5G Testbeds

These fully functional cellular technology facilities help to bring solutions out of R&D for testing as an early real-world deployment, and can be used to grow market opportunities by showcasing new applications.

Our 5G Testbed labs are equipped with end-to-end commercial and open source protocol stacks. Supporting 4G and 5G-NR (3GPPP Rel. 15) radio access networks operating in licensed spectrum, with the ability to provide network slicing, Cellular IoT support (NB-IoT and LTE-M) and Edge computing with storage support. Mobile user equipment is available with preconfigured SIM cards including smartphones, mobile broadband laptops, cellular access tablets, and cellular IoT modules.

We use commercial-grade packet core network software with local breakout capability, interconnected with 1Gbps links. The London lab is interconnected to the 5G University Test Network (5GUK) through the 5GUKExchange. Our infrastructure sits behind a firewall, providing a secure environment for experimenters to evaluate their solutions.

We offer technical support for testbed user project integration, including access to a 5G Technologist and Testbed Manager or a 5G Innovation Programme Lead with mentors and business modelling experts.