- Demonstration shows video streamed from a drone on an Ericsson
5G radio and core network with available uplink speeds over 100
Megabits per second, and downlink speeds over 450 Megabits per
second
- Advances will support remote monitoring and assessment of
fields, farms, and livestock
- Collaboration will accelerate the innovation from university
labs to industry end users, fostering disruptive new technologies
and speeding up time to market
PLANO,
Texas, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/
-- Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and the Aerial Experimentation and
Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW), funded by the
National Science Foundation and a consortium of industry partners,
have announced a collaboration on advancing the use of 5G for drone
operations in support of smart agriculture.
In a demonstration hosted at North Carolina
State University, the AERPAW team, part of the Platforms for
Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program, equipped a custom drone
with a connected camera and local compute capacity in order to
monitor a field of cattle for information on grazing patterns.
Footage from the remote field was streamed over a 5G connection
enabled by an Ericsson base station and Ericsson Cloud Packet Core
network. The demonstration took place on the mid-band spectrum (3.4
gigahertz) applying 100 megahertz of spectrum under AERPAW's
experimental program license. Network performance was measured at
speeds exceeding 100 Megabits per second in the uplink and more
than 450 Megabits per second in the downlink.
The advanced connectivity of a 5G network provides the
capabilities needed to sustain high-quality video streaming,
support remote interaction, and enable analytics at the edge
through communication with a local compute-enabled network node.
Use cases include agriculture solutions such as animal monitoring
and tracking, but also delivery of supplies and objects for
commercial use, improved air traffic control under Federal Aviation
Administration regulations*, and command and control of unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) over cellular links.
"Smart agriculture will likely represent a very large growth
segment for UAVs in the next decade," said Mihail L. Sichitiu from AERPAW. "And field
testing at sites like AERPAW is critical both for exploring what's
possible and for ensuring operational safety. Only a drone under
constant monitoring and control is a safe drone."
Ericsson and AERPAW have enhanced research efforts in line with
national priorities, speeding up the transfer of innovation from
university labs to industry end-users. The collaboration has also
built wireless capabilities through creative partnership,
leveraging an expanded pool of experts and resources across the
public and private sectors.
"It's great to see Ericsson and AERPAW showcasing how
collaboration can bring together research and 5G networks to
support critical operations supporting public safety and
agriculture monitoring," said Per
Wahlen, Vice President and Head of Business Development at
Ericsson North America. "Wide-area network coverage is needed to
safely expand drone operations beyond visual line-of-sight
missions, and this research provides the improved capabilities for
more diverse and critical applications."
AERPAW, based in Raleigh, NC,
is one of four testbeds in the Platforms for Advanced Wireless
Research (PAWR) program supported by the National Science
Foundation (NSF). Its mission is to accelerate fundamental research
with unmanned aerial vehicles using advanced 5G wireless
communications and networking technologies.
*The AERPAW demo was conducted in compliance with the Federal
Aviation Administration's Part 107 guidelines. The drone was under
visual observation at all times by the operating pilot, or by an
observer in continuous communication with the pilot.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
FOLLOW US:
Subscribe to Ericsson press releases here
Subscribe to Ericsson blog posts here
https://twitter.com/ericsson
https://www.facebook.com/ericsson
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ericsson
MORE INFORMATION AT:
Ericsson Newsroom
media.relations@ericsson.com (+46 10 719 69 92)
investor.relations@ericsson.com (+46 10 719 00 00)
ABOUT ERICSSON:
Ericsson enables communications service providers and
enterprises to capture the full value of connectivity. The
company's portfolio spans the following business areas: Networks,
Cloud Software and Services, Enterprise Wireless Solutions, Global
Communications Platform, and Technologies and New Businesses. It is
designed to help our customers go digital, increase efficiency and
find new revenue streams. Ericsson's innovation investments have
delivered the benefits of mobility and mobile broadband to billions
of people globally. Ericsson stock is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm
and on Nasdaq New York. www.ericsson.com
Media Contact:
Jannie Tong
jannie.tong@ericsson.com
2144150815
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ericsson-and-national-science-foundations-aerpaw-collaborate-on-5g-drone-research-to-support-smart-agriculture-301622217.html
SOURCE Ericsson