Southern Sweden and specifically the Lund region have a strong historical connection to development and research in telecommunications and related fields. In Lund, there are many players who develop products and services that are world leaders in areas that are directly linked to telecommunications or have strong benefits from using it in their products and services. However, at present, there is no open advanced 5G and 6G testbed in the region that allows testing in a public environment.

In contrast, advanced 5G test beds are available at Ericsson Garage and Lund University of Technology, as well as an established IoT testbed run by Future by Lund. This is what the actors in the planning project want to build on and the long-term aim is to create a larger open and public test bed by connecting the test beds. The interconnection of the two test beds can provide a basis for players to develop and test 5G and 6G products and services.

Since 2017, Future by Lund has developed and operated an open IoT testbed in Lund. The testbed covers the municipality of Lund, although there are some limitations in coverage depending on the specific communication technologies used. Over the years, about 50 different tests and pilots have been carried out within the framework of the testbed, and several of these have led to commercialization in the form of new products, services and collaborations with participating actors. Over 60 different actors have been involved in the construction and implementation of the tests. Future by Lund has also established efficient processes to quickly manage new tests and integrate the necessary components and technologies, enabling continued use and development within the test bed.

The proposed solution in Lund is unique as it is based on an operator-free network. This open 5G+/6G test bed will also connect with the similar research test bed operated by Lund University of Technology and become a step in between research and commercial networks, which will be able to accelerate the development of new services and products based on 5G+/6G communication. Operator-free running allows you to test solutions such as Neutral Host Networks and change network parameters in a much freer way when you do not share core networks with commercial networks.

One aim is also to prepare a roll-out plan for infrastructure that needs to be established. It will also be important to gather stakeholders interested in the possibilities that the test bed can offer and look at the governance and processes to be able to offer an effective 5G/6G testbed. The goal of the project is also to create a basis for a larger investment in future calls within future communication networks and test beds.

The project is related to NextG2.com, a competence centre around 6G at Lund University of Technology funded by the Advanced Digitalisation Programme, which works to develop next-generation communication technologies.

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Planning project open 5G+/6G test bed in public environment.

The total budget of the project: 700 000 kr

Financier: Vinnova

Project Manager: Anders Trana, Future City of Lund

Project Time: 241201 to 20250530

Partners to the project: Lund Municipality, Lund University — LTH, Lund University - LU Collaboration, Real Estate Owner Brunnshög and that dialogue has been initiated with about ten major players in Lund.

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