To implement 5G networks we will deploy the latest radio technologies to ensure high speed, low latency, and enhanced services. We envisage that 5G will bring opportunities for innovations such as networks of networks and that the integration of unlicensed spectrum (such as Wifi) will further augment the coverage and operation of these networks.
This theme will focus on the Orkney Islands, a group of 70 islands, of which only 20 are permanently inhabited. It is the second most poorly connected part of the UK, making it the perfect place to trial connectivity that must work in the most rural or isolated areas.
Use cases include:
- Community Mobile Broadband
- We are testing a range of different technologies, including low cost solutions, to help tackle ‘not spots’ and deliver connectivity to isolated communities around Orkney.
- LiFi
- We’ve installed test equipment, including solar panels, on a lighthouse and the roofs of nearby homes to trial an experimental method that uses light to transmit data in place of radio waves or fibre cables. Orkney’s famed weather patterns that can pack all four seasons into a single day make the islands an ideal place to develop a better understanding about how this technology works in practice.
- OpenRoaming
- Enables seamless, secure, and automatic connection, even as you move between different Wi-Fi networks. Passengers landing at the ferry terminal in Kirkwall will be able to use the same Wi-Fi connection credentials once, and trust to get online at key points of interest across the island – from the tourist buses to Kirkwall high street.
