5G Connected Forest is a world-first project as part of the Government’s 5G Testbed and Trials programme to assess the potential for 5G applications in the historical site of Nottinghamshire’s Sherwood Forest area.
Delivering 5G connectivity to the forest and surrounding area will pave the way for research areas to investigate the role of 5G in delivering visitor attractions for all ages, protecting the sensitive forest environment through robotic environmental management and live monitoring, and will also provide the base for an innovation accelerator programme to allow 5G applications to be tested and commercialised.
The £10 million pound research and development project is led by Nottinghamshire County Council and includes a range of consortium partners from both local and national backgrounds.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has contributed £5m to the project as part of the Rural Connected Communities Project, with consortium partners matching to help spark rollout of next generation 5G in rural areas in order to help the countryside capitalise on a tech revolution.