/or conflicting requirements. As such, the paper proposes a novel end-to-end 6G system architecture with enhanced intelligence spanning across different network, computing, and business domains, identifies vertical use cases and presents an overview of the relevant standardisation and pre-standardisation landscape.@en

With the increasing usage of robots in numerous vertical industries, the need for standardised solutions has intensified. A number of research and industrial communities and other Standards Developing Organisations (SDOs) have been actively working to identify areas in the robotics and automation sector that are suitable for standardisation. On top of that, each generation of mobile communications brings in new features and a wealth of new standardisation possibilities. While the deployment of 5G New Radio (5G NR) networks is expanding, the race for 6G is already starting to take shape with a number of proposed enabling technologies such as the integrated communication and sensing (ISAC) which can revolutionize the robotic technology. Since the two sectors of robotic and communication technologies advancements have overlapping areas for research and development, the SDOs’ activities need to address the commonalities, to allow a harmonized and unified platform that formally adopts and confirms best practices in 6G and robotics as standards. In this work, we present relevant industry standardisation, associations, and fora for both mobile communication and robotic industries based on the ETSI Classification of SDOs. We present the standardisation landscape for 6G and robotics and highlight the gap in this multidisciplinary standardisation, sharing key recommendations.@en

The IEEE 'Tactile Internet' (TI) Standards working group (WG), designated the numbering IEEE 1918.1, undertakes pioneering work on the development of standards for the TI. This paper describes the WG, its intentions, and its developing baseline standard and the associated reasoning behind that and touches on a further standard already initiated under its scope: IEEE 1918.1.1 on 'Haptic Codecs for the TI.' IEEE 1918.1 and its baseline standard aim to set the framework and act as the foundations for the TI, thereby also serving as a basis for further standards developed on TI within the WG. This paper discusses the aspects of the framework such as its created TI architecture, including the elements, functions, interfaces, and other considerations therein, as well as the novel aspects and differentiating factors compared with, e.g., 5G Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication, where it is noted that the TI will likely operate as an overlay on other networks or combinations of networks. Key foundations of the WG and its baseline standard are also highlighted, including the intended use cases and associated requirements that the standard must serve, and the TI's fundamental definition and assumptions as understood by the WG, among other aspects.

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