OTAVA – The silent powerhouse of Nokia’s wireless revolution
Nokia has been significantly involved in the successful standardisation of 5G. It’s logical, then, that both Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs have been strategic collaborators in the University of Oulu’s 6G Flagship since its inception. We recently had the opportunity to tour Nokia’s research environment in Oulu to gain a firsthand look.
If the future had a sound, it would be silence. That is the paradox of OTAVA, the Over-the-Air Validation Area at Nokia’s Oulu campus; a place where radio waves whisper, and innovation unfolds in near-perfect quiet. Hidden within the northern city that has long been the furnace of Finnish wireless expertise, OTAVA is neither a showroom nor a stage for grand pronouncements. It is a place where technology is interrogated, refined, and, ultimately, made indispensable.
Inside, Nokia engineers orchestrate an invisible symphony of signals. The chambers—lined with foam pyramids that absorb stray waves—exist to perfect wireless performance long before it reaches the hands of consumers. This is where next-generation antennas, including the massive MIMO arrays that will define advanced 5G and the foundations of 6G, are put through their paces.
What sets OTAVA apart is its sheer precision. Nokia’s engineers do not simply check whether a signal works. They map its behaviour in extreme detail, examining how it bends, reflects, and degrades in environments that mimic real-world conditions. The facility’s numerous rounded test-walls, including a full 360-degree chamber—a structure so sensitive that it has remained largely off-limits to external observers—allows antennas to be evaluated as though they were mounted on high-speed trains, perched on city rooftops, or struggling through interference-laden industrial zones.
The testing process is as much about control as it is about discovery. The ability to visualise a beam in virtual space and use AI to correct its course is what ensures a Nokia-built network does not simply function but excels.
The work at OTAVA extends beyond technical validation. The facility is a keystone in Nokia’s broader approach. It blends research and industry partnerships. It encourages rapid iteration between concept and product.
Nokia’s site in Oulu is unique in that it houses full life-cycle of a base-station product including research, development, testing, manufacturing and supply chain. In a nearby factory, antennas and network components move seamlessly from prototype to reality. There, robotic arms assemble circuit boards under the watchful eye of an in-house 5G network, a self-sustaining loop where Nokia builds and tests using its own technologies.
This alignment between laboratory and factory is not incidental. It is a strategy designed to give Nokia an edge in an industry where the smallest inefficiencies can mean the difference between leadership and obsolescence. As research and implementation grow increasingly complex, OTAVA gives Nokia the advantage of refining and deploying wireless innovations with precision.
Beyond 5G, OTAVA is already laying the foundations for 6G. Its controlled testing environments allow Nokia to explore emerging frequency bands, refine next-generation beamforming techniques, and develop the advanced network architectures that will define future wireless systems.
As the company sets its sights on the next wireless frontier, the significance of OTAVA will only grow. With the completion of Nokia’s new Oulu campus in 2025, the facility will become further embedded in an ecosystem that blends corporate R&D with academic expertise. The University of Oulu, long a quiet force behind Finnish telecom breakthroughs and the alma mater of many engineers shaping Nokia’s innovations, will integrate into the new campus. This closer connection will allow researchers and industry experts to work side by side, ensuring that new ideas flow seamlessly from academia into real-world applications.
From Laboratories to field operations
OuluZone, a multifaceted centre designed for activities ranging from motorsports to research and education, complements Nokia’s ecosystem. Approximately 30 minutes from Oulu’s city centre, OuluZone offers diverse test tracks and facilities ideal for technological research, testing, and education. Its 5G-enabled environment provides a unique opportunity to test autonomous vehicles and heavy machinery in Arctic conditions, further solidifying Oulu’s position as a hub for innovation.
Nokia’s solutions for remote testing via drones, real-time digital twins, and increasingly sophisticated simulations highlight OTAVA’s expanding role. It has evolved beyond validation into a space where each experiment pushes the limits of wireless technology.
In the end, OTAVA’s true value lies in its invisibility. The antennas refined within its chambers will enable millions of seamless connections, yet few will ever know the lengths Nokia went to ensure their reliability. That, in itself, is the mark of technology at its best: essential, omnipresent, and unnoticed. Because it works flawlessly.
Find this article and many more in the 10th issue of 6G Waves!
The University of Oulu and Nokia have a long history of collaboration in wireless communications research. Nokia is one of the first main partners of the 6G Flagship. The university trains experts, and Nokia offers its partnership opportunities for theses and research. Olli Liinamaa acts as one of the local links between the organisations. At Nokia, he is the ecosystem manager, and at the University of Oulu, he is the 5G Test Network Lead.
5G Test Network Lead