By Catherine Sbeglia
Samsung and GBL Systems Corporation (GBL), which provides advanced technology solutions to the US Department of Defense (DoD), have begun deployment of new 5G testbeds for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) at US Army military bases that will simulate scenarios such as virtual obstacles in the combat theatre and overlays of data and instruments relied on by military personnel.
Part of a broader DoD initiative, which awarded US$600 million in contracts for 5G testing at several US military test sites, the 5G testbeds will explore the validity of a scalable, resilient and secure 5G network for AR/VR-based mission planning and training. Army trainees will use AR/VR goggles to see enhanced digital content overlaid onto the real world.
GBL will work on prototype creation, technology integration and aligning the solution with DoD requirements, while Samsung will deliver its 5G end-to-end solution and technical expertise, including its Massive MIMO Radios, cloud-native 5G Standalone (SA) Core and Galaxy 5G mobile devices.
“Samsung is pleased to collaborate with GBL to deliver a reliable, resilient and secure 5G network for the DoD to evaluate new capabilities for our US troops,” said VP and head of the New Business Team, Networks Business, Samsung Electronics America, Imran Akbar. “We believe in the transformative power of 5G and look forward to assisting the US Department of Defense as they use this technology to increase training safety and strengthen the Nation’s defense capabilities.”
Beginning in a lab, testing will use Samsung’s mmWave and mid-band 5G radios and will then be followed by field testing at two US Army training bases. The field tests, according to the companies, will primarily use mid-band 5G radios to “maximize coverage and expand training capacity from a company-level to ultimately a brigade-level of soldiers.”
““This effort has the potential to revolutionize how the DoD performs distributed training exercises that are more combat-like to significantly advance warfighter readiness,” said GBL’s CEO, Jim Buscemi.
In May, the DoD sought new spectrum-sharing tools to progress its 5G and spectrum-related research and development, and the following month, tapped Verizon to deliver high-bandwidth, low-latency, Layer 2 wide area network services.
