5G Mobility Lab Opens at Aldenhoven Testing Center
The Aldenhoven Testing Center, for short ATC, at RWTH Aachen is equipped with a freely configurable mobile communication test network, the only of its kind in Europe. In the 5G Mobility Lab vehicles will communicate with each other at 5G speeds. The telecommunication company Vodafone Deutschland is responsible for this network.
Vodafone, automotive manufacturers and suppliers, and RWTH scientists are testing technologies in Aldenhoven across all sectors and in all conditions that will make road traffic safer and more comfortable and efficient: vehicles communicate with one another, pedestrians, traffic lights, and the entire traffic infrastructure. They see through trucks and over and past hilltops, providing real time warnings against black ice, hydroplaning, and storms and can park vehicles autonomously.
"RWTH Aachen has operated the Aldenhoven Testing Center since 2009 together with the Municipality of Düren and support from the EU and national and state governments. The new 5G Mobility Lab represents an additional elementary component. Together with industry, we will be able to develop the safe, comfortable, and networked mobility of tomorrow," explains RWTH rector Ernst Schmachtenberg.
The 400,000-square-meter Aldenhoven Testing Center simulates numerous street traffic situations. Along with its technology partners, Nokia, Huawei, and Ericsson, Vodafone will now bring the most modern LTE mobile communication technologies to the testing grounds. "Our 5G Mobility Lab is the workshop for the street traffic of tomorrow," states Vodafone Deutschland CEO Hannes Ametsreiter. "Together we are laying the foundation for a world with fewer accidents and no traffic jams."