department of defense embracing 5g technology

The Department of Defense is preparing to send out a Request for Proposals related to the greater development of 5G technologies for defense-related purposes.
“History is replete with examples of the DOD partnering with the private sector to foster innovation and collaboratively bring leap-ahead technology to the forefront,” said Lisa Porter, the Defense Department’s undersecretary for research and engineering, in a public statement.
The department is asking that respondents focus on how to use 5G technology in “congested environments with high-power, mid-band radars.”
Respondents should also contemplate how to integrate what is called “Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality” into overall mission planning for training ranges.
And finally, RFP respondents are being asked to talk about how to use Smart Warehouses to leverage 5G’s ability to enhance operations.
Porter added that the Defense Department wants private industry to take the lead on 5G technologies, adding, “We will never let up on our commitment to continuously innovate with our partners in the private sector, as well as with our partners across the government.”
As planned, the Defense Department will most likely officially issue a 5G Request for Proposals in the next several weeks.
5G technology is regarded as being twenty times faster than current wireless technology and, according to sources, is on the verge of being widely embraced by the private sector, including the construction industry.
Earlier this year, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said his agency is trying to come up with a comprehensive 5G adaptation strategy based on modernizing outdated regulations, updating infrastructure policy, and creating more spectrum in the marketplace.
Pai has also promised that there will be at least 200,000 small cell sites across the country by the end of this year to help launch the technology.
In speaking this month before the Mobile World Congress trade show, Pai said of the coming 5G technology wave: “It has an echo of the rural electrification of the 1930s and 1940s.”

By Garry Boulard

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