Private 5G for Smart Agriculture: Inria’s Role in Robotic Farming Innovation

Challenge Requirements.

European agriculture is rapidly evolving — with increasing pressure for automation, sustainability, and labor efficiency. Inria plays a central role in enabling that transformation through advanced robotics R&D.

At its Sophia Antipolis campus, Inria leads the French node of the AgriFood TEF (Testing and Experimentation Facility) initiative, offering real-world infrastructure for robotics and AI experimentation in agriculture.

The problem :

• Traditional wireless systems couldn’t meet the demands of mobile robot fleets.
• Public 5G was unavailable or unstable in remote areas.
• Wi-Fi struggled with obstacles, motion, and field distances.
• 900 MHz radios lacked bandwidth for live video and sensor streaming.

Inria needed a stable, autonomous, and scalable network that would allow teams to test, manage, and operate AI-powered farming machines in real conditions — without depending on public carriers.

We’re not just testing this in theory. We’re putting it to work in real fields, with real robots, solving real problems.

Philippe Martinet, Research Director, Inria

Solution.

To address these challenges, Inria deployed the Firecell Pegasus Private 5G system, creating a high-performance, field-grade wireless network tailored for robotics.

Key elements of the solution include:

• Private 5G radio units covering 100×150m test plots
• Rugged Teltonika routers mounted on robots and drones
• SIM-based provisioning, edge computing integration, and full stack control
• Real-time support for multiple autonomous devices operating in parallel

The system enables:

• Seamless robot-to-robot communication
• Real-time telemetry, video, and sensor fusion
• Over-the-air software updates
• Full visibility and orchestration from the lab to the field

Key Benefits.

Seamless Field Connectivity

Reliable communication over uneven terrain, dense vegetation, and GPS-obstructed zones.

Full Operational Autonomy

Total network control: Inria manages provisioning, configuration, monitoring — without relying on telecom operators.

High Throughput & Low Latency

Supports bandwidth-heavy applications such as real-time HD video, LiDAR scans, and autonomous pathfinding.

Spectrum Licensing Advantage

Under French regulation, Inria licenses its own spectrum via ARCEP — a major enabler for research independence.

Outcome.

The Firecell deployment has transformed Inria’s robotic testbed into one of the most advanced AgriTech experimentation sites in Europe. Key outcomes include:

• Stable operations across all tested robotic platforms
• High-performance testing environment for internal teams and startup partners
• Accelerated time-to-field for AgTech innovations
• A reproducible infrastructure model for other AgriFood TEF nodes and international R&D centers

The platform supports everything from mobility algorithms to embedded firmware — enabling both fundamental research and applied innovation.

Next steps / Conclusion.

Inria plans to expand the testbed to support:

• Thousands of connected devices including tractors, implements, sensors, and drones
• More complex test scenarios across diverse terrains and crop types
• Collaborative trials with European partners and industrial sponsors

As a foundational node of the EU AgriFood TEF, Inria is not just supporting research — it’s building a scalable reference model for the farms of the future.

What we really need is a stable, resilient connection that works in the field. Private 5G helps us do that — and gives us a real architecture to scale.

Malek Aifa, Research Engineer, Inria