Telecommunication standard 5G and the prospects for the development of the next, sixth generation of mobile communication technology were devoted to two messages at once, received almost simultaneously on May 30.
One of the world’s largest mobile operators, UK-based Vodafone has announced its decision to locate its global 5G and 6G R&D center in the East German city of Dresden. And from the Crimea annexed by Russia, news came that a department on 5G technology was opening at Sevastopol State University, since the Russian state corporation Rostec decided to partially transfer its developments in this area to the peninsula.
Dresden and Silicon Saxony – European Center for Microelectronics
Thus, two new research centers are being created in Europe at once, which will focus on one of the key areas of development of the global information and telecommunications industry. Eight pre-selected European cities were candidates to host the Vodafone center, which will employ over 200 professionals. All of them submitted their bids and proposals to the company.
Building of the Faculty of Informatics of the Dresden University of Technology
The choice fell on Dresden also because in recent decades around the capital of the federal state of Saxony, the largest European cluster of the microelectronic industry has formed, the traditions of which were formed back in the days of the GDR, when there was a plant for the production of electronic computers Robotron.
Today, about 2300 large, medium and small companies are associated with microelectronics in Dresden and its environs, employing over 65 thousand people. Hence the firmly entrenched name of the region Silicon Saxony, by analogy with the California Silicon Valley. In addition, it was at the Technical University of Dresden (TU Dresden) that Vodafone, back in 1994, shortly after the reunification of Germany in 1990, created the department of mobile communication systems.
Rostec wants to launch production of base stations of LTE standard for Crimea
Now Rostec is following a similar path in Crimea. The Russian state corporation has decided “on the basis of our university to create a special department for the development of 5G technology. It has already been practically created, the admission control figures for the next academic year have already been allocated,” announced the Governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, appointed by the authorities of the Russian Federation, on May 30 at the forum “Intelligence of machines and mechanisms. “.
At the same event, according to the Interfax news agency, Rostec’s special assignment director Vasily Brovko explained that the state corporation is transferring “part of the development and practical application” of Russian 5G technology to Sevastopol. According to him, “a functional model of a 5G base station, which in general is already working in laboratory conditions, was presented at the forum’s exhibition.”
In Crimea, a 5G mobile communication network will have to be created through import substitution due to sanctions
Now, according to Vasily Brovko, Rostec is counting on a serial order for Russian-developed LTE base stations for installation in Crimea. “Right now we have to switch to serial production. We need to have a customer and a buyer. In this case, we strongly believe in Voentelecom, which plans to develop communications on the peninsula based on the use of Russian equipment.”
Thus, the following picture emerges. The implementation of the 5G standard in Crimea will be carried out by the Voentelecom company subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, since private cellular operators do not want to work on the annexed peninsula due to the threat of sanctions. In this case, Russian telecommunications equipment will be used, since foreign manufacturers do not supply their products to Crimea, again because of the sanctions.
Accordingly, the task of the new department of Sevastopol University will be to train specialists in import substitution in the field of equipment for 5G networks, which will be produced primarily for use in Crimea. However, in the long term, if this equipment proves to be competitive in comparison with Chinese (Huawei), South Korean (Samsung) or European (Ericsson, Nokia), it should also go to the Russian market.
Vodafone Developers Will Tackle 6G, Autonomous Driving And Open RAN
Vodafone’s new research center in Dresden faces completely different challenges. “In 2019, our company first introduced 5G in Germany. And now, from 2021, we want to develop 6G for the whole world in Germany, in Dresden. We are sending the country the following signal: tomorrow, digitalization will be invented in Germany,” he said Hannes Ametsreiter, head of Vodafone Deutschland.
Head of Vodafone Deutschland Hannes Ametsreiter
Simultaneously with the creation of the sixth generation of mobile communications, a new development team will focus on specialized solutions for the current fifth generation. Specific areas, according to Vodafone, will be autonomous driving, which is especially important for the German car industry, digitalization of agriculture, the chemical industry and the construction industry.
Another important area will be research in the framework of Open RAN (Open Radio Access Network) – a concept of an open architecture of cellular networks, which aims to provide flexible and efficient use of elements from various manufacturers in such networks.
See also:
.