Periodic Reporting for period 1 - 5G-SOLUTIONS (5G Solutions for European Citizens)
Berichtszeitraum: 2019-06-01 bis 2020-11-30
5G-SOLUTIONS is the ICT-19 flagship project supporting EC 5G policy by implementing the last phase of the 5G cPPP roadmap (5G Platforms and Vertical Large-Scale Pilots).
The overall objective is to conduct advanced field trials of innovative and thematically diverse digital services that require 5G capabilities and performance in the vertical domains of Factories of the Future, Smart Energy, Smart Cities, Smart Ports and Media & Entertainment, directly engaging with end-users , so as to validate the technological performance of 5G technology in successfully serving them, as well as validate the business models and potential of these use cases prior to commercial deployment.
The project is part of both scientific (e.g. it contributes to standard bodies as well as 5G-PPP frameworks and other H2020 projects) and citizens’ society, for whom the project aims to be reference for a 5G that facilitates societal and citizens’ needs. On the opposite track, considering research as an isolated Castalia (referring “Glass Bead Game” by H. Hesse), may cause fake-news, so that 5G appears as harbinger of inconvenience, unnecessary costs and even illness.
The overall objective is to conduct advanced field trials of innovative and thematically diverse digital services that require 5G capabilities and performance in the vertical domains of Factories of the Future, Smart Energy, Smart Cities, Smart Ports and Media & Entertainment, directly engaging with end-users , so as to validate the technological performance of 5G technology in successfully serving them, as well as validate the business models and potential of these use cases prior to commercial deployment.
The project is part of both scientific (e.g. it contributes to standard bodies as well as 5G-PPP frameworks and other H2020 projects) and citizens’ society, for whom the project aims to be reference for a 5G that facilitates societal and citizens’ needs. On the opposite track, considering research as an isolated Castalia (referring “Glass Bead Game” by H. Hesse), may cause fake-news, so that 5G appears as harbinger of inconvenience, unnecessary costs and even illness.
In the first half of the project's life, the actions that were planned were completed. The KPIs were defined with great precision under the relevant context and conditions. This allowed us to ascertain (and demonstrate) what we already suspected from the proposal, i.e. 5G becomes a fundamental technology for most use cases. However, even for use cases where the performance of 5G would not be strictly necessary in the test phase, it would become so in a massive diffusion of the service, when the requirement of scalability and cost-effectiveness is also added.
The KPIs have not only been clearly defined, but, since conducting trials in a 5G testbed ecosystem is complex, challenging and a robust and common approach to the validation of the KPIs is required (fig. 1).
The use cases leverage on ICT-17 5G-VINNI and 5G-EVE infrastructures, and for some of the UCs the applicable 5G infrastructures are extended for the purpose of 5G-SOLUTIONS facility sites. The integration with ICT-17 facilities is achieved through APIs with CSDO orchestration system. The importance of orchestration, the mapping of the different UC component, identifying the integration points and the flow of the experiments have been carefully considered and designed. For mature UCs and facilities these artifacts have also been implemented and tested. A special role is played by artificial Intelligence, providing zero-touch automation mechanisms for 5G service and operational lifecycles.
Furthermore the 5G-SOLUTIONS' KPI Visualization System is used within the scope of the project to analyze and validate the KPIs measured in each UC. The system design has been completed, the underlying infrastructure comprising of several VMs has been setup, and a first version of the platform is already deployed whilst the integration with 8 UC applications is complete.
The project initiated the first tests on the majority of UCs, belonging to 4 baseline living labs and one additional multi-living lab (MLL).
The Factory of the Future LL addresses in-process monitoring and real-time product quality assessment, new sensor provisioning directly to the production plant, augmented reality aided maintenance, and machinery and robot remote controlling through 5G (fig. 2 – 3).
The Smart Energy LL validates 5G technologies in advanced industrial verticals domain as Demand Side Management in new electricity value chain. 3 use cases of technological and business interest, covering from utility applications to electro mobility scenarios, are ongoing.
The Smart Cities & Ports LL covers the aspects of smart public lighting, urban parking, smart city, smart buildings and campuses, as well as smarter and safer ports (fig. 4 – 5).
The Media & Entertainment (M&E) segment has high expectations for the introduction of 5G. The M&E LL is testing various UCs and sub-scenarios of: high-fidelity video viewing, multi-CDN viewing, immersive experiences in AR/VR and gaming, professional video production and remote multi-cam production (fig. 6).
The multi-living lab (MLL) is testing and validating the business and technological performance of multiple vertical UCs concurrently. The objective is to quantify the performance of running concurrent UCs. In the mature and advanced MLL UC scenarios multiple 5G slice instances will be deployed, managed and used concurrently (fig 7).
To complement the UCs, we created a framework for coordinating and examining the commercialization and exploitation options (fig. 6), providing a macro-level view of the emerging global opportunities complemented with a plan for co-operation and clustering across the 5G industry and verticals (fig. 8).
Considering the project outwards:
• Standardisation. Engagement of relevant stakeholders on industry standardisation bodies and technology communities, identifying gaps and providing important targeted contributions.
• Dissemination. 5G-SOLUTIONS has funded several journal submissions and technical papers, organized some IEEE conferences and a training course. The project participated in congress & exhibition fairs and contributed to workshops, press, public TV, podcasts and on social networks.
