The Spanish 5G EVE site facility of 5TONIC goes standalone with Ericsson

Marc Molla from Ericsson Spain coordinating the 5G Core deployment

In December, the 5G standalone (SA) solution by Ericsson has been activated. It is now in use at 5TONIC, the Spanish site facility in Madrid supporting the 5G EVE project. This major achievement means that 5TONIC already has the capability to run 5G independent of the existing 4G infrastructure that is also deployed at the lab.

The activation of the 5G standalone setup was achieved by deploying the Ericsson 5G SA portfolio of radio and core solutions integrated into the 5TONIC laboratory network. On the one hand, Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core was deployed. On the other hand, the Ericsson Radio System was configured to support both 3GPP SA and Non-Standalone (NSA) architecture options in the N78 band with frequency ranges of 3600-3800 MHz. The whole deployment has been verified end-to-end and validated with WNC SA-capable CPEs.

This deployment is already in use for activities of the 5G EVE project and of ICT 19 projects supported by 5G EVE, like 5GROWTH. Through this deployment, the Spanish site facility has become one of the first open research and innovation labs in the world offering 5G SA capabilities for validating vertical applications. The first verticals validating their solutions over the 5G SA solution deployed at the 5TONIC lab include INNOVALIA, a pioneer in Industry 4.0 Zero-Defect Manufacturing solutions; SEGITTUR and YBVR, focused on 360-degree VR applications for Smart Tourism; and ASTI, a leader in Industry 4.0 AGV products.

3D scan controlled over 5G SA – 5GROWTH trial supported by 5G EVE

“One of the main advantages of using 5G SA technology for these services is the flexibility for supporting network slicing, which makes it possible to deliver both ultra-low latency services and very high-throughput levels. Other advantages include easy access to very high bandwidth and integration with a future-proof architecture for both MBB and dedicated networks.” says Manuel Lorenzo, Head of Technology & Innovation at Ericsson Spain and Technical Manager of 5G EVE.