6. 5G shipping containers
Students at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, are studying how shipping ports can use 5G at Virginia’s 5G testbed, which opened to dozens of higher education institutions late last year. They’re studying whether 5G sensors installed in shipping containers, which collect and transmit capacity, condition and location data instantly to a port headquarters, can improve operational efficiency.
The test bed was conceived by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, a research, education and training network of Virginia-based universities and researchers consisting of 320 researchers from 39 higher education institutions. It began training students on a new 5G test bed in Arlington, Virginia, in November, where director Aloizio Pereira da Silva said researchers can “play around with the building blocks on a small scale and then move to large scale.”
The test bed is located on the campus of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative in Arlington, but “regional nodes,” or research hubs at George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech and Old Dominion University will each have their own 5G-specific research focus. Virginia Tech students, for example, will study how 5G plays a role in “smart” transportation and “smart” grids, while Virginia Commonwealth University students will study the “internet of things,” health care and “smart cities.”
This story is part of EdScoop’s Special Report on Emerging Edtech.
