Skip navigation
High voltage power substation drone view.

Ericsson Utilities Innovation Center

Unlock more value for the future

Utilities companies around the world are responding to the need for smarter ways to control the flow of energy. To thrive, utility companies must harness the power and possibility of connectivity to build more reliable, secure, and flexible digital infrastructures. At Ericsson we are dedicated to working with utilities and ecosystem partners to solve real-world challenges. Through collaboration with our customers and partners, we can develop and try new use cases using real-world equipment, measuring improvements in security, resilience and efficiency.

What is Ericsson’s Utilities Innovation Center?

The Utilities Innovation Center is an end-to-end lab dedicated to power, gas and water utilities located in Plano, Texas.

The Utilities Innovation Center is a sandbox to enable innovation. Simulating the real-world utility network, from power generation, transmission, distribution and substations to the end-users, the lab showcases how the cellular network can support an ecosystem of industry-specific use cases and devices. The lab has a private LTE network deployed, with radios on Band 106 and Band 48 (CBRS).

In addition, in our Device and Network testing lab, we perform device testing and validation for 4G and 5G devices and applications, ensuring devices are certified for operation on the network and pass performance, cybersecurity and compliance with regulatory requirements and industry standards. Once devices are certified in this lab, they are installed in the Utilities Innovation Center to demonstrate specific use cases​.

Utilities Innovation Center: A sandbox for innovation

The Ericsson Utilities Innovation Center is a dynamic platform for showcasing and testing mission-critical private networks for utility applications. This video provides an in-depth look at how the UIC engages with utilities, demonstrates solutions, and acts as a sandbox for innovation.

Watch video

Utilities Innovation Center: The role of mission-critical networks

As utilities accelerate their digital transformation, mission-critical private networks play a key role in ensuring grid security, flexibility, and operational efficiency. This video highlights how Ericsson’s UIC can accelerate digitization, decentralization, and decarbonization of the grid, enabling faster wildfire mitigation, reducing truck rolls for remote site inspections, and supporting the data flow between field assets and control centers.

Watch video

Demos

Explore demonstrations from the Ericsson Utilities Innovation Center (UIC), which serves as a testing ground for innovative technologies, driving efficiency, security, and resilience in utility operations. The videos highlight practical use cases that showcase improved grid security, optimized field operations, and how the evolving needs of the utilities sector are supported.

Demonstration: Enhanced security in private networks

Ericsson delivers end-to-end security solutions for utility networks. This video highlights a security solution developed by OneLayer to enhance device security in private long-term evolution (LTE) networks. By linking device identifiers with IP addresses, the solution enables continuous monitoring, identifies traffic patterns, and detects anomalies to prevent unauthorized access.

Watch video

Demonstration: Remote monitoring for distributed substations

The effective monitoring of distributed substations is critical to maintaining grid reliability. This video highlights how Ericsson's private LTE network enables AI-driven monitoring and robotic inspections for substations, reducing the need for manual intervention in hazardous environment conditions.

Watch video

Demonstration: Mission-critical push-to-talk

Mission-critical push-to-talk provides utility workers with instant communication capabilities that support voice, video, and file sharing over a secure LTE network. In this video, you will see how mission-critical push-to-talk, push-to-video, file sharing, and location services enable fast, real-time troubleshooting for seamless utility operations.

Watch video

Demonstration: Falling conductor use case

Ericsson’s UIC showcases how private LTE and advanced photonic management unit (PMU) technology can detect and de-energize falling power lines before they hit the ground, preventing wildfires. This video demonstrates how real-time analytics and fast-response automation ensure grid safety and resilience.

Watch video

Use cases

Ericsson is your partner for the grid modernization journey, from current use cases through opportunities for innovation enabled by LTE, 5G, 6G and beyond. Some of these include:

Video surveillance with AI at transmission substations

A cellular-connected video camera with embedded AI software can identify switchgear fault and detect arcs. The video captures and processes video in real-time, flagging abnormal activity and automating alarm responses.​

Distribution substation with environmental sensors​

Distribution substation with environmental sensors​

Distribution poles affixed with sensors will automatically detect fallen poles and fallen lines. This setup uses certified devices from Ubicquia including: UbiGrid TVM to sense pole tilt, vibration and impact, Ubigrid DTM+ to sense power output, oil team , pressure and level for transformer health, and a new environmental sensor for air quality and noise​.

Workforce enablement with mission critical push-to-talk​

Mission critical push-to-talk ensures workers and emergency personnel of instant communication with crystal clear voice quality in critical circumstances where every second counts.

Teleprotection through microwave​

Microwave connectivity can extend millisecond responsivity beyond the substation to more central location. Its low latency makes it ideal for teleprotection, which requires a responsiveness of 5–10ms one-way from the network to protection equipment and switching gear.

Private LTE network

The Utilities Innovation Center is designed as an operational environment where our customers and device partners can come test their utilities devices for compatibility, security and reliability on a real cellular network. Built on Ericsson's private LTE solution, industry partners can see the actual performance of their devices on our network and pioneer new use cases with confidence.

The Private LTE Network used at the Utilities Innovation Center includes Ericsson Radio System access and Router 6000 series transport, powered with Private Network packet core. Ericsson differentiates with cross-sector antenna sharing redundancy that provides reliable coverage across neighboring sectors.

Private LTE network

Ecosystem collaboration

Utilities need to be able to access and analyze real-time data from sensors and devices across the grid. To accomplish that, utilities, Ericsson, and our device technology partners are all working together in evolving utilities’ connectivity infrastructure. Ericsson private LTE creates wide-ranging, umbrella coverage across the entire utilities ecosystem, from power generation, transmission, and distribution, to metering and asset management, so we work closely with leading OEMs to test their devices on our cellular network. Partners whose equipment and technology have been tested on Ericsson private LTE at the Utilities Innovation Center include:

"Utilities, Ericsson, and our device partners come here to build end-to-end solutions that are pre-integrated, pre-validated and proven to work."
- Elisiario Cunha Neto, VP Chief Technology Officer, Business Development Customer Unit, Ericsson North America
Landis+Gyr logo
Ubicquia logo
Cradlepoint logo
Indro Robotics logo
Interested in the Utilities Innovation Center?

Industry discussions

Private Networks: Is this a game changer for utilities in the digital transformation journey?

John Hughes, Director, IT Network Engineering & Operations, Ameren Corporation

Insights from 4G-powered smart grids and what we can expect 5G to add

Alan McIntyre, Engineering Director, Southern Linc

Industry news