SNOB-5G

5G networks demand the massive implementation of Small Cells in cities to meet the challenging bandwidth, capacity and latency requirements of innovative urban services. In order to address these requirements efficiently, and in a cost-effective manner, Operators and Tower Companies must take advantage of new technology, which represents a significant challenge in network planning as optical fibre, the preferred medium, may not always be available demands additional constructions for its installation. Given its importance, the deployment and expansion of 5G networks should not depend on the availability of wired connections to support backhaul communication. Although wireless links are commonly used in fixed network topologies they may not be always efficient enough to support the envisioned 5G networks and services. SNOB-5G will overcome these obstacles by establishing a high-bandwidth wireless backhaul between 5G radio units.

With the application of AI, these systems will become fully autonomous and work in a mesh topology, connecting to others in the vicinity, if a specific wireless link does not provide the required Quality of Service, or has been shut down for unknown reasons. This will allow the design of a truly highly resilient network with no point of failure that offers great Quality of Service even in urban areas with a high density of devices. The backhaul network must be autonomous, self-organised and resilient to support critical features of 5G such as edge-based and SDN with excellent levels of security and privacy. Ubiwhere will be leading SNOB-5G with the cooperation of Instituto de Telecomunicações (Aveiro, Portugal), the Center for Informatics and Systems of the University of Coimbra and the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT (Cambridge, USA).

With the support of

Co-funded by