Sensor City Awarded £3.5M for 5G Health and Social Care Project

Sensor City, the joint venture project between the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University, has been awarded a £3.5 million grant to investigate the opportunities of 5G community Wi-Fi in health and social care.

Sensor city building in Liverpool. Courtesy of Sensor City.

The grant is one of only six awarded through the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) 5G Testbeds and Trials program.

Sensor City will lead a consortium made up of public-sector health suppliers, the National Health Service (NHS), university researchers, local small and medium-size entities (SMEs), and a leading U.K. 5G technology vendor.

Funded for one year, the project will see high-value technologies, including low-cost open source 5G networks, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things, deployed across underserved communities in the Liverpool City Region test bed.

The consortium will use this technology to reduce the digital divide, and then measure its effect on patient monitoring and support, help in the management of loneliness in older adults, provide aid to independents living at home, and facilitate communication between hospitals and the community.

DCMS also announced five other test beds, from the Orkney Islands to the west of England, with funding ranging from £2 million to £5 million.