AT&T cellular carrier has a new agreement with the U.S. military that includes experiments to connect unmanned robots, aerial drones, and autonomous underwater vehicles in a single system, assisted by 5G and edge computing.
It’s a three-year collaborative research and development agreement with the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) to support a variety of 5G-focused experiments at NPS facilities. NPS is the Department of the Navy’s applied research university.
The main aim of the agreement is maritime technology solutions for national defense and homeland security, but could also benefit commercial industries like shipping, oil and gas, and recreational boating.
Research is slated to take place at Camp Roberts in South Monterey County, and to a lesser degree on the NPS main campus and at a beach lab north of Monterey, California. Part of the agreement involves NPS’ Sea Land Air Military Research (SLAMR) program, with tests happening in the SLAMR’s multi-domain laboratory