IIIT-Nava Raipur Lab sets up 5G testbed

Raipur: In recent times, there have been many disruptive technologies such as mobile phones, the Internet, 3D printing, Blockchain, etc. A disruptive technology brings transformational changes to our society by displacing conventional methods of doing things by creating a completely new industry. The 5thgeneration mobile network (5G) is another disruptive technology, which is yet to penetrate our society. As compared to mobile networks of previous generations (2G, 3G and 4G), 5G based mobile networks will interconnect not only people, but will also interconnect smart machines, objects, and devices.

To promote research and innovation in this highly promising area, IIIT Nava Raipur has setup a 5G testbed in its Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Next Generation Networks. The CoE has been established in line with Govt. of India's goal to build indigenous testbeds that closely resemble real-world 5G deployments. This will encourage Indian startups and industries to take an early lead in 5G technology. This testbed is first of its kind not only in Chhattisgarh but in Central India. IIIT-NR is now among the few premier institutions in India like IIT-Madras, IISc-Bangalore, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Hyderabad and SAMEER-Mumbai, which have their own 5G testbed.

Data communication speed of 5G mobile networks is expected to be 35 times faster than that of 4G mobile networks. Due to the high speed of 5Gmobile networks, users of 5G-enabled mobile devices will be able to use them for interactive multimedia applications, Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications, High Definition quality mobile TV (HDTV), video conferencing with mobile devices, and many other new types of mobile applications.

Dr. Pradeep K. Sinha, VC & Director, IIIT-NR, said that the 5G testbed provides latest tools and hardware to aid students and researchers to work on cutting-edge, future-generation mobile networks, devices and applications. He said that setting up the 5G testbed at IIIT-NR is in line with "IIIT-NR Vision 2.0", which focusses on promoting research& innovation in futuristic technology areas.

Dr. Rajarshi Mahapatra, Dean (Academics) and coordinator of this CoE mentioned that the 5G testbed will provide hands-on facility to carry out various kinds of research projects in IoT, Wireless World Wide Web (WWWW),Millimeter Wave and Massive MIMO (Many Input Many Output)based mobile communication, etc.

This testbed would provide a platform for integration and validation of various upcoming wireless sub-technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, smart cities, e-health, autonomous vehicles, etc., which are expected to be part of the next big breakthrough in mobile communication.