Michelle Donegan is a tech writer who has covered the communications industry for more than 25 years on both sides of the pond. Having worked for various industry titles, including Communications Week International, Total Telecom and Light Reading, she specializes in mobile network technology trends.
The University of Huddersfield received £1 million in funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 program to launch a new 5G research and training project. The UK university will have a central role in the Europe-wide project that involves ten academic and industrial partners to further the development and understanding of 5G technology.
The program is called MOTOR5G, which is short for “Mobility and Training for beyond 5G Ecosystems,” and it received a total of £3.6 million from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research funds, of which Huddersfield Uni received £1 million. The aim is to advance the state of the art in many dimensions of 5G.
Led by Dr. Pavlos Lazaridis, Reader in Electronic and Electrical Engineering, four doctoral researchers will be based at the university to conduct lab work, theoretical studies and work closely with the project’s academic and industrial partners, which include Rohde & Schwarz, the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, Denmark’s Aarhus University and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
The project will focus on several aspects of 5G technology: embedding artificial intelligence into 5G systems; using drones to improve communications; and developing beam-forming antennae. The researchers will work on the antennae at Rohde & Schwarz’s headquarters in Munich and will have an opportunity to train in metrology at the National Physical Laboratory.
In addition, the researchers will also have opportunities to work with a 5G-based video production and distribution network that is being installed at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.
Funding 5G Research
As it is still early days for 5G technology, many governments are making funds available for research and development. In the UK, the government has appropriated £25 million for the national 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme. The UK government also recently announced a competition for a share of £1 million for 5G research projects.
Useful read: What is the 5G Innovation Network?
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