Optus has selected Nokia’s IMPACT Internet of Things (IoT) platform to provide device management and data collection capabilities to their customers. 

Both companies have agreed on a joint go-to-market strategy to bring IoT solutions to Optus customers across multiple industry segments in Australia.

Nokia’s industry leading IoT Device Management Platform (DMP) will enable Optus to provide its customers with simple access to Narrow Band-IoT device data, from low power devices, and remote device management at scale. This can be done regardless of device type. Nokia and Optus will work together to help create smart cities and support enterprise customers across industries, including mining, utilities and transportation. 

Anticipated industry applications include cost effective waste management, supply chain optimization, logistics management and scene analytics for improved safety and security.   

The alliance builds on Nokia’s longstanding relationship with Optus. Nokia is working collaboratively with the operator to manage and maintain its network infrastructure. The two companies launched Australia’s first 5G commercial services in early 2019, making Optus the first operator globally to deploy Nokia’s FastMile 5G indoor gateway in a live network. Nokia and Optus also successfully launched a 5G Fixed Wireless Access service using the 5G New Radio standard.

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Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia on Tuesday announced a collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru to establish a network robotics laboratory for research on socially relevant use cases based on 5G and emerging technologies.

The Nokia Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Networked Robotics will promote interdisciplinary research involving robotics, advanced communication technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop use cases across areas like emergency management, agriculture and industrial automation, the company said.

The centre will promote engagement and cooperation between academia, start-ups and industry ecosystem partners in research and development of use cases.

The centre supports and aligns with the government’s initiatives of Start-up India.

The Nokia CoE will be available to the IISc community and its ecosystem partners for advanced research projects involving designing next-generation networks and applications of Artificial Intelligence for solving pertinent social problems.

“Collaboration with a global technology leader, Nokia, will go a long way in helping our students to gain knowledge and insights and make significant contributions to the development of innovative and societally relevant 5G use cases,” Professor G Rangarajan, Director, IISc, said in a statement.

“This is a critical initiative and it will help us move closer to finding technology-powered solutions to enrich our lives.”

Some of the use cases which the collaboration will explore include using drones for remote management of agricultural orchards to promote water conservation and avoid human contact with pesticide.

The researchers will also explore other use cases such as drones using a 5G-enabled wide-area network to gather situational information, helping first responders to save lives by quickly accessing the affected areas during disaster relief and drones for applications such as anticipating crop fires.

The collaboration aims to help IISc in capacity building and human resources development in cutting-edge technology of robotics, 5G and autonomous systems.

“Emerging technologies such as the 5G have potential to enable an entirely new array of use cases with a profound societal impact,” said Sanjay Malik, Senior Vice President and Head of India Market, Nokia.

“With Nokia’s rich innovation heritage, we aim to engage with the bright and young minds at IISc to nurture and advance the latest technologies that can benefit communities. We are confident that it will lead to the development of groundbreaking use cases.”

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Nokia is setting up a robotics lab at the Indian Institute of Science for Research. Dubbed the ‘Nokia Centre of Excellence for Networked Robotics’, the center will serve as a hub for research into robotics, advanced communication technologies and artificial intelligence (AI).

A particular focus will be the development of “socially relevant” use cases across areas like emergency management, agriculture and industrial automation. The aim is to promote engagement between academia, startups and industry stakeholders. The initiative also aligns with Start-up India, an initiative started by the Indian government in 2015.

On announcing the launch, Nokia said emerging technologies such as 5G have potential to enable an “entirely new array of use cases with a profound societal impact.”

“With Nokia’s rich innovation heritage, we aim to engage with the bright and young minds at the Institute to nurture and advance the latest technologies that can benefit communities.

“We are confident that it will lead to the development of ground-breaking use cases.”

The Centre of Excellence will comprise a state-of-the-art network robotics lab, which will be available to the Institute’s community and partners for advanced research projects involving and designing next-gen networks and applications of AI for solving pertinent social problems.

The collaboration will see Nokia leverage its expertise in robot orchestration, robot network controller and human-robot interaction. The Institute, meanwhile, will engage its cross-disciplinary faculty and researchers, and provide its in-house expertise in algorithms, drones and robotic systems.

Some of the use cases which the tie-up plans to explore include using drones for remote management of agricultural orchards to promote water conservation and avoid human contact with pesticide, as well as the use of drones employing 5G-enabled wide-area network to gather situational information to help first responders, and drones that can help anticipate crop fires.

Drones in India

As noted by Computer Weekly, drone laws for non-defence applications have recently eased up somewhat in India. The country’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has given exemptions to government agencies for drone operations in the fight against COVID-19. Now, programs in development by airline SpiceJet, Google-backed Dunzo, among a slew of others, have the greenlight to operate on an experimental basis until September 30 this year.

This will allow those operators to pilot drones beyond the visual line of sight for transportation of goods, with the limited experiments serving as a basis for further laws which could allow long-range drone operations, such as for deliveries. Currently, laws limit drone operations to line of sight operations, limiting applications to surveillance.

“The ultimate relevance of technology is to find solutions to improve the quality of our lives,” said Professor G Rangarajan, Director at Indian Institute of Science, commenting on the partnership.

“Collaboration with a global technology leader, Nokia, will go a long way in helping our students to gain knowledge and insights and make significant contributions to the development of innovative and societally relevant 5G use cases.

“This is a critical initiative and it will help us move closer to finding technology-powered solutions to enrich our lives.”

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