AT&T, Texas A&M University launch private 5G testbeds

AT&T and the Texas A&M University System’s Rellis Campus will open private 5G testbeds this fall to public and private sector organizations, to develop 5G powered applications and products.

The addition of AT&T’s 5G network is expected to power a wide range of innovations benefiting defense, commercial enterprises, and society at large.

Commercial customers will have a chance to access the testbeds to explore autonomous and connected vehicles, robotics, roadside safety and physical security, large-scale infrastructure, autonomous agriculture, Internet of Things, and smart cities/campuses.

“This new 5G testbed will be one of the most advanced university-based 5G testbeds in the country. Bringing together the private and public sectors, the RELLIS 5G testbeds can test 5G technologies at scale, utilizing both on-road and off-road terrains through 5G mmWave and Sub-6 frequencies,” Brad Hoover, Chief Information Officer for The RELLIS Campus said in a press release.

“These testbeds are being set up to test new approaches to augmented and virtual reality, autonomous vehicles or any number of use cases as well as those that have yet to be imagined,” he noted.

With the incorporation of 5G, the Texas A&M RELLIS Campus will house one of the largest testing evaluation sites for five of the Department of Defense’s 11 modernization priorities: hypersonics, artificial intelligence, autonomy cybersecurity and directed energy.

In addition, Jason Porter, President of AT&T Public Sector and FirstNet, is excited for the opportunities 5G will bring to the area.

“The 5G testbeds at RELLIS are yet another opportunity for our customers to explore the potential that At&T 5G can bring to help revolutionize the future of multiple industries,” Porter highl8ighted. “Their capabilities to bring to life innovative 5G solutions and applications are transformative,” he acknowledged.

Within the 5G testbeds, Texas A&M will also conduct proactive and reactive cybersecurity testing to identify vulnerabilities and to help secure and protect data against outside threats.

“Because RELLIS will soon have 5G capabilities that cover such a large portion of this campus, RELLIS can provide opportunities to complete testing and evaluation across all of those domains in a protected environment,” said Kelly Templin, Director of the RELLIS Campus.

“For a company looking to become a research partner, RELLIS is very much the gateway to all of this and everything else the Texas A&M System has to offer,” he said.