Transforming education and research with 5G private networking

About the project

5G private networks are built on the same technologies which are used to get data to and from your mobile phone, but importantly they’re private to you and your organisation. They differ from other wireless technologies, such as wifi and Bluetooth, in that they can offer a greater reach, better security, higher bandwidth, lower latency, and improved reliability.

For UK education and research 5G private networks can help to meet the increasing data demands of educators and researchers. However, 5G private networking solutions are often prohibitively expensive to implement and maintain.

Through Jisc's 5G private networking proof-of-concept project, we are aiming to develop a service to deliver the benefits without the hefty price tag, by centralising and multi-tenanting the core technologies into the heart of the Janet network.

Our vision is to allow Jisc customers to run their own 5G private networks by simply plugging an antenna into their existing Janet network connection.

How this will transform education and research

Greater learning experiences

5G private networks can enable educational delivery to be faster, more reliable, and smoother for all 5G-enabled devices, including those connected via extending eduroam devices.

Students and teachers can benefit from 5G private networks reaching into spaces on and off campus, where traditional wireless networks might be cost-prohibitive or technically challenging to implement, to allow new learning opportunities.  

Video conferencing, live streaming, mixed reality, and immersive learning technologies can all benefit from the high speed, low latency nature of 5G private networking which is also ideal for mobility applications. This could allow for greater online and distance learning experiences. 

Supercharging research

5G private networking provides the capacity and speed necessary to move vast amounts of data and enable real time analytics, making it ideal for the needs of researchers.

Reaching beyond the limits of wifi, 5G private networks can enable reliable and secure remote access to on-premise and cloud services outside of a lab environment, and securely connect high numbers of sensors across an entire campus and beyond.

Low latency features can support advanced research applications such as remote device control and collaboration, especially where mobility is key.

Enabling the smart campus

Using 5G private networks an institution can connect building, environmental, and other industrial internet of things (IIoT) sensors and devices campus-wide, including locations outside of traditional wifi connectivity, while being securely segregated from learning and research networks and applications.

This allows institutions to capture crucial data and analyse it in real time, meaning any required changes can be made instantly and efficiently, as well as reliably tracking sustainability metrics in the longer term without data loss. 

Putting you in control

With 5G private networks, institutions can control their dedicated network and the devices which connect to it, improving not just security but the entire quality of the service. The network can be sliced to give each user group its own unique mix of speed, latency, security, and reach based on their own requirements. 

A greater number of connected devices than ever before are supported with 5G private networks, all while offering improved power consumption.

Find out more

• Read our blog about why campuses need 5G private networks
• Watch the video case study from Bangor University's Henfaes Research Farm to learn about the learning and research benefits of our proof of concept