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The UK mobile network is working with an Oxford-based Artificial Intelligence company as part of the “DRIVEN” consortium, which plans to deploy a fleet of six inter-communicating autonomous vehicles between Oxford and London.

This 30-month project commenced in April 2017, having been bolstered by an £8.6 million government grant. It will culminate in an end-to-end Level 4 autonomous journey between the two aforementioned UK cities.

Level 4 autonomy means that the cars will perform all essential driving functions and monitoring tasks themselves without any passengers on board. No trial of this complexity has been attempted anywhere in the world at the time of writing.

Smart cars

One of the key issues that the DRIVEN consortium trial will address is the necessary communication and data sharing between connected vehicles, as well as that between the vehicles and external sources such as traffic control systems. This is where O2 comes in, with the mobile operator lending its network to the project in order to transmit the required data.

An O2 spokesperson said: “O2 believes developments in areas including secure data transfer will be the key to future developments in mobility, including congestion relief, car sharing and other innovative schemes. O2 also has a strong track record in machine to machine communication and particularly in driverless cars, including being a core partner of the Greenwich Automated Transport Environment (GATEway) project which has seen driverless vehicles travelling autonomously near The O2 in London.”

Whilst the trials will be using existing mobile network technology, it’s widely felt that 5G will play a vital role in the widespread adoption of autonomous cars over the coming years. 5G’s predicted high data speeds, increased reliability, and low latency will allow self-driving cars to respond in real time to emerging traffic conditions, thus reducing congestion and automobile accidents significantly.

Three has partnered up with tech giant Cisco Jasper to use the company’s powerful Control Center connectivity management platform. This will extend the Three network’s capabilities in the Internet of Things (IoT) which is expected to be a major component of the forthcoming 5G network revolution.

Cisco Jasper’s Control Center platform provides an IoT connectivity management platform for more than 9,000 businesses around the world and it enables those businesses to “rapidly and efficiently launch, manage and monetise their IoT services”.

Three’s adoption of Control Center will enable its own business customers to do just that. It will used for:

Connected Vehicles – The connected car is going to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of 5G network technology. From augmented reality interfaces providing real time information to fully automated vehicles, a reliable, high-capacity, low-latency mobile network will be essential.

Three’s partnership with Cisco Jasper paves the way for such applications among Three’s business customers. As many as 23 of the world’s biggest car manufacturers already use Cisco Jasper for their connected car initiatives.

Asset Security and Automation – Home and commercial property automation, particularly in the realm of security, has played an essential role in the early Internet of Things. Three’s adoption of Control Center is partly a response to the growing demand for such facilities. Cisco Jasper’s platform is already widely used by some of the world’s major building security and automation providers.

Logistics and Transport – Another crucial commercial element of the IoT comes from the optimisation and partial automation of transportation and logistics businesses. Three wants to capitalise on Control Center’s real-time location views and comprehensive historical data to help its customers improve fleet performance.

Kalle Ward, Managing Director EMEAR, IoT Cloud at Cisco Jasper said: “Innovative enterprises in every industry are already utilising Control Center today to enhance their customers’ IoT experiences and generate new, ongoing revenue sources. Cisco Jasper has been powering these Real IoT successes for more than 10 years, and our connectivity management platform helps businesses automate and manage the delivery of their IoT services globally. We are delighted that the Three Group, with its high-speed mobile networks built for data and its multinational footprint, has selected Cisco Jasper as its partner to deliver IoT simplicity.”

Cisco and 5G – Three’s partnership agreement with Cisco specifically relates to the Internet of Things rather than 5G, but the American tech giant has of late been assisting mobile network operators around the world with their 5G rollouts.

At Mobile World Congress in February, for example, the company announced a collaboration with US operator Verizon to build one of the largest 5G proving grounds in the world. This involves Cisco contributing key elements of its 5G-ready mobile architecture to Verizon’s 5G pilots across 11 US markets.

Cisco also offers what it calls a ‘5G Unified Enablement Platform’ to networks and businesses, enabling them to do things like support a number of 5G services as well as facilitating the move to a 5G-ready network with minimal disruption or complexity.

BT and Huawei will conduct research into how network slicing could be used to support 5G services. Building on their partner agreement which started last December, BT and Huawei have revealed their first joint effort will be researching network slicing. The research will be conducted at the BT Labs near Ipswich.

What is network slicing? 5G networks will be partitioned to deliver specific services, whether it’s for applications, devises, customers or operators. It allows multiple virtual networks to be created on top of a common shared physical infrastructure, which are then customised to meet specific needs.

BT suggest that network slicing can be used at a live music event so that concertgoers can take a video and stream it to their contacts. Live video footage can then be broadcast and users can enjoy the concert in their own homes via live feeds and virtual reality (VR) headsets.

