£9m for Liverpool City Region HDD Project
Today the UK government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced an £88 million R&D investment in innovative connectivity, and the Liverpool City Region HDD is one of the successful projects.
Liverpool 5G will be working with the University of Liverpool to provide overall project management, repeating the model that was used successfully on the previous Liverpool 5G Create project.
The project consortium is led by the University of Liverpool Department of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, in partnership with Telet Research (N.I) Ltd, Qualcomm Technologies International Ltd, Radisys UK Ltd, Attocore Ltd, iTS Technology Group, Asset Market , Liverpool John Moores University, CGA Simulation Ltd and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
Other consortium members include Liverpool 5G, Atticus Technology, the Hartree Centre, Weaver Labs and Aimes
The Liverpool City Region HDD project aims to showcase the benefits of Open RAN (Open Radio Access Network) technology in optimising real-world performance in high-connectivity environments. Open RAN is seen as a way to enhance the UK’s connectivity infrastructure by enabling networks of low-cost, power-efficient, and unobtrusive small cells to meet the demands of high-density areas.
Professor Joe Spencer from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Electrical Engineering & Electronics is leading the Liverpool City Region HDD project.
He said: “This is an innovative and ambitious project which aims to showcase Open RAN technology can support agile and easily managed secure networks in and around Liverpool and demonstrate vastly enhanced connectivity in real-life high-density usage environments.
“Working with our project partners, we hope to demonstrate a new solution to address the issue of digital connectivity and exceed the performance of current and traditional technology solutions.
“This project will put Liverpool at the forefront of Open RAN technology development and demonstration and we hope the outputs from this project can be adopted in the UK and overseas.”
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “Since I was elected Mayor, I’ve been on a mission to make our region the most digitally connected anywhere in the country. Building on our record of innovation, I’m really glad that we are playing a role in this pioneering project that will help to place us, once again, at the cutting edge of digital connectivity.
“Alongside the work I’m doing, such as LCR Connect, our half-publicly owned gigabit capable network, we’re creating what I hope will be a better-connected future where no one is left behind.”
The project builds on the previous track record of the Liverpool 5G consortium that includes the UK’s first 5G testbed project to improve people’s health and wellbeing.