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HEIDELBERG, Germany, Dec. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NEC Iberica and NEC Laboratories Europe are building an intelligent communications network for the University of Murcia campus that will provide an experimental 5G platform for its students' teaching and innovation in research. This smart campus will include FIWARE-based data spaces and an enhanced ecosystem for the Internet of Things (IoT) designed to optimize the university's energy efficiency.
The Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI) of Spain leads the smart campus project, called "Distributed Computing Intelligence", as a pre-commercial contracting of R D i services (Pre-commercial Public Procurement). The smart campus network is financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) to promote its mission "A way of making Europe" and is a collaboration between the University of Murcia and experts in the area of these technologies.
To implement the project, NEC and its partners will employ a private, multi-purpose 5G system within the university's Espinardo campus, providing a state-of-the-art research facility and test bed for the study of 5G networks, computing in the border (Edge Computing), data spaces and IoT ecosystems. Using the University of Murcia's smart campus platform, students will develop advanced 5G and IoT networking skills, while researchers will have access to one of Europe's most advanced environments for cutting-edge 5G technology and data space research. . The university administration will make use of the system to improve operations.
Antonio Skarmeta, coordinator of strategic projects at the University of Murcia, explained: "We seek to explore the development of solutions beyond the current conception of smart cities and infrastructures. We want advanced and future solutions that can integrate dynamic and intelligent systems and adapt to the needs of each user. Our smart campus platform is an integral part of this vision.”
To foster innovative research, the IoT architecture of the Espinardo campus will include FIWARE: the open source technological framework to create intelligent solutions and federated data spaces. Students and researchers can use FIWARE to leverage open source IoT building blocks for their own work, while ensuring it is compliant with ETSI NGSI-LD, the European Union industry standard for context information management.
The key to successful deployment of the private 5G system is border computing, which includes 5G functions of network slicing and orchestration of functions deployed at the border. Although still experimental, these technologies are necessary to securely deploy different university research projects on the network and manage network resources. Hicham Chiker, Project Manager at NEC Ibérica, said: “It is both a pleasure and a great challenge to manage this ambitious project because it combines several core technologies of the future: artificial intelligence, advanced 5G networks and distributed computing. By creating a work system that uses them, we are setting a benchmark for future initiatives in the same direction.”
To incorporate edge computing, NEC, in collaboration with other team members, is currently integrating edge computing extensions into the university's smart campus, private 5G system, and IoT framework. A management and orchestration framework (MANO) for the 5G IoT ecosystem is also proposed. Ernöe Kovacs, Senior Manager Data Ecosystems and Standards at NEC Laboratories Europe, stated: “Without network slicing, different user groups cannot be properly isolated and they could conflict. Network slicing allows for isolation and is one of the benefits of 5G. On current public networks it is not yet available for general use." Adds Kovacs: “With edge orchestration, something similar happens: the technology is planned but not really available for experimentation. What the University of Murcia needs is the ability to create connected and secure data spaces within the systems close to the user and in the cloud; this will allow researchers, students, and university administration to collaborate using shared data with different levels of access.” To do this, different data spaces will run in parallel, protected and isolated by the network, while automatically adjusting to different data locations and uses. This will create an intelligent information system across the campus.
In addition to research, the University of Murcia is committed to reducing its carbon footprint by saving energy. It will apply measures such as using its growing network of IoT sensors, thereby monitoring and controlling the energy use of its buildings. To help manage the university's overall computing power usage, NEC is implementing its Cloud City Operation Center (CCOC), which will monitor the Espinardo campus's data needs in real time. To link IoT entities in data spaces, the CCOC will include the FIWARE context broker, NEC NGSI-LD Scorpio Broker, which will help grow the university's IoT ecosystem in a stable and scalable manner. The university's smart campus network is expected to go live in 2023.
About NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH
NEC Laboratories Europe researches and develops cutting-edge technology to create innovative social solutions. Located in Heidelberg, Germany, NEC Laboratories Europe's main research areas include artificial intelligence, blockchain security, 5G and 6G networks, and IoT platforms. These technologies promote NEC Group solutions for a better society in the fields of digital health, safer cities, public services and communication infrastructures.
For more information visit https://www.neclab.eu.
About NEC Europe Ltd. NEC Europe Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, a leader in integrating computer network technologies that benefit businesses and individuals around the world. NEC Europe Ltd. builds on its heritage and reputation for innovation and quality, providing its expertise, solutions and services to a wide range of clients, from telecom operators to businesses and the public sector.
For more information visit the NEC Europe Ltd. website at: //uk.nec.com.
About NEC Iberica
NEC Iberica is a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation. The company is a competence center for Smart Cities, which develops products for this field and supports international projects in their objectives to achieve digital transformation. To develop products and implement projects, NEC Iberica uses its own platform, the Cloud City Operation Center (CCOC) that incorporates FIWARE, an open source platform for the development of smart cities.
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