Hologram technology, advanced virtual reality and haptic applications are set to be among the areas investigated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Network 2030 focus group, which aims to define future network requirements.

Researchers will attempt to identify demands required of future wireless and fixed networks, and generate new concepts, network architectures and solutions.

The organisation added it would focus on new network technologies which are also backwards compatible with existing and emerging uses.

Among the use cases assessed will be the use of “high-precision communications for tactile and haptic applications” the group said, adding networks will likely need to process very high volumes of data in near real-time.

The focus group will be co-chaired by: Richard Li (Huawei); Mehmet Toy (Verizon); Alexey Borodin (Rostelecom); Yuan Zhang (China Telecom); and Yutaka Miyake (KDDI Research).

In a statement, ITU secretary general Houlin Zhao said the findings would provide an international reference point to support ICT use cases in 2030 and beyond.

Li added the group would “look at new media, new services and new architectures. Holographic type communications will have a big part to play in industry, agriculture, education, entertainment – and in many other fields.”

“Supporting such capabilities will call for very high throughput in the range of hundreds of gigabits per second or even higher,” he added.