Canadian operator Rogers Communications and the University of Calgary have announced a five-year agreement to advance innovative Internet of things (IoT) research.
The two partners have established the Rogers Internet of Things Chair with research led by Dr. Steven Liang, a researcher at the Schulich School of Engineering.
“This initiative will bring ground-breaking IoT research and innovation to Canadian businesses and Canadians overall,” said Dean Prevost, president of Rogers for Business. “This exciting research is critical to developing the applications and IoT business solutions necessary to transform industries, support small businesses, and drive our economy when it’s needed most.”
As Rogers Internet of Things Chair, Liang will focus on IoT research in the areas of energy, smart cities, transportation, and workplace safety — including COVID-19 related solutions.
“Our students and researchers are constantly looking for creative and entrepreneurial solutions as we move forward in the digital revolution, seeking innovations to benefit society,” said Liang, who is an associate professor in the Department of Geomatics Engineering. “This incredible support from Rogers will result in cutting-edge research on software applications for new technologies, both now and in the future.”
“This investment in research and innovation by Rogers at the University of Calgary is another big step in our city’s status as an innovation hub,” said Naheed Nenshi, mayor of the city of Calgary.
“The last several months and the impact of COVID-19 has underscored the important role that connectivity plays in our daily lives, whether it is people or devices or things,” added Prevost. “We truly understand what being connected means to Canadians, and Canadian businesses, and we are proud to be supporting the University of Calgary to advance IoT research for all.”
Rogers is already offering IoT-based services for residential and corporate customers via its Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) network. The telco had announced plans to launch its NB-IoT network in May 2019 to complement the carrier’s LTE and LTE-M networks.
Rogers Communications has also already begun rolling out its 5G network in select cities around Canada using equipment from Swedish vendor Ericsson.
Rogers’ initial 5G cities are Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The telco said that it will eventually expand into over 20 more markets by the end of 2020.
In a previous conference call with investors Rogers’ CEO Joe Natale said that the company expects to start deploying spectrum sharing technology later this year. The executive said that the deployment of this technology will allow Rogers to use its current 4G spectrum for the provision of 5G.
