According to estimates from the EC (
http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=17802(opens in new window)) 5G networks will create 2.3 million new jobs. This implies that engineers with appropriate cross-sectoral training and expertise will be necessary. ETNs are the best instrument for providing cross-sectoral training to ESRs, allowing them to be exposed to both theory and practice under the guidance of experienced researchers.
5Gaura is a multi-disciplinary training-through-research ETN of ESRs and senior supervisors committed to develop a unifying framework to design 5G programmable multi-tenant networks, in order to sustain and enable the coexistence and coordination of networking, software and cloud technologies, to ensure network programmability and efficient resource orchestration, to minimize control and signaling overhead, to support multi-tenancy and scalability, and to promote the development of new business models for emerging services.
The main research objective of 5Gaura is to effectively harness the potential of all these innovative and heterogeneous features and introduce and optimize a programmable multi-tenant network architectural framework.
The main training objective of 5Gaura is to recruit 14 ESRs and to provide them with personalized training on theoretical and applied sciences, in order to allow them to become recognized leaders in academia and industry.
Importance for the Society
The socio-economic impact of 5G is expected to be very important and was recently evaluated, qualitatively and quantitatively, in a study prepared for the EC:
http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=17802(opens in new window). Based on the study, 5G is expected to generate benefits of 62.5 billion euro per annum in four main vertical markets (automotive, healthcare, transport and utilities) in 2025. Benefits of 50.6 billion euro are expected in four major environments (smart cities, non-urban areas, smart homes and smart workplaces). 63% of these benefits will arise for business and 37% will be provided for consumers and society.
5Gaura will contribute to the achievements of this expected socio-economic impact with new scientific results in major research areas that include all layers of the protocol stack, including high-frequency access technologies, such as millimeter-wave communication and visible light communication, cell-less cellular network architectures, multi-tenancy, and network-slicing. Based on
http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=17802(opens in new window) it is envisioned that the ability to create “your own network” amounts to the maturation of the concept of virtualization and, in non-urban areas, it is considered to be a major enabler for realizing a single multi-tenant network that will allow multiple mobile network operators and verticals to share the costs of the physical network infrastructure. 5G, through its inherent enabling of multi-tenanting for mixed uses and users, is forecasted to play a considerable role in providing an economically sustainable ICT-enabling infrastructure for the rural environment. The virtualization capabilities of 5G and the concept of network slicing are expected to provide key economic benefits by reducing the network capex through the pooling of network resources. In addition, 5Gaura will contribute to the employability needs of 5G, by providing advanced training to 14 young academic and industrial researchers.
