Telekom, BME and Ericsson to launch a joint research on 5G Budapest, December 9, 2020 10:00
Magyar Telekom, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and Ericsson Hungary launched a research and development project in the field of 5G, the fifth-generation mobile technology. Leveraging on the frequencies provided by Magyar Telekom for BME's educational and research purposes Ericsson has built and operates a 5G test network in BME's I building. Parties' aim is to explore the potential use of 5G-based solutions in agriculture and smart manufacturing.
Within the frame of the cooperation, Magyar Telekom assigns 20MHz from its 3600MHz band and 10MHz from its 2600MHz band to the Budapest University of Technology and Economics from its own frequency range, free of charge, for R&D purposes. With the use of the frequencies temporarily provided by Magyar Telekom, Ericsson Hungary operates a 5G test network in BME's I building and in the research laboratory of Ericssons R&D center. The test network is planned to operate both in NSA (non-standalone, i.e. built on 4G) as well as SA (standalone) mode - the latter allowing an even broader use case support, thus leveraging the R&D activities on the full potential of the 5G technology. The local 5G test network has restricted access and can only be used by BME's designated lecturers and students, as well as the two company's staff in charge of the planned activities. The applications and solutions developed on the test network are presented jointly by the involved parties.
Despite the pandemic situation, technological developments need to continue. This is the area where there is no stopping, you may not be left behind. Today, digitalization has become a key factor in our daily lives. This is why the Hungarian Government welcomes the development and capacity offers that are suitable for professionals to develop innovative solutions that increase the comfort of the population and have a positive impact on the economy. 5G technology can make life easier for all of us, but in order to take full advantage of the benefits of mobile broadband, we need to develop services and products, and that requires test networks. Among the Hungarian higher education institutions, BME is one of the most prominent universities where the latest, state-of-the-art solutions based on 5G technology are designed and successfully tested, so I think we can soon experience the fruits of this cooperation - emphasized dr. K roly Bal zs Solym r, Deputy State Secretary for Digitization of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology.
Lubor Zatko, Telekom's Chief Technical Officer commented on the cooperation as follows: The next generation 5G mobile technology brings not only new opportunities for consumers, but also helps industry, logistics, agriculture and many other verticums to step up to a much higher level of digitalization than ever before. However, this requires solutions and applications that can take advantage of the outstanding features of 5G technology, and thus create added value. To ensure that 5G networks deliver such tangible benefits both from a business and economic perspective, using Magyar Telekom's network, T-Systems Hungary is working on concrete business solutions, among others, in the field of industry and transportation. We are proud that we do not only continuously increase the domestic coverage of our 5G network, but with the recently announced cooperation we also support educational and research objectives that help us to explore actual usage needs and to find solutions that may be used by our customers in the future.
Dr. J nos J zsa, Rector of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics said: We are pleased that thanks to Magyar Telekom and Ericsson a complex 5G test infrastructure has been set up in the I building, which can support the universitys R&D activities. The network is used by the consortium of Ericsson Hungary and the BME's Telecommunications and Media Infocommunications Department on the research and development of the automated operation of the 5th generation mobile communication system, the implementation of 5G-based services and the development of industrial and agricultural applications. The consortium demonstrates the benefits of 5G systems with smart agricultural applications and the control of real-time automated cooperative robots.
The consortium established by BME and Ericsson launched a project to develop 5G software and pilot applications already in 2019, which represents a new dimension in the decades-long cooperation between Ericsson and BME. As part of the project Ericsson has built a complete 5G test network that will operate both indoors and outdoors in the BME's I building and is also accessible in the research laboratory of Ericssons R&D center. On the new 5G test network one may test applications, use cases and functions that are not yet available on a live network. The significance of this development is that the testing of software under development can be started at an early stage, which significantly speeds up the market entry of an application - said Roland Jakab, Head of Strategy Central Europe, Ericsson.
Case studies presented at the online media event 5G and smart farming Agricultural use cases are characterized by the joint application of low-bandwidth sensor data, real-time traffic control and high-resolution video streams. This traffic mix generates a need for coverage by Quality of Service (QoS) solutions in large areas. The ultimate goal is to increase the automation of agricultural activities and their efficiency while managing their underlying risks. Our scenarios include activities that require advanced technology, such as the collaboration of cooperative drone groups or artificial intelligence applied to predictive anal
