Kookmin University (President JJEONG, SEUNG RYUL)'s Next Generation Communication Business Unit (Director Park Jun-seok) is building a '5G Specialized Network (Eum 5G)' infrastructure as part of the Innovative Convergence University in High-tech Fields project sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Research Foundation. A 5G specialized network is a customized 5G network that is built in a restricted place, enabling security and independence to implement specialized services for those who use it. Examples include internal networks for factory automation and independent local networks for drone or autonomous vehicle operations. As the demand for 5G specialized networks is expanding, the Next Generation Communication Business Center is focused on providing students with the latest educational environment to foster human resources in the field of next-generation communication and strengthen their capabilities in convergence services. 

The biggest feature of the project is that it is the first in Korea to provide an environment where students can directly maintain and operate 5G specialized networks. In general, telecommunication equipment installation, optimization, and operation are handled by telecom operators, so students have not had the opportunity to experience them directly, but the 5G specialized network allows students to vividly experience the equipment and tasks applied in the real world.

The 5G specialized network construction project will be piloted at Kookmin University, the host university, to set a precedent for the project and check its applicability to other universities in the next-generation telecommunications consortium (Seoul National University, Ulsan National University of Science and Technology, Jeonnam National University, and Korea Aerospace University). In the process, the strategy is to develop new educational contents and converge the existing curriculum and specialized network infrastructure to grow the quality of education. 

The business group signed a contract with Samsung SDS in June to build a 5G specialized network. Samsung SDS will carry out the project in the order of facility construction, optimization, and operation over a period of five months, and recently completed the installation of hardware for 5G specialized network services in Kookmin University's Mirae Hall, athletic fields, and back roads. In September, the core equipment for the 5G specialized network was installed in the server room of Kookmin University's Mirae Hall, completing preparations for optimization and operation.

In this regard, the Next Generation Communications Business Unit operated the '5G Specialized Network Lecture' and '5G O-RAN Education Program and 5G O-RAN Lecture' as open education during the summer vacation period to help students understand the 5G specialized network.

An official from the Next Generation Communications Business Unit said, “Through this 5G specialized network construction project, we plan to develop a convergence curriculum with various cutting-edge fields such as future mobility (drones, autonomous vehicles) and realistic media sports that converge with the next-generation communication field, and students will have the opportunity to directly experience the next-generation communication environment of ultra-low latency, ultra-bandwidth, super intelligence, and ultra-space through the completion of various convergence design courses.” “Furthermore, we plan to prepare and support various programs so that human and physical infrastructure can be systematically and effectively used in the next-generation communication convergence curriculum.”