Nokia, Area X.O Drive 5G mission-critical van on cross-Canada tour

Nokia has announced that as part of its continued partnership with Area X.O (formerly known as the Ottawa L5) led by Invest Ottawa, it will deploy 4.9G/LTE and 5G private wireless solutions and Nokia Drone Networks via the Area X.O 5G Mobile Command Centre.

The van will tour Canada to demonstrate to emergency responders and industry verticals how they can use private wireless for increased situational awareness to aid in unsafe conditions and help prevent disasters.

Using high-performance, reliable, low-latency private wireless connectivity between the van and Nokia drones, emergency responders can understand what’s happening in critical situations in real-time.

The securely connected drones can be equipped with HD and thermal cameras, and rapidly deployed to specific locations providing aerial insight from live video streams, as well as sensors and data, without putting responders in harm’s way.

The thermal technology can be used to detect people, steam, gas and smoke, as well as leakages and heat variation. This makes it an effective tool for prevention, incident monitoring and support, and inspection across multiple use cases.

Complementing the drones, the van will also showcase how the use of 5G standalone private wireless “deployables” both in cmW and mmW spectrum, can help first responders to be more efficient and easily gain situational awareness with a range of environment sensors, applicable also for Industry 4.0 use cases.

Nokia's Integrated Operations Center (IOC) offers a unified real-time view into all assets, bringing efficiency with analytics integration, while facilitating rapid response based on automated workflows across multiple applications.

Area X.O and Nokia will send the van on a road trip to visit 10 sites in Canada and it will showcase live 5G demonstrations for public safety, mining, rural broadband, and hydroelectric.

At a remote mine that covers several kilometers, the Nokia Drone Networks solution can be used to conduct perimeter patrols or to detect gas leaks or thermal fluctuations in pipes

At a hydro-electric plant, rather than using helicopters, drones can be sent in to survey hydro lines to keep employees away from high voltage power lines

In rural regions, fixed networks can be deployed to the most economical point, and 5G can be deployed to provide last-mile connectivity, bringing the benefits of high-speed broadband to everyone

Michael Tremblay, President and CEO, Area X.O, Invest Ottawa and Bayview Yards said: “As a leader in 5G and with a long-established presence in Canada, Nokia is the ideal partner as we take 5G on the road. We hope to inspire the first responders, industry verticals, and businesses of all sizes to discover what 5G can do to keep them safe and thrive.”

Shawn Sparling, Vice President of Enterprise and Public Sector, Nokia Canada, said: “We have been long-term partners with the team at Area X.O and Invest Ottawa more broadly. We continue to support their mission to drive growth for Ottawa businesses. With our shared philosophy on leveraging technology to expand opportunities in Canada, we look forward to this next step. The combination of our unmatched expertise in private wireless deployments and the Nokia Drone Networks will bring 5G to life for people and organizations across the country.”

Philip Reece, Founder and CEO, InDro Robotics said: “Having recently expanded to a full-time base in Ottawa we are proud to be working so closely with the leaders in 5G. Area X.O enabled InDro Robotics to bring together the best across the industry to build a mobile command centre capable of increasing abilities for first responders and providing frontline workers with cutting-edge technology, Nokia Drone Networks, communications, 5G networks, AI and so much more. This is how Ottawa stays at the forefront of innovation and supports growth.”