By: Selva Vía

In: News / 5GCroCo

Published: 20 January 2022

Hits: 399

5GCroco Lunchtime Webinars will address different aspects of the technical work of the 5GCroCo project in detail with some time for questions and discussions on the work presented.

Next web seminar is scheduled for next Monday 31st January 2022 at 12:00 CE about "Overview of Privacy Aspects to Consider for the ACCA Use Case"

Please visit our section in Web Seminars for more details.

By: Selva Vía

In: News / 5GCroCo

Published: 09 November 2021

Hits: 1251

Next 11th November 2021 at 11:00, 5GCroCo will participate, represented by Dr. Ricard Vilalta, at the event "Conectados 5G: Europa y España ante el reto de la movilidad inteligente", organized by the Spanish Observatorio Nacional 5G.

Registrations are open here.

By: Selva Vía

In: News / 5GCroCo

Published: 16 December 2021

Hits: 538

5GCroCo and 5G-Blueprint have a lot in common. Both projects focus on teleoperation and defining a successful path toward seamless cross-border network handovers. Both are publicly funded, which is one of the reasons why strong collaboration among them is of such great importance. The consortia are committed to ensuring that the EU citizens not only benefit from the projects’ end results but are also informed about the specific activities and the progress achieved to date.

Each 5GCroCo and 5G-Blueprint have only three years1 to address several technical challenges,  which  impede  a  smooth  provision  of  CCAM  services  in  cross-border scenarios.  Each  project  looks  at  these  challenges  from  their  unique  angle,  hence increasing  the  potential  for  valuable  knowledge  exchange  between  both  consortia. Another  highly  motivating  factor  is  the  geographical  proximity  between  the  Dutch- Belgian (5G-Blueprint) and the French-German-Luxembourgish (5GCroCo) 5G corridors.

Means of collaboration

To facilitate the process of exchanging know-how and ideas, the projects established a collaboration framework spanning several types of activities.

One  of  the  first  steps  has  been  the  appointment  of  Wim  Vandenberghe,  the  5G- Blueprint project coordinator to the 5GCroCo advisory board. As such, Vandenberghe not only the regular 5GCroCo Advisory Board online meetings but also participates in the 5GCroCo events, such as the demonstration days held in October 2021. Similarly, 5GCroCo representatives will also attend the 5G-Blueprint demonstration events.

Upon suggestion from the EC, the two projects held a joint teleconference to discuss the details of their respective teleoperated driving use cases. The valuable discussion has led to the invitation of the 5GCroCo representatives to the 5G-Blueprint Forum on Teleoperation, which took place on December 2, 2021. 5GCroCo was one of the three projects presented during the event.

5GCroCo  and  5G-Blueprint  also  support  each  other  in  their  communication  and dissemination efforts. The communication teams inform each other of relevant events and papers and cross-share each other’s articles and social media posts in an effort to  reach  an  even  larger  audience  and  raise  awareness  about  the  work  performed within both projects.

When feasible and beneficial, the collaboration and knowledge transfer goes beyond the  two  projects.  For  example,  5GCroCo  and  5G-MOBIX  consortia  have  regular exchanges focusing on service continuity for the 5G-MOBIX test site in Helmond, the Netherlands, which also benefits 5G-Blueprint.

Future plans

The  projects  intent  to  cooperate  and  liaise  with  one  another  throughout  their  whole duration. In addition to the abovementioned means of collaboration, the consortia plan to further facilitate knowledge exchange also on the technical and engineering levels using dedicated communication channels, as already demonstrated during the exchange of practical experience with 5G modems.

The  projects  are  also  committed  to  sharing  the  lessons  learned  not  only  with  each other but also with a broader community, including the standardization bodies in an effort  to  support  the  creation  of  a  strong  legal,  regulatory,  and  standardization framework  across  the  EU.  Besides,  5GCroCo  and  5G-Blueprint  are  considering running more joint communication and dissemination activities  in 2022, such as co-organizing workshops and tutorials, collocated with relevant conferences and industry events.

By: Selva Vía

In: News / 5GCroCo

Published: 22 October 2021

Hits: 1143

5GCroCo (Fifth Generation Cross-Border Control) is a € 17-million European innovation action officially launched on 1^st November 2018 with the objective to perform 5G connectivity tests and trials for the road environment in real-life scenarios. On 21^st October 2021, 5GCroCo demonstrated three use cases in the corridor areas that connect the cities of Metz-Merzig-Luxembourg in France, Germany, and Luxembourg, traversing three countries, two borders.

The objective of 5GCroCo is to validate key 5G technologies in challenging cross-border, cross-mobile-network-operator, cross-car-original-equipment-manufacturer, and cross-telco-vendor scenarios. The project concentrates in particular on cutting-edge technologies such as 5G New Radio, service continuity, Mobile Edge Computing/Cloud, end-to-end and predictive Quality-of-Service, network slicing, virtualization, network support for precise positioning, and security.

Furthermore, 5GCroCo is exploring innovative business models. It will contribute to the definition of the necessary policy and spectrum regulation to guarantee the success of 5G for connected and automated mobility (CAM) services. The impact of 5GCroCo is also present at the standardization level for both the telecom and the automotive industries (3GPP, ISO, etc.). 5GCroCo is thus contributing to the consolidation of Europe’s leading role in 5G technology, paving the way for the commercial deployment of 5G for CAM in Europe and worldwide.

The results obtained so far in the project and through the three use cases show that cross-border/-mobile-network-operator handover works seamlessly and that the use of 5G networks is key to reducing the end-to-end latency, which is critical in CAM applications, such as the ones studied in the 5GCroCo use cases. Moreover, additional results show that, thanks to Mobile Edge Computing / Cloud technology, more stable delays can be achieved than when relying on public internet for the hosting of applications. Furthermore, a significant increase of the transmission speeds has been measured in the 5GCroCo tests and trials.

• 1^st use case: Tele-operated Driving (ToD)

Tele-operated Driving technically enables the deployment of truly driverless vehicles through remote operation of the vehicle from a Vehicle Control Center (VCoC). Specifically, a connection is established from the VCoC to the vehicle via a 5G mobile network. This allows the transmission of sensor data, in particular video, from the vehicle to the VCoC and control commands from the VCoC to the vehicle.

• 2^nd use case: High Definition map generation and distribution for automated vehicles (HD Mapping)

HD Mapping technology allows vehicles to collectively contribute to keeping high-definition maps up to date. Using the connection to a 5G mobile network, vehicles send map updates gathered from sensor data to a common backend, which takes care of merging all these inputs to maintain an accurate HD map. The reliable HD map is then re-distributed to the cars together with up-to-date information regarding lane markings, speed signs, and other essential information for the autonomous driving function in the car.

• 3^rd use case: Anticipated Co-operative Collision Avoidance (ACCA)

5G-enabled ACCA technology will allow for any occurrence of road event, such as a traffic jam, to be communicated to vehicles in the vicinity. As a result, corrective actions such as progressive braking can be anticipated to induce smoother and more homogeneous vehicle reactions in situations when typical sensors will have no visibility or a short detection range (a few hundred meters).

The three and a half-year initiative, which, out of the total € 17 million budget,  has received close to € 13 million in funding from the European Commission under the umbrella of the 5G Public Private Partnership (5G PPP), gathers 24 partners from seven European countries, including key organizations from both the telecom and the automotive worlds. 5GCroCo co-ordinates contributions from leading car manufacturers, tier-1 suppliers, road authorities, mobile network operators, telecom vendors, and academia.