The first 5G call on a trial network using a fully indigenously-developed telecom equipment was made at IIT Madras yesterday. The symbolic call, made by Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, was on end-to-end 5G network that has been designed and developed in the country.
The development comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the country's first 5G test-bed, developed as a collaborative project by eight premier Indian institutes led by IIT Madras, to enable startups and industry players to test and validate their products locally and reduce dependence on foreign facilities.
"We are proud of the IIT-Madras team which has developed the 5G test pad which will provide huge opportunities to the entire 5G development ecosystem and the Hyperloop initiative," the minister said.
What is this 5G test bed project?
Aatmanirbhar 5G 🇮🇳Successfully tested 5G call at IIT Madras. Entire end to end network is designed and developed in India. pic.twitter.com/FGdzkD4LN0May 19, 2022
The 'Indigenous 5G Testbed' project is a long term effort with a team of 50+ researchers/engineers based out of IIT-M campus. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is funding the large scale 5G project with the aim of building a test bed that closely resembles a real-world 5G deployment. This testbed could become a basis for many commercial deployments.
This project is for creating a 5G prototype and testing platform under the guidance of IIT-M faculty. The project's goal is to deliver an end-to- end 5G testbed comprising 5G BS and UE nodes that support enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), Ultra low latency communication (URLLC), and massive MTC including NB IoT services. The operating frequency includes both sub 6 GHz and mmwave frequencies. This involves designing and fabricating multiple high-end components such as baseband processing units, remote radio heads, RF modules, core network, network interconnects and baseband algorithms and software.
The hardware, firmware and software have also been developed for the 5G base station in India. The 5G base station forms the radio access network (RAN) part of the 5G system. The base station is connected to the core network on one side on an IP network and the user equipment (cell phones) on the radio side.
Top Indian institutes and startups such as IITD, IITH, IITK, IITB, IISC, Sameer, CEWiT and IITM are involved in this project with IITM/CEWiT being the integrator and the lead of the project.
The testbed has been set up at a cost of around Rs 220 crore and will be available at 5 different locations.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has confirmed that 5G services will launch in India in 2022. The DoT has also revealed that the 5G services will be made available in 13 Indian cities in the beginning. It will then be rolled out in remaining cities.
