A new £500k digital testbed, which will create a “step change” in smart manufacturing, is being built at Queen’s University Belfast to help develop new technologies and grow market opportunities for businesses.
A collaboration between Queen’s, BT and Cisco, the project is part of a co-investment to create a 5G enabled digital factory.
The testbed, which will be based at Queen’s University’s Northern Ireland Technology Centre (NITC), will provide a unique opportunity for local industry to collaborate and explore the benefits of 5G connectivity within their future manufacturing operations.
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The project will build on existing research in smart factory technology, which has been taking place through the University’s iAMS (intelligent autonomous manufacturing systems) Pioneering Research Programme and Project SCENIC, which is supported by Invest Northern Ireland’s Research & Development programme.
These new technologies will lead companies to pursue increased digitalisation of factories, adopting smart factory technologies including automation and robotics, allowing them to become more efficient, productive and less wasteful and to compete on the global stage.
The facility will also provide an invaluable resource for researchers at Queen’s to translate their research to industry in the areas of Digital Twin, Cyber Security, Digitised Manufacturing, Sensors and other Industry 4.0 activities.
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Head of the Northern Ireland Technology Centre, Colm Higgins, said: “As the manufacturing sector moves towards digital technologies and supporting Industry 4.0, digital testing is vital in helping to improve performance and quality of production. 5G technology offers higher speeds, greater capacity and shorter response times to the digital environment."
Paul Murnaghan, Regional Director for BT’s enterprise business in Northern Ireland, also added: “As the third largest investor in R&D in the UK, BT is committed to leading the way in creating strategic partnerships like this that will help to benefit local businesses across Northern Ireland. By working together alongside local manufacturing businesses, we hope that the Industry 4.0 manufacturing testbed at the NITC will identify, test and prove real business benefits for the sector with the creation of new smart and automated technologies as we move into the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
Source: Written from press release.
