Arcep is once again extending the 5G experimentation window in the 3.8 – 4.0 GHz band for companies wishing to experiment with new use cases. The extension runs until December 31, 2024 “to allow other experiments and, if necessary, extend current experiments” notes the Authority, which specifies “to note a continued sustained demand for experimenting with use cases”.
In March 2022, Arcep opened this experimentation window whose objective is to enable organizations to take ownership of 5G from both a technological and regulatory point of view.
Since March 2022, Arcep has issued 81 authorizations recalls the Authority, which “draws a positive assessment of this window, and notes the diversity of the actors represented, covering various sectors of the economy (industry, energy, health or even events), and this in several regions of the territory.
Numerous tests in the region
According to the experimentation map proposed by Arcep, Orange is testing new equipment such as core network, antenna system and 5G terminals in Charbonnières-les-Bains (69), not far from Lyon. On the Digital Region Campus, the operator’s 5G Lab supports start-ups, SMEs and industrial ETIs in the appropriation of new mobile services requiring very low latency, local data processing (edge computing) or guaranteed quality of service for the most critical application cases (network slicing).
In Balma, near Toulouse, another Orange 5G Lab is preparing, with its partners, for the arrival of connected and autonomous vehicles. The objective is as much to detect moving “objects”, such as pedestrians or bicycles, as to orchestrate traffic.
In Palaiseau, in Essonne, the CEA aims, with its PI5G project, to accelerate the development of products and services combining augmented reality technologies and 5G for industry 4.0. Three types of use cases have been identified: 3D telepresence, immersive telerobotics and immersive simulation. Still at Paris-Saclay, EDF is also studying possible synergies between 5G and augmented reality, but for its own needs.
The East of France concentrates health-related experiments. In Saint-Martin-d’Hères, near Grenoble, the Franco-German 5G Forum project must highlight the contributions of private 5G within operating theaters. The new standard must ensure the interoperability of medical devices and thus reduce risks during surgical operations.
The Franco-German 5G tandem is also involved in the 5G-OR project carried out at the IHU in Strasbourg. Here again, thanks to the coverage of a private 5G network, it is a question of creating a new generation of communicating, robotic and data-driven operating theaters, in order to carry out personalized and secure minimally invasive interventions.