VANCOUVER — Rogers Communications and the University of British Columbia (UBC) announced Tuesday they have launched the country’s first 5G-powered smart campus, which will be used by university researchers to test 5G applications in a real-world setting.
The smart campus includes 5G towers throughout UBC’s Point Grey campus and an edge computing-enabled data centre. As reported by Cartt.ca last year, Rogers announced a multi-million dollar partnership with UBC to fund academic research in 5G applications and applied sciences.
“With 5G at our doorstep, we’re focused on bringing together Canada’s brightest minds to research, incubate and commercialize applications that will transform the way we live and work,” said Jorge Fernandes, chief technology officer at Rogers Communications, in a company news release. “Our work with UBC is helping design and test Canada’s 5G blueprint and today’s announcement is a critical milestone as we prepare our national network for commercial deployment in 2020.”
Some of the new research projects underway currently using the 5G network on UBC’s campus include:
- Earthquake and tsunami detection technology that leverages the low latency of 5G sensors and machine learning to provide early warning of an earthquake so people can take preventative steps to stay safe.
- Digital mining technology that makes the operations of mines safer and improves sustainability through autonomous trucks and predictive truck maintenance.
- 5G Mobility as a Service (MaaS), a next-generation mobile platform that brings together transit, bike rental, car sharing, car rental and other modes of transportation so consumers can easily get the best on-demand transportation options.
“Collaboration between universities and industry is critical to fully leverage the opportunities offered by 5G,” said Dr. Gail Murphy, vice-president, research and innovation, at UBC, in the news release. “Our partnership with Rogers builds on the strength of UBC’s campus as a living lab — providing students with opportunities to build the skills for tomorrow and supporting faculty research on 5G-based solutions to significant local and global challenges.”
In October, Rogers hosted a hackathon where UBC students were among the first Canadians to work with a live 5G network. For two days, students used the Rogers 5G smart campus network to collaborate on how 5G will advance augmented reality, virtual reality and gaming applications. During the event, students also used edge computing infrastructure provided by MobiledgeX to write code and test application developments in real-time. Edge computing can transform how consumers and machines interact with digital services, supporting faster response times by bringing computing power, content and servers closer to IoT and consumer devices, Rogers said in its news release.
Rogers said its partnership with UBC is part of the company’s multi-year commitment to bring 5G to Canadians through network investments and strategic partnerships to research, incubate and commercialize made-in-Canada 5G technology. Earlier this year, Rogers announced a partnership with Ryerson University to establish the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst centre in downtown Brampton, Ont., and another partnership with Communitech of Waterloo, Ont., focused on accelerating and launching 5G applications. In addition, Rogers recently secured new 5G spectrum in every province and territory to build a national 5G network. Rogers has partnered with Ericsson to boost and densify its fibre-powered network with 5G-ready technology. As it prepares for commercial deployment of 5G in 2020, Rogers continues to test 5G in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver, and upgrade its national 4.5G network with the latest 5G-ready technology, the company said.
