A connected countryside using small base stations

Purpose and goal

Mobile services are not equally available to everyone, a limiting factor for today´s and notably tomorrow´s industries and military. The challenge is most pronounced in rural areas, which is also where new green industries are establishing themselves. These actors, and the defence sector, need good and secure connectivity. The project will produce new concepts and paradigms that allow for the use of small bases in rural areas, and for the inclusion of these paradigms into 6G-standardization.

Expected effects and result

After more than 40 years of deploying mobile networks, we conclude that the areas that are still without mobile services will remain so unless a new logic appears. We challenge the conventional wisdom by looking at small, modular bases for rural use that local actors can set up and own. The project simulates a locally driven roll-out of 6G using LoRa bases, bringing insights and business models into 6G to provide opportunities for smaller actors to help build the networks of the future.

Planned approach and implementation

The project has three work packages that are similarly structured but have different sector perspectives. WP1 looks at business models for scalable deployment, WP2 looks at existing needs within the care sector, and WP3 looks at the future needs of industries and defense, especially rural autonomous transportation. Systemic learning occurs through the integration of insights across the work packages.