Periodic Reporting for period 1 - 5G-Blueprint (Next generation connectivity for enhanced, safe & efficient transport & logistics)
Période du rapport: 2020-09-01 au 2022-02-28
5G-Blueprint envisions to design and validate a technical architecture, business and governance model for uninterrupted cross-border teleoperated transport based on 5G connectivity. 5G-Blueprint will explore and define:
- The economics of 5G tools in cross border transport & logistics as well as passenger transport: bringing CAPEX and OPEX into view, both on the supply (telecom) side and on the demand (transport & logistics) side for transformation of current business practices as well as new value propositions.
- The Governance issues and solutions pertaining to responsibilities and accountability within the value chain dependent on cross border connectivity and seamless services relating to the Dutch & Belgian regulatory framework (telecommunications, traffic and CAM experimentation laws, contracts, value chain management).
- Tactical and operational (pre-) conditions that need to be in place to get full value of 5G tooled transport & logistics. This includes implementing use cases that increase cooperative awareness to guarantee safe and responsible teleoperated transport
- Preparing and piloting teleoperated and telemonitored transport on roadways and waterways to alleviate the increasing shortage of manpower and bring transport and logistics on a higher level of efficiency through data sharing in the supply chain and use of AI
- Exploring the possibilities of increasing the volume of freight being transported during the night where excess physical infrastructure capacity is abundant; the lowering of personnel costs would make this feasible on a cost-effective basis
- Teleoperation will be enabled by the following 5G qualities, such as low latency, reliable connectivity and high bandwidth
The project’s outcome will be the blueprint for operational pan-European deployment of teleoperated transport solutions in the logistics sector and beyond.
- The economics of 5G tools in cross border transport & logistics as well as passenger transport: bringing CAPEX and OPEX into view, both on the supply (telecom) side and on the demand (transport & logistics) side for transformation of current business practices as well as new value propositions.
- The Governance issues and solutions pertaining to responsibilities and accountability within the value chain dependent on cross border connectivity and seamless services relating to the Dutch & Belgian regulatory framework (telecommunications, traffic and CAM experimentation laws, contracts, value chain management).
- Tactical and operational (pre-) conditions that need to be in place to get full value of 5G tooled transport & logistics. This includes implementing use cases that increase cooperative awareness to guarantee safe and responsible teleoperated transport
- Preparing and piloting teleoperated and telemonitored transport on roadways and waterways to alleviate the increasing shortage of manpower and bring transport and logistics on a higher level of efficiency through data sharing in the supply chain and use of AI
- Exploring the possibilities of increasing the volume of freight being transported during the night where excess physical infrastructure capacity is abundant; the lowering of personnel costs would make this feasible on a cost-effective basis
- Teleoperation will be enabled by the following 5G qualities, such as low latency, reliable connectivity and high bandwidth
The project’s outcome will be the blueprint for operational pan-European deployment of teleoperated transport solutions in the logistics sector and beyond.
From an application layer perspective (UCs and EFs), a first result was gathering a thorough understanding of the requirements of each application layer component to provide a significant contribution to the safety and efficiency of teleoperation; in parallel identifying the requirements these application layer functions impose on the 5G network. Another achievement was a detailed functional and technical description of the application layer functions, together with details on how these should be integrated. Furthermore, first working non-integrated versions of the different application layer components have been realized, serving as a basis for integrations and further iterations. And the integration of the various application layer components with other such components of the same type(UCs or EFs) has been started.
From a 5G network layer side, an important achievement was the derivation of the requirements for the 5G architecture from the application layer components. These requirements were structured in accordance with the “Generic Slice Template” as specified by the GSMA in NG.116. The 5G network architecture which fulfils these requirements was identified and described. 3 P-NESTs (sets of operator specific Slice parameters in the GSMA NG.116 format) were compiled and sent to the vendors of the 5G Core for review and feasibility study, necessary since not all relevant software functions are yet available. From this consultation with vendors two modems were selected one NSA, one NSA and SA capable for which the project will develop the configuration and parameter-sets which match the requirements set by the UCs and EFs. 5G Radio coverage in pilot areas is being installed. And, a Study on the use of public and private fibre infrastructure in a 5G landscape was done.
The overall system architecture that specifies how the different modules of the system on both the application and 5G network layer are set up and are to interact with each other. Also the needed preparatory work for the validation of this technical architecture for uninterrupted cross-border tele-operated transport based on 5G connectivity has been performed. The pilot site details including test cases have been described, including location and trajectories where tests will be performed, based on analysis of the pilot site and on-site surveys.
