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While 5G has been deployed around the world, there exist already numerous efforts and initiatives from industry and academia to look beyond 5G and conceptualize 6G by describing its roadmap along with the emerging trends and requirements, as well as several enabling techniques and architectures. The drivers of 6G will be a confluence of past trends (i.e., densification, higher rates, and massive antennas) and of new trends that include new services and applications, such as smart wearables, implants, extended reality devices, etc. Moreover, it is expected that 6G will be able to meet strict requirements for multiterabyte per second (Tb/s) and intelligent networks.

Two promising technologies for enabling the 6G ecosystem are terahertz (THz) communications and artificial intelligence (AI). In this regard, this Newsletter will delve on these two key technologies envisioned for 6G wireless networks. In the AI area, we have interviewed Prof. Tim O’Shea, from Virginia Tech, USA, Dr. Jakon Hoydis, from Nokia Bell Labs, France, Prof. Mérouane Debbah, from Huawei, France, and Prof. Deniz Gündüz, from Imperial College London, UK, who are leading experts in this area. We have also had the pleasure to get a position paper from Prof. Deniz Gündüz. Within the context of THz communications, we have interviewed Prof. Daniel Mittleman, from Brown University, Rhode Island, Prof. Josep M. Jornet, from Northeastern University, Boston, and Dr. Onur Sahin, from InterDigital Inc., London, who provided us with their outlook on the opportunities and challenges on AI. Finally, Prof. Cyril C. Renaud, from University College London, UK, provided a position paper that discusses the advancements in demonstration of wireless bridges at THz carrier frequencies over a fiber network as an argument to the advantages of using photonic solutions compared to electronics ones. It is also discussed the potential for photonic integration to create a viable THz photonics wireless technology.

I would like to thank our two feature topic editors: Prof. F. Rafael Marques Lima, from Federal University of Ceará, Brazil, and Dr. Hadi Sarieddeen, from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, for their efforts in arranging the content of this Newsletter. Moreover, we want to thank all authors and interviewees for sharing with us their experience and time. I would finally like to acknowledge the gracious support from the TCCN Chair, Dr. Yue Gao and all TCCN officers. If you have any suggestion, feel free to contact me at:
danielbcosta@ieee.org. We hope that you enjoy the material of this Newsletter!

Daniel Benevides da Costa
Director, IEEE ComSoc TCCN Newsletter
Federal University of Ceará, Brazil