Ericsson Powers Europe’s 5G Research Network in Germany

Europe’s largest 5G research network, powered by Ericsson 5G products and solutions, has gone live in Aachen Germany.

Comprising multiple partners, the 5G Industry Campus Europe aims to develop and implement applications and solutions for digitized and networked production to benefit 5G production across Europe and beyond.

Using AR on a factory floor

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 FIR (Institute for Industrial Management).

With bandwidth of 10Gbps, 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.

Various 5G industrial application scenarios will be tested during the next three years – from 5G sensor technology for monitoring and controlling highly complex production processes to mobile robotics and logistics and cross-location production chains.

The use modern edge-cloud systems for fast data processing for fully networked and adaptive production will also be tested. The 5G Industry Campus Europe was awarded its first 5G license in March – on the 3.7GHz-3.8GHz band range.

Jan-Peter Meyer-Kahlen, Head of the Ericsson Eurolab in Aachen, says: "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.”

Niels König, 5G-Industry Campus Europe Project Leader, Fraunhofer IPT, says: "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.”

The 5G-Industry Campus Europe is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) - focused on the introduction of the new mobile communications standard in the manufacturing industry.