5G Use Cases for a new urban connected ecosystem

Article

Background

KDM FORCE has been selected to deliver a few 5G Use Cases for a project named with the tagline #roma5g (www.roma5g.org), a trials programme led by Ericsson, Fastweb and the municipality of Rome.

As we approach 2020 (the year the 5G wireless standard will be unleashed), everyone involved with 5G (service providers, technology enablers, customers) are focusing on 5G trials in order to assess the potential of connected services, to identify which Use Cases might be worth pursuing after 2020 and to single out the enabling technologies needed for such Use Cases to work.

Fastweb, an Italian fixed and mobile operator, and Ericsson, a global telecom networks provider, have been carrying out live 5G trials, in partnership with the municipality of Rome, since February 2018 under a project named #roma5g. These organizations are now set to showcase new 5G and future Wi-Fi Use Cases over the next year. These Use Cases will demonstrate how the unifying connectivity fabric of 5G will bring huge enhancements to today’s mobile broadband services, making available a vast diversity of devices and revolutionize the IoT (Internet of Things).

Our company has been selected by Ericsson to support the deployment of 4 Use Cases. KDM FORCE started developments in the second half of 2018, these include digital applications for Smart City and IT systems covering sectors such as tourism, security and urban mobility. The field trials would involve around 3,000 users for pre-commercial trials of 5G networks throughout 2019. All of the Use Case assigned to us leverage our competence in the IoT domain and our long standing business expertise in the Telco industry.

The Solution

All Use Cases under KDM FORCE responsibility will be integrated with "Ericsson IoT Accelerator", Ericsson's flagship IoT platform designed to speed up and simplify the development of IoT solutions by providing technology partners such as KDM FORCE, with tools for integrating connectivity, enable device management, data analytics and expose information through APIs in the market place.

  • One Use Case aims at improving people’s safety aboard public transport. It powers up existing security cameras with ML (Machine Learning) back-end capabilities that will ensure automatic detection of weapons, abandoned luggage and other situations happening aboard a bus. The ML back-end will be connected to Ericsson's IoT platform through a 5G gateway installed on the bus. The IoT platform, upon recording the event triggered by the ML back-end, will stream, through the 5G network, the real-time video feed, captured by the cameras located aboard the bus, to a control room-like dashboard, set northbound the IoT Platform, providing visual focus on the bus' inside.
  • A second Use Case focuses on the ability of the public transport conductor to alert a control room in emergency situations. KDM FORCE will be responsible for the development of a wearable IoT panic button to be provided to public bus drivers. Such wearable device will be connected to Ericsson's IoT platform through a 5G gateway installed on the bus. The IoT platform, upon recording the event triggered by the panic button, will stream, through the 5G network, the real-time video feed, captured by the cameras located aboard the bus, to a control room-like dashboard set northbound the IoT Platform, providing visual focus on the bus' inside.
  • Another Use Case is set to make city transport more accessible by passengers with reduced mobility (like a parent pushing a pram) or with special needs (like an elderly or disabled person). KDM FORCE will develop a Mobile App, available for both iOS and Android smart phones. The App - once a BLE beacon located at the bus stop, will be intercepted - will provide special users with the ability to send a request for assistance to board any of the incoming buses, before their arrival at the bus stop. Such request will be routed (via standard 4G broadband connection) to the IoT platform which will relay the request back to a screen, located by the bus driver's seat. The driver will then be able to know in advance that, at the said bus stop, it will be necessary to disembark the bus and provide the assistance required.
  • A fourth Use Case addresses ways to improve the customer experience of urban transport users. KDM FORCE will develop a Mobile App, available for both iOS and Android smart phones. The App will offer the user commercial deals, through real time push notifications. Such deal will put on offer discounted tickets to tourist sites (like museums, monuments, galleries and other relevant points of interest) located at at any next bus stop in the user’s route. The App will also provide the ability to perform the online purchase of said offers.

Challenges

This is the first time that the implementation of a new mobile network standard occurs in a market occupied non just by the Telecom Operators but by the OTTs, also. The outcome of the trials and a good reception of the Use Case is therefore extremely important in the 5G run since the Use Cases will be the main driver to the adoption of the new network standard by corporations, consumers and central or local governments who expect new experiences in many possible areas of everyday life. From connected cars to smart homes, from healthcare to entertainment (augmented and virtual reality): any realm where machines need to talk to each other, constantly and without lag.