CW 5G testbed proving future technology for British businesses

Press Release published by Cambridge Wireless, under 5G

Four companies showcase exciting practical 5G benefits to UK plc

  • Autonomous vehicles with remote control capability, optimising transportation for people and goods
  • Immersive healthcare education and training utilising Extended Reality (XR) technology
  • High-precision measurement for smart manufacturing
  • Hybrid-connected synchronised robotic logistics for warehouses

[Cambridge, UK, 20 June 2022]

Four innovative UK companies developing technology in the areas of self-driving cars, robots for warehouses, healthcare education and smart manufacturing, are taking their capabilities to the next level and accelerating these in CW’s private 5G network, Cambridge,UK.

As part of a project to realise the transformative benefits of 5G for business, all four tech companies participated in a three-month research and development accelerator run by CW (Cambridge Wireless – the leading wireless technology membership organisation).

The companies in the program are:

Conigital – a British driverless vehicle company, automating the way people and goods move, through a vision of greener, more efficient mobility, for all

i3 Simulations – an immersive training and education solutions company, specialising in healthcare training using Extended Reality (XR) technology

Renishaw – a global, high precision metrology and healthcare technology group, with more than 5,000 staff, best known for coordinate-measuring machines and machine tool products

PHINXT Robotics – a London-based early stage business, that develops hybrid-connected robotic logistics platforms, aiming to bring synchronised robotics to every warehouse.

For the past 12 weeks, these companies have worked at the CW testbed in Cambridge Science Park, utilizing this 5G private network to safely test, challenge and optimise new concepts and solutions to unlock the value that 5G technology can enable.

This is the third accelerator program that CW have run – which has enabled the team to analyse cost and commercial advantages with business coaching and mentoring from the specialist group assembled.

“The accelerator has allowed access to a private 5G network and configured for our specific needs, with expert support enabling us to configure and assess our self-driving and tele-operation system to validate our assumptions on performance. Testing our solution in a live public environment would not have been possible without this support and infrastructure.”
Tom Robinson, Technical Director, Conigital

"The accelerator has formed the backbone of our research and development towards i3 Connect, the service we plan to launch powered by streaming technologies. This will revolutionise the way that healthcare training is delivered to medical professionals, making it affordable and more accessible. The accelerator has been instrumental in bringing together our technology and strategy in such a short space of time."
Devi Kolli, Chief Executive Officer, i3 Simulations

“Small and medium-sized warehouses struggle to embrace robotic automation because of the associated IT complexity. 5G allows us to run our entire platform in the cloud and that's a game changer! We have wanted to explore this opportunity for a long time and the accelerator gave us the chance to work with the best possible partners we could hope for.”
Yanwen Chen, CEO, PHINXT ROBOTICS

Abhi Naha, Chief Commercial Officer at CW, is pleased to see the testbed participants make the most of the technology and advice on offer: “5G brings more than super high performance and connectivity for our smart phones; it also brings super low power, reliable and fast communications for business-critical and safety real-time operations, such as remote control.”

“We’re delighted to share how the businesses have used our independent 5G testbed to bring their research, development and deployment of 5G-based solutions into real-life, practical situations, including fully road-testing using the testbed’s new outdoor reach – all adding to the exciting future of UK plc.”

The CW 5G testbed accelerator, is a proven facility, providing access to businesses who wish to take advantage of the benefits 5G can bring to their organisations. They are doing this in a fully functional end-to-end private 5G network with indoor and outdoor coverage – this program enables a whole new world of interconnected devices to talk to each other through the Internet of Things (IoT).

“One of the key outcomes of the accelerator for Renishaw is that we have been able to take real world measurements of 5G transmission timings and compare these against our existing system, enabling us to directly quantify the difference and understand the performance of 5G today”.
Mike Gray, Senior Electronics Design Engineer

The details:
The CW 5G private testbed, housed within the Cambridge Science Park, is fully operational and features:

  • a fully functional E2E private 5G network with indoor and outdoor coverage in the 3.4-3.7GHz frequency band
  • now expanded to incorporate c-IoT support for sensor-based networks.

Entrants onto the accelerator program have access to:

  • 5G enabled devices such as CPE, handsets, VR glasses, modules and modems available for use
  • support to integrate new hardware, software and applications where required
  • technical experts from CW to help define and run the use cases
  • commercial and business consultants from CW to assist on the business case and potential channels to market
  • introduction and engagement with the CW member network relating to vertical industry sectors
  • training, workshops and events.

To see output, outcomes and video summaries from the previous three-month accelerators – both held in 2021 – visit the CW website here.

For further information, please contact CW CCO Abhi Naha.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors

About CW

Media contact
Abhi Naha

Images
Available hi-res on request. Contact Patricia Chan.

CW is the leading international community for companies involved in the research, development and application of wireless and mobile, internet, semiconductor and software technologies. With an active community of over 1000 technology companies, ranging from major network operators and device manufacturers to innovative start-ups and universities, CW stimulates debate and collaboration, harnesses and shares knowledge, and helps to build connections between academia and industry.

About PHINXT Robotics
PHINXT Robotics is building a scalable platform enabling interoperability among robotic hardware of different types and from different manufacturers.

Its patented technology allows for hybrid connectivity, enabling robots and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) to stay synchronised even without a central hub, meaning they can safely optimise tasks between themselves in real-time without human intervention nor the internet, and even complete their task backlogs if the central hub is compromised.

About Conigital
Conigital are a British, driverless vehicle company automating the way people and goods move in some of the world's busiest and most complex environments. They are on a mission to disrupt the transport industry through a vision of greener, more efficient mobility for all.

Conigital are lead partners in the International Connected Autonomous Vehicle (ICAV) Cluster (www.icavcluster.com) bringing together major movers and shakers in this emerging industry.
https://www.conigital.io/

About Renishaw
Renishaw plc is a British engineering company based in Wotton-under-Edge, England. The company specialises in measurement, motion control, healthcare, spectroscopy and manufacturing and is best known for its coordinate-measuring machines and machine tool products.
https://www.renishaw.com/

About i3 Simulations
i3 Simulations is an immersive healthcare simulations company based in Luton, UK, with representation in the US, India, and Singapore. We are on a mission to collaboratively create immersive, interactive, and intelligent medical training solutions, that are scalable and repeatable, to improve human performance and reduce clinical error in the real world.

Our products are available in 75+ medical institutions in 30+ countries worldwide and growing, and we strive to bring the latest in cutting-edge technology to the forefront of medical simulations.
https://i3simulations.com/

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