The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) has begun work on a private 5G cellular network for its campus called Husker-Net to support innovative research needing advanced wireless connectivity. Husker-Net will cover buildings across UNL’s multiple campuses and beyond, providing high bandwidth and low latency 5G network access without needing approval to use licensed wireless spectrum.

Researchers from fields like agriculture, engineering, and computer science will have access to Husker-Net to test 5G-enabled technologies requiring real-world deployment at scale.

UNL will be one of the first universities in the United States to deploy an independent, scalable 5G network for research use. The cutting-edge infrastructure grants technology developers the ability to push the limits of what 5G can enable across a wide footprint. As researchers create new 5G solutions, those innovations may someday migrate to commercial applications and networks. With Husker-Net, UNL hopes to become a testbed for the future of connectivity.

“We have a big agriculture college, and they have a lot of experiment farms, but they barely have outdoor connectivity. When we have the tools deployed outside with a real network in a real scenario, it will boost our research and bridge the gap between that research and reality,” said Qiang Liu, assistant professor in the School of Computing at UNL.

“What I like about this project is how we can expand network connectivity access and make it easier for the researchers to conduct their research. They can focus on their research and don’t have to worry about getting the connectivity set up for themselves in remote locations where we don’t have it,” said Toolika Ghose, director of research IT with Information Technology Services at UNL.