When Industrial Metaverse Meets 6G: The Next Revolution and Deployment Challenges

Web 3.0 or Web3 is the next-generation Internet paradigm, which aims to realize the vision of a decentralized and open Web that provides greater utility to users. Due to the rapid development of technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and extended reality (XR), the industrial metaverse, which is an immersive and interactive simulation mirroring real-world processes, systems, and objects, is gradually becoming a reality. Simultaneously, the industrial metaverse represents a new paradigm for the next generation of industrial transformation. However, data communications supporting the industrial metaverse require extremely high reliability and low latency to ensure a high level of quality of service (QoS). Therefore, achieving an immersive and interactive industrial metaverse poses significant challenges to data communications. In this article, we first review the big picture of the industry and high-tech companies of industrial metaverse. Subsequently, we explore the application potential of sixth-generation (6G) communication technology and various enabling technologies, such as ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC) and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) in the industrial metaverse. Then, we propose an RIS-enhanced communication paradigm to solve the challenges of privacy, security, reliability, and latency for industrial metaverse applications. Finally, we discuss potential communication research directions for the industrial metaverse.