Vertical Innovations in Transport and Logistics over 5G experimentation facilities
Overview
5G offers ultra-high throughput, rapid speeds, low latency, high reliability, and the capacity to support dense connections with low power consumption. These capabilities enable developers to deliver services with guaranteed quality. The global 5G market is expected to reach $668 billion by 2026, covering 65% of the world’s population and generating 45% of global traffic. The Transport and Logistics (T&L) sector, crucial to economic development, is a key 5G adopter due to its demand for fast, reliable, and low-latency connections. The 5G enterprise market for T&L is projected to hit $2.9 trillion by 2026, driven by innovative 5G NetApps that simplify deployment and reduce costs.
VITAL-5G developed an intuitive, production-ready Network Applications orchestration platform with an open repository to address key limitations for T&L verticals deploying virtualised 5G services. The project delivered both vertical-specific and vertical-agnostic Network Applications validated in real-life scenarios at three testbeds: the Port of Antwerp, Danube River, and Athens logistics hub. VITAL-5G enhanced existing 5G facilities, supported 3GPP Rel.16, and showcased use cases in port operations, warehouse logistics, and road transport. It engaged third-party experimenters to expand validation and aimed to create a sustainable T&L 5G ecosystem fostering business innovation, collaboration among partners, and standardisation.
Objectives
Drive and foster the development and sharing of novel vertical-specific and vertical-agnostic NetApps for the T&L sector by supporting open source tools and an open repository for flexible and interoperable deployment through the VITAL-5G platform.
Deliver an open, virtualised 5G-enabled testing and validation experimentation facility, which will provide the means for relevant T&L stakeholders to deploy and benchmark the performance of their innovative NetApps on top of a 5G network.
Demonstrate the benefit and showcase the added value of 5G connectivity for advanced multi-modal logistics services across European roads, seas and rivers, creating a functional value chain for highly automated freight transportation.
Provide customised and virtualised access to network and T&L infrastructure (port, warehouse, equipment and facilities) resources, enabling dynamic tailor-made service provisioning to 3rd parties (such as SMEs) to validate their applications over resources otherwise unavailable to them, thus boosting confidence prior to actual service deployment.
Enable novel business models development for open, integrated and cooperative services across multiple domains, addressing specific T&L use cases and to justify the investment from key stakeholders.
Foster the development and advancement of a T&L centred ecosystem, which will drive the European integration of 5G services into the T&L vertical, by bringing together key vertical stakeholders (port authorities, road operators, etc.) with SMEs developing cutting-edge technology and applications.
Accelerate the adoption and scale-up of VITAL-5G experimentation facility and NetApps through wide dissemination means and provide contributions to key standardisation organisations.
eBOS Role in the Project
eBOS was responsible for several core activities within the VITAL-5G project. eBOS led the functional testing and operational readiness activities of the VITAL-5G facilities, including participation in the integration of individual testbeds into the central portal. It also spearheaded the testing and validation methodology, establishing acceptance test procedures for both the technological and business validation of Transport and Logistics NetApps and their use cases. eBOS supported consortium partners in gathering and analysing end-user requirements, producing technical specifications and portal design, and defining methodologies. It provided ongoing support during trials and demonstrations to ensure a strong link between evaluation outcomes, lessons learned, and the project’s commercialisation and innovation objectives.
Furthermore, eBOS oversaw the overall Quality Assurance, taking responsibility for organising and supervising peer reviews for all deliverables, implementing the quality management plan, and carrying out ongoing evaluations. This included conducting risk assessments, monitoring project performance, and producing comprehensive risk and quality review reports. Additionally, eBOS led the project’s Dissemination and Communication efforts, developing a visually appealing and user-friendly website, while engaging with key target groups such as ICT companies, SMEs, 5G communities, and relevant European Technology Platforms (e.g., NESSI, NEM, NetWorld2020, NGI), in which it was already active.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101016567.
