Cellnex Ireland has partnered with Dublin City University (DCU) to develop Ireland's first 5G-enabled smart campus.
The project is part of the Smart DCU programme from the college, Dublin City Council, Enable, Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, and DCU Alpha to develop, test and trial cutting-edge technology innovations at three campuses.
The programme also aims to make DCU's campuses a microcosm of a smart city, and thereby offer great insights into how a smart city can better function for the benefit of its citizens and stakeholders.
Cellnex will install a range of telecommunication infrastructure to ensure there is uninterrupted 5G coverage across the main campus, the nearby DCU Alpha Innovation Campus, and the DCU sports campus.
The infrastructure will ultimately support smart city, connected vehicle (V2X) and internet of things (IoT) applications across three DCU campuses.
In Association with
“DCU is a vibrant and research-focused university, with an existing innovation pedigree through DCU Alpha. This partnership will allow DCU to take its IoT and smart campus activities to the next level," said Ronan O'Connor, commercial director of Cellnex Ireland.
"Continued adoption of 5G and IoT applications is vital in creating a competitive economy, while also solving pressing issues at a societal level which would not have been possible without this groundbreaking technology.
"This is a partnership which is incredibly exciting for Cellnex, and we look forward to collaborating with the mobile network operators to facilitate what will be truly unique testbed for a third level setting in Ireland.”
Rolling out 5G coverage will facilitate Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) capabilities on the campuses, allowing for the increased adoption of bandwidth-heavy applications, such as internet of things, virtual and augmented reality, remote medical monitoring and connected and autonomous vehicles.
MEC is heavily reliant on 5G, and the partnership with Cellnex will now give DCU students, staff, researchers and partner companies the ability to trial new technologies in a real-world environment.
Andrew Fleury, CEO of Luna Systems, said:“The presence of this MEC capability in DCU Alpha, opens up a whole new field of research and commercialisation opportunities for Luna.
"Our computer vision safety technology for micromobility already operates on the ‘edge’, meaning our technology is computing safety parameters in real-time on the scooter or bike equipped with Luna hardware.
"The Cellnex infrastructure brings this opportunity to the next level, by allowing us to investigate how 5G and mobile edge computing could ensure fast, reliable communication between road infrastructure, vehicular traffic, micromobility riders and pedestrians to reduce collisions”.
Cellnex and Smart DCU are now seeking to collaborate with mobile network operators to develop 5G capabilities across the campuses, and it is expected the partnership will benefit university start-ups spin-outs and partners, with a testbed becoming available to trial innovations.
This live smart city testbed environment will also assist in commercialising collaborative research that takes place across DCU. It is expected that DCU will utilise the infrastructure in a number of ways, including:
- Smart building monitoring to encourage sustainable energy use
- Smart parking to reduce bottlenecks
- Enhanced robotics and ‘last mile’ delivery capabilities
- Augmented reality learning experiences
- Video analytics and IoT for sports teams
Kieran Mahon, Smart DCU projects facilitator, said: “Smart DCU, under the auspices of the Smart Dublin programme, has been established as a microcosm of a smart city, allowing the campus infrastructure to be used as a testbed for new technologies like Mobile Edge Computing, in partnership with world leading innovative companies like Cellnex.
"DCU is very excited about the innovation and research possibilities that this partnership will help unlock”.
Photo: Launch of 5G Smart Campus with Cellnex / DCU. (Pic: Shane O'Neill, Coalesce)
