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Nokia and University of Technology Sydney partner for 5G innovation
Thu, 4th Mar 2021
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Nokia has entered into a five year partnership with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to build and run a 5G innovation facility at the university's Tech Lab campus in Sydney, Australia.

According to a statement, the 5G Innovation Lab will enable Nokia, UTS and their partners to advance 5G technology by testing new 5G use cases with real world applications, including Industry 4.0, IoT and smart cities.

While providing a live 5G test bed for commercial partners, the 5G Innovation Lab will also serve as an environment for new research opportunities within the ICT sector, the company states.

Researchers and commercial partners will be able to undertake projects to explore the capabilities of 5G and 6G technologies for Industry 4.0 applications such as industrial automation, agriculture and human-robot interactions, as well as Internet of Things capabilities for Internet of Energy applications in smart grid, energy storage and management and wireless power transfer.

The facility will include a 5G lab and a 5G use case demonstration area, with campus-wide 5G coverage planned to allow for the development and testing of potential 5G use cases in both the lab and the field.

The new lab will also connect directly into the university's anechoic radio frequency test chamber - the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere - allowing researchers to test the potential of Nokia's Massive MIMO and other innovative antenna technologies.

According to Nokia, this multi-year, multi-million dollar investment reflects the company's commitment to Australian innovation and the essential role telecommunication plays in both securing critical infrastructure and fostering economic growth.

UTS Tech Lab associate professor and director, Ray Kirby, says, "UTS Tech Lab is a unique facility that supports collaboration with industry on research and development projects, such as this partnership with Nokia, which will drive innovation and growth in 5G and 6G network infrastructure.

"Our cutting edge equipment and world class research talent combined with Nokia's commitment to innovation and technology leadership, is a strong partnership to facilitate the development of new applications to unlock the huge potential of 5G and 6G."

Nokia Oceania chief technology officer Robert Joyce says, "We are pleased to collaborate with UTS on this exciting 5G adventure.

"This partnership builds upon the existing innovative facilities at the university's Tech Lab and will enable researchers to develop, test and demonstrate innovative uses of 5G here in Australia.

"We are already exploring some exciting 5G use cases unique to Australia and look forward to demonstrating these soon."