Here’s How Verizon Is Working with the MOD to Deploy 5G Technology in Autonomous Vehicles
They say few things foster technological innovation like war and it’s true the military is often at the forefront of the latest developments in this area.
From GPS to the internet, a considerable number of the technologies we take for granted today began life as tools for the military. The Department of Defense facilitates collaborations with other industries via an entity known as SoCal Tech Bridge, which focusses on developing partnerships with installations, industry, and research to unlock emerging technology.
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar – located in San Diego – is therefore ideally positioned to reap the absolute best of West Coast technological innovation and has even set up a living lab to test energy resilience concepts such as microgrids and distributed energy resources.
Verizon
When it was looking to test the capabilities of autonomous vehicles for use in military engagements, Miramar knew it needed to partner with a large-scale communications provider to help facilitate the project.
As one of America’s largest wireless network providers and a pioneer of 5G technology in the country, Verizon was ideally placed to fill this role. Having already worked with the City of San Diego on its smart city strategy and with experience setting up 4G small cells with the Navy in San Diego. This meant Verizon was able to deploy many of the same processes to get started at Miramar - expanding the base’s 4G LTE service through 26 4G LTE and 5G small cells.
"SoCal Tech Bridge zeroed in on four 5G-enabled technologies that could be explored through the Verizon 5G living lab – drones, connected vehicles, energy communications and management, and base security," said Verizon in a press release. "In addition to pursuing those goals, the collaboration also aimed to develop a digital fortress to secure both the physical perimeter of the base as well as the wide array of internal communications. These pillars of technological innovation address three key priorities for military installations: protection, mobility, and resilience."
Connected Vehicles
To test the concept of using autonomous and connected vehicles in the warzones of the future, Verizon and Miramar have developed two driverless shuttles which will be deployed to deliver mission-critical parts and resources in place of human personnel.
Miramar and Verizon’s unmanned logistics program operates both land and air vehicles and has been used to keep people safe from the COVID-19 crisis and expanded the number of possibilities available to emergency response teams both domestic and overseas.
"If I waited for the Marine Corps to figure out all the networking security components [of the digital fortress], I’d probably be waiting a year before I even get the prototype," said Director of the SoCal Tech Bridge, Lt. Col. Brandon Newell. "The beauty of the 5G living lab is that we can rapidly prototype and rapidly learn these lessons. I don’t want to spend a lot of time figuring out the integration aspects as if this were a mature program. The role is to rapidly explore what Silicon Valley would call a minimum viable product so that you can refine and pivot to an actual prototype. The 5G living lab allows us to do that in many different areas."
Naturally, Verizon will also be responsible for the ongoing maintenance and field service of the living lab’s 5G hardware and related technology. The partnership with Miramar represents a long-term relationship which will see these connected vehicles rigged for predictive maintenance and other innovative field service practices.
"It’s not about the cellular technology itself," Newell adds. "Cellular technology is the enabler, this is about what we can all unpack together to better understand those technologies, how we rapidly prototype those capabilities and learn from them. It really is a testimony to Verizon that Verizon’s equities in unlocking the future of 5G had to not just be on the other end of a contract. They have to be an equal partner through a collaborative research and development agreement."
Final Thoughts
With the MOD and Verizon working together to discover new frontiers in the application of autonomous connected vehicles and 5G cellular technology, it’s going to be interesting to see which direction the project heads in next.
Using remotely maintained autonomous vehicle – operating on land and from the air – to deliver emergency supplies to some of the world’s most disaster-stricken locations. With global peace not having felt as fragile as it does right now for some time, this may be a technology which is sorely needed before long.
You can hear Verizon Vice President of Network and Field Operations, Erik Sheehan, speak at Field Service Hilton Head 2022, taking place in August at the Marriott Hilton Head Resort & Spa, SC.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.