S. Vishnu Sharma
IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur and SAMEER have licensed 5G Tech to TEJAS NETWORKS which is a Tata Group company. The technology has been licensed for Rs 12 crore.
The technology was indigenously developed by IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur and SAMEER which is also known as Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) developed a ‘5G RAN sub-system’ at the 5G Test Bed.
TEJAS NETWORKS will play a vital role in leveraging it for further advancements and commercial applications.
It will be paying a Transfer of Technology (ToT) non-exclusive, license fee of Rs. 12 crore in multiple instalments based on technical milestones, say sources from IIT Madras.
Exchange
The Licensing Agreement formal exchange ceremony was held recently at the IIT Madras campus amidst the presence of dignitaries representing the three organizations.
Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, IIT Madras represented IIT Madras. Dr. Kumar N. Sivarajan, CTO of TEJAS NETWORKS, Dr. P. Hanumantha Rao, Director General, SAMEER were there on behalf of their respective institutions.
Also present were Prof. Rohit Budhiraja, IIT Kanpur and Dr. Radhakrishna Ganti, IIT Madras, who are the Principal Investigators of 5G Test bed from their respective institutes.
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Prof. Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kanpur and former Director, IIT Roorkee, representative on behalf of Director IIT Kanpur, were among the attendees of the event.
Director of IIT Madras
Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, he was very pleased that TEJAS NETWORKS is planning to adopt this 5G RAN technology developed indigenously by a multi-institutional team of researchers.
This initiative is in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision of the Government of India, said Director of IIT Madras.
IIT Madras director further said this was an outstanding example of how translational research must happen in an inter-institutional, inter-disciplinary manner.
This is a great example of how research should translate into a product and then get deployed. I hope a billion users of our country will benefit from this technology, said IIT Madras director.
Pioneer
Prof. S. Ganesh, Director, IIT Kanpur, said, “IIT Kanpur has been a pioneer in communication research in India.
Our faculty have played a pivotal role in the development of this state-of-the-art indigenous 5G Test bed, specifically by developing the Baseband Unit (BBU) of the 5G NR base station at the institute, he said.
‘As we know, 5G test bed has been developed as part of a multi-institute collaborative project.’
This collaborative effort not only complements India’s stride in ground-breaking transformative innovation but also opens up tremendous growth prospects for India’s rapidly evolving telecommunication industry, he said.
Test Bed
The 5G Test Bed was developed indigenously through a collaborative project involving eight institutes and funded by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications, say sources from IIT Madras.
The 5G Test Bed was inaugurated by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, in May 2022, and has since been used extensively by industry and academia for testing new 5G products and use-cases.
Journey
Dr. P. Hanumantha Rao, Director General, SAMEER, said, “We at SAMEER, an autonomous R&D organisation under the Ministry of Electronics and information technology (MeitY), are pleased to be part of this journey of building an Indigenous end-to-end 5G solution as a home-grown technology in India.
SAMEER has contributed in building an active MIMO and massive MIMO antennas and fully integrated mmWave phased arrays at FR1 (Sub 6 GHz) and FR2 (mmWave) bands respectively.
The knowledge sharing of fully-functional 5G RAN technology of SAMEER in collaboration with IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur to Industry is a breakthrough achievement to create a secured 5G eco-space in telecom sector, he said.
Technology Transfer
Welcoming this technology transfer, Dr. Kumar N. Sivarajan, CTO and Co-founder, TEJAS NETWORKS (A Tata Group Company), said theyare delighted to conclude a comprehensive 5G RAN technology licensing agreement with IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur and SAMEER.
This sets a new benchmark in industry-academia collaboration in India’s high-technology sector.
As India’s leading R&D driven telecom products company, we look forward to translating these cutting-edge innovations and integrating them into industry-leading products and solutions for India and the world, he said.
Milestone
Dr. Radhakrishna Ganti, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, and Principal Investigator from IIT Madras, 5G Testbed Project said this milestone achievement is an outcome of collaboration between academic institutions, research organisations and industry with the support from the Department of Telecommunications.
This will undoubtedly shape the future of telecom technologies and deployments in India, he said.