5G research network goes live in Germany using Ericsson equipment

Ericsson announced that a 5G research network has gone live in Aachen, Germany, using its equipment and services.

Spanning a square kilometer of the Melaten campus of RWTH Aachen University, the network connects the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering and the Institute for Industrial Management.

The  vendor noted that the facilities are equipped with IT and production systems and offer infrastructure for jointly testing individual 5G applications together with the research partners and developing them earlier than usual.

With bandwidth of 10 Gbps, the institutes can now research and test the areas of application of 5G in industrial use in detail. Other RWTH Aachen University institutes are expected to join the initiative in the future, Ericsson said.

At the 5G-Industry Campus Europe, the project partners will be investigating different application scenarios in seven sub-projects, from 5G sensors for monitoring and controlling highly complex manufacturing processes to mobile robotics, logistics and multi-site production chains. In addition, the Aachen scientists want to test the use of modern edge cloud systems for fast data processing in order to exploit the potential of 5G in networked, adaptive production.

The 5G Industry Campus Europe was awarded its first 5G license in March, in the 3.7 GHz-3.8GHz band range.

Jan-Peter Meyer-Kahlen, head of the Ericsson Eurolab in Aachen, said: “We are delighted that an idea presented jointly at Hannover Messe 2019 is now becoming reality. The 5G-Industry Campus Europe is creating a unique ecosystem worldwide for research, development and adaptation of 5G technologies for Industry 4.0.”

“This is where the future for innovative production is created. Together with companies and research partners, we are creating a completely new infrastructure at the 5G-Industry Campus Europe, where we can test and try out different 5G applications in production and logistics. This will completely redefine the previous requirements for the industries,” said Niels König, 5G-Industry Campus Europe project leader at Fraunhofer IPT.

The new research network project takes up earlier collaborations between the three research institutions in Aachen: the world’s first 5G New Radio system from Ericsson, which is completely wirelessly integrated into the production environment, has been working in the machine hall of the Fraunhofer IPT since the beginning of 2018. With its existing 5G model factory as part of the 5G Competence Center NRW, FIR also contributes know-how and experience to the 5G-Industry Campus Europe.

The 5G-Industry Campus Europe is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI).

—Enterprise IoT Insights