5G-EVE: Public Safety and Environment Protection

Overview of the 5G-EVE Public Safety and Environment Protection Trial

This trial uses 5G to create an advanced air quality monitoring service for smart cities. The motivation and importance of this use case is evident as, according to the World Health Organisation, WHO), air pollution poses a major threat to health and climate. This trial was conducted using the infrastructure developed by 5G-EVE to demonstrate the accurate identification of polluted atmosphere with immediate notification to the parties concerned. The trials covered air quality monitoring sensors; ,a 5G gateway that reads measurements from the sensors and transmits them to the 5G RAN (radio access network);  5G non-standalone (NSA) network (Radio and Core); a cloud platform (WINGS ICT Solutions STARLIT platform). The 5G network and gateways are controlled/managed through the 5G EVE framework (portal and inter-working layer). The first trial took place in July 2020 and was repeated during the first quarter of 2021.

The trial was run by 5G-EVE partners WINGS ICT Solutions, Ericsson Hellas, and Hellenic Telecommunications Organization at the OTE Academy premises in Athens. The air quality station is installed there as part of the Smart City infrastructure. A 5G Gateway is also deployed close to the sensors, collecting and communicating data with the 5G RAN acting as a 5G terminal. The purpose of the 5G Gateway is to provide the required connectivity between sensors and the rest of the infrastructure. The WINGS cloud platform is also available on site and hosted by a cloud server server.

5G Empowerment 

In this trial, measurements from the air quality monitoring station are sent to the WINGS STARLIT platform over an mMTC slice. The platform processes these measurements, generates forecasts about the status of various environmental parameters and triggers actions related to air quality monitoring and health recommendations. The key point for the success of the trial is the accurate, reliable and extremely fast transmission of the data through the 5G network in both directions. This capability enables immediate reactions in cases of air quality degradation. Finally, it is worth mentioning that 5G will also further fuel IoT applications, through the mMTC services and the ability to interwork with URLLC and, where relevant, with eMBB. This will bring further applications that will change the way we work and live.

5G Key Performance Indicators

The trial has monitored vertical KPIs such as Request response time; Number of sensors supported, as well as network KPIs, e.g. RTT latency and the Bandwidth (UE side / Server side).  Latencies in the area of less than 10ms have been achieved. 

Videos and Demos

A video of the trial using the 5G-EVE Greek infrastructure is available here. 

Accolades

One of the ten winners of the 2021 5G-IA Trials Working Group annual competition, featuring in the 5G Infrastructure PPP Brochure - Trials and Pilots. 

Use Case Data Summary

Location: Athens, Greece

Dates: Q3-2020 and Q1-2021

Partners involved: WINGS ICT Solutions, Ericsson Hellas, and Hellenic Telecommunications Organization at the OTE Academy

EC funding reference: Horizon 2020; H2020-ICT-2018-1; ICT-17-2018 - 5G End-to-End Facility

Funding cycle: July 2018-June 2021

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