Last updated on 24 August 2021
The Morrison Government has allocated funding of almost $20 million under its 5G Innovation Initiative, announced in the 2020-21 budget, a move it says is designed to accelerate the digital transformation of Australian businesses and create jobs.
The funding will support 19 projects across several sectors of the economy, including agriculture, construction, manufacturing, transport, and education and training.
The initial plan was to spread the funding over several rounds, but the government says because of “the overwhelming level of interest and high quality of applications,” it has allocated the full budgeted funding and will review the future of the initiative based on the results of this round.
Find your keys with 5G?
A particularly interesting project is that being undertaken by Spatial Information Systems Research to demonstrate the positioning of consumer devices to within 10cm. According to the award citation, this is possible with 5G but users are unable to access this capability due to infrastructure and device interoperability barriers.
The company will create a 5G precise positioning testbed using the Optus network supported by Ericsson and GMV (this might be Europe-based GMV Innovation Solutions, but no other details were provided) to demonstrate and measure economic benefits of four business applications in the agriculture and consumer sectors, and help inform future 5G investment decisions.
A full list of projects funded is available. Projects include:
5G Remote Controlled Firefighting Tank: Using 5G to support long-range remote control of an autonomous ‘Firefighting Tank’ capable of traversing extremely dangerous terrains to support rescue, path clearing and firefighting missions.
Lifesaving pathology supply: 5G-enabled telecommunications infrastructure for unmanned aircraft vehicles in remote and unserviceable locations, for precise monitoring of location in supply chain of medicines and temperature of cargo during critical medical supply delivery.
5G-enabled livestock counting: Using 5G for high-quality 4K video streams to count sheep at a regional livestock exchange, automating the process and removing human error. A supporting 5G edge network will process the counting on site and relay the data in real time back to farmers on a tablet or mobile device.
5G and Sydney Ferries: Sydney Ferries will aim to create a safer environment for its passengers using the 5G network to support live video-stream viewing.
About Author
