Chalmers University of Technology
Chalmers and Ericsson inaugurate a new laboratory with access to the fifth generation (5G) network that will be an important resource and infrastructure for researchers, students, and start-up companies at Chalmers. By introducing the technology in the current CASE laboratory, Chalmers makes it easy for students and researchers to experiment with 5G solutions.
"It opens up for research and education in industrial applications where fast data transfer and response times are sometimes as short as 1 millisecond, for example for artificial intelligence (AI) such as autonomous robots, self-driving vehicles and the "Internet of Things"", says Erik Ström, Professor of Communication Systems at Chalmers. Connectivity is a prerequisite for being able to work with artificial intelligence, but today there are very few universities in Sweden and in the world that have access to their own 5G networks that they can experiment with.
"Commercially, 5G is already here and is available in many countries. However, it can be said that the application of 5G is in its infancy, and we will see a very large development in the coming years. Both with 5G technology as such but also with applications", says Karl-Johan Killius, Head of Site Gothenburg Ericsson.
5G consists of more technical advanced solutions than 4G, but at the same time also provides the conditions to use the technology for so much more. Researchers see 5G as a tool for solving major societal challenges.
"5G technology primarily enables applications that are resource-efficient and that promote sustainable use and development in society, such as digitization of unsustainable technology, efficiency and improvement of transport systems, health care, food production and systems for generating and distributing electricity. Our collaboration with Ericsson enables our research to be tested and hopefully be useful more quickly", says Petter Falkman, Professor of Automation at Chalmers.
"4G was created to be able to offer a wireless broadband connection e.g., for mobiles or laptops. 5G is created to offer wireless connection to a much wider range of applications which may have completely different requirements. For example, simple sensors in a mine have completely different requirements for availability, response time and capacity, while self-driving cars, trains and industrial robots place very high demands on reliability and response time", says Magnus Castell, Manager Expericom at Ericsson Gothenburg.
To most people, 5G can be considered a new and exciting technology, but the aim of the researchers is now set on 6G.
"6G will give us significantly more of what 5G offers. In addition, 6G will be an important tool for achieving several of the UN's sustainability goals. What makes all this possible are high transmission speeds, low latency, knowledge of the radio environment, position and orientation, integration of sensor network functionality, network of networks and that the computing power is decentralized in the mobile networks. A key to this is that 6G can guarantee energy-efficient, reliable, robust, and secure communication, says Tommy Svensson, Professor of Communication Systems at Chalmers with a focus on wireless communication.
Written by: Sandra Tavakoli
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