Non-profit US Ignite will shortly begin construction of a dedicated 4G and 5G network for IoT research at Fort Carson, Colorado, a US Army installation.

The network is part of the Fort Carson Smart Transportation Testbed, a $4m project run by US Ignite, with funding and management from the US Army Engineer Research & Development Center (ERDC).

Partners in deployment include network design firm Tilson and communications technology provider JMA Wireless. Federated Wireless is contributing its spectrum controller, which the network will use to access shared Citizens Broadband Radio Spectrum (CBRS).

The network at Fort Carson will initially support the upload of vehicle data from the army installation’s Mountain Express automated shuttle, as well as video traffic from route-monitoring cameras. Longer term, the network is designed for broader IoT research – including environmental analysis with air quality and weather sensors – that is planned as part of a collaborative initiative among Fort Carson, the city of Colorado Springs, and the University of Colorado Boulder.

“Building smart bases and smart communities requires advanced network infrastructure,” said Scott Turnbull, director of technology for US Ignite. “This network is foundational for the early IoT use cases we’re testing at Fort Carson, but it’s also an asset for future research and development efforts targeted at improving public safety, services and quality of life. We’re very lucky to partner with Tilson, JMA and Federated Wireless for deployment, and look forward to the connectivity and new capabilities this network will enable.”

The Fort Carson research network will support 4G and 5G traffic over the CBRS band. This includes:

• At least 250Mbit/s throughput;
• Support for more than 1000 simultaneous device connections;
• 5G and 4G powered by JMA’s software-based, Oran-compliant XRan; and
• CBRS access supported by the Federated Wireless spectrum controller.

“We’re thrilled to partner with US Ignite, JMA Wireless and Federated Wireless to bring cutting edge 5G to Fort Carson,” said Joshua Broder, Tilson CEO. “This is where the rubber meets the road in our efforts to innovate in 5G, autonomous transportation and smart cities. We all expect to learn a great deal through this pilot that we can apply on bigger projects to come.”

Headquartered in New York, JMA delivers software-driven, carrier-grade technology for in-building and outdoor use. It designs, codes and manufactures 5G products in the USA.

“JMA is honoured to be part of the team working with ERDC to deploy the most advanced dedicated wireless network available,” said John Mezzalingua, CEO of JMA. “Designed, developed and manufactured in the USA, XRan is the first and only carrier-grade software RAN in the world. Fully virtualised, XRan not only provides the performance, flexibility and security to meet Fort Carson’s current IoT needs, but it can also easily expand to support future smart city applications with Colorado Springs and the University of Colorado Boulder.”

Founded in 2012, Federated Wireless specialises in shared spectrum CBRS capabilities. The company’s partner ecosystem includes more than 40 device manufacturers and edge partners, all of which are dedicated to collaboration to advance development and proliferation of CBRS services. Its customer base includes companies spanning the telecommunications, energy, hospitality, education, retail, office space, municipal and residential verticals, with use cases ranging from network densification and mobile offload to private 4G and 5G, and industrial IoT.

“It’s exciting to be part of this cutting-edge team coming together to create a reality-based vision for the future of smart transportation and smart communities,” said Iyad Tarazi, CEO at Federated Wireless. “We are grateful for the opportunity, and proud to show what can be done when experts in their fields combine to apply the latest advancements in communication technology to deliver automation and efficiency for mission-critical applications. I personally find it satisfying that the DoD had the vision to share their midband spectrum through the dynamic CBRS framework, and they are now able to take advantage of the spectrum for their own private use.”