5G Testbeds and Trials Programme: complete list of 5G projects

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Initial portfolio of projects

In March 2018, the 6 winners of the use case trials, the initial portfolio of projects from the 5G Testbeds and Trials competition were announced. These projects - led by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), universities and local authorities - represent the best of UK innovation, resources and expertise and will test 5G across a range of applications. By March 2020, the projects were all complete after a total investment of £29 million on these projects.

For more information on the initial portfolio of projects, including benefits and findings, please see the links below:

Urban Connected Communities

In summer 2018 West Midlands Combined Authority was selected as the lead partner for the Urban Connected Communities Project. This led to the creation of West Midlands 5G (WM5G). The 5G Programme will invest over £20 million in this large-scale, 5G pilot across the region, with hubs in Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton.

Case Study: West Midlands leading the way in 5G coverage.

Transport

Major investment has also already been committed to projects looking at road and rail:

Trans-Pennine Initiative (TPI)

The original key objectives of TPI were:
- To trial delivering high capacity fibre to premises using Network Rail’s assets between Manchester and York;
- To provide high speed connectivity (TPI Mast Initiative) to the train utilising the rail corridor between Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds along with new infrastructure and the fibre currently being deployed along the route;
- To create a 5G testbed at Network Rail’s ‘Rail Innovation Development Centre’ (RIDC) at Melton Mowbray.
In August 2018, the government released a Call for Information (CFI) to parties interested in taking part in the high speed connectivity objective. The results showed that although there was interest in the concept of the trial, the market was not prepared to participate on the basis of the available funding. As a result, DCMS has taken the decision not to pursue the planned build of radio infrastructure along the Trans Pennine route.
High capacity fibre and the test bed at RIDC continue to be implemented. Other potential options for a trial along this corridor are being discussed.

Rail Innovation Development Centre (RIDC)

RIDC can be used to deliver relevant product approval to enable radio equipment to be operational within the rail corridor and is an asset to be used for future 5G technology testing on rail.
An Industry Day was held on May 8th 2019. Initial feedback from the day was positive and RIDC is now open and being used to test connectivity applications and opportunities on the rail.
Companies wishing to know more or to use the facility should get in contact.

Roads Research

DCMS carried out feasibility research to determine the potential for investment into connectivity improvements. We worked with Atkins, in partnership with Real Wireless and White Willow, as well as collaborating closely with mobile network operators (MNOs) and Highways England.
Stakeholders provided their perspective on future demand and commercial models to enable improvement of connectivity. The study identified the short and medium-term demand for connectivity, to ensure that the Strategic Road Network is fit for the future.
Following the review of the study it advised that at this stage there is no requirement for further spending of this budget on 5G connectivity for the Strategic Road Network as there are a number of other projects underway, including the DCMS sponsored Autoair at Millbrook and West Midlands 5G Mobility project in the Midlands as well as Highways England Projects. These projects will answer many of the technical questions to deploying on the Strategic Road Network as well as testing and advising on the capabilities of 5G and 5G use cases.
The information from the study has been used to drive the next phases of the above projects as well as other projects and will continue to do so across government as appropriate.

Industrial 5G Testbeds and Trials

The 5G Programme is investing around £6 million for Industrial 5G Testbeds and Trials that will focus on developing and understanding the deployment of 5G in industrial settings starting with manufacturing. The projects will explore use cases such as connected precision manufacturing, VR/AR enhanced automation, and real-time data analysis.
The 5G Programme is also funding additional industrial and logistics projects as part of the 5G Create competition.

Rural Connected Communities

The Rural Connected Communities (RCC) Project is funding seven 5G R&D projects in rural areas across the UK and will invest £30 million over two years: 5G Connected Forest, 5G New Thinking, 5G RuralDorset, 5G Wales Unlocked, Mobile Access North Yorkshire (MANY), Multi Operator Neutral Host (MONeH) and West Mercia Rural 5G (see more information on the projects here alongside the announcement for the industrial projects and the 5G Create competition).

Earlier projects that have been funded and successfully delivered include:

A £16 million investment in creating the 5GUK Test Network
The establishment of UK5G - the national innovation network for the sector
A 5G mapping project developed in coordination with Ordnance Survey.

Security

Work on 5G security has concentrated on 3 key areas:

Establishing a world-class National Telecoms Lab. A secure research facility that will bring together operators, existing and new suppliers, academia and the government to create representative networks in which to research and test new ways of increasing security and interoperability.
Ensuring 5GTT projects are beacons of 5G Security best practice
£10 million has been allocated to work with the National Cyber Security Centre to create capabilities where the security of 5G Networks can be tested and proven.

Shared Outcomes Fund

SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre (SONIC)

The SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre (SONIC) is a joint programme between the Digital Catapult and Ofcom for testing interoperability and integration of open networking solutions, starting with Open RAN.

SONIC will demonstrate and foster an open disaggregated network ecosystem in the UK, of large and small suppliers along with the telecoms industry, helping to develop a supply chain with multiple suppliers for each element in the technology stack. In addition it will enable UK players to maximise their part in the new supply chain as part of an international effort.

Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator (DCIA)

The Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator (DCIA) programme explores the challenges of using publicly owned land, buildings and street furniture to support digital infrastructure and roll out of advanced wireless connectivity.

The programme is funded with £7m from the Shared Outcomes Fund. DCMS are leading delivery, in collaboration with the Department for Transport (DfT).

There are four workstreams:

Digital Asset Management: seeks to support national adoption of online tools which digitalise and automate the process of finding and securing rights-of-use of suitable locations for deployment of advanced wireless equipment.
PFI Contracts: analysing the extent and nature of Public Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts, relating to street furniture assets. This insight is being used to produce best practice guidance for local and regional authorities.
Standard Contracts: building a library of contracts available for local authorities to engage with digital infrastructure providers.
Standards for smart infrastructure: developing publicly available specifications (PAS) for smart lamp posts.

As part of the digital asset management workstream, an open pilot competition was announced on 9th September 2021. This competition will allocate up to £4 million of funding to pilots which support the implementation of digital asset management solutions.

As part of the Digital Asset Management workstream, DCMS has allocated £4 million of funding to eight pilots to support the implementation of digital asset management solutions for mapping and brokerage of publicly owned assets for use in the rollout of wireless communication networks.

The regions and their local authorities funded through the open competition will work with industry partners to pilot digital asset management platforms and to build evidence of how digital mapping and brokerage of assets can benefit mobile network operators and their network delivery partners, users of mobile services (businesses and consumers), and the public sector bodies as the primary providers of property assets for hosting of network equipment.

NEC - NeutrORAN Trial

The project will be used to test and demonstrate a multiple operator, neutral host solution using an Open RAN ecosystem. NEC considers the planned architecture to be scalable and to have potential on a global scale beyond the UK. The project objectives are to reduce costs and drive efficiencies enabling rural communities and businesses to prosper by removing the digital divides that still exist in the UK and the rest of the world.

Fibre in Water

Fibre in Water (FIW) is an open competition, allocating up to £4 million of R&D funding to projects that develop and build a pilot or pilots to facilitate connecting the hardest to reach areas of the UK with advanced fixed and mobile telecoms services and reduce water leakage from potable water pipes.

It will enable innovative technologies in the water industry and ‘future proof’ water and telecommunications infrastructure including de-risking the PSTN switch-off between 2021 and 2025.

This will help to align policy, regulation and commercial interests across five Government departments, multiple agencies as well as the private sector in the water and telecoms industries.

The project was launched on 9th August with the launch event taking place on the 10th. Projects will run up to March 2024.

The aims of FiW are to:

Connecting the hardest to reach areas of the UK with advanced fixed and mobile services (gigabit, 4G, 5G), supporting the UK Gigabit Programme and Shared Rural Network;
Reducing the amount of clean water leakage from the water mains (c. 3bn litres a day, 20% of all clean water);
De-risking the withdrawal of the Public Switched Telephone Network from the water industry which is starting in 2021 and will be completed by 2025;
Supporting digital transformation of the UK water industry; and
Along the way we will look at the feasibility of building a (BEIS) Digital Twin of the UK Water network and enriching the Geospatial Commission’s National Underground Asset Map.

We will announce competition winners in due course.

5G Create

5G Create has awarded £28 million of industry matched funding to fifteen projects which will explore the potential for 5G to support a wide range of sectors over two years. The projects aim to explore and develop new use-cases and 5G technical capabilities, as well as demonstrate sustainability after government funding finishes.

5G Factory of the Future

5G Factory of the Future will lead a large project in Preston that ultimately aims to deliver the RAF’s Tempest future fighter jet in half the time, and to drive UK global manufacturing competitiveness. The project aims to develop integrated solutions to some of the key challenges to deploying 5G technologies in manufacturing, using 5G to test use cases such as robotic assembly, reconfigurable product assembly lines and distributed and shared VR/AR.

Location: Rotherham, North West

5G Festival

5G Festival project will demonstrate how 5G can enable the empowerment of the music industry to bring live festivals and music events to audiences no matter where they are in the world. Using a cutting edge, immersive platform that leverages high bandwidth and ultra-low latency 5G technology, audiences and artists will connect seamlessly across continents, driving new experiences from the home as well as major venues such as the Brighton Dome and the 02 Arena.

Location: Brighton, South East

Smart Junctions 5G

Smart Junctions 5G aims to deliver AI traffic control systems in Manchester to reduce congestion and pollution as well as improving productivity by cutting waiting times at traffic signals. The project aims to use a 5G small cell networks to decrease infrastructure costs for the connection of sensors at every junction, removing the need to mount hardware onto buildings in district centre locations as well as supporting connected bus projects and other mobility based public services.

Location: North West, Manchester

5G Edge-XR

5G Edge-XR will demonstrate how 5G networks, coupled with cloud graphics processing units, could enable people to view immersive sporting events from all angles across a broader range of devices including smartphones, tablets, AR and VR headsets and TVs .

Location: East Anglia

Liverpool 5G Create

Liverpool 5G Create will build a 5G network designed to benefit local NHS, social care services and other public bodies in a post-Covid-19 world. It will use private 5G networks to develop affordable connectivity for remote health and social care, improving future resilience and reducing inequalities that arise from lack of affordable access.

