Orange and the CAMPUS Research Institute of UPB open the first 5G laboratory in Romania

The 5G Lab is part of an international initiative by Orange that aims to support  economic players and researchers in discovering the value, benefits and opportunities brought  by 5G and to develop solutions that will make a difference in a digital economy. 

The 5G Lab, hosted in the CAMPUS Research Institute, is equipped with technologies that will  be available in the commercial network in the future, but currently can only be tested in a  laboratory environment: 

▪ 5G Standalone Private Mobile Radio - a core component of the 5G infrastructure; ▪ 5G New Radio - the radio access component of the 5G infrastructure; ▪ Open RAN and Open CORE components based on the separation of the software from  

the hardware equipment allowing the virtualization of the functionality of the radio  network or the core network and have the ability to run the system on CoTS  (Commercial-of-the-Shelf) equipment and open interfaces; 

▪ Edge Computing plays a key role as a technology that reduces the distance between  users (applications) and services (data) and facilitates guaranteed latencies and  throughputs, as required by services and applications. 

The advanced telecommunications architecture available in the 5G Lab supports the digitization  of several economic sectors with the help of 5G, such as agritech, smart cities, autonomous  cars, transport and logistics, e-health, cyber security, green technology, and many others.  Several Romanian companies, startups and researchers are already carrying out 5G projects 

with a focus on the safety and health of citizens, remote coordinated river and maritime  transport, urban mobility, precision agriculture and the future of collaboration in Industry 4.0. 

On the laboratory's website, 5glab.orange.ro, several calls for projects and collaborations will be  opened, encouraging all interested parties to take advantage of the open infrastructure and the  expertise of the laboratory team. There will be 3 types of calls for projects: for companies, for  startups and for research. 

The launch in Romania of the 5G Lab is part of a bigger initiative developed by Orange Group,  and involves launching 9 Orange 5G laboratories across Europe. These labs aim to help  economic players to better understand the opportunities, value and benefits of 5G. Companies  and start-ups are able to test their current solutions and services and think about new uses  while taking advantage of an ecosystem to co-innovate and start changing their business model  and processes. 

"Today, Orange offers the best commercial connectivity services, but we know that in order to  maintain the highest standards we must be one step ahead. Through the 5G Lab, we are 

bringing to the present, in a laboratory environment, a network architecture unique in Romania, that is open for testing. The innovation and research projects we carry out allow us to discover  together with our customers and partners how the networks of the future can contribute to the  creation of advanced digital services and enhanced user experience, the improvement of  processes, a better management of resources and green efficiency.”- Emmanuel Chautard,  Chief Technology Officer Orange Romania. 

“The mission of University Polytechnica of Bucharest was conceived as a blend between  education, research and innovation, which is key to a society and a knowledge economy. The  CAMPUS research institute was established so that researchers can develop their solutions and  products in an environment where research can be quickly brought to market. Research in the  field of 5G is essential to develop new solutions for the networks of the future, but also to  accelerate the digitization process. Teams at the CAMPUS Research Institute are involved in  the 5G network and and beyond 5G networks research process, therefore the development of  the 5G Lab together with Orange will lead to the validation and testing of research solutions so  that they can be transferred to the market as soon as possible. „ Prof. Dr. Ing Tudor Prisecaru,  President of the Senate in University Polytechnica Bucharest 

Currently, the Orange 5G network is available in Bucharest, with 100% 5G coverage, and in 14  other cities: Bragadiru, Brașov, Chitila, Cluj-Napoca, Constanța, Iași, Măgurele, Otopeni, Ovidiu,  Pantelimon, Popești-Leordeni, Predeal, Timisoara and Voluntari.