Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that it will soon begin operating the 5G OPEN INNOVATION LabTM to collaborate with customers and partner companies on research and test demonstrations of “local 5G” private mobile communication systems. The 132-square-meter facility, based in the company’s Information Technology R&D Center in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, will open on June 30. Mitsubishi Electric was recently licensed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) to operate local 5G mobile communication systems designed for private use by municipalities and companies in designated areas to meet specific needs.
The lab’s 4.8GHz–4.9GHz test environment will be used to research and demonstrate solutions for a specific business, etc. needs from the initial stages. In particular, they will perform comparative verifications of local 5G and other wireless methods, such as Wi-Fi 6 and private LTE, to determine the best communication method for each application and purpose.
Background and purpose
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) sanctioned the private use of local 5G systems by enterprises and municipalities in December 2019, and then 4.6GHz–4.9GHz as a sub-6 GHz band for the construction of wide-area local 5G systems in December 2020. The environment in Japan is now ready for the deployment and expected growth of these private 5G systems and related solutions. Mitsubishi Electric first launched a local 5G demonstration using millimeter-wave bands at its Nagoya Works in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in May 2020, and since then has been verifying the practical application of the technology for manufacturing.
