Base stations, thousands of kilometres of cabling and a desoldering, i.e. a super-accurate device for soldering and unsoldering large electronic components. Nokia's labs are equipped with hundreds of devices, computers, as well as measurement and control systems.
For example, thermal chambers are dedicated to testing of telecommunications equipment in extreme conditions. First, it is cooled to minus 70 degrees Celsius, and a moment later, heated to 180 degrees Celsius.
'All this is for our equipment to prove reliable in all parts of the globe, from the frost of Siberia to the hellfire heat of the Sahara desert,' says Bartosz Srebniak, manager of Nokia's Wroclaw laboratory. 'And these are not the toughest tests we perform in the company, anyway, since our colleagues from Finland conduct more extreme experiments on base stations, burning, drowning or shooting them with live ammunition. Simply put, our equipment needs to be reliable in any situation,' adds Srebniak.
Nokia has been present in Wroclaw since 2000. At the time, it employed 10 people, who occupied only a small office. The laboratory was not even mentioned then. Today, the European Centre for Software Engineering and Nokia is the largest research - development institution of the ICT sector in Poland, employing almost 3 000 specialists in four separate offices. Along with the number of new employees, the surface of the laboratory has grown through all these years of development.
Wroclaw research and development laboratories of the group are one of the most modern, and at the same time the largest of its kind in Europe. At 4 200 sq m, over 600 people plan and implement broadband access technologies. Also, this is the cradle of the ideas that have an impact on the future of telecommunications, including the successor to the popular 4G technology, i.e. LTE - Advanced and 5G, which will be released in a few years.
You can personally ask about (almost) all the secrets of Nokia's plans and projects during the second edition of the Night of Laboratories. Nokia is its co-organizer, hand in hand with the Wroclaw Research Centre EIT+.
The campaign, modelled on the Night of Museums, involves several institutions: universities, research institutes, and specialized laboratories, the laboratories of which are not available every day. It is a unique opportunity to take a close peek at the work of scientists, technicians, experimenters and other professionals, e.g. the police forensic experts. Last year, the event was attended by more than 4 000 science enthusiasts. Nokia welcomes on Saturday, October 8, to its newest office in West Gate at ul. Lotnicza 12. A tour of the laboratory will take place every half-hour from 5 to 11 pm.
To visit Nokia's research area on the Night Laboratories, you need to sign up at www.noclaboratoriow.pl (in the tab "Program"). This is where you can also sign up for visits in experimental labs of other institutions participating in the Night of Laboratories. Participation in the event is free, but the number of participants is limited, first come first served.
See HERE for a time-lapse of the construction of Nokia's most modern laboratory.
Nokia/w
