Technological/Scientific Achievements
• The Project delivered an end-to-end network architecture for the deployment of non-public networks based on disaggregated multi-vendor 5G RAN components with open interfaces, a full-fledged 5G Standalone core and an efficient 5G transport network.
• Affordable5G showcased practical cost-efficient deployments of private 5G networks that are able to support a variety of pilots. Detailed description of the necessary infrastructure is provided, based on the integration of different 5G components that have been developed during the project, shaping the final network.
• Affordable5G project presented a concrete implementation of the two different instantiations of the Affordable5G network in the testbeds of Castellolí and Malaga, focusing on the measurement of the relevant KPIs (throughput, latency, etc.) to quantify the performance of the deployed 5G network.
• During the first year of the project, 6 demos were designed and demonstrated in the first review, showcasing the interconnection of O-RAN components, the implementation of AI/ML algorithms for control of the network resources and ad-hoc deployment of network slices, the application of time sensitive networks, as well as the
orchestration of network resources through efficient OSM deployment and the hardware acceleration for video processing.
• The present project included the demonstration of three pilots, namely a Mission Critical Service (MCS) deployed in Castellolí, a Smart city pilot and a Time Sensitive Network (balancing table use case) deployed in Malaga, showcasing the ability of Affordable 5G ecosystem to host diverse services and network requirements in
heterogeneous environments.
• The critical processes of integration and validation of the three pilots in the two testbeds illustrated the efforts, developments and encountered challenges to converge in a full functional system level solution consisting of disaggregated multi-vendor 5G RAN components. The reporting of the validation activities and the comparison to
alternative RAN solutions can be used as a guideline towards partial system integration, forming a baseline for upcoming deployments of private 5G networks.
Dissemination/Communication Achievements
• Project partners have participated in 30 relevant external events. Moreover, the project was featured in 29 news articles on a specialized sector publication and the developed technical networking solutions were presented in co-organized 4 events in close collaboration with related H2020 projects within the overall 5G PPP context.
• The project was presented in events that reached overall around 400,000 participants and has widely promoted its results and activities to more than 9,000 stakeholders. Moreover, almost 4,000 unique users visited Affordable5G website.
• The Affordable5G project significantly contributed to the relevant standardization bodies regarding key technological outcomes of the project, aligning with the originally designed exploitation plans. The project has performed several contributions to ETSI, O-RAN and NGMN communities.
• Technical results and research directions of the Affordable5G project were published on international scientific journals and conference proceedings . The research outcomes were also disseminated via presentations at several scientific conferences
and workshops.
