A team of engineers in Glasgow has developed a low-cost, open-source mobile network that could pave the way for remote medical procedures, including surgeries carried out from afar.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering have built a 4G LTE network using inexpensive, off-the-shelf components to connect a haptic controller to a robotic arm. The system allows for near-instantaneous control, with minimal delay between input and movement — a critical requirement for delicate applications such as surgery.
The findings, published in Communications Engineering, outline how the team used the network to perform simulated dental examinations on a set of dentures, illustrating how such technology might one day allow doctors to operate on patients hundreds of miles away.
The system is based on the Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) framework, which replaces proprietary hardware and software with open-source alternatives. The researchers reconfigured a consumer-grade USB mobile internet dongle to create stable links between a haptic controller, robotic arm, and computer acting as an intelligent base station.
By using specialised software known as xApps, the team was able to monitor and optimise signal quality, data rates, and latency in real time. In laboratory tests, they achieved data transfer speeds of 10Mbps with a response delay of less than one second — sufficient for fine, precise control of the robotic arm.
Crucially, the network also proved to be energy-efficient. The researchers reported power consumption of just 4.5 watts — around 90% less than traditional software-defined radio systems performing similar tasks.
Dr Saber Hassouna, the paper’s first author, said the experiment demonstrated the potential of O-RAN beyond theoretical models. “The testbed we’ve developed using commercially available hardware shows that O-RAN can be used to enable excellent performance in robotic teleoperation,” he said. “For applications like dental procedures, the robotic arm must move very smoothly, which requires both high data throughput and low latency — both of which we’ve been able to achieve for the first time with O-RAN.”
Professor Qammer Abbasi, Head of the University’s Communications, Sensing and Imaging Hub, said the work marked an important step towards practical applications. “This is a very encouraging demonstration of the potential of O-RAN to enable fine-grained, near real-time control of a robotic arm,” he said. “We are now working to extend this capability over longer distances, which could eventually make complex remote tasks, including medical procedures, viable and affordable.”
Professor Muhammad Imran, Head of the James Watt School of Engineering and lead author of the paper, added: “The Internet of Skills is now one step closer with the advent of low-latency, high-reliability communication links. With Open RAN making these technologies more affordable and accessible, our team is helping to lay the foundation for truly inclusive digital accessibility.”
The research, carried out in collaboration with the Indian Institutes of Technology in Bhilai and Delhi, received funding from the Communications Hub for Empowering Distributed clouD computing Applications and Research (CHEDDAR) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The paper, Development of Open Radio Access Networks (O-RAN) for Real-time Robotic Teleoperation, is available in Communications Engineering, a journal published by Springer Nature.
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