• Clustering. Establishment of relations with the 5GPPP, especially with the operating WGs and through collaboration in the Technology Board. The partners are actively engaged in most of the 5GPPP initiatives. Beside technical researches, 5G-SOLUTIONS is planning to promote the project results in public programmes for SME support, through specific workshops and contributions in global events.
5G must also take care of ethics concerns. So, since the beginning, we defined a set of legal and ethics guidelines in order to create awareness about ethics and legal issues inside the Consortium (fig. 9).
In order to produce high quality output, a rigorous quality control system has been devised, consisting of a comprehensive process and checkpoints illustrated in fig. 10. This allowed that all the deliverables, submitted on-time, within budget and according to high quality standards.
Finally, risk analysis has been provided since the proposal phase, defining a complete risk assessment and clustering procedure (fig. 12). The list of risks is continuously assessed and updated.
The KPIs have not only been clearly defined, but, since conducting trials in a 5G testbed ecosystem is complex, challenging and a robust and common approach to the validation of the KPIs is required (fig. 1).
The use cases leverage on ICT-17 5G-VINNI and 5G-EVE infrastructures, and for some of the UCs the applicable 5G infrastructures are extended for the purpose of 5G-SOLUTIONS facility sites. The integration with ICT-17 facilities is achieved through APIs with CSDO orchestration system. The importance of orchestration, the mapping of the different UC component, identifying the integration points and the flow of the experiments have been carefully considered and designed. For mature UCs and facilities these artifacts have also been implemented and tested. A special role is played by artificial Intelligence, providing zero-touch automation mechanisms for 5G service and operational lifecycles.
Furthermore the 5G-SOLUTIONS' KPI Visualization System is used within the scope of the project to analyze and validate the KPIs measured in each UC. The system design has been completed, the underlying infrastructure comprising of several VMs has been setup, and a first version of the platform is already deployed whilst the integration with 8 UC applications is complete.
The project initiated the first tests on the majority of UCs, belonging to 4 baseline living labs and one additional multi-living lab (MLL).
The Factory of the Future LL addresses in-process monitoring and real-time product quality assessment, new sensor provisioning directly to the production plant, augmented reality aided maintenance, and machinery and robot remote controlling through 5G (fig. 2 – 3).
The Smart Energy LL validates 5G technologies in advanced industrial verticals domain as Demand Side Management in new electricity value chain. 3 use cases of technological and business interest, covering from utility applications to electro mobility scenarios, are ongoing.
The Smart Cities & Ports LL covers the aspects of smart public lighting, urban parking, smart city, smart buildings and campuses, as well as smarter and safer ports (fig. 4 – 5).
The Media & Entertainment (M&E) segment has high expectations for the introduction of 5G. The M&E LL is testing various UCs and sub-scenarios of: high-fidelity video viewing, multi-CDN viewing, immersive experiences in AR/VR and gaming, professional video production and remote multi-cam production (fig. 6).
The multi-living lab (MLL) is testing and validating the business and technological performance of multiple vertical UCs concurrently. The objective is to quantify the performance of running concurrent UCs. In the mature and advanced MLL UC scenarios multiple 5G slice instances will be deployed, managed and used concurrently (fig 7).
To complement the UCs, we created a framework for coordinating and examining the commercialization and exploitation options (fig. 6), providing a macro-level view of the emerging global opportunities complemented with a plan for co-operation and clustering across the 5G industry and verticals (fig. 8).
Considering the project outwards:
• Standardisation. Engagement of relevant stakeholders on industry standardisation bodies and technology communities, identifying gaps and providing important targeted contributions.
• Dissemination. 5G-SOLUTIONS has funded several journal submissions and technical papers, organized some IEEE conferences and a training course. The project participated in congress & exhibition fairs and contributed to workshops, press, public TV, podcasts and on social networks.
• Clustering. Establishment of relations with the 5GPPP, especially with the operating WGs and through collaboration in the Technology Board. The partners are actively engaged in most of the 5GPPP initiatives. Beside technical researches, 5G-SOLUTIONS is planning to promote the project results in public programmes for SME support, through specific workshops and contributions in global events.
5G must also take care of ethics concerns. So, since the beginning, we defined a set of legal and ethics guidelines in order to create awareness about ethics and legal issues inside the Consortium (fig. 9).
In order to produce high quality output, a rigorous quality control system has been devised, consisting of a comprehensive process and checkpoints illustrated in fig. 10. This allowed that all the deliverables, submitted on-time, within budget and according to high quality standards.
Finally, risk analysis has been provided since the proposal phase, defining a complete risk assessment and clustering procedure (fig. 12). The list of risks is continuously assessed and updated.
The fact that these use cases cover multiple areas, both industrial and inherent in the life of ordinary citizens, will demonstrate that 5G will represent a real revolution capable of radically changing our lives. Implementing and verifying that the KPIs are met will say that application is technically feasible. This is innovation. The ambition is to turn innovation into progress. H. Ford said “Real progress happens only when advantages of a new technology become available to everybody”. For this reason, the technical activities that demonstrate the feasibility of UC are continuously accompanied by economic validations and those that evaluate their social impacts. Under this umbrella there is also ethics and legal monitoring, performed during the whole lifecycle of the project by delivering guidelines to the consortium.
5G-SOLUTIONS will also disclose its results to be used by the target audience to progress their own work, i.e. to fertilise the advancement of technology, science, industry and policy.
5G-SOLUTIONS will also disclose its results to be used by the target audience to progress their own work, i.e. to fertilise the advancement of technology, science, industry and policy.