## 6 Mobile Networks  
A mobile network is an attractive candidate for a uniform communication platform for AFBW. Although competitive RATs exist (e.g., WiFi, LoRa, Bluetooth, etc.), they have significant drawbacks that limit their applicability. Their main disadvantage is their operation in the commonly used unlicensed Industrial-Scientific-Medical (ISM) bands in which there is no protection against interference from other devices operating in the same band, i.e., the transmission reliability cannot be guaranteed, especially in the case of RT applications with an impact on safety. Most of these RATs provide small transmission ranges, and, in addition, the achievable range competes strongly with the offered data rates. Access control and privacy features are limited. The user typically needs to act as a network operator, especially to ensure coverage in the area of operation. Hence, competitive ISM RATs cannot individually support such a wide variety of needs as those listed above.  
The pre-5G mobile network technologies (2G, 3G, 4G) were designed as general-purpose ubiquitous mobile networks with a uniform architecture. With 4G, there was a paradigm shift-the implementation of the \"All-IP\" principle and the separation of IP-based network access from services built on top of it. However, even in 4G networks, the user plane (UP) still consists of continuous tunnels from user equipment (UE) terminated at the central point of the network, and possible customization takes place at the junction of the mobile network and the Internet (so-called \"5 Gi LAN\"). The already impressive performance provided by the latest 4G releases (LTE Advanced PRO), which includes up to 2 Gpbs peak data rates and latency below 10 ms, did not enable it to address the requirements posed by the emerging and advanced use cases. The primary reason was connected with the systems' designs, which limited the capabilities regarding the customization of services and, in effect, the enforcement of the diverse QoS requirements of the network. Consequently, the above-mentioned performance can be perceived as a best effort. Since the early days of 5 GS, the need for adaptable connectivity has become a major target. The 5 GS fundamentals were introduced in the preliminary vision of the IMT-2020 [90] proposed by the ITU. The document outlined the need for future PLMNs to be adaptable to specific communication requirements originating from the three main scenario groups that would be at the core of future industries and services, namely eMBB, URLLC, and mMTC. Moreover, a large performance boost has been promised to address the needs of the future digitized society and leverage business with a focus on vertical industries. The 3 GPP standardization follows this approach, aiming to deliver customizable network services with up to 10-100\(\times\) performance improvements in comparison to 4G (described in Section 6.1). It is expected that 6 GS will follow in 5 GS' footsteps and introduce further technical improvements, as well as higher flexibility (see Section 6.2). It has to be noted, however, that with the progressing standardization within Releases 18 and 19, the full scope of 5G capabilities has not yet been established and can be widely extended until the arrival of the first 6G specifications. The 6G study documents are estimated to be a part of Release 20 and arrive at the end of 2025 [116].