In one of the largest technology transfer deals from academia in India, a 5G RAN (Radio Access Network) technology developed by a multi-institutional team has been licensed to Tejas Networks, a Tata Group company, for Rs 12 crore.
IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur and the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER), an autonomous R&D organisation under the Ministry of Electronics and information technology (MeitY), developed a ‘5G RAN sub-system’ at the 5G Test Bed.
Tejas Networks will pay a Transfer of Technology (ToT) non-exclusive, licence fee of Rs 12 crore in multiple installments based on technical milestones.
The licensing agreement formal exchange ceremony was held yesterday at the IIT Madras campus.
Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras; Dr Kumar N Sivarajan, CTO of Tejas Networks; Dr P Hanumantha Rao, Director General, SAMEER; Prof Rohit Budhiraja, IIT Kanpur and Dr Radhakrishna Ganti, IIT Madras, who are the Principal Investigators of 5G Test bed from their respective institutes; and Prof Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kanpur and former Director, IIT Roorkee, representative on behalf of Director IIT Kanpur, were present.
Kamakoti termed the 5G RAN technology as one in line with the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ vision of the central government. “This is an outstanding example of how translational research must happen in an inter-institutional, inter-disciplinary manner.”
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. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2022, and has since been used extensively by industry and academia for testing new 5G products and use-cases.
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“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,” Rao said.