Competence Center 5G.NRW
The fifth generation of mobile communications (5G) builds the base for an enormous innovation push. For the increasing industrial digitalization, 5G will realize the needed quality, speed and capacity of networking and data transfer. Usages such as autonomous driving, remote robotic surgery and augmented reality support in maintenance and repair situations are to be enabled and at the same time steadily improved. The projected "Competence Center 5G.NRW" undertakes the central impelling function in the development of North Rhine-Westphalia to the leading market for 5G. Responsible for it is the well-functioning team - as has been proved in previous collaborations - of the universities of Wuppertal as the lead manager, Duisburg-Essen, Dortmund and the FIR e. V. at RWTH Aachen.
Project duration: 01.06.2019 - 31.05.2025
The project "Competence Center 5G.NRW" undertakes the central impelling function in the development of North Rhine-Westphalia to the leading market for 5G and operates through three force vectors:
- technical initial challenges are to be reduced for companies
- economic potential for vertical markets are to be developed
- the innovation merger – 5G and beyond – is to be speeded up
As a central contact point, the "Competence Center 5G.NRW" is to be available for all actors with an integrated set of measures without complications.

Effective Service Portfolio
The projected "Competence Center 5G.NRW" focuses upon its activities within six work packages, in which the areas of focus are developed further together with the NRW 5G actors. This also includes an ongoing discussion with representatives of the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy (MWIDE) and other relevant political institutions.
- 5G.NRW Technology Monitoring 5G and Beyond
- 5G.NRW Accompanying Research for the Initiative "5G Test Fields" in the Works
- 5G.NRW Experimental Platforms and Demonstration Laboratories
- 5G.NRW Transfer
- 5G.NRW Network
- 5G.NRW Communication and Project Management
Consortium and Partners
Responsible for the projected "Competence Center 5G.NRW" is the well-functioning team - as has been proved in previous collaborations - of the universities of Wuppertal as the lead manager, Duisburg-Essen, Dortmund and the FIR e. V. at RWTH Aachen.
In the course of this, the TU Dortmund, respectively the Communication Networks Institute, is primarily to develop digitalization options by means of 5G.NRW experimental platforms and demonstration laboratories. The aim is to provide NRW companies with 5G platforms as proof of concept for their usages as well as to attend substantial series of tests and to be part of a process of gaining experiences.
Additionally, the TU Dortmund engages in the organization and support of panels of experts (so-called Rocket Sessions), in the competition test fields 5G, in the transfer of knowledge and technology (Best Practices, Roadshows & NRW.Conferences), as well as in the setting up and maintaining of panels of experts for the exchange and know-how transfer between the important actors and stakeholders of the area of 5G.
Leading Market for 5G
In the digital strategy of the Federal State NRW, the aim "Leading Market for 5G" is set: "Especially the extremely densely populated North Rhine-Westphalia with its huge amount of big and small companies of the information and communication branch and with the research competence in the digital area on hand here can be a pioneer for mobile communications in Germany" (Landesregierung NRW 2018: Strategie für das digitale Nordrhein-Westfalen, p. 61).
For the development of a leading market, the initialization of the 5G technique needs to be accelerated in order to test its strong points and weaknesses in practice and to deduce realistic recommendations for the usage as well as to add to the optimization of the systems. At that, it is essential, that corresponding investigations and projects always prominently include the vertical industries, by the demands of which 5G networks will be determined. Only if the concrete usage of 5G can be demonstrated under demanding conditions in the field, the transition of a local to a comprehensive extension can be accomplished.
The outlined project, "Competence Center 5G.NRW", does exactly that and is going to impel the development to the leading market 5G by means of the three substantial force vectors:
- reducing the technical initial challenges for companies
- developing the economic potential for the verticals
- speeding up the innovation merger – 5G and Beyond
This project is funded by means of the Federal State NRW by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy (MWIKE) under the Funding ID 005-01903-0047.

Further information:
News
NRW-Minister Mona Neubaur visits Dortmund to discuss sustainable 5G and 6G research
The highlight of the 5G.NRWeek 2022 was the conference on Thursday, November 10, 2022, at the Logistics Campus in Dortmund; co-sponsered by 6GEM.
CNI researchers receive Best Paper Award for new Open Source Network Simulator for Narrowband-Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) Communications
We are pleased to announce our contribution “From LENA to LENA-NB: Implementation and Performance Evaluation of NB-IoT and Early Data Transmission in…
International panel on 6G organized by CNI as part of 5G.NRWeek 2021
As CNI's main contribution to this year's 5G.NRWeek, an international panel on 6G took place on 8 September 2021 as online webinar. Distinguished…
International panel on mission-critical machine-type communication towards 6G
Following a joint effort of international experts to formulate ideas for future wireless networks (called 6G, although the "branding" is not fixed…
5G.NRWeek Rocket Session: interactive live rescue robotics demo at high-profile 5G event
CNI has interactively illustrated requirements and opportunities of 5G in rescue robotics in close cooperation with the Fire Department Dortmund and…
5G.NRW Week: CNI hosts Webinar on Campus Networks
From 26th to 30th October, the Competence Center 5G.NRW will host the first 5G.NRW-Week. In the course of the entirely digital conference, 5G sessions…
Publications
Performance Evaluation of Random Access for Small Data Transmissions in Highly Dense Public and Private NB-IoT Networks
In 2023 IEEE 97th Vehicular Technology Conference, Florence, Italy, June 2023.
Characterization of 5G mmWave High-Accuracy Positioning Services for Urban Road Traffic
S. Häger, N. Gratza, C. Wietfeld
In 2023 IEEE 97th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC-Spring), Florence, Italy, June 2023.
Holistic Enlightening of Blackspots with Passive Tailorable Reflecting Surfaces for Efficient Urban mmWave Networks
S. Häger, K. Heimann, S. Böcker, C. Wietfeld
In IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 39318-39332, April 2023.
Beam-based 6G Networked Sensing Architecture for Scalable Road Traffic Monitoring
S. Häger, M. Haferkamp, C. Wietfeld
In 2023 Annual IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon), Vancouver, Canada, April 2023.
The Cost of Uncertainty: Impact of Overprovisioning on the Dimensioning of Machine Learning-based Network Slicing
C. Bektas, S. Böcker, C. Wietfeld
In 2022 IEEE Future Networks World Forum (FNWF), October 2022.
3D Self-Motion Tracking Services: Coalescence of mmWave Beam Orientations and Phase Information
S. Häger, S. Böcker, C. Wietfeld
In 2022 IEEE Future Networks World Forum (FNWF), Montreal, Canada, October 2022.
Better Safe Than Sorry: Distributed Testbed for Performance Evaluation of Private Networks
C. Arendt, S. Böcker, C. Bektas, C. Wietfeld
In 2022 IEEE Future Networks World Forum (FNWF), October 2022.
Enhancing Reliability by Combining Manufacturing Processes and Private 5G Networks
M. Müller, et al.
In IEEE International Conference on Industrial Informatics, INDIN'22. July 2022, Australia.
From LENA to LENA-NB: Implementation and Performance Evaluation of NB-IoT and Early Data Transmission in ns-3
P. Jörke, T. Gebauer, C. Wietfeld
In Workshop on ns-3 (WNS3), Online, Juni 2022.