World’s Largest 5G Testing for Dual-Use Applications

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The US military has been conducting the world’s largest full-scale 5G testing done to date for dual-use applications and will help move towards full-scale military deployment of this fifth generation communication technology.

Within this framework, the DoD has selected Booz Allen Hamilton among other companies, to fulfill $600 million in awards for 5G experimentation and testing at five U.S. military locations. 

At Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, the company will prototype and optimize the military utility of 5G-enabled augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) live training of an individual soldier all the way up to a full brigade training together in the field. 

An Army-owned prototype based on the company’s Digital Soldier will be delivered, using AR/VR technology to create extremely realistic virtual environments that provide performance-enhancing training for soldiers. 

The Digital Soldier is based on the concept considering the infantry soldier as a fully integrated weapons platform and the squad as a combat platform. Soldiers must be equipped with technology that’s reliable on every landscape where they’ll fight, with interoperability based on an open architecture, according to the company website, that quickly and easily integrates with the latest technologies to provide faster equipment upgrades. This project builds on a task order designed to maximize soldiers’ performance on and off the battlefield, according to thefastmode.com.