The 5GAIner laboratory is an initiative by Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), the University of
Aveiro (UA), and Huawei to create an open environment where researchers and industry alike are able
to access state-of-the-art 5G infrastructures. 5GAIner covers a broader 5G ecosystem through
partnerships with academics, operators and industries. The aggregated expertise not only potentiates
the evolution of mobile communications technologies, but also the creation, consolidation and
validation of novel business models. Additionally, the resulting insights drive the development of
advanced functionalities that empower verticals with high-performant, easy-to-use shareable
solutions, thus fostering the adoption of 5G technologies.
The Initiative is grounded in four different lines:
- The deployment of a infrastructure that will support the development of novel 5G solutions,
including a 5G network, and novel AI tools for advanced technological solutions;
- A set of different industry-reaching efforts, passing through workshops, dissemination and
training events, that will facilitate the usage of such an infrastructure by external parties;
- A continuous exploitation of the infrastructure for educational purposes, training a new
generation of engineers particularly attuned to the potentials of the digital wireless society;
- Technical support on demand to specific requests coming from different industries, to smooth the
technical transition to the digital society.
The 5GAIner infrastructure includes resources with very disparate characteristics, creating
an ideal environment for technological innovation and validation. High-end research-grade
resources are leveraged for going from early concept development into proof-of-concept
prototypes which can later go into an end-of-line validation on state-of-the-art
commercial-grade 5G SA equipment. The infrastructure is continuously evolving and open for
collaboration and experimentation increasing the reach of the platform and associated tools.
The IT research team coordinating this laboratory has a broad interest and experience centred
on the problems of network infrastructure, operation and optimisation associated with a
visionary idea of a fully mobile, fully connected society, where information will be on the
tips of the hands of the users, provided by insightful new networking mechanisms. The team
has a long track record of substantial collaboration with Portuguese IT and Telco industry,
in the application of cloud-based technologies, and 5G supportive technologies. This has
been testified by active and key participation in a plethora of national and international
research projects.
Overall, 5GAIner provides a real-life environment for developing, integrating and testing
novel solutions for 5G and beyond technologies. With various use cases already running
(e.g., Industry 4.0, Transportation, Energy), 5GAIner is increasing the 5G awareness of
vertical industries (e.g., Bosch, EFACEC) and has been providing support to national and
international projects (e.g., H2020 5GASP, H2020 5Growth, P2020 Augmanity, Portuguese 5G
mobilizer). As a result, the impact of this reference competence centre is not contained but
spans over a plethora of technologies and applications, acting as an enabler to scientific
innovation in multiple disparate domains.
