£25m for UK 5G projects

Six projects led by small and medium-sized enterprises, universities and local authorities have been awarded a total of £25 million for 5G research.

They will test 5G across a range of applications, including smart farming with drones, the Internet of Things, improving manufacturing productivity and maximising the benefits of self-driving cars.

The scheme is part of a £1 billion commitment through the UK government’s Digital Strategy to “keep Britain at the forefront of connectivity by accelerating the deployment of next generation digital infrastructure and driving forward new 5G business opportunities”.

“One year on from the Digital Strategy, we are delivering on our commitments to create a Britain fit for the future, with a thriving digital economy that works for everyone,’ said Margot James, Minister of State for Digital and the Creative Industries.

Each testbed will receive between £2 million and £5 million in government grants, as part of a total investment of £41m from private sector and other public sector funding, to explore 5G technologies to deliver internet speeds of more than one gigabit per second.

The six winning projects are:

5G RuralFirst: Rural Coverage and Dynamic Spectrum Access Testbed and Trial — lead organisation, Cisco; grant, £4.3m. Led by Cisco and the University of Strathclyde, it will deliver testbeds and trials to exploit 5G benefits for rural communities and industries such as agriculture, broadcasting and utilities.

5G Smart Tourism — lead organisation, West of England Combined Authority; grant, £5.0m. This testbed will focus on delivering enhanced visual experiences using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology, as well as demonstrating self-provision of 5G and Wi-Fi and innovative mmWave backhaul, and the safety issues of providing emergency service capacity through network splicing.

Worcestershire 5G Consortium: Testbed and Trials — lead organisation, Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership; grant, £4.8m. A team of 5G and Industry 4.0 experts will focus on ways to increase industrial productivity through preventive and assisted maintenance using robotics, big data analytics and AR over 5G. It will also have a cybersecurity aspect, with QinetiQ providing assurances on the ‘security by design’ of 5G and IoT technology.

Liverpool 5G Testbed — lead organisation, Sensor City; grant, £3.5m. A consortium of public sector health suppliers, the NHS, university researchers, local SMEs and a leading UK 5G technology vendor will deploy high-value technologies including low-cost open source 5G networks, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and IoT across deprived communities in the Liverpool City Region test bed, to reduce the digital divide.

AutoAir: 5G Testbed for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles — lead organisation, Airspan Communications; grant, £4.1m. This project will aim to make 5G technologies available for the validation and development of connected and autonomous vehicles, including how fast travel speeds complicate cell-tower handoff.

5G Rural Integrated Testbed (5GRIT) — lead organisation, Quickline Communications; grant, £2.1m. 5GRIT will trial innovative use of 5G technology across a range of rural applications, using shared spectrum in the TV bands and a mix of local ISPs and self-provision.

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