- The joint research initiative between École de technologie
supérieure (ÉTS), Concordia University,
Polytechnique Montréal, Environment and Climate Change Canada
(ECCC) and Ericsson aims to use AI to reduce the energy use of 5G
networks
MONTREAL, Oct. 14,
2022 /CNW/ -- Today, Ericsson
Canada (NASDAQ: ERIC) announced a strategic research program
led by École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), in partnership with
Concordia University, Polytechnique
Montréal and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), to
explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help the
telecommunications sector minimize the energy consumption of 5G
networks. The project aims to help communication service providers
shrink their carbon footprint and reduce operational costs by
saving on energy, which will, in turn, help lower costs for
consumers and decrease harmful emissions.
Erik Ekudden, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
at Ericsson, says: "5G networks are the technological backbone of
our society and they represent an opportunity to digitalize
industries and significantly reduce global CO2 emissions. Under the
focused guidance of our partners and with the help of Ericsson
experts in Montreal, a leading AI
hub, our researchers will test and refine solutions to make 5G
& Beyond technologies smarter, more energy-efficient for
service providers and cost-efficient for end users."
Data scientists from Ericsson's Global Artificial Intelligence
Accelerator (GAIA) in Montreal
will support the three-year research project in close collaboration
with 7 professors and 27 researchers from ÉTS, Concordia and
Polytechnique and expertise from Environment and Climate Change
Canada. Ericsson will bring its global expertise in this area from
Ericsson Research to steer the group in standardizing their
research findings and drive towards industrialized solutions that
can be integrated into its 5G products and services. The outcomes
of this research are also expected to strengthen ECCC's Greenhouse
Gas (GHG) modeling solutions for the information and communication
technologies sector and contribute to global standardization. This
partnership is supported by contributions from the Quebec government (through InnovÉÉ -
Innovation en Énergie Électrique) and the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and
Climate Change, says: "The Government of Canada is in a constant
search for innovative ways to cut pollution and fight climate
change, in industries both young and old. Teaming up Ericsson Canada with Montreal's world-class universities and
globe-leading AI research and development community is another
smart step forward in the pursuit of net-zero jobs and growth."
Christian Casanova, Vice
President of Research and Partnerships at École de technologie
supérieure (ÉTS), says: "There is consensus concerning the climate
emergency, and climate change is now inevitable. We must act now to
reduce our ecological footprint, starting by designing technologies
that are less harmful to the environment. The use of AI in
designing communication networks will enable us to reduce energy
demands while maintaining a strong economy."
The information and communication technologies (ICT) industry is
an energy intensive and growing sector. 5G is more energy efficient
than previous generations of mobile communications, however, the
energy consumption of entire mobile networks is expected to
increase due to the need to expand network capacity to meet the
exponential growth in data traffic. By embedding AI into those
networks, researchers will devise ways for them to self-configure
and reconfigure to push energy consumption to a minimum while
maintaining the required quality of service.
François Bertrand, Vice President of Research and Innovation at
Polytechnique Montréal, says: "The climate crisis demands novel
solutions and the pooling of multidisciplinary talents. Over the
next three years, by combining their strengths with those of
professors and researchers from four organizations, our experts
will harness the potential of artificial intelligence and work on
reducing the energy required by base stations to transmit signals
to wireless devices, which is crucial since the number of connected
devices is expected to increase dramatically."
Dominique Bérubé, Vice President of Research and Graduate
Studies at Concordia University, says:
"A research project of this scale requires the robust support of
multiple organizations. With our seasoned history collaborating
with Ericsson, it was only natural that Concordia University and our Applied AI Institute,
which focuses on finding applied solutions to real world
challenges, would participate in this initiative. Sustainability is
a major priority for the university and we're proud to contribute
to a project that can reduce the energy consumption of 5G
networks."
Thierry St-Cyr, CEO of InnovÉÉ -
Innovation en Énergie Électrique, says: "We are convinced that the
collaborative research model is a must to develop new technologies
to reduce the GHG emissions of the energy sector faster, smarter,
and more competitively."
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SOURCE Ericsson