Connectivity

On 15 March 2023, Virgin Media O2 and Cisco launched a remarkable product: a private 5G network in a box. The portable network is aimed at organisations that want to make use of 5G’s high capacity and potential but cannot afford to invest in 5G infrastructure.

The launch took place at O2 and Darwin’s SatCom Lab at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus. Darwin also played a part in the portable network’s development by testing the product in its fleet of connected vehicles, including the Darwin Autonomous Shuttle.

Darwin was founded with the goal of combining terrestrial and satellite communications. We’ve made huge strides in the intervening time, and we’re pleased to report a new landmark: we’ve been granted a patent for our vehicle communications technology.

On 9 September, the University of Glasgow held a workshop about the future of transport. The workshop took place at Inverness Campus, but people were also welcome to take part online.

The discussion focused on the current issues with transport and how these could be improved. In this post, we’ve recapped some of the problems and potential solutions that the workshop touched on.

Rodrigo Barreto, Darwin’s lead architect, has written this overview of Darwin’s inspiration, achievements and plans for the future.

In November 2021, Darwin and ESA collaborated on a connectivity test at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus. We spoke to Darwin’s Rodrigo Barreto and ESA’s Antonio Franchi to get some insight into this test.