Location: North West, Liverpool

5G Connected and Automated Logistics

5G Connected and Automated Logistics will deliver 5G-connected, autonomous 40-tonne trucks to distribute parts and assemblies across the Nissan plant, linking to many local SMEs in their supply chain. As with 5G FoF, this is about driving operational efficiencies and improving productivity.

Location: Sunderland

Milton Keynes 5G

Milton Keynes 5G will include using driverless shuttles and road vehicles for moving people and goods across the site, autonomous surveillance vehicles and drones for enhancing security, and testing out robots and drones for goods delivery and hospitality use.

Location: South East, Milton Keynes

Eden Universe

Eden Universe in Cornwall will explore how 5G and 360 degree video cameras can enhance the visitor experience. Those who are unable to go to the Eden site in person will be able to experience the exhibits and talks from their home, care home, school or anywhere in the world via a desktop, mobile or virtual reality device and be taken on a real-time virtual reality tour.

Location: South West, South Cornwall

Connected Cowes

Connected Cowes is looking at how 5G technology can create an immersive yacht racing experience for the sailing community and spectators in Cowes and online, and to widen the audience and appeal of the sport. 5G technology will be used to stream real-time virtual reality video from on-board yachts racing at events from Cowes across multiple classes throughout the summer.

Location: South East, Isle of Wight

5G AMC 2

5G AMC 2 explores how 5G can enable the use of data to maximise productivity of construction processes. The project will set up a private 5G network at construction firm BAM Nuttall’s regional office in Kilsyth, Scotland and a construction project in Shetland, using cameras, drones, mixed reality and IoT sensors to monitor construction process and track assets.

Location: Scotland, Shetland and Kilsyth

Live & Wild

Live & Wild: Filming with 5Gpresents a series of real and challenging filming scenarios to test 5G’s capacity to support the needs of the documentary film industry in the UK. Filming will take place in a variety of extreme locations and weather conditions across the UK designed to test 5G’s performance to its limit including, caving in the Yorkshire Dales, sea cliff climbing in North Wales and ultra-running across Britain.

Location: North Ease, Leeds

Project Vista

Project Vista will deliver next generation viewing experiences for event spectators by providing live multi-angle HD video streams and interactive content from the event direct to devices in stadia and across the UK. The end goal is to demonstrate consumer demand and deliver the business case to enable 5G-powered sporting events in the near future.

Location: London

Green Planet

Green Planet AR app will demonstrate additional ways that 5G benefits the public by creating a groundbreaking and entertaining augmented reality (AR) app for mobile phones. This unique immersive experience will offer an exciting new way for audiences of all ages to learn more about the natural world by streaming scientifically accurate plants and creatures streamed into a number of set locations around the UK.

Location: London & South West

5G Ports of Felixstowe

5G Ports of Felixstowe will test the potential of 5G across two use cases: enabling remote-controlled cranes via the transmission of CCTV and deploying internet of things sensors and artificial intelligence to optimise the predictive maintenance cycle of Felixstowe’s 31 quay-side and 82 yard cranes.

Location: East, Suffolk Coastal

5G Logistics

5G Logistics will develop 5G products and services to support operations at Bristol Port and Gravity Smart Campus and demonstrate a smart and dynamic port environment. The project will focus on security, traceability, and tracking of goods within and across extendable virtual boundaries – and between public and private networks.

Location: South West, Bristol

Final Project Reports

If you would like more information about any of the 5G Testbeds and Trials projects, please read their final reports which can be found on the UKTIN resources page.

Future Radio Access Network Competition (FRANC)

Future Radio Access Network Competition (FRANC) is an open competition within the 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme. Up to £36 million of government funding was available.

The aims of the FRANC project are to:

Accelerate the development of high-performance 5G Open RAN solutions that meet UK dense urban requirements by 2025.
Attract new 5G RAN suppliers to conduct R&D in the UK, and foster professional collaborations between potential new entrants into the UK’s public network.
Contribute to the delivery of the 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy’s objectives of disaggregated supply chains, open interfaces by default, and security being a priority in network deployment.

The competition launched in July 2021 with the 10 week competition window closing on the 27th August to a large number of bids.

The following 15 projects were chosen from the competition:

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5G Testbeds and Trials Programme: complete list of 5G projects

Initial portfolio of projects

Urban Connected Communities

Transport

Trans-Pennine Initiative (TPI)

Rail Innovation Development Centre (RIDC)

Roads Research

Industrial 5G Testbeds and Trials

Rural Connected Communities

Security

Shared Outcomes Fund

SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre (SONIC)

Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator (DCIA)

NEC - NeutrORAN Trial

Fibre in Water

5G Create

5G Factory of the Future

5G Festival

Smart Junctions 5G

5G Edge-XR

Liverpool 5G Create

5G Connected and Automated Logistics

Milton Keynes 5G

Eden Universe

Connected Cowes

5G AMC 2

Live & Wild

Project Vista

Green Planet

5G Ports of Felixstowe

5G Logistics

Final Project Reports

Future Radio Access Network Competition (FRANC)

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