6G Test Centre’s Business Clients Develop Products for Defence Industry
The University of Oulu’s 6G Test Centre has been operational for about a year and has launched rapidly, as is appropriate in today’s global situation and when helping companies offering dual-use products for the defence industry enter the market. Four partner companies — Scaleout, Wayren, Microamp, and Winse Power — have all participated in testing through the DIANA Challenge process. Tambest has been a direct ecosystem client. These five can now be publicly announced. The selection process for next year’s client companies is already underway.
The 5G/6G test network built on the University of Oulu’s Linnanmaa campus covers the entire campus area and, when needed, also parts of the technology village. The university operates the network as an independent operator, enabling a flexible and low-latency testing environment for various research and development needs. The test network is a modular system, allowing the creation of customized virtual laboratories for different testing purposes.
For example, it is possible to test the integration and cooperation of civilian and defense networks when aiming to strengthen the resilience of communication systems. The 6G Test Centre’s collaboration with companies in NATO’s DIANA program (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic) is a prime example of the kind of research activity desired.
“The evaluation for the next DIANA Challenge program for 2026 is currently in its final stages, and new clients will be selected by December. This allows us to begin planning testing collaboration with them as early as January,” says Hannu Nikurautio, Research Director of the 6G Test Centre at the University of Oulu.
When asked about the significance of DIANA connections for the test centre and companies, Nikurautio responds through four thematic areas:
- Strategic Importance: DIANA connections open a channel for the 6G Test Centre (6GTC) into NATO’s broad innovation and defense ecosystem, strengthening Finland’s and Oulu’s role as a key testing platform for international actors.
- Benefits for Companies: The ecosystem —companies and NATO DIANA clients— gain the opportunity to validate their solutions, increasing export potential and accelerating technology development and product refinement.
- Networks and Visibility: DIANA connections enhance the international visibility of the test centre and companies, opening new partnerships with research institutions, startups, and large corporations.
- Dual-Use Technology: These connections strengthen expertise for both civilian and defence sector needs, enabling companies to expand their business into multiple markets.
We have demonstrated that our hybrid test network provides significant added value to both the NATO DIANA network and the ecosystem’s customers as a platform for developing and evaluating new solutions.
What insights or results have researchers gained from the tests, what is the value of the collaboration from the test centre’s perspective?
“We have demonstrated that our hybrid test network (multi domain network)—our own independently operated tactical and commercial network with its diverse technological capabilities—provides significant added value to both the NATO DIANA network and the ecosystem’s customers as a platform for developing and evaluating new solutions. In addition, our testing capabilities in extreme conditions, such as the Arctic climate, complement this ecosystem and offer a unique perspective on how solutions perform in real operational environments. We have also received feedback from companies and are now better able to scale our testing activities. Support from partners, such as equipment donations, naturally contributes to this. The tests have served as a catalyst for new research and development projects both domestically and internationally,” Nikurautio summarizes.
6G Test Centre introduced Tambest earlier. In this article we share brief introductions of four further DIANA test clients. We asked the companies for brief introductions and inquired about the tests and their near-future plans.
Companies are presented in alphabetical order.
This article is part of the 6G Waves magazine coming out later in December 2025.