This highlights BT’s interest in 5G is largely focused around video streaming. BT launched its first IPTV services in 2006 and now has 1.5m subscribers. Its BT Sport channel has over 5m customers and noticeably with all the TV adverts, BT has been pushing hard to challenge Sky Sport’s dominance in the market.

“Customers are increasingly demanding converged networks that deliver a mix of flexibility, reliability and optimisation. It’s our role to ensure that our fixed and mobile networks deliver the best possible experience for customers regardless of the demands placed on them.” Howard Watson, CEO of Technology, Service & Operations at BT

Yang Chaobin, President of 5G Product Line from Huawei said: “There are two different ways to realise the digitalisation of society. The first one is to have dedicated infrastructure for different requirements and the second one is to have a common infrastructure serving different vertical industries. I believe the latter, which uses network slicing, will be critical to effective delivery of services and improved efficiency.”

The two giants haven’t specifically suggested what research they’ll conduct, however, they plan to demonstrate their findings in Barcelona next year at the Mobile World Congress.

Telefonica UK is certain that the economic impact of 5G will be strong enough to overtake fibre broadband by 2026.

The network giant studied the potential effects of 5G on the post-Brexit economy and one of the most interesting conclusions of Tech-onomy was: Measuring the impact of 5G on the nation’s economic growth is that the UK will reach a ‘tipping point’ in 2026, with the economic benefits of 5G exceeding those of fibre broadband.

Within a decade, O2 thinks the combined value of 4G and 5G connectivity will add £18.5 billion to the economy, compared to £1bn less for traditional broadband. O2 also predicts that this country’s “national 5G infrastructure will directly contribute an additional £7 billion a year to the UK economy just six years from rollout”. What’s more, 5G will deliver these benefits in half the time it took for fibre broadband to make a similar impact.

Besides this direct boost to the economy, O2’s report claims that there will be a ‘ripple effect’ from 5G’s introduction that will indirectly boost the UK’s productivity by an extra £3 billion a year.

The key advantage 5G will have over fixed broadband will be its inherent mobility. This will enable the formation of entirely new services and industries, including 3D video calls and a range of new smart home and health applications, among other things.

“Mobile is the invisible infrastructure that can drive the economy of post-Brexit Britain. The future of 5G promises a much quicker return on investment than fibre broadband, and a range of unprecedented benefits: from telecare health applications to smarter cities to more seamless public services” Mark Evans, CEO, O2

Big news! BT has announced it’s teaming up with Nokia to research the use of 5G to enable live virtual reality (VR) broadcasts. Why? 5G promises to provide significantly higher bandwidth and lower latency than current 4G networks which will open up new possibilities for broadcasters looking to provide fully-immersive live entertainment.

VR broadcasts would work very well for sport and now that BT has extended its rights to broadcast live Champions League, it’s clear to easy to see why they’re keen to push the frontiers of sports broadcasting.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year, BT and Nokia demonstrated how 5G-type technologies could be used to transmit high-quality VR footage by using VR headsets to watch a replay of Tottenham Hotspur and CSK Moscow in a UEFA Cup match. Viewers wearing VR headsets were able to experience being seated in a ‘virtual VIP box’ within the football stadium, granting them a uniquely immersive viewpoint from which to watch the match.

In particular BT was able to rely on Nokia’s 5G FIRST solution, which includes Nokia Air Scale Massive MIMO adaptive antennas and Cloud-RAN implementations based around Nokia AirFrame, to transmit the football match over a super-fast wireless mobile network connection. With BT’s acquisition of the UK’s biggest mobile operator, EE, in August 2016, the UK telecoms giant clearly sees 5G connectivity as a major component of its broadcasting ambitions – thanks to Nokia’s pioneering VR camera and 5G technology, we have a vision of what the future could look like.

Howard Watson, CEO of BT Technology, Service & Operations, said: “5G and VR are both technologies with enormous potential. This exciting joint research with Nokia is allowing us to explore how they can work together to provide a transformative experience for our customers in the future. Drawing on the high bandwidths and low latencies of 5G will allow us to go beyond the already compelling VR experiences that are possible over 4G, and cater for more interactive future VR content which will place people right at the heart of the action.”

If you’d like some details on 5G, feel free to message me and ask any relevant questions you may have. I or colleagues will be able to advise.

Have you ever wondered how construction sites get connected? Before I started here, it totally threw me, how do site teams communicate!? IT set-ups, broadband, WiFi and VoIP are considered “after-thoughts”, even by IT departments! It REALLY confuses me because this is the biggest issue all contractors face.

So far this week, I’ve driven about 250 miles, met with IT Directors at a number of medium-sized construction companies and closed all my meetings with a 14-day trial of Tardis 4G.

Tardis 4G is the obvious choice for construction contractors and residential developers because we can provide same-day service and at worst, you and your team will be connected in 2 days – not bad, ay!?

