The University of Tennessee and AT&T announced yesterday they are working together to accelerate research and development on the school’s Knoxville campus. Projects will center on AT&T 5G development using millimeter wave spectrum (5G+) and Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) technology. The research is expected to provide assistance in serving several industries including defense, public safety, healthcare, education, entertainment and banking.
The University is the hub of a research community that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Tennessee Research Park at Cherokee Farm providing a faculty group from multiple departments in the school’s Tickle College of Engineering. AT&T will provide a high-speed private network on campus that is designed to bring ultra-low latency, ultra-high speeds and better capacity for faculty, students, administration and other researchers.
Planned use cases at the UT campus powered by AT&T 5G+ and MEC include:
- Bringing 5G to rural areas. The use of 5G+ sensing technology will be applied to supporting precision agriculture technologies by allowing for real-time monitoring of the soil and crop health.
- Expanding academic and training offers for students and enabling immersive learning experiences such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to render new environments for student experimentation and learning.
- Developing millimeter wave radars to see through physical barriers. With input from the military, the researchers will explore the use of millimeter wave radars to help warfighters to “see through” physical barriers such as walls. This solution would include a portable communications system that captures and shares images through a wall, allowing soldiers with connected devices to exchange this information with each other in near real-time to help protect and defend against potential threats.
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