India, UK academic institutions to collaborate on 5G technologies

The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), a government-owned body engaged in research and development (R&D) in the field of telecommunications in India,today signed separate Memorandum of Agreements (MoUs) with three academic institutions in the United Kingdom (UK) to facilitate meaningful exploration and early adoption of 5G technologies.

The focus of the engagement between C-DOT and the universities will be to set up use-case labs to explore new scenarios for 5G, promote awareness and understanding of 5G, support the creation of 5G test-beds, conduct field trials, and evolve solutions for the Indian context.

The agreements were signed and exchanged at the High Commission of India in London by Vipin Tyagi, Executive Director, C-DOT, Professor Mischa Dohler, Professor of Wireless Communications and Head of the Centre for Telecommunications Research at King's College London, Professor Rahim Tafazolli, Director and Founder of the 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey and the 5GUK Project Leader, and Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, Director of the Smart Internet Lab at the University of Bristol and Chief Scientific Officer for Bristol.

These MouUs were signed in the presence of Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha, High Commissioner of India to the U.K.- Mr.Y.K.Sinha, and National Technology Adviser- Mr Liam Maxwell on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion, Sinha said, "The Government of India is fully committed to ensuring that we march in step with the world, and be among the leaders to accelerate the exploration, adoption, and full-scale deployment of 5G technology for the benefit of our citizens. The signing of these agreements with premier academic institutions in the United Kingdom is an important milestone for us. We expect this strong partnership to produce accelerated outcomes that benefit both our great countries."

5G is the next step from the currently deployed 4G telecom technologies in the world. In addition to drastically improving speeds for broadband users, it is expected to have a significant impact on new verticals such as transport, smart cities, health, manufacturing, railways, public safety and power.

Key technologies such as Massive MIMO, millimetre Wave (mmWave), Narrowband IoT, Cloud-RAN are expected to improve speeds more than ten-folds, along with providing for centralization of key resources to reduce cost and improve ease of operations.

Application of innovations such as Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deployment of Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) will change the nature of telecomnetworks by allowing for a much larger number of devices to be connected and managed in a 5G network.

With the MoUs signed today, C-DOT will get access to leading experts and labs on 5G and associated technologies in the UK universities. The UK universities will be able to participate in the ongoing establishment of 5G test-beds in India which can inter-work with the test-beds in the UK.