6G Test Centre brings resilient communications to NATO event in Oulu

The University of Oulu’s 6G Test Centre takes part in the NATO Innovation Range Capability Demonstrator at OuluZone, Oulu, on 28 and 29 October 2026. The invitation-only event gathers developers of defence and security technology, NATO representatives, and national authorities to test new capabilities in real operating conditions.

The event presents the NATO Innovation Range Future Connectivity framework, which Finland and Sweden proposed and NATO runs. It brings national testing environments together to develop and evaluate communications technologies and autonomous systems for defence and security.

The Test Centre helped organise the event and runs one of its joint system demonstrations, The Network Never Dies. The demonstration combines 5G, tactical, and satellite networks into one hybrid network that keeps communications running when the primary connection is lost. In the technology demonstration area, the Test Centre also shows building blocks for future 6G networks: improved wireless coverage, computing in the field, and digital models of real environments.

“We host The Network Never Dies, one of the joint system demonstrations. It combines satellite, 5G, and tactical networks into a hybrid network. When we cut the primary connection, the video keeps running over the connections that remain. That is resilient communications in practice. The demonstration shows what we have built through the NATO DIANA 6G Test Centre. We have laboratory facilities, a commercial-grade campus network run by our own team, and field testing at sites such as OuluZone. Together they let us take technologies into realistic conditions and support defence-sector events such as this one,” says Hannu Nikurautio, Director of the 6G Test Centre.

The Finnish Defence Administration, BusinessOulu, the Digital Defence Ecosystem, and DEFINE organise the event together with NATO.