Frost Center Smart Building Wireless Deployment

overview

The William and Linda Frost Center for Research and Innovation stands at the center of Cal Poly’s interdisciplinary research ecosystem.

Bringing together faculty and students from multiple colleges including science, agriculture, engineering, and the humanities the building was designed to encourage collaboration and breakthrough discoveries.

To support this mission, the Advanced Wireless Lab deployed a private 5G network inside and around the Frost Center, transforming the facility into a fully connected smart research environment.

This deployment enables high-capacity wireless connectivity for advanced research systems, digital collaboration tools, and emerging technologies that require ultra-reliable communication.

The Challenge

Modern research facilities rely on a rapidly growing ecosystem of connected devices.

Laboratory instruments, sensors, robotics platforms, AR/VR systems, and data-intensive applications require reliable connectivity with extremely low latency.

Traditional campus Wi-Fi systems can struggle to support these requirements, especially in high-density research environments with hundreds of connected devices.

At the same time, installing extensive fiber infrastructure for every new research system can be expensive and inflexible.

Cal Poly needed a wireless architecture capable of supporting next-generation research infrastructure without constant physical upgrades.

Project Scale & Impact

Key Milestones & Scope

  • Deployment of private 5G coverage within the Frost Center
  •  Integration with Cal Poly’s cloud-based network core

  • Support for smart building systems and connected research labs

  • High-capacity wireless platform for interdisciplinary innovation

The Frost Center now operates as a technology convergence environment, where wireless infrastructure supports cutting-edge research across disciplines.

Strategic Network Advantages

Smart Building Infrastructure

The private 5G network enables a range of smart building capabilities including:

  • environmental monitoring systems
  • energy management platforms

  • occupancy and facility analytics

  • smart laboratory instrumentation

These systems allow the building itself to function as a research platform for sustainable and intelligent infrastructure.

High-Performance Research Connectivity

Researchers working with advanced technologies require connectivity that is both reliable and flexible.

Private 5G provides the bandwidth and low latency needed for:

  • robotics experiments

  • real-time data analytics

  • immersive learning environments

  • high-resolution scientific instrumentation

Because the network is privately operated, it can be optimized specifically for research workloads.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

The Frost Center brings together researchers from multiple academic disciplines.

Private wireless connectivity enables shared digital research platforms, collaborative simulations, and real-time data exchange between labs and classrooms.

This connectivity supports Cal Poly’s broader goal of fostering cross-disciplinary innovation.

How the Advanced Wireless Lab Is Approaching It

The Frost Center deployment combines several elements of the Advanced Wireless Lab architecture:

  • CBRS small cells integrated within the building infrastructure

  • cloud-native mobile core running on AWS

  • seamless integration with campus networks

  • support for IoT and smart building systems

  • student participation in network deployment and operations

Students gain real experience managing a production wireless system inside a cutting-edge research facility.

Impact

The Frost Center private wireless deployment demonstrates how next-generation wireless infrastructure can reshape research environments.

Instead of relying solely on wired networks, the building now supports flexible wireless connectivity capable of adapting to new technologies and research projects.

For students, the Frost Center represents something unique:
a place where they are not just using advanced technology where they are helping design and operate the networks that power it.