MN5G PROJECT EXPLOITING THE POTENTIAL OF 5G FOR MILITARY APPLICATIONS
With the upcoming establishment of the multinational 5G project (MN5G) by an initial number of participating Nations and NCIA, Luis Bastos, Head Innovating Team, Germano Capela, Senior Radio Engineer, and Alper Köprülü, Project Manager, provide an overview of the project and how it can leverage and complement related national and NATO activities in the area of military use of 5G Multinational Collaboration on 5G, or MN5G, is the title of a new multinational project supported by NCIA aimed at exploiting the potential of International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) technologies stemming from 5G standards and their evolutions. The effort to establish a multinational project combining efforts and creating a sizeable programme started in 2021, when a group of Nations and NCIA, in coordination with other NATO stakeholders, discussed the concept and developed an initial MN5G Reference Programme of Work (PoW) and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). We are now at a critical stage, where interested Nations are signing the MN5G MoU, and the last steps are being taken before formal project establishment.
82 | NITECH ISSUE 11 | SUPPORTING NATO AND THE NATIONS
MN5G REFERENCE PROGRAMME OF WORK The MN5G Reference PoW was developed by NCIA subject-matter experts (SMEs) and national representatives through a series of development meetings held in 2021. The primary aim of the PoW was to define the scope of the project and inform the development of its MoU. It was also aimed at providing inputs to medium and long-term NATO activities on 5G under NATO PoWs in different areas – Policy and Interoperability, Capability Development, and Science and Technology. The reference PoW has a multi-year scope and was developed as an action plan to bridge the opportunities of specific 5G technologies for military application with the