SCIENTISTS from the University of Bradford will help develop 5G communication networks after securing a role in a European research project worth almost £3 million.

The School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science will use its share of the €3.3m (£2.79m) to pay for a four year project to train researchers to deliver the next generation of mobile communications. Bradford has secured €600,000, or £504,000, for the project. 

Networks for devices such as mobile phones and tablets currently work on 3G and 4G coverage.

The project, funded by the European Commission, is due to start in Bradford in January and has not been affected by last month’s Brexit vote.

Bradford University is the only UK institution selected for the scheme, with establishments in Portugal, Germany, Sweden and Greece also taking part.

Three of the project’s 16 researchers will work on the Bradford which will work with early years researchers to develop high capacity, high-speed flexible networks that are energy efficient.

It is hoped 5G will be available by 2020 and allow people to watch a full film on their mobile devices, which will also have longer battery life and increase data allowance.

The university’s team is led by Professor Raed Abd-Alhameed and includes Dr James Noras, Dr Stephen Jones and Professor Rami Qahwaji.

It will exchange research staff with its partners across Europe, offering education and training and preparing the 5G workforce of tomorrow.

Prof Abd-Alhameed said: “Mobile traffic is growing at an unprecedented rate along with ever-higher data demands and 4G is struggling to handle this. 5G will be able to cope with millions more users, hugely increased capacity and much higher speeds.

“However, we need a solution that delivers more data for less energy use, with smaller cells, probably located within buildings, replacing mobile masts.This will the the focus of our team and our researchers.

“There is a growing demand for more connections and band width for devices.

“This is an extremely exciting project that will not only move forward our ability to innovate in the 5G sector, but will also underpin the development of the internet of things, with machine being able to talk to machine.”

Dr Jones added: “We’re delighted that Bradford has been selected, it’s very exciting.

“We need to provide more communications to users. This is particularly for internet access to mobile devices.

“Being energy efficient is the main priority.”