NEWS
Ericsson and Fraunhofer IPT launch
5G-Industry Campus Europe
ricsson and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production
Technology (IPT) have launched 5G-Industry Campus
Europe, the continent’s largest industrial 5G research
network, to jointly explore with companies and research partners
further areas in which 5G can be applied within production and to
test these as practically as possible.
E
Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure
(BMVI) is funding the consortium, which Fraunhofer IPT is
coordinating on the Melaten campus at RWTH Aachen University,
in order to set up the regional 5G research network. Fraunhofer
IPT has selected Ericsson as its private 5G networks supplier.
The project partners at 5G-Industry Campus Europe will
investigate application scenarios in seven sub-projects within
the field of production. These include 5G sensors for monitoring
and controlling highly complex manufacturing processes to
mobile robotics, logistics and multi-site production chains. In
addition, scientists at RWTH Aachen University want to test the
use of modern Edge cloud systems for fast data processing to
exploit the potential of 5G in a networked, adaptive production.
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Swedish Prime Minister,
Stefan Löfven, were updated on the progress and benefits of
5G-Industry Campus Europe during a visit to the Hannover Messe
trade fair in 2019.
5G-Industry Campus Europe’s outdoor private networks at RWTH
Aachen University cover an area of about 1 km sq. Its indoor
private networks – in the machine halls of the participating
partners, which represent all fields of production technology –
cover an area of almost 7,000 m sq.
The facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art IT and production
systems, offering unique infrastructure to jointly test individual
5G and IoT applications together with the research partners and
develop these earlier than usual. This means the partners can
benefit directly from 5G-Industry Campus Europe.
Ciena upgrades EIG submarine cable system to
connect businesses in Europe, Middle East and India
he Europe India Gateway (EIG)
submarine cable system has
been upgraded to accelerate
and strengthen connectivity between
businesses in the UK, Europe, the Middle
East and India. Using Ciena’s submarine
network solution, the upgrade
allows EIG to utilise flexible, express
wavelengths, also known as optical
bypass, to reduce operational costs as
well as space and power requirements
while improving reliability.
T
The cable has been upgraded with
Ciena’s GeoMesh solution, powered by
WaveLogic Ai coherent optics, which
offers EIG new levels of flexibility, the
lowest cost per transported bit and the
ability to meet unpredictable traffic
demands. The upgrade adds 24.3 Tb/s of
information carrying capacity to the
EIG cable, with a spectral efficiency
increase of 52%, in comparison to
previous technology. With WaveLogic
Ai, EIG can transport up to 400Gb/s
per wavelength, driving more capacity
per channel at longer distances.
The EIG cable system is a 15,000 km
international fibre optic submarine
cable system that links the United
Kingdom with Gibraltar, Portugal,
Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab
Emirates and India. As one of the
primary data connections between
India and Europe, the Middle East and
Africa, the EIG transports significant
quantities of data between consumers
and businesses.
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Issue 12
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