IMDA to open up 4 5G testbeds to all businesses

ALL businesses that wish to trial 5G use cases will now be able to do so at 4 testbeds located at Maritime Drone Estate, Singapore Science Park, PIXEL and Sentosa.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced the opening of 4 testbeds to all businesses on Tuesday as it aims to help companies develop, adopt and commercialise 5G solutions locally.

To do so, IMDA has partnered the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and CapitaLand Investment (CLI) to make 5G available to all businesses at Maritime Drone Estate and Singapore Science Park. Previously, 5G was made available only to select projects.

Depending on the 5G test cases to be tested, businesses can choose specific testbeds to deploy their applications.

"For example, the 5G open testbed at MDE focuses on drone and maritime applications, CLI on smart estates applications, and Pixel on Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality and content production," IMDA said.

Companies keen to innovate and develop 5G commercial solutions at these testbeds can tap IMDA's S$30 million 5G innovation programme launched in January 2021.

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IMDA has been working with different companies to pilot 5G use cases.

Following a successful pilot by IMDA and PSA of automated guided vehicles and automated cranes, PSA will now partner a mobile operator to support this application at its Pasir Panjang Terminal and Tuas Port. PSA is also exploring initiatives like smart grid and autonomous delivery and cargo handling operations.

At MPA's Maritime Drone Estate, Volocopter - a German air taxi startup - is also exploring potential 5G applications like downloading vehicle flight logs during vehicle turnaround, the connectivity of distributed ground sensors, and the connectivity of its Volocopter aircraft during flight.

In her opening keynote address at the Global System for Mobile Communications Association Mobile 360 Asia-Pacific Conference, Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo also announced the Government Technology Agency's first set of 5G trials on Sentosa.

These include autonomous robots deployed by construction company Gammon in collaboration with the Building and Construction Authority to conduct real-time construction-quality control checks, as well as the remote operation of autonomous road-sweeping trucks.

Mrs Teo noted that the trials will allow agencies to gather and process large amounts of data in real-time and enhance their situational awareness.

"What we learn here could potentially be applied to use cases in other public service domains to benefit people and businesses, and realise Singapore's vision to be a smart nation," she said.