Integrating 5G enabling technologies in a holistic service to physical layer 5G system platform

Project Information

Int5Gent

Grant agreement ID: 957403

DOI

10.3030/957403

Project closed

EC signature date 16 July 2020

Start date 1 November 2020

End date 31 July 2024

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 7 423 331,53

EU contribution

€ 5 948 029,88

Coordinated by

EREVNITIKO PANEPISTIMIAKO INSTITOUTO SYSTIMATON EPIKOINONION KAI YPOLOGISTON
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Int5Gent (Integrating 5G enabling technologies in a holistic service to physical layer 5G system platform)

Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2024-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The INT5GENT project combines 5G technology with edge and fog computing to address the demanding requirements of next-generation applications in fields such as public safety, infrastructure monitoring, and IoT. Utilizing a multi-layered architecture that integrates distributed edge and fog nodes within a cohesive 5G network, INT5GENT delivers ultra-low latency, high reliability, and robust security. This advanced setup allows telecom operators to offer dynamic, user-focused services across a broad range of environments.
Key technological innovations, including millimeter-wave (mmWave) connectivity, Software-Defined Radio (SDR)-based 5G, and AI-driven orchestration, enable real-time resource management and adaptive service slicing to meet diverse application needs. These features create a flexible and resilient platform, designed to support the real-time demands of modern digital services.
The project demonstrates its capabilities through several impactful use cases:
• Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) in Athens: Here, INT5GENT enables the rapid deployment of AI-driven object detection over a 5G network, showcasing the system’s responsiveness and utility in high-stakes public safety scenarios.
• Railway Sensing in Barcelona: This application highlights real-time infrastructure monitoring powered by edge computing, underscoring the project's ability to enhance operational efficiency in complex environments.
INT5GENT’s Radio Access Technology (RAT)-independent and highly adaptable architecture provides a scalable framework for future 5G networks, making it ideal for diverse IoT and mission-critical applications within smart cities and industrial landscapes. By supporting a broad spectrum of uses, INT5GENT stands as a foundational model for the evolving digital ecosystem.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The INT5GENT project’s technical accomplishments spanned multiple innovations for advanced 5G applications such as:

1.Multi-Stream Sigma-Delta Modulated Radio-over-Fiber Interface:
IMEC introduced a synchronous fronthaul network based on bit-interleaved Sigma-Delta modulation, efficiently connecting a baseband unit to multiple radio units. This method interleaves multiple antenna streams into a single fiber, reducing quantization noise and enhancing resilience against bit errors. Demonstrated in a 16x4 MIMO setup, it achieved high precision and low jitter suitable for 64-QAM modulation, utilizing commercial FPGA boards and custom RF front-end PCBs.
2. NIC-Enabled Synchronization for Time-Sensitive Networking:
Mellanox enhanced network adapters to support precise, time-sensitive edge networking with transmit and receive packet timestamping, SyncE for jitter reduction, and GNSS synchronization. These improvements met the strict precision and stability demands of time-sensitive applications through a combination of firmware updates and long-term hardware modifications.
3. 5G mmWave Technologies and Array Antenna Development:
SNW and partners developed mmWave antenna systems for 5G, including phased-array D-band antennas with advanced beamforming. Siklu adapted its mmWave MESH network for integration into street-level luminaires, optimizing size and thermal management to improve field-of-view and resilience in varying outdoor conditions.
4. Development of Radio Terminals with Sigma-Delta-over-Fiber Interfaces:
IMEC further advanced 5G fronthaul connectivity by integrating Sigma-Delta-over-Fiber (SDoF) interfaces with 5G baseband software from Amarisoft, creating a low-jitter, low-latency interface over PCIe for remote radio connectivity. This demonstrated the system’s capability for reliable 5G radio interfaces over fiber.
5. Network and Application Orchestration:
The project also developed a comprehensive orchestration framework for network slicing, resource allocation, and transport network management. This architecture supported vertical application orchestration and network management across virtualized, cloud-native platforms using Kubernetes and SDN controllers, allowing for integrated 5G Core and edge resource management.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The INT5GENT project successfully demonstrated resilient, low-latency fiber-wireless connectivity solutions, adaptable 5G orchestration frameworks, and high-capacity, flexible mmWave and Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) transport architectures, paving the way for dynamic, scalable 5G networks capable of meeting the rigorous performance demands of future wireless applications. These advancements were achieved based on two primary pillars: Integrated Railway Infrastructure Monitoring and Safety and Advanced 5G Solutions for Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR).
1. Integrated Railway Infrastructure Monitoring and Safety
Centered in Barcelona, Spain, the first pillar of the INT5GENT project focused on the innovative monitoring and safety of railway infrastructure. The initiative aimed to showcase the platform's capability to manage network and transport slicing, providing differentiated services over shared infrastructure. A mission-critical safety application with guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) was deployed at the edge, ensuring low latency and rapid response times. Monitoring and maintenance applications were hosted in the core cloud. The testbed for this scenario integrated the Catalan Government Railways testbed and the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya facilities, connected via a software-defined optical backhaul transport network. This setup included components like an SDR-based gNB card, a portable 5G core, and a Kubernetes cluster for application hosting. In a secondary scenario within the railway use case, a baseline operation was conducted where all railway applications were deployed in the core cloud without stringent QoS requirements, illustrating the enhanced benefits of edge computing and heightened QoS.
2. Advanced 5G Solutions for Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR)
The second pillar of INT5GENT was dedicated to the deployment of critical services for PPDR operations through dynamically provisioned 5G infrastructures, tested in Athens, Greece. The first scenario demonstrated an AI-based object detection application deployed over an orchestrated 5G system in standard conditions. This setup combined a public telecom 5G core with additional RAN sites deployed on demand, spanning the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) campus and COSMOTE telecom operator’s data center. The testbed incorporated Sigma-Delta 5G RAN, Digital 5G RAN, Analog-RoF cards, and D-Band transceivers, with a programmable fronthaul transport network. A second scenario addressed the continuity of 5G services and applications in the event of telecom infrastructure failure. It involved the automatic deployment of a full 5G PPDR network, ensuring reliable service continuity through real-time drone and camera-based video streaming with cloud-native principles and AI-based edge processing.

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