US Ignite has finalized plans and will shortly begin construction on a dedicated 4G/5G network for IoT research at United States Army Base, Fort Carson in Colorado. The network is part of the Fort Carson Smart Transportation Testbed, a $4 million project run by US Ignite, with funding and management from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center.
Partners in deployment include network design firm Tilson, and communications technology provider JMA Wireless. Federated Wireless is contributing its Spectrum Controller, which the network will use to access shared Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS).
The new network at Fort Carson will initially support the upload of vehicle data from the Army installation’s Mountain Express Automated Shuttle, as well as video traffic from route-monitoring cameras. Longer term, the network is designed for broader IoT research – including environmental analysis with air quality and weather sensors – that is planned as part of a collaborative initiative among Fort Carson, the city of Colorado Springs, and the University of Colorado Boulder.
“Building smart bases and smart communities requires advanced network infrastructure. This network is foundational for the early IoT use cases we’re testing at Fort Carson, but it’s also an asset for future research and development efforts targeted at improving public safety, services, and quality of life,” said Scott Turnbull, Director of Technology for US Ignite. “We’re very lucky to partner with Tilson, JMA, and Federated Wireless for deployment, and look forward to the connectivity and new capabilities this network will enable.”
The Fort Carson research network will support 4G and 5G traffic over the CBRS band. This includes:
- At least 250 Megabits per second (Mbps) throughput
- Support for over 1,000 simultaneous device connections
- 5G and 4G powered by JMA’s software-based, ORAN-compliant XRAN solution
- CBRS access supported by the Federated Wireless Spectrum Controller
“We’re thrilled to partner with US Ignite, JMA Wireless, and Federated Wireless to bring cutting edge 5G to Fort Carson,” said Tilson CEO Joshua Broder. “This is where the rubber meets the road in our efforts to innovate in 5G, autonomous transportation, and smart cities. We all expect to learn a great deal through this pilot that we can apply on bigger projects to come.”
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