“We have 300 sites live at any one time and the majority of those will eventually go to an ADSL provider however, the time before ADSL arrives is always a nightmare. We found Tardis 3G/4G to be a great solution for us. We’ve used it on hundreds of sites in the last 4 years including Crossrail and London Underground. To begin with, we only used the system to provide internet, but we have up-scaled so it connects to our corporate VPN (Virtual Private Network) and into the WAN (Wide Area Network). This enables all our professionals to access files at head office, gives them full server access and means that we can remotely administer user accounts which has been very efficient.” IT Installation Manager, Costain

If you think your company needs a different approach to IT, whether it be internally or out on sites and marketing suites, Tardis 4G has all the answers, very cost-effectively

I’ve recently noticed a number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) advertising better connection speeds than main carriers like BT, TalkTalk and Virgin, but how? All third-party suppliers (including Tardis) use the same physical circuits which means if you’re in an area that has slow broadband, there’s a reason for it. Main carriers won’t spend money on local infrastructure because it’s a cost, not an investment. I’m sure you agree that all companies require a good and reliable connection but this isn’t always possible due to geography.

If your business currently has a slow internet connection, you can switch provider or if you’re just curious to see what’s available, I’ve listed several open-market broadband options…

BT options available:

1) ADSL2+: This is the enhanced ADSL service where most download speeds will be around 20mbps. Ideal for SMEs, construction sites, sales & marketing suites.

2) Fibre 40/10: This solution will provide your office 40mbps download and 10mbps upload. Ideal as your first upgrade from ADSL2+ and suitable for a growing SME.

3) Fibre 80/20: This is the best fibre service from BT. Your office will benefit from 80mbps download and 20mbps upload. Comparable to Virgin’s Business 100.

Virgin packages are:

1) Business 50: Basic business broadband from Virgin give you 50mbps download and 15mbps upload. Comparable to BT’s Fibre 40/10. Ideal as your first upgrade from ADSL2+ and suitable for a small business.

2) Business 100: This service gives your business 100mbps download and 15mbps upload. Comparable to BT’s Fibre 80/20.

3) Business 200: Your business will receive 200mbps download and 15mbps upload. Ideal for an IT business looking to host a handful of servers plus some virtual machines.

4) Business 300: This package will supply your business with 300mbps download and 15mbps upload. In my opinion, this package is a waste of time. No-one needs this level of speed, and if you think you do, for the level of activity you think your business does, the upload speed won’t be enough. (Better off with a leased line.)

Other solutions:

1) Tardis 4G: We supply business-grade broadband to many SME’s across the UK. It’s a lot cheaper than conventional methods and we provide next-day delivery. You literally plug it in and you’re connected. The cost difference is based on data allowances which vary from 10Gb/month up to 1.2Tb/month and best of all, 30 day rolling contracts! Prices from £27.08pm +VAT.

“We’ve waited for over 2 years to get anything from BT and even worse, Virgin won’t install lines in this area. As a temporary fix, we used a MiFi device but it always cut-out – never using one again! We had no option but to look for an alternative service – without connectivity, we have no business, it’s as harsh as that. I came across Tardis 4G a couple of years ago and we’ve not looked back. Office Manager, Letchmore Construction

2) Lease Lines: These managed circuits provide an un-contended super-fast broadband connection which means your download and upload speeds are symmetric. You can buy from BT and Virgin – each provider can offer 10mbp to 10gbps. Prices start from around £400pm +VAT.

P.S. If you’ve got this far down the page, it might be worth you knowing Tardis can supply all of the above packages at more cost-effective rates. How? We have priority partnerships with the main carriers. To add, some packages can be supplied on a rolling monthly contract (like Tardis 4G) and others can be up to 3 years terms – you choose.

5G is the next generation of mobile communication technology and it’ll be a flexible infrastructure capable of handling our ever-increasing demand for mobile data. The accumulated data by Tardis in the last 24 months proves that in both our personal and professional lives, data utilisation has increased five-fold which proves the importance of the UK’s role in enhanced 4G LTE+ (and 5G) technology. Tardis are proud to be on the 5G journey alongside BT, Vodafone, Huawei and others to explore existing technology and discover new hyper-fast connectivity infrastructure to ensure we’re prepared to support the Internet of Things (IoT) and more.

I’ll be visiting the 5GIC throughout 2017 which will involve some learning, research, more learning, development, extended learning, and testing. I’m responsible and spearheading Tardis’ involvement with Professors and IoT Research Professionals from the likes of EE and Samsung – this will encourage Tardis to enhance the opportunity for small businesses connectivity and I’m proud to say that with a good existing relationship with all the major networks and some leading manufactures, there is much to learn on both sides of the coin – stay tuned.

If you’d like to know why I am involved or have a natural desire to learn more about the Tardis & 5GIC collaboration, please get in touch – I welcome your call.