Toronto-based national carrier Rogers has turned the green light on for Canada’s first 5G-powered smart-campus at the University of British Columbia.
The carrier and the university partnered last year to carry out 5G research in Canada.
According to a press release from Rogers, “the smart campus” will include 5G towers throughout UBC’s Point Grey campus and “an edge computing enabled data centre,” is being used to “test 5G applications in a real-world setting.”
The three-year partnership will look into the research to develop and test 5G applications, including autonomous vehicles, farming and medicine.
Canada’s largest carrier is the only one so far that has selected a 5G vendor and formally announced in April 2018 its partnership with Swedish telecom equipment manufacturer Ericsson.
Rogers announced as part of its green light that researchers at UBC have several projects underway using 5G networks on campus including earthquake and tsunami detection technology, digital mining, and 5G Mobility-as-a-Service.
It also noted in the release that, in October, university students were able to work with a live 5G network at a hackathon. During the event, students were able to “collaborate on how 5G will advance augmented reality, virtual reality, and gaming applications.”
It is worth adding that spectrum auctions for 5G have been set for 2020 and 2021. The next iteration of wireless network technology might not fully be functionally properly until at least 2021.
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