Harwell Science and Innovation Campus deploys private 5G connectivity

Looking to empower what it calls a diverse research and development community at one of the UK’s leading science and innovation hubs, Oxfordshire County Council has selected Vodafone to build and manage a 5G standalone mobile private network (MPN) for the renowned Harwell Campus.

Government, academia and industry work together at the Harwell site to solve what the stakeholders describe as “critical problems facing our planet”. It’s known for its laboratories, startups and research institutions, such as the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT) facility, which hosts a 5G/6G hub.

The hub works on setting the standards for integrating satellites with terrestrial networks, as well as drawing technology and product roadmaps, through its space for 5G/6G and sustainable connectivity programme.

Harwell sees MPNs facilitating the creation of specialised services that are not feasible on public networks, thereby fostering innovation in sectors such as manufacturing, transport and logistics, energy, and healthcare. This, it said, allows for advanced use cases including asset tracking, drone detection, machine-to-machine connectivity, condition monitoring, and augmented and virtual reality, among others.

The private 5G network is designed to provide secure high-speed, low-latency, high-bandwidth wireless connectivity that enables a high density of internet of things (IoT) devices to gather and process data from multiple sources. This is designed to optimise manufacturing and assembly, control of production in real time and many other enhanced capabilities that improve productivity.

It will also aim to enable seamless handover of internet protocol (IP) traffic such as voice and video calls, as people move from one building to another, supporting customisation of performance and characteristics to meet specific connectivity needs.

Vodafone will begin work on the project over the coming weeks, and the project is being carried out on behalf of England’s Connected Heartland (ECH), a 5G Innovation Region encompassing the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Central Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. Coordinated by Oxfordshire County Council – and funded by the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – it’s working to accelerate advanced wireless adoption for economic, social and environmental benefits.

The project at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus is funded by central government, and will also look to showcase how advanced wireless connectivity can benefit advanced manufacturing industry.

Barbara Ghinelli, director of innovation clusters and Harwell Campus at UKRI-STFC, said: “Harwell, as the first science and innovation campus project in England’s Connected Heartland [ECH] programme, is an ideal fit for this pioneering project. I am particularly excited that this project can serve as a framework for implementing 5G at other science parks across the ECH region, benefitting UK industry.”

Claire Harris, head of small, medium and enterprise business at Vodafone UK, said: “This initiative will not only boost efficiency and productivity, but also foster the development of new use cases. The enhanced connectivity will empower businesses and research institutions to thrive, driving UK economic growth and technological advancement.”

Explaining how his agency could benefit form the new infrastructure, Antonio Franchi, head of space for 5G/6G at the ESA at Harwell Campus, said: “The new network will help advance ESA’s efforts in terrestrial and non-terrestrial network integration. This infrastructure will augment our research into 5G and 6G solutions, aiming to improve productivity and enable applications in transport, autonomous vehicles and energy. We look forward to seeing the people and businesses in Harwell Campus benefit from this advanced connectivity.”