“The IIT-Madras test bed will be operational and open soon for the industry to use it for 5G testing purposes,” a senior DoT official said, adding that the telecom operators have already started field trials across the country, and the outcome is likely to be reviewed by the department.
NEW DELHI: The test bed at Chennai Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) dedicated to develop and demonstrate the fifth generation (5G) technology-based locally-relevant use cases, is expected to become operational soon, according to a telecom department (DoT) official.
“The IIT-Madras test bed will be operational and open soon for the industry to use it for 5G testing purposes,” a senior DoT official said, adding that the telecom operators have already started field trials across the country, and the outcome is likely to be reviewed by the department.
The official further said that newcomer Jio has informed the department about some of its innovative solutions based on 5G technology which it developed, and feels that such could be a “game-changer” once commercial deployments begin.
Recently, billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio, as a part of pilot initiative, deployed immersive high-definition (HD) virtual reality (VR), and a multimedia chatbot using its homegrown 5G RAN and Standalone (SA) core network, leveraging technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI), using 5G’s latency-sensitive high-bandwidth.
Mumbai-based telco Jio, however, also said that it has developed a homegrown 5G stack which it plans to export to overseas markets.
In 2018, the DoT funded Rs 225 crores to Chennai IIT to set up a test bed for next generation technology at its premise to allow telecom service providers and their technology partners to undertake trials and demonstrate local use cases in a run up to 5G deployment in the country.
Early this year, lawmaker Shashi Tharoor-headed IT Parliamentary panel visited the Chennai IIT’s 5G test bed and evaluated the testing arrangement.
The state-run 5G test bed initiative, however, is to encourage Indian startups and the industry to take a lead in 5G with an objective to showcase use cases that closely resemble a real-world 5G deployment, and develop a prototype.
The test bed would operate using spectrum in both sub 6GHz and mmWave frequencies, and support enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra low latency communication (URLLC), and machine-to-machine communication including narrow band Internet of Things (NB IoT) services.
The telecom department is expected to auction 5G airwaves early next year.
Original News Link
https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/iit-madras-5g-test-bed-to-be-operational-soon/86640044
