The recently introduced 5G New Radio is the first wireless standard natively designed to support critical and massive machine type communications (MTC). However, it is already becoming evident that some of the more demanding requirements for MTC cannot be fully supported by 5G networks. Alongside, emerging use cases and applications towards 2030 will give rise to new and more stringent requirements on wireless connectivity in general and MTC in particular. Next generation wireless networks, namely 6G, should therefore be an agile and efficient convergent network designed to meet the diverse and challenging requirements anticipated by 2030. This paper explores the main drivers and requirements of MTC towards 6G, and discusses a wide variety of enabling technologies. More specifically, we first explore the emerging key performance indicators for MTC in 6G. Thereafter, we present a vision for an MTC-optimized holistic end-to-end network architecture. Finally, key enablers towards (1) ultra-low power MTC, (2) massively scalable global connectivity, (3) critical and dependable MTC, and (4) security and privacy preserving schemes for MTC are detailed. Our main objective is to present a set of research directions considering different aspects for an MTC-optimized 6G network in the 2030-era.

最近推出的 5G 新无线电是第一个原生设计用于支持关键和大规模机器类型通信 (MTC) 的无线标准。然而，很明显，5G 网络无法完全支持对 MTC 的一些更苛刻的要求。此外，到 2030 年，新兴的用例和应用程序将对一般的无线连接，特别是 MTC 提出新的和更严格的要求。因此，下一代无线网络，即 6G，应该是一个灵活、高效的融合网络，旨在满足 2030 年预期的多样化和具有挑战性的要求。 本文探讨了 MTC 对 6G 的主要驱动因素和要求，并讨论了各种使能技术. 进一步来说，我们首先探讨了 6G 中 MTC 的新兴关键性能指标。此后，我们提出了对 MTC 优化的整体端到端网络架构的愿景。最后，详细介绍了 (1) 超低功耗 MTC、(2) 大规模可扩展的全球连接、(3) 关键和可靠的 MTC 以及 (4) 安全和隐私保护方案的关键推动因素。我们的主要目标是提出一系列考虑 2030 时代 MTC 优化 6G 网络不同方面的研究方向。