Maynooth University has today opened the country's €1.5m National 5G Test Centre.
The new facility, called RadioSpace, is the country's first large-scale facility for the research and testing of radio and wireless technologies needed for 5G and the future Internet of Things.
RadioSpace, which will be open to large industry and SMEs and start-ups, will provide a unique, large scale, interference-free facility for scientists and engineers from industry and universities - both at home and internationally.
The facility will be one of the first of its kind in Europe.
It has received €638,000 funding from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and is part of CONNECT - the world-leading SFI Research Centre for Future Networks and Communications.
The service is available to SMEs, and access can be facilitated via the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher scheme, ensuring that both SMEs and larger organisations can avail of the technology and expertise of researchers in Maynooth University.
Professor Philip Nolan, President of Maynooth University, said RadioSpace will be available to all those who can make good use of it, from leading researchers and innovators to students just starting their careers, from the largest multinational to the smallest of start-ups.
"Until now Irish industry working in this space has needed look abroad to avail of similar facilities and I’m proud we are now in a position to provide this centre of excellence right here in Maynooth," the Professor added.
Professor Ronan Farrell, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and Director of RadioSpace, said companies also will have access to academic experts in the area of wireless communications.
"This facility will provide industry in Ireland and across Europe, as well as academics, a rare and valuable capability to develop new technologies, and also to explore exciting questions in radio physics and engineering," he added.
