Ericsson establishes Center of Excellence and Innovation Lab for 5G in India at IIT Delhi

Ericsson has established a Centre of Excellence (CoE) and Innovation Lab for 5G in the country at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

This first -of-its-kind 5G innovation Lab, which has been set up by Ericsson for Indian industry and academia to leverage, was dedicated to the nation by the Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha together with Börje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson at the IIT Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, Manoj Sinha, said: “I would like to congratulate Ericsson for taking the lead in terms of setting up the first 5G Center of Excellence and Innovation Lab in the country. The 5G Center of Excellence supports the Government’s plans to foster a robust and vibrant 5G ecosystem in India. We want India to be an active participant in the design, development and manufacturing of 5G-based technologies, products and apps. I would therefore like to urge the industry, academia, students and start-ups to leverage the Ericsson Innovation Lab to develop new 5G-based apps and business models that could potentially lead to better agricultural yields, better healthcare, smarter cities, more efficient manufacturing and enhanced lifestyles. We need the entire eco system to work together to make 5G a reality in India over the next 2-3 years.”

Börje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson, said: “Ericsson is leading 5G standardization globally. The 5G Center of Excellence and Innovation Lab aims to stimulate the 5G ecosystem in India. We would like to unleash the creativity and innovation of the Indian industry, academia and entrepreneurs to fully leverage and make 5G a reality in India.”

Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi stated, “We at IIT Delhi are committed to collaborating with industry and Government to develop technologies that enable connectivity for millions. We take pride in hosting the Ericsson Center of Excellence and Innovation Lab, thereby playing a pivotal role for the industry and academia to come together, test out new technologies and explore the full potential of 5G.”

As per an Ericsson report, 5G enabled digitization revenue potential in India will be US $27.3 billion by 2026. The Indian operators can generate additional revenue of US$ 13 Billion or half of the stated potential if they take up roles beyond being Connectivity and infrastructure providers to become service enablers and service creators. The largest opportunity will be seen in sectors like manufacturing, energy and utilities followed by public safety and health sectors. Some of the 5G use cases that could be implemented using the unique features of 5G technology include industrial control and automation, autonomous driving, safety and traffic efficiency services, hospital applications and medical data management amongst others.

Ericsson takes 5G out of the lab and over the air

Ericsson conducted India’s first 5G over the air beam tracking demonstration on 3.5GHz spectrum using a pre-commercial end-to-end system including 5G-NR, VRAN and VCORE. The demonstration includes 3GPP 5G NR Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna technology with adaptive beamforming and beam tracking techniques to deliver robust and sustained mobile broadband communications.

By beam steering, a highly-focused beam, a stronger radio signal with higher data throughput is delivered over a greater distance using less energy. The results are spectral efficiency enhancement and gains for capacity, cell edge throughput and mean user throughput.