For conducting comprehensive trials of 5G-enabled applications tailored specifically for railway operations, the Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications, and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (Madras) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish the India 5G Testbed.

This state-of-the-art testbed will be located at IRISET in Secunderabad and here testing and development of 5G use cases for the Indian Railways will be done.

This collaboration will enable IRs to leverage the potential of 5G technology to enhance its operational efficiency, passenger experience and overall safety. The Testbed will serve as a cutting-edge facility to conduct comprehensive trials of 5G-enabled applications tailored specifically for Railway operations. By simulating real-world scenarios, researchers and industry experts will explore innovative solutions to modernize various aspects of Railway communication and services.

This indigenous 5G Solution and Test Bed has been developed jointly by IIT Kanpur, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, IIT Bombay, Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology, a society of IIT Madras and IIT Madras, and has been funded by the Telecommunications Department.

The collaboration is also a step towards becoming Atmanirbhar in the field of communications and also heralds cooperation between academia and industry.

The MoU was signed at IRISET in the presence of Sudhir Kumar its Director-General and Prof. Manu Santhanam Dean, IC & SR, IIT (M).