A new Stanford initiative aims to ensure 5G networks are reliable and secure

Photo of drones flying in a 'V' formation

Led by Nick McKeown, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford, Project Pronto is a $30 million effort to ensure 5G networks remain secure and reliable as wired networks. Later this year, McKeown's team along with Mac Schwager, aeronautics and astronautics professor, will demo how a tight formation of computer-controlled drones can be managed even when the 5G network is under continual cyberattack. The demo is a proof of concept for software-defined networking (SDN), invented by McKeown's group more than a dozen years ago.