From a CAM governance and business models perspective, an important result was to better understand the ‘teleoperation’ business case from a logistics perspective and challenges/pitfalls in this. This includes the importance of teleoperator to vehicle ratio in offered services, dependence of this ratio of business segment in transport and logistics domain and size of the company, need for additional services to offload driver responsibilities next to actual driving, etc. Other main achievements encompass a value network analysis, market analysis and a description of potential business model options from a wider perspective, building on proposed teleoperation deployment scenarios which gradually increase the complexity and size of the considered operational design domain. In addition, significant progress has been achieved in setting up a cost model, and collecting key input and data for realizing a techno-economic assessment of possible scenarios for an enhanced deployment of 5G networks and tele-operated activities based on these.
From a 5G network layer side, an important achievement was the derivation of the requirements for the 5G architecture from the application layer components. These requirements were structured in accordance with the “Generic Slice Template” as specified by the GSMA in NG.116. The 5G network architecture which fulfils these requirements was identified and described. 3 P-NESTs (sets of operator specific Slice parameters in the GSMA NG.116 format) were compiled and sent to the vendors of the 5G Core for review and feasibility study, necessary since not all relevant software functions are yet available. From this consultation with vendors two modems were selected one NSA, one NSA and SA capable for which the project will develop the configuration and parameter-sets which match the requirements set by the UCs and EFs. 5G Radio coverage in pilot areas is being installed. And, a Study on the use of public and private fibre infrastructure in a 5G landscape was done.
The overall system architecture that specifies how the different modules of the system on both the application and 5G network layer are set up and are to interact with each other. Also the needed preparatory work for the validation of this technical architecture for uninterrupted cross-border tele-operated transport based on 5G connectivity has been performed. The pilot site details including test cases have been described, including location and trajectories where tests will be performed, based on analysis of the pilot site and on-site surveys.
From a CAM governance and business models perspective, an important result was to better understand the ‘teleoperation’ business case from a logistics perspective and challenges/pitfalls in this. This includes the importance of teleoperator to vehicle ratio in offered services, dependence of this ratio of business segment in transport and logistics domain and size of the company, need for additional services to offload driver responsibilities next to actual driving, etc. Other main achievements encompass a value network analysis, market analysis and a description of potential business model options from a wider perspective, building on proposed teleoperation deployment scenarios which gradually increase the complexity and size of the considered operational design domain. In addition, significant progress has been achieved in setting up a cost model, and collecting key input and data for realizing a techno-economic assessment of possible scenarios for an enhanced deployment of 5G networks and tele-operated activities based on these.
Two EU projects can be considered as predecessors of 5G-Blueprint: 5G-Mobix and 5GCroCo. Both focus on the usage of teleoperation for remote manoeuvring of an autonomous vehicle that got stranded in a challenging traffic situation at low speed 8-20 km/h and the developed solutions explore both indirect control and direct control of teleoperation. 5G-Blueprint further advance the SOTA for direct control. The goal is to allow remote operators to actually drive instead of manoeuvre vehicles on public roads. This imposes more stringent requirements on the 5G network, but also on the application level since for instance driving dynamics become more important. The focus is entirely on the teleoperation concept, which is not only developed further as a technique, but also the entire needed ecosystem of other applications that would go with it in an actual deployment is realized for the first time. The EFs combine AI and/or C-ITS foundations with the teleoperation domain, while the UCs automated driver-in-loop-docking and CACC based platooning combine automation techniques with teleoperation to further strengthen the teleoperation business case.
In terms of impact, as a result of 5G-Blueprint, there will be a clear hands-on understanding of the technical feasibility of an international teleoperated transport solution based on 5G connectivity and the best business model and governance model would be for deploying this concept on a large scale across Europe. Insights that will be broadly disseminated, and hence will reach beyond the borders of the involved project consortium. The project will make clear in which operational design domains the paradigm of taking the human driver out of the vehicle while not yet replacing it by a machine is feasible from a technical, business and governance perspective. These results will hence pave the way for a more realistic and hence feasible transition towards automated mobility, by leveraging on the strength of combining teleoperation and automation as two complementary paradigms, instead of positioning teleoperation only as the fallback of automation
In terms of impact, as a result of 5G-Blueprint, there will be a clear hands-on understanding of the technical feasibility of an international teleoperated transport solution based on 5G connectivity and the best business model and governance model would be for deploying this concept on a large scale across Europe. Insights that will be broadly disseminated, and hence will reach beyond the borders of the involved project consortium. The project will make clear in which operational design domains the paradigm of taking the human driver out of the vehicle while not yet replacing it by a machine is feasible from a technical, business and governance perspective. These results will hence pave the way for a more realistic and hence feasible transition towards automated mobility, by leveraging on the strength of combining teleoperation and automation as two complementary paradigms, instead of positioning teleoperation only as the fallback of automation